Some of the most meaningful learning in childhood happens quietly — at a table covered in paper scraps, paint smudges, and half-finished ideas. Arts and crafts may look like simple play, but beneath the surface, they are shaping how children think, move, and understand themselves.

After a riverside stroll or a turn around the Common, Easter calls for something suitably celebratory.

Dr Karen Liebreich MBE is an author, historian, gardener and film-maker whose work spans research, writing and practical, community-led action.

Spring arrives quietly, bringing longer days and a natural urge to open the windows. That same shift often happens internally. After months of mental noise and overstimulation, we feel ready to clear space in our minds as well as our homes.