05/10/201224/06/2018 by jo

App Time – Around the Clock by Wombi

H is a bright little girl and wants to learn, which is great. We’ve been doing lots of learning how to tell the time but couldn’t find anything which could give it a context – she’ll look at the clock on the wall and work out the time, but doesn’t quite get it yet – mainly the time of day.

Then ‘Around the Clock’ came into our lives – a really charming app which has plenty of fun as well as learning in there – you’ve a clock which has a window next to it, so you know if it’s day or night – and a little activity once you hit the ‘play’ button which will also relate to the time of day. The app is an introduction to the clock and how a day can look, rather than teaching your child to tell the time (though it helps!)

The tasks are really simple, but clever enough to be fun so H was never bored – and given there’s 24 hours in the day, that’s 24 different parts of the game. Each game has a fairly simple straightforward task for the bear to do and once a challenge is completed you get a happy bear.

The Guardian listed Around the Clock in their Top 50 Best Apps for Kids too!

Here’s a YouTube video so you get a proper idea of how it works –

Around the Clock gets a thumbs up from us – anything which is educational and fun is a good thing – and this fits exactly where we are with learning right now – I’d highly recommend if your child is starting to learn to tell the time.

Around the Clock is available from the App Store and costs £1.99

We received a promo code to review this app, all opinions are our own.

02/10/2012 by jo

Justin’s Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book – A Review and Giveaway

Justin Fletcher never needs an introduction once you have children. He’s everywhere, especially in the world of Cbeebies. He made it into the Top Twenty this year with his ‘Hands Up’ album (which was on repeat when we went to North Wales and had a CD player in the car) and he had a Joke Book published. What on earth could he come up with next?

Oh, only a fabulous sticker book – complete with fifteen pages ready for some reusable stickers. The minute it arrived H was beyond excited, with squeals of “STICKERS!” “CLOWNS!” “PIRATES!!!!!” and of course “JUSTIN!!!!” as she looked through the pages. You get four pages of stickers which peel easily from the pictures once they’re stuck and plenty of variety with your sticker options too. My only complaint – no Cliff Tumble!!

We peeled a few stickers off, and H being just three demanded we recreate all the pictures on the front of the book. Once she’d done that she then demanded we stick the stickers wherever she wanted them, so we had a few interesting creations….

As she’s currently having to wear an eyepatch for two hours every day, this was a fantastic indoor activity, plus it’s helping improve her hand-eye co-ordination (not that it’s bad, but patched up she’s using her weaker eye) – and using the stickers wasn’t a problem at all – they’re huge sturdy stickers and easy to remove.

Justin's Sticker Book

There was one pair of glasses which didn’t make it though – so I’d say your child would need adult supervision initially, but once the stickers have been removed, let them go a bit crazy!

We’re really happy to be able to offer a copy of Justin’s Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book as a giveaway – all you have to do is answer the very easy Rafflecopter question correctly – good luck!

Justin’s Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book is published by Faber Kids and has a RRP of £3.99. It’s currently £2.99 on Amazon – and we think it’s a fab stocking filler!

We were sent a copy of the book for review, all opinions are our own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

30/09/201202/02/2014 by jo

BritMums WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge Week 2

Hello! Here’s my Week 2 update. Firstly, may as well break the good news – I appear to have lost 3lb! I don’t want them back, thankyou, so if you do happen to find them they’re all yours.

So this week has been an interesting one. I’ve made some discoveries – I can eat the same as I did pre-WW, it’s about the portion sizes (most of which I’d been doing way too high) – which has been very easy to fix.

My biggest problem last week was my lunches at work. I’d be choosing a sandwich and doing the Sainsburys £3 meal deal, trying to find a healthy option (and usually failing) – a sandwich would come in at around 14 points which is really too high. HOWEVER – they have their healthy range, and an egg mayo sandwich comes in at around 7 points – not the most exciting of sandwiches there – AND they’ve put the points on the sandwich. Alas my local Sainsburys doesn’t always have them in stock, so my new fall back is sushi – as I’d never have thought they’re low points – but they are. Oh, and I don’t actually have to do a meal deal – who needs Snack A Jacks and fruit juice anyway? I only bought them as it worked out at a good discount.

