Advent Activity Calendar

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When I finish work every Friday lunchtime I have great intentions about the craft and play activities I can do with The Boy for the forthcoming four days until I return to work, yet by Wednesday I have failed miserably!

However, tomorrow the festive season starts and I am buggered damned if I am missing out on the opportunity to do great activities with The Boy each day, even more so since I saw this post on Domestic Goddesque the other day. So in pure 'borrowing' style, I have compiled a planner of Advent Activities for us to complete each day which hopefully should see us embrace the seasonal cheer.

What Christmas activities do you have planned?



Christmas Storybooks For Pre-Schoolers #1

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Earlier this year I was sent a large selection of books from Little Tiger Press to review and I have to say that they remain The Boy's favourite storybooks for bedtimes and sofa-snuggle sessions. I think the reason that he is so taken with them (and that we enjoy reading them with him) so much is down to the innocent stories, invariable featuring animals brought to life with personalities and names (they remind me slightly of the Brambly Hedge books of my own childhood), and the beautiful illustrations.

I've been sent some of their Christmas books for The Boy and us to enjoy, and I want to share them with you. Not because this is a review and I have to, but because I truly believe they are delightful books which your own littlies will love.

I've Seen Santa!
In "I've Seen Santa!" (by David Bedford & Tim Warnes) it is Christmas Eve and Little Bear is greatly looking forward to seeing Santa, but is so concerned that he might forget about him that he decides to stay up after Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear have gone to bed to check he comes. Throughout the course of the night (before Santa arrives) he catches both Daddy and Mummy Bear checking that everything is ok because they too are worried. Will Little Bear get to see Santa?

This book is available in both a normal paperback, and a paperback with a story CD read by Lesley Sharp and Jason Isaacs, who read the story beautifully. We've got a few story CDs and the Little Tiger Press ones are some of the best because of the way that they read the story through twice, allowing for the child to follow it page by page on the second reading.

This picture book and CD set has an RRP of £7.99 but is on offer with Amazon for £5.99 at the moment.

The Best Christmas Ever!
Millicent Mouse is looking forward to Christmas greatly, and with only one day left to prepare she busies herself making apple-nut pie and hot honey punch, and gathering ivy and berries to decorate her home. While she is out in the crunchy snow, she discovers a great many animals who need her help and kindness, which she willingly gives. That night she goes to bed without anything prepared for the next day, but the contentment of knowing she's helped her friends. Will they repay the kindness?

"The Best Christmas Ever!" (by Marni McGee & Gavin Scott) is a heart-warming tale of friendship and selflessness which helps to illustrate to children one of the important aspects of Christmas: giving without expectation of reward. RRP £5.99, Amazon has it for £4.49.

Dear Santa
"Dear Santa" (by Kathryn White & Polona Lovsin) tells the story of Little Bear (a different one to the one above!) who, while playing in the snow, finds a letter addressed to Santa. Distressed that someone might not receive their Christmas presents if the letter doesn't get to Santa, Little Bear sets off with Rabbit to deliver the letter by hand (or paw, rather). Along the way they meet a host of helpful friends who help them in their adventure, but once lost in a snow blizzard who can rescue them?

In this hardback book there is also a letter-writing kit so that pre-schoolers can write (or draw) their own letter to Santa, which is a lovely touch and makes this book feel that much more special. RRP of £7.99, available from Amazon.

The Very Snowy Christmas
Big Mouse and Little Mouse are busy on Christmas Eve making food for the next day's festivities and decorating their home. Little Mouse is eager to find some beries and eventually, after straying a bit further from home than normal, finds some but is alarmed when 'the sky starts falling down' around him. He rushes home through the 'sky' which has settled onto the ground to ask Big Mouse what to do, but his journey home is full of new discoveries which he needs some reassurance about.

"The Very Snowy Christmas" (by Diana Hendry & Jane Chapman) introduces snow to young children in a way which many can identify with. This is also a picture book and CD set read by Lesley Sharp and Jason Isaacs, and is available from Amazon for £7.19 (RRP £7.99)

Santa's Special Letter

This one is my favourite book out of the five for the interactive qualities throughout. "Santa's Special Letter' (by Josephine Collins & Gail Yerrill) tells of Father Christmas' final preparations in getting the presents ready for all the chilldren (and creatures) of the world and loading up his sleigh. When he starts to check them off against his list, he discovers that he has missed a letter and hasn't got the present ready. His helpers, including Pip the Mouse, help him to find the red and yellow letter so that he can make that elusive present. Will he have it ready in time?

