London Mums May 2016 Newsletter including Half term activities in London
- London Mums News
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- Published on Friday, 06 May 2016 13:05
- Last Updated on 06 May 2016
- Monica Costa
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Dear London Mums,
I love Spring! Enjoy this newsletter including half term activities in London.
I hope with my newsletters, reviews and interviews I manage to convey my joy for life and my carpe diem (seize the day) approach to life. I would like to spare a word of gratitude to our 60+ active contributors and guest bloggers who are also populating our pages both online and in print sharing interesting ideas and opinions. If you want to become part of the team, please email me and we will welcome to our growing London Mums family.
Local community recycling message from one of our longstanding members and readers, ‘Bond Girl’ Victoria from Putney
I came across this community food sharing App, OLIO (olioex.com) and have been using it to share food with neighbours that would have otherwise been wasted eg. extra cakes that cant all be eaten, vegetables from organic delivery boxes that cant be used up in time etc. and wondered if it’s something London Mums would be interested in? I’m a complete convert and have been trying to get everyone this side of Putney interested as the more people registered the better. It’s free and really easy to use, minimizes food waste and gets you meeting new neighbours.
FREE EVENTS in May & Half term activities in London
The Marvel Team Challenge at Disney Store reviewed by our Kids Club
To celebrate the release of Marvel’s heroic movie Captain America: Civil War, Disney Store is hosting a series of FREE exciting in store activities called The Marvel Team challenge for kids aged three and up from this weekend. The London Mums Kids Club was invited to review the challenge and the products ahead of the UK release of the movie. Check out how we got on with it.
Barnes Children’s Literature Festival 14-15 May 2016
Good news for bookworms! The Barnes Children’s Literature Festival is back for the second year on 14th & 15th May 2016. If you love sharing stories with your little ones, this is an opportunity to have a great day out in beautiful Barnes and meet some top authors and illustrators, with talks, workshops and book signings taking place all weekend.
On Saturday 14th May, Broadgate Circle will be transformed into a family wonderland to commemorate 100 years since the birth of Roald Dahl.
Free to attend, families can enjoy immersive storytelling and imaginative games, including:
- A candy-cane walkway leading to the outdoor literary den
- Creative mask and hat-making sessions
- Sweetie forest where candy grows from paper trees
- Mask-making sessions and science displays
Sky Kids Café – FREE Arts and Crafts (30 May-1 June)
Here’s a great free children’s event coming up in the May half term. For the first time kids will be allowed to enter the worlds of SpongeBob SquarePants, Scooby-Doo and Ben & Holly in a kids TV themed play and café experience. The Sky Kids Café, launched by Sky in celebration of their recently launched Sky Kids app, will run from 30th May through to Wednesday 1st June and will offer arts and crafts, a chance for kids to meet characters from the shows, and immerse themselves in the three imaginative play worlds. Alongside this, Sky have teamed up with celebrity chef and mother Lisa Faulkner to provide a special menu to enjoy in the café, offering food and drink inspired by each of the shows. Visitors can book their slot at www.skykidscafe.eventbrite.co.uk .
Art Workshop: Drawing a Somme Flipbook (28 May – 5 June 11am – 4pm) – To mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, kids can have a go at drawing a silhouette of a British ‘Tommy’ soldier and find out more about how flipbooks were used to animate images during the First World War (28 May – 5 June). Also over half term a special version of our object handling session Object Conversations will take place (30 May – 3 June, free).
In April and May there’s a learning session Introduction to the Holocaust, a starting point for young families wishing to learn about the Holocaust (30 April – 1 May and 21 – 22 May, free).
West End Shows Offer of the month
We are now on sale with An American in Paris coming to London’s West End – Dominion Theatre 4 March to 30 September 2017!
Acclaimed as “a perfect integration of dance, romance and classic Gershwin” (The New York Times), An American In Paris is the award-winning, thrillingly staged and astonishingly danced Broadway musical featuring some of the greatest music and lyrics ever written.
Jerry Mulligan is an American GI striving to make it as a painter in a city suddenly bursting with hope and possibility. Following a chance encounter with a beautiful young dancer named Lise, the streets of Paris become the backdrop to a sensuous, modern romance of art, friendship and love in the aftermath of war. This breathtakingly beautiful musical features many of George and Ira Gershwin’s most popular and timeless songs, including I Got Rhythm, ’S Wonderful and They Can’t Take That Away From Me, together with George Gershwin’s sublime compositions Concerto in F and An American in Paris.
