The Tiger Who Came To Tea

Yesterday, as the weather was too changeable to risk our planned picnic in the park, my friend (owner of the 3 children on the right of the picture) and I (owner of the one on the table and the blue blur in front) made an impromptu visit to the Judith Kerr retrospective at the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green.

The Museum of Childhood is one of my favourite places to visit and, over the years since I first went there as a teacher planning a class trip, it has changed from a museum for adults about childhood to a museum for children with a lot of adult interest. I loved it back then, but the altered focus has really made it a worthwhile day out for families. The building is lovely - an excellent history of the site can be found here - and it is fully accessible for people with buggies/wheelchairs, which makes such a difference to a day out. One word of warning, though: the tube station is emphatically not wheelchair/buggy friendly as it has steps to all entrances and no lifts to the platform. If you're using public transport I'd suggest either walking up from Liverpool Street via Shoreditch or taking the bus. There are small mainline stations at Cambridge Heath and Bethnal Green but I'm not sure if they have lifts either. Set aside a good few hours and feel free to leave the kids at home for a really good look round!

There are two 'museum' floors and a ground floor which hosts the cafe (good cake - a Benugo venture) and the shop which is sensibly priced and has a good range of books and toys. For those on a budget there is also a lunchroom for picnics (this may not be available in termtime, however, as the Museum is deservedly popular with schools), or the Museum Gardens next door if the weather is good. The mezzanine floor has moving toys - take a stash of 20p pieces - including railways, Scalextrics, clockwork toys and a robot that seems to be permanently broken, as well as a sensory area, imaginative and small-world play areas, a drop-in art area and enough vintage and modern toys to have everyone from your great-granny downwards mooning over the cases saying 'I had one of those!' Case in point: Triang scooters, Fisher Price playhouses, old handheld arcade games, Sindy dolls and much more. It's right up to date with award winning toys from 2010 too, including the Sylvanian Families motorbike and sidecar set which Daisy and Tove would love to get their paws on!

The first floor houses displays on childhood through history with comparative items to show how design has changed - the Museum is, after all, part of the V&A which has a strong design remit - as well as a fantastic seaside area where children can play on the 'beach' and create their own Punch & Judy show. There is a school area, games tables, kitchen play, construction toys and much more, as well as yet more toys to look at and a soft play area for younger children.

The first floor also houses the temporary exhibition area where the Judith Kerr retrospective can be found. Entitled From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit, it is a wonderful trove of original paintings and drawings by the author (you'll find her in the post about favourite bedtime stories below!) as well as beautifully thought out low-tech interactives throughout the installation. There is also a biographical section about Kerr's own childhood, which inspired the book When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.

Daisy particularly enjoyed playing with Sophie's kitchen in the Tiger Who Came to Tea area, while I loved the giant tiger at the table who can be seen in the photo at the top of this post. There was also a giant Mog's basket where children could dress up as Mog, a 'school' area with desks, a magnetic 'dream creature' area, and more magnetic play with a wheel of 'thought pictures' and magnetic Mog expressions. There were also photos of the real Mog, and areas focused on particular Mog books - Goodbye Mog, mentioned in an earlier post, and Mog the Forgetful Cat. Eve was thrilled to see Pink Bunny on the wall! Tove particularly liked the magnetic play and spent ages making dream creatures.

The Judith Kerr exhibition is well worth a visit but be quick as it finishes on 4 September! Upcoming events can be found here although even without a major display the Museum of Childhood is a great day out. There are always smaller exhibitions in the entrance area which often have local school input.

Next week, we're braving the Docklands Light Railway (and yes, we'll be trying to get the front seats!) to the Museum of London Docklands for Pirates: The Captain Kidd Story. I worked on this in the early stages but it didn't open until I was on maternity leave so I haven't seen the final exhibition yet. 8 year old Oliver is more interested in this one, and his dad is apparently very jealous indeed!

Running update: I finished the Couch to 5K programme this morning! Regular readers will know that I've been really enjoying running, and when I blogged about it 4 weeks into the programme I was averaging 2.5 miles per workout and was doing 16 minutes of running in each workout - well, today was the third & final week 9 workout and I ran for 40 minutes non-stop (walked 5 minutes to warm up and 2 to cool down as well). My total workout today was 3.99 miles (6.4k!). I'm feeling very proud of myself and the plan is to carry on at this level until it starts feeling 'easy' and then move onto the Bridge to 10K programme (and yes, I've already downloaded the app). I start back at work next week and will be running along the Thames in my lunch hours...that'll get me away from my desk! I'm well on my way to losing my first stone, too.