So now I’m a little more on track than I was last week. Eventually I’ll get some energy and make food the night before, but for now I’m pleased I can buy something that’s low points. I also tried soup for the first couple of days, although that prevents me leaving my desk and having a walk for lunch (and every single little walk is being tracked on Endomondo now, to make sure I’m getting everything logged properly) – so I wont do it every day. That works out really low, points-wise.

The WeightWatchers app is helping me a lot, it’s like some little creature with its own little personality trapped in my iPod – me and the app are in a little bit of a battle, and one which I’m winning – just by me keeping within my points. I’ve dipped into ‘the overdraft’ a couple of times (and only by 2 points when I have), so I feel like it’s definitely me 3, WW app 1. We’ll see. It’s also really good for working out portion sizes when we’re out and about. Being on the iPod means I’m not online all the time, but there’s so many networks available when you’re on the go I’m logging everything quickly. It’s really convenient and much faster than doing it directly online – it’s also really straightforward to add items to the system.

Poundland stock a decent range of WeightWatchers food – so I got a load of things (snacks for work and so on) for a fiver which pleased me a lot – including some crisps – the nachos – which are really tasty. Even better they’re on a 6 packs for the price of 4 kind of deal, so that’s over a weeks worth of snacks at work there – and at 2 points per pack. They’ve also got the bread rolls – and they’re proper bake in the oven rolls – 2 points each again and they taste really good.

In addition to this weightloss, my jeans are feeling quite loose – I was even able to fit my camera into one of the front pockets (something I’ve never been able to do)! I fear I may need to spend money soon… not too soon but soon… and I only got these jeans at Christmas…

We ate out today at Pizza Express where I tried one of their 500 calorie pizzas (which will be approximately 12 points – the kind with the salad in the middle) – and while I wasn’t full afterwards I can have some fruit or veg when I get home if I need to snack.

Looking ahead, next weekend could be our first quiet one in ages, so we’re going to attempt to cook something from our WeightWatchers cookbook, so hopefully this time next week I’ll be reporting back on that.

So yes, a positive week so far – I’ve been able to have wine, gin, pizza and not go over my points. I did plenty of activities (walking mainly) which earned me some really good points – and I lost that weight. Excellent! I’m also being realistic, I know I’m not going to lose lots next week like this as otherwise by Christmas I’ll be a stick, quite possibly – but I’ll keep on keeping on, oh yes indeedy.

Disclosure – I have been given six months of free WeightWatchers membership. All opinions are my own.

29/09/201226/03/2018 by jo

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

Okay, so first off the disclaimer. I was a Brownie and a Guide and never once did I do orienteering. Maybe someone else knew something I didn’t (as I’m quite well-known within the family for taking longer detours when they’re meant to be a short cut), but having a compass and plotting things and doing whatever you do has never happened in my life. I’ve also never been a rambler (apart from in speech and writing).

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

So today we tried out Geocaching – as our local National Trust place Polesden Lacey does it. As we’re National Trust Members it didn’t cost us a thing, just our membership card as a deposit for the GPS receiver – which already had everything pre-programmed in. All we had to do was follow the co-ordinates on the GPS to find each Geocache, sign the logbook and move onto the next one. We were also provided with a map.

Simple, right?

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

Actually, bar number 1 and 3 we did find everything – at the start we had no idea what we were looking for and number 3 was impossible to find – but once we got to the second one and found a round container with a film tube inside it with a roll of paper which is in fact the logbook (I signed all ours with H’s name) it all clicked – and became fun for all of us (before then Shaun was complaining a bit that it was a bit boring). I was particularly smug when we found number 12 and were the first people to find it today – considering there’d been a good five or six people before us too. Ner!

