5 Years of Blogging - My most popular blog posts since the beginning

This week I'm celebrating five years of blogging over here at Jennifer's Little World!

Today I'm going to share my five most popular blog posts, right back from when I started this blog in July 2011. I'm using the stats data from Blogger, so it may not be the most reliable, but it's the only way that I have of going back to the beginning. So here, in reverse order to build suspense, are the five most popular blog posts on Jennifer's Little World of all time:

5 - Realistic play food for the toy kitchen

This post has done very well recently after it was shared on a popular Facebook page. It's an old one, but I went back and updated it with a more Pinterest friendly graphic and it's continuing to be popular. It's a really simple way to make play food and I hope that it has inspired people to come up with their own creations for the toy kitchen!

4 - Cardboard play biscuits for the toy kitchen

This is another old post and was my first entry into the PinAddicts challenge which is sadly no longer running as I loved taking part! Another very simple craft and those biscuits are still floating around somewhere amongst our vast toy food collection.

3 - My cross stitch sampler

This was a post that I wrote for another linky about a cross stitch sampler that I completed before I started my blog. I suspect that this is a bit of an anomaly post though, as for some reason it became such a target for spam that I had to disable comments from the post! I do love my sampler though so I'll share another picture!

2 - How to make a Nativity Play Shepherd's Costume from a pillowcase

This post always brings me a lot of traffic in the run up to Christmas, as panicked parents start to Google. I like to think that there are many pillowcase dressed shepherds out there and I always like to look back at pictures of my tiny shepherd.

1 - 10 car journey activities to do with your toddler

It's an old post with terrible images (although I'd like to think there's some useful information), so I can only guess that somehow I managed to get the SEO spot on with this post and so it comes up well in searches! I've never been very good at entertaining children in the car, and to be honest these activities worked much better on a plane when I was close by and able to assist and supervise, but hopefully the post has helped a few people out!

I hope that you enjoyed seeing some of my older posts!

The Hogwallops at the Pavillion Theatre, Worthing

Last Friday, Worthing Theatres launched their Summer of Circus, beginning with performances of The Hogwallops from Lost in Translation Circus at the Pavillion Theatre, and Harry and I were invited along to see the show.

The show introduces us to the Hogwallops family, with a glimpse into the life of a quirky family carrying out everyday activities like laundry and baking but with their own funny twists. Showcasing a variety of high energy circus skills, laundry is sorted while swinging from the trapeze and baking is done while suspended in the air. There's acrobatics, juggling and plenty of slapstick comedy as they play and bicker their way through the day.

Harry was enthralled by the performance, he found the whole thing hilarious (although he clung tightly when the performers approached the audience!) and he was completely caught up in it all. We were lucky enough to be able to attend a question and answer session after the performance where we were able to get a glimpse into the behind the scenes preparations for the show, and he was able to ask his question about the inspiration for the name 'The Hogwallops' (online searching and trying out different word combinations!)

Worthing Theatres are hosting their Summer of Circus from 8th July to 17th September 2016 and there are plenty of shows on for the whole family. The festival is aimed at long term circus fanatics, families and first time theatre goers, and unites a variety of non-traditional circus productions.

Harry and I received complimentary tickets to the show in exchange for a review.

Review - Education Quizzes for children

The summer holidays are fast approaching, and I can't wait! The children have both worked really hard this year at school, with Mia coming to the end of her time in Reception and Harry finishing Year 2. I have lots of fun things planned for the holidays, but I am keen to make sure that they don't forget everything they've learned so far over the six weeks. They are also both starting at a new school in September, and I want to make sure that they get off to a good start.

So I was very pleased when I was asked to review Education Quizzes - an easy to use website that aims to help children be successful at school by using enjoyable quizzes to help them learn. Harry is perfectly placed to use the KS1 education quizzes to make sure he can remember everything that he has been taught over the last couple of years.

Children learn a lot during this period, so it was good to see that most quizzes offered a suggestion as to whether the questions are particularly aimed at Year 1 or Year 2 children. They are also great practice for children working towards their SATS tests at the end of Year 2.

