Category / Review

by jo

Double Felix by Sally Harris – Our Review

We’re participating in a book tour for Double Felix by Sally Harris this week.

Double Felix by Sally Harris is a new book, also illustrated by Maria Serrano. It tells the story of Felix, an eleven year old boy with OCD. He does things in twos. This is from skipping on every second step to tapping door handles twice. Or even just placing everything in pairs.

Double Felix by Sally Harris

A new girl starts in school, Charlie Pye. She has cereal for lunch and lives on a boat – and more importantly hasn’t grown up with rules in her life. It’s a whole new world for Felix. How can he possibly deal with someone who has no rules or order in their life?

It’s safe to say, Double Felix has become one of H’s new favourite books. She’s on her fifth or sixth read already.  (whispers – it might have even replaced Jaqueline Wilson’s ‘Katy’ as the new-favourite)

So what was it about Double Felix by Sally Harris that made H go back and read it again? Here’s H (age 8)’s opinion :

I like it. Felix does things twice, he’ll say things twice. He goes to see Hugo Fielding, a counsellor at school which helps him. He’s taught to fight back against the thing in his head – Basil the Bully (named after the Basal Ganglia in the brain).

A girl arrives at school, she doesn’t wear the correct uniform and that annoys Felix to start with. They become friends, and that helps him a lot. He has someone to talk to and play with. They don’t seem to have anything in common, but their friendship grows. I really liked that. 

I asked H what it was that she liked. She couldn’t really pinpoint what it was, but liked that it had a happy ending.

She breaks the rules and to start with Felix can’t deal with that. His life revolves around the number two – he doesn’t like odd numbers, he doesn’t like to get odd numbers on things. Only even. Even the chapters are in even numbers! The only odd number chapter is Chapter 27. This is because it’s the last chapter in the book, and Felix has learned to accept odd numbers I think. 

It’s a really good book and I’ve really enjoyed reading it. I feel like I’ve learned about people who have OCD a little bit by reading this book. 

Sally Harris’ website is over here

Sally Harris

Double Felix by Sally Harris is available to buy now over here. (affiliate link). We were sent the book for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.

Double Felix by Sally Harris Banner

by jo

I’m Loving my Moto G6 – My First Impressions

My last phone was a Samsung Galaxy S5. It served me well, but was slowly dying, falling apart. With vouchers I had for my birthday as well as other ones I found, I was able to buy myself a new phone and opted for the recently released Motorola Moto G6.

The Moto G6 is a bit bigger than my previous phone and it’s way more powerful. With twice the capacity at 64GB I’m having a much better experience. I have a sim-only deal with Three and didn’t want to enter into a contract as my deal is a good one.

Moto G6 HDR Hampton Court crown

My main concern was the camera. I loved my S5 camera, but making the switch to a different brand was going to mean re-learning things a bit. Actually, I now prefer the camera – you can focus and move the exposure within the shot. I know the iPhone has this function, but my Samsung never did. It makes a huge difference having the option.

My photos have definitely improved too – I need to get to a gig to see if that will be trickier as I’ve read review saying the Moto G6 has a slow camera. I haven’t felt this is an issue for me.

Moto G6 Portrait

I’m really enjoying the filters too – I love the portrait filter so much.

Moto G6 Weasley Red using spot colour

There’s also a spot colour option – I tried to get it to pick up my red hair, but it also got a lot of my red face!

Moto G6 spot colour in green

My most favourite camera feature is the text scanner. Oh my goodness – it works really well too. This will be a huge timesaver when I need to copy up notes.

The Moto G6 runs on Android 8.0.0 (Oreo) which is the latest version.

The other place we use our phones a lot is the car. We always use our in-car connectivity via Smart Link – and the difference is astounding. More often than not the S5 would be slow, couldn’t connect and would frustrate us especially when we were lost. Not so with the Moto G6 – it connects straight away and loads immediately. The extra space on the phone has made a huge difference.

We haven’t actually had it not connect yet…

Then there’s charging. The Moto G6 can fully charge in an hour and a half from empty, thanks to something they call turbopower. I am very impressed with this turbopower – my battery lasts for a couple of days as it is. Nothing seems to be draining the battery at all. It uses a USB-C cable.

