Toys and Games

Princess Leia – The Warrior Princess

Princess Leia

I love Star Wars. It’s my favourite trilogy of films ever. At least, I loved it when I was 8 and 9 and played Star Wars in the park wit my friends. I wasn’t overly fond of it when I was 6 years old and saw Empire Strikes Back for the first time. I still fast forward through the beginning bit of the movie where Luke Skywalker gets kidnapped by an abominable snowman on the planet Hoth and has to be rescued by Han Solo. It terrified me so much when I was 6 and saw it the cinema that my dad had to take me out.

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News & Politics, Popular

The US Election – An Explainer for Kids

US Election

The voting system in the US election often confuses people. What is an Electoral College, and what is the difference between the ‘popular vote’ and the ‘electoral college vote’? Who are the people who work in Congress, and what is the difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives? We take a closer look and answer these and other questions, in a kid-friendly way.

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Home, Health & Style

Life in an English Village

life in an english village

When we think of a country, we often think of a stereotype – an oversimplified image or idea. These are some country stereotypes – can you guess which countries we are meaning here?

Stereotype 2

Stereotype 1

Sometimes a stereotype is used in a negative way, but often we use them because they are the only things we know about the country we are talking about. They are often based on a truth about the country and can be a part of life in that country.
An English Village is today’s topic. When you search for an image of ‘English Village’ you might find something like this

English Village

You might think that living in an English village is all thatched cottages, red telephone boxes, and Sunday afternoon cricket. That is certainly the stereotype!
If you live in a city, you might also think that living in a village like this would be boring, that there might not be much to do, but you would be surprised how busy life in a small community can be.
We asked our contributor Liz to tell us what it is really like to live in a small English village not far from the capital city, London.

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Language & Literature

Should Kids be Taught the International Phonetic Alphabet?

Have you ever flicked through a dictionary to find a word, and then noticed that right next to it there is a set of symbols, some of which resemble the letters you are used to using, but some of which are completely different?

These symbols are there to give you a guide to how the word is generally pronounced, and they are part of the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA.

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