My Mermaid Lagoon Charm Shell - Review

My 3.5 year old daughter E is what I like to call an "all-rounder" as much as she loves superheroes and getting messy, she also loves dresses, princesses, unicorns and mermaids.

Interplay have recently brought out My Mermaid Lagoon Charm Shells with three different mermaids to collect; Storm, Calypso and Serena. E was very excited to receive the Calypso set as she has beautiful pink hair which is E's favourite colour.

Calypso lives in her own oyster shell which fits perfectly in your pocket. Each shell contains, in addition to the mermaid, a key (which really works to lock the shell), 30 beads, a sea turtle charm, two split rings and a 40cm stretch cord so you can make your own mermaid charm bracelet.

As E is of such a young age, I hadn't really done many crafty activities other than sticking and creating pictures so it was nice to involve her in making something that she could wear afterwards and I felt like she was more excited by this. She did need a fair bit of help as the set is recommended for ages 4+ but she had lots of fun threading the beads onto the cord.

Calypso can sit inside the shell and her seat can be removed for hiding treasures underneath - something I think E will use if she has an item that she doesn't want her brother getting his mitts on. 

As I mentioned before, the key really works to lock the shell and I think it's a great idea to attach it to the bracelet as it's so tiny, it would definitely get lost easily in our house if it wasn't! E is able to use the key to lock and unlock the shell herself and has been enjoying pretending that her mermaid is going for a little swim then coming back home to her shell. It's a very well-made, sturdy toy and I really like the crafty element to the set. I definitely think we will be picking up the other two mermaids in the range to give Calypso some friends.

My Mermaid Lagoon Charm Shells retail at £9.99 and you can find them at all good toy shops.

You can also find out more information at the Interplay website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 

Fuzzikins Craft Campervan - Review

When my son C was small, one of our favourite things to do were crafts. His younger sister E is much more into playing and imaginative play and wouldn't really sit long enough to do crafts (plus she gets a bit frustrated when she can't do things by herself!)

Fuzzikins have released another collectable kit - the Fuzzikins Craft Campervan to their existing range which you may have spotted sponsoring Disney Junior on weekday afternoons. As soon as E saw the cute little cats, she was in love and couldn't wait to enter the Fuzzi world of fun and imagination!

The Campervan set comes with four colouring pens, two Fuzzikins cats, some colouring sheets and a sheet of stickers to customise the van. The Fuzzikins cats do have a fuzzy feel to them, hence the name, and E was excited to get colouring and "make them look pretty." You need to be careful when colouring as the pens do need time to dry so it's quite easy to get the colours all over your fingers. I may have used the hairdryer to speed up the waiting time as three year olds can be impatient!

After we had finished colouring for the first time, E spent hours creating little scenarios between the cats inside the campervan; making them drive to the beach or swimming pool. There is a seat at the steering wheel for one of the cats to drive, a table with two chairs so they can eat together and also a bed that pulls down above the table, complete with blanket to snuggle them up together. 

The campervan itself is a carry case so we have even been bringing it in the car to keep the kids occupied. At first glance, the handle may just seem like a regular handle but you can actually remove it - it's a surfboard! As if that wasn't enough, the cats are completely washable and reusable so you can use it as many times as you like.

It's such a beautifully designed toy and I love that whilst encouraging creativity, it is also great for imaginative play. The Fuzzikins Craft Campervan is available to buy from Interplay and Amazon for only £19.99.

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 

Christmas Crafts with Baker Ross

We have been Baker Ross Bloggers for over two years now and C still gets excited when he receives the boxes in the post. I knew that this month's box would go down well because he is so excited for Christmas this year because he understands it more.

Here's what was in our box:

• Santa Christmas List Kits (£3.99 per pack of 5)
• Christmas Scratch Art Scenes (£2.95 per pack of 6)
• Christmas Bauble Colour-in Window Decorations (£2.75 per pack of 12)
• Snowflake Fingerprint Decoration Kits (£1.99 per pack of 6)
• Santa Mix & Match Decoration Kits (£3.49 per pack of 6)
• Elf Mix & Match Decoration Kits (£3.49 per pack of 6)
• Gingerbread House Photo Frame Kits (£1.49 per pack of 5)

Firstly, the kids were pleased to see easy crafts that they know how to do. The Gingerbread frames, Christmas list kit and Santa and Elf Mix & Match are the ones where you peel the backing off the foam and stick them on the 'base'. 

