Things for Children to Do on Holidays in Cornwall

There is a wide choice of holidays for families in Cornwall, with the county's coastline featuring glorious beaches and friendly resorts, and its inland areas boasting vast swathes of countryside for youngsters to run about in. There are also a host of child-friendly attractions that are perfect for days out, whatever the weather does.

One thing Cornwall is not short of is wildlife attractions and your options will include birds of prey displays, farms where kids can feed the animals, a lobster hatchery and even a camel-breeding centre. Perhaps the best of them is the National Seal Sanctuary near Helston, as the creatures are cute and it has real educational value.

During a tour of the site's hospital your children will learn why seals need to be rescued, how to take care of them and when they are ready to be released back into the wild. They can also find out what starfish and crabs feel like at the rockpool, as well as watch the sanctuary's penguins, otters and sea lions being fed.

Another fascinating destination that will broaden your children's horizons is the Eden Project close to St Austell. The vast biomes are packed with tropical plants and you can experience the sights and smells of the rainforest as you tour them.

The emphasis is very much on conservation and your whole family will learn lots about nature as they explore the greenhouses. There is also storytelling and workshops for children throughout the year, along with special fun activities during the school holidays.

If you want to do something that is more authentically Cornish, a visit to Geevor Tin Mine will be ideal. Metal mining was once the cornerstone of the county's economy and, although the industry has now died out, you can learn all about it at this fascinating living museum near Penzance.

There are a number of exhibits that tell the history of the mine, including several interactive ones designed for children, but the highlight of your visit will be a tour of the mine itself. Head underground and you will see what conditions were like for workers when it was a fully-functioning mine.

Not all days out during your holiday in Cornwall need to have educational value and if you just want your young children to have fun, Lappa Valley is the perfect destination. It has three miniature railways where you can enjoy rides on steam trains, together with a maze, crazy golf course and a number of play areas.

To find the best places to stay on holidays for families in Cornwall, take a look at Cornish Traditional Cottages' range of high-quality accommodation.

What Makes Disneyland A Perfect Place For Children

When Walt Disney dreamed, his dreams were made for children. This is how Disneyland became his dream come true. Disneyland combines the world of whimsy and fantasy children love with every day characters that reach deep into their imaginations. A trip to Disneyland gives children the opportunity to step into the world of fantasy and be part of Disney's dreams.

The Creation Of Disneyland

Disneyland is more than just a theme park for children and adults to enjoy. It's a microcosm of features that provide amusement, entertainment and above all safety. Parents love the idea of spending time with their children in a fun, safe place. All conveniences for parents and children are provided at Disneyland. The creation of Disneyland opened an unusual venue of sights, sounds and amazing wonders for inquisitive, wide-eyed children and adults who visit there. Disneyland was created with children in mind; but also, with an eye toward returning adults to a youthful world of fun, excitement and surprises they experienced in bygone days. Walt Disney must have been certain that a bit of childlike whimsy doesn't disappear with maturity. What better way to return to whimsy than experiencing it with children?

The Many Facets Of Disneyland

There's something for every child to enjoy at Disneyland. This is a place where fun and learning co-exist in a comfortable realm. Children learn while they are entertained at Disneyland. This is another reason it's the perfect place for children. It's difficult for children to leave Disneyland without learning something new and exciting in Frontier Land, Tomorrow Land or Critter Country. They can even learn by first-hand experience from the Disney Railroad or Disney Monorail. Disneyland is perfectly suited to children of all ages, which has been a long-standing goal of Disneyland creators and staff. Of the favorite worlds of Disneyland, the most popular is Fantasy Land and Mickey's Toontown. Children step right into these two worlds and become a real part of its fantasy and fun with games and entertainment that make children a part of the action. There's something magical about walking hand in hand with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Snow White. Children imagine they are stepping inside their favorite childhood fairy tales.

What's Makes Disneyland A Perfect Place For Children?

Of all the things that make Disneyland a perfect place for children, opportunity and variety rank highest. Children visiting Disneyland have a unique opportunity to leave the real world and live in the world of magic, fantasy and folklore. Disney characters bring children as close to reliving fairy tales as they will ever experience in their lives. From this, they learn the purpose and intent of those fairy tales and the objective. As an example, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs they don't just learn about a handsome prince who rescues Snow White. They learn right and wrong and good and evil, in the clearest form. They also learn tolerance for others.

The variety of ideas, entertainment and participation in Disneyland activities is perfect for enhancing children's creative spirits and sense of curiosity. Frontier Land is one example of helping children to relive a pioneering period and exposes them to pioneer realities. Adventure Land opens the small scope of children to the wider world in which they live. New Orleans Square presents children with a view of New Orleans in the 19th while incorporating haunted mansions and the days of pirates of the high seas.

