Daniel Brownlie, Director of Coaching for Little Kickers, sends out the news and views of what is happening in the world of Football, and how it affects us at a grassroots level. Little Kickers - planting the seeds for grassroots Football.
Monday, 5 December 2016
Friday, 2 December 2016
Friday, 25 November 2016
How To Stop A Child From Choking
Dr. Ranj is a NHS doctor specialising in the care of children, young people and families but you will probably know him as ITV's This Morning resident Doctor. On the show Dr Ranj demonstrated how to stop a child from choking and the video has been shared thousands of times and watched by millions.
We were very pleased to be given the chance to speak to Dr Ranj
"This time of year we understand that parents are rushed off their feet with all the responsibilities that come with the festive period. Yet, more so than ever, we have to be vigilant of children and the hazards that lie around the house like small items from Christmas crackers and half completed building sets. Ensuring things are picked up is important as obviously prevention is always best, but with the small colourful items proving irresistable to children, it's vital that parents are able to deal with the situation should it ever arise."
It's so important and the video makes it easy to understand and we really hope you watch it. Dr Ranj continued by saying...
"Choking still causes 25 deaths in children every year. I really hope all the parents who attend your Little Kickers classes not only watch the video but also learn and then share the information. This video has already saved lives, we're hoping it is able to save more. Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them and I hope it never will, but it's not worth the risk of not knowing what to do'
Please watch this video.
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Festive Recipes
Looking to keep the kids entertained this winter? Keep little hands busy in the kitchen with these festive recipes. With just a little guidance the children will be able create some winter treats, perhaps save one for Santa?
Rudolph Shortbread
PREP: 35 mins
COOK: 25 mins plus chilling
SKILL LEVEL: Easy
MAKES: 8 big biscuits
These simple shortbread triangles are a great edible gift for kids to make over Christmas - decorate with Smarties or other sweets and wrap up with pipe cleaner 'reindeer' antlers.
Your Shopping List:
200g salted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
85g golden caster sugar
85g ground rice
225g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
3 tbsp icing sugar
8 red Smarties
16 white sweets or white chocolate buttons, for the eyes (we used Waitrose Cooks' Homebaking Meringue pieces)
Black writing icing tube
You will also need:
8 cellophane bags (15 x 25cm) or 8 x 40cm cellophane squares
8 brown pipe cleaners
Labels and string or ribbon
22-23cm round plate, cake tin or cardboard template
How to make them:
Put the butter, vanilla and sugar in a big mixing bowl and stir together with a wooden spoon until really smooth. Stir in the ground rice first, then the flour. If it starts to get dry, you might need to use your hands to squish everything together to make a smooth dough.
Put a piece of baking parchment on a baking sheet. Make the dough into a round ball in the middle of the parchment, then use your hands to push it down and flatten it. Get a rolling pin and dust it with some flour so it doesn’t stick to the dough. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough out to a big circle.
Get your 22-23cm round plate, cake tin or cardboard template and place on top of the dough when you’ve rolled it big enough. Use a cutlery knife to trim round the edges to make a neat circle and throw away the trimmings.
Use a knife to mark the giant biscuit into 8 smaller wedge-shaped biscuits – pretend you are cutting a pizza into slices but don't actually cut it. Prick lines from the edge to the centre of the dough. Use the back of a fork to press all around the top of the circle along the edge to make a line pattern (it’s going to be hair for your reindeer!)
Cover with cling film and put the tray in the fridge for 30 mins to get cold. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Cook the chilled shortbread for 25 mins until golden. Cool completely on the tray, then use a sharp knife to follow the lines you made with a fork and cut into 8 wedges.
Mix the icing sugar with 1-2 tsp of water to make a thickish icing. Dunk each Smartie in and use like glue to stick one on the pointy end of each biscuit to make red noses. Dunk in your white sweets or chocolate buttons and stick them 2cm in from the edge at the other end to be eyes. Use the black writing icing tube to add dots to the white eyes, then let all the icing dry and go hard.
Carefully wrap each biscuit in a square of cellophane or put in a cellophane bag. Twist the middle of a pipe cleaner in a loop around the top of the bag or gathered cellophane to enclose the biscuit. Now twist each end of the pipe cleaner so it looks like the reindeer’s antlers. Add labels and give to your friends and family, or hang on the tree. Will keep for up to 3 days in a cool, dry place.
