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THE PERFECT TEDDY BEAR PICNIC!

THE PERFECT TEDDY BEAR PICNIC!

Are you looking to host the perfect Teddy Bear Picnic? Whether you’re planning a birthday party, a summer gathering, or just a fun family event, a Teddy Bear Picnic is a great way to spend quality time with your loved ones. In this blog post, we will share some ideas and tips to help you host a memorable Teddy Bear Picnic.   Teddy Bear Picnic Ideas When planning a teddy bear picnic, you will want to think of activities that will keep everyone entertained, especially the children. Here are some ideas to help you get started: Teddy Bear Treasure Hunt - Hide small teddy bears throughout the picnic area and provide the children with a treasure map to find them. Teddy Bear Parade - Encourage everyone to bring their teddy bears to the picnic and have a parade around the picnic area. Teddy Bear Crafts - Set up a crafting station where children can make clothes and accessories for their teddy bears. Teddy Bear story time - Read a story or two about teddy bears to the children. Teddy Bear Picnic Games - Set up a range of games such as pin the nose on the teddy bear, teddy bear bowling, and teddy bear toss.   Teddy Bear Picnic Song & Dance No picnic is complete without some singing and dancing. Here are some of our favourite teddy bear picnic songs: The Teddy Bears' Picnic - This classic song is a must-have for any teddy bear picnic. It's a catchy tune that everyone will enjoy. We're Going on a Bear Hunt - This fun and interactive song is perfect for getting everyone up and moving. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear - This nursery rhyme is a great way to get young children singing and dancing. I'm a Little Teddy Bear - This adorable song is perfect for young children. The Teddy Bears Have a Picnic - This fun song is a great way to get everyone excited about the picnic.     Teddy Bear Picnic Cake & Food When it comes to hosting a picnic, food is a crucial element. Here are some ideas for teddy bear-themed food and cake: Teddy Bear Sandwiches - Use a teddy bear-shaped cookie cutter to make sandwiches that look like teddy bears. Teddy Bear Cupcakes - Decorate cupcakes with teddy bear faces using frosting and candy. Bear Claws - Make pastry bear claws and sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. Honeycomb - Serve honeycomb as a sweet snack that's perfect for bears. Teddy Bear Picnic Cake - Make a cake that looks like a teddy bear using a round cake for the head and cupcakes for the ears.   Teddy Bear Picnic Decorations Creating the perfect picnic atmosphere is crucial to a successful teddy bear picnic. Here are some ideas for teddy bear-themed decorations:  Teddy Bear Tablecloth - Use a tablecloth with teddy bear prints or use a plain tablecloth and sprinkle teddy bear confetti on it. Teddy Bear Picnic Blanket - Use a picnic blanket with teddy bear prints or create your own using a plain blanket and teddy bear fabric paint. Teddy Bear Balloons - Inflate balloons in the shape of teddy bears or use plain balloons and decorate them with teddy bear stickers. Teddy Bear Centrepieces - Create centrepieces using teddy bears and picnic baskets filled with flowers. Teddy Bear Bunting - Use teddy bear bunting to decorate the picnic area, or use some colourful bunting. Hosting a teddy bear picnic can be a great way to create memories with your children. With the right location, food, games, and decorations, your picnic is sure to be a hit. Don't forget to add some teddy bear-themed music and a sweet treat to top it all off. So, gather up your favourite stuffed animals and start planning your perfect teddy bear picnic today! Need to invite more bears... Click here

MEET OUR TOP SELLING SAND ART PICTURE!

MEET OUR TOP SELLING SAND ART PICTURE!

On Black Friday, lots of Kids Bee Happy consultants joined us for a Zoom Party, where we had some fun, including quizes.   One of the questions, which I think no-one guessed correctly, was "Guess which picture has sold more than any other picture, ever?   And the answer is this cheeky chappie shown in the picture.  I think its wonderful because it just goes to show wonderfully that sand art pictures don't need to be gendered, they don't need to be designed for boys, or for girls, they simply need to be designed for people.  And not matter who you are and where you are, a lovely happy picture of a cheeky monkey is always a winner, whatever your age.

CAN YOUNG CHILDREN DO SAND ART?

CAN YOUNG CHILDREN DO SAND ART?

