Peppa's Laugh and Learn Laptop - Review & Giveaway

Peppa Pig is one of those shows that I don't think has been off my television for a single day since I became a parent six years ago. Kids are just drawn to the show and, I'll admit, she's grown on me a little. My four year old daughter E loves Peppa so we were excited to receive the Peppa's Laugh and Learn Laptop and it was perfect timing with E starting nursery.

E began nursery at the start of the month so we will be focusing a lot on her numbers and letter sounds at home to go along with what she's doing at nursery. The four game modes focus on colours, numbers, letters and word recognition so it sounded fantastic.

The laptop is full of bright colours, as well as an image of Peppa on the front, perfect to pique a small child's interest. It also has a little handle so it can be carried around easily. 

Upon opening, you are met with a whole host of buttons and E couldn't wait to see what everything did. Along the side, there is a slider to change activity; Discover, Quiz, What Can You Find? and Music. It's really easy for a young child to choose their activity by themselves and E happily played around with the buttons to see how they'd changed for each different one. 

When in the Discover mode, pressing one of the six buttons in the centre corresponds to one of the images on the backlit screen eg. telling you that there were "three red clocks" - great to teach both numbers and colours. The Quiz activity asks questions such as "What is the first letter of the word 'coin'? At 4 years old, E did need a little help with these but I definitely feel that when she gets playing more and more, it will teach her a lot of things that will get stuck in her head and aid her learning.

What Can You Find? is similar to the Quiz mode but will ask questions based on sounds, so it will play the sound of an aeroplane taking off or a clock ticking, then the child has to choose the correct button. E loves this setting and it would be great for younger children too. The Music mode transforms the main six buttons into piano sounds so when they are pressed, you can create your own tune.

The six buttons along the bottom add a little extra to each activity. Whether it be musical sounds from the bongos, recorder or saxophone or just telling you the character names of George, Danny Dog or Suzie Sheep.

I think this is a great little toy for children aged 2+. I love a toy that is both fun and educational and the addition of a well loved character helps. The Peppa's Laugh and Learn Laptop retails at £19.99 from all good toy shops.

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

Want to win one for yourself? Just enter via the Gleam widget below. Good luck!

  Peppa Pig Laugh and Learn Laptop

T&C's:

• This giveaway will run from 13th September until 30th September
• One winner will win one Peppa Pig Laugh and Learn Laptop
• Open to entrants aged 18+
• UK residents only
• One entry per person
• No automated entries  

 

 

Ravensburger Paw Patrol Four Large Shaped Puzzles - Review

Both my children love reaching for a jigsaw puzzle when they are feeling a little bored and want something fun to do. We have a huge pile already in our house and they love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with seeing the full image at the end. It helps when it's a fun character that they like! 

Ravensburger very kindly sent E one of their Paw Patrol Four Large Shaped Puzzles sets and she was so excited to get started. Paw Patrol is one of her favourite shows with a special love of Everest and Skye. 

Inside the box you get 52 puzzle pieces in different sizes, depending on what puzzle they are for. One puzzle has 10 pieces, another 12, one 14 and finally one at 16 pieces. 

As E has only just turned four, I gave her a little help. She was able to split the pieces into piles happily, knowing which piece was for which puzzle just by looking at the image on the box. 

In the end, it took her no longer than around 30 minutes to complete all four, letting out a little shriek of excitement and pointing out which characters she could see. Each puzzle depicts a different scene and I liked the addition of words as, now she has started nursery, we are working on letter sounds. All four are full of colour and so pretty to look at. 

The Ravensburger Paw Patrol Four Large Shaped Puzzles retail at £9.99 and is suitable for children aged 3+. You can purchase your own at Amazon.

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

Pretend Play with the Casdon Deluxe Hetty Cleaning Trolley

We are massive fans of the Casdon brand and my youngest child, three year old E, plays with her toy washine machine and Henry Hoover on a daily basis. She loves pretend play and will always act like she's "mummy" by cleaning up her wooden kitchen, getting into her cosy coupe and telling me, "I'm just off to the shops!"

E was delighted to get her hands on the Casdon Deluxe Hetty Cleaning Trolley set - anything pink and she is in love! It is available in the red Henry style too.

The set contains:

• Trolley
• Mop and bucket
• Long-handled brush
• Handheld vacuum
• Dustpan and brush
• Toy detergent and spray bottles
• Cloth
• Paper bag

The trolley is super easy to put together - I built it and placed the stickers on the bucket, dustpan and bottles in less than 10 minutes which was great as E was very impatient and couldn't wait to get playing. 

