Getting in the mood for Christmas

I must admit to being a good way through my Christmas preparations already. I’ve bought many presents (and run out of places to hide them), planned the meals and am hoping to have lots of time to make our decorations and a couple of handmade presents. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be sharing some pre-school friendly ideas for Christmas.

As you know we are a book-loving family so today I have two lovely books to share, Dick Bruna’s Christmas and Bubble Time, a Tickety Toc storybook.

Miffy’s creator, Dick Bruna published his ‘Christmas’ book in 1953 and it remains a worldwide best-seller. To mark the 50th anniversary, the book has been re-printed with a beautiful gold and white cover and cute angel ribbon bookmark. It tells the story of the nativity using simple, timeless language together with Dick Bruna’s unique style of bold, striking illustrations. The golden anniversary edition is a beautiful gift for any child and will be top of our list when we do our annual book advent.

The 50th anniversary of Christmas is priced at £10.00 and available at Waterstones, Amazon and all good bookshops.

The new kid on the block is Tickety Toc! If your kids haven’t discovered it yet, this popular pre-school show currently airs on Milkshake and Nick Jr and features twins Tommy and Tallulah who get up to all sorts of fun adventures. The Tickety Toc storybooks have just hit the shelves in bookshops nationwide. My children received a copy of Bubble Time with charming storytelling and bright, colourful artwork. They love making bubbles so really liked the story. It’s a great length for their attention spans and includes a page of questions at the end which is great for testing how well they were listening! I think the book represents great value at £4.99.

Don’t forget – Tickety Toc is on at 8am on Nick Jr and 9am on Channel 5 every weekday. There is also a range toys available from The Entertainer, Argos, a range of wooden toys from ToyMaster & pyjamas from Mothercare.