03/04/201302/02/2014 by jo

App Time – Peppa Pig’s Holiday

Peppa Pig has a new game out, based on a few episodes from the latest series – this time she’s on holiday. H is still very Peppa obsessed, and I can’t see an end to it soon. This game follows a similar pattern to previous ones, so anyone familiar will know the kind of thing.

You play games and earn stickers to place on a page within the app. Simple enough – and this time the food creation part is to make a pizza which we all had fun with – you’ve the additional skill of chopping the vegetables for toppings, and the pizza to serve.

H has been getting a bit frustrated with it though – but I think that’s a really good thing, and I’ll explain why. These games have an element of your child having to pay attention – the ‘At The Airport’ section has several bags which pass through the X-Ray machine, and you have to match the right item to each bag – but the item disappears. I like this as I’ve felt like while we’ll play the games they can be repetitive (H doesn’t mind), so having to listen, remember AND get it right appeals to me in a big way. The first part of the game has you placing the bags on the conveyor belt – and you’ll get various commands – “five bags”, “all the green bags”, “three yellow bags” and so on, with the second being the part where you identify the correct items.

In ‘Going to the Beach’ Peppa and George are getting ready for the beach, and need help picking their swimming costumes and beach toys as well as applying the sun cream!

In ‘Ice Cream’ they help Auntie Goat make ice cream – it’s similar to the last ice cream game on the previous app – you create one and pass it on to whoever is next in line.

‘Swimming Race’ is based around the pool at the villa, and can be played with up to four players (or just one) – similar to some of the ones on Sports Day, quick and fun especially if your child is the competitive kind (mine is… sigh).

‘Sky High Song’ is the ‘Big Balloon’ song which features in the holiday episodes – just the video. It’s short but for the Peppa fan that will be possibly all they could ever want.

‘Postcard Sticker Book’ is the section for the stickers – collect them throughout the game and arrange on some postcards – and you’re able to make the stickers bigger or smaller which will help with the pincer grasp if help is needed. That and you can put a gigantic Daddy Pig in the swimming pool too which always amuses H.

The game is out now and released by P2 Games – and already is at the top of the charts. Having a Peppa fan in the house, she enjoyed the game a lot. I feel like there’s a lot of repetition in this game from previous ones – although the ‘At The Airport’ section more than makes up for it – I want my girl to concentrate and remember things, and for this alone I’d recommend this app.

Buy Peppa Pig Holiday by P2 Games here
P2 Games

We were given a code to review this app, all opinions are mine. H loves it. This review also contains an affiliate code.

02/04/201319/07/2016 by jo

Messy Me Oilcloth Tablecloth Review

Messy Me have several solutions available to help keep clothes and objects clean – and we were delighted to get a chance to review their Messy Me Oilcloth.

The Messy Me oilcloth is an essential when you have a small person – since H was born we’ve had our table covered – yet time and time again the cloth has lasted a few months and has cracked, spoiled or just had a hole bitten in them (that was H, she chuckled away to herself afterwards too). These days she’s older, much more sensible and we were still in need of a decent tablecloth. I was always too scared to spend more after going through cover after cover every few months – and it was driving me mad as I felt like the money I’d spent would have been better used on a better quality tablecloth – but I didn’t know if maybe this is what the fabric does?

So our Messy Me oilcloth arrived – cut to 140cm wide, we got enough to cover our table with plenty extra on all sides. We’ve been using it for over a month now and I’m really impressed – the cloth wipes really easily and no stains have spoilt it (there is a note with it to avoid tomato stains by wiping quickly) and the cloth can even be put into the washing machine at a low setting – again, impressive – none of our others could do that.

I chose the olive grey Messy Me oilcloth as it’s a nice neutral colour, it feels nice and thick with the coating being easy for wiping – I need something which cleans easily and this does exactly that. Also, it is certified to meet Oeko-Tex Standard 100 – offering reassurance to customers that the cloth does not contain chemicals or components harmful to health.

So far we’ve made cakes, meringues, done plenty of stickering (it’s really good when your stickers get stuck on there by mistake – they peel off easily!), painting, more messy things, and of course eating. This weekend just gone there were seven of us around the table – the cloth was clean and shows no signs of wearing out which means this gets a HUGE thumbs up from me – anything that makes my life easier is a very good thing!