The screenshot below shows the topic list on the left that you can select from at KS1 level. Having chosen English, at the bottom you can see the first two of over 100 quizzes in this area that the child can choose from. Each one has an appealing title followed by a description of the quiz, and each quiz has ten illustrated questions.

As an example, the quiz below tests the use of apostrophes. When you have completed the quiz, the date and previous score is stored so you can see where you need to spend a little more time. The quizzes are written by teachers, so you can be sure that they are relevant, and they are kept fun, with pictures and little extra facts.

I was really impressed with the huge range of quizzes available across a wide range of subjects. It's very easy to navigate, so children can work through several quizzes by themselves, and because they aren't too long children won't get bored. Harry always enjoys homework tasks that involve the computer and he had a lot of fun trying out the quizzes, it didn't feel like work at all. I'll be encouraging him to continue a few at a time over the holidays.

A subscription to Education Quizzes costs £7.50 per month and can be cancelled at any time. A school can also pay for a subscription on behalf of its students and can sign up students for as little as £2 per year, depending on the number of pupils at the school. It's definitely worth asking your school if they'd be interested!

I was compensated for this review.

How to celebrate a Birthday on a Cruise Ship

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

On our recent Disney Cruise, Mia turned 5. She's very lucky, with a birthday that will usually fall during half term, she's very likely to be celebrating her birthday while we are away on holiday many times in the future. In fact, I think she believed that the entire holiday was booked in order to celebrate her birthday!

As fun as it is being away, it's still nice to be able to mark the occasion in a special way while you are on holiday, so here's what we did to try and make her cruise birthday special.

Decorate the stateroom - Most cruise lines will offer a birthday package meaning that you can purchase decorations for your stateroom. Disney cruise line currently offers this for $45 which I thought was a little pricey, so I spent a fraction of the cost shopping at home and brought the decorations along with us. I then put them up in the room while the children were asleep. As it was a Disney cruise I went with a Frozen theme and I found some very reasonably priced decorations. I bought some Disney Frozen birthday balloons and Snowflake string decorations to hang around the room and this brilliant Frozen door poster to hang on the wall (affiliate links).

Presents and cards - We deliberately purchased presents which were quite small that we could bring along with us, and we managed to bring enough with us so that she had a few to open. I also brought all her cards along with us so that she could open them on the day and display them.

Birthday badge - we have a Birthday rosette badge (affiliate link) for each child that I recycle each year, so Mia wore that all day, and Mia also received a Disney Cruise Line birthday badge from Guest Services, as well as a second one at dinner. Harry was given an 'I'm Celebrating' badge as well! Then everyone could say Happy Birthday to her when they saw her.

Door signs - We made magnetic door signs for our holiday anyway, so I made an extra surprise one to announce Mia's birthday to the rest of the corridor.

Birthday cake - We decided not to have a special cake on her birthday, as she had already celebrated with a cake the week before. You also aren't allowed to use candles on a cruise ship. On most cruise lines you can order celebration cakes which will be served to you at dinner. We did tell our servers in the restaurant about Mia's birthday, and they brought her a special dessert and they all sang Happy Birthday to her which she loved.

It might be fun to buy a few decorations for the table at dinner, or perhaps some birthday hats for everyone to wear!

I think that Mia had a special birthday, I just hope that she doesn't expect this every year!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like some of my other posts about cruising:

Things I love about cruising

Cruising with an inside cabin - Pros and cons

Tips for cruising with small children

Packing lightly for a cruise

How to celebrate a birthday on a cruise ship

Book review - The Emergency Zoo by Miriam Halahmy

The Emergency Zoo (affiliate link) is a new book by Miriam Halahmy aimed at children aged 9-11, inspired by real events during the Second World War.

The story follows twelve year old Tilly and her best friend Rosy. In late August 1939, Britain is on the brink of war, and amongst the uncertainty people are encouraged to have their pets taken to the vet to be put down. When Tilly and Rosy find out that their parents are going to take their beloved dog and cat they are devastated.

