Review; Toy Story Magnetic Playset by Flair

We love Toy Story in this house and we are total suckers for any piece of merchandising that goes with the films. I have to admit, I do encourage this a bit as I know that whatever the item is as long as it has some link to their favourite film characters they will play with it, love it and want to discuss it with me. All good, so when this was sent to us for review we all jumped with delight.

It's basically a series of magnets and 2 play scenes in a tin, another toy which is great for taking on holidays as it is fairly small and self contained. I have a it of a thing about kids and magnets after watching a programme about how dangerous they can be so I was sure to very carefully supervise Fifi and Toddler Boy with this one. However, it proved fun enough to stimulate lots of conversations, some hilarity and also some lateral thinking in the discovery that the magnet of Buzz Lightyear, Woody and the others would actually stick on the fridge.

It retails for around six pounds and so would be a good little Christmas gift for little 3- 5 year olds. You can get one here.

Review; Toy Story Magnetic Playset by Flair

Magnetic Game Board Books from Haba

We were lucky enough to be sent a few things from Haba who make really nice usual toys and gifts to review and these game board books were amongst them. I am so impressed with them that I shall be stocking up on them for Christmas gifts.

Come with Us is part of a series of books which teaches children about things in a practical way. Its not just a case of sitting there and listening they have to interact with the book. Toddler Boy and Fifi really enjoy it. Basically you have to place this character in appropriate places on the page as you read the story. The story was fun placing the magnetic figure kept us amused for ages.

Tomcat Paul on the Farm is a picture book with jigsaw puzzles and a board game all built into one. Its actually perfect for travelling as its quite small but does three different things. We also enjoyed this book, although I have to admit I am a bit worried about the potential tears should we misplace a bit of jigsaw puzzle.

I don't want to go on about the virtues of these books, suffice to say they really are amongst the best I have seen for a long time. They are ideal for us, as part of Toddler Boys speech therapy programme is just to encourage him to talk and discuss things. Games are an excellent way of doing this, so a book and a game all in one meets the criteria perfectly. In my opinion well worth a look at if you are stocking your home library. Fifi has been enjoying them at 21 months of age and Toddler Boys loves them at 3 and a half.

Magnetic Game Board Books from Haba

Book Review; Inside Dinosaurs; American Museum of Natural History

Everyone loves Dinosaurs, so when Inside Dinosaurs came to review from GMC books we were more than happy to give it a good read!Those of you that know me will be aware that I am currently planning a Dinosaur exhibition for the museum where I work. Its become a bit of an obsession and Toddler Boy and Fifi are loving all the associated things. I have investigated dinosaur films, toys, books and some of them will find their way into our Christmas stockings.

Inside Dinosaurs is a nicely illustrated with 75 hand drawn illustrations. It's easy to read book with a soft cover and lots of flap out pages. I've actually used it for some of my research, as I know it will be accurate given that its from the American Museum of Natural History. Fifi and Toddler Boy have positively revelled in looking at the pictures and although the text is more suitable for older children (and adults) it's proved itself worth it weight in gold. All bookshelves need at least one book on dinosaurs, this is a good one.

A useful, fun and valid addition to the bookshelf. You can buy it from GMC books, it's published by Sterling Publishing Co. and the ISBN is 978-1-4027-7074-6 and is by Andra Serlin Abramson, Jason Brougham and Carl Mehling illustrated by Jason Brougham

Book Review; Inside Dinosaurs; American Museum of Natural History

One day I shall tell you of...

..my great Internet experiment. You see it all started a good few months ago when I realised that unless I pulled my blogging socks up I would quickly fall out of the Tots 100 and the hubby would prove himself to be a better mummy blogger than me.

So I analysed how the Tots 100 is calculated and looked at a few other ranking places to see how to get ranked highly in them. As you may have noticed, the blog did in fact shoot up to become Cision Top Ten and at the moment Tots 100 number 11. I also retained first page indexing on Google for the majority of my reviews. And I have done all of this without re-posting stuff on BMB (I'm not a member) or any of the other sites. I have also refrained from doing any guest posts.

I have used Twitter a great deal and I have to admit, often in a strategic manner. I've experimented with competitions, different types of posts and whether or not you need to comment endlessly on other peoples blogs. I've even done all this without writing a post about cyber-bullying or anything similar which I know would have got tons and tons of hits and comments.