More Half term activities in London
Spring Outdoor activities – Gardening Lab for Kids: Rock Bugs and the Shoe Garden Project
Kidzania London reviewed by the London Mums Kids Club
It’s difficult to explain what Kidzania is all about, but the kids are pretty good in this video.
Watch these videos of London Mums telling what they REALLY think of the Shrektacular experience at Shrek Adventure London and the kids first reactions Books of the month
London Mums’ quote has been used on the front cover of the brilliant book Beatrice and the London Bus which we reviewed some time ago. Isn’t it lovely?! Watch this space for an exclusive interview with the author, Francesca Lombardo.
I felt really honoured to get the chance to personally meet one of the world’s bestselling authors for women’s fiction, Sylvia Day, who shared with me her casting plans for a TV series based on the Crossfire novels.
We have reviewed a lot of books this month. You can check them out in the Book Club section.
Films of the month
Captain America – Civil War plus check a few gossips on the Marvel-lous stars behind the scenes from the press conference I had the pleasure to attend. 20 Things you (probably) did NOT know about the Marvel stars
The Cutest Movie Animals – film inspiration from the best animals on film
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY – FIRST LOOK TEASER TRAILER
Best shows on Netflix this May
Call me shallow, but I am not ashamed to admit that my favourite show on Neflix this month is the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Despite failing to blow me away as the first series did, maybe because I was so longing for this to finally arrive that my expectations were probably too high, season 2 of this sitcom still has lots of excellent hilarious gags to keep you amused and relaxed for a few hours. What I love about Kimmy is her absolute faith in the human being like myself which results in lots of absurd scenarios. This might be the reason for my liking actually.
For the Marvel super fans, Daredevil is back in Season 2 with 13 new gripping episodes. Again, I was really looking forward to the sequel to an amazingly engaging season 1 and I was a bit disappointed by the increase in violence and anger in this series. Despite Daredevil’s great looking new suit and his two love interests (including ex girlfriend and super heroine herself Elektra), the series is not too engaging. To save the day in a declining series, in episode 10 Giles Marini appears in a short cameo and flirts in French with Elekra only to be killed by her a few minutes later. What a shame! I thought he might have joined the cast as another superhero. He would have been great at that, I am sure. Along superheros there usually are super villains and rest assured that the decadent heros get lots of headaches by the bloody vengeance seeking Punisher.
If you don’t mind French speaking TV, there’s a new kid in town at Netflix right now, an original series called Marseille, a tribute to the capital of Provence, which served as the inspiration, setting and main character for the fictional new series. I have only watched one episode and the storytelling is compelling. Soon, a French twist on the original “HOLLYWOOD” sign will be erected to overlook the city. The towering letters, reaching close to fifty feet high and over three hundred feet long, are a testament to the vibrancy of Marseille as a flourishing destination for entertainment and international culture. Marseille weaves a story of power, corruption and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the French port city. Marseille plays the central character in this thriller with Shakespearian overtones, as Gérard Depardieu and Benoît Magimel wage a merciless war to seize the keys to the city. All eight episodes of Marseille are available to stream globally on Netflix now.
Parenting – Our expert guest bloggers come to the rescue!
HOW TO SAY NO AND STAY FRIENDS USING NLP
When is a child old enough to babysit?
May Giveaways
Enter our fabulous competitions for the chance to win some of these prizes:
2 Tiny Pop exclusive goody bags
6 pairs of tickets to BBC COUNTRYFILE LIVE
5 copies of BBC classic The Further Adventures of the Musketeers DVD
3 book bundles including the latest Dummies Junior guides for the Digital Generation
5 pairs of tickets to The Private Pregnancy UK Show 21-22 May 2016 – Royal Institution London
5 copies of The Children of Green Knowe DVD http://wp.me/p1tkKJ-bVU
5 new animation Robinson Crusoe merchandising goodie bags
10 copies of new MASHA AND THE BEAR DVD collection
London Mums on YouTube
Please subscribe to our London Mums YouTube channel for more film reviews, exclusive interviews with celebrities, first reactions, children views and insights into London Attractions! Watching a short video or vlog is often more relaxing and fun than reading! This is why most of London Mums’ activities will hit YouTube before this website.
Enjoy Spring! Til the next one, get in touch if you want to share your thoughts and ideas with fellow London Mums.
Monica
Monica
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Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
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