First Aid Manual - be prepared with this household essential book

In my life BC, I worked for ten years in the Rail Industry.  It gave me some amazing experiences (not all good!) and I learnt some invaluable life skills through the weird and wonderful day-to-day job and the training courses I attended.  But by far the skill I am most grateful for was my First Aid knowledge.

I attended a four-day First Aid at Work course and it was run by a pair of maverick instructors who'd worked both in field hospitals for the armed forces and as paramedics in inner city London.  This meant they had extensive experience of some of the most horrific injuries; a fantastic knowledge of how to work in challenging conditions and an impressive background of improvising with limited kit.

They talked about how to deal with a casualty with a stab wound to the chest and how to sustain life using a crisp packet or plastic bag if their lung was punctured.  They described performing a tracheotomy with a biro, and how the tragic loss of Damiola Taylor may have been prevented if someone had taken their shoe off and pressed their foot into his groin to stem the blood flow from his femoral artery.

This was the kind of training course that stays with you forever.

Yes, techniques and advice about first aid changes over time - notably the introduction of compression-only CRP (we all remember the Vinnie Jones advert don't we - no kissing!); and the new guidelines on  how to deal with infant choking - an infant should now be treated on a first aider’s leg instead of along an arm.

Application of certain techniques is different for babies and children than for adults, so when Ruby was born I went on a specific paediatric first aid course - I strongly recommend it to all parents.

In addition to attending some practical training, I also recommend the new 10th Edition of the best-selling First Aid Manual just published by DK.

Its is the only up-to-date, illustrated guide on the market that covers every aspect of first aid. Endorsed and authorised by the UK’s three leading first aid societies: St John Ambulance, St Andrew’s First Aid and The British Red Cross, this comprehensive guide is the official training manual used in first aid training and is still the only guide written and endorsed by all three voluntary organisations. 

Given I have had some experience with administering First Aid, and have had some training, I can't really say how confident I'd feel using this as a manual without any background knowledge.  But, the way that it's laid out, does make it incredibly useful to refer to quickly, and there's caution boxes and instructions on when to dial 999 shown in red to make them quicker to find in an emergency.

I managed to get to the ripe old age of 35 without ever needing to go to Accident and Emergency, but suddenly, once kids come along I seem to find myself there more and more frequently. Suddenly innocuous household objects become potential killers and there are hidden dangers everywhere.

This book covers every possible scenario from house fires to drowning to electrocution.  It covers minor first aid issues that as a parent you're likely to face fairly often like cuts; bruises; head knocks; nosebleeds; scalds; stings and things stuck up noses!  It details what to do in more extreme life-threatening situations like choking; heart attacks, anaphylactic shock and road traffic accidents.  It has specific instruction where techniques differ for children and even has some specifics on first aid for pregnant women.

This is an excellent manual, full of detailed illustrations, photographs and diagrams.  The instruction are clear and simple to understand and the comprehensive index makes the relevant page easy and quick to find.

It's a book that I'm going to keep in the kitchen, that way I'll always know where it is in an emergency and I can flick through it and refresh myself each time I'm waiting for something to cook in the oven!

The 10th Edition First Aid Manual is published by Dorling Kindersley and is on sale now at £13.99.  Every home should have a copy of this book in my opinion.

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More cork crafts - mini-beasts and boats

I was very chuffed to be asked to take part in a craft hangout with Netmums, along with a group of other craft bloggers.

We were given a list of a wide range of recycled materials to chose to craft with, and I picked corks (I wonder why that was?)

Ruby was so happy with the fairy toadstools I made and they are still getting lots of play time out in the garden, popping up here and there to delight the elves so I thought we'd make something else we could play outdoors with.

She helped me to paint the corks in various colours after deciding what bugs the cork shape would lend themselves best to.  Popping them on a skewer like I did with the mushrooms was a very neat and easy way to paint them without getting too messy.  We used a range of acrylic paints.

Once dry, we made the appropriate legs and wings from pipe cleaners.  There was much discussion over who had how many legs.

To make the spider:

• paint the cork black
• take one black pipe cleaner, fold in half and in half again. Cut through the loops to make 8 legs.
• spread out then glue on the underside of the cork.  Add googly eyes.

To make the bee:

• paint the 'head' black and the 'body' yellow.  
• when dried, add black stripes to the body
• take one black pipe cleaner and make a figure of eight shape for the wings
• glue on and add eyes

To make the ladybird:

• paint the cork red
• when dry, paint the 'head' black and add spot details
• glue on eyes

To make the butterfly:

• paint the cork in any bright colour you choose
• take one contrasting or matching pipe cleaner and bend and twist to form the wings
• snip two small pieces of pipe cleaner and tread on a small bead to form the antenna (note small parts not suitable for small children)
• glue in place and add eyes

To make the grasshopper:

• paint the cork green
• take one green pipe cleaner and cut in half. Bend and twist to make two leaf shapes to form the folded legs
• take another green pipe cleaner, cut in half and twist together to make the other four legs
• glue in place and add big buggy eyes

These are great if you leave them on the skewer and you can add them to a pot plant - I think it would make a nice Thank You Teacher gift or grandparent's present.  You can also screw in some little screw eyes (net curtain hanging ones) - they screw in very easily to cork, and tie on some elastic to have them bounce and boing from a tree or the ceiling.

Or how about these cute boats for a super-quick impromptu make.  I'm not even sure I can get away with calling it a 'craft' as it literally takes about 10 seconds, but it's a nice way to use up all those wine corks (ahem), and perfect for floating in a paddling pool or in the bath.

Simply take three corks and secure together with an elastic band.  Add a mast and sail made from a cocktail stick and a piece of washi tape or coloured paper and hey presto.

For more lovely cork craft ideas, check out Red Ted Art's cork knights (so cute and I love how she uses all the pieces from a champers cork) and santa bowling game; Kids Chaos printable Father's Day truck card;
The Fairy and the Frog's cork printing and Here Come The Girls cork letter and number stamps.

Please do also watch the Netmums hangout video for loads of other great craft ideas for the summer.



 Red Ted Art shared her favourite crafts using loo rolls - I love her latest loo roll mini-beasts
Ali showed lots of uses for tin cans such as paint-dipped plant pots and a kick the can game
Anthea shared egg box crafts including her fabulous bird masks  and box crafts including shoe box storage shelves and dioramas
Kelly showed us loads of uses for paper plates I particularly love her dream catcher
and novice crafter Rosie did an amazing job with her flower pot made from a tin can, straws and other bits found around the house, proving you really can use all sorts to craft with.

Such a lovely hangout and many thanks to Netmums for having us along.  I really enjoyed chatting to other craft bloggers about their favourite craft (mine is our junk modelling sack) and our most treasured craft (mine is our elephant parade which holds such happy family holiday memories).