Monday 29 February 2016

Easter craft ideas Baker Ross

So one of my favourite times of year is approaching and its hard not to realise it with all the shops fully stocked with Easter eggs, Easter bonnets and Easter decor.
Sunday is our Funday! So we thought we would crack on with these crafts.
We received our lovely Easter box from Baker Ross.

The first thing we got were the Easter foam stampers. The pack contains bunnies, chick, Egg, daffodil, butterfly, Lamb and more! These are fab quality and can be found here
The stamping pad I used is also from baker Ross but some of the Easter stampers were too large but with a wiggle and a jiggle you can get the paint on them.
Find it here...



The second this we got was these lovely mess free Easter decorations! There are 5 per pack and Munchkin had great fun colouring his in. 
Then peal back the sticky part on the belly, open it up so that it sticks to the other side and you have the lovely Honeycomb effect!
Find them here!



Munchkin is going through a phase of loving any foam peel back stickers so not only are these perfect they come in a pack of 120. They are all in spring theme.
Find them here...



We are so excited to receive this next product! The Pack came with 10 Easter egg shapes
Basically you peel back the yellow part to reveal a sticky part which you can pour colour sand or glitter on top of. Then go ahead and peel off another part and pour on a different colour! It works really well and gives a lovely effect when its all finished!
For this I used the colour sand.
Find it here


Easter buddy bucket kits! These are so cute! There are 3 in a pack (Bunny, Lamb and Chick)
These are the peel off foam too!
Find them here


We also got these lovely chick eggs which are fab for putting chocolates inside and hiding ready for your Easter egg hunt! 
Also we got the bouncy eggs you can see in the picture! 
Munchkin loved bouncing these around our kitchen!
Find them here

Check our the rest of their lovely Easter Range! Get crafting with your children!
All the views in this blog post are my own. I have not been paid to write this review/post. I do not work for Baker Ross. I received this Package from the lovely people at baker Ross in exchange for and honest review.
Thanks for reading!
xXx



Wednesday 24 February 2016

Disney's 'Eye found it' game review

First of all I would like to say I wasn't given this game to review it. I saw it and bought it for Munchkin. Mainly I bought it because we are very much into Disney. I'm doing the review because I think the game is fab! I love the fact that with this game you have to work as a team to win.

I bought it from Smyths toy store for £14.99 find it here

The game is quite long and works its way through Disney character lands like Mickey & co, Cars, little mermaid, Beauty and the beast. and more!

You start at the bottom of the board and work your way up to Cinderella's castle before the clock strikes 12!


The Game comes with a spinner, timer, character pieces, Rings and cards

The aim of the game is to work your way up the board spinning the spinner on your turn, if you land on a number you move that many spaces, if you land on the castle pic on the spinner you alter the hour on the clock but one or two hours depending on which castle you land on then you spin the spinner again!

Try to get ALL your players to the castle before the clock strikes 12 o clock!



Now the fun part! If you land on a Mickey head (on your spinner or on the board) you get to choose a card. Each card has something on it (the instructions have the meanings should you not know what the picture means) The card picture include things like flowers, Diamonds, Ladders and much more!

The first card we picked was the villain card (munchkin is doing his best villain eyes)
The aim is then to give each of the players the hoops and when the timer is turned over everyone tried their best to find those things on the card. When one is found a hoop is placed on it.
For example we were looking for villain's so we would put hoops around captain hook, Gaston etc

When the timer runs out everyone stops searching and counts up ALL of the hoops on the board then EVERYONE moves that amount of spaces. (E.g 5 villains found = everyone moves 5 spaces)

This game is all about working as a team so everyone has to get to the castle before 12 o clock otherwise its game over. If you are at the castle already and other players haven't you can still help search when someone has landed on a Mickey head.


The detail on this board game is Amazing and we have had many fun times playing it as a family! We only had it at Christmas and it munchkins most played game out of all that hes got!
I would recommend it 100%



Tuesday 23 February 2016

Dont stress, Say yes!!

As soon as I had munchkin I couldn't wait until he could hold a paintbrush! Messy play has always an essential part of munchkins life. I happily make a jelly just so he can mush it up, Cook pasta so he can play with it and make gloop so he can explore it.


My Husband used to find this quite strange as his Mum never did any form of messy play or craft with him when he was younger. He often tells me of how his mum is so house proud and how he wasn't allowed to walk on the carpet after she had hoovered it, Once the bed was made he couldn't sit on it and as soon as anything got on his hands it was quickly washed off.


