Christmas is a magical time of year for children and part of that magic has to be Santa. Whether you call him Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St Nic or Santa Christmas (as Master C currently does!) the same magic surrounds the man in red and there's no doubt that his visit is what most children look forward to most at Christmas. How Father Christmas "works" might be different in each family, but his arrival whilst children sleep on Christmas Eve is seen as being pure magic and it's therefore no surprise that children start writing their letters to him months in advance as they are so keen to ... read more
Boo at the Zoo – Halloween Half Term fun at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
We've been huge fans of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo for as long as I can remember and ZSL members for years now, yet strangely we've never actually been to their Halloween event, the brilliantly named, Boo at the Zoo before. Today that changed. Much of the Boo at the Zoo fun takes place in the giant marquee in the Base Camp area of the zoo. There you can find Creepy Crafts and the Pumpkin Patch. All three kids enjoyed making bat masks as part of the free creepy crafts activities and if you buy a pumpkin from the shop area just outside the marquee you can then carve a pumpkin and take it home with ... read more
Celebrating Halloween American Style with Post Cereals
As a kid I was mesmerised by watching children eat cereal in American films. It always just looked so exciting compared to the boring cornflakes that I always used to have for breakfast. American children's breakfast bowls seemed to full of bright colours. It always looked so much more fun. Fast forward many years and I was still very excited to be contacted by Post Cereals with an offer to send me some of their American cereals, that are now available in UK supermarkets for the first time. That fascination with American cereals continues today though as my 13 year old step-daughter was ... read more
Setting up a home office space with Kit Out My Office
As a freelancer working from home one of the most important things in my old house was having a bit of office space. Somewhere where I could sit and work and then when I'd finished close up my laptop, walk away, and get on with the rest of my life. Since moving I've simply not had the space to do that, and I've noticed the detrimental effect that it's had on my work and also on my work-life balance. Working on the sofa or the kitchen table is fine, but it's far from ideal. The faff of having to pack everything away anytime that someone else needs the table or wants to sit on the sofa and ... read more
Morphy Richards Toaster and Kettle set
Role play is such a vital part of a child's development. Talk to any Early Years practitioner and they will tell you about what an important stage it is and why pre-schools, nurseries and reception classes all have role play areas and how much the children gain from playing in them. It's part of how they make sense of the world around them and understand their roles within the world. It stimulates their imagination, aids their social development and can also help children understand scenarios that they may have encountered in real life. For most children role playing home situations is ... read more
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas – Alison Ritchie and Marisa Morea
Christmas picture books are arriving on my doorstep on an almost daily basis right now, with The Twelve Dogs of Christmas one of the most recent, and I'm actually really enjoying starting to get into the Christmas spirit. Master C has already asked how many sleeps there are until Christmas and, for now, seems satisfied with my answer, so I just have to hope that the requests to put up the Christmas tree don't start just yet! The Twelve Dogs of Christmas is a lovely little tale about a puppy's excitement in the lead up to his first Christmas. The lovely rhyming text makes it the perfect sort ... read more
Evil Pea Rules! Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
It feels a bit weird to think that when I first discovered Sue Hendra Little Miss C was tiny and only just starting to discover picture books, yet now here I am enjoying her books with Master C as he comes to the end of his first half term at "proper school". Where has time gone? Sue Hendra still delights me as much as it does him though, and I still love sharing picture books like hers with the kids. Supertato has become a bit of a star in our household and when I opened up the package containing Evil Pea Rules! there was a shriek of delight from both kids. In this latest book Evil Pea ... read more
Ravensburger Despicable Me 3 Sneaker 3D Puzzle
What do you do with a completed jigsaw puzzle? For years I've loved doing jigsaw puzzles but then when you've finished them it's hard to know quite what to do with them. Ages ago I stayed in a little B&B in Brussels where all the walls were decorated with jigsaw puzzles. Massive ones that measured over a meter square. It was quite simply one of the strangest things I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure that normally you finish a puzzle, leave it on the table for up to a week and then pop it back in the box before moving on to another one. Fast forward to now though and jigsaws have moved on a ... read more
Baking Biscuits with Bacofoil and their Non-Stick Baking Paper
If you follow me on Instagram you'll know that I do a fair bit of baking. Especially of biscuits. My late Gran's ginger biscuit recipe is well known locally as they've been enjoyed at numerous WI, school governor and other committee meetings over the years. I was thrilled therefore to see an invitation pop into my inbox from Bacofoil to join a baking masterclass with Great British Bake Off Quarter finalist Benjamina Ebuehi where we would be creating her new white chocolate and coconut cookies using Bacofoil's non-stick baking paper. Over the years I've been lucky enough to meet a few bake ... read more
DJs Play Park – Soft play in Hemel Hempstead
Soft Play is one of those worlds that you don't encounter until you have children. But once you do have children you soon get to know what to look for in a soft play centre. Ever since Little Miss C was tiny we've been going to DJs Jungle in St Albans and both kids absolutely love it there. I was therefore thrilled to hear about the new sister soft play centre that they are about to open in Jarman Square (or Jarman Park as we oldies all know it!) in Hemel Hempstead - DJ's Play Park. The wonderful thing about DJs for me is that it is run buy someone who actually has kids. Helen and her ... read more