Woolacombe Bay in North Devon have a sandcastle competition on their site – and while you’re at it, here’s a few interesting facts about sandcastles you may or may not already know… now I wish I lived by the seaside so I could make a few.. sighh
We received payment to show this infographic.
Panasonic WiFi Camcorders look pretty amazing – they have WiFi capability – it connects to your home WiFi connection. Lordy. You realise what this means? I’m still getting my head around it – a camera which is like your iPad but has proper hi-definition good quality. I’m impressed – we do a lot of Skype chats with family in York and Australia – it’s the best way to keep in touch – and more often than not our camera gives poor results.
You can even add emails to alert family members when the broadcast is starting. This appeals a lot – the amount of times we have to make quick calls around the world to make sure everyone is online and ready.. I think a Panasonic WiFi Camcorder may be on our Christmas list for this year!
I received compensation for putting this video on Mum Friendly
Bandino Cup Bands are an excellent idea – they’re personalised bands which fit most brands of cups that your child is likely to use. Each band has the name you require stamped into it – so it can’t be rubbed out or picked off, and is in a nice clear font. We got a blue one with H’s name on – ideal as we’ve been told we have to provide a cup when she starts school in September. If it’s anything like nursery, several children will have the same cup, and they’ll often get mixed up – with Bandino cup bands this isn’t going to happen.
So far the only cup which it doesn’t fit on is her H&M Smurfette one – but that’s only because it’s narrow. We’ve tried it on all her other cups and it fits perfectly, stays on, doesn’t slip and her name is really clearly identifiable. She likes it too as it’s blue – her favourite colour.
When we first reviewed these Bandino bands, I didn’t know what to expect. Since then we’ve bought more, as they’re handy for lost cups (H has lost several, which we’ve found thanks to the bands), holiday club cups, and just having spares. We have only lost one cup which was never returned to us since using these.
I put the Bandino Cup Bands in the dishwasher to see how it fared, and it came out perfect – they’re also microwave safe. They also comply with the General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC, are BPA free, and free from Cadmium and Phthalates.
(H’s name has been blanked out on the above picture)
One thing Bandino point out is how it can alert others to allergies – as you can have anything stamped onto the band – what a brilliant idea!
A pack of three Bandino Cup bands comes in at £8.95 which isn’t expensive – and the available colours are red, pink and blue. I know this is something that will get a lot of use once H starts school, and I suspect we’ll have a few other parents asking us where we got them from…
Bandino Cup Bands can be bought online here they’re on Facebook here, Twitter here and Pinterest here. The business was started by two mums who know what a pain it is – and I think it’s brilliant!
We were sent one band for the purpose of review – all opinions are our own.
Last night I booked a holiday for us and our friends – another Haven holiday. After lots of shopping around it came in at our budget – around £350 for the six of us for a Friday to Monday stay right before the girls start school. (well not right before, a week or so maybe)
We know Haven – we’ve been to Devon Cliffs twice, and last year also went to Hafan-y-Mor in August too. This time we’re booked into Seaview in Dorset – and already I can see we’re close to Corfe Castle (which I’ve always fancied visiting), and I’d love to get a trip to Mottisfont too where there’s a Winnie the Pooh exhibition.
So knowing what we have on-site for entertainment, can anyone recommend anything nearby that we should know about? Lyme Regis is just up the road (Alice’s Bear Shop!) and we went to Pecorama last year – so somewhere which is new would be great.
Help please!
We’ve reviewed a Margaret Wise Brown book (‘Runaway Bunny’) a while back which H loves, so having the opportunity to review this book was one I jumped at.
‘Goodnight Little One’ was published for the first time by Parragon in 2012 and is a lovely calm book, perfect for night time reading. Lots of simple lovely rhymes with each animal in the story, the last line of each verse ‘little (animal) close your eyes’ until you get to the little child at the end.
It has a lovely slow pace to it and is already one of H’s new favourite books. If you’re looking for a beautifully illustrated book which will appeal to 3-6 year olds, then this is one to consider.
We received a copy of this book as part of the Parragon Book Buddy blogger book review club that has recently been launched. All opinions are our own and honest.
H is entering a fabulously non-girly phase in her life, with a love of monsters and dinosaurs, so this book is perfect for us right now.
It’s funny, it has silly rhymes and makes us all laugh – ‘Did you know that dinosaurs, are still around today? They didn’t die off long ago, they never went away’ then goes into everything that dinosaurs actually do these days.
The illustrations are fun and there’s a lot to talk about on each picture. Did you know dinosaurs like to rollerskate, doing the Highland fling, starring in movies, and sailing the seven seas?
It’s a fun book, and one that has been receiving a nightly read since BritMums – it is released properly in the UK in August 2013, so keep an eye out on Parragon Books!
We received a copy of this book as part of the Parragon Book Buddy blogger book review club that has recently been launched. All opinions are our own and honest.
We were given an opportunity to review the James Martin Spice Grinder from Wahl – and the most appealing thing to me was making my own spice mixtures and being in full control of what’s going in our food.
