Galt Art Equipment

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Imagine The Boy's surprise and delight when he opened up the box of the above goodies from Galt Toys for us to review. He absolutely adores all types of craft activities, but painting and drawing with his crayons are the utmost all-time top two for him. He was almost beside himself when he saw some new 'draw-draws' and when his little eyes caught sight of the paint, bless him, he couldn't stop jigging with excitement.

The crayons got the first round of serious analysis: definitely a success there! He took the pot over to his desk, sat down and started to examine the colours. In the pack of goodies that Galt sent us was a pack of 25 sheets of paper. The paper is A2 size and therefore quite large, perfect for large scale painting or sticking activities, but it also means that I can halve each sheet making it go further (we also always use both sides of the paper – environmentally aware!).

The crayons are a delightful rainbow of colours, 24 in total, including various shades of the primary colours and a range of secondary and tertiary hues aswell. They are described as chunky crayons which are ideal. As a teacher I remember a training session where we were taught not to give little children jumbo writing implements because they only have small hands and small grip. However, I've tried thinner crayons and he just ends up accidentally snapping them in half as he is too young to be aware of strength of grip.

As you can see from the pictures, drawing is a very serious business in this household (definitely a left-hander).

In the pack of art resources, we were also sent these finger paints:

The Boy is an independent little creature who likes to think outside the box already (don't you love toddler thinking?) and therefore wanted his paintbrushes to use with them. These paints are great; in the pack are six 100ml pots of bright, thick and washable paint. And yes they are washable! I've had my hands stained for hours after using the Crayola washable paints (especially the blue and green ones) but not with these paints.

*There is a disclaimer on the box that it may not remove from materials and surfaces that cannot be laundered, although it does say it can wash from most machine washable clothes.

The Boy had great fun with painting, he loves exploring the colours and textures as you can see:


We were also sent a pack of face-paint sticks to use, and I tried to test these but the little monkey wouldn't keep still long enough for me to get more than the outline of a spider's body and three of his eight legs! When he's a few months older, I'm sure that he will enjoy using these a lot more but I suspect he's just a little too young at the moment. I will say though that they are encased in a plastic tubing to prevent mucky hands with a push-up sliding holder for the actual face-paint stick in order to maximise the amount of face-paint used. It strikes me as an excellent idea.

I was very impressed with both the paints and the crayons, they are a much richer hue and depth of colour than other well-known branded crayons and paints. I will be purchasing these in future, especially  because of the fact that the deeper coloured paints doesn't stain skin!

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While I received these products free of charge to provide an honest review, I have not been offered any other reward for my opinion.

'I love you through and through'

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Today is World Book Day. I've just read a lovely post over at The Moiderer about the favourite bedtime books she likes to read to her Little One and it has prompted me to tell you about The Boy's absolute favourite bedtime book.*

I love you through and through.

I love your top side. I love your bottom side.

I love your inside and outside.

I love your happy side, and your blue side,

your silly side, your hullabaloo side.

I love your fingers and toes, your ears and nose.

I love your hair and eyes, your giggles and cries.

I love you running and walking, silent and talking.

I love you through and though…

yesterday, today and tomorrow too.

We all adore this book, and have little actions that go with each declaration. The Boy knows it so well now that he can recite the ends of each line and complete the action; he also turns the pages and says the main word associated with it. It is such a lovely book to read at bedtime and send your little one off to the land of nod with happy thoughts of how much he is loved.

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*That's what you should do if a post inspires you, link to it and then you won't get accused of plagiarising and p*ss me off!

Simple Pleasures

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The theme this week, as set by Tara over at Sticky Fingers, is Simple Pleasures. "What are yours? Walking, cuddling up on the sofa, time alone, gardening, curled up with a good book, walking the dog? Give us an insight into the simple pleasures which make your day."

Something popped into my head straight away, but I dismissed it and tried to come up with some other options. I could have chosen reading with a book and chocolate (too corny) or a picture of the laptop (too telling), but each time I kept coming back to the same image and memory in my head.

My simple pleasure is this:

Having a cwtch with my son and staring at his beautiful baby face.

I don't care how soppy or predictable it is, there is nothing I enjoy more. Every Tuesday when I take him upstairs for his nap, I fail to put him in his cot and leave him sleeping in my arms. Why Tuesdays I hear you ask? The reason is simple: on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I work so my mum puts him down for his nap. On the weekend, hubby does it. So I only get to do it on a Monday and Tuesday, and on a Tuesday I spend the entire time memorising his beautiful face and inwardly sobbing about the fact that I have to work for the next three days.

I won't be able to do this forever, I dare say he'll protest when he's 15. Until then having a little cwtch with my gorgeous child is my simple pleasure.

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Now visit the other entries by clicking on the widget on the left, <– over there, see it? No not that one, that's for 'Silent Sunday', the one above it! Yep, that's the one!