It has all been interesting, and when I get five minutes without a child hanging off my leg I shall go onto the ins and outs of what I thought worked and what didn't. Suffice to say, with the exception of getting through my review backlog, this blog will now return to its original style of random posts about my kids. I hope you still enjoy reading it, but if not, I wont take it to heart. I want to produce a record of our lives for myself, my husband and for my children, the rest is purely incidental.

One day I shall tell you of...

Review; Despicable Me

Last week I mentioned Fifi's first trip to the cinema. She was lucky at it was to see a special screening of Despicable Me at the Vue cinema in Leicester Square!

Despicable Me is out on October 15th and stars Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Jason Segel, Julie Andrews. We saw it in 3D, its the first film I have seen in 3D since the 1980's and OMG it was amazing. The characters really do come out of the screen, I think I had that slack jawed look that you see in adverts for people 'enjoying the 3D experience'. Suffice to say the 3D glasses stayed on Fifi for about 5 minutes of hysterical giggling and posing before she gave up on them. You could watch the film without the glasses so I wasn't too worried.

The film follows Gru who is despicable and his journey to steal the moon, on the way he comes across three orphaned girls who he (predictably) ends up adopting. Its one of those heart-warming stories that isn't too saccharine and sweet. I have to admit, i loved it. I cant wait to see it again, the story was great, it worked well in 3D, the music was catchy and it made a change from the usual kids films we watch. I also liked the style of the animation which made it very easy on the eye. The little yellow Minions were suitably cute and I am sure will spawn millions of merchandising spin offs.

The film provides a roller coaster of emotions for children, mine were scared, laughing and concerned at various points. Toddler boy was really frightened by the dog and the despicable Gru's nose for some reason. Fifi just loved everything about the film and really got involved with it. I'm not sure if that would be a good thing at a normal cinema screening, but it was fine on this occasion.

We loved Despicable Me and I'm sure you will too.

Review; Despicable Me

Review; Monza Board Game by Haba

I have to admit it had not occurred to me to play board games with toddlers until we went to speech therapy and there is a session of board game playing at the end of each session. I have to admit we have varying rates of success. However, I have bought a few board games for home and they do add to our choice of toys to play with, so when we were kindly sent a copy of Monza it was very gratefully received.

Obviously very loosely based on the famous race track Monza is a board game featuring little cars which have to go around a race track. Toddler Boy actually really enjoys and asks to play for it. Its not a difficult game to grasp or one that is hugely complicated. But it has cars, dice and a race rack, what more could a little boy ask for?

I like this game, 'fun to play, has enough pieces not to worry about losing a few and is really easy to explain to toddlers. It encourages a bit of strategic thinking and also helps with colour recognition. I can see myself buying it as a present for a few little toddlers I know. If you want to get a copy you can get hold of one here.

Review; Monza Board Game by Haba

The Best Toys We Own

We have a silly amount of toys, some given to us by friends, family, PR companies, others bought by us. The other day I was looking at them and thinking that we should thin them out a bit and it occurred to me that the majority of them are not actually even played with. So here is a totally honest list of our best toys. It might be useful for Christmas...

• The Tomy Magical Melody Maker. This toy has delighted both my children and visiting ones. It's perfect from birth and still entertains Toddler Boy at three and bit. Its the first toy that every child picks to play with.
• Fireman Sam Jupiter the Fire Engine. This is not the best quality, but kids seem to enjoy zooming it along the carpet as it makes a sort of grinding noise.
• Jo Jo Car. We were given this one recently and its proved a massive hit with Fifi (21 months) she loves running around the room with it shouting out the catch phrases.
• The Early Learning Centre Mini Sizzlin' Kitchen. Although a bit flimsy kids seem to enjoy cooking on this.
• Clipo. I think this is hard to use, but the kids get it out time and time again.
• Buzz Lightyear. Toddler Boy loves this toy, he runs around the room with him and talks to him. Its one of the best movie tie in toys ever. If you have a little boy who likes the films you cant be without one.
• Lego. This needs no explanation, we don't have any new stuff, the kids play with my Duplo from 1978 ish and the hubby's technics 1980's vintage. It lasts!

