Fashion Doodles (Book Review)

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A small departure here from the norm, this is a review of a girls' book!

Fashion Doodles is a perfect book for all those budding fashion designers, which is pretty much applies to nearly all 9-12 year old girls, my niece is no exception. The book provides plenty of part-sketched images of models and their clothing or accessories, and I say part-sketched because the main area of the figure from the neck to the knees is missing. It allows the 'designer' to decide on the outfit to be worn and can be sketched in. At the back of the book is a large selection of prints and patterns which can be cut out into the clothing shapes and stuck onto the 'models'.

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The book is split into a 'Spring/Summer' collection and visits all the major fashion weeks, and the format is then repeated for the 'Autumn/Winter' collection. There are doodles to create hair styles and make-up palettes too, alongside the accessories which can be chosen.

This is a really fun book for young ladies exploring ideas about their own style and gives them plenty of opportunity to release their creativity. I really like that it's not just 'draw an outfit' but taps into their design instincts by providing them with a range of patterned and coloured paper to make those outfits out of.

The Fashion Experts Fashion Doodle Scrapbook is available to buy from Top That! Publishing for £9.99 although it is currently available for the bargain price of £8.99.

I was sent a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Personalised 'Peppa Pig' Goes Swimming (Review)

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It's probably not going to come as a surprise to anyone reading this blog, but The Boy is rather a big fan of Peppa Pig. There is something about the porcine family which completely captivates him and he adores 'reading' the massive selection of books that we have.

Recently I was invited to review one of the fabulous personalised Peppa Pig books available from Penwizard.co.uk, specifically the 'Peppa and ____ Go Swimming' book. The whole ordering process is incredibly simple to do and allows for personalisation of the child's hair, eye and skin colouring, along with hair style and the addition of glasses.

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Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery

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A little over a month ago I had to turn down the opportunity to visit ThomasLand at Drayton Manor to see the premiere of the little blue engine's new film; Blue Mountain Mystery because I had to work; I hate how real-life obligations get in the way sometimes! To make up for it, I took Mr. TBaM and The Boy to the cinema to see it instead. The Boy has never been to the cinema before, and he's certainly never sat through a film before, but he was captivated the whole time.

In this feature-length film, Thomas is enlisted to help out at the quarry after a small accident sees one of the regular engines needing some rebuilding. Thomas soon makes friends with all the narrow guage engines and enjoys working hard with them. One day, he sees a mysterious small green engine called Luke who hides away in the tunnels and Thomas sets out to make friends with him and help him overcome his shyness.

There's something about Thomas that really appeals to little ones, and The Boy is no exception. The images on the big screen were amazing (the CGI are excellent quality and very three-dimensional) and they translate to the television just as well. I love the humour, but more importantly I like how each story teaches a lesson: honesty is the best policy, don't tell tales (gossip) and friends help each other out. This DVD would make an excellent Christmas present for your own little Thomas fan.

Thomas and Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery is available to buy on DVD now priced at £7.99

The Thomas & Friends website has a fantastic Blue Mountain Mystery section and there is always plenty of up to date information about the blue engine on Facebook or on twitter.

I was sent a copy of this film for review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

No More Messy Mitts

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We've all been there; the sticky cake which you packed in the picnic seemed like a really good idea at the time. And that outfit looked gorgeous. And then there was the handprint. No wetwipes because surely your child doesn't still need them?

Or there's the time that they've picked up that icky thing in soft play, are covered in God only knows what and need de-icky-fying pretty damn quickly.

This is where you need one of those anti-bacterial hand cleansers, better still if it's one of the foamy dispensers because they seem to spread and rub in better, and are great fun. However often they leave a foul tasting or smelling residue on skin. Unlike this one from the Green People.

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SIGG Dino Glow Active Top

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SIGG have a new design out for the drinking caps on the environmentally conscious and durable, eco-bottles. The new Active Top is a soft-spout, similar to a straw which is innovative in appearance and functionality, and can be used with water, juice or carbonated drinks.

The Active Top twists to open and close, but on the way from close to open it passes through the 'air' setting which is perfect if the bottle contains a carbonated drink which needs to let out the excessive 'fizz' before being able to drink from it.

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Special K Cracker Crisps & Biscuit Moments (Review)

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When I did the Jenny Craig diet over the Summer, the snacks were some of my favourite things in the food parcel. I like a cheeky snack mid afternoon when my energy levels are flagging, and this is the time I'm likely to turn to chocolate, crisps and coffee to keep me going.

