Saturday, 6 December 2014

Young children's book recommendation of the fortnight - Little One's Bedtime



'It was late at night and time for bed.
 The clock was ticking when somebody said.... '






This fortnights book is Little One's Bedtime by Suzi Moore and Rosie Reeve.

G was excited to see this book feature in the bedtime hour on CBeebies a couple of weeks ago, "Look it's my book mummy".




I picked this up about a year ago I think, a bargain in the book offer of 4 books for £5 at The Works. I think it's a lovely book and it's one of my favourites of G's expanding book collection.

This is a book parents will relate to when your little one finds ways to stall bedtime. Or like G does, after getting her second wind, decides it's playtime again. The little girl in this book uses her imagination for her reasons for not going to bed.

It has lovely illustrations and a lovely rhythm with the story being written in rhyme. Both boys and girls can relate to it with the child just being named little one and doing a variety of activities in her imaginations before bed such as being a dancer, being a knight fighting a dragon, being a monster and being a wizard.




 I find there can be a lot of picture books these days that have beautiful illustration but to be frank a pretty poor accompanying story. This is not one of them. A lovely story and enjoyable read.



Thursday, 4 December 2014

Christmas at Stockeld Park




This time of year a lot of people have booked some sort of magical Christmas experience for their family.
Now G is no longer a baby, not even classed as a toddler in fact, I fancied the Santa special steam railway experience. They run from various locations up and down the country, the nearest to me being with Lancashire rail departing from Bury. They look wonderful and it reminds me of the Polar express. Unfortunately funds are short this year so it's not an option but fingers crossed next year we'll be jumping on board!
Winter Wonderland in Event City looks worth a visit too and further from home LapLand UK looks amazing!

There is one magical Christmas experience we are lucky to have had, which was at Stockeld Park. We went when G was just 16 months old and I would love to go again now she is a bit older.
Stockeld Park is a magical place in Wetherby, West Yorkshire and conveniently this is where G's grandparents live. It was they who very generously took us in 2012.

There is so much to do whatever time of year you go but Christmas at Stockeld Park is particularly special. We went in the evening to experience the Enchanted forest.


Stockeld's Christmas Adventure is a magical experience and I know G would be so amazed to see it again now. The forest is illuminated by beautiful lit sculptures along the walk, more twinkling lights, a talking tree, little doors with doorbells to ring and a lit up troll bridge. There are lovely musical instruments along the way to make the experience more interactive and a small open play areas with toadstool houses which G enjoyed investigating.





Since our first visit they have added some wonderful adventure play areas which we took full advantage of on our Easter Visit this year. They are open until dusk but I'd suggest to get the best out of the enchanted forest this time of year to go when it's dark to experience the forest lit up.






If walking through the forest is too ordinary for you and you've got no young children with you, you can always take the Nordic Ski option!
Along side the wonderful enchanted forest there is the Giant maze to explore, Santa's Grotto to visit or the ice rink to try out.

There is also the fabulous gift shop to peruse which is magical in itself. There are endless beautiful, original or quirky decorations, baubles and ornaments. Wonderful Christmas gifts and so many other pieces of Christmas magic in material form. It's probably the best gift shop I've ever been to! The site also grows it's own Christmas trees which can be brought from the emporium and for food and drink you can visit the lovely woodland cafe.





With G being so young we obviously didn't try out the Nordic ski option, or the ice skating, the latter of which Stockeld suggest an age limit of 4 year plus for. There are penguin aids available for children but only for 30 minute slots due to limited availability. I've taken G ice skating in the past year and it was like Bambi on ice! Luckily they had Sammy Seals (and penguins for older children) so I know we'd be fine trying out the rink if we return next year for Christmas when she'll be 4.

We also didn't try the Maze due to having a 16 month old with us but it is suitable for all ages supervised, I just wouldn't keep her out for too long late at night and in the cold obviously and if she had needed something at the time, being stuck in a maze isn't the best place to be. We have however since tried it out when we visited in Easter this year and it was great fun! At night for the Christmas season it is beautifully lit up for you to find your way round after dusk.




One thing we were hoping to try was Santa's Grotto, however at the time of visiting (December 2012) it was a queuing system and the queue was ridiculous. Again with a 16 month old or even now a 3 year old, in the cold and dark, it's not the best idea!
However Stockeld have now changed the system to a ticketed one which I think is brilliant! No more queuing up for ages in the cold wasting time. Instead you can 'enjoy all the park has to offer and wait for your allocated number to be called on screens that are dotted around the site'. Once it has you make your way to the Grotto and are given 'magic gold coin to give to Santa' which 'lets him know if you have been naughty or nice'. 
Obviously Father Christmas is a very popular man so tickets will go quickly 'particularly in peak season' so you need to book your tickets as soon as you get there.


If that's not enough the park also has new 4D sleigh experience open this year.......







All in all it's a fabulous place to visit anytime of year but Christmas is particularly magical. Good times to go if you don't want it to be very busy are November (if planning for next year) or weekdays in December. You'll have more of a chance of grabbing that special meeting with Santa for your little ones.