The handheld vacuum really works, you just need to insert 3 AA batteries (not included). This is definitely E's favourite item in the set because I think she feels like she's properly helping mummy out, even though it is low suction.

It was absolutely adorable to see her pushing the little trolley around on it's wheels, coming to something which she imagined was dirty then choosing which item to clean it up with. I think it's a great little set to encourage your little one's imaginations but also to get them to like doing some real cleaning.

We have been playing with this set for just over two weeks now and I honestly thought that the cloth and paper bag wouldn't last long. With two children aged five and under, they can be quite rough, so I anticipated the cloth getting dirty beyond belief and the paper bag being ripped to shreds. They have surprised me though and they are still going strong! Although it is made of plastic, it's relatively sturdy and has coped well with my two!

The spray and detergent bottle don't actually work but I'm quite glad about that. E is happy enough pretending that she's spraying then wiping with the cloth. I just know that if I could really fill it, she'd make a huge mess!

I like that every item has it's own place so it is quite compact and can be tidied away in the corner nicely. E has even become a bit meticulous and has to have everything in its place, not choosing another cleaning item until she's put the one she's been using in its rightful place - the Cleaning Trolley is definitely doing its job and teaching her things!

The Casdon Deluxe Cleaning Trolley (both Hetty and Henry styles) retails at £25.00 and can be found at all good retailers, including Amazon. You can find out more at the Casdon website and you can keep up to date with the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

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

 

Shnooks; from Bubble to Friend - Review

[This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to buy anything through a link on this page, I will earn a few pennies at no extra cost to you.]

If you haven't heard of Shnooks before, they are adorable, cuddly, colourful little characters with fluffy hair. My three year old daughter E is obsessed with doing hair whether it's her own, mine, her dolls - she loves having a hairbrush in her hand!

Shnooks are available in six different characters; Shazam, Sheebah, Shweetly, Shine, Shnuggles and Shmiley. Each character has it's own special way to look after you. We received Shazam and Shmiley to have a play with. Shazam goes on adventures with you and Shmiley brings happiness that you can't hide. 

The Shnooks come vacuum packed into a "bubble" and the idea is to open the pack and shake the Shnooks, making their hair expand to up to 8 times its size. The shaking was definitely E's favourite bit and she got a little aggressive when doing so! 


 
Once your Shnook is fully grown, you can style it's hair using the comb and hair ties provided. E was totally in her element but as she's only three, she did need a bit of help from me to actually put the hair ties in the hair. We did have a little bit of hair loss due to how heavy handed E was with her comb but it isn't enough to be noticeable when you look at the toy.

E loved watching this tiny toy transform into a proper cuddly toy right before her eyes. They even come with two friendship clips so you can connect your Shnooks together! E has totally fallen in love and has been even taking her new friends to cuddle in bed with her as she sleeps. 

The Shnooks retail at £7.99 per toy and you can buy them here. You can find out more about the range at the Zuru website.

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

Win a copy of 'Milkshake! Brand New Besties' on DVD

My children love watching Milkshake! on Channel 5 every morning before school, it's become a routine. I actually remember watching it myself and my mum sending a birthday card in for me way back 20-odd years ago! Both C and E have taken a shine to all the shows and characters so I'm really excited that Abbey Home Media are releasing a brand new, over two hour long, DVD collection of Milkshake! favourites on Monday 23rd October.

Whether it's keeping a secret, learning to compromise, solving a problem, searching for clues or planning the best sleepover ever, our heroes put their friends firmly first!

This special compilation of the very best pre-school shows from long-running Channel 5 pre-school brand Milkshake! features some of their best-loved characters including PAW Patrol, Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, Poppy Cat, Noddy, Toyland Detective and Bob the Builder.

In this new collection, you will find:

PAW Patrol in 'Pups Save the Paw Patroller'
Mayor Humdinger has swiped the Paw Patroller! The pups need to get it back and save that meddling mayor too.

Digby Dragon in 'Disappearing Spell'
Digby's friend Sprite comes to visit and Fizzy casts a disappearing spell on her. When Grizel and Mungo take Spellbook it seems impossible to magic Sprite back again.

Bob the Builder in 'Where's Pilchard?'
When Muck has to shoo Pilchard out of his way, she suddenly vanishes. Leo and his machines run around trying to find her before Bob realises she's disappeared.

