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Our Best Science Toys for 8 Year Olds šŸ”¬

A young girl is sitting at a desk writing about science while wearing safety goggles

Children are natural-born scientists. They love taking things apart to explore how they work and observing the world around them. By the time theyā€™re eight, children are on a mission to dig out facts and question everything. And as any parent of an eight-year-old will tell you, it seems like the questions never stop!

Your curious eight-year-old is taking giant leaps forward in physical, emotional and mental development. Itā€™s the perfect chance to channel their curiosity by giving them challenging STEM toys and activities that inspire discovery and prompt questioning. Take a closer look at our best science toys for eight-year-olds and why not wrap up a few for your young scientist. read more

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Our Best Science Toys for 4 Year Olds šŸ”¬

best-science-toys-for-4-year-olds

Kids learn best by doing and for curious little learners, our best science toys for four-year-olds are a fun, engaging way to introduce the wonders of science through hands-on play. Designed with young children in mind, these real working tools are easy for little hands to use, and robust enough to go along on your childā€™s journey to scientific discovery. Letā€™s head off on a learning adventure! From seeing the moon to making their own yucky slime, this is our list of our best science toys for four-year-olds.

Young boy pointing to the stars and night sky and using GeoSafariĀ® Jr. My First Telescope from Learning ResourcesĀ®
Image ā€“ Learning ResourcesĀ® GeoSafariĀ® Jr. My First Telescope

Primary ScienceĀ® Lab Set

Two young children in a classroom experimenting with Learning ResourcesĀ® Primary ScienceĀ® Lab Set
Image ā€“ Learning ResourcesĀ® Primary ScienceĀ® Lab Set

Get hands-on with the wonders of chemistry and science using real science laboratory equipment made especially for kids with our Primary Science Lab Set. Early chemistry learning through doing fun experiments introduces kids to scientific concepts including observation and deductive reasoning. read more

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How to get your garden ready for growing vegetables ā€“ a kidā€™s guide!

A child and her mother preparing the garden to start growing vegetables.

Youā€™ve probably seen our guide to growing fruit and vegetables and had a fun time last year putting it to the test with the kids. During the winter months, your vegetable patch has probably been neglected so what steps do you need to take to get it ready for growing again?

Step 1 – Get rid of weeds and dead plantsĀ­Ā­Ā­Ā­

A child weeding the garden, removing the dead plants and getting it ready for planting vegetables.

We donā€™t blame you for not wanting to drag the kids out into the freezing cold to pull up weeds but, as the weather gets a little better, itā€™s a task that will need doing. read more

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Learn more about Chinese New Year 2020

Illustrated banner image of Chinese New Year 2020 Year of the Rat

In countries like the UK, Europe and the USA, we celebrate the start of each New Year on the first day of January. However, not all cultures observe New Year at the same time. The people of Thailand will celebrate the start of their New Year with a festival called Songkran in April 2020. Diwali, also known as the festival of lights, is a sacred time on the Hindu calendar. Itā€™s a five-day celebration and starts in November.

The people of China around the world celebrate the start of their New Year on 25 January 2020. Itā€™s also known as Spring Festival and is a time of celebrating special traditions, eating delicious food, and spending time with family and friends. In fact, being with family is so important that millions of people make their way home each year in what is known as the worldā€™s biggest migration. read more

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How to Be a Birdwatcher: Big Schoolsā€™ Birdwatch

Close up picture of a Goldcrest bird perched on a spruce tree branch.

Calling all young citizen scientists! Our friends at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have commenced their annual Big Schoolsā€™ Bird Watch. Hurry, because schools have until 2 February 2020 to register, and results can be submitted any time until 21 February. Plus, the RSBP will share the results so you can see how your school is contributing to their scientific research.

The UK has many interesting bird species from the tiny Goldcrest which is just 9cm long, to the UKā€™s largest bird of prey, the White-tailed eagle which has a wingspan of up to 2.4m! Fancy yourself a nature detective on the lookout for the UKā€™s most interesting birds? Here are some fascinating facts about following our feathered friends and helpful hints to get you started. read more

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Free Emotions Snowman Printable from Red Ted Art and Learning Resources

When youā€™re little, it can be hard to talk about how you feel. Learning ResourcesĀ® has teamed up with Red Ted Art to create an easy, do-able fun conversation-starter craft that helps children learn more about themselves.

Maggy, the creative whizz behind Red Ted Art has designed a printable snowman thatā€™s a colouring page and SEL resource in one. Itā€™s an ideal way to allow for mindfulness time and provides opportunities to discuss and express feelings. Plus, itā€™s a fun artsy activity to keep kids busy on a cold winterā€™s afternoon (and practise fine motor skills, too). ā€œItā€™s wonderful to see an increased focus on SEL resources available. SEL ā€“ Social Emotional Learning ā€“ should be core to any school and home-school curriculum,ā€ says Maggy. read more

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šŸš€ Blast off with Lonely Planet Moon Landing Competition Winners

Lonely Planet Competition Winners

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing on 20 July 2019, we teamed up with Lonely Planet Kids and scouted the known world for stories about kids in space. The responses were out of this world and our friends at Lonely Planet have given us the go-ahead to share the top entries with you. If you could go on a lunar adventure, what would you do? Leave a comment at the end of this blog post and tell us about your dream space journey.

The winning entry

Gaurika (10) sent us a story to go along with a picture. We thought it was hilarious that the alien asked the astronauts for a visa. Check out her drawing and read the story. read more

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10 Educational Stocking Fillers Kids will Love

Picture of a girl and boy in pyjamas running down the stairs on Christmas morning with Christmas stockings while their parents happily watch

When theyā€™ve done the big Christmas present shop, many parents find they run out of steam when looking for Christmas stocking fillers. Itā€™s snow problem mums and dads! Weā€™ve done the hard work for you. Relax, and browse our selection of the top 10 educational stocking filler ideas for Christmas. Then simply click, order and weā€™ll deliver. It couldnā€™t be easier. (PS. They make ideal last-minute gifts, so why not stock up on a few extras?)

Here are our top 10 educational stocking fillers: read more

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10 Facts about the Clocks Changing

Picture of a young girl standing in front of a huge clock face turning the dials

From Big Ben in London to the Corpus Chronophage in Cambridge, the UK has some of the worldā€™s most famous and interesting clocks. We were one of the first countries to standardise time throughout a region (what we know as Greenwich Mean Time or GMT) and weā€™re one of several countries in the world to change the clocks according to the seasons.

Daylight saving time allows us to enjoy more daylight hours during summer and winter. In summer, we score an extra hour of light in the evenings, and in winter, sunrise arrives earlier. Clocks go forward an hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March, and back an hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October. read more