Tag: Product Review

Product Review Britax The King || ATS

Recently we were asked to review The King 11 ATS for Britax, This could not have come at a better time for us as Tinnie (now 2 years old) has just grown out of his car seat. The newly launched Group 1 belted seat the ‘KING II ATS’, is designed to help parents travel with greater confidence and keep their eyes on the road ahead. 

What’s new?

 an intelligent light and sound indicator that helps parents to find the correct harness tension before they set off in the car. 
 a unique Active Tensioning System (ATS), which automatically adjusts and retracts the slack in the child’s harness to keep tension just right throughout the journey.
features an intelligent warning system that alerts parents with a sound and light indicator if the harness is undone or no longer at the correct tension because the automatic retraction system might be at the end of its working range and cannot compensate any additional slack in the harness. 

Want to find out more? check out this you tube video:
When we first received the car seat I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this car seat. This is our first Britax product and I’m starting to think we have seriously missed out over the years. The car seat featured thick padding on the side wings to protect tinnies head and making for a great pillow during long car journeys. 
The shoulder straps feature great ribbed chest padding for comfort to stop little ones from wanting wriggle free and more importantly reducing movement during impact.  
The King 11 ATs also has features to make parents life a lot easier. The car seat cover can be removed with out removing the straps keeping them fixed in the right position and tension.  I would normally have to nag hubby to take the cover off and fit it back on for me but this idea has made it a whole lot easier. The car seat also has an easy adjustable headrest, no more taking the whole seat about to move the straps up a slot, nope the King 11 ATS has an easy single hand adjustment head rest.
Over all we love the new car seat and all of its new features. We have found it is important to ensure your child is sitting still and the straps are in the right position before tightening  otherwise it will remain loose. Tinnie loves the lights and sounds the car seat makes and this helps to stop the fuss of getting him in the car altogether. 
The KING II ATS is now available exclusively from Mothercare £180 in Black Thunder.

Product Review: Hope Education Fire Station

Small world play gives children an opportunity to really immersed in their imagination through  playing out experiences, narratives and sharing with others.  
My Little explorers are all entering the world of being a toddler and with this have started to enjoy role play, keen to explore a range of  different worlds and experiences. 
We were recently offered to review the beautiful wooden Toypin fire station from Hope Education. A great opportunity for the boys and I knew as soon as I saw this set it would be an instant hit.  

The fire station set comes with:
• Fire Station Size: 640 x 310 x 560mm,

• Fire Engine
• Fire Fighting Accessories- Pack of 15 accessories including road signs and cones
• 4 Fire Fighters and 7 accessories
This set is £127.02 inc VAT with a saving of £31.95. All parts of the set are also available to purchase separately from Hope Education. 
When the fire station arrived it took very little time to put it together and with some help from the Little Explorers we had it up and ready to play with in no time. The fire engine and accessories on the other hand are already built and ready to go. 

We’ve been playing with the fire station set for two weeks now and it has been played with almost daily. As soon as some one asks for it, all the boys are crowded around it wanting to join in. It’s certainly been an opportunity to teach them to share.
The set is excellent quality and the little accessories are great for older children, adding more opportunities for them to act out the role of fire fighters. With all the accessories easily packed away nicely in the fire engine and the fire engine then  placed in the ground floor of the station it fits beautifully together and is easy to store. 
This wonderful toy has opened so many opportunities for the boys to learn. We have discussed sharing toys and taking turns, fire safety, reasons why the fire fighters may be called and many more. They have worked wonders for encouraging communication and stretching the children’s imagination. Here are some example of how they link into the EYFS.


Links to the Development Matters:

Playing and Exploring
• Showing curiosity about objects, events and people
• Engaging in open-ended activity
• Pretending objects are things from their experience
• Representing their experiences in play
• Seeking challenge
• Showing a ‘can do’ attitude

Active Learning
• Maintaining focus on their activity for a period of time
• Persisting with activity when challenges occur

Creating and Thinking Critically
• Thinking of ideas
• Testing their ideas
Disclaimer: We were sent the fire station to review by Hope Education. How ever all opinion’s on the product are our own. If you are interested in finding out more you can find them here .

Product Review: TTS Time to Talk Number Rhymes Basket

If you were to walk into our setting at any time of day you would be sure to hear at least one of the boys singing a nursery rhyme whether it be a show for one of the adults or just while playing happily. Spotting these little spontaneous moments is some thing that really warms my heart. 
We have recently been playing with the Time to Talk Number Rhymes Basket  from TTS. It has been a great addition to our quiet area and the children have loved exploring the basket by them selves and with an adult during our circle time. 
Set includes:

a shoe
a fish
a speckled frog
a currant bun
a green bottle
a monkey
a sausage
a spaceship
a duck
a bed

The beautiful set are made from a set which are safe for children from birth and can all be put into the washing machine if needed. When I first introduced the set to the children we used them to help us select songs for circle time if the children had trouble thinking of one. This worked great in fact they all wanted to choose from the basket. With the boys all learning their numbers at the moment the basket was great for singing number songs and it has help a lot. 
The picture below was taken from a spontaneous child led activity we spotted through out the day. D would line up the ducks acting out the ‘5 Little Ducks’ song and bringing them back together to start again. 

The children enjoyed using the props to carry out the songs and passed them along the circle giving every one ago.  This meant that children who were less able to join in with singing the words still had the opportunity to join in through the actions instead. 

