British children are well aware what this weekend's Jubilee celebrations are all about and almost one-in-five UK families are heading for a street party, according to a new survey.

The parenting website Netmums asked hundreds of primary school youngsters what the nation was celebrating and 83% said they knew it was the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The online questionnaire also found 27% of all families were planning to celebrate the Jubilee at a local event, 28% at a family party and 18% were heading for a street party.

And one-in-33 of those asked appeared to be heading for the official events in London, with only 12% saying they were planning to stay at home and watch the celebrations on TV.

Only one-in-20 of those asked were ignoring it completely.

Netmums said only 15% of people attended a street party in 1977 for the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

Some 12% of parents quizzed described themselves as staunch royalists, while 80% claimed it was important for their children to understand royal history.

And 3% thought the monarchy was outdated.

Netmums founder Siobhan Freegard said: "Children up and down the country have worked themselves into a frenzy of excitement over the Jubilee with schools and streets awash with red, white and blue.

"There has been a revival in all things royal since William and Kate tied the knot last year and youngsters are genuinely interested in what it means for the UK.

"Every little child likes to play kings and queens, so what could be more exciting that a party for the real Queen that kids can get involved in?

"It's a great opportunity for parents to bring history to life and for kids to learn."

Netmums, which has 1.3 million members and five million visits every month to its website, received responses from more than 1,000 parents and their children.

Among the more interesting views, the question "what does the Queen do?" prompted replies including "she sits down with her jewels and counts her pennies", "does she sit down with the paper and a brew?" and "eats biscuits and cake and wears a crown".

Asked "how did she become Queen?", one child answered "she has to pass exams, and be a good girl" whereas others said "because she was nice and pretty" and "Prince Charming asked her to marry him".

Other comments left by the children included: "The Queen must work very hard like Daddy does because she looks very tired and needs to sleep for a hundred years like Sleeping Beauty."

One child said: "The Queen is married to Prince Phillip - he was a frog in the olden days then the Queen kissed him."

More than half of the children asked knew the Queen was 86-years-old but 22% thought she was 100 or older.