With the option of tech to entertain us, it can be hard to get little ones to play outside, but it's definitely worth the push!

Puzzles might seem a bit old and traditional but there's a reason their use has continued through generations.

We're excited to announce that Lottie Dolls have joined the Bigjigs Family.

Check out our best traditional stocking fillers for kids, for UNDER £10! Guaranteed to put a smile on their faces this Christmas.

Did you know 66% of 5 to 7 year olds play games for nearly 7 1/2 hours a week.

We've teamed up with ARUP to take back the Guinness World Record we once held for "Longest Wooden Train Track". The team at ARUP worked tirelessly to plan and organise this attempt and the track laid reached a HUGE 3395.8 meters.

It almost seems too early to talk Christmas, but it's less than 80 days away and it's time to get organised!

We all know that practice makes perfect and when it comes to maths, repetitiveness is important!

The sun is shining and we're all dying to take a dip in the sea to cool down! Whether you're heading abroad or to the local beach with your little ones, there are lots to think about and organise.

Creative play doesn't have to be messy and doesn't have to involve paint or glitter! You can get creative with your little one by making music, acting, singing or dancing, the only rule of creative play is to express yourself. Creative play provides so many life lessons and skills that your little ones will carry with them forever. Each creative play activity encourages different skills and provides different benefits but all are important.

Painting

There's a strong chance your little one loves painting and colouring and things can get a little excitable! Don't be afraid to head out into the garden with your paint so your only worry is bath time! The garden is full of opportunities for creative play, let your little one paint the fence or the patio with water, when it dries they can start again. The garden is also the perfect place to try out some chalk, easy to wash away, or just wait for the rain! Playcolor Makeup and Textile lets little ones design their own clothes that they can wear again and again to show off their hard work, it makes a fantastic gift and it's a great way to celebrate their creativity! Painting lets your little one explore textures and shapes with complete freedom. Don't stress over asking them what they're painting. The truth is, they may not have thought about the final product. The outcome doesn't matter, just that they're enjoying themselves. Painting will also allow your little ones to express feelings and thoughts, it's unlikely they'll paint a physical representation of their feelings, but being creative allows them to explore self-expression creative impulses.

Verbal creativity

Getting creative with little ones doesn't even need to involve physical play. Storytelling is a great way to get those creative juices flowing! Spend time making up stories with your little ones - let them take the lead and see where it takes you. Giving little ones time to explore creativity through speech will improve their language development and concentration span. It's also a fantastic way for little ones to tell you what they are worried or thinking about and gives them a chance to explore solutions through play. If you're not a storyteller yourself or you've got a few little ones, our storyonics games give you a great starting point and a little more structure whilst still engaging their imagination! Turn story time into a creative play session with a story sack. Take your storybook and make a physical game out of the story. Use puppets or dressing up clothes to act out and expand on the storyline and explore the lessons in the book.

Dance

Turn up the volume and have a dance party! Most little ones won't take much convincing to start dancing and while they are jumping about they're developing gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination while having a blast! There are also countless physical benefits to dance, learning about motion, body awareness, balance and coordination and they're all great fun to explore!

Music

Repetition can be a great tool in child learning. Nursery rhymes are often repetitive and this helps your little one identify patterns and learn through repetition. Anticipating the next line of a song and trying to sing along will improve their speech and help to develop pathways between cells and the brain. Developing these skills helps little ones learn literacy and numeracy. Music can also be used to explore emotions, identifying how different songs make us feel will help your little ones understand feelings. Lullabies make us tired and relax, faster pop songs make us excitable and want to dance. Take this time to think about how the body moves to different sounds, slow and gentle movements to a lullaby for example, and jumping and clapping to an upbeat song, this will focus attention on how their body moves and how music can make us feel. This can also be a great way to communicate the behaviour you expect at certain times.

Acting and Puppets

Acting gives little ones a chance to make sense of the world and find solutions to worries. As your little one takes on different characters they'll develop a deeper understanding of how someone in that situation would feel, developing empathy and creativity. You can encourage acting and role play by providing props. If you Don't have any dressing up clothes, one of mum or dads t-shirts can make a great costume! Bits and bobs from around the house also work wonders, old pans and wooden spoons can become a whole host of things. Buy or make some puppets and put on an afternoon show for the whole family, acting out favourite books and things you've seen throughout the week. Making your own music is just as important as listening. Whether you use a bucket and a wooden spoon or toy instrument, early introduction to making sound and rhythm is a great way to encourage creativity. You Don't need lots of tools and resources to enjoy creative play with your little ones, mud, water, sand, shadows and nature can all be perfect for creative play time and they're free!

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22nd. Worldwide, events take place to demonstrate support for the protection of our environment.

How do we explain this to kids?

Well, Earth Day is a day to reflect on our planet, our environment and what we can do to keep it healthy.

It can be difficult explaining big issues in the world to kids. There's a fine line between worrying them and giving the right information to educate them. When it comes to the environment it affects us all and it's important that all ages understand the importance of preserving our earth.

To help, we've put together a few tips explaining the importance of Earth Day.

Start small:

Ask them a few simple questions, what comes in packaging? Sweets, toys? Where does the rubbish from sweets and toys go?

The most likely answer "the bin". But ask them what they think happens after that; after the bin lorry has come and taken away the rubbish, where does it go?