One of the best features of a book for pre-schoolers is encouraging interaction with the book and interest in reading on to discover the story. In "Santa's Special Letter" there are red and yellow envelopes scattered throughout the pages, each containing a letter to be read, and plenty of flaps to lift and a beautiful final pop-up to enjoy. Top marks for this book! RRP £8.99 with an Amazon price of £5.39. Bargain, buy it now!

Little Tiger Press has a whole heap of Christmas picture books which you can enjoy with your children, if you don't fancy one of those I've highlighted, please explore the others in the range; there's bound to be one for your family!

I was sent these books for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

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Stocking Filler Storybooks (Review)

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I love children's books at the best of times, something The Boy has inherited, but the Christmas versions of popular classic books or series that are available are even more attractive to my inner magpie.

We've been sent three books for The Boy for Christmas:

Thomas & Friends: Snowy Tracks

The island of Sodor is covered in a thick blanket of snow and the engines have been told to be careful and not to go over any big hills. Gordon doesn’t listen, he’s sure that he’ll be strong enough to steam over every hill he comes to. But it isn’t long before Gordon fi nds out that snow is much more dangerous than it looks!

Everything's Rosie: The Last Snowball

When Big Bear wakes up from his deep winter sleep, he’s sad to fi nd that he’s missed out on all the fun that snow can bring. Rosie and her friends do everything they can to do recreate winter fun, but sledging and snow angels don’t work without snow. Will they find a way to cheer up Big Bear?

Mr. Men Meet Father Christmas

When Little Miss Tiny secretly wishes she could visit Father Christmas she doesn’t expect her wish to come true. But magical things really do happen at Christmas and crazy things too when you’re with the Mr. Men and the Little Miss! Complete with celebrating sheep, yellow snow, sneezing elves and a very sooty Father Christmas, this is another classic Mr. Men story.

The thing that I like best about these books (apart from them being about Christmas, and having sparkly embossed bits on them) is that they fit perfectly into handbags, so that if we're out and about over the festive period, then I've instantly got a book for him to read and enjoy. They also fit brilliantly into stockings to make perfect fillers.

And with a RRP of £2.99, they're not going to break the bank this Christmas.

I was sent these books for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

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"I want to be a clown, in the circus, and swing on ropes and bars," said The Boy.

I love that wish and I hope that he fulfills it!

Now when I was a child (circa. 1988) I wanted to be a bank manager, because I thought it meant that I'd get to count money all day long, and at the time that was one of my favourite things to do. Never in a million years did I envisage myself becoming a teacher; I honestly have no idea how it happened or even why. I think that I might have been pushed into it during sixth form because the private school I attended didn't know what else to do with me. As it was I failed to get into the only two colleges I applied for, and ended up studying to be a nursery nurse before becoming a 'mature' student (at the age of 21) training to be a primary school teacher.

I love my job, but I'm still not sure it's what I want to do long-term (despite having done it for 11 years!)

Therefore when Innocent asked me what inspired me, I had to stop and think with the help of their gift…

And it's that little chappy there on the mug, it's my son that inspires me; to be the best that I can and to fulfill my dream. I'll let you into a little secret here; I'd like to have a craft shop which runs tutorials in a studio room.

One of the co-founders of Innocent (Richard Reed) has recently had a series on television, entitled 'Be Your Own Boss', where he selected new businesses with innovative ideas which he could invest in. As Innocent started out as a stall at a small jazz festival with the three co-founders selling their smoothies, it's great to see them paying it forward to other potential successes. They tested their audience by putting two bins labelled 'yes' and 'no' at the front of the stall, with a banner asking “should we give up our jobs to make these smoothies?”. At the end of the weekend the 'yes' bin was overflowing.

Maybe my craft shop isn't such an elusive dream?

I'll leave you with a few gems from The Boy:

  • Daddy, what do you want to be when you're growned up?
  • Mummy what would you like to be when you're tall like daddy?
  • Daddy, when you were three, you were my child and I was the daddy, weren't you?