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

The GPS receiver had our route pre-programmed in, and the few times I accidentally pressed that we’d completed one level it was easy enough to backtrack in the receiver and find the clue we’d missed (I even did one manually, go me and my supposed lack of navigational skills!) – oh, and I forgot to say, the man at Polesden Lacey told us “this used to be called Orienteering you know” – to which I piped up “ah, and then it got all modern with computers and stuff, right?” – I get it!

Geocaching at Polesden Lacey

We got to walk around parts of the grounds we’d never visited before which was good – including a killer hill all the way back up towards the end of our favourite tree tunnel. H was amazing and walked most of it – though was really tired by the end. I tracked it in Endomondo and it comes in at 2.2 miles which isn’t too bad a distance.

We’re now on the lookout for more Geocaches locally – I’ve been told there’s one on Epsom Downs so that might be our next one – and the best bit? In some of the geocaches people leave a little present. If you want that little present then you substitute it with something of equal value. H decided she wanted a little toy chick, so we left a conker, but then she wanted a ladybird so we traded the chick for that – so she’s learning she can’t just take things without leaving something for the next person too which I reckon is a pretty good lesson. (it’s also a good way to find a new home when you’re overwhelmed with party bag trinkets)

By the time we got to the end we were close enough to the cafe/restaurant area, so treated ourselves to a nice National Trust ice cream – I reckon we earned it!

I bet I’d have been quite good at orienteering too. Hmph.

Official Geocaching Site

National Trust places with free Geocaching (deposit of some kind may be required)

26/09/201226/03/2018 by jo

App Time – Magic Belles

Have you heard of Magic Belles? There’s six of them and they live in Bellevue. They’re colourful, have pleasant music accompanying them and there’s quite a lot to do – spotting things, colouring in, animated stories, crafts – oh and there’s also the Flutterbud Club (and we’re loving Rainbow Belle’s Rainbow ring)! They’re targeted at girls, particularly ones of H’s age; three and upwards. Here’s what their creators Luma Creative have to say:

Magic Belles is a brand with good values and special wishes:

To help little girls appreciate the many wonders of life.
To celebrate and encourage their talents.
To engage them in the magic of music.

We hope, with your help, that these wishes can come true!

We were given an opportunity to review the Magic Belles app, which has just been released. I sat with H and we went through each section so we could see what you had to do. I’m very much a fan of letting her work out games herself with minimal help from me, and happily she played immediately and with no help – a very good sign.

Magic Belles Homepage

So the app opens and you’re greeted with this page. If you’re familiar with the Magic Belles website, then clicking the blue bird in the middle will take you to a very familiar page

Magic Belles

Drag each Magic Belle onto the star and they’ll play their tune (which is quite lovely and hypnotic!). However, if you know about this already, chances are you’ll be exploring all the other parts of the game…

Here’s what you get:

So as you can see there’s more than just the games – little extras and what H and I love is how lovely it looks – bright and colourful and most of all fun! (and an additional huge bonus point from me – no Comic Sans to be seen ANYWHERE which is a good thing!)

Of all the games, H’s favourite by far is Cupcake Belle’s one – she always going back to that one first – though loves playing Star Belle’s dot to dots game (and has a real sense of pride every time she completes one). MY favourite is Love Belle’s guitar game when I can get a turn…

All the games are really straightforward to play – they’re not complicated at all. We also celebrate music in this house and I love how each game follows the same overall tune but is based around each Belle’s part. The extras in each game are fun too, and helps with H learning to explore beyond what is obvious.

We love Magic Belles – this gets a BIG thumbs up from H!

Magic Belles: Magic Music is available from the App Store for £1.49 now. There’s a free Lite version too which has the first game – try it out!

We received a code to review this app – all opinions are our own.

26/09/201224/06/2018 by jo

Beanies – Croydon

Once upon a time I owned too many records (actually I still do) so often made the trek to Croydon – taking some of those records to the famous Beanos – a huge second-hand record store which was over several floors. Eventually Beanos closed and reopened as a cool shop called Stuff which had loads of local businesses inside, though that only lasted a short time. Fast forward to a year or so ago and word started to spread that Beanos was set to be a place for children and was set to be re-named Beanies – who then opened in June 2011.