Keep it light and visual:

Use Google image search to show children what a landfill looks like. Now they know where our rubbish ends up you can explain why landfills are bad for our planet.

• Animals lose their home, as it becomes landfill space.
• Rainwater filters through the rubbish and into the ground, which makes its way into rivers and streams. This also affects animals and our drinking water.
• Landfills release gases that are smelly and can be unhealthy for humans.

Avoid getting too technical or factual, as they may lose interest.

Why it's important we stop:

The basics have been covered, next step is to discuss why it's so important we stop filling up landfills.

Talk about how we're running out of space for all of the rubbish. If we don't reduce it they'll be no room for parks and beaches.

If your little one loves animals, you can focus on how we need to protect the animals because they live here too.

How do we stop it:

If you have recycling boxes at home, show them and explain that by splitting the different materials, we can recycle and reuse some of our rubbish, rather than letting it rot away in a landfill.

Materials, like plastic milk jugs, are melted down which makes them reusable. Take a look at our Green Toys range made from 100% recycled plastic milk jugs!

There are also some great videos on YouTube that can help to explain.

Get them involved

If there are any local events, take them along! Down in Folkestone, the Bigjigs Toys HQ hometown, there are zero waste beach cleanups!

But if there's nothing like this nearby, take your little one out for a walk and pick up the rubbish as you go (be sure to wear gloves and to wash hands after touching anything).

Take baby steps to introduce them to the impact of waste on our Earth so they Don't get spooked! It's such an important lesson and will create good habits for life. Start small and lead by example, use tote bags instead of plastic and reusable bottles rather than single-use plastic. Explain the importance to them each time they do something good, that way they can feel like they've achieved something.

If your children are a little older, sit down with them and brainstorm how they can help to make an impact - every little helps!

Earth Day 2018: Sunday, 22nd April

Have some tips to share? Comment below!

There are many ways you can introduce your children to a more eco-conscious mindset. It can sound quite daunting and complicated but the best thing you can do to start is lead by example.

Our 6 top tips:

Spend time outdoors

Before you can push to inspire your little ones to care about the environment, you have to let them really experience nature and fall in love with it. Walks in the woods, along the beach or across local downs are fantastic. The fresh air is great for you and being amongst nature has so many benefits! Let your little ones play and run about, Don't worry about getting them muddy - nothing a bath won't fix!

Do your research and pick wild berries and mushrooms; your kids will love this!

Nurture a love for animals

If they're a fan of animals they are more likely to have an interest in protecting them and their homes. We find that talking to kids about the environment works better when you take an animal angle. Explaining how landfills are bad for wildlife is more effective than explaining water pollution and greenhouse gasses to a 4-year-old!

You can nurture a love for animals by introducing them to new animals frequently. A trip to a local wildlife reserve or zoo works perfectly; but if you have the time, and patience, then a walk in the woods looking out for wildlife works even better. This gives them a chance to explore!

If you have pets, some one on one time could do just the trick too!

Side Note: At the moment you can go and feed/cuddle the lambs at local farms.

Conserve Energy

For years parents have been shouting at kids to turn off the lights when they leave a room, so why not take it a step further? Take a moment to explain why we have to turn the TV off at the wall and why we turn the tap off when we brush our teeth. Here are a couple facts to get you started:

Fact 1: A hot water faucet that leaks one drop per second can add up to 165 gallons a month.

Fact 2: If everyone boiled only the water they needed every time they used the kettle, we could save enough electricity in a year to power the UK's street lights for nearly seven months.(Energy Saving Trust)

Fact 3: A single light left on overnight over a year accounts for as much greenhouse gas as a car drive from Cambridge to Paris

Community events

Look at Meetup and Eventbrite, or just Google, to see if there are any eco/nature focused events near you. If you live near the coast there's bound to be a beach clean! If you can't find anything, why not be the one to organise an event? Get the kids involved and locals to help.

Recycling

Segment your bins inside the house and explain to little ones why we separate plastic, paper and glass. Find examples online of items made from recycled materials, or even better, show them a video of the process.

Our Green Toys video simplifies the process so it's easy to understand for young minds.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxBFO85NEM[/embed]

Gardening

Teaching children where food comes from is an important lesson, and probably one of the most fun to teach!

Head to the garden centre and buy some seeds with the help of the children. Pick something colourful and maybe some that produce fruit/veg. Once you have your seeds, you can head out into the garden and teach them the basics. Explain to them that they should water it every day, and discuss the germination process, remembering to keep it light-hearted to avoid boredom!In a couple weeks time they'll be able to see the flowers or produce and will feel super-proud of what they have created!

Let them cut a flower or two to give to another family member as a gift, it's bound to get a smile!

Buy or make a bird table and get children to pop some bread or waste food on it each day. Make it their responsibility to fill the birdbath, they'll love having something of their own to do each day!

As with teaching anything to young children, repetition is vital. Make sure you implement simple changes every day and explain each time why you're doing it, in a fun and engaging way. Small changes can be as easy as taking canvas and fabric bags to the supermarket to avoid plastic. Taking your own water bottles out and ditching single-use drinks bottles is a fantastic starting point!

Don't worry if you slip up now and then, we've all forgotten our bags for a supermarket trip!