The two girls decide to take action by hiding their pets in a derelict hut in the woods, and when other children find out about their plans their secret den turns into an emergency zoo for all sorts of animals from all sorts of backgrounds. But the children are due to be evacuated from the city themselves, and who will look after their pets when they have gone?

The story begins just before war is declared, and captures the fear of what is going to happen faced by the ordinary people. The book covers quite mature themes, for example bereavement, the prospect of evacuation away from parents, the terrifying dangers of bombing raids, and so it's probably one to keep for older readers (although of course these are all things that young children did have to deal with at the time!).

Events are seen from the childrens' points of view, studying their feelings towards them, along with their relationships with each other. Although the war has only just begun when the story begins, the book finishes on a positive note, and I'm sure that children would be left encouraged to look for other books set during this period in history in order to learn more. I think it would also fascinate children today to read about a time when quite young children were trusted to play away from home together for hours at a time, often into the evening, with their parents having no idea what they were up to!

I enjoyed reading this book as an adult, and would definitely recommend!

I received a copy of this book to review.

Crafting is my Therapy July 2016

Welcome to month 6 of the Crafting is my Therapy linky, hosted by myself and Me, You and Magoo! We are so pleased that so many people are linking up and sharing what they've been up to.

This month I reached the halfway point on my Sky Blanket and I'm really pleased with how it's looking. It's pretty much square now, so it's going to be a bit long and skinny when it's finished, but I'm so glad that I limited the width as it makes it so much easier to keep on top of! I do love having something that I need to work on regularly as it really keeps me motivated and I enjoy making the time to keep it up to date.

With a couple of trips away last month I've also been adding a few pages to my Smash Book. I'm always picking up bits and pieces of ephemera and I love having somewhere to stick them with a few notes.

My Sky Blanket in June #skyblanket2016

My Sky Blanket is now complete! Here is a link to the completed Sky Blanket. 

Here is how my blanket progressed throughout the year - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December.

If you have found this page because you would like to make your own Sky Blanket, you might like these posts:

Tips for completing a Sky Blanket

My Sky Blanket - What I would do differently next time

I can't believe that this post marks the halfway point of my Sky Blanket - the months are flying by! I'll admit that I'm finding the blanket a little unwieldy to work on now. It's pretty much square, so it's going to be a nice rectangle when it's finished. I'm so glad that I stuck to a 200 chain width, because even though it might end up quite long and skinny, it means that if I get a few days behind I can catch up quite easily. And I'm finding that I am tending to work on a few days at a time now, just because it's such an effort to haul it all out and then pack it up again into the bag when the row is done!

So, here's the blanket at the end of June:

I think I'm going to need a new photo location from next month! The edges are looking pretty wobbly, I'm hoping that a border will sort that out at the end.

My previous updates - January, February, March, April and May.

It's been a bit of a quiet month sky-wise. On the 22nd June there was a massive thunderstorm with loads and loads of rain during the evening and early hours of the next day. The first proper thunderstorm since I started my blanket, and quite possibly the most rain I've ever seen in this country! So I made a row in dark grey of half trebles in every other stitch and wove through some ribbony yarn that I received from Bergere de France, it's really slippery and shiny and definitely looks rainy. I'm sure I'll be using it again!

I also popped in a little seashell button to represent our lovely trip to Cornwall and the shells that we saw on the beach.

Sunrises are too early for me to be up now (thank goodness the days with 4.45am starts are over!) and I always seem to miss sunsets. The main problem is that we don't have any windows in the house which face east or west, and at this time of year I don't tend to be out and about at sunset time.

This month seems to have been a bit more mixed, and there's more grey than blue. I've been keeping a close eye on my yarn and I'm hoping that I have enough left in all the colours that I need. Otherwise I'll need to pick apart my granny square blanket and rescue some grey from the border!

There was a group of us taking part in the Sky Blanket project throughout 2016, and you can find us across social media, in particular Instagram, using the hashtag #skyblanket2016. The project was started by Bug, Bird & Bee, The Boy and Me and You Little Sew and Sew.

If you aren't sure if a Sky Blanket is the project for you, you might like this blog post with some more ideas for a year long craft project.

With many thanks to Make it Coats for supplying me with the yarn for this project.