HOW OLD DOES MY CHILD NEED TO BE TO MAKE SAND ART PICTURES? The official guidelines are 3 years, because there are fiddly little bits of paper, and you need some manual dexterity to open the caps and use the sticks. But what we find is that parents and young children love making sand art pictures together, with the parent doing all the fiddly little jobs such as peeling off the paper, and opening up the sand tubes, and the child picking the bits they want to colour and then shaking the sand on, and tipping it off onto the tray. And this makes a lovely combination, it really is a craft that parents can enjoy with their your children because with sand art there is nothing that spoils, and nothing that can be broken, the worse that can happen is that some bits end up a different colour than originally planned.We find that when children get to about 5 years old they are very happy and very capable of making their pictures on their own, and that those between 3 and 5 need a bit of help to start off, but quickly get the hang of things.Remember, if your child has a short attention span, or just gets diverted by something else happening at the same time, then there is no need to worry, simply ensure that the last peeled section is coloured with sand, then simply put it away and finish another day. It's not like paint, or modelling clay, or many other children's crafts, you can stop half way and finish an hour, a day, a week or even a month later and nothing will spoil.We also get asked for what ages we would recommend sand art - and the official answer is 3 to 103, all you need to do is ensure that the design of the picture is something that the person receiving it would like to do, if the children are younger we would recommend simpler pictures with less sections to peel and colour, if the child is older, or an adult, we would recommend the pictures with lots of detail and lots of section, to allow for maximum creativity.All of the components and products in our home kits are produced to EN71 (European Toy Standards) level, even the sand itself, so even when one of our consultants makes up a special personalised pack for you - you can rest assured that everything is produced to the highest level, we don't pretend that our kits are "crafts" so that we can produce to a lower level - everything is produced to the highest possible standard.

KIDSBEEHAPPY REAWARDED TOYMARK AWARD FOR 2020

KIDSBEEHAPPY REAWARDED TOYMARK AWARD FOR 2020

KIDS BEE HAPPY ARE DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE HAVE BEEN RE-AWARDED THE TOYMARK AWARD FROM CONSUMER GROUP "LET TOYS BE TOYS" FOR THE FIFTH YEAR RUNNING. Let Toys be Toys is a consumer group that raises customers and retailers focus to ensure that toys and play choices aren't made on the basis of gender. It's not about gender neutrality - it's about gender free choices. If a boy wants to play with dolls and a pram - fab, if a girl wants to play with a builder set - ace. Play shouldn't be restricted by gender.So how do we take this into consideration - well its simple:- We don't have "girls" pictures and "boys" pictures- We are careful to offer random mixes of sand colours, rather than US deciding that all unicorns need to be pink and all lorries need to be blue.We don't do gendered colours, we don't do gendered designs, we don't do gendered packaging or marketing. We just do products for kids - all of them, nice and simple.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE LEFT OVER SAND?

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE LEFT OVER SAND?

SOMETIMES CUSTOMERS WORRY ABOUT THE EXTRA SAND THAT'S TIPPED OFF THE PICTURES, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT TO ENSURE THAT IT ISN'T WASTED.  SOME CUSTOMERS TRY TO GET THE CAPS OFF THE TUBES AND TIP IT BACK IN, AND ALTHOUGH ITS POSSIBLE (BUT TRICKY BECAUSE WE PUT THOSE CAPS ON REALLY TIGHT SO THAT THEY CAN'T COME OFF IN CHILDREN'S MOUTHS) WE DO HAVE A BETTER RECOMMENDATION. When your children are making their sand art pictures, simply have a bowl next to them that they can tip the excess sand off into.  If your children are younger it might be easier to let them tip it off onto a tray, and then for you to tip the tray into a bowl. When you have your bowl of sand, all you need is a spoon, and then your children can sprinkle on that lovely multicoloured sand back onto their pictures straight away.  We like to call it magic rainbow sand, because every time you make a picture, the magic sand you create will be a different colour. Magic rainbow sand from a bowl is idea for using with a spoon to colour in some of those backgrounds on some of the bigger pictures - we've used it here on background of our lovely Christmas tree picture - why don't you zoom in and see just how many different colours there are in there! And when you've finished up all of your pictures, why not keep it in an old jamjar ready for arts and crafts with your kids another day.