At 4 and 2, they have both mastered these and now they can work away at them themselves, E only needs helping removing the backing. Although they are so used the the foam Baker Ross products, I feel like they don't get bored because the themes and pictures are so different at the end. 

They were both really excited to write their lists and put their photographs in the gingerbread house and hang them both up. We even hung our Mix & Match Santas on the Christmas tree. These were probably my favourite of the foam activities as we liked how you could make Santa look a bit untraditional.

Both children love to colour so the window bauble decorations went down well. We dug out the markers and let them get to work. There are 12 in a pack and you can choose from Santa, an angel, a penguin, a robin, an elf and a snowman. They make a nice, personalised change to regular Christmas window decorations.

The Scratch Art kits were great! C was a bit confused at first as he thought you had to colour them but when he got the hang of it, he loved it. You just need to use the scraper supplied to scratch off some of the blackened image to reveal rainbow colours underneath. 2 year old E got a little stressed out over it though and did throw her scraper across the room a few times. I think she was maybe a bit too young for it! There are six different Christmas scenes to choose from.

Finally, both children adored the fingerprint snowflakes! If it means they get to get messy, it's a winner! There are three different inkpads (purple, blue and pink) and the same colours foam snowflakes, ribbon and gems. I gave them complete free reign to put their fingerprints and gems anywhere and I think they did a pretty good job! The ink washes off easily too - thankfully!

C and E have had so much fun doing their Christmas crafts and as you can see above, the prices are fantastic for what you receive. They also have 20% off their Christmas range until midnight December 9th so you should definitely take advantage of that!

(We received these items as part of our role as Baker Ross Bloggers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

 

Baker Ross Easter Crafts

Of all the Baker Ross craft bundles that we've received, I knew that this would be the one that C would be most excited about. Ever since he discovered the Kinder Egg opening videos on YouTube, he's been obsessed with all things egg and this box contains quite a few egg bits!

Inside our Easter box was:

 

  

Easter Bucket Buddy Kits (£3.60 per pack of 3) 

Easter Stampers (£3.60 per pack of 10)

Chick Eggs (£1.99 per pack of 10)

Easter Honeycomb Decoration Kits (£2.75 per pack of 5)

Easter Egg Sand & Glitter Art Decorations (£2.75 per pack of 10)  

Easter Foam Stickers (£2.99 per pack of 100) 

Egg Hi-Bounce Balls (£1.65 per pack of 5) 

Pastel Coloured Sand (£9.99 per pack of 6)

Firstly, he was so excited to see the plastic Chick Eggs! He wanted to put little toy figures inside and just thought they were the best thing ever because he sees similar ones in YouTube videos. I think I'm going to steal them to fill with mini chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday.

The Egg Hi-Bounce Balls were also a hit. He's only ever really had regular bouncy balls so he was a bit thrown when they started bouncing in funny directions. 

The Easter Bucket Buddy Kits were the first craft activities we did. There are three designs to choose from; chick, lamb and bunny and he asked to make the Chick bucket. Everything is foam with a sticky back so they are so easy for a three year old to master. I just had to tell him where parts went and take the backs off but other than that, he did everything himself. He was so pleased with the result and he wants to leave his basket out next Saturday to see if the Easter Bunny will fill it with anything.

 

Stickers are another of C's loves - in fact don't all toddlers love stickers!? The Easter pack comes in 25 different designs and C loved trying to stick at least one of each down on the page! The Baker Ross stickers are all foam so again, all I need to do is remove the backs and let C work away.

Stampers are one of C's favourite things to see in his boxes. They are the perfect size for his hands and because they are foam, they're comfortable too. He loves paint so they make painting fun!

The Easter Honeycomb Decoration Kits were so fun that I even did one too! You can choose to make either a chick, lamb or bunny. C chose the chick (again!) and I went for the bunny. I dug out the colouring pencils and we coloured them in. The honeycomb part is so simple. They are ready to pull over so all you need to do is remove the strip to reveal the sticky bit then stick it to the base. Super easy and they look so cool!