And to be honest that is pretty much it, we could easily throw away everything else. In fact, I'm very tempted.

For outdoors just get a Mini Micro T- Bar scooter It is quite literally the best thing ever for a three year old.

The Best Toys We Own

Trying Hard, Failing Miserably

As you may have gathered I really do try my hardest to be a good mother. I buy them tons of books, spend hours reading to them and playing with them. We do craft activities, cooking, go to loads of places. However, to be quite honest I am generally met with a total lack of interest. My craft activities which seem to take others hours take me five minutes to undertake with them and thirty minutes of planning. Neither of them can colour things in with any even small level of thought or accuracy. Neither of them can begin to write their names or even want to try. There is no interest in counting games. My choice of books is always wrong. They don't wish to play tea parties, cars, Megablocks or those sort of things. They want to dress up and then roll around the floor in a scrum, or pull the sofa apart. I take them places, they complain and say they want to watch the television or a film. I try to garden, they want to dig a big hole in the middle of the lawn in order to find worms to throw at me.

All of this would probably be fine if I lived somewhere where people just plonked their kids in front of the television all day and didn't speak to them. I don't though and my parenting skills are scrutinised at every turn. Its tough, when my kids are determined to run around Pizza Express other peoples children of the same age seem happy to sit still and discuss the merits of organic as opposed to non organic food. I spend most of my life feeling harassed and I need of a break.

The speech therapy for Toddler Boy is proving an enormous challenge, he's not interested, cant be bothered and when he can't do something straight away he gives up. I have started to worry a lot about this, it wakes me up at night. If he is finding this a challenge, what happens at school? He doesn't have the patience and attention span or attention to detail which would be helpful to him in a school situation. He is going to find learning to read and write a real challenge if he cant speak properly. Fifi copies many of these behaviours, this is all quite alien and a challenge to me, as someone who (still) just wants to learn, quietly and calmly, as opposed to in this sort of rough and tumble boisterous way.

I must admit that at the moment I think I am failing them. I am trying, but it seems that my best is not good enough to motivate them into behaving appropriately and developing and learning. I think that I must be going wrong somewhere, I just need to work out where.

Trying Hard, Failing Miserably

Fifi Went to the Cinema

It was Fifi's first ever trip to the cinema on Sunday, at 21 months we were a bit unsure whether or not she would be able to manage it, especially as it was a 3D screening. Still, I decided to risk it partially as I really wanted to see the film (Despicable Me) more of which in another post. We sat in the front row and provided her with some 3D glasses and a large box of popcorn. The popcorn was a success, the glasses provided many moments of mirth.

Surprisingly enough, she absolutely loved it. I have to admit there were moments where she decided to join in "story, story" was screamed loudly along with various shrieks of delight. I loved it with her too, her enjoyment of the experience was infectious. She was really interacting and taking part, it was fantastic. She is not a child that pays much attention to the endless films and television that Toddler Boy demands, so it was great to see her enjoying a film like this.

I suspect that was the first of many family cinema trips. If you haven't taken your little one, our local cinema does screenings for £1 on Saturday and Sunday mornings, I urge you to check them out its a good way of filling a morning and doesn't break the bank.

Fifi Went to the Cinema

Down on the Yeo Valley Organic Farm

It was one of those fresh Autumn days when I arrived after an epic train journey and taxi ride in the depths of deepest darkest Somerset at the Yeo Valley. This blog has given me many, many opportunities but by far the best for me so far has been the opportunity to go and actually see the Yeo Valley. Yeo Valley are one of the brands that I buy, regular readers will be aware that if I can I do try to buy organic clothes, beauty/ skincare products and organic dairy and meat. When I first had Toddler Boy I tried to buy 100% organic foods, but I soon realised that this was a bit futile and simply far too expensive. Sure enough his grand parents gave him all sorts of sweets and he developed a love of fish-fingers. However, I have remained solid in some of my buying habits and organic dairy is perhaps the most solid of these.

I was intrigued to see whether the Yeo Valley farms would actually live up to expectations. I am pleased to report that they did and in fact they far exceeded what I thought they would be like. They really are an environmentally aware family business. I was really impressed with the thought that has gone into making sure that the animals are well looked after and the views they enjoyed whilst grazing! I came away feeling that this is the way that all farming businesses should be run, respectful of people, animals and the environment.

