I have to admit that when I received an email asking me to review Plenty Super Strong my first thought was "what on earth is there to say about kitchen roll?" But this particular PR had written a lovely personalised email so I took the time to read it again properly and agreed to go ahead. I sent over my postal address and didn't think much more of it. When a delivery man knocked on the door a couple of days later and handed over a large heavy parcel I was a bit puzzled. When I unwrapped it and found all this I was both delighted (after all there were Yorkshire tea bags AND ... read more
Review: Bigjigs Farm House Sorter
We are absolutely thrilled to be in the final 12 bloggers being considered for the role of Bigjigs Play Patrol Agents. For the final stage of the process we were sent a Bigjigs Farm House Sorter to review and we've spent the last week putting it through its paces. Like the majority of Bigjigs toys, the Farm House Sorter is made of wood and is a house shape with two removable roof tiles and a convenient carrying handle. Along all four sides of the house are cut-outs for the eight animals (horse, cow, chicken, sheep, duck, pig, cat and goose) and tree shapes that it comes with. The first thing ... read more
Learning letters
Just over a month ago I wrote about how Little Miss C has started to show a real interest in letters and numbers and how we're trying to encourage her and help her to learn what the individual letters are. In this last month she's come on in leaps and bounds and now recognises several letters and can also say what letters certain words start with. Whilst at nursery they use Jolly Phonics to teach children to read, but at home we're currently trying to do things much more organically - whilst also trying to keep track of what works and captures her interest and what doesn't. We ... read more
Review: Ravensburger Crime Scene Investigation Set
When I was a child I had two favourite books. One was a children's guide to being a spy and the second which was a guide to being a detective. Full of tips and techniques, these two books pretty much summed up what my career aspirations were when I was about 8 and to be honest I'd be pretty happy with either of those jobs now too. If someone had handed me this Ravensburger CSI set (part of their Science X range) then I think I would have probably exploded with excitement. As it is even as an adult it is pretty fantastic. Developed by Mark Benecke, a German crime biologist and specialist in ... read more
Monkey Nut – Simon Rickerty
Sending a book called Monkey Nut to a household where someone has a peanut allergy probably isn't the best way to get a good review of something, but then Simon and Schuster weren't to know that. Unfortunately though this book just didn't quite work for us, even putting all allergies to one side. In this book these two "thing" fight over a single monkey nut before an elephant comes along, breaks it in two, eats then nut and gives them half a shell each to play with. Now the first problem we had was the two "things", one red and one blue. I had absolutely no idea ... read more
Review: Bebe au Lait Nursing Cover
Bearing in mind that it's the most natural way of feeding your baby there's no doubt that breastfeeding can also be bloody difficult. Not only can there be issues about milk supply (either not enough or too much) but some babies struggle to latch on properly at first and older babies can also get distracted and find everything else more interesting no matter how hungry they are. I was incredibly lucky with Little Miss C as I had plenty of milk, she fed very quickly and when she was hungry not much else distracted her. I'm also lucky living in St Albans as there are literally ... read more
Snug as a Bug – Tamsyn Murray and Judi Abbot
Someone at Simon and Schuster must be totally in tune with when my kids are either under the weather or being awkward as it always ties in beautifully with when review books arrive from them. That's exactly what happened last week when Master C was full of cold and demanding almost constant feeding. Luckily the postman delivered a copy of Snug as a Bug and I was able to snuggle up on the sofa with them both to read it straight away. Any book that has a main character named after Master C is a sure fire hit in this house and that's exactly what we had here. The book starts ... read more
Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day – Philip Bell & Eleanor Bell
After being sent a review copy of Jack and Boo's Snowy Day I joked with author Philip Bell on twitter that he now needed to send me some snow. Damn it, he's good as this is the scene we woke up to yesterday morning! Having read the book with Little Miss C just a couple of days before it meant that she was super excited about the unexpected snow and instantly wanted to go out into the garden and explore and that's exactly what this book is all about. Written by Isle of Wight resident Philip Bell, and illustrated by his wife Eleanor, Jack and Boo's adventures in the snow were inspired by a ... read more
Review and Competition – WOW Toys
With two and a half years experience under her belt Little Miss C is becoming rather adept at reviewing toys now. Whenever she gets something new she will actually tell me what's good and bad about it without me having to prompt her and is quite happy for Mummy to get her to pose for pictures with things too - it might slow things down a bit on Christmas Day, but it's super handy when we're asked to review new things, and no one is quite as honest as a toddler! This time round I was asked by the lovely people at Cuthberts Toys to review a selection of toys from the WOW Toys range. Stood in ... read more
Review: Hotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar
When I was asked if I wanted to review some chocolate from Hotel Chocolate it was a bit of a no-brainer. In fact I think my email response was typed out without me even having to think about what I was writing! They sent me their 2012 Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar which is a lovely treat. An advent calendar is one of those things that you have as a child, but then forget about somewhat as an adult, until you have children yourself. The last couple of years Little Miss C has had one and I've bought them for Mr C, but not had one myself. I was delighted to have my own this year - but it ... read more