Moto G6 Votes for Women

Security-wise, the Moto G6 uses my fingerprint to unlock it. This frustrates Shaun and H a lot as they want to play on my phone, but at last I can deny them this delight. There is also a pattern you can draw on dots as an alternative but they haven’t seen that yet….

One feature I like is the phone arriving with a protective case included. I like when companies think about the little things you’re likely to forget.

The Moto G6 takes a nano sim. That’s the tiniest one. I had to go into a Three store, who were able to issue me with one straight away.

Moto G6 wine glass reflection

This is the other good thing; I’m with Three on a sim-only deal. I pay £15 a month for unlimited texts, 200 minutes of phone calls and 30GB data. I don’t want to change it, so I needed to find a good reasonably priced phone which has everything I need.

The main difference between the two phones is that this one isn’t waterproof. I never tested the S5 to see if it was, but now have to be ultra careful where I wasn’t before as I had that added security. However, the G6 is water repellant. Handy when your daughter is kicking water at you… but not handy if you drop it in water (which I have never done with any phone).

 

Moto G6 splashing water Hampton Court magic garden

There is a slightly more expensive dual sim phone option, but my deal on Three means I should never need it – I can use my phone around the world without any bother.

So far, I’m loving my Motorola Moto G6. After vouchers I paid £30. It currently retails on Amazon at £214.97 (affiliate link). I’m looking forward to more days out to take more photos – and I’m loving that everything is backed up to my Google account and seems to be unlimited too. Hopefully this means my phone will last me for a good 4-5 years.

Moto G6 Hampton Court roses

Here’s Motorola’s page with full specs.

Shaun is so jealous of my phone he’s going to buy one for himself as well. It’s a lovely phone, an amazing price and I’m not feeling limited when comparing it to what I used to have.

by jo

Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw – The Empire Strikes Back

May the 4th be with you, as they say. We finished our Ravensburger Star Wars collection jigsaw on May 4th as well. It’s a toughie and is a Ravensburger Adult puzzle; read on to find out more.

Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw box

Our Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw is from The Empire Strikes Back; where Han Solo is frozen, where we meet Lando Calrissian for the first time. So if you’re expecting a jigsaw which features Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia then this isn’t the one for you.

If, however, you’re looking for an Empire Strikes Back jigsaw which nods to the upcoming Solo movie, then maybe this Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw will be the one for you.

Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw starting out

It has 1000 pieces, and is a Ravensburger Adult puzzle. Normally we’d do jigsaws together, but this one is pretty tough. There’s a lot of blue. Quite often you won’t be able to work out where the blue goes. There is so much blue it starts to feel like you’ll never finish it!

All in all it probably took us a couple of weeks to finish this Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw. I’d like to think that we’re pretty good with jigsaws in general, and with work every day plus activities after school, an average or easy jigsaw takes a few days.

Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw - nearly finished

I think this would make a great present for an older Star Wars fan – younger fans would end up frustrated (I’m going for H’s age – 8-9 year olds here). There’s nothing wrong with that – it’s good to have jigsaws for older people too – and H enjoyed helping from time to time.

Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw finished

We were sent the Ravensburger Star Wars Collection Jigsaw for the purpose of review. We give it a big thumbs up, it kept us busy in the evenings. You can buy it over here (affiliate link) – though looking around I’ve now seen this one – oh my! (the price, the pieces!)

by jo

Word Has It – Fun from University Games

Word Has It is a fun game that’s suitable for all the family. It is easy to pick up, and a bit like Dobble, one that you’re fairly evenly matched.

Word Has It is good fun – it is easy to follow and has been one of those games we’ve really enjoyed playing, and that H immediately plays with her friends.

Word Has It in action

It has simple rules. There’s a wheel in the middle of the board, spin it to see which letter you need. Then choose a card. Press the button in the middle and you have 40 seconds to select individual word tiles and make a word beginning with the letter, based on the theme on the card.

Word Has It starter button

Now, you would think being an adult vs a child may be an unfair match, however, once the music gets going it’s a distraction. Imagine playing Countdown at home where it all seems lots easier vs playing it in the studio where I’m sure the music would make me even more nervous. Word Has It is like that. You need to focus on what you’re spelling as well as finding the letters. Then you have to build your word and the music tempo keeps building to add to your nerves.