When we arrived we were taken to the Mendip Centre the headquarters of Holt Farms, this is a stunning environmentally conscious building which boasts a fabulous dinning room with the most spectacular views. However, soon enough we all bundled into a Land Rover and were taken on an extensive tour of the farms. I learnt loads of things, the process of organic dairy farm

ing is more complex than I had imagined and is dependent on a good system of crop rotation. I learnt that in the summer cows like to eat white clover and in the winter they eat red clover, if they eat the red in the summer they suffer from a lot of bloating!

What I found so impressive about the Yeo Valley farms was the consideration that had been taken in order to make sure that they were environmentally friendly. From the amazing barn used for school groups which uses eco- technology to power itself, through to the fields of Miscanthus, a bio fuel being grown to power the offices. Even old tyres had been recycled and used for building a retaining wall. The environmentally aware ethos runs through the core of the whole business. I have to admit, I was surprised.

The UK dairy farming industry has undergone massive changes in recent years and the numbers of farmers has decreased. It was great to see that Yeo Valley are actually still a family run business and that there is a great deal of pride in their achievements. The first farm was bought in 1961 by Tim's parents and that farm is at the core of their business today. When Tims parents bought a neighbouring farm and started to do PYO and cream teas they began to venture into yogurt making, that's how Yeo Valley came to where it is today.

Fortunately for me, we also got the chance to see the Blagdon Dairy where the yogurt's are produced, it was an amazing experience having only seen places like that on the television before. The process is controlled through a computer system which frankly looked far too complicated for the likes of me. We then donned fetching hairnets, wellys and underwent the strict procedures to actually go onto the floor of the dairy and witness some of what happens. It was interesting to see and hear how the yogurt we eat for desert each day is actually made. I felt confident in their procedures and as a result it's actually quite unlikely that I will buy another brand of yogurt(although I do know which 'own' brands they make!)

All in all, if you care about the food you eat, the environmental practices that go into making it and the welfare of the animals and indeed workers that have a had part to play in its production then Yeo Valley Organic is one of those brands which should form the basis of your weekly shopping list. Given that my price comparisons with other similar products suggests that there is very little, or in fact no difference in price, you really do have nothing to lose!

Yeo Valley Farms are part of a scheme where school children can come and visit and learn all about the farm, if you live in the area it might be worth asking your school about the possibility of a trip, it's somewhere that I would love to take my children. If you want to learn loads more about Yeo Valley, see some fab images and find out about competitions visit their website.

It only remains for me to thank the team at Yeo Valley for making me feel so welcome, in particular Tim for his fantastic informative tour and for being so enthusiastic about his business. I hope this blog serves as a bit of encouragement for him to get on-line!

Down on the Yeo Valley Organic Farm

Doing Stuff For Free; Pizza Hut- Kids Eat Free

Pizza Hut have been running an offer this summer that allows kids under 12 to eat for free. After 900,000 kids took advantage of the offer they have decided to extend it to January 9th 2011. They challenged me to talk about the best thing that we did this summer for free. This is actually quite hard as we did so many fantastic things for free (mainly as I'm quite mean) that it means choosing between foraging for free food, to visiting the beach, trying to find creepy crawlies in the garden and visiting some of London's best museums and galleries.

 

I think one of the best things we did with the children was to take them to the National Portrait Gallery and let them pick and chose which paintings of famous and not so famous people to look at and discuss. I particularly enjoyed looking around the BP Portrait Award 2010 and found some of the paintings so inspirational  that we came home and did a whole series of craft activities inspired by them. We also enjoyed looking at a whole series of portraits of people who were at the Glastonbury Festival. I gave Toddler Boy a camera afterwards and set him to work trying to take portraits of people. We loved looking back at them and laughing!

 

We had such a great time that I suspect that we will do it again in the near future, however this time we 

will be taking advantage of the Kids Eat Free offer at Pizza Hut:

 

Until January 9th 2011, For every adult main course or adult lunchtime buffet purchased, an accompanying child can choose from either a FREE 2 course kids meal (includes a drink) or a FREE kids lunchtime buffet (includes pizza, pasta and salad).