BE WILD WITH YOUR SAND COLOURS!

BE WILD WITH YOUR SAND COLOURS!

ON THE VERY FIRST DAY OF KIDS BEE HAPPY, ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, WE LEARNT A VERY IMPORTANT LESSON ABOUT CHILDREN AND CRAFTS. You see we found that sand artists fell into two camps - the first are the group who like everything to be authentic, things to be the correct colours, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and elephants are grey. The second camp are a bit more free-er, and any colour can go anywhere, their elephants are not grey, infact they have mutli coloured patches, four different colour legs, and a stripey trunk. We also noticed that the parents and grandparents tended to be much more in the first group, I guess years of being sensible and "grown up" makes it a little harder sometimes to be instantly creative, and even the little prompts to their children "now, what colour is the grass?" steers the children in a certain direction. Now let me tell you about Ryan, Ryan was a lovely six year old we met at the Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum, and Ryan wanted to do a dinosaur picture.  First of all Ryan pulled off a bit of the dinosaur and coloured it in green, he then pulled off the bits for the dinosaurs arms and legs, and did those green too.  Then he did the ground that the dinosaur was standing on, and yes that was green too, along with the sky, the tree tops, the tree trunks, the clouds, the volcano, the lave and smoke from the volcano, the dinosaurs eyes and even its teeth! Ryan took over an hour to make his picture, slowly, carefully, dedicatedly colouring in every individual section, one by one, even the tiny bits.  And then when he finished, he pulled off all of the black outlines and coloured them in too, (I'll let you guess which colour!) At the end, he proudly held his picture high and asked "Guess what my favourite colour is?"  Well, apparently it wasn't pink lol. Its a funny story, but I think about Ryan regularly when i'm putting together the packs and the kits, because every time Ryan reminds me not to make assumptions about the "right colours" for the designs on the pictures. So as a grown up, when you're helping younger children to make their picture remember that play is about creativity, and that its not always important to learn their colours.  Ask them to talk about their story, hear whats going on in their imagination, because if they are thinking about colouring the sea in orange - you can bet there is a delightful story coming your way. If you receive a kit and the picture includes sky, and there isnt a blue sand tube in the kit - what we you do?  Well we get creative.  What colour is the sky?  Any colour you want, you can have grey and black thunder and rain clouds, you can have red, pink and orange sunsets, you can have a wonderful purple & turquoise sky like we see here in Dumfries and Galloway out over the sea, or we can be like Ryan and just do it green. PS - see you at Belladrum next year?

Disney Sand Art

Disney Sand Art

Disney is undoubtably the worlds favourite family brand, but unfortunately in kids crafts and parties sectors there are lots of very poor unlicensed fakes around and you'll want to be sure that what you are buying is authentic. So let us reassure you that every Disney sand art picture that you buy from our website (or from a Kids Bee Happy consultant) is a proper Disney product, created under license with EGEM Grup who hold the DIsney license for Sand Art for countries all over the world. Its a range that we have been selling since April 2015, and are very very proud of, and delighted to bring to you.

CRAFT ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS WITH AUTISM AND ASPERGERS

CRAFT ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS WITH AUTISM AND ASPERGERS

