Latest news with #fun
CBC
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
CBC NL's Jenna Benchetrit is a Regatta rookie. Tag along as she moseys around the pond
It might be 207 years old, but it's the first Regatta for the CBC's Jenna Benchetrit. See the food, fun, and crowds through the eyes of a rookie — captured by CBC videographer Mike Simms — on a scorcher of a day.
Times
10 hours ago
- General
- Times
Why I started a gardening club for children
When teaching children gardening, you must make it fun, Lara Honnor says. 'I turn everything into a game,' Honnor says. 'It makes it much easier because if you're thinking 'they have to learn this, they have to do that', it'll not be fun for them and it will fail.' In 2019, Honnor, 41, founded the Skool Beanz children's gardening club at an allotment in Chilthorne Domer Church primary school in Somerset. The club, whose name is a play on 'cool beans', slang used by Honnor's millennial generation to show enthusiasm, starts the new year with that energy. 'We open with wassailing. We bless the apple trees, chanting a rhyme with the children dressed up and banging watering cans with wooden spoons. They pour apple juice on to the roots of the trees and hang bread on the branches for the birds. It shows the trees and plants that you care for them,' Honnor says. • Joe Swift's tips for gardening with kids, and the best plants to grow The name is a clue to balancing between a good time and letting children run riot: 'Mikey [Honnor's husband] said I should spell it incorrectly so that it's a bit rebellious, like if you saw someone had scrawled it on a toilet wall.' Ground rules are set by the children and are on permanent display. They include being kind to each other; never straying off or running on the allotment and always holding tools pointed downwards by your side. Keeping control in a 'strict but fun' way is crucial for Honnor and her volunteers, who have up to 12 children attending the two-hour sessions. At the start of each session, Honnor writes the day's tasks on a blackboard and lets the children decide what to do, 'otherwise they won't do it'. Youngsters can opt for gardening or crafts, using paint pens to decorate wheelbarrows, wooden spoon plant labels and 'jamdeliers', chandeliers made out of jam jar lids. They create planters from recycled children's wellies, teapots, freestanding baths and an old lavatory. 'We sprayed [the lavatory] into a golden throne for the King's coronation and the kids find it hilarious that we're using a toilet as a plant pot.' They enjoy planting succulents in it in the summer 'because it looks spiky to sit on'. The site follows the no-dig rules of the horticulturalist Charles Dowding so tools are mostly restricted to child-sized scissors, trowels and dibbers. Tasks are seasonal but some remain favourites. 'The children find using a bulb planter funny because they think the lumps of soil that came out looked like giant poos. They put the bulb in then the lump of poo back into the hole.' Skool Beanz was founded as an after-school club before it grew into a Saturday club for children aged 4 to 13 when Honnor acquired and cleared an overgrown allotment across the road. The allotment holds a Britain in Bloom award and opens under the National Garden Scheme. She has added more days and expanded over five and a half allotments to accommodate demand. The half accommodates the club's gooseberry bushes in a corner half plot that they have called Goosegog Corner. Good behaviour is rewarded with a visit at the end of a session to the club's 'secret den', an adult-free zone. Inevitably, there are blips. Once, two boys thought it fun to snatch a younger boy's hat and throw it around the den. Another time, a boy ignored the rule of asking Honnor's permission before consuming anything and dared another boy to eat a whole chilli. 'His head nearly blew off,' says Honnor. She has turned this story into folklore. 'Now, when the children ask before picking or eating, I say why [do we ask]? And they say 'because a boy ate a whole chilli and had to go home'.' Another positive way that Honnor deals with rebellion is with a reminder of the ground rules. After the boys tossed the hat around the den, she scolded the culprits for ignoring the kindness rule while expressing surprise that such good gardeners could behave so meanly. They took the point. On the rare occasion a child says they are bored, as did a seven-year-old boy in a visiting school party, Honnor replied: 'Only boring children get bored. He was as good as gold after that. He helped with watering and pushing the wheelbarrow.' Honnor holds horticultural and paediatric first aid qualifications but says that enthusiasm is just as important. She rediscovered nature after being treated for breast cancer ten years ago when she was a professional actress. Reports on climate change and rising mental health disorders among young people spurred her on. 'I thought, nature's in trouble, children are in trouble, so if we teach children how to garden, not only is it going to improve their wellbeing, it's going to help nature,' she says. In between having fun, they do learn, Honnor says, and often point out tasks that need doing. Her biggest hope is to see children's gardening allotments across the UK. 