Although English is the predominant language of the UK, there are several minority languages spoken in different regions and it's possible to find nurseries that teach those languages from an early age. The other native languages spoken in the UK are:-

• Welsh
• Scottish Gaelic
• Scots
• Irish
• Ulster Scots
• Cornish

These languages are recognised in UK law and recognised by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.  In Wales, the Welsh National Assembly afford equal status to Welsh and English in official publications and signage.  Strangely enough, the English language isn't declared constitutionally as the language of the UK, it only enjoys its status on the grounds that that is what the majority of the population speak!

If you live in a region where a minority language is spoken and want your children to be learn it then you will be able to find local nurseries and other groups to join that promote these languages.  As with learning a foreign language at home, you should aim to speak the language to your children as well so that they gain wider exposure to it and can learn it more easily.  Indeed, you may choose only to use the minority language in the domestic setting and have them learn English outside of the home.

The World Wide Web provides the most amazing reference to help our children learn about and understand the world.  Going back a generation to our own childhood, you would be lucky to have an illustrated encyclopedia, suddenly we have a live reference where we can find information and pictures not only on anything in the past, but on everything new in breaking news stories.

Talk with your toddlers and preschoolers about world events that help to teach topical awareness.  Talk with your children about natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding and famine.  Describe how lucky for what they have and that not everyone is so fortunate.  When stories of natural disasters unfold on the news, talk about the issues and show them pictures and videos on the World Wide Web.  Obviously avoid showing imagery that is too distressing, and drop the topic if it begins to cause anxiety in your little ones.

You can also use the World Wide Web to augment teaching and understanding of other topics that you cover.  When learning colours, look for pictures predominantly portraying each colour.  When learning about animals, the sea, space, food or any other topic, find pictures online to give your little one a proper understanding.  If you have a smartphone with web access, you can even find explanations  and reference pictures when you're out and about and your little one asks a searching question!

Today's children are growing up in a world that we wouldn't have predicted when we were young, knowledge is available instantly and by sharing that with your children, they have the potential to learn and understand at a faster pace than has ever been possible before!

There are times when you need to be getting on with preparing the next meal and you have your little ones snapping around your ankles getting ever so slightly in the way - if you can sit them down at a table or on the floor and keep them occupied, then you'll find that you can get on with your work that much more easily! Here's a great idea to help occupy your toddlers in the kitchen...

Take a mixing bowl and add a small handful of three or four different types and shapes of dried pasta - bows, tubes, spirals, twists and so on.  Mix them all up.  Give your little one a muffin tray and have them sort the pasta back into the right shapes, filling the cups in the muffin tray with each of the different types of pasta.  Hopefully this will keep them occupied for some time and they will enjoy this as much as doing a puzzle.

For older children you can make the challenge a little harder by using rice, lentils and other smaller dried foods amongst the pasta.

This is a great activity to let your children loose on every time you want to cook in the kitchen and they want to 'cook' too!  This activity incorporates shape matching and encourages their fine motor skills as they have to pick up small pieces of pasta and place them in the right place.

Don't have a battle at mealtimes, everyone at some point has a bit of trouble with a fussy eater in the house so the first thing to remember is keep cool about it.  You are not alone in your struggle to get food down a stroppy toddler or a moody and tired pre-schooler. Don't think your child will starve if they don't eat properly for a few days... they won't!  They may be genuinely not hungry or a bit poorly, so don't get angry with them and claim they are being defiant or naughty, this may not be the case.  And, don't blame yourself.

Many fussy phases pass, so don't worry for the first few days.  If eating is becoming a problem on a frequent basis and some difficult habits are forming, then try some of these tips:

1. Play with food: allow your toddler to handle the food and roll peas or fly carrots like planes.  If it gets them eating then allow it!  Don't be too strict.
2. Give small amounts of lots of choice: so have a few sorts of vegetables for them to choose from.  Try using a compartmentalised plate or a muffin tray and fill each hole with something different!
3. Try giving 4-6 smaller meals a day rather than the usual 3 large meals.  Healthy snacking is just as nutritious and possibly better for smaller tummies to cope with.  Grazing minimises low blood sugar so will lessen any undesirable or difficult behaviour too.
4. Make the food fun.  Cut bread into strange shapes (eat your mountains or bread crown sounds a bit ore fun!).  If you can cut into shapes of use cookie cutters to make sandwiches or toast then do.
5. Or get them cutting things themselves (give plastic, blunt knives to cut cooked carrot) and the food is more likely to disappear. Or, get them spreading their own spread onto bread.
6. Use fun plates and even get some party plates to serve a meal on.  Pretend its a party!
7. Call in an older cousin or friend who eats well and have a meal together.  See if any good eating habits rub off!
8. Sitting on a chair with dangling feet is something that toddlers don't enjoy (try sitting on a stool for a whole meal) so place a step or box under their feet to support them.  This may keep them still a while longer and many help them concentrate more on eating and less on wriggling.