PERFECT KIDS CRAFTS FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM OR ASPERGERS Good activities for autism, require a number of different characteristics. Kidsbeehappy does lots of activity workshops for children with autism and Aspergers, so in celebration of World Autism Awareness week, we thought it would be useful to speak to some of our Kids Bee Happy consultants and ask them to share their stories about how they have held sand art activity sessions and what particular elements they found that the children enjoyed and how it benefited them. “I RECOMMENDED SAND ART AS A GOOD ACTIVITY FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN” Lauren Samson is one of Kidsbeehappy’s Business Builders and Lauren’s own eldest son, Jack, is autistic. Lauren is very familiar with the challenges that something like an arts and crafts activity can have. LAUREN’S STORY As a Mum of two wonderful boys who are always on the go, l am often on the lookout for activities they can do inside.My eldest son Jack is Autistic and has ADHD, and being stuck indoors can often get frustrating for him. I used to dread the days when we couldn’t get out and burn off some of that energy. Until l found Sand Art – Sand Art is a fantastic therapeutic, creative activity.I still remember the first time we tried it, and l couldn’t quite believe that my whirlwind of a boy, who would never sit still for more than a couple of minutes actually sat for a whole half an hour in silence, creating a beautiful masterpiece that would make any Mum proud.The touch of the sand and the vibrant colours just mesmerised and calmed him like nothing l had seen before. l actually shed a tear watching him.We are never without a stash of sand art in our home now, and due to the ever changing design collections the boys never get bored. I even create my own pictures now after a stressful day.I truly would recommend this activity to anyone young or old, but even more so to anyone with a child who has Autism, or any additional needs. It is great to see those little faces light up. And it’s fantastic as a parent to be able to sit and have a cuppa and just watch them in complete peace.Lauren's autistic son jack making a sand art pictureIn sand art children colour in pictures, by peeling off a pre-cut top layer to reveal a sticky underneath. The children the colour in the picture by sprinkling on coloured sand. Children with autism and Aspergers particularly enjoy sand art. WHAT MAKES GOOD ACTIVITIES FOR AUTISM TRAITS? RESTRICTIVE AND REPETITIVE PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOURS, ACTIVITES OR INTERESTSIf your children have restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, activities or interests, sand art is a very engaging and therapeutic activity. Good activities for kids with autism can be repetitive and systematic activity. Chose a section, peel the section, choose a colour, colour it in, and then repeat. There is no time pressure, no rush. Do it all at their own pace, and create their own rules. They can plan their colours in advance or take it section by section and make it up as they go. They can work in whatever way suits them best. HIGHLY FOCUSED INTERESTSSome people have highly focused interests, again sand art works really well. We love hearing how Parents tell us about the amount of time that their child was absorbed in the activity. Sand Art’s not a noisy activity, nor need lots of energy, or space. Sitting, getting lost in the fun of making your picture, it’s the perfect solution for wet rainy days.It is also an activity with an end point. There is a progression through the picture, and then the satisfaction of seeing it complete. And this helps parents and carers as they know that there is a natural time limit.We have designed the pictures so that it is very difficult for it to “go wrong”. We pre-cut the pictures so small areas are worked on each time, and so there are nice clean cut lines and edges already prepared for you. There is no “right” colour, which equally means that there is no “wrong” one either. They don’t need to worry about staying in the lines, making it a nice safe activity for kids with autism. SENSORY NATURESand play can be a very good activity for kids with autism. Our sand is very bright, which means sprinkling it on gives a big colourful and immediate reaction for their effort. Colour is a very important factor for many people, and with sand art there is never a “wrong” colour. Children choose the colours that they want, simple as that. Pink elephants, green squirrels, multicoloured stripey cats – we’ve seen it all. And of course, everyone loves the tactile nature of sand. Kidsbeehappy sand is lovely and fine grained, some colours with added sparkle. Older children and adults can freely enjoy “playing” with sand too, and that is something else that many parents and carers love too. SOCIAL INTERACTIONSand Art gives children and adults the ability to be as social as they want to be or feel comfortable doing. Many times we see the children absorbed in their pictures, working happily and contentedly alone. Sand art is also perfect for children that need or want extra help, support, or just someone to work with. Whatever the children prefer, they can stay in their comfort zone.Sand art is a repetitive process. You choose, then peel, then choose, then colour, and it all fits together wonderfully when you’re working with a child. It only takes you 1 or 2 seconds to peel off a section the same time it takes the children to choose their colour. Its easy to wait and give them extra time if they need it, because nothing spoils. You don’t have to worry about children getting frustrated whilst they wait for you. When children are making a picture with an adult or carer there are nice clear boundaries and responsibilities of who does what. The adult does the peeling, the child tells them what to do, and does the colouring. Clear rules to help them know what’s coming and what to expect. CHOOSE YOUR ENVIRONMENT TO SUIT YOUR CHILDREN’S NEEDSIt doesn’t need to be a sit down activity either, and that is great for some children. If a consultant brings the activity tables with them, there will be lots of space and opportunity to move around. Move between the tables, move between the colours, it can be as active as you like. The consultants will also bring filled sand bottles too, which is perfect for children with Aspergers who prefer to work in their own quiet space. CLAIRE’S EXPERIENCE OF RUNNING CRAFT ACTIVITIES FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN Claire Carter, one of our Consultants from Northumbria, said “Sand art is an amazing activity for individuals with autism”. Some of the benefits that the children like are that: there is no mess, its not sticky, their hands stay clean, you don’t have to complete it immediately always stay within the lines, they can tweak and personalise where they wish Claire has done many sessions for groups of young people with autism and disability and had some amazing feedback. One parent cried telling us that it was the first time her 12 year old has stuck doing any craft. And he wanted some to take home too! READ WHAT THE PARENTS SAY: A Parent tells us about her daughter’s sand art experience with one of our Northern Irish consultants – Suzi Waddell Huge thanks to Suzi for her time and patience helping my daughter and introducing her to Sand Art. Miyah is 8years old and Autistic, she struggles socially and has a number of sensory processing issues including an intolerance to sand!! I didn’t think she would go near the sand art but Suzi was great, she wasn’t phased by my daughters stimming, and general lack of eye contact, she sat with her and demonstrated how to use the phials of sand to create her picture without needing to touch the sand. Miyah was so delighted! Sand art has become one of Miyah’s favourite activities, she likes the routine involved in creating it, that she can enjoy the colours and look that the sand gives without needing to actually touch it, it is her go to activity when she has a tough day and needs to chill. She enjoys showing others how to use it and regularly ‘helps’ Suzi at fairs, thus engaging socially and increasing her self confidence without the acute stress many autistic children feel when around peers. MORE INFORMATION Kids Bee Happy isn't one of those anonymous websites, we are a company of real people, and of consultants (and parents) all over the UK.  Which means is there is something in particular you would like, we can talk to you and help make it happen.  Whether that be a sand art kit made up with particular colours and particular pictures, a borrow box that you can dip in and out of as your children wish or for a small quiet birthday party at home. We understand that sometimes kids just want to make 3 versions of their favourite picture using just their favourite 2 colours - and if that is important to them, and you, its important to us too - and we can make that happen for you. Kids Bee Happy consultants will be out and about across the UK during World Autism Awareness Week. You can run your own Sand Art activity during world autism week, and can download a free fundraising pack here: https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved or if you run a group, you can register with Kidsbeehappy as a consultant and buy sand art materials at our discounted prices. Or if you would like to talk to one of our consultants about how we can help you, simply contact us and we will be delighted to help. If you want more information about how to structure craft workshop sessions that they aid people with autism and Aspergers, you can find lots of relevant information on the World Autism Website. If you want other help and nformation and articles about https://www.autismparentingmagazine.com/social-stories-for-autistic-children/

