Learning made fun

Merry Christmas And A Happy 2012

Everyone at Musical Minis and the Learning Made Fun Blog wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Enjoy the festive break and we look forward to seeing some of you in 2012.

Give As You Live - Helping Charity Isn't Just For Christmas

LAST month I went to an event at Libertys in Regent Street to find out about Give As You Live. I was amazed to hear how we can all be raising money for charity when shopping online and not have to pay extra to donate as the money is given by the retailer. It is such a simple concept and if charities can earn from my shopping then I certainly have nothing to lose.

Everyclick is a fundraising technology company that enables people to give to any of the UK’s charities through everyday online activity, such as online shopping. No extra money needs to be donated. The company was set up in 2005 by Polly Gowers, after she recognised the enormous potential of the internet and technology to do good. The technology developed by Everyclick is different from other fundraising initiatives, such as Just Giving, as people do not need to make a conscious donation and it supports any of the UK’s charities.

Everyclick’s flagship product is Give as you Live, which allows supporters to turn every pound shoppers spend online, into funds for their cause. Give as you Live enables a supporter to raise funds for any charity of their choice every time they shop online, without having to pay anything extra. It represents an additional £1.25bn in potential unrestricted revenue for the charity sector. Over 1,500 leading retailers are already on board, including supermarkets, travel agents, fashion brands, and more are joining daily. From classic family gifts to the hottest new gadgets, every online purchase can raise significant funds for UK charities and not cost the purchaser a penny more – as it’s the retailer that makes the donation.

Give as you Live’s new ‘Wish lists’ functionality enables shoppers to create lists for themselves, friends and family, to ensure they get exactly what they want for Christmas this year. Users of the Give as you Live Wish Lists can both choose their favourite gifts from over 1,500 retailers, and choose who to support from 220,000 UK registered charities. With many people opting to go online in the search for those perfect Christmas gifts, Give as you Live represents a great opportunity for shoppers to give charities that much need funding boost this Christmas. Collectively, this festive season, online shoppers have the potential to raise £170m* for UK charities through Give as you Live. From the nation’s most famous department stores Harrods and Selfridges, to much-loved retail outlets including John Lewis and M&S, to Christmas favourites like Hamley’s. Give as you Live works with over 1,500 UK retailers, offering over 15 million products and covering 80% of the UK’s top 100 retailers, working with each to raise money for deserving causes at no cost to the shopper.

I think this whole idea is great - not just for Christmas but for birthdays and even regular shopping. If you are shopping online, for example from Tesco's, it is great to raise money for charity at the same time - you still earn ClubCard points so have nothing at all to lose. I had a bit of trouble when just trying to buy from a site I accessed from the Give As You Live site so I think it probably is easiest to create an account with them. This is how you do it:
The simple instructions are:
1. Visit http://www.giveasyoulive.com/ and create an account by signing in on the top right hand corner.
2. Choose a charity to support with all of your shopping. If you don't want to choose one your donation will be sent to Give As You Live charity of the month - although I couldn't see what this was.
3. Shop and raise money for your favourite cause from over 1500 leading retailers  You just click on stores and choose where you want to shop.
4.  You can create a wish list and share it with your friends and family.

You can Download Give as you Live so you can shop directly at all of your favourite retailers and raise money for your selected charity. Whenever you shop online Give As You Live will pop up and your chosen charity will receive money. If charities can benefit from our shopping, with no change to our shopping habits or at no extra cost to the shopper then there really is nothing to lose!

Happy shopping!

Nativity Plays - Fond Memories from the Mum Of A Donkey!

MY children's nativity plays were always one of the year's highlights. They were something I wouldn't dream of missing and luckily being my own boss I could gear the Musical Minis term around my own children. I suggest to our franchisees that they should finish classes early at Christmas time so they make sure they have time to watch their children's plays. This is a great advantage of having a flexible business.

I have enjoyed all the school plays my children have ever been in but a few stick out as being really memorable. My all time favourite was when Alex, my middle child, was 3 years old and he was a donkey in his nursery's nativity. Alex was guarding the crib in the stable with a boy called Bruce who was a sheep. The 3 wise men came and left their gifts, which apparently were left in a position slightly different to the one expected. This resulted in the sheep and donkey having a fight on stage struggling to put the gifts in the exact correct place! Alex won and the sheep was so fed up that he went to sleep and had to be woken up at the end. Little did we realise then, that Alex would end up studying drama at University and obviously exact staging was extremely important to him!

Matthew, my eldest, when he was 3 years old was Joseph in the nativity. The cast then performed the Christmas Alphabet and he and Mary (a girl called Imogen) had 'M is for the mistletoe where everybody kissed'. It was really sweet watching these two 3 year olds kiss on cue. I still love the song and made sure it is on our Musical Minis Christmas lesson. Another one of my favourites when was Matthew was at primary school, aged about 6 years old. They were performing a rock nativity and Matthew managed to lead his whole class off stage at totally the wrong time - they all followed him!

The nativity that sticks out in my mind with Emily, my youngest, was when she was about 3 years old and at nursery. One of the scenes was with a girl, called Georgina and a boy, who I can't remember, doing 'I'm a Barbie Girl' with the rest of the nursery dancing around. I still have no idea why they were doing this but it was really sweet. At primary school, when Emily was 5 years old, she was given the task with a few others of playing percussion instruments to accompany the play. Her years of Musical Minis training paid off!

I would love to hear your nativity play stories with your children. They are a very special part of being a parent and I appreciate all the teachers' hard work in putting on a performance, with such young children, that can be remembered for years to come.

 Photo by Flickr jrwi

Novelty Christmas Items from Poundland - A Review

Christmas products are readily available on the high street and it is relatively easy to find products to match the budget you want to spend. The amount you are happy to spend may be guided by how many years you want the items to last. Poundland sent me a few novelty goods to try out and review. I actually thought they were good fun and worth the £1 they cost, however, I expect they won’t last long and are a bit tacky.

This snowman is available in pink or blue. It is battery operated and lights up to bring a bit of festive cheer to any space such as a desk or shelf. There is an on /off button so it doesn’t have to flash all day. I’m not sure how long the battery will last for.

These Christmas playing cards are ideal as a stocking filler. They come in a Santa or snowman design.

 

 

 

Get into the spirit of Christmas with these light up assorted musical ties. Available in tree, Santa and snowman designs. There is a button on the tie to press to start the music and the flashing. Once started you can’t stop it but it only lasts a few seconds. I’m not sure how long the battery lasts.

 

 

 

Hanging Christmas characters make Christmas decorations come alive. These are fun fabric made character hanging decorations. The cord to hang it up actually looks as though it may break but can be replaced with string.

Count the days to go to Christmas with a chalkboard. This also hangs up but the cord looks as it will snap soon and needs to be replaced with string. It would have been great if it had a piece of chalk with it.

 

 

This large Santa stocking is about 50cm in length and is made of cloth. It has a handle. It is ideal to fill with small Christmas presents.

I was also sent reindeer headbands and elf headbands. These are always fun to wear for a short time. Another item I was sent was, I think, a Santa toilet lid cover made of felt. I did try to fit it to our toilet lid but it didn't fit. I'm not sure what else it could be though!

These novelty items were fun and for £1 each they are reasonable. I'm sure they won't last more than one Christmas but what really can we expect for £1.