This brings me to my point....everyone wants a lovely clean and tidy home and we often stress when kids make a mess or want to do some painting we are quick to say 'No Ive just cleaned up' Our children aren't going to remember in a few years time if we didn't run the hoover around for one day or we didn't do the one load of ironing that we should have. They will however remember how fun that craft session was or how messy they got when playing with jelly. I myself often get caught up on 'but its gonna make another mess that I'm going to have to clean' but I consciously make and effort to think as long as it cleans up.....WHY NOT!!

Next time your children need something to do let them do some painting. next time they wanna do messy play....before you just jump to 'are you kidding! Ive just cleaned' take a second and say WHY NOT!
Lets allow our children to remember us having fun with them, getting a little messy at times, jumping in puddles with clean jeans on! Don't create memories of 'mum wouldn't let me do anything when she had cleaned up'
Our hands can be washed, Tables wiped, Clothes cleaned and memories made!
xXx

Friday 19 February 2016

Top 20 items/ideas to entertain kids when traveling

This year we are having our first family holiday abroad....not only is it abroad but its a 9 hour flight! Ive done long flights before but never having to entertain a child too!
That's what sparked me to do this blog post! 
You dont have to be flying for 9 hours to find this blog useful. its handy if your going anywhere on an airplane, car, bus, etc! 
When travelling i look for activities that are mess free but are able to capture entertainment for a little while. The first few are mess free craft items but I promise they aren't all craft related!
Obviously these items are based around munchkins age group. (4-5 years)

#1
Ive been loving these peel and stick foam activities. The foam pads come on one sheet.
You can purchase them here at Baker Ross 4pk for £2.99

#2

Scratch art is Munchkins favourite activity at the moment. you scratch away at the black to reveal lovely shiny patterns underneath.
Find them here at Baker Ross10pk for £2.99

 #3
Stickers! what child doesn't love stickers! peel off the stickers and put them on your picture! Simple but effective!
Find them here at Baker Ross 8pk for £3.49 

#4
We have already got these and Ive got to say we LOVE them!  Foam activities.You get to stick the extras on your creature (peel and stick foam) then you have little finger paint sponges to decorate your creature. I know this isn't completely mess free but the finger paint is light and nothing that cant be removed from hands with a wet wipe.
Find these here at Baker Ross 5pk for £3.49


#5

We have already picked up a where's Wally mini book up in Wh Smiths. This is a new thing for munchkin so its either going to be a huge success or a huge fail! we'll see! It cost around £3.50 there are lots of different options of the Where's Wally books to choose from.

#6
Colouring:- Another love of ours is the colour by numbers! We have found it very difficult to find colour by number....paint but numbers popped up everywhere but that's not what I was after until I nipped into Hobby craft and found this fab product! 16 pages of colour by number with the actual number on each marker! genius!!
Obviously you can take standard colour book and crayons but lets face it....they see those every day!
Your can buy it here at hobby Craft £4.50 


#7

Doodle mat:-
This isn't the exact one that Ive picked up but its the same brand. they are magic markers that don't mark anything except the mat. It comes with an eraser with you fill with water then you just give it a wipe over with the cloth supplied to dry the board!
I bought ours at Home bargains for £3.99


#8

Tablets:- Yep lets face it most kids are obsessed with them. So your Ipad may be a god send!
top tip:- Make sure you download apps that don't require wifi (unless you have wifi on your plane)
You can also fill your ipad with music, films and much more.


#9
Music:- If you haven't got a tablet or aren't taking it then pick up a cheap music player. This one looks very similar to the ipod but its not. Its from Primark and I picked it up for just £2. Granted it only holds about 30 songs but i thought i could pre load munchkins favourite songs so he could listen to them on the plane.


#10
Headphones:- Yes you do get earphones on the plane but I thought these would be more comfortable for munchkin. We have the Blue/yellow JVC ones pictured above. they come with stickers so children can personalise theirs. They also have volume control so the volume only goes so high so that its suitable for small children.
They are currently on sale at Argos for £8.99

#11
Lucky dip:-
Try wrapping each item and give them one ever 1hr/30 mins depending on age and how long you are travelling for. It makes it exciting for them and also helps them recognise how much longer we have to go e.g if there is only one present left then they know not much longer after that they will arrive.


#12
Pound shops:-
Pop into your local poundshop for toys and bits. you can pick up little dolls, cars, colouring books etc and it will have been inexpensive.