 

You can find more details about the offer at http://bit.ly/a1DhgJ

Sponsored Post

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Doing Stuff For Free; Pizza Hut- Kids Eat Free

Another Tantrum

As I type, we are in the middle of yet another Toddler Boy tantrum, no is not because I am being a terrible mother by using the computer. This is because I cannot get one of his favourite films to play so he can watch it on the television. Such is the level of his television/ film addiction that he cannot watch something else today, he must watch that specific thing and he must watch it now. It's quite funny and somehow endearing to see a little boy rage with such passion over something. In a strange sort of way I feel proud of him. This is clearly the start of a life-long passion for the movies, I wonder if he will be an actor, director or producer? He has clearly inherited his family background; his grandad is well known within the British Film Industry. Genes are a funny thing!

Another Tantrum

Review: Winnie in Space by Valerie Thomas & Korky Paul

If there's one thing I know about the boy, it's at three and a half he has his opinions, his likes and dislikes and those include both spaceships and scary monsters.

Spaceships are the top of the list though, so it was with interest we sat down with the latest Winnie the Witch book. The dark arts as practised by Winnie shouldn't be naturally conducive for space travel but the basic premise works very well.

Although Winnie in Space is aimed at the 5+ age group who can presumably read it to themselves, it worked very well with the boy. Every page is very detailed with a lot going on. There are plenty of things to look at, spot and discuss, from monsters at windows, to spiders crawling up walls. As an extra special bonus it has robot rabbits which almost had him shivering in excitement.

The book works on several levels. Firstly it's a good bedtime read, there's mild peril which is satisfactorily resolved and nothing too scary. Secondly there are Korky Pauls marvellous illustrations, which we have spent ages pouring over, discussing the merits of spaceship design and the exact life cycle of cyborg bunnies and finally there are the words we're beginning to look at. At three the boy understands the concept of writing and words and often gets frustrated at his inability to read the stories to himself.

All in all a cracking read, although after the 300 plus readings I'm no doubt destined for, I might want to revise that view.

Winnie in Space is out now with an RRP of £10.99 and available in all good bookstores and online from retailers like Amazon here

Review: Winnie in Space by Valerie Thomas & Korky Paul

Butlins and The MADS

I have returned from Butlins Bognor Regis where The MADS award ceremony was held. I was just a hanger on, but some fantastic people won. Some might be as fabulous as me. But I like to think not. Well done to them though, you have indeed proved yourselves shining twinkly stars within the bloggeruniverse. I thought I would convey the experience of it all through individual words:

Tired

Happy

Red

Ladybird

Soft

Play

Squash

Disco

Wine

Chips

Car

Noddy

Gossip

Moan

Groan

Joy

Balloons

Bob

Barney

Smile

Relax

Friendship

Squeal

Again

The whole thing was summed up by Toddler boy: "Mummy why can't we live here?"

Butlins and The MADS

The Smallness of Beds

I've been puzzled for a while about why beds are so small. With the exception of The Great Bed of Ware which is a historical curiosity it seems to me that even the most super Kingsize sized beds could actually do with being bigger. The husband at 6ft 4 has always to stick his feet out the end of the bed, this is a real pain as it can create internal under cover draughts. Until we had children this did not pose too much of a major issue.

However, with the advent of children I find that every single bed we have slept in including our totally biggest one from the shop, is simply far too small to accommodate us and one child, yet alone two. Partially, this is the result of the evolutionary law which means that until they reach teenage years children will sleep at a diagonal in any bed. Usually both myself and the husband find ourselves either pinned between a child and a chest of drawers, or clinging onto the edge of the bed to prevent a fall. This makes sleep a rather rigid affair.

Last night I was staying at Butlins in Bognor Regis, and rather lovely though the beds are my two children could it seems only sleep in my one. This was hilarious in a sort of hysterical fashion as one by one, the little one really did push us all out of the bed. First Toddler boy literally fell out whilst asleep. The husbands analysis of the scene of crime was that Fifi had in fact pushed him. Next the husband ended up on the floor underneath a duvet as a Fifi pivot manoeuvre was undertaken. Finally, she pushed me out and I ended up having to pick myself up off the floor and walk all way around the bed to the other side to regain my sleeping position; on my side clinging for dear life to the edge. Weirdly, Fifi is the most tired of us all today, it's such hard work making enough space for yourself when you are 21 months old.

