Nipper Cards: Affirmation Cards for Children - Review & Giveaway

 [AD/Gifted - We received this product for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links. If you click to buy anything through a link on this page, I will earn a few pennies at no extra cost to you.]

I've spoken briefly on the blog before about my eldest child's autism diagnosis. He is a brilliantly clever kid but can be very hard on himself and tends to focus on negatives rather than positives. When I first heard about Nipper Cards, I thought they seemed perfect for him.

Created by Nipperbout founder Janthea Brigden, Nipper Cards are a powerful and fun way to help children understand their feelings and affirm their belief in themselves.

They come in beautiful bright purple packaging and there are 52 cards, just like a regular deck of playing cards. Each card has an animal on it which corresponds to the type of card it is.

• Transformation
• Fear
• Power & wisdom
• Grace & intuition
• Creativity
• Joy & love of life
• Teaching
• Magic
• Innocence & fun
• Dreaming
• Breath of life
• Gathering & storing
• Gentleness

Each animal then has four messages which reflect both sides of that quality. For example, the fear cards also incorporate courage as they are opposites.

You can use these card in many different ways and there are some game ideas on one of the cards included in the pack, such an Animals Families and Snap. We started with a simple Memory Game.

I laid all of the cards face down and we took turns turning them over to see if we could get two matching animal families. 

I took this time to ask C to read what was on the card that he turned over and they are just so beautiful. I think each child should have a set of these cards. On occasion, C, who is usually quite negative about himself, would say, "Oh, that's definitely me!" which really made me smile.

It wasn't your usual memory game as each card would open up a discussion for us. I would ask if he understood the question and if not, we could chat about what he thought it meant and I could explain fully. They have definitely been a positive influence on him and we have even added into our family game night for a little boost.

You can purchase your own Nipperbout Affirmation Cards from Amazon for £9.99.

Want to win a set of your own? Enter via the Gleam widget below!

T&C's: 

• Giveaway runs from August 31st until September 6th at 23:59
• One winner will win one set of Nipperbout Affirmation Cards
• Open to entrants aged 18+
• UK residents only
• One entry per person
• No automated entries

Nipperbout Affirmation Cards

Soothing the Smallest with Sudocrem x Ickle Pickles (+ giveaway!)

Every year, 1 in 8 babies are born prematurely or unwell, that's 100,000 babies every single year. These babies need to spend weeks, sometimes months in neonatal care units before they are strong enough to leave. Neonatal intensive care costs the NHS £1,500 per day and many hospitals do not have the equipment to care for extremely preterm babies. My own son was seven weeks premature and spent a week in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit then a week in the Special Care Baby Unit and I could not be more grateful for the care that we received.

My Ickle Sudocrem from SatellitePR on Vimeo.

This summer, Sudocrem and premature baby charity Ickle Pickles are teaming up to raise funds for the vital neonatal equipment premature babies so desperately need. In honour of the partnership a new, limited edition pot of 'My Ickle Sudocrem' has been created and will be sold in Boots and Tesco stores across the UK for six weeks from the 26th August. With each sale of the 'Ickle Pot', 50p will be donated to the Ickle Pickles charity. An historic event for the brand, Sudocrem have never before adapted their classic packaging for a charity campaign such as this.

A typical ventilator costs £25,000, the equivalent of 50,000 little pots. While this may sound like a lot, Sudocrem have enlisted the help of Laura Tobin, the nation's favourite weather presenter, and Georgia Jones, creator of the BUMP YouTube channel and wife to Danny Jones, to spread the word and give the campaign that extra push. Both Laura and Georgia hold the cause close to their hearts: Laura's daughter was born prematurely, as was Georgia's niece. The pair will be doing their utmost to raise awareness of how the public can get involved at home.

Laura says, "No parent should be separated from their child at such a worrying time, which is often what happens when their local hospital doesn't have the right neonatal equipment. Ickle Pickles are a fabulous charity and the more money we can raise for them, the better. It's thanks to the equipment they're fundraising for that Charlotte is the healthy, happy baby she is today."

"When Sudocrem approached me to be involved with Soothing the Smallest, I was delighted. A lot of the work I do is about raising awareness around parenting issues - the good, the bad and the messy - so the campaign was just a natural fit for me," says Georgia Jones. "I'll be doing my best to support it for the duration!"

How can you get involved?

Most importantly, buy a 'My Ickle Sudocrem' pot from your local Boots or Tesco! Every purchase means 50p to Ickle Pickles.

