The Red Monkey Guide to Conkers

It's the season kids everywhere love - conker season! The game of conkers has been an English pastime for generations, and there're few things more natural than some healthy conker competition on the playground. To give your kids an edge this autumn, we've compiled a quick guide to the game so you know they're conkering the right way!

First you need a conker! From September through to November, your local Horse Chestnut trees will provide for you - you can find conkers lying beneath them in abundance. Extract the conker from its spiky green shell and you're ready to go.

You're looking for a conker that is roughly round and symmetrical. Make a hole through the centre and thread through a piece of string about 25cm in length. Now you're ready to play!

Players take turns striking at each other's conker, with the goal being to shatter your opponent's conker with yours.

Flip a coin to decide who strikes first. If you are the player whose conker is to be hit first, then let it
hang down from the string which should be wrapped around your hand. The striking player chooses the height at which your conker should be held.

The striking player should wrap the string around one hand, hold the conker in the other, then flick it towards the defending conker. If they hit, and the defending conker remains intact, then play turns over to the other player. If the striking player misses their opponent's conker, they are allowed up to two more attempts, then play turns over to the other player.

Conker pro tip! If the striking player hits their opponent's conker in such a way that the conker travels in a full circle on its string, then that player gets another strike. This trick is known as 'around the world.'

Advanced rules:

If the strings get tangled after a shot, the first player to shout 'strings' is awarded an extra shot.

If a conker falls to the ground at any time during play, then the opposing player can shout 'stamps' and jump on it! However, if the player who dropped the conked shouts 'no stamps' first then stamping becomes illegal, and that player can retrieve their conker in peace.

And that's all there is to it! Player continue to take turns until one player's conker is completely shattered. The victorious player can go on to challenge other players, and become the conker champion of the playground. Who knows; one day they could be competing in the World Conker Championship!

Conkers is a simple and fun game for children to play in the playground; it makes use of natural resources and can teach kids a little bit about nature at the same time. And for anyone worried about the health and safety risks of conkers, the Health & Safety Executive has some reassuring words for us.

So now you're equipped with all the conker knowledge you'll need; get conker hunter and see if you can't forage up a champion conker!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

A Red Monkey mask for Halloween!

As Halloween approaches the Red Monkey team are wracking their brains for costume ideas - I thought I'd go one better than buying a mask and decided to make one of my own. I'm quite pleased with it so I thought I'd share it around - if you're stuck for Halloween inspiration, why not try our Red Monkey mask?

Click here to download your very own Red Monkey mask. All you need to do is print it out, preferably on some stiff card, then cut around the dotted lines and eye holes. Then put some string or elastic through the holes near the ears, and your mask is complete!

Now I just need a way to make a tail! I'm sure you've got your own Halloween ideas, and we'd love to hear them. You can get in touch using any of the social media links on the right, so if you've got a great idea you'd like to share, let us know!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Pumpkin Ideas

Well October is upon us and the nights are drawing in, and that means one thing for the Red Monkey kids - it's nearly time for halloween!

This charming image was provided by our friends
over at Nurture Store.

Cathy James over at the BabyCentre blog has some wonderful ideas for helping your kids decorate their pumpkins this halloween - you should check some of these out! I don't think I've seen pumpkins quite as colourful as these before.

Always prepared for a creative challenge, I set about coming up with my own pumpkin design. You can see the result below.

Okay, so it isn't a real pumpkin, but it does give me something to aim for when the 31st rolls around!

The Red Monkey Team would love to see what you lovely people can come up with - so send us your pumpkin pics!

You can reach us on Facebook and Twitter, or right here in the comments.



Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Water Play Ideas

We've already talked about how you can liven up your sand play - now it's time to talk about water! Water is great for play time - everyone knows children love splashing about. But water play can also be a great learning aid. Clever use of water play can teach children loads of things about the world around them, and they'll have fun while they're learning too!

Here are a few tips for how you can add a splash of originality to your water play.

Colourful water

Not only does coloured water look great, it's a wonderful way for children to learn about how colours work. All you need is a little squeeze of food colouring, the kind available from any supermarket, and your water will be transformed!

Now try some simple colour matching exercises - ask the kids to place the yellow duckling in the yellow water, for example, or to fill the red beaker with red water.

It's also a great opportunity for children to learn about colour mixing - let them experiment with mixing different colours of water together and see what new colours they can think up. Hopefully they'll bring these new ideas into their next art class!

Sensory Water

Don't just stop with colour - why not add some scents and herbal infusions to your water play? A little bit of cake flavouring - again available at your local supermarket - can make water smell lovely. Mixing it up with colours can teach children to associate colours and smells - try some red strawberry flavoured water, or a green peppermint flavour.

Mixing some herb cuttings in with your water can introduce more unique scents, as well as teaching children a little bit about nature. Let them mix up their own scented infusions, identifying the scents of different types of herbs - herbal tea bags and tea leaves make some great additions, too. They'll be mixing up all sorts of interesting potions in no time, and learning all the way!

Water for storytelling

Loads of children's books feature water in some way - books like Sharing a Shell, The Rainbow Fish and Tiddler. Why not bring an extra dimension to story time by turning your water play area into a scene from their favourite book?