Rambling about running

Some of you may know that recently I started running, in a bid to shift the post-three-babies weight and get back to my relatively slim 2005 self - I have no desire to be a lollipop head and I'm sensible enough to know that my tummy will never return to its smooth and stretchmark-free former existence *sobs quietly*. I do, however, want to be able to walk into H&M, pick up a pair of size 12 trousers and know that they're going to fit without having to try them on. On a slight aside - what is it with shops and their different trouser sizes? H&M, Top Shop and Gap used (pre-babies) to be perfect for me, but I had terrible trouble with Dorothy Perkins (if the waist fitted the hips gaped), Next (though they seem to have changed their fit), and most other places. My sister is the opposite, but then pre-babies I could only be described as 'boyish' whereas she is built more along the 'pocket rocket' lines. Where was I?

Oh yes. Anyway, the running. I'm using the Couch to 5K programme at Cool Running which is designed for people like me who haven't done any exercise for a while (though I recently GPSed the school run and that's a mile each way, and it feels like more when you're late and pushing a double buggy), who want to get fit/lose weight/run 5K etc. It's amazingly sensible, working on building you up gradually from jogging in short 60 second bursts in the first week alternating with 90 seconds of walking, bracketed by 5 minute warm-up/cool-down walks to being able to jog a solid 30 minutes (3 miles) after 9 weeks. I started it in May and signed up for the local Race for Life 5K, which would, in theory, have been 8 weeks into the programme but naturally I damaged my knees and had to take 3 weeks off. I'm back into it now and started week 4 this morning (with 16 minutes of jogging in total). It's surprisingly enjoyable! And it does seem to be making a difference - my jeans are definitely looser round the leg and I'm feeling fitter. Plus the gradual nature of the programme really helps you feel you're getting somewhere - last week the first 3 minute run nearly finished me off, but today the 3 minutes were easy and even the 5 minutes weren't too bad. I'm using Runkeeper and RunningAhead to track my workouts and I'm averaging 2.5 miles in each workout. I particularly like Runkeeper as it emails me 'new personal records' to motivate me, and as I've only been using it for a couple of weeks I get lots of emails and feel very motivated indeed. It doesn't work very well on my phone though, so I have to plot routes manually.

Quite apart from the fact that these runs give me a precious half hour all on my own - the only time I get completely to myself - I'm rather enjoying finding little footpaths through the local forest. I'm trying to do different routes as often as possible so that I don't get bored - today, for example, it was a straight run out and back - but with the help of Google Maps I have discovered a great route that cuts through the forest across the old railway lines to the next village and then back along to road to home, and a shorter version that goes along the side of a couple of ponds. Both of these cover a pretty meadow where I've seen deer and rabbits as well as a host of butterflies and wild flowers. I like tracking the distance using a GPS app on my phone, and as I can't run using music yet as it doesn't work with the run/walk programme I get to hear the birds. It's positively idyllic and the thought of a nice forest run is often the motivation for getting out of bed. I'll try and do them as a walk one day and take some pictures. Probably all the locals already know about the route, but I'm not from round yere....I'll keep you updated occasionally, but the next target for me is the Race for Life which is 4 days away.

Having raved about solo running, I am looking forward to a week away in Wales with my sisters very soon, and I'll be taking my running kit so I can run with my sister - she started with the C25K programme and is now terribly fit. Plus it did wonders for her boobs!

We're off to Cardigan Bay for a week in an apartment found via West Wales Holiday Cottages. The best thing about this is that it's near Penbryn Beach, where we spent all our childhood holidays. I love the area so much I did my teacher training at Aberysywth, and I dream of one day being able to pack up and move there permanently. Though I'd settle for a holiday home...if you don't know Penbryn, it's a National Trust beach with a glorious stretch of sand complete with caves, rock pools and clean, clear water. I'm so looking forward to showing it to my other half and my children, as well as to spending a whole week with two sisters, one brother in law and my beautiful niece.

And now I'm off to pack up my wares for tomorrow's Hackney Homemade market! Have a good weekend, whatever you're doing.