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

Win a Sticky Kids CD

Are you looking for fun ideas for your youngsters this summer? As the long holidays start most parents will be keen to keep their kids fit, active and occupied. So why not check out our great range of Sticky Kids CDS?

Better still you could be in with a chance of winning one of three Three Cheers CDs that we are giving away. The Three Cheers CD is a great collection of eight lively songs from across the Sticky Kids range. There's a special label on the reverse side so that you can personalise your CD.

Perhaps you and your child are already familiar with Sticky Kids through pre-school care and education. Sticky Kids CDs are designed to cover the key elements of the curriculum for under-sevens – from counting and the alphabet, to our world, music and movement. The Sticky Kids songs are lively and catchy – and promote fitness and health in a fun way.

The Sticky Kids CDs are also ideal for fun and active games in the home. Whether you are looking for an energetic movement session or simply to listen to rhymes and music with your kids there's a CD that will suit you. Sticky Kids have also created a CD called In The Car with a mix of funky tunes and short stories with car journeys in mind. Perhaps there'll be less "are we there yets"!

Because many of the songs are specially written by the Sticky Kids team, you can enjoy learning new songs alongside some more traditional favourites (but always with a Sticky Kids twist). Each CD comes with suggestions for the actions and notes on how to get the most out of the CD.

Competition time

To win one of three Three Cheers CDs you simply need to be the first to correctly answer the following question:

What are the names of the two main characters in the Sticky Kids Summer Singalong Tour? (Clue: check out the Sticky Kids website.)

To enter simply Tweet your answer to @stickykids or reply in a comment to this blog. We can then Direct Message each other or use email to find out your address so that we can send out your prize.

The rules are straightforward: the first three tweeters/commenter to give the correct answer win a Three Cheers CD. This blog editor's decision is final.

CD review: Work Out

The Sticky Kids Work Out CD is the follow up to the Warm Up CD. This innovative CD is aimed at children up to the age of five and includes 22 action-packed songs and rhymes for a really fun fitness work out.

The kids will love the Work Out CD because they can do lots of running, jumping, spinning and stretching. Children enjoy moving to the music and songs and some favourite songs on this Work Out CD are Can You Run as Fast as Me?, the Seaside Song and How Does a Butterfly Go?

The grown-ups will love this Work Out CD because it:

• Offers a mix of imaginative songs and physically challenging action songs to keep children fit and healthy.

• Includes a circle song to encourage children’s co-operation with each other.

• Helps children to explore a variety of ways to move their body.

• Is tried and tested in nursery schools.

• Has a full set of lyrics and user notes.

A great idea for the Can You Run as Fast as Me song

Ask the children to show you their pointy finger and get them to draw an imaginary spot on the floor. Then you can start colouring in your spots. You can start by saying: “My spot is blue, tell me what colour your spot is.” Then say: “We do this song by staying on our spots.”

Before you play the song you can ask one of the children to show everyone how fast they can run on the spot or how high they can jump – this will encourage the others to really push themselves and get a great work out.

During the song you can remind the children to stay on their spot. This song is hard work for the grown-ups!

A great idea for the Seaside Song

Why not use this song as the focus for an end of school concert? We heard about a nursery school that did this. The parents enjoyed watching their children perform songs and rhymes about the seaside. And the kids loved dressing up and using seaside props.

A great idea for the How Does a Butterfly Go song

How does a Butterfly Go? This song could be used during the exploration of a theme about mini beasts.

The Sticky Kids Work Out CD is also part of our Fun and Fitness Pack. To find out more check out the Sticky Kids website.

Fun and singing on the Sticky Kids Summer Singalong Tour

Wow, this summer is busy for the Sticky Kids team. But it's also a great deal of fun. The Sticky Kids Summer Special tour, with Molly Muddle and Old MacDonald, offers an action-packed singalong show for 2-6-year-olds. The action songs are all favourites from our popular range of CDs, such as The Beach Ball Song, Wheels on the Bus and Let’s Go Driving.

There's lots of audience participation, which the kids love! If you like things live and fun-filled then this is for you.