TUBES OF SAND FOR SAND ART

TUBES OF SAND FOR SAND ART

If you look through ebay, or even some of the high street stores, you might find some other sand art that not Kids Bee Happy, and wonder what the difference is between them and us. Well it's easy.  At Kids Bee Happy we live and breathe sand art, and its been our top focus for over 10 years now, which means that as we design all of our own products, we really do understand all the tiny minor things that make a big part in to making a package that gives your kids, and you, the best sand art experience. Now most of those other sand art packs use little packs of sand in plastic bags, and we KNOW that that's such as bad idea - we know that when your kids (because you can't get there fast enough) decide to rip that little bag open, that the sand is going to go everywhere, everywhere where you don't want it - the table, the floor, into the cushions on the chair, everywhere except on the picture itself. So when you buy a Kidsbeehappy sand art kit, the sand comes in a little plastic tube, that has a flip cap that seals when you've finished using it (or even inbetween uses).  And in that cap is a teeeny weeeny hole that lets only a few grains of sand come out at a time.  So that if that tube does happen to fall over, we can assure you that less than 1 gram of sand is going to come out.  And we know there is NO WAY that your kids can prise off that lid and just tip it out all in one go, because we made that lid fit very very tight. Its also quite difficult for the sand to get out, and that too is delibrate, it doesn't just run freely (because the hole is that small) it needs a bit of effort, a bit of shaking.  But once again, even in the hands of a madly excited toddler, the amout of sand that will come out with that vicious shaking is a really really small amount - because its all controlled. All of these things are small things, and many people might not even ever think about them, let alone give them a second thought, especially those other manufacturers that just want to make their product cost a little bit less - but our experience, our 10 years in dealing with parents and kids doing sand art, means that we know that those little things go a long long way to giving you the best sand art experience possible.

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