Peppa Pig in 'Playing Pretend'
When Peppa's bike gets a flat tyre and needs fixing, Peppa and her friends have fun riding their imaginary bikes and jumping in muddy puddles.

Shimmer and Shine in 'Flying Flour'
The girls bake magical flying cookies, but Zeta and Nazboo sneak in to steal the flying flour.

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom in 'Lucy's Elf & Fairy Party'
Lucy celebrates her birthday with an Elf and Fairy party. Lucy's dad does a magic show but things get a bit out of hand when Princess Holly and her friends join in...

Fireman Sam in 'Best Sleepover Ever'
Norman, Mandy, Sarah and James are having a sleepover at Mandy's house. Norman is determined that it will be the best sleepover ever.

Simon in 'The Secret'
It's Gaspard's birthday and Simon has found out where Mummy has hidden his brother's present. But Simon has sworn he'll keep it a secret!

Poppy Cat in 'Underwater Picnic'
When Zuzu and Alma both arrive with plans for the group, Poppy teaches them the art of compromise. They set off in the submarine for Seaweed Sea to look for the speedy turtle and have an underwater picnic.

Floogals in 'Project Caterpillar'
Boomer has become very fond of the 3 stripy caterpillars that the kids are keeping in the shed. When one vanishes, the Floogals stake out the container they are in to see if they can solve the mystery.

Olly the Little White Van in 'Bad Luck Olly'
Olly is going through a run of terrible luck. The more he tries to help people, the more things go wrong. Help comes from the most unlikely place as Bazza helps him relax and do what comes naturally - helping!

Puffin Rock in 'Mossy Impossible' 
Oona is in danger. She's tangled up in fishing twine near Seagull Cliff and the seagulls will be back soon! Mossy and Bernie try to free her, but they need help from Mama and Papa Puffin.

Noddy, Toyland Detective in 'Broken Crystal Memory'
Noddy needs to find out who broke the Crystal Memory Game before the start of the Daredale Challenge Obstacle Race!

Thomas & Friends in 'Toby's New Friend'
Philip spots Toby and assumes that he is a diesel boxcab just like him. Convinced that they will become best friends, Philip rushes up and introduces himself, but Toby finds him rather overwhelming.

Milkshake! Brand New Besties will be available to buy from all good DVD stockists from Monday 23rd October. Want to win a copy for your little one? Just enter via the Gleam widget below. Good luck!

T&C's:

• The giveaway will run from October 17th until October 31st
• One winner will win one copy of  'Milkshake! Brand New Besties' on DVD
• Open to entrants aged 18+
• UK residents only 
• One entry per person
• No automated entries

Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD

 

My First Scalextric - Review & Giveaway

Scalextric is one of those ranges of toys that I'm sure that everyone is familiar with. They have been around since the 1950s and my partner Chris actually had some of the Scalextric car range when he was younger.

Scalextric have recently brought out a My First Scalextric set as a great way to introduce younger children from 3 years old to the world of Scalextric. My children are three and five and have never owned any Scalextric before so I was really excited to see their reactions to it.

When it comes to children's toys that actually do something, I always have a mini panic about batteries. Luckily, My First Scalextric is all mains operated which is a massive plus in my book. 

The track itself is so easy to click together. It's in a standard figure of eight shape and made of plastic with their Magnatraction technology in the middle to help keep the cars on the track. Each car has a braid underneath that magnetically attracts to this. Once you have the track built, there are three things to connect into the power box; the mains plug, a red controller and a yellow controller.

The red and yellow controllers are colour coordinated to the cars that the set is supplied with and they also match the chevrons on the circuit. Both kids luckily didn't fight over which colour car they wanted - E was happy with yellow and C opted for red. They were raring to go!

Each controller only has one button which makes it perfect for younger children as they don't have to remember what loads of different buttons do to their car. How fast your car goes depends on how tight you squeeze the button. 

The kids really loved placing their cars at the starting line and having me count down from three then racing to see who won. The My First Scalextric set has a range of benefits with hand eye coordination being a great one. They have to keep an eye on their car, especially when going around the corner, and drop their speed so that the car doesn't come flying off the track. Having to remember when to speed up and go a bit slower really helps with risk-reward thinking - if they suss that out, they are more likely to win!

