The Queen is 90, and to help us celebrate, iChild sent us all we needed to have our very own ‘Queen party,’ according to Phoebe. We made an event of it, and invited friends over. iChild is an online resource site for parents, teachers and carers of children aged 0-11. They create lesson plans, printable activities, crafts and more using a child-centric approach to learning. You can register for free activities, enter competitions and also pay for gold membership. They also work with brands such as Disney, Peppa pig and royal mail, they currently have a Twirlywoo range of activities which are super cute!
What we got in our iChild activity pack:
Cupcake cases in red white and blue
Red, white and blue sprinkles
Icing crowns
Royal themed activity sheets
Royal flag colour in bunting
Union jack flag making
Colouring sheets
Colour and cut out party hats
Union jack lantern making kits
Phoebe and her friend loved tracing the letters
Crown making
There were lots of themed activities
What we liked
The instructions were clear and concise, the activities were varied and interesting. There was plenty to keep them going and more besides. I helped them make the lanterns and cut out the flags and crowns once they’d been coloured in. This was definitely the girls’ favourite activity, they loved sticking stickers and pom poms on the crown for jewels, although it wasn’t the first thing they were attracted to, which surprised me – they went for the writing practice, tracing the Q-u-e-e-n letters. The little boys just had fun making marks (and Daniel likes throwing the pencils).
He’ll get it the right way round eventually
When small children start to pick up pens and crayons, they first will put them in their mouths, then they learn to imitate you or older siblings and will attempt to make marks on the paper (and maybe other things too!). I’m really surprised how well Daniel is doing with how he holds pencils now, he has a proper pencil grip, which is not down to me but more that he watches his siblings draw and write which puts him at an advantage. So I would say draw and play with them as early as when they can hold a pencil, they’re never too young.
Cupcake making
They were all desperate to make the cupcakes, the only downside was I had to do some baking! You could always use a packet mix if you wanted a quick fix. I usually use Nigella’s simple fairy cake recipe, this time I added some cocoa powder as they wanted chocolate ones. Once they were done, I put the sprinkles into smaller cupcake cases, along with some others I had in the cupboard.
[Tweet “Tip – use small cupcake cases to hold different sprinkles in to avoid wastage”]
We’d already made the flags, and they were so excited to use the little icing crowns with ’90’ in the middle. One had broken in transit but we had more than enough to spare. Even William, who usually doesn’t like getting involved in crafty things, as soon as cake was mentioned was only too keen to help!
You can see from the picture one had already been eaten! It was safe to say that the cupcake activity was by far the favourite. Especially with a certain baby…
Any Improvements?
For us, there was a fair amount of cutting out which I needed to help with, but you can pick and choose which resources are right for you, and there are so many. The free activites are probably enough for most parents, but if you’re a child minder or home educator, you may consider upgrading. Gold membership is £7.99 a month, with that you get:
- Access to all iChild Gold activities & resources
- Create personalised signs and posters
- Download multiple activities in one go
- FREE Venture Family Photography Experience worth £245
- 40% off all Collins and Letts titles, for children aged 3-11 years
- Create personalised photo posters and invites
- Personalise your own photo flash cards
- Religious Festival Stories
- iChild Gold membership certificate to print out