The Smallness of Beds

Fifi's Book of Manners

Toddler boy has been rude to his best friend today and has gone to playgroup. Lets go and pick him up.

You'll need to cross vomit valley and the sneezing snot supermarket first.

At Vomit Valley Fifi spots a small child who looks very pale. 'Don't go near them' her mummy whispers and takes her firmly by her hand

'Thank you mummy, that's good advice' says Fifi

Then Fifi's mummy spots a child vomiting just behind where they are currently sitting on a picnic blanket.

B*llocks thinks Fifi's mummy

'No worries, it happens to everyone' Fifi's mummy tells the childs mother.

Fifi and her mummy leave vomit valley and go to sneezing snot supermarket.

Fifi spots a man sneezing without covering his mouth.

Fifi's mummy shoots the man an evil look.

Fifi says 'hello' and attracts the man over to comment how beautiful she is. Fifi's mummy makes excuses about needing to buy eggs.

At the checkout Fifi's mummy loads all the shopping onto the conveyor belt. Then realises the checkout girl has the plague, sorry, a really bad cold. She is careful to swear under her breath.

The checkout girl sneezes into her hand, then stops to pull a tissue out of her pocket to wipe her hand. Fifi's mummy does not walk out but valiantly continues, smiling forcibly. She pays one hundred and twenty pounds for the shopping and considers leaving it in the car park.

Fifi and mummy go to Toddler Boys Playgroup and pick him up. He insists that he plays with his best friend later in the afternoon as he feel very sorry for his rudeness.

Fifi and mummy hope that they haven't got any germs and are pleased that they have been taught manners. It crosses mummys mind that manners are not necessarily the best thing to learn in September germ time.

Fifi's Book of Manners

Isabella Oliver Maternity Wear New Season

I've blogged before about how much I absolutely love Isabella Oliver. Well, they sent me some images of their latest collection. I love the Ruffle Wrap Dress and the Bracelet Portrait Top. Don't know about you, but it almost makes me want to get pregnant. This shop should be the first port of call for anyone out there who knows somebody who is pregnant! And for anyone wondering this is not a sponsored post!

Isabella Oliver Maternity Wear New Season

Dolls Then and Now

I spent some time today looking at the museums historic costume collection and it occurred to me that the dolls might offer some insights into how people dressed. So I got out some of the Victorian dolls to have a look. I thought you might like to see some images, what amazed me was the level of detail in the underwear, they even had little split bloomers and petticoats. Beautiful details but as you can see, compared to Fifi's dolls rather scary!

Dolls Then and Now

National Breakfast Week Giveaway

For those of you keen to win one of Linda Jones pub quizzes I thought you might like to learn some interesting facts about Kelloggs breakfast cereals (just in case).

• Tony the Tiger disappeared from Frosties packs in the 1950s and was replaced by a kangaroo called Katy
• In 1957 Kellogg's gave-away plastic toy atomic submarines. The toy was even testedat the Royal Navy's submarine base - HMS Dolphin
• Corn Flakes disappeared from British shops in 1943 due to war restrictions on theimport of corn
• Kellogg's is an official supplier of breakfast cereals to HM Queen Elizabeth II
• The first inserts in Kellogg's packets appeared in 1949. First to hit consumers werepicture cards of famous British sportsmen
• Jonathan Ross starred in a Rice Krispies ad in 1970
• There are 239 groups on Facebook dedicated to Rice Krispies
• Special K started life as a high protein health cereal – originally aimed at men
• There is on average 299 Rice Krispies in a Kellogg’s Rice Krispies bar

Amazing facts, I liked the one about the Rice Krispies bar, you never know when that one might come in handy...

Anyhow, Kelloggs are promoting National Breakfast week this week which is a really good thing! Particularly as it is widely accepted that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but
amazingly one in five adults, and one in six children skip breakfast regularly.

I find breakfast a really challenging meal, Toddler boy is really picky and often not hungry, Fifi will devour anything and everything. I like to have a bowl of cornflakes, which I sometimes mix with Weetabix or porridge. I'm old and a bit set in my ways.