The Sand Art, I felt, was a little old for C but Chris and I loved it! The Egg decorations have removeable plastic as they are sticky. Each part is covered and you can remove them one by one so you don't overlap the sand. Once you've removed one part, just shake some sand over it and tap the egg on the table to remove the excess. Keep going until you've completed the egg. The end result was really impressive! 

 

This has been one of our favourite themes - the sand was a huge plus in my eyes! You can purchase all these bits through the Baker Ross website. They'd be great fun for the kids to do in the run up to Easter!

(We received these items as part of our role as Baker Ross Bloggers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

Baker Ross Spring Crafts

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about receiving a box of Valentine's and Spring themed craft items from Baker Ross. I reviewed the Valentine's items here and said I'd be doing the Spring ones in a separate post so, here we are!

The Spring items included in the box were:

 

Bug Fingerprint Decoration Kits (£3.49 per pack of 5)

Butterfly Ceramic Flowerpots (£3.96 per pack of 4) 

Tulip Pencil Pot Kits (£2.99 per pack of 4) 

Flower Stampers (£3.60 per pack of 10) 

Butterfly Magic Wand Kits (£3.49 per pack of 4) 

I also used the 4-Part Multi Paint Pad (£3.60)

We had to start off with C's favourite - stampers! I mentioned in my last post that C hadn't used a paint pad before but I think he actually enjoys it more than regular paints. He hates having paint on his hands for too long and loved how he could just open the pad up himself and work away. I love how easy the stampers are to clean. We've used them a few times now and the quality is still as great at the first time we tried them out. 

The Bug Fingerprint Decoration Kits were next. C had never done fingerprint painting before but he thought it was a lot of fun. You can choose to make either a Butterfly, Bee, Ladybird or Caterpillar and C chose the ladybird. The main base is foam then you just had to add the foam wings, red cheeks and antennae (these are already sticky, you just have to remove the backing) and put tie a piece of ribbon through the top so it hangs. There is also a small black paint pad so C could make the dots on the ladybirds wings. He was so excited and maybe even did a bit too many as he got carried away. Tons of fun!

The Butterfly Magic Wand Kits were a hit with both kids. Chris helped E do one and I helped C. There are four kits in different colours but including all the same pieces. You have the main foam butterfly, a smaller foam butterfly to stick on top, four glitter foam teardrop shapes to place on the wings, a glitter foam body, sequins, a stick and ribbon. C was able to stick all of the foam parts on himself whilst I put some PVA glue down to stick the sequins on. The main butterfly has a hole centre bottom so after putting a little glue on the tip of the stick, I was able to slot it in easily with no faff. The three bits of ribbon looked difficult in the picture but were really simple. I tied the first around the top of the stick, just below the butterfly, allowing it to flow down. I then tied the next ribbon in a bow with the stick in the centre then repeated the first ribbon with the next. The rest of the day, both kids were waving them around the house thinking they were great. I definitely think this is the best Baker Ross kit we've received!

The Baker Ross ceramic kits are ones that C doesn't seem that interested in but they are mine and Chris's favourites so we tend to take over them. We already own ceramic pens and the pots come all ready to go so all we have to do is colour them how we want. It's really therapeutic and I like coming up with different colour combinations. 

I loved doing the Tulip Pencil Pot craft with C. The set contains the cardboard tub, foam tulip, foam butterflies and ladybirds and foam leaves. Once you have the tub sitting upright, you need to add the tulip to the rim. The tulip has two little vertical slices already so you just need to put a little glue in the middle of these then push it against the inside of the tub. Glue will also be needed to add the leaves to the bottom of the tub. The foam insects are already sticky so it's a case of removing the backing and attaching them to the tulip then you're done! Super simple, C could do it all by himself. He looked pretty darn chuffed about it too! 

You can browse the full range at the Baker Ross website. You can also keep up to date with them on Facebook and Twitter. 

(We received these items as part of our role as Baker Ross Bloggers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

 

Baker Ross Valentine's Crafts

As part of our role as Baker Ross Bloggers we occasionally receive little boxes of craft items to try out. C gets really excited when he sees the box because he recognises the branded tape along the box. He kept excitedly repeating, "the man brought me crafts!" when he saw this one. The theme was Valentine's Day and Spring.