Coloured craft foam can be used to make all sorts of water-proof story props - let the children cut and craft their own scenes and characters. Laminated pages and printouts can be great for storytelling too. See what ideas you can come up with to transform your water tables; add sand or pebbles for a beach scene, or coloured rocks to make a coral reef.

Our Water Tables are a great way to introduce water play to your play area!

Whatever you choose to do, there are loads of ways to make water play a central play and learning experience. For great water play inspirations, why not check out Red Monkey's Sand & Water range - bringing a splash of fun to any play area!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Leicester Riders - A Great Family Night Out

Red Monkey are proud to sponsor Leicester Riders Basketball Club, and we're looking forward to starting the BBL Championship off in style! With ticket season starting this week, why not join us for a great weekend of sport?

The Riders will be playing the Sheffield Sharks on October 5th in Leicester, and the Red Monkey team are going to be there, cheering on our sponsored players Jorge Calvo and Anthony Downing- and the rest of the team, of course!

It's sure to be a great family event, so if you're looking for a great Saturday night out, why not come along, say hello, and watch the team shoot for success? Tickets are available online now, so now's the time to get booking. We look forward to seeing you there!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Sand Play Ideas

Sand play is a great learning experience, and great fun too - with clever use of sand, children can learn to mould, build and act out sand-based adventures. Sand can be both a toy and a teaching aid if you know how to use it.

We've put together a few tips to help you make the most of sand play with your children. The children will learn all sorts of things, and have a great time doing it too!

The sand kitchen

Sand makes a great 'ingredient' in any play kitchen - whether it's dry and powdery or wet and malleable like dough. Try introducing other 'food' elements to the sand kitchen - dry pasta is a good one, and herbs or cut grass make for a great vegetarian option.

Get some old pots and pans together, and the children will be cooking up sandy delights in no time! All good fun, and they'll be learning about mixing ingredients at the same time. Why not think up some sand-based recipes for them to cook, and see what they come up with?

Red Monkey's Kitchen Units are perfect for some sand-based cookery!

Colourful sand

Give your sand play a colourful new dimension by mixing in a few tablespoons of powder paint with your sand. The colourful sand is a delight for the children, and can be used to teach them about colours, too.

See if they can match coloured sand with coloured objects - for example, filling a red cup with red sand. Or have the children colour the sand themselves, and see if they can get the hang of mixing colours together to create new ones. Perfect for both sculptors and budding artists!

Sand islands

Sand can be used to create great play-scapes for acting out stories and role-play scenarios. Damp sand can be used to create all sorts of fantastic environments - flatten it down to build roads, dig tunnels and caves for creatures to lurk in, or build mountains for characters to roam over.

Try turning your sandbox into a scene from a favourite children's book, then drop in some toys and let the children act out the story. You could even print and laminate pictures of your children's favourite characters, and bring the story to life right there in the sandbox!

Whatever you choose to do with it, sand is one of the most versatile gateways to creative play. If you're looking to add some exciting sand play opportunities to your play area, why not check out some of our great sand play products?

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Case Study: Delves Infant & Nursery School

Our favourite part of any job comes after installation is complete, when teachers and children see their finished play area for the first time. Seeing the looks on their faces makes all the hard work worth it!

Red Monkey recently completed work on an ambitious Outdoor Play and Nature Garden project at Delves Infant and Nursery School in Walsall, and we couldn't be more pleased with the results! And seeing the look on Head Teacher Emma's face when she first saw the new play area, we know the children are going to be even happier than we are!

The brief

Our brief was to create two new outdoor areas at Delves Nursery School - an 'outdoor school area', which was to feature a dedicated outdoor learning area as well as challenging play equipment, and an 'eco zone', a natural garden area with scenic water features and outdoor shelter for learning and relaxation.

Project Manager Richard designed the new areas by combining play products from the Red Monkey catalogue with some bespoke designs created specifically for Delves - including rustic nature houses and a completely original water fountain.

The result was a comprehensive new outdoor area that's completely unique to Delves - you won't see anything quite like this anywhere else!

The reception

Project Manager Richard reveals the new play area to a delighted Emma.

Delves' Head Teacher Emma Ingram loves the new areas - here's what she had to say after we unveiled them:

"Outdoor learning is an important part of children’s physical, social and cognitive development. At Delves Infant & Nursery school we wanted an outdoor area which would inspire and excite our young minds and develop children’s confidence and inquisitive spirit. 

The team at Red Monkey completely identified with our vision, aspirations and ambitious plans. Their professionalism and commitment was consistently exceptional throughout, from the initial pulling together of ideas through to the bespoke design, manufacture and installation of our amazing ‘Eco Zone’ & ‘Forest Schools Area’. We now have an outdoor area that is both unique and extraordinary. We are thrilled!"

Emma Ingram, Delves Infant and Nursery School, Walsall

We certainly can't argue with that - thanks Emma! If you'd like to see how Red Monkey can bring a creative flare to your school or nursery, just give us a ring on 0116 281 3975 to book your free site visit today!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.