• My Mermaid Lagoon {Marina's Lagoon} Playset
    parenting - toy review

    My Mermaid Lagoon {Marina’s Lagoon} Playset

    August 20, 2017 - By 

    Regular readers will know that we love crafty toys and activities. I love planning activities but sometimes it’s nice to bring out a toy that I know they will enjoy. Recently we received the My Mermaid Lagoon from Interplay UK to review. My Mermaid Lagoon Playset Create a magical mermaid world where Mermaids and their animal friends love to live! Mould, sculpt and play with the glittery magic sand and use corals, shells and other accessories to create an enchanting ‘under-the-sea’ scene in a beautiful bottle with a pretty shell-shaped stopper. Take your mermaid anywhere, carried safe and snug in…

  • Rachel Whiteread Place (Village) at the Museum of Childhood
    days out - Local Review - London - parenting

    Rachel Whiteread Place (Village) at the Museum of Childhood

    August 19, 2017 - By 

    I have this thing with houses. I’m not sure what it is but I just love little houses. So when I heard about an installation by the artist Rachel Whiteread consisting of lots of dolls’ houses, I knew I had to visit. The installation was at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. Fortunately I had booked myself on a workshop at Tatty Devine in Brick Lane so was able to go a little early to visit it. I adore the Museum of Childhood. It is one of my favourite museums, mainly due to its collection of dolls’ houses. They used…

  • Roald Dahl's Billy and the Minpins
    book review - homestyle - Roald Dahl crafts - Uncategorized

    Roald Dahl’s Billy and the Minpins

    August 19, 2017 - By 

    Children’s books are so special. I read with my children every night and I enjoy choosing books as much as they do. My 7 year old loves Roald Dahl so we were delighted to receive a copy of Billy and the Minpins, which we had never read before. Billy and the Minpins is a new interpretation of Roald Dahl’s very last story and for the first time has been illustrated by the wonderful Quentin Blake. This means that fans will be able to complete their collections in time for Roald Dahl Day 2017 – celebrated annually on 13th September. Publishing in…

  • Playmobil How to Train Your Dragon sets
    parenting - playing - Playmobil Playologist - toy review

    Playmobil How to Train Your Dragon sets

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    I’m so excited to be sharing with you the brand new Dragon playsets from Playmobil, based on the How To Train Your Dragon franchise! This is Playmobil’s second entertainment brand license, this time with DreamWorks Animation, and following the success of Ghostbusters (see our review here) we were really excited to get our hands on the sets. In case you are not familiar with How To Train Your Dragon there are a number of films based on the books by Cressida Cowell, centred around Hiccup (a Norse teenager from the island of Berk) as he overcomes great obstacles on his journey…

  • How to make Putty
    crafts - STEM activity

    How to make Putty {A-Z Play at Home}

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Last week for the A-Z Play at Home weekly blog hop we had so much fun making SLIME! The kids just love getting their hands dirty so we quickly made a bath of Putty too. It’s not just fun, there’s some science in there too! Ingredients to make Putty: 24 oz flour (2 cups) 5 eggs 9oz PVA craft glue (3/4 cup) 3 tbsp water food colouring (optional) We made a video about our experiences of making putty. It took a while for the putty to come together but it was worth it! Basically, you mix the flour in a…

  • days out - parenting - Siblings

    Siblings {August 2017}

    August 17, 2017 - By 

    As a busy mama of two monkeys the Summer holidays have been a tad exhausting. My children have a lot of energy and a voracious appetite for fun! We have been having some amazing days out which have provided the perfect opportunity to take lots of photographs. The past month has been so much fun, and all the days out actually made for some great photographs. I can’t wait to update our photo wall with some of my favourites. Fortunately my children have been getting on really well. I love watching them play together and seek out each other. I took…

  • Back to School kid-made photo frame
    Back to school crafts - Bostik Family Craft Bloggers Network - crafts - Crafts for kids

    Back to School kid-made photo frame

    August 17, 2017 - By 

    I’m one of those mums who loves to mark every occasion. Cards, special breakfasts, lots of photos – anything goes! I’m happy to make a big deal of first days, last days, exams and everything else. The summer holidays have passed way too quickly and I can’t believe we’re getting ready to go back to school. This term we thought we’d start the first day of term with something a little different, and have been crafting a Back to School photo frame. To create our Back To School photo frame we used: A4 coloured card Bostik Foam Pads Alphabet letters Stickers…

  • competition - homestyle

    Win a Mr Kipling bundle worth over £200 {Exceedingly Good Summer}

    August 16, 2017 - By 

    Are you having a good summer so far? The weather has been a little underwhelming but it hasn’t stopped us from having some great family adventures. We’ve enjoyed loads of days out and had lots of picnics – sometimes sheltering from the rain in the car! Last week we were trying out Mr Kipling’s new limited edition summer range. We are huge fans of Mr Kipling’s so we love the fact all our favourites are there, especially the Mini Battenberg, and the packaging has a lovely summery make over. There are also four new limited edition flavours, such as Strawberry…

  • The Courts Garden, Holt
    days out - National Trust - parenting

    The Courts Garden, Holt

    August 16, 2017 - By 

    We’ve had some amazing days out recently. Whilst we were away in Wiltshire we visited the beautiful gardens at The Courts in Holt near Bradford upon Avon. This place has been on our list for ages so I was really happy that we finally managed to visit. As I get older(!) I find I appreciate gardens a lot more than I used to. My children seem to enjoy the gardens more than looking round historic houses, and since the National Trust provide so much for children to do, I knew we would all enjoy ourselves. Holt is a small village…