In Critter Country, children find they can ride a flume and be propelled into traditions of Uncle Remus. Each of the rides in Disneyland is themed in a way that brings home a message of subtly educating children through their experience of fun and enjoyment. Of the long-standing favorites that educate children while visiting Disneyland, Tomorrow Land is replete with fascinating space age wonders. This provokes children's imaginations into the vast unknown of the space age combined with a bit of Jules Verne visionary ideas.

The forte of Disneyland is the ability to show children the world they live in, the past and the future through simplicity and ready associations of childhood. This gives children a treasure trove of perfect memories.

An Upcoming Video Game Called Cosmos Chaos is Going to Change Educational Video Games For Children

As a blogger who covers both video games and parenting, I'm occasionally in the position to preview games before they're released. Game companies occasionally send me marketing materials promoting educational video games for children, logo-fied swag, and other such nonsense to give away to my few regular readers. They get a free mention, I get to give away keyrings and rubber balls to my e-friends.

Rarely, the production companies will send me an early copy of their upcoming game. Because I'm in the parenting/gaming blogging business (such as it is), the games I receive are usually educational video games for children. They run the gamut, from boring tripe to pretty darn fun (even for an adult!). If I'm excited about something, I'll tell my readers about it.

I have never been so excited about an educational video game for children as I have for this "Cosmos Chaos."

I've bought into their hype, but rightfully so, I believe. The folk behind this game got a grant from the US Department of Education to build a game that teaches reading and writing skills to grade school kids. No big deal, right?

Well, the grant provided them with more resources than any educational video game for children has ever received. Rather than squander such an amazing opportunity, they pulled together an all-star team to conjure up an educational game the likes of which no one's ever seen. Take your dream-team of movie industry people - like Tom Hanks, Sidney Poitier, Orson Welles, Stephen Spielberg, and Marilyn Monroe - put them in a room together and have them hammer out a movie. That's the level of talent that went into making this game.

Artists from Nickelodeon. Game designers from Konami. Professors and experts on children's learning. The team flew them all to Hawaii and paid them to make the greatest language skill-building game for grade schoolers the world's ever seen. No small task, but they absolutely pulled it off. This educational video game for children is fun enough for adults, too. Challenging? Maybe not. But fun, and good for your vocabulary!

The version I played - apparently not the final version of this over-the-top educational game for children - has you playing the role of a bright kid, out for a day of fun with your dog. Next thing you know, aliens kidnap your puppy, robots are crash-landing in town, and you're in charge of rescuing the poor pup from an evil overlord. The learning aspect of the game is interwoven seamlessly into the game's mechanics; for example, when you converse with other characters, certain words are highlighted. Touch the word with the stylus, and a screen pops up to offer a definition and an example of the word being used in a conversation. The game then rewards the player with experience points for learning the word.

Further down the road, you're given options with which to respond to characters' questions - use the correct response based on the underlined word's meaning, get more experience. If you get it wrong, no big deal - you're prompted to try again, and you get a little less experience than if you'd got it correct the first time. It's great that the educational game for children rewards players for trying again after failing.

"Combat" occurs regularly, but don't worry - there's no real violence. You've a robot protector who battles opponents for you, using strange and unique "attacks" to best your opponents. But we're talking about two inanimate object throwing nuts and bolts at each other, not living animals or monsters or people. What's great, though, is the vocabulary and word comprehension is woven in yet again. Not so heavily that it becomes a burden, or annoying, or slows down the action too much, but enough that it makes sure it's doing its job and you're learning while playing. It's an educational game for children, but it's really, truly, seriously, fun.

The original art work is unparalleled. The learning is fun. Building your robot to suit your needs and your preferences is a great touch, adding replayability to an already great educational video game for children. There are secrets to hunt, special robot attacks to unlock, and levels to gain. The game's musical score is upbeat and catchy, with a different "feel" for every region you visit. The only thing they could've done better was to have worked on the characters' voices - each character seems to have only one or two short blurbs to emote. Unfortunately, you'll grow tired of the protagonist's voice very quickly. A small complaint, but maybe one they'll fix before the final build.

I'm not certain, exactly, when the game will be released. If you have kids, though, prepare for them to put it at the top of their birthday presents list. For once, however, it'll be an educational game for children that you'll know they will enjoy.

William is a parent and a New York straphanger. His kid is already on the way to becoming a gamer who sometimes needs a little "gentle encouragement" to play any of his educational game for children, even the games the little guy picked out, himself. William misses the days of Sonic and Mario when they'd only go from left-to-right, rather than 360 degrees.