It’s great fun. Even if H takes to putting up silly words from time to time!  The main thing is that if you keep things simple it’s a really fun game. It has been good for seeing how H thinks as well. Options on the cards include ‘made from metal’ or ‘found in a garage’. As an adult I’d think differently to my daughter which has resulted in some clever answers.

Word Has It letters and categories

Word Has It is for up to four players, and is recommended from age 7 upwards. I love that H has played it with her schoolfriends after school;  they’ve sat playing for at least half an hour too. Highly recommended!

For more information head here.

by jo

Ravensburger Make It Medley Jigsaw

We have been getting out as much as possible of late, but with some weather you don’t want to venture too far – and we’ve got into jigsaws of late. We have been sent a Ravensburger Make it Medley Jigsaw to review.

The Ravensburger Make it Medley jigsaw is a lot of fun – they’re billed as ‘a tantalising, tricky treat for puzzle fans. It’s challenging…. but not impossible’

doing the Ravensburger make it medley jigsaw

I would honestly say this was a fairly easy jigsaw to do. We had spent almost two weeks doing a Harry Potter jigsaw which felt like it was taking forever. It has a wooden frame around it which is really difficult to assemble – after all, you start around the edges first!

So this Ravensburger Make it Medley Jigsaw was quicker – but that didn’t make it less fun. Someone (aka Shaun) might have stayed up until 1am one morning doing some of it as he was enjoying it so much…

The pieces were good shapes – with enough of each image to work out where it belonged. I liked having the lid and a piece of paper with the image on so we could all share it to work out where things went.

The design of the puzzle has various things you would use to make things; bobbins of cotton, wool, ribbons and more. There were lots of beads on there too – plenty of different things going on.

ravensburger make it medley jigsaw

This was suitable for H (age 8) too. She would often get a bit frustrated if her jigsaw was too difficult, so kept at this one and didn’t need a break from it. When we finished she had a real sense of achievement!

The Ravensburger Make it Medley jigsaw is available now. (affiliate link) We were sent one for the purpose of this review. All opinions are our own.

by jo

Glam Goo – Slime Just Got Funky!

We have a Deluxe Pack of Glam Goo – a new slime activity with a twist.

Glam Goo contains some slime, a shoulder bag and a ring. Its purpose is to bling up the slime – and get creative. You also get three types of glitter to mix in, some pink and blue powder for colour, some perfume, and a mixing spoon.

Glam Goo deluxe pack

Inside the kit you get a large tub of ready-made slime, and that’s where the fun starts. It can be quite sticky, the instructions suggest adding bicarbonate of soda but we waited. We were mixing in some colour and glitter and scent.

Once the container is open the slime goes white and looks more like the slime we make at home.

Glam Goo Deluxe Pack contents

Having recently made slime at Brownies I know that the consistency can change quite dramatically with just a tiny bit too much of one element. You have to add a small bit at a time and work it, knead it together.

Mixing before adding Glam Goo

We started with less slime than we needed. H wanted to mix one of the concoctions suggested in the leaflet that comes with it – Shimmer Lake. You add some blue powder – start with small amounts and build it up. We added some glitter – Day Dreams – and finally Violet Vibes, a perfume which you can add a drop or two of.

Mixing Glam Goo

 

We mixed everything in a small Ikea bowl to try and contain the glitter which worked well. After a bit of kneading I found the slime gets sticky if you keep it in your hand, but if you keep kneading and squishing it, it has a good consistency.

Glam Goo ring ingredients

Then comes the fun part! Once the slime is ready and how you would like it, you can put into the mould part of the ring – or maybe the love heart of the bag – or even one of the compartments on the back of the bag.

Glam Goo bag compartments

H tried some more Glam Goo, making Purple Rain. This was a mixture of the blue and pink powders with more Violet Vibes – oh, and Unicorn Tears (some really light sparkly glitter circles). It looks really good in a section of the bag.

 

Glam Goo is really easy to use – helped by the slime being ready-made. As you add extra things to the mixture it does change, and it’s quite interesting seeing how much it differs the more you add.

Glam Goo bag modelled by H

The shoulder bag would probably fit a book in it – though it’s more for showing off than being practical. The slime isn’t too runny so it doesn’t gloop out of the bag, either.

zoom in on Glam Goo in bag with different glitter pieces

H says “I really like it – it wasn’t difficult to mix and I liked the suggestions the leaflet has. I want to make my own slime and add that in there too to see what it looks like”

Glam Goo bag with three compartments filled

I think it’s safe to say that Glam Goo gets a thumbs up here – at last, slime with a purpose!