#13
Travel Games:- depending on the age of your child travel games always help pass the time. Games can range from good old Snap to connect 4 to something more advanced like Uno.
You can pick them up in most supermarket and toy shops.


 #14
Stickers:- What child doesn't love stickers! Bring a little pad of paper and let them stick away!!


 #15 
Snacks:- Take some little snacks with you! boxed raisins, YoYo Bears are a favourite in our household.


#16
Crayons:-
Triangular crayons always help when on flights as they prevent the constant 'Mummy!, I dropped my crayon and it rolled under my seat' Then your on your hands and knees only to find its rolled 5 rows back!


#17

Ispy
I came across these and thought they would be fab for the flight. You just print them out and laminate them if you wish. They are I spy sheet with lots of different items on. If you child is too young for Ispy, you can just do the 'Can you find the ball?' or 'what can you see on the picture?'
You can print yours out here

#18

Activity books and sticker books:-
I Love the 100 things to do on a plane book as it contains losts of activities and colourings. Usborne books have a nice range of travel activity books and they can be found here

#19
Their favourite toy:-.....as long as its not a huge 6ft stuffed teddy of course.
We all have our creature comforts so make sure they get to travel with their favourite toy.


#20

Inflight entertainment:-
It may sound like and obvious option but many airlines have a very good variety of children's games and films....take advantage of them.....even if they are just on while your child is doing something else and they just glance up every once in a while.


I hope that these ideas have been useful to you! If you have any ideas that i havent posted here plese feel free to comment with your ideas and where you are off on holidays!
Enjoy your Trip!
xXx











Thursday 11 February 2016

Baker ross craft Haul

£3.60 for 10pk


I love receiving my Baker Ross box!!! I'm not sure who is more excited when it comes me or munchkin! Not all craft has to be messy! There are times when I want to do craft things with munchkin but I could do without the mess, maybe I have family coming around and I have to be able to clean up quick! Baker Ross have just the right stuff!


Alot of the products are mess free and Munchkin LOVES the peel and stick activities that they offer.  The prices are really reasonable (I've popped the prices under the pics)

£3.49 for  4pk
I'm going to be placing an order with Baker Ross soon as we are going on holiday this year and there are a few things on their website that i think i could take on the aeroplane to keep munchkin entertained. If you would like me to do a blog post on that then just let me know.



£2.99 for 4pk
£3.60 for 10pk
£3.60
The stampers are amazing value and really good quality! Most of the crafts I've posted on here are ones that children can get on with on their own (obv depending on age) The finger print one below is my fave as its a combination of peel and stick and finger painting. it comes with cute little finger print pads with lids so you can use them with other crafts. Click here to go to the linkhttp://www.bakerross.co.uk/bug-fingerprint-decoration-kits

£3.49 for 5pk

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Party for a toy!?!?

This is the 'turtle'!

One day I was playing with munchkin out on then patio and he was telling me that he had gone to his aunties house, I knew that he hadn't gone to his Aunties house so I asked him who his Auntie was and his reply was 'my turtle is my Auntie'. Ever since that day he refers to 'his turtle' ALL the time!

One morning he came up to me and said 'Mummy its my turtles 10th Birthday today'  my reply was 'Ahhhh lovely' (conversations regarding the 'turtle' are a norm in our house now).
I got home from work that day and picked him up from school.....the moment we walked through the door he rushed around the house then broke down in tears. Turns out he was expecting me to do a party for the turtle just like I do for him on his birthday. Not wanting to see him so upset I told him that we had arranged to have the party the next day as we would have more time.
The next day while at work I couldn't help but keep thinking of how much this party meant to him so when i finished work I went to Aldi to get some party nibbles. While waiting to pay I looked at everything on the conveyor belt and questioned as to if i was losing the plot....It kept going through my head 'you are buying food for a 10th Birthday party for a TOY!!' but hey! if it means munchkin being happy, I'm in!  I rushed home and set up the table, blew up some balloons and made a party hat for the turtle with 10 written on it!
It was safe to say that when Munchkin got home he was completely over the moon! We tucked into the food and had a lovely time!
I'm not completely sure what it is about this turtle but hes always referring to it 'oh yes my turtle likes that', 'my turtle went there', 'I did that when I went to my turtles house'.
He doesn't really bother with the toy itself bust constantly talks about it.

The turtle has recently had to come to work with me too! 
I figure that its just a funny stage that hes going through that will be fun to remind him of when he is older (sneaky Mummy!)