If having breakfast at home is a bit difficult for your family, see if you have a local
breakfast club by clicking here.Since 1998, Kellogg’s has worked with learning charity ContinYou to develop over 450 school breakfast clubs serving an extra 1,000,000 breakfast every year.

Have a look here for a video.

To get you ready for National Breakfast Week, Kelloggs are giving you the opportunity to
win a terrific selection of Kellogg’s cereals and bowls in a lovely hamper. There will be six runners up prizes of a branded bowl. To be in with a chance of winning just answer this simple question.....

What toy did Kelloggs give away in 1957?

Please leave your answer below in a comment, the competition is open to UK residents only and the prizes will be sent out directly by the PR company. In order for me to notify you please leave me your twitter or email contact details. The competition closes midday 12th September and winners will be notified individually. Good luck

National Breakfast Week Giveaway

Review: Bagsyit

Bagsyit are one of those companies that you wish sold their products on the high street. An internet based firm who sell incredibly useful reusable bags for adults and children. I was sent a Flip and Tumble 24- 7 bag and an Envirosax.

These bags are a brilliant size, they fold up small enough to fit in the smallest of handbags and the largest but over flowing, of change bags. They hold up to the equivalent weight of 6 bottles of wine and are machine washable. They retail for a very reasonable price and have that element of exclusivity that you only seem to get from items purchased on line.

I've been using mine all week for various things including trips to the splash park, supermarket and library. I have nothing but praise for them. If I had to chose between the two; then I prefer the Flip and Tumble 24-7 as it goes over your shoulder and has a handy felt patch to stop it from slipping off. I've washed the Envirosax it came out as new and required very little drying.

You can find them here where you can choose from a variety of different patterns to suit your own personal style.

Review: Bagsyit

Book Review: Man Gave Names To All The Animals, Bob Dylan & Jim Amosky

No need for a double take, Dylan hasn't suddenly downed pen and decided to write childrens books. Man Gave Names To All The Animals is instead an illustrated rendition of the titular song, first recorded by Dylan in 1979. I was 4 years old at the time so can't say I remember it well.

That's probably the only shortcoming this lushly illustrated book has- it's target audience are more likely than not to be unfamiliar with the song it's based on. I'm 35 with two young children, I know some Dylan but a lot more Simon & Garfunkel, Donovan and even Peter Paul and Mary, so my knowledge of folk isn't zero but I have to admit this one has passed me by. In fact, it might be a grandparent book more than a parent book from that perspective.

Unfamiliarity with the source material aside, Jim Arnosky has done a sterling job bringing it all life. A well written set of lyrics work well as poetry and I'm not about to look like a plumb by saying Dylan can't write a good set of lyrics. What Arnosky does well is to vary the format, it's not a case of a double page to a verse and a double page to a chorus all the way through, he changes things around and that keeps it fresh. His depiction of the animals is vivid and not at all in keeping with what you see in a lot of childrens books. It doesn't stop there though as one of the touches we liked of and approved of the most, was a list of all the animals in the book on the final page. When something is vividly illustrated there is a fascination and a joy to really look at it. Our 3 year old was certainly fascinated and his younger sister liked it enough to shout out certain animals when she saw them.

The book worked even better on the second and third read throughs when I'd listened to the accompanying CD a few times to get a feel for the rhythm of the original song. First off I'll admit to a somewhat sonorous rendition, that certainly wasn't repeated.

There is definitely room for Man Gave Names to All the Animals on your childs bookshelf alongside all the TV tie in titles that are there. It even holds its own against our favourite Anholt books in term of illustration- high praise indeed!

Man Gave Names to all the Animals is published by GMC Publications and has an ISBN number of 1402768583.