Glam Goo Ring

You can buy Glam Goo at all good stores, including Amazon. Their official website is here.

We were sent Glam Goo to review. 

by jo

Project Mc2 Pixel Purse – Some STEAM Fun!

H loves Project Mc2 – the Netflix series. She was delighted to try the Project Mc2 Pixel Purse recently. Bry who is one of the gang can be seen with a Pixel Purse – and they’re pretty awesome!

The Project Mc2 Pixel Purse is cool. Really cool. It has pixels on one side of it, which you can customise. Some are preloaded and others you can upload yourself via an app (Android and iOS).

The app is free and works fine on my Android phone, however wasn’t on Amazon Kids, unfortunately so H couldn’t use her tablet.

Project Mc2 Pixel Purse packaging

The Project Mc2 Pixel Purse is a battery operated purse that includes a cable inside which plugs into your phone headphone socket. You can upload your creations to the purse and show them off.

It really is that simple – and it’s a lot of fun. 8 year old H is pretty good with apps anyway and picked it up straight away.

Project Mc2 Pixel Purse phone plugged in transferring design

There are several options – you can create your own design or add a ready made shape – hearts, stars, square, triangle and flower. You can change colour to have all kinds of colourful things going on – it really is a world of colourfun! (my new word I made up there)

Project Mc2 Pixel Purse heart design transferring on phone

Project Mc2 is a series based around STEAM activities with the girls all being pretty smart in their chosen subject. They work for a Government organisation called NOV8 and use their science knowledge to help catch criminals that the police can’t catch alone.

The newest addition to NOV8 is Bry, who wears a Pixel Purse – H was excited when she spotted it in an episode!

The packaging describes what it is about perfectly (and in very small print!).

Project Mc2 Pixel Purse H design

“If you were to look at a phone, tablet or television screen with a magnifying glass, you would see it is made of lots of tiny dots called pixels. For example, when something is HD it means the screen has more pixels packed into it. The Project Mc2 Pixel Purse has very large pixels made from LED lights. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and they act like tiny lightbulbs turning on when the microchip inside the pixel purse sends electricity to the LED. LEDs can be found in the headlights of newer cars and most traffic lights. Looking at one LED would be boring so we put lots of them together to create fun patterns and images. Each pixel can change colour and inside the Project Mc2 Pixel Purse is a microchip which remembers the images in which order to display them.”

I’ve read some reviews saying the app crashes on Android. We haven’t had that problem, but have found it can run quite slowly. I’d recommend closing all other apps that are open before using. So far we’ve had no problems and have been able to save designs mid-way without any bother.

Project Mc2 Pixel Purse I heart you design

“I really like how you can design your own patterns rather than having the ones that are pre-made” says H. “It’s quite fun to do and I enjoy doing it a lot.”

You can’t put anything inside the purse apart from your phone, so its use is limited. However, creatively it’s a lot of fun and gets a thumbs up from H. It isn’t the sort of thing you would get bored of as you can constantly update it.

The Project Mc2 Pixel Purse is available now from all good retailers. It’s over here at Amazon.

We were sent the pixel purse to review. 

by jo

Young Voices 2018

H took part in Young Voices 2018 recently. It was a wonderful, positive experience for all of us – and I’m also claiming it as H’s first gig that she has performed in!

Young Voices 2018 is the UK’s biggest school choir. With showcase gigs bringing the children together to sing at events around the country, it’s a special day. On our night at the O2 there were 7,800 schoolkids performing from around the South of the UK.

Young Voices 2018

H has never been the most confident child. She has never been comfortable speaking out – she can do it, she has to leave her comfort zone.

When the opportunity came to be a part of Young Voices 2018 I did my best to persuade her. An added bonus was her teachers from last year run it. We decided to give it a couple of weeks, see how it goes. That wasn’t necessary – after one week she loved it!

Delights such as ‘Africa’ by Toto, and choruses to ‘Kyrie’ by Mister Mr. Oh yes, my eighties brain said. Add ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ by Procul Harum – my mum and dad’s song – and there’s quite a cross section of tunes.