Please make sure all children are supervised.
(Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2015)
Melting Snowman Biscuits
PREP: 30 mins
SKILL LEVEL: Easy
MAKES: 6 biscuits
Get little ones in the kitchen to assemble these cute festive biscuits - sticky fun for a wintry afternoon.
Your Shopping List:
200g fondant icing sugar
6 white marshmallows
6 large cookies
24 mini chocolate beans
6 pretzel sticks
Tube black writing icing
How to make them:
Put the icing sugar into a bowl and add cold water a teaspoon at a time until the mixture is runny but thick enough to coat a spoon.
Ask an adult to snip the marshmallows in half using wetted scissors.
Spoon a little icing onto each cookie and attach half a marshmallow. Using a little icing, stick the other half on top at an angle. Drizzle a little more icing onto the cookie to make melting snow.
Break the pretzel sticks in half and place on the cookie for arms. Stick orange chocolate beans on for the noses. Stick three chocolate beans on each cookie to represent buttons.
Using the writing icing, pipe small blobs for the eyes and mouth. Leave to set.
Making Christmas Even More Magical
The kids are becoming ever-increasingly observant which makes it even harder to keep little secrets a mystery. Here at Little Kickers we’ve put together a few ideas to help you keep the magic of Christmas alive in your household.
Of course, we're not ruling out old traditions, by all means keep the mince pies and brandy but we’ve got a few fresh ideas ready for you to peruse!
Wrap up the door
Not especially Santa-related, but a great way to get your children excited on Christmas morning. Simply cover the entrance of your living room with wrapping paper before you go to bed on Christmas Eve. Your little ones can then burst through it the next morning into a room which filled with Christmas lights and presents - what could be a better start to the day?
Secret key for Father Christmas
"How does Father Christmas fit through the letterbox? We haven’t got a chimney..." Sound familiar? As your children get older, their questions get harder to answer. Put together a fake, ahem, 'real' key for Santa and leave it outside for him. Now that he’s older and rounder he prefers to use the front door anyway! If you haven’t got a key spare, get the kids involved and get them to make a magic key and decorate it themselves.
Reindeer dust - get sprinkling!
Reindeer need their magic dust to get themselves air bound. Believe it or not, reindeer are pretty useless on the aviation front, but give them a whiff of that dust and they're up there like a rocket. We're sorry in advance as it can take a while to wash away, but it’s worth it! All you need to do is mix some edible glitter with some oats and scatter it outside (please ensure it's edible glitter as we don't want to harm any nosey animals!)
Santas Footprints
OK hands up, we did this one last year, but it’s a winner with the kids so we have to mention it again. All you need to do is get a boot or a welly, place it in the hallway and sprinkle flour or talcum powder around it, leaving the perfect outline of Santas boots! Just make sure you clean your shoes after, we don't want your mini detectives getting suspicious.
Portable North Pole
Now this is a great website where you can create personalised videos for your children sent directly from Santa. Enter your details and Santa will send your little ones a message just for them! There’s also an app to download. With the app you can create, watch and send videos, play games and receive calls from Santa, all on your mobile phone! Technology eh?
Father Christmas has left something behind!
Try leaving a glove or a naughty list around. If your children think they have something that belongs to the man himself they’ll be super excited! You can follow it up with a letter addressed to your children asking them to keep the item safe until next year. They’ll know he’s definitely coming back next year too!
Mince Pies
They're just for us. Cheers!
Wednesday, 3 August 2016
Tuesday, 26 July 2016
Summer Life Hacks
The School term is over and the long awaited summer holidays are finally here. Those action packed first few days are filled with sounds of
enjoyment echoing from every corner of the street...
Quickly though,
the charm of summer wears off and we are all left trying to figure out how to
stay cool, calm and bug free. At this time, it's important to be well-versed in
some superb summer hacks that will keep you sitting pretty whilst your children
look at you fondly for inspiration because boredom has kicked in
earlier than anticipated.
Panic
not, we've donned our superhero outfit and come to your rescue. It's worth
noting at this point that we chose not to put our underpants on the outside of
our costume, we've never really understood why they do it either. Anyway, with
our pants firmly in place in the normal position, come and take a tour of our
summer life hacks. We've got games and great ideas below. Come and take a browse...