Butterflies and Scary Slides

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This morning we woke up for the last time in our little cabin. I want one of my own, I'm not going to pretend I don't! They are the most gorgeous, relaxing and luxurious places to stay when self-catering. Check-out was 10am so we rushed around madly packing up. I tried to be efficient and dropped the plug for baby monitor on my big toe. I screamed, I cried, I sobbed, I wailed. There was blood, tears and swear words. Hubby tried to help by giving me an ice-pack: an 8×4 inch ice-block for my big toe. He got sworn at and returned with a cold, wet, flexible compress instead.

After we waved goodbye to the stunning Forest of Dean we headed to Butterfly World at Symonds Yat. I'd been there as an 11/12 year old and remembered it vividly. I wanted The Boy to experience it. We were the only people there and it wasn't that hot in the tropical house, so the butterflies were quite sleepy at the time. Turns out this is a good thing as it appears this is where my phobia of moths/flying things might have stemmed from. I assumed my memory of it was a happy one; apparently not. After the first butterfly flew within two feet of me, I fled back out and returned with a net and hat over my bonce. The Boy was initially disturbed as he wondered who this monster was and what she'd done with his mother. I'd post a photo but I look stupid so instead admire the prettiness of a newly hatched (1o minutes old) butterfly.

After I'd recovered from a near heart-attack (I managed 30 minutes in there, but then I had to flee whilst trying to pretend to the owners that I'd had a lovely time!), we drove back to Cardiff and stopped off in a soft-play centre that I'd wanted to go to for a while.

Jump is a fabulous play-centre and I now understand the peak prices. However, we went mid-week, mid-term so adults were free and 1yr olds (how convenient?) were only £3! A complete and utter bargain because we could easily have spent a whole afternoon there. There was the most amazing dedicated under 5s area I've ever seen in one of these places: a sensory room; a puzzle, dressing up and construction room; climbing equipment; a trampoline; a ball-pit; and ride-ons. In the main play area, there was three different climbing 'frames' with huge ceiling-floor helter-skelters (I rediscovered my 12 year old self who wasn't frightened of flying objects), bouncy castles, ball pits, bowling alleys, trampolines and air-hockey! We had a really good quality lunch served by helpful and friendly staff.

All in all a good end to our mini-holiday!

'Star' Attractions

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Last night I fell asleep watching the stars twinkling overhead in the sky.

No, I haven't taken up camping, that is so never going to happen! The Forest Holidays cabins have large floor-ceiling windows (in the living room and main bedroom) which allow the light to stream in and cleverly illuminate the solid wooden floors and help to bring the outside 'in'. This morning when The (poorly) Boy came in with us at 4.55, he also pointed out the stars. At 7.25 when we all woke up, he glanced up to look at the trees and declared 'stars, gone.'

After a hearty continental breakfast we set off for a local attraction intriguingly called 'Puzzlewood'. It is so called because the whole place is a bit of a puzzle. It is full of scowles (a geological feature originated through the erosion of natural underground cave systems, uplift and erosion caused the cave system to become exposed at the surface) and  a mile of pathways which were laid down by a local landowner in the early 1800s. These pathways meander through the trees and gulleys to open up this ancient forest, originally for the amusement of his friends and children. It's a little bit of a local celebrity having been used in the latest series of Merlin (the episodes: 'The Crystal Cave', 'The Eye of the Pheonix', and 'The Coming of Arthur', plus the one with the giant scorpions shudder) and a Doctor Who episode entitled 'Flesh and Stone'.

This was a completely different attraction to yesterday's debacle and looked promising from the outset. At the entrance there is a lovely little coffee shop selling home-made items, which doubles as a gift shop. Next to this there is a timber-trail playground set amongst 10-15 picnic benches. Follow the path along to a few farmyard animals (chickens, ducks, geese, a pig wallowing in mud), and just before the wood there is a barn half of which houses more farm animals (sheep, goats), the other half is home to a wooden puzzle; 'a maze of secret doors, dead ends, ups and downs and rounds and rounds'. We didn't go in this because The Boy is too young at the moment, I would imagine that children six and up would have great fun in there.

The wood itself is glorious! Even in this monochrome and dreary season, it is awash with colour from the mosses, ferns and lichens covering all the rock formations and banks. As you enter into the main glade, it is perfectly obvious as to why people think that it is the inspiration behind the elves' woods in JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. It is magnificent! The whole wood is riddled with paths twisting and turning through this chasm in the rocks or over these tree-trunks or under this fallen tree. It is stunning and awe-inspiring. We loved it, The Boy had fun squelching through the mud until he was faced with the first of many sets of steps. Daddy carried him and he soon fell asleep nestled in.

Be warned: there is no way you could take a pushchair along the paths, heavily pregnant women may want to give it a miss (lots of slippery, steep steps and paths) and there are no sign-posts for the way out, you have to explore (the paths do seem to loop back around to the main glade, but if you keep the field with the cows on your right, it heads back to the entrance). Saying that, this is a must-see local attraction; absolutely magnificent!

Our timing turned out to be impeccable as always; just as we sat down in the cabin the heavens opened and pelted the forest with huge and heavy hailstones!