Five Minute Mum

Easy, five minute games for busy parents to do with little kids

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Homeschooling...again

Homeschooling…again

So here we are again. I had rather hoped to have a few more days offline, finishing the final edits on BOOK TWO and grieving the loss of my beloved grandmother but Boris had other ideas. I knew the second that schools were shut once more that my website hits would be rocketing, as we all desperately search for ideas to keep our kids busy, entertained and educated. If I listen carefully I can hear…

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TWO New Books!

Announcement: I have two new books coming out in 2021. EEK!

One is called Time for School. It is all the games I have been playing with Ewan since he started school to support his learning from home. Of course, they are all simple, quick and easy five minute games which are for spellings, reading, phonics, times tables, number bonds etc. As well as some of the tips and tricks I’ve picked up…

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Long Car Journeys with Kids

Long Car Journeys with Kids

My family live in Sussex. We live in Manchester. Four hour car journeys are a regular thing for us. But I am guessing that given that so many of us are stay-cationing this year due to the pandemic, long car journeys with small children might be something a lot of us are doing/considering/forced into!

So I thought I would pop down some of my top tips below from 6 years of jaunting up and down…

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School Hols Shizzle

We are late to the party (ha, “party”). My two have only just broken up from school (lucky you, I can hear you all thinking! I know!) But before I disappear off to have a wee break from all things online I thought I would pull together a list of stuff I have either stocked up on or bought ready for these rather unusual school holidays.

Hopefully this way if you’re already halfway through the…

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Anti-racism - some thoughts and resources

Anti-racism – some thoughts and resources

I have been writing this blog for the best part of a year. As I have learned (and un-learned) more about racism I have added to it, altered it, gone away to research some more, wanted to try to make sure what I was saying was accurate and reflected the seriousness of this subject, but in my usual five minute style. 

But this isn’t possible. There is no five minute way to tackle this, of…

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Magical Games

What a strange old time we are going through. Like some of you my children are back at school. I’ll be honest, it has surprised me just how dramatic the change has been in them since they returned last week. They are happy, buzzing with energy and stories and haven’t even mentioned how different school is. Even though we made the best of lockdown and they are lucky enough to have a house filled…

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The Car Target Game

The Car Target Game

Hard innit? This lockdown lark as a parent. I’ve lost it a few times recently. It’s felt too long, too much, relentless. I’m all out of energy, patience and ideas. And I’m one of the lucky ones. But I can’t just come on here to blog about how flipping’ difficult this all is can I? What good would that do anyone? So instead I am here with a NEW GAME! A maths game for every age.

If you’ve played…

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Playing Together

I recently asked those who watch my Instagram stories what they wanted from see more of from me. Obviously I assumed the overwhelming request would be more of my incredibly coordinated and professional kitchen dancing, but amazingly no. It was people asking for ideas of how to play my games with two or more different aged children.

It seems lots of us are struggling with the difficulties of…

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What I learnt from Week One

This whole thing is a learning process for us all isn’t it? How to juggle the working and childcare effectively so you don’t lose the plot. How to strike the balance between being their parent or carer but also teaching them something useful so you don’t feel like they are missing out on their education. Working out how many evenings a week it is acceptable to consume several glasses of wine and…

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Video Chat Games

Me again. Bored of me yet? Probably. But I have some GAMES today. Firstly though an IMPORTANT message you probably already know and are absolutely doing but JUST IN CASE (and because I promised one of my incredible friends who is a doctor on the front line)… Are playdates ok? NO. “But we’re all healthy!” you might think. Yes I know, but still NO. Let’s all stay home. It is the LEAST we can do.…

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Now What?

This is going to be a much shorter blog post and in my usual five minute style! So school’s are shutting tomorrow here in the UK, the kids are going to be at home next week and beyond…so now what?

I am going to be sharing what I do with the kids at home next week on social media if you want to follow along for ideas. We will roughly stick to the scheduleI posted previously. But not…

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FMM's Ideas Bank

As promised here is a blog post sign-posting you to as many resources as I have seen so far to support you with children at home during this unprecedented time in our lives. New things are popping up every day though so I will keep adding where I can, and sharing on my social media pages too.

Firstly though let me say this, I feel like if my biggest issue during this tricky and confusing time…

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ALL DAY at home with kids - how do I structure the day?

ALL DAY at home with kids – how do I structure the day?

I’ve been getting an increasing number of messages from people who are at home with kids in lockdown. I feel it could be imminent for us here in the UK too. So in order to try and help I am going to write and do a few things to give parents stuck at home with kids an idea of how to not go totally insane. First on the list, stockpile the gin/wine/chocolate….!! 😉

I thought perhaps a helpful…

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Tidy Kids - Guest Blog

Tidy Kids – Guest Blog

At the start of January I had had enough. The house constantly looks like a pit. Sometimes it is immaculate at 3pm after hours of work only for it to resemble a Black Friday jumble sale again come 5pm. ARGH!

So I decided in a fit of ‘this is going to change’ new year optimism to put our magnetic chores board to good use. I wrote three things for each of the kids to do every day to win a star,…

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Christmas Sign Off...!

Christmas Sign Off…!

Festive greetings everyone…just letting you know I’m going to disappear into the real world for a few weeks over Christmas. Firstly though I want to say a huge THANK YOU to you all for your support over this year.

Off to soak in every minute of this year with these two. The perfect ages for Christmas magic!

In 2019 Five Minute Mum has gone from a little blog and a few social media pages…

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Five Minute Elf / Advent 2019

Five Minute Elf / Advent 2019

Well, well, well, it’s that time of year again. Social media is starting to ping with festive posts and this weekend sees 1st December swing around. In this house that means the return of Laurie the Elf (Ewan named him when he was 3!) but if you don’t do the elf don’t worry, you can still easily join in with this advent five minute fun if you fancy!

Right here is last year’s blog postexplainin…

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Spellings (the five minute way!)

Spellings (the five minute way!)

When your little ones start school the chances are they will be sent home with spellings to learn. Now each school has their own way of doing this – some start in reception, some later. Some do tests that they take seriously with points and rewards offered for those who achieve top marks (not helpful if you ask me…! But no-one did so I’ll shut up!) some just do it in quite a relaxed way (Ewan’s…

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