There has also been a transformation in H – she doesn’t stop singing at home, at all. She has a new-found confidence in other things too. This is all down to Young Voices.

young voices 2018 main show

With our performance at the O2 we decided to travel on the coach with people from school – it still took a while but we had enough time to grab food (top tip, preorder from one of the places inside the O2 – Five Guys was our expensive choice). The biggest delay we had was the security check at the gate to get into the O2 arena itself.

We missed the very start of Young Voices 2018 but only a couple of minutes thankfully. Armed with our National Trust binoculars we soon found H who looked like she was having the time of her life!

The two hours flew by, and before we knew it things were over.

“The children can’t leave until all the adults have gone” is possibly the best, quickest way to get several thousand families out of the O2 in record time. I say that, as some kids were leaving as we got to the main exit/entrance! It was really well done, and well organised.

Young Voices website can be found here. They’re taking registrations for 2019…

by jo

Bill and the Little Red Plane by Jonathan Walker and Rosaria Costa

Have you ever wondered where swifts go when the seasons change, and they fly away? In Bill and the Little Red Plane, Bill wonders just that. We have been sent a copy of the book to review.

Bill and the Little Red Plane by Jonathan Walker

Bill and the Little Red Plane tells the story of Bill who is playing outside watching the swifts fly away. He’s wondering where they go, when he sees a little red plane in the sky which does a loop the loop.

He’s taken to an airfield, where he gets to ride the little red plane. The pilot, Edward, wants to know one thing – where would Bill like to go? Bill says he’d like to follow the swifts.

So Bill and Edward keep flying, following the swifts and seeing the different countries they fly over from their plane. Eventually the swifts end their journey in a rainforest in Africa, and it’s time for Bill and Edward to head home.

Bill and the Little Red Plane by Jonathan Walker illustrations

Bill and the Little Red Plane is a lovely book for nature lovers, written by Jonathan Walker and illustrated by Rosaria Costa. This is a great way to introduce children to birds. There are lots of facts about swifts once the story has finished too.

I would put this book at Reception-age children upwards. It’s one which can be read aloud easily but is also good for a first longer reading book as well.

Bill and the Little Red Plane by Jonathan Walker swift facts

Bill and the Little Red Plane also has a Story Monsters Approved patch and a five star badge from Readers Favourites. Both awards are voted for by children.

You can find out more here, Bill and the Little Red Plane is published by Chirpy Stories and is available now!

We were sent a copy of Bill and the Little Red Plane for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own. 

by jo

Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar 2017

It has become something of a tradition in this house every December that we buy H a Lego Advent Calendar. This year, however, things have changed for the better. Lego have launched a Lego Star Wars sustainable Advent Calendar!

The Lego Star Wars sustainable Advent Calendar looks exactly the same as previous years. Each container which holds your Lego surprise is made from 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper which can be recycled along with the box.

Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar 2017 - what it looks like

Given previous Lego Advent Calendars have had a plastic tray, this is a big and good move forward as far as reducing waste goes. That will save over a million plastic trays going to landfill sites.

Of course, rather than just recycling the trays, there are several other uses for them.. I’m thinking of a way we could use ours at Brownie meetings – they would make great seed trays to grow something in the new year.

Checking this video, I’m tempted to have a go at a few Stormtroopers too.

Then again… my attempt looks a bit like an ageing Stormtrooper! Still, we have plenty of others to practice on! Have you tried to make any? Share your pictures if so, I’d love to see!

Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar 2017 Stormtrooper craft from the tray, easy crafting using Lego Star Wars recyclable trays

What I love the most about the Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar is that it reduces landfill. This is such a good thing, and more companies should take this on board – it isn’t difficult to make little changes like this.

H’s Lego Star Wars advent calendar also has her current favourite in there, alas not due until Christmas Eve…Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar 2017, Christmas BB-8 from the 24th December

Maybe next year it will be a Lego Porg….

The paper pulp tray is starting to appear this year and is available in approximately 60% of advent calendars. The advent calendar paper trays are one of the product innovations to improve the sustainability of LEGO packaging. The LEGO Group is working on improved product labelling to promote correct recycling, and recycled or bio based plastic packaging, among other initiatives.

Since 2013, the average size of LEGO boxes has been reduced by 14%. Using smaller boxes has so far saved approximately 10.000 truckloads, over 20.000 tonnes of cardboard, and CO2 emissions by 35.000 tonnes.

We received a Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.