1. Ask our Twitter feed (@LittleKickers) for a Little Kickers football challenge. Our team are great at coming up with interesting challenges that will keep your children entertained for hours. You can always help them record the challenge and send it into us, we always love seeing your videos.
2. For
those days you feel like treating the kids (or yourself), simply cut down on the packaging and
cut through the ice cream. Remove the packaging and there you have a perfect slice
of ice cream!
3. This
simple Summer hack will save you from
those 'watermelony' sticky fingers.
4. This
is a great idea. If you're off to the beach take a fitted bed sheet with you to
stop the sand getting on your belongings or picnic!
5. Use
old dispensers to fill up water balloons. It saves your bathroom
getting completely soaked by kids running in and out trying to fill
up!
7. Going
on a journey? Fill up some water-balloons and place them in the freezer. They
stay colder for much longer and at the end of the day you can have a big
water fight! (make sure they are completely
defrosted before throwing... ouch!)
8. Save
all of your empty bottles to create
your very own bowling alley. You could use a tennis ball or practice your
Little Kickers skills at home by using a football.
9. If
you're anything like us, you'll have a drawer designated to odd socks that are
longing for their other half. Put some value back in their little lives by
creating your very own bean bags! Fill with dried beans or rice and tie a knot
at the top, then ask your Little Kickers to
design some paper targets with different points totals written on them. Then
try and throw your bean bags onto the targets - your very own
sock slinging championship.
10. Want
an excuse to bin the ugly ties in the wardrobe? Create your very own noughts
and crosses game by creating the lines with ties. Get the children to create
four paper designs for either noughts or crosses.
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Little Kickers CEO, Christine Stanschus, ranks No.50 on the W100
— PROFIT and Canadian Business unveil 18th
annual list of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs –
PROFIT
and Canadian Business today ranked Christine Stanschus No. 50 on the 18th annual W100 list of Canada's Top
Female Entrepreneurs. Published today at PROFITguide.com, the W100 ranks female
entrepreneurs using a proprietary formula that considers the size, growth rate
and profitability of the businesses they own and manage.
“The members of
the 2016 W100 each possess the talent and tenacity to start and grow a
successful business,” said James Cowan, Editor-in-chief of PROFIT and Canadian Business. “Their
remarkable achievements serve as proof that ambitious, risk-taking female
entrepreneurs are integral to the growth of the Canadian economy."
“Little Kickers is honoured to be on the W100 ranking,” says CEO Christine Stanschus. “This
achievement reflects the strength of our product and the incredible dedication of our
team.”
"Thanks to our network of passionate and hardworking franchisees, the business has flourished since it's creation back in 2002."
Full W100
editorial coverage will also appear in the June 2016 issue of Canadian Business and online at
Chatelaine.com.
www.LittleKickers.co.uk
www.Facebook.com/LittleKickers
www.Twitter.com/LittleKickers
About the W100
Now in its 18th year, the W100
ranking of Canada's Top Female Entrepreneurs is Canada's largest celebration of
achievement by women business owners. Produced by the editors of PROFIT and Canadian
Business, the rankings and extended coverage of the women honoured are
published in print and online. Applicants to the 2016 W100 were ranked using a
proprietary formula that considers the size, growth rate and profitability of
the companies they own and manage. To see this year's complete ranking and find
links to full W100 editorial coverage, visit http://www.profitguide.com/w100.
Little Kickers boasts four different football classes each tailored to a different age group. However, we have two core beliefs that we take into every session.
Firstly, we believe in something we call “Play not Push”. It means teaching football in a fun, pressure-free environment. We want to give children a positive introduction to sport as a whole, not just football, so they’re more likely to stay healthy and active throughout their lives.
Secondly, we believe football can be educational. Coached in the right way it can stimulate imagination and aid early development skills such as learning colours and numbers, following instructions and playing as a team.
It’s an approach that has bagged us numerous awards and helped us expand globally over the last 12 years. And like all our Kickers, we never stop learning. We’re continually improving and updating our classes, based on feedback and input from child health specialists as well as our network of over 1,500 football coaches worldwide.
Media
contact
Daniel Brownlie - dbrownlie@littlekickers.co.uk
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