If eating problems persist and really do become a barrier, then you may want to seek medical or professional help, but on the whole, eating fads come and go and this is a normal part of growing up.

By law, all children traveling in cars must use the correct child restraint until they are 12 years old or 135cm tall.  Once they reach this criteria they must use an adult restraint.  There are a couple of exceptions, but by and large these rules should not be broken and it is the drivers responsibility to make sure they are not.

Children Up To Age 3

• Young children can travel in the front of the car
• They must use the correct child restraint in the front or back
• It is illegal to carry a child in a rear facing child seat in the front which is protected by an active airbag
• If a child is traveling in a taxi or licensed car and a seat is not available the child must travel in the back.  This is the only exception for under threes and for practical reasons rather than for safety

Children aged 3 -12

Children aged 3 - 12 must wear the correct child restraint whether traveling in the front or rear of the car.  There are 3 exceptions for this age group.

1. In a licensed taxi or private hire car
2. If the child is traveling  a short distance for reasons of an emergency or unexpected necessity.
3. If other fitted car seats make the fitting of a third one impossible, or if there are no restraints available for a third seat

Children traveling in minibuses, coaches or  any other vehicle must wear a restraint or adult seat belt.

Car Seats

A properly fitted child restraint keeps the child in their seat, keeping them in one position.  It also absorbs some of the impact in the event of an accident.  It means your child is less likely to be injured or killed in an crash.  Car seats must be fitted correctly.  Here are a few pointers:

1. Don't have the car seat too loose
2. Make sure the car seat is properly rooted
3. Make sure handle is positioned properly if you have a baby car seat
4. Ensure your car seats are compatible with your car and correctly fitted
5. Keep the car seat in good condition and make sure it's not old or worn
6. Check that seat is correct according to the size (height nd weight) of your baby.

Booster Seat:

Once your chid is 15-25kg (between 4 and 6 years old) they can use a booster seat.  The adult seat belt will restrain them so this becomes the most important item to check.  Make sure that:

1. The belt is as tight as it can be
2. The belt is not twisted
3. The lap belt goes across the hips and not stomach which is higher
4. The diagonal strap should go over the shoulder and not the neck

Rear Facing Car Seats

Consider using rear facing car seats instead of forward facing ones - although less popular in the UK they are in fact considerably safer.

Children typically need 12 - 14 hours sleep in every 24 hours and if your toddlers are getting their quota overnight, they may not need a daytime nap.  Young children who aren't napping should be encouraged to take a 'quiet time' during the day as this rests them a little and let's them get through the day more easily.  To introduce a 'quiet time', put your little one in their bedroom and let them play with puzzles or toys on their own for a while - 30 minutes is long enough for most children.  If they require a nap then you may find that they fall asleep during this period on their own.

A 'quiet time' helps with the transition from taking daytime naps to doing away with them altogether.  Some children will continue napping even once that have started school, but most children will give up naps anywhere between 2 and 4 years old.  Sometimes children give up naps because they simply don't appear to need them, other times you will stop your children napping because it doesn't fit into your daily routine.  If you have older children and have to do a school run, or if you have other daytime commitments, then it's quite possible that this will interfere with nap time.

People often feel pressured for their children's first birthday parties, especially for the oldest child; there's a feeling that they have to create an amazing spectacle that everyone will remember for years to come.  The truth is that your baby will never remember their first few birthdays, so don't blow a hole in your family finances, do something sensible and make sure you enjoy yourself as much as you hope your little one does!

For the first couple of years, you'll probably want to celebrate surrounded by your wider family rather than having lots of babies over.  The first birthday of your oldest child is a memorable milestone for you more than for your baby - you have survived your first year as a mother and no doubt achieved many new experiences along the way.  Invite your family around and celebrate your achievements with them.  Toast yourself with a few glasses of wine, and if you are still intent on blowing a hole in the family finances, lavish yourself with Champagne!