Book Review: Man Gave Names To All The Animals, Bob Dylan & Jim Amosky

Things Which Irritate Me

• Running out of milk
• Running out of toilet roll
• Queuing at the supermarket with a trolley full of frozen food
• Old people walking slowly in front of me
• Cbeebies
• Slow computers
• People wearing pink tracksuits for everyday
• People parking in front of my house
• Colds
• Sick bugs
• The school run
• Roadworks
• Unreliability
• Children throwing the sofa cushions on the floor constantly
• Ironing
• Our ironing board

Things Which Irritate Me

Book Review; The Slime Squad by Steve Cole

Random House publishers really kindly sent us a couple of copies of The Slime Squad to have a look at. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical that my two little pre-schoolers would like them. However, although they can't read them themselves yet, they do seem to enjoy the stories as I read them at bedtime over the course of a few days. We try to read a combination of longer stories over the course of a week and short pre-schooler stories, so I'm always on the look out for kid friendly stuff.

The Slime Squad are a group of super monsters who are trying to save the world and the books come hot on the heels of Astrosaurs which is a story that Toddler Boy loves, begging me to get the cassette out of the library whenever we go. This is a faff because I have to set up the vintage cassette deck.

The Slime Squad are funny stories with poo and slime and are great for kids up to about seven or eight (or more depending on reading levels). We enjoyed them and I can imagine that they will be read over and over again. You can find the authors website here and have a look at him on YouTube below:



You can buy the books here.

Book Review; The Slime Squad by Steve Cole

Free Food

One of the things that I want to instill into my children is a love of the outdoors and a real understanding of nature and the ability to identify plants and animals. For once, I am actually quite a good person to do this as I have had a real love of all things outdoors since I was little and have an enormous library of identification books. Compared to most people I have an encyclopedic knowledge. This is in part due to the fact that one of my university lecturers is Ray Mear's mentor and that as an environmental archaeologist my training is really in 'grass roots' identification of things. I can identify most British trees, plants, insects and mammals, even from the slightest fragment of a bone. It's a skill which I am grateful for and which has enriched my life no end.

Today I was wondering about what to do with the kids, when I suddenly remembered a blackberry hedge we had come across earlier on in the year. What better than a walk through the greenbelt that is very close to our house, a nice enough walk in itself, to get there. The sun was out, it was a tonic for me, there was a flock of pigeons with a few white doves flying about the field in formation. It was an awesome sight, and had all three of us transfixed.

The blackberries are out in force at the moment and we spent quite a while talking about all the different subspecies that were there, why they were there and what we might do with them. We discussed which ones to get and why and had fun running about and enjoying the moment. The funniest part was when Toddler Boy sat on one!

I'm keen that we only take what we need, so other people and animals can also benefit from natures bounty. We took enough so we could make some a crumble and a pie and have a tub to freeze, and left millions for others. Although we might go back at the weekend for a second harvest. On our travels, I found apples hanging over a fence and dropping onto a path- all going to waste. That seemed a shame so we might go and grab some later, we can cut off the bruised and split bits and stew them up. We also found some sweet chestnut trees, I know of an avenue of them which we go to each year, but these are nearer to our house. Can't wait for those! Plenty of elderberries, I need to think about what to do with them and tons of other examples of free food. There's a fantastic source of nutrition out there at the moment and this is a fab activity for pre-schoolers. Also, lets face it free things taste sweeter!

If you want to have a go but feel a little bit uncertain there is a handy pocket sized book which we try to keep to hand for moments of identification indecision. You'll find it here

Free Food

Book Review; New Roald Dahl Hardbacks

I love Roald Dahl, I make the children listen to parts of the stories at bedtime as I yet again vicariously re-live my youth. I've even dragged them around the Roald Dahl museum several times. They don't seem to mind despite being little. Toddler boy loves the first chapter of Fantastic Mr Fox, with its rhyme about Boggis and Bunce and Bean. We sometimes even sing this in the car. Fifi giggles at it, Toddler Boy is very serious. He takes life seriously, which is why I think the Roald Dahl stories actually go down so well in our house!

Anyway, we were fortunate enough to be sent a couple of copies of these wonderful new hardbacks by Random House. We all know the stories, so I'm not going to critique them. They are childrens classics. Suffice to say, if someone bought one of your children one of these little hardbacks as a gift you would be more than happy. They are really nicely produced, and ten percent of the author royalties go to Roald Dahl charities. If I were you, I would start ordering a few now as they will make excellent stocking fillers this Christmas and I can see them selling out. That's what I intend to do anyhow. You can buy one here.

Book Review; New Roald Dahl Hardbacks