The Jenny Craig cereal bars and crisps were great because they provided the required feeling of naughtiness in a measured dose. In addition, after a few days I didn't feel as hungry following the programme of a few snacks a day as it maintained my metabolic rate. Having a snack mid-morning or mid-afternoon keeps your system topped up and prevents the hungry feeling which means no gorging at meal time. Obviously though, it's a bit difficult to continue a pricey diet programme just so that I can continue to have the yummy snacks.

I don't like conventional diet snacks: rice cakes make me feel like I'm eating polysterene and seeds are quite frankly for hamsters not humans. This is why I was more than happy to receive some Special K snacks through from Kellogg's to try.

diet snacks

Special K Cracker Crisps (similar to the Jenny Craig crisps) are a savoury snack made from potato and wheat, and are available in three tasty flavours; sea salt and balsamic vinegar, sweet chilli, and sour cream and chive. They are available in both individual 23g bags akin to conventional crisps (60p a bag), or a 100g box of crisps for in the house (£1.99). We were sent a box of sea salt and balsamic vinegar, and sour cream and chive to try out. At around 95 calories for a 23g bag, they're not a bad little treat, with only 0.5g of saturated fat, 1.5g of sugar and 0.6g of salt (often a hidden issue in snack food). They are also very tasty!

Special K Biscuit Moments come in two different flavours: blueberry and strawberry, and in 25g packs. Each pack contains 98 calories with 0.8g of saturated fat and 8g of sugars/carbohydrates. A light biscuit, similar in taste to a rich tea biscuit, with a jammy filling, they are incredibly more-ish and my favourite snack of late.

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

I've Always Wanted To Be A 'Trolley Dolly' (Review)

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For the past year in Wales, we've had to pay for carrier bags. It's only 5p a bag, but if you're doing a monthly shop in a supermarket and are anything like me, then that could soon mount up and you could be paying £1 just for bags while shopping. Therefore, everyone now uses bags for life or jute shopping bags, which are excellent and sturdy.

To be honest, I'd been using reusable shopping bags since I came across the rather cool designs on Super-U bags in France seven years ago. Sometimes I'd forget to grab some from the boot, or become a little enthusiastic when picking things from the shelf but by and large, I am an Eco warrior and reuse!

Over the years our jute bags have become quite worn and battered, they also take a lot of space up in the boot and trolley. I've been asked to review a Trolley Dolly Primo bag, which I'm a little excited about. I don't think it's normal to be this excited about it but it is what it is and I squealed a little too loudly when I opened the packaging!

reusable shopping bag

The Trolley Dolly bag is a revolutionary shopping bag which is sure to make any shopping experience far easier and less stressful, keeping everything together in one place. Resembling a normal handbag; inside the main section are coloured, strong, nylon shopping bags (in the Primo bag there are nine: seven vest, one box and one bottle) and four mesh bags for loose fruit and vegetables. There is a front pocket with a pen loop, a coupon or loyalty card pocket, and space for purse and keys. On the back there is a clear, plastic pocket to put shopping lists which can be easily seen at all times while shopping. The niftiest bit is that the Velcro holding the handles together is incredibly strong which means that it can suspend from the trolley's handle to access bits and pieces, the shopping list and keep an eye on valuables.

I'm really excited by the Trolley Dolly bag, not only because I think that Mr. TBaM will make more of an effort to actually return the bags to the correct place with this (he's always leaving them in the porch!), but because it's so practical, compact and convenient. The Boy is going to love helping me shop with it too!

reusable shopping bag

Using the Trolley Dolly was incredibly easy and genuinely helpful: The Boy loved helping me pick the fruit and vegetables out and bag them, they weighed virtually nothing so didn't add to the cost at the till; the shopping list was easily visible at all times, which made it so much easier to stick to what I should have been buying; and the handles on the shopping bags are long enough to tied together to stop the food falling out and rolling around the boot.

When I posted a photograph on Instagram, I was asked about how strong the bags were in relation to bottles. They take about 13kg in each bag, but how does that translate to normal shopping?

reusable shopping bag

(Please note that I'm not an alcoholic! I had to sift through various cupboards to find these!)

The Trolley Dolly Primo bag retails for £34.99 from ZPM.

If you enter the discount code THEBOYANDME at checkout, you can receive 15% off a Primo or Eco bag.

