Childminders and children love our Sticky Kids CDs

Our Sticky Kids Fun and Fitness CDs for children are widely used in the UK in nurseries and at home. One keen fan of the CDs, which are aimed at pre-school youngsters, is childminder Helen Wardrop.

Helen is an experienced childminder of more than 20 years and usually cares for three children in her home. She's an energetic childminder who also takes her care and work very seriously.

One of her favourite activities with the children is music and movement – and she loves our Sticky Kids Fun and Fitness CDs.

Recently she took some of the CDs along to one of her local childminding meetings. A group of nine childminders and 26 children get together regularly for social fun and chat.

At the end of one of these sessions, Helen introduced the adults and children to a Sticky Kids fun and fitness session. Here's what happened in Helen's words:

She says: "Our gentle weekly song session turned into chaotic fun! We marched around the room to a song called Ready Steady Go (from Warm Up with the Sticky Kids CD). The children absolutely loved this.

"Of course, the grown ups joined in too but after five or six songs they were exhausted! The children have so much energy!

"Everyone joined in the exercises on the CDs with such enthusiasm and we all laughed so much.

"One of the other childminders made a great point, saying: 'Gosh, you don't have to go to a keep-fit class when you've got this do you?'.

"We've used the CDs a lot since and the children still scream with delight when they hear the introduction to Can You Run as Fast as Me (from Work Out! with the Sticky Kids)".

Helen continues to use the Sticky Kids Fun and Fitness CDs 2 or 3 times per week.

She says: "The CDs are great, with songs to encourage a range of physical skills. They are perfect for early learning goals with a focus on movement, sense of space, health and body awareness.

"But it is not only physical skills that are covered - language skills, listening skills, communication skills and social skills are all there, too.

"The CDs come with 'user notes', which are very helpful for suggesting what actions to do with the songs. Just choose the songs you need and press play."

* There are now more than 10,000 pre-school groups (including childminders) throughout the UK using Sticky Kids Fun and Fitness CDs. Have you tried one yet?

Christmas is coming at Sticky Kids...

The Christmas decorations are going up in the shops and although it is still a while away schools are also getting ready for their Christmas celebrations.

We're delighted to report that one of our Sticky Kids Christmas Shows has sold out already. If you want to find out about Christmas shows in your area then check out the Sticky Kids Show website. Children love the lively singalong shows that include popular characters Old Mac and Molly Muddle. Our shows have been growing in popularity in recent years so schools should book early to be sure of securing enough seats for youngsters.

Our Christmas Party CDs are also selling well so everyone should be in fine voice by the time Christmas comes!

Plans for our new Sticky Kids CDs

In a previous blog I mentioned various ideas for our future CDs. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us your ideas. We are hoping that the Sticky Kids Parent and Child CD will be our next one and we are also working on the Nursery School Musical.

We have seen the first draft of the new Go for Gold CD sleeve and we think it looks great. We are still on track to release this CD in January 2011.

Here are just a few of your comments about Sticky Kids:

I am addicted to Sticky Kids - Dundee

The kids go crazy for it - West Dunbartonshire

Fantastic resource. We use Sticky Kids on a DAILY basis - Greenock

The children absolutely love dancing and singing. They remember the actions and have fun. We use Sticky Kids a lot - Hinckley

This gives us a lot of encouragement for the future succes of Sticky Kids. Thanks for your your suport, parents, teachers, childminders and, of course, the children.

Childminders give Sticky Kids CDs the thumbs up

We're finding that more and more childminders are buying our Sticky Kids CDs for use in the home with the children that they care for. They tell me that the CDs are ideal for a fun fitness session and that all the children love the action songs and games.

I am delighted by this news. It was actually during my time as a childminder that my husband Steve and I first started recording the Sticky Kids CDs. I found the CDs were very useful for me in my work - and it was then that I had an inkling that the fun and fitness CDs would be a hit with school, parents, childminders and children across the UK. This has been shown to be the case!

Added to all this I've now been asked to speak at a childminders conference in Birmingham next year about all the benefits of our CDs. If you attend you'll receive one of our free sample CDs in your delegate bag. We'll keep you posted about the event nearer the time.

So thank you to all our Sticky Kids child-minding fans. We really appreciate your support.

Autumn brings a new Sticky Kids Show tour

The Sticky Kids Show autumn tour is now under way. Recently we enjoyed a great Funky Monkey Singalong in the Churchill Theatre in Edinburgh. Masses of thanks go to all the children who came up on stage to show off their moves. We had a huge laugh!

We really love the atmosphere of the theatre but don't forget we also like to come out to VISIT YOU IN YOUR SCHOOL. Prices for a school visit start from £200 so if you can't get along to the theatre because of the cost of buses etc, then why not contact us on 0141 416 1846 or use any of the contact details on the Sticky Kids Singalong Show website.

