Playpennies

Baby has  taken his or her first toddling steps. They can get about, and you feel rather proud. This is a huge achievement.

The thing is, what they want to do now is walk everywhere. Get back in that pushchair? Are you mad?! And a toddler has their own agenda when it comes to getting anywhere. In fact, getting anywhere at all seems to be pretty optional for them.

They like going out. Some will be sociable, and want to mix with other children. Some won't and will prefer your company. But from now until they go to school they will want to go out and do things - and so will you. It is fun!

Activities at this stage are generally best if they offer a mix of stuff to do, which includes the ability to run, fast, in any direction they want.

So what do other parents recommend? I drew on the collective experience of our PlayPennies parents, scoured the internet, and asked every parent I know.

Right, so your summer holiday is on its way and if you’ve not sorted it out yet, then it is time to do so now. Here are some tips and tricks to saving money on your holidays so you don’t end up feeling stressed about your finances when you get home.

Every year we look at the baby essentials, the stuff you really will need if you're about to become new parents. And we also look at the stuff you can safely avoid. Like nappy disposal bins - to be honest a bin with a lid does the same job.

But there are the in-between items. The ones that some parents can't do without, while other parents find indispensable. The problem is, until baby arrives you just won't know whether this applies to you, or not.

These are the items that you should look at borrowing, buying second-hand, or waiting until baby is born. And here's a handy list for you to check off against your own shopping list as you prepare for that imminent arrival. This could save you quite a lot of dosh in the long term.

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I may have a six year old, but I remember exactly how tired I was when she was a six week old. I remember the feeling of my eyes dragging along the ground behind me, the inability to think beyond the weird fog in my head, and the desperate need to lie down wherever I was and just sleep.

So, here are some brilliant tips that will hopefully help you get your little one to sleep in a jiffy!

Is it possible to have a birthday party for your child, and not spend more than £50 or less? I found myself wondering about this when I read at the weekend that on average, people spend £300 on a child's birthday party.  With many spending as much as £800.

My first thought was, who are these people? And why aren't they in the same recession as the rest of us? The figures come from a poll run by Mums Show Live, an event held in London for parents of children aged four to 12. Which makes me think that it is the whole school thing that ups the ante. We start to meet other parents, look at what people are doing on social media, and start to feel pressured into doing the same. Suddenly, pin the tail on the donkey, jelly and ice cream doesn't feel like enough.

But people, it doesn't have to be that way. It is possible to throw your child a simple party and for it to be fun, and everyone to have a good time, and it not to cost the earth. Here are some top tips!

Music plays a powerful role in the development of a child. From the moment they can hear in utero to the day they are born and up, music can inspire them, relax them, help them learn and develop and so much more. This week PlayPennies teamed up with the very well know music group, Jo Jingles, to talk about the importance of music and singing for your children.

One of the big ticket items you're going to have to get when you have a baby is a cot, or cot bed. This can be as straightforward as going to the shop and buying the first one you see. But if you want to make a more informed choice then there are some things you really need to know. Especially if you decide to buy second-hand.

Knowledge can also save you cash. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If only I knew way back when my son was born what I know now. Choosing the right one when buying a cot was one such minefield. I can see now that I spent far more than I needed to simply because I didn't know what to look for.

The technology revolution and the rise of the app have made me very happy. Not only does it mean that we get to play around with amazing new toys, but we also gain access to a world of recipes and ideas that people never had access  to before. In this feature I am going to take you through some of the coolest recipe apps from the free to the costly…

Funny how at this time of the year I find myself wanting to spring clean. Maybe it is down to the whole change of season thing. Spring appears to have come a whole month late, but still the weather has finally managed to claw its way up past the 10 degree mark. And there's been a return of that yellow stuff too, otherwise know as sunshine.

As the sun lit the back wall of my living room for the first time in six months, I realised (as I do every year) that things have got a bit cluttered and dusty. Time to get the place looking fresh and clean.

This year I am boxing everything up, and sorting out the stuff I could feasibly make some money from. With a bit of organisation, I plan on having a really nice treat day out this half term. Paid for by the stuff I don't need! I'll update you on how I get on later in May, but for now, here's some of the places I've found that will pay for your junk, online. Read on to find out more.

Ever find yourself telling people that you're just not good at maths? That maths isn't your strong point? That you just don't get numbers? I'll let you in on a secret. It turns out that none of us are maths dunces. We were just taught it wrong.

That's the reasoning behind the massive change in the maths curriculum that took place a wee while ago. The idea now is to help children learn the concepts behind maths, not just formulaic stuff by rote. Apparently, saints preserve us, algera is something we should all do for the fun of it, like we do Soduku puzzles.

This might leave you though, as the parent of primary school children, a bit flummoxed at how to provide them with numeracy support in the same way you would their literacy. Well, there's lots of help to be had, and much of it is free. Read on to find out more.

Ok, so it is the greatest family reunion since the beginning of time. You’ve even managed to get Great Aunt Thelma to come to the party and your sister/aunt/in-law has just had the most beautiful baby ever. You want to grab this moment in time forever and so you whip out your camera or camcorder, film everything as much as you can, get home to view the footage with glee, and discover that in every, single shot someone is doing something terrible. There is no perfect shot.

