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Thank You For Contacting

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.

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?

https://www.portablenorthpole.com/en/

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!

Dear Santa...

   
       

Lenny's Football Maze

Simply right click and press 'save as' to download the maze.
         

LKFC Car Bingo

Simply click the image to enlarge it and then click right button on your mouse and select 'Save As' to download.

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. 

Little Kickers CEO, Christine Stanschus, ranks No.50 on the W100

— PROFIT and Canadian Business unveil 18^th 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