My children, like most others, are prone to the odd Playstation game or YouTube video on the tablet. I love that this set got my children excited to be away from that world and had them playing nicely together for quite a long time. They both got very competitive and it was an absolute joy to watch. I think their favourite thing was seeing how fast their cars could go and I won't lie, I may have been stealing a few goes on them too as it's just so good! They have been having so much fun with their My First Scalextric set.

The set retails at £39.99 and is available to buy from the Scalextric website. You can also keep up to date on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Want to win a My First Scalextric for your little one in time for Christmas? I'm giving a set away on my Twitter page. You can enter via the embedded tweet below or visiting my Twitter account where the tweet is pinned to the top. Don't forget to read the terms and conditions below.

T&C's:

• Open to UK participants only
• 1 (one) winner will receive 1 (one) My First Scalextric
• The prize will be delivered to the winner upon receipt of their email contact details
• The Editor's decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.
• There is no cash alternative to Prizes which are subject to availability, non-transferable, non-negotiable and non-refundable. Prizes may not be sold, offered for sale or used in connection with any other competition or promotion by the Prize winner.
• Giveaway will run from October 16th until 23:59 on October 29th 

 

Want to win a #MyFirstScalextric for Christmas? Just F&RT by 23:59 29/10. UK only. https://t.co/Hgjn36f0p2

T&Cs: https://t.co/fJR3IZsWG1 pic.twitter.com/Jh6waHYXCf

— Rebecca Phillips (@x_walter) October 16, 2017

(We received a My First Scalextric for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

Our Summer as Super Wings Ambassadors #SuperWingsSummer

Back at the beginning of the summer, I wrote a blog post introducing Super Wings and stated that we would be Super Wings Ambassadors for the duration of the summer. The summer is now coming to an end and we have had so much fun so I just wanted to do a little post on the range of toys that you may have seen us playing with via my social media accounts and a little round up of what we've been up to.

The toys that we received as part of our Ambassadorship were:

• Transforming Jett
• Remote Control Jett
• World Airport Playset
• Mini Transform-a-bots (Dizzy and Paul)

Before we received the toys, we were slightly familiar with the Cartoonito show so the children recognised the characters. They couldn't wait to get playing!

World Airport Playset (£39.99)

This is by far the ultimate favourite of all the Super Wings toys that we received. The set comes with two mini Transform-a-bots (Jett and Donnie) which was great as C and E had one each to play with. The set itself is absolutely fantastic and it's a perfect copy of the airport in the Super Wings TV show.

A post shared by Rebecca (@13rebecca13) on Jul 27, 2017 at 4:13am PDT

 
The lights and sounds make it infinitely more exciting for children. C especially loved hearing the phrases that Jimbo, the air traffic controller, says. There is so much to do from attaching Jett and Donnie to the spinner on top and making them fly to having them slide down the ramps at the side and even turning the conveyor belt of packages. I love a toy that engages children, gives them prompts and encourages their imagination which is exactly what this playset does. 

Transforming Jett (£12.99)

I knew before even opening this out that it would be a huge hit with C. He loves anything that is transformable and this one goes from robot to plane in ten easy steps. It took him a little while to suss out exactly how to move every part but the satisfaction on his face when he finishes it is great. 

C is a very fidgety child and always has to be doing something. This is a good toy for helping with that. It's quite large too so it's great for little ones. It's made of durable plastic so no amount of boisterous play (as E would do) is likely to break it.  

Remote Control Jett (£19.99)

A post shared by Rebecca (@13rebecca13) on Aug 3, 2017 at 7:40am PDT

 
This is so much fun - even I love playing with it. You need to insert batteries into both the actual Jett figure and the controller but after that, you are good to go! You are able to make Jett go forward and spin 360. 

One thing C did ask was "how do you make him fly?" Remote Control Jett cannot fly, everything that he does is on the ground. He quickly got over it when he saw how fun it was! C has tried remote control toys in the past and always got a little frustrated when he couldn't make them go the way he wanted to. As this control has only two buttons, it makes it so much easier to use and we have had no strops at all.

Mini Transform-a-Bots (£3.99 each)

These toys are just like the larger Transforming Jett that I spoke about above except in mini form. The larger ones transform in ten steps, but these mini ones only take three steps!

These are great to carry around on the go, the mini transform-a-bots have done a lot with us over the summer and come in nearly every car journey. Transforming them from robot to plane and back again is great for keeping them occupied. They also fit well in the World Airport Playset too.