Lots of fun at Perth Concert Hall

Molly Muddle and Old MacDonald had a great time at the Perth Concert Hall last month. The audience loved our Sticky Kids Singalong Show and they enthusiastically joined in all the songs.

It was wonderful to hear the children singing to all their favourite songs – and it was so lovely to see their faces light up when we invited some of the children to join us on the stage.

We have to thank the Perth Concert Hall for looking after us so well.The changing rooms were really something else. So often at other venues we get changed in cleaning cupboards or similar (we don't mind really). But at Perth Concert Hall we were treated to proper changing facilities resplendent with fluffy white towels, leather couches and ensuite showers. Ooh the decadence of it all!

Perth Concert Hall have already asked us back next summer, this time to do two performances, as well as the year after! We can't believe we have booking two years in advance - it's so exciting. In 2012 we will be performing Ready Steady Sing, which celebrates our Olympic CD coming out next January, to tie in with the London Olympics year, and which will be full of brand-new Action Songs.

Choir sing on Go For Gold CD

Talking of which, the children's choir were in recording this week for our new Sticky Kids Go For Gold CD. We told you about this exciting new fun and fitness CD in last week's blog.

Our Sticky Kids Singalong Show line-up

* Molly Muddle and Old MacDonald were also in Dumfries in the Scottish Border recently. The Sticky Kids Singalong Show sold more than 500 tickets. It's be great to meet the grown-ups and kids at our fun show.

* We were also in Moffat performing at the town's brand new school.

* Then we'll be touring England with our summer show. Just last week we played a lovely little theatre in Whitehaven called Rosehill. Because we sold so many tickets for the morning show, we decided to do an afternoon performance as well.

* The following day we performed at Stockton for the first time - and then we returned to one of our favourite venues, the Ace Centre in Nelson.

If you want to find out more about our popular Sticky Kids Singalong Show then please see our website. You'll also find a selection of CDs that you can enjoy at home including the Sticky Kids Show CD.

What's new with the Sticky Kids team?

On your marks: Our new Sticky Kids

fun and fitness CD is being made

We’re having fun at Sticky Kids HQ in the Scottish Borders. Just recently the musicians got together to put some keyboard and guitar parts on to our new Go for Gold CD.

The Sticky Kids Go For Gold CD is out exciting new CD that will be coming out to tie in with the London Olympics in 2012. It will be available to buy from January 2011.

Next we will be working with a children’s choir, which will feature in this fun fitness CD. And then we’ll be writing the booklet that accompanies all our popular health and fitness CDs.

We will be sending the CD out to lots of parents and schools before it’s launched to see what they – and all the children – think of the fun fitness songs.

We will also be giving the Olympic Committee a sneak preview of our Go For Gold CD. We wonder what they will make of the CD that encourages youngsters to enjoy more fitness activities?

We're hoping it will be a big hit among parents, schools and, of course, children. Keeping fit doesn't have to be dull and boring - just try one of our wide range of Sticky Kids CDs for lots of fun ways to stay healthy and fit.

Keep an eye on this blog to find out more about the Go For Gold CD in future months.

What the grown-ups think about Sticky Kids CDs

Warm Up with Sticky Kids

Helen is a childminder from Renfrew in Scotland. She uses the Sticky Kids CDs once a week with the children that she cares for. Helen even gives the parents a list of the skills the children have been learning from the Sticky Kids CDs.

Helen usually starts her Sticky Kids sessions with the Circle song (find this on the Warm Up CD) to encourage all the children to get involved.

Helen’s other favourites are Funky Monkey (find this on the Bend and Stretch CD) and Can You Run? (find this on the Work Out CD).

Helen says: “The Sticky Kids CDs are great for all young children and every one of the children that I look after loves our Sticky Kids times.

“They all have their favourite songs and all of them like the really fast songs. The children really do have their own opinions on the songs that they love the best.

“I have found that the children’s balance, co-ordination and listening skills have all noticeably improved.

“I recommend the Sticky Kids to all my parents and other childminders because I’ve found them to be such a great resource for children.”