Price wise I think it's very agreeable and it gives you different options to suit different budgets. You can purchase tickets for just one or two activities or you can buy day passes that give you entry into everything except the grotto and new 4D sleigh experience. You need to buy a separate ticket for these. You can also buy family tickets and get discounted prices for big group bookings.
For a full list of prices follow this link.


Here are a few photo's from our trip through the Enchanted Forest:





































I would definitely recommend a visit to Stockeld Park for Christmas and would definitely go again ourselves. There's no doubting it provides a magical festive experience for the whole family.





Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Wicked Wednesdays - A Festive Throwback




As usual time is hurtling past at am alarming rate and December is now here! So I thought I'd share a Christmas photo for this week's Wicked Wednesdays Link Up.


One from G's first year of festivities that my friend took at our Christmas meet up.






Before my poor monkey had learnt to blink when there's a flash....



If you'd like to join in with the Wicked Wednesdays link up just click on the pic below and it will take you too Emma's brilliant blog.



brummymummyof2





Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Our Weekend Box - what was inside





A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a code for a free Weekend Box!

 Weekend Box is a new fortnightly creative activity box for young children aged 4 - 6 years old. My little girl is only 3 but she still had fun doing the various activities with mummy's help.

There are 4 weekend box club characters, which you can see in the photo above - Wooster, Hattie, Oswald and Sammy. Each of them have different themed activities.


Here's what was inside our free weekend box:



It was an exciting thing for G to receive through the post and upon opening it there were exciting little parcels to be unwrapped. A different colour for each themed activity/character.

  • Green for Hattie 
  • Red for Wooster 
  • Yellow for Oswald 
  • Blue for Sammy
 Underneath the parcels there was a piece of A4 red card, a kite template, a board game board drawn out on a piece of A5 card, four instruction cards, colour coded to go with the little parcels, a small envelope with a strip of 4 small stickers and one larger sticker and a poster.


There was also a brochure in the weekend box advertising natural clothing.


There are four activities for your child to do and you can obviously spread these out during the weekend or do over a couple of weekends, or during the holidays.


Here are the activities we received:



Kite Project 

This was the green packet, Hattie the Hedgehogs activity, containing the thread, a wooden peg and 2 straws.
The Kite Template obviously was also for this activity!

All you needed to provide yourself for this was a plastic bag and sellotape. A brightly coloured one is a preferable choice to make it look nicer.

G was able to help cut out the template, help draw round it and help cut out the kite. She also helped position and stick on the straws (one of which i had to replace as she cut one of them up into pieces :) ) and then mummy had to take over and do the fiddly bit with the thread.
 Once finished G loved playing with this and spent ages running round with it just inside the house!






Popcorn 'Cupcakes'

This was the red packet, Wooster the rabbits activity. It contained a little bag of spice mix and a bag of popcorn kernels. We needed to provide a little bit of icing sugar and honey and optional dried fruit.

G doesn't like popcorn herself but really enjoyed seeing the popcorn pop. It's something she's never witnessed before and she found it funny and exciting.

Besides needing an adults help with the popcorn because of the danger of a cooker, this activity was straight forward.








Peg Butterflies

This was the blue packet and Sammy the Squirrels activity. It contained 2 wooden pegs, 2 sparkly pipe cleaners and some sticky tabs. The red card was to use in this activity.

You had to draw out the shape of two butterflies on the card, cut them out, decorate and stick on & decorate the pegs for bodies and attach the pipe cleaners for antennae.

This is another simple activity and good to do mostly by themselves if older than G. She did really well with cutting and was able to stick the pegs by herself. She did all the decorating and had a go at trying to attach the pipe cleaners herself. She curled them up by herself on one of the butterflies.








Boardgame

This was the yellow parcel, Oswalds activity and contained a tiny dice and 4 tiny buttons for counters.
 I thought this was ok for just 2 children or a parent and child to play but considering the small piece of card and tiny dice and tiny buttons it would have been much too fiddly in my opinion for 4 people, especially children to play.

There was the option to flip the paper board over and add your own board game options to the board on the other side which left blank spaces to be written in.
Although I though this wasn't the best out of the four parcels I thought it was great for inspiration to think up and create your own board game. It reminded me of when I was younger and made and amazing rain forest game with my best friend at the time.


The poster included in the box was to collect your stickers from each weekend box. There is one included in each box you receive and after collecting 5 you send in your poster and get a special surprise in your next weekend box.
The strip of smaller stickers included were to place on the instruction cards after completing each activity which was a nice touch, especially as all young children love stickers. Well I know mine does! Your child can also colour in the back of the box when they've finished all their activities, to keep as a certificate.





Weekend boxes come at a usual price of £7.50 a fortnight and there is an option to pause your boxes for one or two months. If you'd like to try one out for FREE you can use my code: ADELE17286
Or you can use my link here. You can then invite your friends and get 50% off your next box!

