Five Minute Mum: Give Me Five: Five minute, easy, fun games for busy people to do with little kids

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Having a baby is tough enough. Feeling the pressure of millions of people whilst you try to recover from giving birth to that human and learn how to look after it will be tougher. You often apologise for not Hinching because you’re away for the weekend or out with friends. But please don’t apologise on behalf of your baby boy and you. We will wait. And those that don’t…ah well, you didn’t want them selfish buggers following you anyway! 😉 Each night give the elf a new letter. Move it if you can be bothered. On Christmas Eve it will spell out the sentence. A message for them. He’s coming tonight. Watch them all lose their tiny minds with excitement![gallery ids=“eyJ1cmwiOmZhbHNlLCJ0aXRsZSI6bnVsbCwiY2FwdGlvbiI6ZmFsc2UsImFsdCI6IiIsImRlc2NyaXB0aW9uIjpudWxsfQ==,eyJ1cmwiOmZhbHNlLCJ0aXRsZSI6bnVsbCwiY2FwdGlvbiI6ZmFsc2UsImFsdCI6IiIsImRlc2NyaXB0aW9uIjpudWxsfQ==,eyJ1cmwiOmZhbHNlLCJ0aXRsZSI6bnVsbCwiY2FwdGlvbiI6ZmFsc2UsImFsdCI6IiIsImRlc2NyaXB0aW9uIjpudWxsfQ==,eyJ1cmwiOmZhbHNlLCJ0aXRsZSI6bnVsbCwiY2FwdGlvbiI6ZmFsc2UsImFsdCI6IiIsImRlc2NyaXB0aW9uIjpudWxsfQ==” type=“rectangular”] I hope you don’t mind me writing so openly to you. I doubt very much you’ll actually see this. It’s just, you see I’m a Mum and a devoted member of the Hinch army and I felt compelled to say this. I very much hope you’ll understand why. People will comment, and try to tell you you’re doing it wrong. Parenting wrong. Feeding them wrong. Putting them down to sleep wrong. Carrying them wrong. They just will. They can’t bloody help themselves. But ignore them all. Do it your way, the Hinch way. Because Mummy knows best. Starting School gives you and your little one glimpses of all the learning they will do and all the fun they will have.

Bestselling author and social media superstar, Daisy Upton, is here to help, and she has finally written a book for children! Daisy has two children in primary school, and used to be a teaching assistant, so she knows her stuff. The kids get a new one every day. In that sentence are lots of the first phonics sounds they learn. We can and will wait. If you don’t “Hinch” for months or a year it doesn’t matter. If you just Hinch in the peace of your own home when you get five minutes and don’t share it with the nearly 2 million of us, please don’t worry. Don’t feel your owe it to us to keep it up. The only person you owe anything to is that baby boy and your own little family. The army can wait. It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas…on EVERYONE’S social media accounts…and I bloody LOVE IT! I’m a big fan of Christmas in general however what comes along with the festive cheer and mulled wine and kids going absolutely bonkers giddy is WORK. WERK WERK WERK. It’s a lot isn’t it? Planning, buying, returning, re-buying, doing lists, visiting Father Christmas, regretting that visit to Father Christmas, panic watching your flex account funds crashing past your overdraft. Yep. It’s hard. As well as wonderful. That is 24. 23 letters in ‘Father Christmas is coming’, and ‘tonight’ is 24. They are your advent letters. Write a letter to the kids to explain on day one.

Occasionally I sit down with a pen and paper to write a “To Do List” or shopping list, that I will inevitably leave on the side of the kitchen whilst I visit Aldi, grabbing at snorkels and avocados completely baffled. At the moment Ewan (age 4.5) is great with his letters. He’s grasped all of his Phase 2 Phonics sounds pretty well. But when it comes to blending them together to form a word he’s not up for it. He finds it hard and therefore it’s a turn off. So I need some games to make this element of reading a bit more fun. Tell your child to close their eyes because the naughty *insert character name here* is going to steal a number.

So we have an elf. Oh yes, I added YET ANOTHER thing to think about. Because I just love anything that makes it feel a bit more magical. However last year I spent many a December evening, at 10:45pm on the way up to bed remembering I hadn’t moved the damn elf. I know I’m not alone in this, and so this year I have decided to get ahead of the game with a simple, easy idea. Now obviously if you LOVE to get creative and messy with your elf, then brilliant. Love it. Go for it and throw the letters into the mix too. But if like me, you don’t want to clear up flour at 9:30pm on a Tuesday night then come join.Mix up the letters in the big bowl saying “Silly soup, silly soup, we’re going to make some silly soup”