So, without further ado, here are some of the biggest dilemmas revealed and we give you some tips to help combat these so you get those moments captured perfectly, forever.

Owning a video camera doesn’t mean you suddenly become brilliant at shooting home movies. Often the opposite is entirely true. There is camera shake, funny noises, blurred shots, a bit of a Blair Witch thing with random feet and noses, and the weather doesn’t help either. So, we went and asked around for some ideas on how to capture fantastic videos while out with your family and both Panasonic and the National Trust replied…

The weather has been, let’s face it, more than a little unpredictable lately. I would even go so far as to say that the weather, if likened to a mental state, has moved from strange to downright insane. So where can you go on a gloomy day?

Family life is confusing and messy, hectic and complicated. It can be all too easy for even the best budgeter to throw caution to the wind, and use a debit or credit card unwisely. You think you've enough in your current account to use a debit card, but it turns out you're wrong. And suddenly you're hip-deep in bank charges.

Or you've gone that little bit too far to pay the balance at the end of the month and the interest rates start to build up.

But love cards or hate them, the simple fact is you can't live without some kind of bank card. So what are your options?

When I decided a few years ago, or rather my drastically reduced income following redundancy decided for me, to go without credit or overdrafts I started to look into alternatives.

These are pre-paid cards. They look just like credit cards, and carry the same Visa or Mastercard or Maestro logo you're already familiar with. But you load the card up with cash, and you can only spend what you have on the card.

This makes it a lot easier to keep to your budget and not end up paying out half your disposable income in charges and interest each month. Read on to find out more about the advantages, and also disadvantages, of these cards.

Want to have more children and need some ideas on how to boost your system and get it into shape? Well, beyond exercise and healthy living, there are some great foods that are apparently rather brilliant at getting both you and your partner’s bodies ready for a baby.

Spring is in the air. Well it was yesterday. Today it is chilly and icy again. But still, it isn't raining or snowing. This is a great time of the year to start planning out your DIY tasks for the year. Figure out what you need to do, how long each task will take, and when you can do it. Then you can work out if you might be able to save cash by doing it yourself, or whether it is better to save up and get in a professional.

To help you out, here's some DIY tasks that are a lot easier than you might think, and some places or ways you can learn for free.

Plus I've thrown in a couple of tips to help you solve common household problems yourself without having to pay for help.

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One of the surest things about becoming a parent is that, sooner than you’d think, you’re up to your elbows in glue, scrunched up tissue paper, cut up magazines, and bits of old cereal boxes.

And as if to help parents out with ideas, just about every month there's something else happening that you can theme your crafts around. This month it is Easter.

There's lots of Easter crafts you can go for. Eggs, nests, bonnets, anything themed with chicks or bunnies. For this particular feature I'm focusing on Easter Baskets. And if you're not doing an Easter Egg hunt then I'd really recommend giving it a try. There's a little wood near us, and for the last couple of years a small number of us have got together and had a little Easter egg hunt for the kids. It is a huge amount of fun!

What you want to do is give the kids enough material to allow them to really go nuts with their imagination. And as it is Easter holidays, to give them an activity that will help keep them busy for a while.

When you are on a money saving kick but still want to treat yourself to a luxurious bath experience, why not whip up some of your own bath products with things you have lying around at home. Granted, you probably won’t have all these items, but buying them is sometimes cheaper than going to an expensive bath shop in the first place. And if neither of these reasons works for you, then why not whip these up because crafting is fun and you can make these with the kids (some of them, anyway)!

Easter is a great adventure and I’m not entirely sure I will ever grow out of it. I can remember stuffing my face with eggs, running about on a sugar high and being completely mean and not giving any chocolate to my brother. Easter has always been a family affair and we make a huge deal out of it every year. Last year I went and left a trail of cotton wool around the street and when we went for a walk, I told my daughter the Easter bunny was shedding because it was so warm…

So, as Easter rapidly approaches and the shops are bursting with eggy surprises, what are you going to do on the big day? Well, ASDA has some cute ideas that I’ve totally stolen from them and popped into this feature. They suggest a roast for Easter Sunday, and I am inclined to agree, especially if this icy weather continues. It may well be that everyone will need a toasty roast to warm up after hunting for eggs in the garden.

It is that time of the year again when the kids get to gorge themselves silly on chocolate. Easter Sunday is on March 31st this year. So only a couple of weeks to go.

I love Easter, it is one of my favourite holidays (along with Halloween). Mainly because it is so simple. Throw a bunch of chocolate at the kids and they're happy!

It is also in the middle of the Easter school holidays, so you can spend a bit of time doing craft type things with the kids too. If you want!

What I also like about Easter is that it's an easy holiday event to do really cheaply. Here's some of the great ideas and budget deals I've found on the internet.

Crafting with kids can be enormous fun, but often busy parents don’t have the time to figure out cool crafts or go hunting across the web for craft patterns and ideas. It can be also quite hard to be super creative when you’re tired and fed up. Fortunately there are people out there who are enormously creative and talented and who have kindly put up blogs for us to visit, use and admire. Here are my top eight children’s craft sites…