Easter Holiday Activities

Hi everyone, Ruby here. During our Easter break, we can be imaginative and brainstorm many activities to do before we go back to school. Here are some fun ideas:

Make Brownies:

If you have any leftover chocolate eggs you can create these luxurious chocolate treats by melting your chocolate. This recipe is one love to follow: https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/recipes/worlds-best-brownies/
 
Exercise:

After eating lots of chocolate for Easter we can become active once more by going for a run or walk in your local park to burn off all the chocolate. Recently opened is the new Stubbers outdoor play park in Upminster, which you can visit or have a nice brisk walk-through Thames Chase. Tennis courts have reopened and next week gyms. Check out your gym's timetable classes, such as Cardio or Pilates for all ages.

Challenges​:

Another idea for using left over chocolate is games. With mini creme eggs and a spoon, you can compete against your family in an egg and spoon race and see who wins. It's not too late! Or you could challenge others in an Easter egg hunt with spare solid eggs to play outdoors or indoors. You can even add riddles or quiz questions to make it harder.

There are plenty ideas to keep us busy and let our creativity run wild. Enjoy your Easter holidays.

"Use your imagination to create"

Ruby Xx

Great Gadgets

​Hi everyone, it's me Ruby. This week we will see further lockdown restrictions easing and grass root sports are returning. I can't wait! I'm back at football training Thursday and Saturday and I'm looking forward to a friendly football match this weekend.

Sport England reports that since last year, 2.3% of young people in the summer had dropped the amount of activity they do daily. With over 2.3 million children failing to complete 30 minutes of exercise a day. This highlights that it is really important that sporting clubs are able to resume. If you don't belong to a club there are lots of opportunities, you can do to keep yourself active. You can find lots of ideas at http://haveringactive.co.uk. Some fitness activities can be as simple as skipping or walking.

Here are some fitness gadgets I like: 

Messi Training Ball:

Inspired by the footballer, this is a gadget where there is a football on the end of a string. I find this extremely useful when trying to maintain my control and practice kicky-ups. This is available from Smyths.

Swingball:

You can find out what Swingball you prefer; the tennis or football or like me you can choose both. I find these helpful as they improve my co-ordination and touch. The football Swingball is available at Argos and the tennis (classic) Swingball is available at Amazon.

Fitness watches:

I recommend these as they are really good at logging your exercise, heart rate, sleep patterns, use as a watch and have many other great benefits. On your phone, you can view your exercise and progress if you have your fitness watches App. You can get Garmin watches, Fitbits and many others. Fitness watches are important in tracking your exercise as they can set you goals to improve on and measures your distance when walking, running or cycling.

"Keep active! Stay healthy, keep strong with your head held high"

Ruby Xx

Recycle: Looking after our planet

Hi everyone, Ruby here! As well as keeping ourselves healthy we must also maintain keeping our planet healthy too!

Did you know?

Households in Havering produce over 95,000 tonnes of rubbish and recycling each year. Each household produces roughly a tonne of rubbish and recycling each year through household waste collections and waste taken to the Reuse and Recycling Centre.

Why prevent waste?

It saves resources and saves money. It costs £108 for every tonne we send to landfill. Landfilling our waste harms, the environment. When organic waste, such as food, paper and clothes break down in a landfill site they give off greenhouse gases, such as methane, which is twenty times more polluting and dangerous to our planet than carbon dioxide.

Here are some things you can easily do to help reduce waste:​ 

Smart shopping

Planning your meals

Buy rechargeable batteries and recycle old ones in supermarkets

Buy loose fruit and vegetables

Avoid single usage of items

Prepare yourself by making a list for when you go shopping

Donate to a local food bank

Love food hate waste!

You can save up to £50 a month by throwing away less food. You can find out more at: http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com  

Homes in the UK throw away over 1/4 of their weekly grocery shop. Meanwhile, our cupboards are full of things we'll never eat or use. That's crazy!  OLIO,​ is a free app that connects neighbours so spare food and belongings can be shared, not thrown away. Everything listed on OLIO is for free or for donation to charity. If you love food, hate waste, care about your community or the environment, OLIO is for you. You can also save money and prevent food waste by planning your meals, checking food dates, storing food correctly, checking your portions and getting creative with any food leftovers!

Home composting

Composting is nature's way of recycling. You can use your garden and kitchen waste to start your own worm farm in your own garden! You can use your compost for: feeding your lawn, preparing a flower bed or vegetable patch or giving existing potted plants a nutrient boost. 

As well as composting your garden and food scraps you can also compost: corrugated cardboard, newspaper, toilet roll tubes, tissues, paper towels, napkins, wool and natural fibre clothing.

Compost bins will fit in to a small space and they can come in different sizes or you can get crafty and make your own.

"We can all make a difference with small changes"

Ruby Xx