Quickly cool a bowl of soup for a toddler by breaking a slice of frozen bread into it. As the bread defrosts, it cools the soup and adds bulk to the meal.

A plastic bucket is an excellent way to carry around baby and toddler toys when out visiting, or just for moving them to a new play area around the house. It’s the right size, easy to carry and costs only a few dollars.

For children going on school camps or holidays, pack full sets of clothing in separate plastic shopping bags marked with the days of the week. This keeps clean clothes separated from dirty ones and gives them something to bring the dirty washing home in.

Use marshmallows as candle holders on birthday cakes – they prevent wax running onto the cake.

Don’t throw away leftover soft drinks that have gone flat – they make great ice blocks.

Here’s a quick and easy birthday “cake” for a child who doesn’t like cake. Turn a small tub of vanilla ice-cream out onto a plate. On the top of the “cake”, outline in chocolate buttons or Smarties the age of the birthday child. Add a paper frill around the sides of the ice-cream and stick […]

Wear an oven mitt to stroke air out of adhesive paper when covering school books. It makes a tricky job much easier.

A backpack filled with toys, books and snacks and hung from the front seat of your car is a great way to entertain children on long journeys. It’s easily accessible and will keep them amused for ages.

Buy a wooden mug tree for the nursery – you can use it hang up all the hair bows and hats you seem to acquire for your baby, making them instantly accessible.

Make the littlies their own “grocery shop”. Trim to size the labels from smaller-size canned foods and glue them onto empty film containers, making miniatures of the products. Small cereal packets and juice boxes can be added to the mini-supermarket.