Who said only teddy bears have picnics?

Soothing the Smallest launches with a nationwide panda-themed picnic. Inspired by the UK's love of picnics, plus taking into account necessary precautions of lockdown, Georgia and Laura will kick it all off by launching their own panda picnic to show us how it's done. Those who want to get involved only have to pack up their picnic baskets and head out to the nearest patch of green for some relaxation - and don't forget to bring a panda too. Share the picnic on social media, tagging #soothingthesmallest and who knows? Perhaps a new record will be set for the most panda picnics held in one day! You also have the chance to win a giant panda and picnic hamper if you share your picnics on social media with #soothingthesmallest and #pandapicnic

I'm giving away 3 panda cuddly toys to help out families who don't have a panda of their very own. Laura, Georgia and Sudocrem will also be giving some away on their social media. With the aim to get as many families out there picnicking, Ickle Pickles charity founder, Rachael Marsh suggests inviting another family along for a suggested donation of £5 to the Ickle Pickles JustGiving page. Social distancing rules apply, of course!

"At Sudocrem, we take soothing families extremely seriously, which is why we're so excited about the upcoming Soothing the Smallest campaign. After all, isn't is these tiny, premature babies and their families that need our help the most?" says Nick Lang, head of OTC marketing at Sudocrem. "The aim is to raise enough over the six weeks to be able to help Ickle Pickles in a meaningful way."

"Spreading the word is easy," Nick continues. "We're asking everyone to get involved in whatever way they can. Share details of Soothing the Smallest on Instagram, visit the Sudocrem website and, most importantly, support the campaign by purchasing one of the 'My Ickle Sudocrem' pots."

To be in with a chance of winning 1 of 3 cuddly pandas, just enter via the Gleam widget below.

T&C's:

• Giveaway runs from 30th August until 13th September at 23:59
• Three winners will win one cuddly panda toy
• Open to entrants aged 18+
• UK residents only
• One entry per person
• No automated entries

Sudocrem x Ickle Pickles Panda giveaway

The Importance of a Good Sleep Routine

[AD - This is a paid collaboration with TEMPUR®.]

 

The past six months or so have been really strange for us all. When lockdown restrictions came into force, we went from going to school and work to being taught at home and being put on furlough. I basically became a home educator overnight!

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I posted about our daily homeschooling through Instagram stories. I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to stick to a routine because when things got back to normal, or as normal as they can be now, it would be hard to get back into the swing of things again.

I drew up and printed a timetable for the living room wall for both children so that they knew what to expect from the day. It really helped that the school teachers communicated with us each morning with a rough timetable too. We started our days with PE with Joe, releasing endorphins and getting us "pumped", as my almost eight-year-old son would say, for the rest of the day.

Having these timetables eliminated the element of surprise, reducing their stress and it is something that I was keen to stick to mostly because my son is autistic. With a routine, we could keep his day as easy as possible. The "school" day would finish around 2.00pm so they were free to play and do as they pleased until the bedtime wind down.

Again, I wanted to keep this consistent because if I didn't, getting up for school in the mornings come September would be a shock to the system if bedtimes were all over the place in the summer. I am back to work now too so there are days where they need to get up early to stay with grandparents while both my partner and I are at work.

C and E are 7 and 5 respectively, and although they are not babies, a bedtime routine was and still is really important to us. We eat dinner around 5.30pm and afterwards they will take baths. I will allow screens or TV time for one child while the other is taking their bath but afterwards, all screens are off. From past experience, they find it very hard to shut their brains off at the end of the day if they have been playing on tablets or watching TV right up until they go to bed.

They can then choose whether they would like to play with toys (LOL Surprise dolls are usually E's choice) or read a book quietly on their own (this is usually C's choice). They will then have a glass of milk before brushing their teeth and flossing.

For the time being, they are sharing a bedroom with bunk beds so we will all go upstairs, and I will read a story to the both of them before it is lights out. This brings us to around 8.30pm. 

Keeping to my own bedtime routine is important too, especially if I am working the next day. We actually purchased a new bed and mattress at the end of March, right at the beginning of lockdown, spending a lot of time deciding which base was best and consulting a mattress size guide to visualise what would fit into the space we had. We ended up settling on a divan with a tall mattress so we spent the first week or so feeling a little queasy as it was so high off the ground!