'Anywhere can set up a club designed especially for children. Why not do it?' The club has been going strong for six years BRAD WAKEFIELD FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES Honnor's ground rules for gardening with children • Bored children spell trouble, so keep them interested. Be organised and offer variety and choice. Skool Beanz grows trees, fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers; creates planters and pots; and has a polytunnel, apple press, watering station and 'Muddy Buddy' compost heap. Its new composting toilet has seen a dramatic rise in visits to the lavatory, Honnor says. • Tasks need to be instantly doable and ideally show quick results. • Sow tiny seeds yourself. Children prefer big, patterned, oddly-shaped ones such as black and white Yin Yang' dwarf French beans, runner beans and peas. 'Children like sensory experiences. You'll get boys like they're having a women's meeting, sitting in a circle, chatting away and podding beans.' • Have Plan B ready for bad weather. On scorching hot days the children sit under or perch in a shady oak for crafts and storytelling. • Include jaunts. In the summer they hold a pizza-making night with ingredients picked from the club's 'pizza beds'. 'One evening we had storytelling round the fire then went into the fields with bat detectors. You could see the bats flying around and hear them eating bugs on the detectors.' • A small, shallow, fenced-in pond provides wildlife interest and pest-eating help from frogs and toads. • Stimulate all five senses but remember that small children are level with plants. This enhances their insect spotting and enjoyment, but lining a path with prickly and poisonous plants is a bad idea. • Use bare hands for sowing and weeding because soil bacteria is said to boost your 'happy hormone', serotonin. 'The kids know about 'happy hands' but whenever they say 'Oh no, look at my hands, they're really dirty', I reply 'that's because you're a proper gardener', and they like that.'
UAE Moments
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- UAE Moments
♎ Libra Daily Horoscope for July 29, 2025
The scales are tipping toward fun, flirtation, and fresh connections. You're gliding through the day with that 'main character energy,' turning mundane moments into movie scenes. Just remember, not every text needs a perfectly balanced response (yes, it's okay to leave them on read once in a while). ⚖️ Vibe Check: Smooth, Social & Sparkly You're in the mood to connect, laugh, and maybe stir up a little friendly drama (the fun kind). Your presence today feels like sunshine mixed with just the right amount of sass. Libra Tip: Say yes to that last-minute invite, you might meet someone who changes your perspective… or just buys you tacos. Win-win. 💼 Work & Career: Diplomatic Queen (or King) Moves Your natural charm is your power play today. Whether it's smoothing over a tense meeting or pitching a wild new idea, people are listening and loving it. Your ability to balance big-picture thinking with people skills? Chef's kiss. Libra Hack: Schedule brainstorming sessions with people who hype you up. Inspiration thrives on good vibes. 💖 Love & Friendship: Flirt, Float, Repeat Single Libras, your DMs might look like a rom-com script today, expect winks, emojis, and maybe a coffee date offer. Coupled Libras, the vibe is cozy but exciting. A little spontaneity could turn an average evening into something memorable. Today's Love Mood: Effortless charm, swoony moments, and just enough mystery to keep them hooked. 🧘♂️ Mood & Vibe: Balanced but Buzzing Your energy is light, easygoing, and totally magnetic. Just don't overcommit trying to keep everyone happy. Your time is precious too, Libra. Lucky Color: Blush Pink Lucky Numbers: 6 & 18 Cosmic Playlist Song: 'Levitating' – Dua Lipa Affirmation of the Day: 'I radiate charm, balance, and irresistible good vibes.' Libra Thought for July 29: When you show up as your authentic, charming self, everything else falls beautifully into place.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside the Lions party after sealing series win: Drinking beers and singing in the middle of the MCG pitch - and recreating Hugo Keenan's last-minute winning try
Modern, elite professional rugby so often presents a stern and serious face to the outside world, so it is good when there are outbreaks of old-school fun. It was visible – and audible – in abundance in the aftermath of Saturday's game. Many of the Lions players wore elaborate garlands around their neck made up of chocolate bars festooned with ribbons, which had been presented to them by the family of Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu, who grew up in Melbourne and, briefly, in Tonga.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How a St. Paul soccer field bounced back after a car tore through it
McMurray Field is back to what it's meant to be: a space for soccer, families and fun.
