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This is a sponsored post (but you might like it anyway!)
Two weeks to go, after seven years of waiting. I remember sitting, holding Monkey (a nearly 4 month old baby) in my arms watching the announcement of the host city of the 2012 Olympic Games and tearing up with joy and excitement when Jacques Rogge uttered the words "the games of the thirtieth Olympiad are awarded to the city of London." (I just looked those words up on YouTube to make sure I got them right and it set me off again!) I was excited, not just for me, but for the baby that I was holding in my arms, that such a fantastic thing was going to be happening in our country and that it would be something we would be able to share as a family.
Seven years of waiting, but once it starts, the Games will be here and gone again in the blink of an eye and we will be left with will be some - hopefully fantastic - memories. I've been pondering how best to do this with the children for a while. Monkey, in particular, loves his wall charts - he dutifully filled out his Euro 2012. But I wanted more than that - a keepsake that can go into their memory boxes to remind them of the this once in a lifetime event. Then, I was asked if I'd like to be involved with the project I'm about to tell you about. Being a sports mad family, I jumped at the chance as we will be devouring the Games in all forms when it starts.
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| Foreword by Lord Coe |
The scrapbook, supported by London 2012 sponsor P&G, will feature editorial content from The Times and The Sunday Times’ award-winning journalists, including an Olympic timeline along with stats and facts about this summer’s Games and past medal winners. Readers will be able to collect pictures, athlete profiles, medal tables, as well as adding in their own images and memories – plus an exclusive sticker set that will be available inside The Sunday Times on 22nd July.
Stickers? Monkey will be overjoyed! He has that geeky, slightly obsessive quality that little boys often have, collecting stickers and cards wherever he can. I suspect Missy Woo wants to join in as she likes stickers although they will have to be pretty ones.
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| A sample page from the scrapbook |
We have had a sneak preview of the scrapbook as we were sent a copy to get going. The scrapbook is a really nice size (just under A3) with Jess Ennis on the cover, and a foreword by Lord Coe. Every page is in colour, with information for you to cut out and keep from the newspaper or their website (although that is behind a paywall) as well as interesting information about the Olympics, like profiles of high profile athletes and a series about Olympic villains over the years. There's space to write in who won what on each day.
Monkey is very excited about the prospect of filling out this scrapbook over the coming weeks. Missy Woo is less so, but I know she will enjoy it too. This is going to be a great summer holiday activity, which we are going to need if the weather carries on the way it has been! I think it's nice to be able to do something like this together - choosing the pictures, cutting them out, sticking them in - to make memories the way we see them, not anyone else.
Over the next month, I'll be blogging about our experiences of putting the Olympic Scrapbook together, and showing you what we're doing with our scrapbook. If you'd like to join in, please do. I'd love to see what other people do with the scrapbook. In my next post, which should be early next week, I'm hoping to share a How to video with some useful tips for completing the scrapbook with your children.
Get your copy of The Times & The Sunday Times OlympicScrapbook free this weekend with The Sunday Times and you can visit: http://bit.ly/STOlympics for more information. If you have arrived late to this post and missed your chance, all is not lost. You'll have a final chance to get your hands on the Olympic Scrapbook by visiting your local Waitrose or WHSmith on Saturday 21st July and purchasing a copy of The Times.
If you want some more ideas for Olympic related activities to do with your children, you can visit the Olympic Fever section of Netmums throughout the summer.
I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity. On this occasion, I have been asked to share some key information about this promotion, which I have done because it is relevant to the project and informative.