I'm just going to talk about the Valentine's bits in this post and do the Spring ones in a separate post.

Here's what we received in our box:

 

 I'll touch more on the Spring bits next time, but the Valentine's bits were:

Heart Pop-a-Crayons (£1.99 per pack of 5)

Heart Stampers (£3.60 per pack of 10) 

I also used the 4-Part Multi Paint Pad (£3.60)

Initially when I saw the Heart Pop-a-Crayons, because it just says "Fun Toys" across the top, I thought that's all they were - toys! I eventually opened them out and a wave of nostalgia came across me. I loved these types of crayons when I was little. C thought they were really cool and they were easy for him to pull off and find another colour by himself. He struggles with the ones that you have to push up the inside of the plastic "pen". He did go a little hard when colouring and break a few tips but losing one doesn't mean that you can't connect the rest. These are so handy for carrying around in the changing bag for meals out, rather than a big box of pencils or crayons.

Stampers are C's favourite. He's only ever used regular bottled paint so he was a little baffled by the paint pad. Once I showed him how to get the paint on by pressing the stamper down, he took to it like a duck to water. Sometimes even getting a little too carried away with the pushing - he looked like he was Hulk-ing out! I love the chunkiness of the foam stampers. They're easy for his little hands to hold. He and his daddy made me a very lovely Valentine's picture.

You can view the range at the Baker Ross website and you can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

(Disclaimer: We received these items as part of our role as Baker Ross Bloggers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 

 

Christmas Crafting with Baker Ross

I absolutely love being a Baker Ross Blogger. Since C became a big brother, doing crafts is one of those things that is just ours and we both really enjoy ourselves. Baker Ross sent us a lovely big box filled with Christmas related crafts.

Christmas Foam Stampers (£3.99 per pack of 10)

Christmas Wreath Fingerprint Photo Frame Kits (£3.49 per pack of 6)

Festive Fingerprint Cards (£2.49 per pack of 10)

Snowflake Stampers (£3.99 per pack of 10)

Penguin Foam Stickers (£2.99 per pack of 120)

Christmas Ceramic Tealight Holders (£3.96 per pack of 4)

Assorted Ready Mixed Paint (£7.99 per pack of 6 bottles)

We started off with the wreaths and cards as fingerprint crafts (with the little stamps) were something that C had never done before. He did turn his nose up at the start but once I did it first he thought it was brilliant and didn't want to stop! The wreaths are super easy to make. The ink transfers well onto the foam and then all thats left to do is add stickers and a photo to it. Simple! They even come with ties so you can hang them on the tree or wall as decorations. I had to help him a little with the photo on the wreath so I think he preferred the card decorating as that was all him. He told me he wanted to give one to his daddy so I helped him write inside it. The cards come with envelopes so you can get the kids to decorate them and send them out to family members.

C was begging me to do his paint and stampers by this point so I took all the snowflakes and other Christmas stampers and laid them face up so he could choose what he wanted to use. I created a makeshift palette out of cardboard for his different colours of paint. He traditionally chose white for his snowflakes but mixed up the colours when it came to the others. The paint didn't have a strong, overpowering smell so it's great for little ones. I did find that it was easier for me to put the paint on the stampers as C would end up putting too much on and the image would be gloopy and unrecognisable.

I always write in my Baker Ross posts about how much C loves stickers. He told me that he wanted to make a neat line up of all the different styles included in the bag so I poured them out, separated them and let him choose. I was a little shocked at how many different characters there were. He was really proud of himself after sticking them all down!

I did most of the work on the ceramic tealight holders. We received ceramic pens in a previous Baker Ross box so I dug them out of C's craft box and got to work on decorating. C liked having a little squiggle on them but he got a little bored after a while and just wanted to colour on something flat. I think we did a good job! C was impressed anyway.

Baker Ross's selection of Christmas crafts are great for getting your little ones excited in the run up to Christmas. You can view the full range at the Baker Ross website and you can also give them a follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

(Disclaimer: We received this box of crafts as part of our role as a Baker Ross Blogger. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)