Considering how close we live to Croydon, it’s taken a while for me to get to Beanies which is bad of me – but after getting upstairs and having a look around I have to say, it’s fantastic! There’s little things which could be improved (I’ve already suggested to Hina that they get some insulated coffee cups to use for upstairs – the coffee stays warm and it’s less likely to spill!) but not the kinds of things which would spoil the experience.

Beanies have all kinds of things going on too – on Wednesday afternoons there was a cinema, where you could take your babies – and they showed all the John Hughes films (this is another reason I can’t quite work out why I didn’t go) in a child-friendly environment. They do yoga, football lessons, Sing & Sign, they sell Barefoot Books and have loads of classes – basically, if there’s something Beanies aren’t doing I’d be surprised. They’ve even had a Swishing Party – for kids – Little Swishers. Oh yes, they do knitting and crochet mornings too, baby massage, yoga…

There’s a cafe downstairs which is really reasonable, and plenty of space for buggies. There’s also second-hand clothes and toys which are worth a look. Upstairs is the soft play area where there are toys, toys and even more toys as well as some dressing up costumes – suitable for up to 5 years. You pay £5 if your child is 1-4 (up to their 5th birthday), adults go free. If your child is over six months but under a year then it’s £2.50. There’s settees everywhere, Ikea highchairs around and plenty for your little ones to do; it’s a fabulous place.

We haven’t made it up to the top floor yet but I’m guessing that’s where the cinema is – which is by the way, free if you have some food there or £3 otherwise.

Quack Quack Moo are coming to Beanies – a brand we’re very aware of after meeting them at the Brighton Baby Show – and to celebrate on October 11th there’s a whole day of activities – including meeting Peppa Pig. Alas I’ll be at work, but all the info is here – plus they’re offering 50% off the Barefoot Books range which I’m quite tempted by – having been a Barefoot seller in the past… see, they’re not just limited to daytime – there’s an evening do there, going from 7pm until midnight. Heck, I could get the bus home afterwards!! This is like a night out! (I’m a bit excited)

If you’re in the Croydon area please support Beanies. They’re not too far from the main shopping area, they’re all really friendly and helpful – there’s membership available which pays for itself if you plan to go more than three times a month (and it gets cheaper over time too – a year costs £90 – so that’s 18 visits). The cafe is free and child-friendly (though be aware, it’s a cafe so there’s hot drinks around). They even have little toilets for kids – no locks on the door – for the first time ever H and I went into our own cubicles which I was more than a bit proud of (and she felt like a proper big girl!)

Beanies do deals via Groupon as well, so keep an eye out – there was a fantastic deal recently to have your party there (yes they do parties too!) – so keep an eye out.

To sum up Beanies, it’s a place created by mums for mums – they know the kind of things you want and need, and it’s all there over the three (or is it four?) floors of the building formerly known as Beanos. It’s kind of weird and good (and a bit sad too as I miss the old shop) sitting in the area I’d take my CD singles and 7″ singles to sell and it’s now a huge soft play area my daughter is benefiting from – and we’ll be back for more. Plus you get to meet other local mums – I wish Beanies had existed while I was on maternity leave as I’d definitely have spent lots of time there!

Beanies Website

Beanies on Facebook

Beanies on Twitter

26/09/201218/02/2014 by jo

We Love Books – Brave Little Owl by Penny Little

H has fears – just regular fears that three year olds have, and plenty of night terrors, that kind of thing. We’ve just had a stretch of a month when she’d get up several times in the night having some kind of worry, but fortunately that seems to have gone. Now we can concentrate on things like jumping in the swimming pool, that kind of thing.

Brave Little Owl by Penny Little (and illustrated by Sean Julian) is about a little owl that can’t fly. Little owl is teased by her older siblings, and isn’t that confident.

She falls out of a tree and when on the ground meets some other animals who tell her about things they used to be scared of, encouraging her that she can do it if she tries. Eventually Little Owl tries one last time and starts to fly, with all her family cheering her on.