Firstly I checked through the various mixes in the recipe booklet. I’m vegetarian, but Shaun and H eat meat so it needed to be compatible for both.
Actually – and this is where something like cookery or chemistry would have interested me had they taught it like this at school – I was really impressed how the same spices can make such different flavours.
We’ve tried the Garam Masala and the Spicy Cajun recipes – though we adapted the latter so it wasn’t too much for H (and I didn’t have any oregano) – and was impressed with the results.
My next plan is to work out the ingredients and quantities in spices we use a lot such as the Schwartz Garlic Italian and make our own – my problem is time and having any, so it needs to be quick. My herb and spice collection is looking pretty good right now and is being used a lot more.
This morning we used it for some coffee beans and found it ground them up as finely as you’d get if you bought from a shop – and all the way through. This took 30 seconds of pulsing. Lovely!
The Spice Grinder is small and doesn’t take up space in the cupboard, the power cord wraps around the base and stores away with no bulk. As far as cleaning goes, it’s really simple to clean – though I wish there was a spout to channel your blended spice into containers (as I get it all over the counter). There’s a small attachment which can be used for smaller quantities too.
The question is, why have a spice grinder if you have a blender? I like how compact it is, you can do small batches (using the attachment on the top) and it also works on coffee beans. The spices will be blended finer too, and of course buying your spice in fresh means it smells better too. We used to use a pestle and mortar but time was our biggest issue. It grinds cinnamon and cloves well too and is controlled by pulsing rather than you leaving the mixture to blend.
The James Martin Spice Grinder retails for £17.49 and is available now.
We were sent the grinder for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.
This is going to be a two-part review – Write To Read is a new app from WriteReader which encourages children to learn to read. Now, H is almost four and already knows a few words – so I was curious to find out more.
What you get is a really straightforward app and one which I can see how it works – H is doing this at a very basic level (one word descriptions – ‘mummy’ rather than ‘this is my mummy’ sort of things). She starts school in September so I fully expect her to get a lot more from this towards the end of the year, which is when I’ll post a follow-up.
Essentially, you’re creating an online photo book and your child will explain what each picture is – in their own writing and spelling. You (as the adult) then type in the correct sentence underneath so the child knows what the correct words are and this in turn helps them learn to spell – you’re working together making your own story. We’re actually doing something quite similar – a couple of months ago I started a photo blog for H which has one new photo a week which she describes and I type up – and this app takes the learning a step further. She will often try to spell words, so the formation of them is there – and I feel like this complements what we do really well.
Also – Write To Read has no Comic Sans!
It’s really clearly explained and straightforward to work, and I’m looking forward to using it as her spelling progresses.
Once your child doesn’t need help from a parent they can create their own books without the repeated spelling, so this does have a long life ahead of it – you’re spending a fair amount for something which could last you seven years or more.
The Write to Read app is aimed at 3-10 year olds and completely revolutionises the way children learn to read. It has been phenomenally successful in Denmark where it is used in more than 300 schools and nurseries. Write to Read encourages children to learn to read by physically writing and spelling words on the iPad rather than reading the printed word on a page.
Write To Read costs £4.99 from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/
We’ll post a follow-up later in the year, but right now I think this is brilliant and has a lot of potential. For the month of July Write To Read is available at a cheaper price as well!
We were gifted this app to review, all opinions are our own and honest.
See that there? Saturday and Sunday are going to be W-A-R-M! Hot! Sun! (Friday too, but I’m at work so I kind of pretend it isn’t there really). If you’re near here then this weekend is the Mayfield Lavender Festival – and it’s free! It runs from 10am to 6pm.
We love Mayfield Lavender as it’s fields of the stuff – you can wander around and I’d like to think the aroma has a calming effect – then spend a bit of money on some bunches to take home and make your home smell good too, and I’m tempted to try a bit of baking with some this year.
This area of Surrey used to be the main place lavender grew when it was first introduced to the UK way back in time – you only have to drive through Wallington at Christmas to see the lights – lavender shaped ones of course!
There’s loads of parking, though it can often get full in nice weather – so bear it in mind, and there’s not a lot of shelter if the sun is really intense so take water (though there is a cafe area – and the Oaks Park is over the road which has some shelter too)
Coming up at the end of the month is the Stanley Park Allotments pick your own Annual Harvest weekend too.
We’ve just renewed our insurance policy, and as I was about to pay the nice chap on the phone said “would you like to take out Personal Possessons cover which would cover your valuables outside of the home?”
Big gulp.
You mean we hadn’t already? It was an oversight, but one we’ve put right now. On the plus side this cost us £40 for the year so I can cancel our monthly phone insurance policies I’ve been paying for the last god knows how long. I had no idea we had no cover and had assumed it was included in the policy.
So really just a heads-up – make sure you’re covered! If something had happened to our phones, iPads or laptops we wouldn’t have been covered – and that doesn’t bear thinking.