I was sent this product to review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Orchard Toys: Jungle Express Puzzle (Review)

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We've got quite a few Orchard Toys jigsaw puzzles, especially the big ones, and I'm a big fan of their brightly coloured and attractively drawn illustrations. They are very attractive for pre-schoolers and The Boy is always drawn to Orchard Toys' games and puzzles above any others.

The Jungle Express puzzle is a slightly different puzzle to normal, as it has been designed as a 'talkabout number puzzle' ideal for pre-schoolers and children in the Foundation Phase as it promotes discussion about numbers in a natural way giving context to the concept.

As you can see, the picture shows a train with an engine and ten carriages following behind. In each carriage is a different quantity of an animal, dependent upon the number carriage they are in. It's a 30 piece jigsaw; three rows and ten pieces in each row.

Normally The Boy is capable of doing jigsaw puzzles between 30 and 50 pieces, and so I was initially apprehensive of the challenge of this jigsaw, but was happy to review it for the mathematical development available through it. However, it is actually quite a challenging jigsaw because of the way that the carriages have been drawn going up and down hills; they don't join together in a straight forward manner. This in itself is mathematical development because it relies upon The Boy drawing upon problem solving skills; using a picture to solve a problem, trial and error, and logical thinking. (And if you think I've just made up those areas of problem-solving, then I shall happily show you the hand-outs from a Maths course I went on a few years ago).

We've developed our own way of doing the puzzle, in opposition to the normal 'do the edges first' approach; we do the middle row first. This way he can link the carriages together in the correct order, then we do the 'sky' row and then the 'ground' row.

This puzzle of course can be left at just joining the pieces, but it would be a travesty not to take advantage of the opportunities for discussion. There are times when I look desperately for a question to ask about something, and my brain fails me. Orchard Toys recognises that sometimes there are days when there's not enough coffee or chocolate to help, and so on the back of the box they have printed a brilliant guide which gives over fifteen questions to start you off; Can you find the ___? What is the colour of the ____ carriage? Are there more ___ or ___ on the train? and my favourite question: Where do you think the train is going?


One of my favourite parts of any Orchard Toys product is the 'Educational Guide':

  • Develop counting and number skills.
  • Develop hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.
  • Help compare, discuss and investigate.
  • Links with Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum Key Stage 1.

But of course, our most favourite part is how much fun they are!

'Jungle Express' is available from Orchard Toys for £9.75

We were sent this product for the purpose of this review, our opinions is honest and unbiased.

Little Puggle Craft Boxes (Review)

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The Boy and I love doing art and craft together, and the dining room table is always covered with a plethora of tissue paper, sellotape, various glues, sequins, scissors, odd bits of paper, feathers and googly eyes.

Especially googly eyes.

However, it's not always easy to come up with fresh activities to do with my little Mister Maker, despite being crafty myself. Even us teachers need a hand sometimes. And if I'm struggling, then parents who aren't naturally in tune with their creative streak must have even greater palpatations at the thought of glue, feathers and googly eyes.

That's where a company like Little Puggle can come in very useful to satisfy a child's arty moments.

I was invited to test out the whole exerience and ordering the box was easy and allowed for quite a great deal of personalisation for your child; including selecting if he was left or right handed (left), a choice of three themes (gender dependent) or a surprise, indicate the preferences when doing craft. Then there is the easily filled in delivery and payment information.

activity box

Inside the Transport Box are a variety of activities for children of differeing abilities: assembling pre-printed, foam transport models; colouring and constructing a cardboard campervan; mould and paint plaster fridge magnets; transport stickers; and a Kids' Fun Book along with a Top Tips For Grown Ups Book which provides talking points, areas developed and suggested days out.

activity box

The Boy really enjoyed creating his campervan and has played with it alongside his normal toy cars on his car mat. We've even had some of the Happyland figures having a little holiday with it. We didn't make the Mould & Paint Truck Magnets, as they are for five year olds and older. I am not afraid to shy away from doing activities aimed at older children, but I felt that he was too young to use plaster of Paris.

Each Little Puggle box costs £19.95 and is available to buy individually rather than on a longer term subscription. This is an average price for craft and activity boxes, and this box contained the normal four activities inside of varying degrees of difficulty. I'd say that The Boy is actually a little too young for this box at three years old, and it would be better suited to four or five year olds.

In addition to the normal boxes, Little Puggle have launched the mini box which costs £12.95 and contain a smaller selection of activities ideal for a lower budget or staying with grandparents for the weekend.

The Little Puggle boxes require less crafty ability than some other activity boxes, and for the parent who is fearful of PVA glue and tissue paper, these are ideal.

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

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