It’s all quite lovely, and a good message to get across. I’m hoping with the right encouragement that H will learn not to be scared of things, and will get the message in the book and apply it to herself (with help from us parents of course). I’m glad this book exists as she does take in a lot of stories and understand what they’re about.

Brave Little Owl by Penny Little and Sean Julian is published by Red Fox/Random House, ISBN 978-1-849-41511-8 RRP £5.99

I was sent this book for to review on The Baby Website – all opinions are my own.

24/09/201218/02/2014 by jo

We Love Books – A Back To School Edition…

I’ve said it many times, but I really do have the fear about next September. H will turn 4 at the end of August and a week later will be starting school. I know deep down she’ll be fine, but that doesn’t stop the worry. One way I’m trying to get her (and me) used to it is by reading the right kind of books – where people have school experiences, so she can learn.

Actually, I say all this but every morning when we drive past her potential school she asks if she can go there yet, so maybe this is all about reassuring me. ANYWAY.

These are all books we love – and they’re all based around school… first up, an old favourite which we won when H painted a lovely picture of Martha Bunny, ‘Martha and the Bunny Brothers – I Love School’ by Clara Vulliamy. I’ve reviewed this in the past on one of my other blogs, but in a nutshell Martha is set for her first day at school and wants to get her bag ready – while her brothers stay at home and have their Happy Bunny Club (which you can join over at Clara’s website). It’s a really nice story and beautifully illustrated, and with another book to come in the Martha Bunny series soon, it’s perfect for preschoolers to get them used to the idea of going.

For the second book, it’s an old classic. When I found out that the Topsy & Tim books were being re-done and updated I rushed out and bought whatever I could – Topsy & Tim have done everything you could possibly need to read to your child to help them understand (chicken pox, itchy heads, gone to school…), so we have ‘Topsy & Tim Start School’ by Jean and Gareth Adamson. Topsy and Tim are a little bit modern these days too, with the new illustrations by Belinda Worsley.

Topsy & Tim start school, are a little bit scared but see lots of familiar faces, have some regular everyday things happen to them (as that’s generally what happens in a Topsy & Tim book) and there’s a minor upset which gets put right by the end (Tim couldn’t find his coat peg). That’s what I love the most about the Topsy & Tim books – they’re normal and don’t have crazy things which happen – they’re just like everyone you know. Of course there’s the little puzzle at the back of the book too!

‘Foxy – A Magical Tail’ by Emma Dodd is a lovely little book – Emily is starting school and is tucked up in bed worried she hasn’t got everything she needs. Luckily Foxy comes along with his magical tail, mis-hears everything she says she needs – for example, Emily asks for a pencil, but gets a penguin – a school bag, but gets a pirate flag and so on, until she finally worries about not being clever enough or that nobody will like her. The story has a happy ending, with Foxy letting her know she’ll make lots of friends, and amused H with the mis-hearing of Emily’s requests a lot.

Finally, our last school book is a different kind of school story, but helpful again. ‘Come to School Too Blue Kangaroo!’ by Emma Chichester Clark is about a little girl called Lily who is going to a new school (as are her friends) and they’re all a bit nervous. This is actually the eighth book in the Blue Kangaroo series, and though we’ve not come across them before now it’s not difficult to pick up what’s going on.

She takes along Blue Kangaroo, but accidentally leaves him at school overnight – and has to leave him there as school is closed. I suspect this kind of thing may happen to H at some point, so this is good preparation – and knowing that your toy will be just fine when you go back the following day.

What I like the most about these four books is how traditional they feel – proper classic stories and the kind which H really enjoys. Do you have any school related books you’d recommend? Let us know over at the Mum Friendly Group!

Martha & the Bunny Brothers – I Love School by Clara Vulliamy is published by HarperCollins Children’s books. ISBN 978-0-00-741916-6 RRP £10.99

Topsy & Tim Start School by Jean and Gareth Adamson is published by Ladybird books ISBN 978-1-40931-068-6 RRP £4.99

Foxy – A Magical Tail by Emma Dodd is published by HarperCollins Children’s Books ISBN 978-0-00-745597-3 RRP £6.99

Come to School Too, Blue Kangaroo! by Emma Chichester Clark is published by HarperCollins Children’s books ISBN 978-0-00-725867-3 RRP £10.99

I received a copy of the last book for the purpose of review, all opinions are my own.