After this long and having got by on cheaper cloths, I wish I’d just gone ahead and bought this – it’s tough and it looks fab. Head over to Messy Me to see their full range – they have almost anything you could possibly want in their fabulous wipe clean fabrics!

We were sent the Messy Me oilcloth for the purpose of review.

update – October 2014. The oilcloth is still going strong. I think it’s safe to say, pay more and get better quality. There are a few marks on it as you’d expect with a five year old, but overall this is brilliant value for money
update April 2016. The oilcloth is still going strong! There are a few stains which are our fault (from indian takeaways, for example), but again, still brilliant value and definitely worth splashing out on.

30/03/201308/10/2019 by jo

AudioGo Audiobooks – a Review

We’ve held off from reviewing this, mainly as we weren’t sure how H would respond to hearing a story on the stereo – she looked confused the first time “mummy, the tv is switched off?” (oh dear..) – but since we bought the iPad Mini we’ve found that actually putting music onto my iPod Touch is a good thing (and really what it is meant for) – so the audiobooks have made a great addition for long car journeys.

We were approached by AudioGo to see if we’d like to choose some titles to review, so off I went to their site where immediately an absolute corker jumped out – vintage Magic Roundabout! Now, being a child of the seventies, H needs to know about the proper Magic Roundabout – while I’ll happily let her watch the modern one (Flo? Seriously…?!) I do want her to sample parts of my childhood – we’ve already done Bagpuss and Mr Benn and a bit of Rainbow too.

So a vintage Eric Thompson Magic Roundabout album? Oh YES. I chose some Pingu titles too which we’re working our way through.

So – how was it? Well, H fell asleep. I think it’s a different kind of listening – however, Shaun and I LOVED it! We had a proper laugh while driving along – they don’t make programmes like that any more…! I wish they did. I know these audio titles are something we’ll listen to for a long time as well – it isn’t something she’ll grow out of – and I know at her nursery they’re spending more time listening to audiobooks, so we’re picking it up at the right time.

Check out AudioGo – there’s a fantastic selection of titles, and they’re the home of BBC Audiobooks.

We were given an opportunity to review whatever titles we wanted, and I know we chose wisely – I’d highly recommend.

29/03/201318/01/2015 by jo

Love Our Library – Another Couple of Excellent Books

Now I know I often sound like gushy mum, going on about how wonderful my little girl is and all the wonderful things she’s achieved are, but well, that’s all I’ve got to go on. She constantly amazes me on a daily basis – she came home from nursery with a handwritten Easter card which is wonderful. She’s starting to work out words from letters and understand things – which is why I will likely be buying a copy of the first book, as for the first time in the library yesterday H read most of the book to ME!

Jez Alborough – Yes is the book, and it’s fun – like all of his books. We don’t actually own any of them (yet) but have bought ‘Hugless Douglas’ for a few people in the past. What I like the most about it is the simple language – the majority of the book is just the words ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – and for H to read them and recognise the different words is HUGE to me. While I can’t say she’s reading, she’s starting; so most of all, I highly recommend this book to any parent whose child can work out words and wants to have that feeling of achievement when you read the book together. I swear I nearly burst into tears of pride in the library when she read to me. Published by Walker Books.

Oliver Jeffers – The Incredible Book Eating Boy – aaahh we love Oliver Jeffers. Has he ever had a rubbish book published? I doubt it. We’re very excited there’s a new book in the Huey’s series coming soon too, so finding a new book is a great thing. Anyway, this one – there’s even a stage play. Henry loves eating books. He eats them all day – and the more he eats, the cleverer he gets – but it’s never going to last… published by HarperCollins Children’s Books

26/03/201326/03/2018 by jo

We Love Books – Love Our Library Again…

love3 Only two this week – I say only, it’s still taken me six days to get to write about them… firstly we’ve got

The Rhyming Rabbit by Julia Donaldson with illustrations from Lydia Monks. We’re familiar with both as we’ve owned ‘What The Ladybird Heard’ for a good couple of years now – in fact, if I was to close my eyes I can probably still remember the whole lot. The Rhyming Rabbit follows a similar pattern – pages with glitter on, but longer rhymes. It’s all about a rabbit who constantly makes up rhymes, and eventually meets with a fellow poet – and as ever it’s fun. Definitely a longer read than the previous book, but still great. Published by MacMillan.

