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5 things to do in Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland with children

‘Caisleán’ is the Irish for ‘castle.’

It is pronounced ‘cash-lawn’.

Trim is a great place to visit if you are visiting Ireland. It is in county, Meath so it is not far from Dublin. There are many buses that stop in the town to enable to you to take in the sights.

Trim castle is the largest Anglo Norman castle in Ireland. It is a great place to visit. It was used as a filming location for the film ‘Braveheart’ and if you are lucky, you can have a photo with a knight at the gates. Next door, there is a visitor centre with an exhibition about knights and a dressing up box for the children.

2. The donkeys in the field next to Trim Castle are a popular attraction with locals coming to feed the donkeys treats. They have a sign up introducing their names and their favourite foods as well as their own Facebook page.

3. There is a wonderful walk starting at Trim Castle and walking along the River Boyne. It is on the Porchfields and takes walkers on a historical walk taking in St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral, the Yellow Steeple, Newtown ruins and the tomb of the jealous man and woman.

4. The grounds of Trim Castle were great entertainment for my toddlers. They loved climbing on the canon and running around on the grass. I had to keep an eye that they didn’t fall into the moat but they loved it. There is a shop ‘Siopa an Caisleán’ opposite with really friendly shopkeepers who serve delicious ice-cream and souvenirs.

5. Soft play is always on a parent of toddlers’ radar. One morning it was pouring with rain and we found this soft play centre in the Oaktree Business Park (down the road opposite Lidl) and it was fabulous. The toddlers had a great time climbing, sliding and spinning. The snacks and coffee were delicious.

www.theplaycentre.ie

(I was not paid to promote any of the places on this post. )

Better luck next time, Kilkenny

Unfortunately Kilkenny lost the All-Ireland Hurling Final to Tipperary over the weekend and this phrase came to mind.

‘Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach’ meaning ‘Power will have another day.’

It is pronounced ‘Beg law ella egg on bare-ach.’

The phrase comes from Irish history where a man with the surname, Power, tried a revolt and failed. It is often used for the phrase ‘Better luck next time.’

All-Ireland Hurling Final

Today Kilkenny are in the All-Ireland Hurling Final against Tipperary in Croke Park, Dublin.

Kilkenny are the most successful team in hurling in Ireland because they have won the All Ireland Senior Championship Final thirty-six times. Not that I am biased with my Dad from Kilkenny and many a happy childhood memory of the black and amber flags flying proudly outside the houses as we drove through the county.

The nickname for the Kilkenny team are ‘The Cats’ and I wanted to teach the children an Irish phrase for the Final as we looked out for Grandma, Grandad and my Uncles in the stands supporting the Kilkenny Cats on the TV this Sunday afternoon.

‘Cill Chainnigh Abú’ is the Irish for ‘Kilkenny Forever.’

It is pronounced ‘Kil khyan-ee aboo.’

Hurling is an Irish game that is thought to date back to 3000 years ago. It is often referred to in Irish myths and legends. It was in 1884 and the formation of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) that the formal set of rules evolved for the game of hurling that we see today. Hurling is a wonderful game to watch with the speed and skill of the players.

‘Iomáint’ is the Irish for ‘hurling’.

It is pronounced ‘um-awe-nch’.

5 activities to do with toddlers for St. Patrick’s Day

These are the activities that I set up for my toddlers aged 3 and 1 in the week leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. This is a collection of ideas that you can use at home or in the classroom.

Rainbow colour matching

To develop their fine motor skills, I drew a large rainbow on paper and then encouraged the children to colour match the coloured stickers to the arches on the rainbow. The gold at the bottom is the Leprechaun’s gold according to the toddler.

2. Make rainbow toast

The toddlers loved getting involved and helping to make rainbow toast for breakfast. It’s really easy to make.

Mix food colouring with milk and paint it onto the bread. Toast the bread and you have rainbow toast. The toddlers loved this for breakfast. Although it was dry so we added butter once the bread was toasted.

3. Play ‘Where’s Larry?’

This book is the Irish version of ‘Where’s Wally?’ Larry is a leprechaun who is hiding around various locations in Ireland e.g. Croagh Patrick, The Giant’s Causeway. Toddler 3 loves looking for Larry and is still looking through the book in August. After reading the book, we hid our toy leprechaun and the toddlers loved looking for him in the living room.

4. Green water play

In the water tray, I added green water with coins and St. Patrick’s day confetti with horse shoes, shamrocks and hats. The toddlers enjoyed scooping up the confetti with the nets and putting them in cups. We did lots of counting of our treasure and comparing who had more and who had less.

5. St. Patrick’s Day sensory bin / tuff spot

The toddlers loved playing with the sensory bin . It was filled with green shredded paper which were hiding toy gold coins and chopped up gold beads from the Christmas decorations.

Toddler 3 loved hunting for the leprechaun’s gold and together we arranged the gold chains into order of size from longest to shortest.

Please note that children should always be supervised when playing with water or small objects.

As the children played , I dropped Irish words into the play e.g. ‘glas’ for ‘green’ (pronounced ‘gloss’). Teaching children a second language should not be hard especially if you are learning with them. Just keep introducing the words and then you can build up to phrases.