I am an avid reader, so I use the screen rule for myself too. I'll more than likely fall asleep in the middle of a chapter or drop my Kindle on my face because I've nodded off. I don't include the Kindle under the screen umbrella as I can adjust the brightness!

Not having bright screen in our faces, getting the recommended eight hours of sleep and sleeping on comfortable beds mean that we are all feeling refreshed and raring to go in the mornings.

Smoby Chef Corner Restaurant - Review

(AD/Gifted - We received this item for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

My children have always loved roleplay toys and as they get older, it's definitely harder to find playsets that suit. Enter the Smoby Chef Corner Restaurant.

It's targeted towards children aged 3-8 as the height can be adjusted, meaning that my 5 and 7 year olds could play easily.

When it first arrived, I was a bit taken aback by the size of it and also anxious about putting it together. The instructions state that it should take two people 1.5 hours to build, I attempted it on my own and it took 3 hours. It wasn't difficult but definitely get an extra body if you can!

The play possibilities for this restaurant are fantastic. It is just like a real restaurant with a small till area, complete with card machine, receipts and working calculator. My children love visiting restaurants so they were very excited to get to act out their own restaurant scenarios.

In the kitchen area, you are supplied with over 70 accessories from plates, cups, different types of foods, lots of pots and utensils and E especially loved that the pasta changed colour in warm water. The sink has a real water function but we had a bit of a leakage situation with that one! I love that you even have little order cards to stick up in front of the cooking area just like a busy restaurant would have.

There is an espresso machine and the hob makes real bubbling sounds when you place a pot on it! It is fully immersive and it feels like nothing has been left out. I love the addition of the carrot that can be chopped!

The little restaurant table that attaches onto the side of the kitchen is like nothing I've seen before when it comes to toy kitchens and it is nice to incorporate the two. 

C and E both spend so much time playing with the Smoby Chef Corner Restaurant, taking it in turns with who will be the customer and who will be the worker and they love building the burger or putting toppings on the pizza. It is made of plastic but is very sturdy and it means that the kids can have fun playing with it in the garden when the sun is out.

I can definitely see this being a popular toy this Christmas and I can honestly say that I wholeheartedly recommend it.

You can purchase the Smoby Chef Corner Restaurant from Argos for £150.

The Cure by Glenn Cooper - Review

The Cure by Glenn Cooper - 3/5 ★★★

Blurb:

If you catch it, you forget everything. Your only hope is the cure...

Dr. Jamie Abbott is a Boston-based neurologist and single parent who has made a key contribution to a novel gene therapy treatment for Alzheimer's Disease. When Steadman, the principal investigator, short-circuits study safeguards, a highly contagious virus is released that wipes out the memories of its victims, leaving them hopelessly vulnerable and untethered. One of the early victims is Jamie's teenage daughter. As the virus spreads and civil order breaks down, Jamie, who possesses half of the potential cure for the pandemic, embarks on a dangerous cross-country journey.

He needs to reach his lover, Dr. Mandy Alexander, a virologist who has the other half of the cure, to save not only his daughter, but also most of mankind from the oblivion of total amnesia. Along the way, he finds a landscape littered with the best and worst of humanity. But he also finds his own inner strength to do what's needed to protect his daughter and to survive.

Review:

I was instantly attracted to this book based on the premise - a fast-spreading disease and the urge to find a cure.

The Cure opens strongly with an elderly Japanese woman called Mrs Noguchi who has Alzheimer's Disease. She is the 'Patient One' who is trying a new drug to potentially cure Alzheimer's. Her grandson visits from Japan and inadvertently spreads a virus to her which reacts with the drug, causing a new virus to form. The virus causes memory and language loss. This then spreads around the hospitals, towns and cities at a very quick pace. 

Boston-based Dr Jamie Abbott is one of the doctor's looking into this disease and ends up with half a cure. One of his colleagues based in Indianapolis has the other half. His teenage daughter and her friend contract the disease so he is eager to get to Indianapolis to save her and as much of humanity as he can.

Reading this during the coronavirus pandemic was very strange and a lot of the situations were reminiscent of that. Obviously, this disease is a lot worse with most people dying, meaning that hospitals, food shops and police stations are closed followed by electricity companies so it seems like the end of the world.

It is a slow-paced book which I struggled with; I always like to feel a sense of urgency that pushes you to read on. There are a multitude of characters which can get a little confusing and all of which you love to hate. It is an interesting premise but a bit long and a little off the mark for me.

Thank you to Aries Fiction for inviting me to view an eBook copy for review.