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems is another in the Pigeon series – we were recommended ‘Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus’ by a friend a couple of years ago and this follows the same pattern – this time the pigeon has found a hot dog, and a crafty chick wants to know what it tastes like… will Pigeon give up his hot dog? Will he shout a lot? Will you laugh a lot? Oh yes indeed. It’s fun, and another one I’ll probably have to buy now… we love Mo Willems books – published by Walker Books.

26/03/201327/08/2017 by jo

We Love Books – I Heart Bedtime – by Clara Vulliamy

It’s the second Martha and the Bunny Brothers book from Clara Vulliamy – and since the first one came out last year we’ve built up quite a collection of her books – and H loves them all. I’ve noticed some recurring themes – school, bedtime, sleep, counting (lots of counting), sticky buns (mm) and most of all beautiful illustrations and fun stories to read.

This book is no different – and fans of Clara’s work will love this. Martha and her bunny brothers Pip and Monty are pretty excited as mum is going out, so they’re having a babysitter (and Martha would like some special time with the babysitter as she’s older) – but of course there’s plenty to be done beforehand, getting things in order too.

What I’ve found H likes the most with Clara’s books, are the extra bits of text – you can tell the story if you want to go quickly, but woe betide anyone who misses the little details – the little handwritten additions – it’s like a beautiful scrapbook with handwritten notes alongside it – and our favourite bit is as they go up and down the stairs getting things ready – it’s a really lovely visual book with lots to talk about on each picture.

Martha and the Bunny Brothers - I Heart Bedtime by Clara Vulliamy

As an experiment (as H can’t read) I let her look at the pictures and tell me what she could see – and already she remembers a lot of names and things on there – I know children have good memories at this age, but credit to the author too!

I Heart Bedtime also has a new addition – a song! The Bedtime Bunnies song – you need to head over to Clara’s website to listen to it – there’s an instrumental version (from Clara) and one sung by her daughter, Martha.

Martha and the Bunny Brothers – I Heart Bedtime is published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, and is available now.

We were sent a copy for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own

25/03/201302/02/2014 by jo

Cat Doorman – Songbook

Cat Doorman is Julianna Bright, a Portland Oregon based musician who makes music for her daughter – and released her debut album earlier this year. ‘Little Red Wagon’ is a traditional song, and very catchy too – I found that ‘Songbook’ sits really well alongside the Megson album we’ve just reviewed – folky and calm.We reviewed the Night & Day ‘Little Red Wagon’ app a while back (which features on here), and loved it so much I bought the album for H. (it was especially cute when she’d sing ‘everywhere my darling’ rather than ‘fare the well my darling’ at the end)

The track ‘Inspiration’ recently had a video made for it – which you can watch over here

Inspiration from Cat Doorman on Vimeo.

What attracted me to this album the most is the other musicians appearing on it – members of The Decemberists, the Corin Tucker Band and many more – bands I’d heard of, so I knew there was a good background there, and it left me curious. Actually, I’m loving that people in indie bands are making music for their kids and it stays true to the music they make.

There’s more audio samples to be heard on Cat Doorman’s site – I’ve embedded them here too. If you like this, consider buying a copy – it’s a lovely album and one we love playing when we’re sitting around playing games at home.

23/03/201326/03/2018 by jo

Megson – When I Was A Lad

Shaun and I met thanks to music and a music community, so it was inevitable H would be brought up with it in her life – and while we’ve embraced it (especially kids tunes and classics), there comes a point where music we like has to make an appearance and take over for the sake of our sanity!

Megson - When I Was a Lad

We were sent a copy of ‘When I Was a Lad’ by Megson which is a collection of Children’s Folk Songs. Megson are a new band to us; they’ve been going a few years now (and have self-released four albums and one EP) who took a break when their daughter was born – and ended up making this album to combine their music and their roles as parents. These kinds of albums are my favourites too – it’s the kind of music you can play in the car and enjoy.

There’s some old traditional classics in there – ‘Oats & Beans & Barley Grow’, ‘Three Little Ducks’ and ‘A Frog He Would A Woo-ing Go’ as well as some songs they’ve written themselves. ‘All The Shops Have Fallen Down’ started as a song about shops on the high street and what you can buy… except there aren’t so many shops on the high street these days…

Megson - When I Was a Lad

It’s a good mixture, when I asked H what she likes the most she told me “I like all the songs!” as her best thing, and that is a good thing; actually, right now H is playing Musical Statues with the album (which is allowing for some good creative dancing too!). The music reminds me of Sundays growing up in the seventies when we’d have days around the house listening to my mum and dad’s music – and that’s a good thing, by the way.