Our Super Wings toys (well, the Transforming Jet and Mini Transform-a-Bots) travelled around with us all summer to see what exciting things we got up to. We managed to tick a good lot off of our summer checklist so I'm pleased about that!

 
We had so much fun getting to know the toys and characters and the children would even say, "We can't forget our planes!" before we went anywhere.

Don't forget that you can watch Super Wings on Cartoonito and you can purchase the Super Wings toys from Smyths Toys, Argos, The Entertainer and Toys R Us.

(We received the toys as part of our Super Wings Ambassadorship. We also received financial compensation by way of voucher.)

BRIO Classic Figure of 8 Train Set - Review

We absolutely love reviewing for BRIO. Their toys are fantastic quality and the children always ask for them to be set up to play with. A lot of the sets that we have reviewed in the past have been a bit too old for two year old E as she can be a bit rougher than her big brother. If there are any high parts, she'll easily knock them down accidentally whereas C knows to be more gentle.

The Classic Figure of 8 Train Set is the perfect starter train set. The set is comprised of:

• 14 equal length rounded track pieces
• 1 connector crossing bridge train piece
• 3 wooden trees
• 1 wooden station
• 1 three-part wooden train

As the end result is a figure of 8 track, it is super simple to put together - I didn't even have to look at the instructions. As long as you start with the connector crossing bridge, the rest is pretty straightforward. The others pieces (trees, station and train) can be placed anywhere.

E loved how quickly it was set up because as a two year old, she has patience for nothing. In typical BRIO fashion, the pieces were perfectly made, sanded and painted and E had no problems in pushing the train around the track. Each train part is connected by a magnet so the only thing she did have a little moan about was when she pulled the train apart, then couldn't get it back together again as she had the wrong sides of the magnets facing each other! 

She was great with using her imagination and would pretend that there was a little driver inside, shouting out to the people at the station as the train passed. Usually when E attempts to play with her brother's train sets, she'll easily knock the tracks apart but this hasn't happened with this set as the 8 shaped route is easy to follow and it's all flat on the ground. It definitely makes for a brilliant train set for beginners.

The BRIO Classic Figure of 8 Train Set is recommended for children aged 2 years+ and it retails at £37.99. You can find out more about the range at the BRIO website or you can follow them on Twitter.

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

 

10, 9, 8... Owls Up Late by Georgiana Deutsch

C has always been a massive bookworm. He will be five next month and has taught himself to read. Our house resembles a bookshop and I love it. C is always happy to get a new book to read.

10, 9, 8... Owls Up Late is a brand new book by Georgiana Deutsch. It's recommended for chidren aged 1-4 and the story is about a mother owl trying to get her ten baby owlets to go to bed. 

They are all busy being noisy and having fun and it's a great little book for children who are reluctant to go to sleep. The peep-through parts add a bit of excitement and it uses the concept of counting owls to make bedtime a fun, educational and relaxing experience.

The colours of the book are mostly pale and muted - great to help children relax before bedtime. It creates a tranquil mood and ends with all owlets cosily in their nest, encouraging little ones to fall asleep too.

The rhyme makes it easy to read and lovely for children to listen to and follow. C has learnt a few new describing words and the counting guide at the end is great for teaching children numbers. We've read it a lot to two year old E, hoping that she will remember number orders. 

10, 9, 8... Owls Up Late was published by Little Tiger Press yesterday (10th August 2017) and can be purchased from all good bookstores for £10.99.

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

Win a BRIO Ant with Rolling Egg toy

Over the last year or so, we have done quite a few reviews of BRIO toys and each one has been loved by both children and they are always wanting to play with them.

In June last year, we did a review of the Ant with Rolling Egg. When I accepted the review, I wasn't really knowing what to expect as it doesn't sound like your typical toddler toy. As soon as I opened it out, E took to it straight away and still loves it now.

The Ant is effectively a pull along toy with springs on the neck and antennae so they bobble as you pull it. The egg sits on the back of the ant and as the wheels hit against the egg, they rotate it. The toy is great for encouraging early walking and coordination. You can read my full review of the toy here and check out my GIF below to watch it in action.

Want to win one for yourself? Just enter via the Gleam widget below. Good luck!

T&C's:

• One winner will win one BRIO Ant with Rolling Egg toy
• This giveaway will run from July 24th until August 27th
• Open to entrants aged 18+
• UK residents only
• One entry per person
• No automated entries

BRIO Ant with Rolling Egg toy