I think weekend box is a brilliant idea if you are on a comfortable income and need some inspiration on what to do with your children in your spare time together. I think they would be particularly useful during wet weather or long holidays. If you don't get stuck for ideas they could also just be a helping hand with some fun activities and saving you time sending the materials you need straight to your door.
It's also great to give your child a surprise through the post every now and then!


Let me know what you think if you try them out and what activities you receive!

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

Wicked Wednesdays - "Photo girls"



A couple of weeks ago we went on yet another visit to lovely Bramhall Park. We went with G's auntie and her younger two cousins. My sister got some nice autumnal photo's of the E and G amongst all the yellow, orange and red leaves ....eventually.



She asked them to come and have a photo on the tree stump......



'Come and have a photo girl's '





Not sure who they thought was going to take their photo from over there.....



A few photo's later they figured it out.....







brummymummyof2




What's on a 3 Year old's Christmas List



www.birdsparty.com Free prinatble

So just in case Father Christmas is keeping up with the times I thought I'd publish G's list on the internet.

I'm pretty sure a huge amount of girls are asking for Frozen merchandise for the majority of their Christmas list, but a stand out important item G seems to be asking for is a long black felt tip pen.


A long black felt tip pen.


That is funny enough on it's own besides the fact she owns a million of the evil house ruining creations that are felt tip pens. People, very generous people at that, have brought her a large amount of colouring books and felt tips over the past year or two and she really needs no more for now and probably ever again.


She's also asked for a purple version of this tacky plastic supposed frog thing on a spring (kind of thing that comes out of a cracker that parents hate and young children love, see this post by brummymummyof2 for further examples) that her dad gave her a while back. I told her 'I don't know where they come from' and 'I don't think they have the in the shops'.


G tells me 'Father Christmas will be able to get it, don't worry mummy'.


That's not the only important job/problem mummy Mr Christmas will be having this year. G wants probably the most in demand Christmas present of the year.


Elsa snow glow 


This is probably mummy's fault by watching a video of it (which G saw) thinking it was amazing before

1. checking the price and
2. seeing that it was out of stock everywhere as it's this years Buzz Lightyear of Christmas toys.


I am having frightening visions of having somehow grabbed hold of one in the shop (not sure where the money will have come from) and then someone trying to grab it out my hands. Fighting over a doll as a grown woman.
I'm sure it won't come to that. I am thinking possibly G's very kind nana and grandad may be taking that problem out of my hands.


So here is G's list, typed up as I don't have a scanner and I wrote the original anyway (in crayon though) as unsurprisingly at 3 she can't write full on letters yet. A page scrawled full of o's, e's and scribble is more her thing.



Dear Father Christmas,


I'd really like 'some toys' for Christmas 'and toys for your children too'.


  • An Elsa costume
  • An Elsa doll (Elsa snow glow)
  • An Anna Doll
  • A big long black felt tip pen (now changed to a novelty christmas gingerbread pen spotted in the coop this evening that's surely going to be broken by my not overly gentle 3 year old within the first half hour of use).
  • A Fuzzy felt set (ok this is mummy's input, she's enjoyed playing with bits I've cut out before and I know she'd love one).
  • Frozen bedding (mummy's input again as she needs an extra bedding set but I know she loves Frozen ....2 birds ....)
  • A Hobby horse
  • A new make up set to use on her hairstyling/make up doll
  • Bubble Machine
  • Purple tacky springing frog thing.
  • A cot to put her dolly's in
  • Big version of snakes and ladders 
  • Room on the Broom Sound book


 Love from G....


We put G's list in an envelope and sent it off to the man himself*....


I've seen that lots of companies now who have set up their own personalised letter from Santa service at a price. It's a lovely idea but for those of you who'd rather not pay for the man in red to respond, if you send your child's Christmas list to the address pictured below....




....with your address details inside obviously, by December the 6th, Royal Mail Father Christmas will send your child a letter back for free.**




Or you can of course create your own.....





        ....that wouldn't even cost you a stamp, unless you go the extra mile to post it to your own house for your child to see it come through the letterbox.....

I didn't opt for that. It can arrive by magic just like Santa himself.




The List




What have your children asked for this Christmas? Anything out of the ordinary?



* Read as to Royal Mail
**Well for the price of a 2nd class stamp

Saturday, 15 November 2014

COMPETITION: The Owl and the Pussycat & The Further adventures of the owl and the pussycat GIVEAWAY.




So here it is! My first competition!


I'm so exited to be running it and having a lovely prize to give away.


Yesterday I posted my review of The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear and The Further Adventures of The Owl and The pussycat by Julia Donaldson, published by Puffin and both illustrated by the very talented Charlotte Voake.
They would make a lovely Christmas gift and if you want to know why please check out my reviews of each book. 


Thanks to Penguin I have a set of these wonderful books up for grabs and all you have to do is enter below!

The blog comment and following on twitter are mandatory** but the other entries are optional. The more you have, the more likely you are to win :)





a Rafflecopter giveaway




*This giveaway is open to UK entrants only, sorry.
** Anyone who hasn't done both the mandatory entries will not be counted in the competition,