New Sticky Kid CDs in the pipeline

We are currently considering ideas for future CDs. Suggestions have included:

* Action songs for 0 to 3-year-olds.

* Fitness songs for 6 to 10-year-olds

* At home fitness CDs for parent and child

* A musical for nursery children.

If you have any other suggestions or if you want to comment on any of the above you can email me on anne@stickykids.net

Sticky Kids go out and about

It's at this the time of year that the Sticky Kids team go out and about travelling around the UK hoping to meet up with our fans and introduce our products to new people.

Just recently we were in Glasgow at the Scottish Learning Festival where we met lots of Sticky Kids fans. Thanks so much for singing some of your favourite Sticky Kids songs to us. We really enjoyed that!

We had welcome news from a PE teacher, too. He travels around lots of primary schools in the UK and he claims he can tell which schools use the Sticky Kids fitness CDs in the nursery. He says he can spot the children who do Sticky Kids CDs because of the skills that they had already developed by the time that they reach primary school. This is music to our ears.

It really is lovely to hear about how much good work our Sticky Kids fun and fitness CDs can do for the development and skills of young children.

Thanks to the Glasgow event we sold many more Sticky Kids CDs, and even sold out of the Fun and Fitness Pack, which has over 70 songs and rhymes on four CDs.

Our next event was the ChildcareExpo in Coventry. I have also been busy doing a workshop with some children from a local nursery. It is so nice to meet the children and adults who use our songs for fun and fitness.

New Funky Monkey Video

Children will be delighted to hear that Old Macdonald and Molly Muddle from the popular Sticky Kids Show have started filming a short video to go with the Funky Monkey song. What a laugh we have been having seeing Old Mac dressed up in his monkey suit!

We will post the video on the Sticky Kids website just as soon as it's ready. Then all children will be able to join in with the fun actions at home, as well as at nursery school.

We hope you'll keep following our blog and we'll be sure to regularly update it to tell you more news about the Sticky Kids team.

Get set for lots of fun on the Sticky Kids autumn tour

Wow, we have had a busy summer with our Sticky Kids Live Summer Tour. And we hope that you had as much fun as Molly Muddle and Old Mac did. After a wee well-earned rest we are now busy rehearsing for our new Sticky Kids Live Autumn Tour. Click on our website link to find out more about dates and venues and to discover when we'll be performing near you.

The Sticky Kids Live Show includes a host of entertainment from your favourite characters, Molly Muddle and Old Mac. We have also been having fun dressing up as the Funky Monkey and the Skeleton Twins, both of which will feature in our autumn tour.

Aimed at children aged two to six, the Sticky Kids Live Show boasts a wealth of action-packed sing-along songs and lots of audience participation. Children love our Sticky Kids Live Shows.

Our first date is:

* Churchill Theatre in Edinburgh on October 1, 2010.

Followed by:

* Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock, Glasgow, on October 6, 2010

* Penicuik Town Hall, Penicuik, on October 7, 2010

* Deans Community High School, Livingston, on October 8, 2010.

Come along to meet us in September and pick up a free Sticky Kids CD

But before we head off on tour, the Sticky Kids team will be at the Scottish Learning Festival at the SECC in Glasgow on September 22 and 23. Then on the 28th and 29th we will be at the Childcare Expo, at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

If you are coming to either of these events please do visit us at our stall. We will even give you a free taster CD of our fabulous up-and-coming resource for the 2012 Olympic games, GO FOR GOLD.

We're really looking forward to the coming months with Sticky Kids - and we hope to meet all of you, too.

Here comes summer!

So, just as the kids get their "summer" hols in Scotland – the rain starts! There's nothing new there, I hear you say. Well, it just means that you all need to get out your Sticky Kids Warm Up CD and enjoy some indoor exercise.

Sticky Kids CDs make a great change from the TV and you can do your exercises together. That's older children, mum, dad, granny and grandpa, too! Now how's that for a healthy bit of quality time together?!

In England, the children have been counting down the days until their summer holidays. And, boy, has there been some fun and games as the end of term approaches. I couldn't get through to folks on the phone because they were all on the sports field. You will all be so fit from doing your Sticky Kids sessions throughout the year.

It works out brilliantly for us at this time of year because we get to do Sticky Kids Singalong end- of-term treats in June for Scottish Sticky Kids – then we go to England for the first few weeks in July and do end-of-term treats for English Sticky Kids.

And what a treat we had last week in Alnwick Playhouse. Almost all the children ended up on the stage at our fun show. It felt like a great end-of-term party!

Have a fabulous summer holidays boys and girls. And don't forget to get mum and dad to put on your favourite Sticky Kids CDs for some fit and healthy fun and games.

Love from,

Molly