I’ve been reorganising our digital life, and putting more music onto the iPod (after all, that’s what it’s meant for), so we’ve been playing much more music in the car – and mixing our songs in there too, that always goes down well… – Megson is a welcome addition.

Megson Family Folk Show
Megson can be found over here – where there are tour dates and more (look out for the family folk shows – please come and play Beanie’s in Croydon!) – they’re playing at the Larmer Tree festival (which is very family-friendly) this year as well. You can buy ‘When I Was a Lad’ on their website for £10 using this link.

We were sent the CD to review – all opinions are our own

19/03/201327/01/2014 by Karen

Baby Knits for Beginners – Debbie Bliss

New to knitting? Then this lovely book by Debbie Bliss may well be the one for you!

I have always felt connected to knitting in one form or another. Firstly, it was at the tender age of eight when my Grandma taught me a few basic stitches. I forgot about knitting for many years after this, but became reacquainted again almost two years ago when Jo invited me to attend monthly Hooky Knitters sessions. It was being in a group of like-minded people that made me realise how much I enjoyed knitting and that it was something I’d like to progress.

Whilst knitting was fun, the thought of using patterns terrified me, which is why I’m so glad I got the chance to give ‘baby knits for beginners’ by Debbie Bliss a go. Visually it’s a beautiful book, as soon as I saw it I wanted to dive right in and get knitting!

The book starts by giving the reader an overview of different yarns, equipment advice and stitch descriptions. This book was obviously made with the beginner knitter in mind. The patterns themselves start from the very basic (a plain knit scarf) to the slightly more advanced (a v-neck sweater with pockets). I love the fact that the reader is given the opportunity to gently ease themselves into using patterns if they are feeling unsure, whilst the more experienced knitter can go straight to the slightly advanced stuff.

I have to admit that I went a bit insane with this book, knitting all sorts of lovely items. Shown in pictures are the shawl-collared jacket (minus buttons) and a moss stitch shoe. Admittedly, against Debbie’s advice, I used cheaper synthetic wool as being a beginner I didn’t want the pressure of messing up very lovely more expensive wool. If you do decide to use a different wool it is best to ask advice at your local knitting shop to ensure that your creation looks similar to the pattern… being a novice I didn’t think to do this and as a result some of my knits have turned out a bit lumpy/ odd looking… but I love them nonetheless!

For me some of the patterns took a little getting used to. There are some terms that I had never heard of before and found a little daunting, however Debbie has got a thorough list of explanations and abbreviations in the front of the book. For me I also enlisted the help of on-line videos, as for me it is easier to visually see what needed to be done. However once I’d understood and tried these new techniques a couple of times I felt a lot more confident.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted to get more into knitting. It is a fabulous little starter book and if I can do it, believe me, anyone can!

We were sent a copy of ‘Baby Knits for Beginners’ by Debbie Bliss from Love Knitting, a fabulous online knitting store which we’d highly recommend. All opinions are our own.

13/03/201318/01/2015 by jo

We Love Books – Love Our Library

We went back to our local library and took out two more books today, so without further ado, here’s this weeks duo…

Love Our Library Books

Pip and Posy – the Big Balloon by Axel Scheffler. I know nothing about Axel Scheffler other than his Gruffalo history – so to find out he’s written a book was what attracted me to it – and it’s a nice short pleasant story. Pip lets his balloon go, it bursts, Posy has a good idea – that they should blow bubbles, which of course pop, and everyone is happy. I like this, it’s a simple story but a good one when you’ve a slightly fickle three-year old who remembers everything she’s ever had which has broken and been (cough) discarded by her loving parents… and of course it has fabulous illustrations as you’d expect! It’s published by Nosy Crow Books.

No! by Marta Altes is about a dog who thinks he’s called No, what with being a mischief. Actually he’s called something else altogether and just has people shouting “NO!” at him a lot. H is starting to recognise words, and funnily enough ‘no’ is one of them – it’s another simple story with plenty to talk about on each page (over tea H asked why the dog “broke the boy’s teddy”) and has been fun to read. Published by Child’s Play (International) Ltd.

Hey look, I started one of those linky things. Do you write about your library books? Link up here. Who knows, I might even make a badge or something.

Mum Friendly

the things we do, the things we like

Category / Review