Eventually your little one will begin interacting with other children in playgroups and at nursery and you will want them to be able to share their birthday with a few of their own friends.  If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you can invite friends round for a playdate and hold a birthday tea for everyone.  If you have a budget and want to make a more memorable experience then there are all sorts of things you can do:-

• Hold a party at a local soft play centre, toddlers love clambering around play structures and soft play centres accommodate even the youngest party revellers
• Invite an entertainer into your home: look in the Yellow Pages or other local directories to find entertainers suitable for toddlers - clowns, magicians, face painters or balloon modelers may offer a show for your target age group
• Go to a restaurant: probably not suitable below the age of 4 because you need the children to sit still for the meal, and you won't find restaurants with high chairs for large numbers of babies, but a meal out can be a treat for little ones; some restaurants cater really well for children, for example Pizza Hut offer 'Make your own pizza' parties and the staff at TGI Friday are trained to keep young audiences amused with balloon modeling and just being generally fun!
• Go to the park: don't feel you need to hire a venue for a large party - if you have a 'summer' baby, organise a birthday tea picnic in a nearby park; organise a few games to play and invite all the other parents to stay to join in the fun
• Take everyone to a Saturday cinema club for children - although you may not get advanced warning of what will be showing and whether it will be suitable, so this may be difficult to commit to!
• There are several chains where you can hold 'make a bear' parties - each child chooses an empty teddy-bear template which can be stuffed and accessories added
• There are also many 'paint your own pottery' studios around - for really young children just putting handprints on a saucer or mug makes for a memorable gift that they can take back to their families; the only downside is that you can't leave your party with your art, you have to pick it up a couple of days later after it has been fired

We only offer a small selection of ideas for parties for children here, you'll find plenty more things to do in your local area.  Post your own ideas and suggestions here and tell everyone what you've done for your early parties...?

Sports day is a fun feature of summer, but toddlers who aren't old enough to attend school miss out on all this fun - why not hold your own 'Sports Day' for your littlest children and some of their friends?!  Invite two or three other mum's round with their little ones, set up a picnic outside for everyone, and make up a few races for them to compete in.  If it's hot, ensure there are plenty of drinks on hand!

Sports concentrate on improving motor skills and coordination, so think of some fun events that help do this.  If your little ones are two young to walk or run, then many races could be held at a crawl instead.  If you have a mix of ages and capabilities then introduce handicaps for the more capable children to give the littlest ones a fair chance of winning something.  If you're tight for space then rather running races in parallel you can time each child one after the other.  Here are some ideas:-

Flat race: have your little ones run from one end of the garden to the other, or in a loop around the garden.

Egg and spoon race: good old fashioned fun! Have your babies walk or run from one end of the garden to the other balancing a hard boiled egg on a spoon all the way.  Afterwards you can add the eggs to your picnic!

Sack race: give each child a sack and have them jump from one end of the garden to the other.  Shopping bags would make a suitable 'sack' but make your little athletes understand never to put bags over their heads.

Obstacle course: make up an obstacle course with your little ones having to run around, over and under objects placed around your garden.

Bat'n'ball race: have your little one hit a ball around a course in your garden - use a tennis racquet, cricket bat or any other makeshift bat.

Balancing act: if you don't have bean bags, find other items such as teddies, dolls or toy cars that your little ones can place on their heads and balance round a course.

Make up some certificates and award them at the end of each race.  You'll have great fun holding your own sports day; you'll enjoy watching your children perform, and they'll have so much fun trying out the different races!

All this sun gives is the perfect opportunity to teach our toddlers how the sun moves throughout the day and how better to show this than by making a giant sundial?!  Start by making a few signs of things that you do throughout the day.  Draw a picture each for breakfast, lunch and tea.  Draw pictures for snacks that you take regularly, then draw some pictures for other things that you do as part of your daily routine - do you always go outside at a certain time, or do a school run for older siblings?  Do you have a set story time, song time or maybe a time when you let your children watch a bit of television?  Make a bright sign for each of these and any other routine things that you do.

Now find two garden canes and cut them into lengths about two foot long - you can use short straight branches if you don't have canes to hand.  Attach one of your little one's drawings to each of the canes, securing them with tape.  Leave one piece of cane plain without any picture.  If there's a chance of rain over the next few days then attach a see through sandwich bag over each sign to protect it.

To make your sundial, take the plain cane and stick it in the ground in your garden.  Then as each of the different points of the day passes, go outside and look at where the shadow of your cane is sited.  Stick one of your cane's into the ground at the tip of the shadow.

