Things to make & do

National Trust gardens are at their peak during the summer months, with striking colours, scents and relaxing spaces to take in the view. With vibrant displays of flowers and long, refreshing days to look forward to, it’s time to make the most of nature – with a healthy serving of sunshine. Celebrate the arrival of summer by visiting some of these top National Trust gardens in bloom.

This month Netflix is encouraging you to celebrate the animals in your life – so check out their top picks of pet inspired TV shows and films the whole family can enjoy! And to increase your enjoyment, try making these deleicious animal shaped sandwiches created by FunkyLunch.

From the 5 to 21 April, Lindt is bringing Easter to life across the country with a series of events that will delight the young, as well as the young at heart. Trails will lead children through a magical Easter adventure as they solve the clues to receive their golden Lindt chocolate reward at the end.

In the final part in our series of articles by Liisa Henrickson-Macaulay, founder of the early music education programme Moosicology and author of bestselling parenting title The Music Miracle: The Scientific Secret to Unlocking Your Child's Full Potential gives her last two tips on how to engage with your child through music.: playing "Conductor Says" and remembering your child is born musical.

Netflix has a whole host of films and TV programmes suitable fro all the family. We've picked out some linked to favourite books.

Liisa Henriksson-Macaulay, founder of the early music education programme Moosicology and author of bestselling parenting title The Music Miracle: The Scientific Secret to Unlocking Your Child's Full Potential gives her top ten tips on how to engage with your child through music. Here are tips seven and eight: Catch the higher bird and Musical moods.

In part three of her series of top tips for using music in you child's life, Liisa Henriksson-Macaulay, founder of the early music education programme Moosicology and author of The Music Miracle discusses the role of clapping in tips five and six.

Liisa Henriksson-Macaulay, founder of the early music education programme Moosicology and author of bestselling parenting title The Music Miracle: The Scientific Secret to Unlocking Your Child's Full Potential gives her top ten tips on how to engage with your child through music. Here are tips three and four: Tap and clap; Get into the Waltz mode.

Liisa Henriksson-Macaulay, founder of the early music education programme Moosicology and author of bestselling parenting title The Music Miracle: The Scientific Secret to Unlocking Your Child's Full Potential gives her top ten tips on how to engage with your child through music. Here are her first two tips on singing and playing music to your children.

Imperial War Museum (IWM) branches across the country are running family activities inspired by real life stories of espionage and the upcoming 70th anniversary of D-Day during February half term. Crack codes on HMS Belfast, meet Spy Dog or sneak through the super spy laser maze at IWM North in Manchester and discover deceptive D-Day plans and craft activities at IWM Duxford.

To celebrate National Storytelling Week, we publish ten useful guidelines for telling stories from Nancy Mellon's book Storytelling with Children.

Have an activity packed half-term this February with the National Trust. Across the country, many National Trust places will be hosting fun family events during the half term week, from trails and craft activities to building dens! You can even tick off some of your 50 things to do before you're 11 ¾ with cooking on a campfire and wild art making on offer.

This year RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch takes place on 25 and 26 January. Join in the action for a great family activity.

Have you ever felt intimidated by the thought of taking portraits? Believe it or not, people are the easiest subject to photograph because all of the elements of good photography are in your hands and you are totally in control of what is happening: you choose the subject, the light, potential themes, colours. Technical details are not so important. The key here is imagination. The experts from SmugMug, the independent photo sharing site, have compiled ten tips for you to enhance your creativity.

Sainsbury's have all the ingredients ready to make the perfect Christmas pudding. Here's award-winning baker and food writer, Dan Lepard, presents the perfect recipe to revive the great British baking tradition of Stir Up Sunday: the classic Christmas pudding and get the family to join in.

VisitEngland picks ten top spots for open air skating in Bath, Brighton, Liverpool, London, Richmond-upon-Thames, Tretham Estate,  Winchester and York.

Young Driver is a groundbreaking driver training course aimed at 11 to 17 year olds – before they're legally able to take to the roads. Research has shown that of those who have taken a Young Driver course, the rate of accidents in the first six months after passing their test drops by more than a half, to fewer than one in ten. Mathilde and Joe had their first driving lesson at Bluewater, as Louise Pollard reports.

Denise Lewis OBE is helping to launch The Football Association's Tesco Skills Programme nationwide. The highly successful scheme will become fully nationwide this summer, providing free high quality football coaching for children throughout England.