23/09/201226/03/2018 by jo

BritMums WeightWatchers Back2Best Challenge – end of Week 1

Okay, so here I am after a week of what I’d like to think is paddling in the world of Weight Watchers – I’ve (mostly) kept within my points, though it has revealed a lot about what I eat and what we do.

Firstly, when I’m at work I go over my points limit – yet when I’m at home I don’t. My drawers are full of what I thought were healthy snacks, but I’ve found out that oatcakes (while satisfying when you’ve eaten a pack of six individual ones) are actually quite high in points. So instead I have bananas.

Secondly, out of sheer tiredness and wanting to lie down I cannot prepare food for the following day at work – so I do the Sainsburys Meal Deal every day – yet one sandwich (gluten-free) takes 14 points! When I’ve got just 30 a day to use, it seems wasteful – so I need good ideas for lunches that if needs be, I could buy. Snack A Jacks are 3 points which weirdly could be improved if I had French Fries crisps instead!!

Thirdly, the one which got me was pizza. Most pizzas are 7 points per slice which means they’re special occasions only – fine as we don’t eat them weekly – however, WeightWatchers are now doing pizza, and low points too so I’m going to try one out when I can find someone who stocks them.

For this last week I’ve kept my eating to the same kind of pattern I would do pre-Weight Watchers, and as I suspected my portion sizes were way too much. As the week progressed it was less rice and even more veg which worked pretty well. We’re going to switch rice from basmati to brown as well, as that’s the lowest of points. Having the WeightWatchers scales has helped a lot – I’ve never measured portion sizes and just guessed up to now.

Fourthly, I use too much oil. We have a huge frying pan which I use to do stir fry which needs slightly more than four squirts of oil due to its hugeness, but even then it’s less than I would have used normally. The WeightWatchers Oil dispenser is good for this!

Anyway, the results are in – after one week of watching what I eat but not drastically changing things, I’ve lost a grand total of 1lb! So next week I’m going to follow more recipes and work on lunches at work as I’d like a few more points for my evening meals.

I also intend to look for as many WeightWatchers foods to see what makes them lower points than others – as for example, we make our own pizza, so if there are ways we can adapt our recipe then that’s a good thing – and how are WW bagels better than regular shop ones (they’re yummy by the way).

As far as the WW app goes, it’s doing all the hard work for me. I’m using it on my iPod Touch and keeping track of everything. Kathryn at work who had amazing results did say I’d maybe start thinking of it being a bit like a computer game, and I’d be trying to beat the points – and yes, it’s happened…! I’m one of those people who doesn’t like to read instructions and prefers to get on with it – and so far the app has been straightforward and uncomplicated. In fact, the only thing that got me was when adding foods, and I couldn’t work out how to do portion sizes. I ended up phoning Shaun, who helpfully suggested I weigh one… OH yes… oops!

If you’ve read this far and want to try WeightWatchers for yourself, then you can join for £1 and trial the app for free!

Disclosure – I have been given six months of free WeightWatchers membership. All opinions are my own.

18/09/201217/02/2019 by jo

Giveaway – Music For Kids Old MacDonald puzzle

Have you read our review of this excellent Sing-Along activity pack? I promised a competition – and here it is. We reviewed the ‘Five Little Speckled Frogs’ puzzle, and now I have an ‘Old MacDonald Had A Farm’ one to offer as a prize.

What does the pack contain? You get:

Large 1000mm x 200mm floor jigsaw puzzle with large pieces, suitable for young children
Sing-along CD with Old MacDonald Had A Farm and 11 more children’s animal songs.
24 peel-able activity stickers
Sing-along song sheet with colourable jigsaw image and further activity ideas
Bonus audio story on CD, The Three Little Pigs

Suitable for ages 3-6. I have one to give away.

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway