How to develop your child's imagination

Growing up I had a vivid and wild imagination; I was always spinning some kind of yarn about a magical fairy world under the floorboards, pixies at the bottom of the garden or my ability to fly off on adventures. I had a magical imagination and I wasn’t afraid to use it.

I could often be found with my nose in a book, reading my favourite stories like 'The Magic Finger' (Roald Dahl), 'The Chronicles of Narnia' (C.S Lewis), 'The Secret Garden' (Frances Hodgeson) and many of the The Famous Five (Enid Blyton) books.

There are so many elements in life that are trying to expedite childhood, forcing children to drop their childish ways and morph them into mini adults. Well I’m not buying in. Children deserve the right to be children, to do childlike things and most importantly have their imagination fed.

When little Noah was born I wanted to really encourage and nurture his imagination to help it to grow.

Last year saw the opening of Discover the UK’s first Children’s Story Centre. 

A museum dedicated to the sole purpose of expanding and feeding a child’s imagination and curiosity. Last month the little man and I set off on an adventure to the museum and we are really pleased with what we found. 

The story centre is divided into story world, storytelling and a story garden. 

Story World - designed with the help of the talented Jim Field (children's illustrator who illustrates one of Noah's favourite books 'How many legs' by Kes Gray)

Story World is spread over two floors and offers an exciting creative play space, to inspire a little ones imagination and curiosity. On the ground floor you are greeted by a magical woodland with a giant tree. 

Little ones can climb inside the tree which houses dancing lights and humming beats, with a hill on the side, to climb or crawl your way to the top. 

The wood houses a castle; follow the river and you are greeted by a beach with marooned wooden boat.

The first floor houses Hootah, the resident space alien. 

Hootah has landed on planet squiggly Diggly and needs your help to create some new stories, as everyone on the planet has run out of imagination. 

Storytelling- Stuck for some ideas Discover has storytelling workshops that you can sit in to get some inspiration.

Story Garden - A safe and creative outdoor space with lots to see and do.  Play with the giant musical instruments, climb up the pirate ship, master the sails and set sail.Tackle the monster slide to find the buried treasure, but watch out for the alien spaceship ready to land and carry you away. 

We had a wonderful day out and we're really looking forward to adventuring there again. Next time we will take the short cut through our wardrobe.

Prices: Children under one free, children one £2, parents and children over one £6.50, family of four £22 www.discover.org.uk

Looking for ways to develop your child's imagination here are my top tips: 

Limit the amount of Television your toddler/child watches

Read lots of books to them with brightly coloured illustrations and imaginative characters. Make up stories and let your child do the same. Visit your local library for free drop in events

Create a dress up box or area so that they can role play

Get arty- Let them create their own art masterpieces and when finished explain what they have created in a story. Visiting art galleries is also a great way to develop their imagination

Build dens and let them play. You can use old delivery boxes to build space ships, rockets, cars, palaces etc







Still not sure where to start, don't worry there are lots and lots of books on developing your toddlers creativity and activities to help you out. 

What did you love doing as a child and what imaginative stories did you use to tell? 

Ultimate Chocolate Brownies

I have been making chocolate brownies for as long as I can remember. I have a fond memory as a child standing on a chair making brownies using my mums favourite cookery book. I was so small I couldn't even reach the worktop or the cookery cupboard for that matter to collect ingredients, so I have no idea what age I was. Small!

I love brownies as there are so many variations that you can make both in what you put in them, but also additions you can add to them post cooking with toppings. Whether you like a fudge/gooey consistency or a drier more cake like mix I have learnt over time that brownies get better with age, the longer you leave them before eating them the better they get. Don't be tempted to go with the masses and have them hot out of the oven, the only thing that this is likely to give you is ragging heartburn.

Today I'm sharing my favourite brownie recipe that is gooey with the addition of chopped Hazelnuts and Maltesers.

200g Unsalted butter
200g 70% finest Dark Cocoa Chocolate
125g Plain Flour
50g finest Cocoa
3 Large Eggs
250g Golden Caster Sugar
100g Hazelnuts (optional)
37g Maltesers Bag (optional)

1.Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) conventional oven, 160C (325F) fan oven or Gas Mark 4.

2.Take 200g of unsalted butter, cut into cubes and place in heatproof bowl.

3.Break up 200g of dark chocolate into small pieces, add to heatproof bowl with the butter and melt gently over a pan of simmering water stirring occasionally. Make sure that the water does not come into contact with the chocolate.

4.Once fully melted set the chocolate mixture aside.

5.In a separate bowl sieve 125g plain flour and 50g of Cocoa. Set the flour and Cocoa aside.

6.In a bowl break three large eggs. Add 250g of golden caster sugar to the eggs, with a mixer gently beat until light and fluffy.

7.Taking the chocolate mixture fold into the eggs and sugar mix. It’s important to fold the chocolate in so as to not beat the air out of the mixture.

8.There are many additions that you can add to the mixture, my personal favourite is hazelnuts and Maltesers.

9.Spoon the mixture into a pre-lined tin and place in the oven for twenty five minutes. 

10.Check the brownies with a skewer when the time is complete. The skewer should have some mixture on removal but not raw cake mixture.

11.Set aside to cool for a few hours, remove from the tin. Cut into small squares and store in an air-tight container. Enjoy with a lovely cup of tea or coffee.

What’s your favourite type of brownie? What would you like to see cooked next on FoodieForce?

Creating the perfect playroom

We're lucky to have enough space in the house that Noah now has his own playroom. It's been a while in the making, there is never any spare time with a little one to plan, organise and buy. But I'm really happy to say we are finally finished and we love the end result. 

As soon as Noah was on the move he has been into everything. He loves playing with my makeup, perfume, pulling my books from the shelves, oh and chatting on the phone that he has only recently pinched.

He is incredibly inquisitive and loves exploring his surroundings, nothing is safe, he has no fear so will climb on anything to reach something that sparks his interest. 

His favourite pastime over the last few months has been emptying out all his toys over the floor, me dodging the minefield and spending many an hour constantly tidying them up. So I knew finding the right storage would be important.

I deliberately waited over a year to create his playroom, so I had a better idea of his character and personality. I have tried to create a space that gives him the opportunity to explore, play and inspire his creativity with defined zones so that we don't have total chaos! The room will also grow with him. 

The room is lovely and light so I have left the walls white, they are decorated with pictures of Noah out on adventures enjoying himself. 

The playroom has a dedicated area for reading, where I have kept books at Noah's height on small shelves with perfect bookends (OrangeTree £19.99) and a book stand at his height (KidKraft £49.95) 

He has his own bean bag (Asda £20) to sit on, to relax and read. It's a lovely blue with white stars which runs through to his storage (Similar £5.49) for toys and rugs on the floor (Stars Asda £16 and Rocket Similar). The storage unit is from Ikea and the table is perfect for arts and crafts. 

For the reading area I also bought some lovely bits from Etsy: Personalised metal sign £11.53.

Fairytale and storybook signposts £9.50

The play area has a colourful Dwinguler playmat £145 perfect for avoiding bumps and scrapes. 

The mat has also helped Noah play imaginatively, he can often be found with characters marching along the playmat on some adventure. 

His love for creative play also extends to his teepee tent (WayFair) and kitchen (Tildo £79).

He loves whipping up a FoodieForce storm in this kitchen. It's true what they say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. 

What was your favourite space when you were little? Share your ideas for the perfect playroom in the comments below.

The ultimate Lemon, Lime and Garlic Chicken Salad

I have been perfecting my Lemon, Lime and Garlic Chicken since I started cooking. Its simple to make, really tasty and will impress any dinner guest. 

The possibilities of accompanying sides is endless, which means you won't get bored of making it. My personal favourite is artichoke, Feta and mint salad but rice goes equally as well.

For the chicken recipe you will need the following: 

It serves two as a main meal, four as a starter and it can be made in under 30 mins.

So lets get started...

1.Take two cloves of Garlic and finely chop. 

2. Take two chicken breasts and dice. 

3.Juice one Lemon. Seasoning is very personal, I love my chicken zinging so always juice to taste.

4.Juice one Lime. Again seasoning is personal so add to your desired taste.  

5.Pour 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and heat on the hob on a high heat. Add the Garlic, Lemon, Lime and Chicken. Stir continuously until the Chicken is cooked and the juices run clear (roughly twenty minutes). The chicken should have a golden coating when complete. 

Need something more visual check out my new YouTube Channel, where I show step by step how to make the recipe:

I would love it if you could go and show the channel some love and subscribe if you like it. 

To make the salad to accompany the chicken you will need:

1. Take one lettuce and chop 

2. Take five cherry tomatoes slice into quarters

3. Chop one Avocado 

4. Measure out 100 grams of Pomegranate seeds. I find de-seeding a Pomegranate therapeutic but if short of time buy ready made.  

5.You will need 180 grams of Artichoke Hearts. Now I personally cannot be bothered to boil Artichoke Hearts so buy mine ready made, but the choice is yours.

6. Three mint sprigs finely chopped 

7. Two spring onions chopped 

8. 200 grams of Greek Feta Cheese 

Mix all ingredients together in one big bowl. 

Need something more visual check out my video:

Decant the salad and top with the Lemon, Lime and Garlic Chicken.

Have a try cooking it this weekend, you won't be disappointed. 

Do you have any good recipes to share? Or anything that you would like me to cook?