As the day progresses, the sun moves in the sky and the tip of your shadow will move.  By the end of the day, all your homemade signs will be sited in an arc around the original pointer.  Explain to your toddler that the sun moves throughout the day and that this causes the shadow to move.  You might be able to explain to older children how the earth moves around the sun and that this is the reason why the shadow moves.

Leave your sundial out for a week and look at how the shadow points to the right sign for the different things going on in the day as the sun progresses.

It may look like scribbles, but from a very early age, the marks that children make on a page are an important step towards learning to write and communicate.  Through their marks children are communicating their ideas, showing us how they feel and developing their own imagination.  They are also being creative no matter how messy or scribbly their picture or words look to us when they have finished.

Give your child regular opportunities to make marks, draw, scribble, make lines and create pictures - at home, in the garden, in the park, at the restaurant, in the car.  There are lots of times you can settle them down to draw and write and keep themselves entertained at the same time!

From the moment a baby holds a crayon and makes their very first mark on a page, their journey towards writing had begun.   It may not be a conventional pencil used to write on a clean sheet of paper, but there are all sorts of other ways to get babies and toddlers used to the idea of mark making.   Here are  a few ideas to begin with:

• Salt Tray: Sprinkle salt into a tray and let your child make swirls and lines and marks. Put some tools in there too so they can use those.
• Cornflakes: A tray of cornflakes makes a crunchy media to play with and make marks in. Listen to the noise as you crunch them and let them fall between your fingers.
• Flour: A tray of flour is great for mark making as the lines remain. When they want a clean tray to write in, just shake it flat. Or add water making it gooey and slimy. Great fun!
• Textured messy play: Add lentils, beads, pasta to wet flour and make it more textured.
• Finger paint: Draw pictures and make marks with finger paints.
• Sky write: Get children to make letters in the sky.
• Back writing: Draw shapes on a child's back and see if they can make it out.
• Sand tray: Draw a shape or letter in a tray of sand and get your child to trace over it.  Shake the sand flat to start again.
• Chalk: Draw letters and patterns on a chalk board or pavement
• Pencils and crayons: Get lots of different and fun crayons and pencils for your child to experiment with.  Each feels different and makes different marks.
• Paper: Get different types of paper, colours, textured, lined etc and have fun working with each sort.

Celebrate summer and being outdoors with a garden sing song, there are lot's of fun songs that you can sing with your babies to enjoy in the summer sun!

Garden Songs

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle-shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

Round and Round the Garden

Round and round the garden, like a Teddy Bear.
(trace your finger in a circle around your little one's palm)

One step, two step
(walk your fingers up their arm)

Tickle you under there!
(tickle them under their chin or arm)

Creepy Crawly Songs

There's a Worm at the Bottom of the Garden

There's a worm at the bottom of my garden,
And his name is 'Wiggly Woo'.
There's a worm at the bottom of my garden
And all that he can do
Is wiggle all day and wiggle all night,
The neighbors say what a terrible fright!
There's a worm at the bottom of my garden,
And his name is Wiggly Woo!

Incy Wincey Spider

Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout,
Down came the rain and washed the spider out,
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
Now Incy Wincy spider went up the spout again!

Animal Songs

Five Little Speckled Frogs

Five little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious grubs.
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Then there were four green speckled frogs.

...then repeat with 4, 3, 2, 1.

Old Macdonald had a Farm

Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O
With a moo-moo here and a moo-moo there
Here a moo there a moo
Everywhere a moo-moo
Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

...and repeat for different animals

Five Little Ducks

Five little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only four little ducks came back.

...repeat until all of the ducks have flown and then...

Sad mother duck
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
The sad mother duck said
"Quack, quack, quack."
And all of the five little ducks came back.

Soon after their first year, you'll start to see your little toddlers begin to mimic you and other people they see around them - this is all part of how they begin to understand the world around them.  A really fun game to play at this stage is to sit opposite your toddler and have them copy your moves.  Make simple moves like opening and closing your hands, stretching your arms, nodding your head and wobbling your body.  You'll find the reactions entertaining as sometimes you'll find a move that your little one struggles to interpret and will mimic in a funny way!

After a while, swap roles and copy what your toddler does.  They'll be fascinated by the idea that they can 'control' what you are doing!

If you have a video camera or a digital camera that takes video that you can play back through your television or a computer, take some video of your toddler doing their moves.  Again, they will be fascinated being able to watch themselves back on the TV or computer.

Don't be pressed into potty training because your friends are going through the same with their children - your baby will give you signs that they are ready to be potty trained.  Until your baby is ready, attempting to potty train is a waste of time, there are certain milestones to reach first.

Most important is that your child should be physically developed enough to be able to keep themselves dry for three or four hours at a time.  If they aren't able to control their bladder at all, then they won't know when they need to go to the toilet.  It is also good that they can walk and can pull their own pants up and down.  In terms of language, your little one should be able to understand and follow instructions and should also be able to communicate that they need to go to the toilet.

As they are approaching the right moment, most children start to take an inquisitive interest in the toilet, taking a deeper interest when you go to the toilet and in your bathroom habits.  This is a good sign that they are ready to learn to potty train and make that move to independence sooner rather than later.

Your little one may stay in nappies overnight for some time after potty training - this is perfectly normal.  It takes a well developed bladder to be able to go through the night without wetting themselves.  Lifting them to the toilet during the night just before you go to bed will help them become more aware of when they need the toilet during the night.

Slightly older children are often too distracted by what they are doing than to consider going to the toilet.  Long after potty training you'll spot your little ones doing an awkward dance perhaps with their hand at their crotch - a sure sign that they are in discomfort because they need to go to the toilet, but they are too distracted to have made the connection and gone themselves.  Remind them to go to the toilet and they'll most likely disappear in an urgent flurry as realisation dawns!

Get outdoors and have some scavenger hunt fun: it's ideal for all kinds of situations and places!  It takes just a little bit of preparation and the children all love scavenger hunts whether in a small garden or a huge park.  Here are some ideas to get the children inspired outdoors no matter what their age!

Colour Hunt: Gather some things from round the house: toys, blocks, balls etc that are 4 different colours: red, green, blue and yellow.  Show the items to your child and sort them into piles by colour.  Keep one of each item and without your child looking, hide all the rest around our garden or around the park.  Send your child off to search for all the red items, then all the yellow etc.

Buried Treasure: collect some pebbles or pieces of dry pasta and cover them with silver foil to make them into shiny treasure.  Count them, and then hide each of the pieces in the garden.  Send your child off to find them and count them all back in at the end!  Perhaps if they find them all they win a piece of real treasure: a foil wrapped biscuit or a foil pouch of summer fruits to eat!

Shape Hunt: Make 16 cards and draw 4 coloured squares, circles, rectangles and ovals onto them.  Give one of each to your child and hide the rest.  Ask them to hunt for the others, matching them and naming them as they find them.

Letter Hunt: Write some letters on a page and ask your child to go off into the house or garden and find things beginning with that letter.  For A find an apple, for B find a ball, for C find a toy car etc.

Have fun!

On a hot day, the children will enjoy nothing more than a lovely refreshing ice lolly but rather than spending a fortune on shop bought ones throughout the summer, why not make your own at home?  At least you know what's gone into them and can make sure that they are healthy!  Start by buying some lolly sticks and moulds from a supermarket or other store.  Here are some recipe ideas:-

• Fruit juice lollies: for the most simple lollies, just pour fruit juice into the mould and insert a stick. Beware that pineapple juice doesn't freeze on its own but you can mix it with other juices. Make multi-coloured lollies by pouring in a little orange juice, let that freeze for a few hours, then add a red juice (blackcurrant, raspberry, cranberry etc).
• Make traffic light lollies by layering pureed strawberry, pureed peach and pureed kiwi on top of one another, freezing for about 2 hours between each layer.  If you find they need sweetening, add a little honey to each puree.
• Yoghurts and fromage frais freeze into delicious creamy lollies - pour the contents into your moulds or, for the little fromage frais pots, simply take off the lid, place a lolly stick in and freeze them in their own pots!
• Fruit smoothies also make for a delicious frozen feast, if you have your own juicer then juice a variety of fruits and banana to create your own fruit smoothie and freeze to make lovely lollies!
• Make milk lollies by using a milk base and flavouring with fruit puree or even cocoa.  Semi-skimmed milk freezes better than full fat milk, just make up a milk drink and pour into your moulds.
• Frozen bananas make a novel change from lollies, just peel a bananana, wrap it loosely in foil and place in the freezer.  Either enjoy them as they are or use them as toppings on yoghurt or other puddings - frozen bananas have a lovely creamy texture to them, almost like ice-cream!

Once you're in the habit of making your own lollies, you'll start experimenting by freezing all sorts of drink, fruit and yoghurt combinations!  Be creative and give the children a summer treat!