You could keep this basket away in the cupboard for special occasions, this is what we originally thought but they have remained in a cosy area and we often discover the children starting their own group sing along or the different objects being taken out for a cuddle or as a story prompt. 
The TTS Time to Talk Number Rhymes Basket  is available from TTS for £47.94inc VAT

Disclaimer: We were sent this set by TTS Group the review. The opinions we have shared on this set are however non biased. 

Product Review: Joseph Joseph Elevate Kitchen Utensil Gift Box

Ever since moving into a house I’ve wanted to buy my self furniture and items to fill our home and give it a sparkle of us! Well this has not really happened so far but my kitchen is well on it’s way to becoming our own. I brought a microwave, toaster and kettle which fitted the theme I wanted and threw all the hand me downs out. 
When Suppose.com offered for me to review the Joseph Joseph Elevate Kitchen Utensil Gift Box I gave a little celebratory dance and happily accepted I’ve always wanted these and their funky chopping boards. 
The Joseph Joseph elevate kitchen utensil set contains six tools each with a tool rest meaning the end you use doesn’t have to touch the work surface to prevent mess and cross contamination. The set includes a slotted spoon, a spaghetti server, a solid spoon, a slotted spatula, flexible spatula and a ladle.  The tools themselves are made from nylon and are heat resistant up to 200C that being said I have seen reading reviews that the handles will still melt if left resting on a pan so avoid doing that!
Overall I love the set but my husband has moaned they are too  think for turn his eggs ( his never happy!). I’ve thrown all my old ones out and my Joseph Joseph set now takes pride of place in my draw and I still get excited about using them every evening. 
Suppose.com offer a great service, a price tracking tool that allows you to get the best deal for the items your looking for. It constantly compares prices on different websites and highlights offers for you.
The Joseph Joseph elevate kitchen utensil set has a RRP of £37.10 but using the Suppose  price tracker we found that the cheapest price was £23 which is a great saving.
Suppose sent me the utensil set in return for a non biased review. 

Product Review: Investigation Station, Light Box Review

Play and exploration can both be accommodated
with this intriguing light station - whether children want to observe colour,
the effect of light, or symmetry and reflection this resource is sure to
illuminate their thinking. This versatile light box incorporates storage and
can be used as a room divider. Featuring a mirrored back panel with display
surface on the reverse. The unit is supplied with 3 clear tubs but wicker
baskets are available separately.
Our setting Little
Explorers recently started to adapt to incorporate some of the features used in
the Reggio Emila approach found around the world.  We did this by:

Making
the indoors and outside a more free flowing environment with large open spaces.  
We
looked at adding child safe mirrors around the room to allow more light and
allow the children to watch their own investigations take place.
We
also adapted our teaching technique standing back and allowing the children to
learn more through their own exploration and even mistakes.

Investing in the
Investigation Station was quite a big and exciting choice for us at Little
Explorers. The piece of furniture is a key feature to the main room and would
be used daily with invitations set up to meet the children’s interests. The
boxes would house resources which the children could try to use on the light,
both natural material and transparent resources.
The light table has been
in use now for several months and the children use it on a daily basis in one
way or another. Our day time children are currently aged between 15 mths to 2
year 8 months and they love to watch themselves work in the mirror.  We have not been setting the table up every
day though as the children are used to using it now and help themselves to the
resources and simply ask us to switch it on.
Here are some images of
the activities we have done while using the light table.

We have now started to
make our own resources for the light table using cellophane to fit in with our
topics and these will soon be available on the blog.
The light table has become
a much loved resource in my home setting. The table is made out of wonderful
quality wood and the light is at just the right level for the children to use
without it glaring into their eye’s. The mirror is made for safety glass but
can be scratched quite easily however that’s safety mirrors for you. I plan to
cover this with another safety mirror in a year or so. The storage underneath is
great for easy access to the toys and instead of having baskets in the upper
section I line up my bottles there.
Light tables  are available from Designs For Education from
£450.00 (http://www.designsforeducation.co.uk/room-divider-storage/investigation-station-lightbox.aspx?lt=1)

Product Review: Playmags 3D Magnetic Building Blocks

I first noticed Playmags on Pinterest and fell in love with the idea of them. Playmags are coloured transparent tiles of different shapes and size with magnets around the edging allowing the tiles to be stuck together to build amazing structures. 
We have been enjoying Playmags in
our setting over the last few months. When they first arrived we decided to use
them a resource which would be kept at the children’s height to allow them
continual access to use alongside other loose pieces. We had no idea how
popular the Playmags would be but the children have been using them in a wide variety
of ways every day since we first received them from Designs For Education.
Playmags can be ordered in 100 or
150 pieces and come with instructions on how to build some simple structures.
We used these instructions as a way to get the children used to using them which
to start with were a little frustrating for them.
After a while the children came
up with their own way of playing with the tiles, building the tallest of towers
and a train track around the room.
A few weeks on and the Playmags
have started to be incorporated in play with other materials and used in a range
of ways. Watching how the children use the tiles to make their own art has been
the most interesting to me. They worked out that they could use the tiles to
mix colours and create interesting shapes on the light table, through a window
or reflecting onto the floor.

The Playmags have been a
wonderful addition to the resources in our setting and as robust quality toys I’m
sure their uses will continue to expand. They have proven to be great resources
in helping children’s spatial awareness, problem
solving abilities, logical thinking and mathematical reasoning.

Playmags are available from Designs
For Education from £77.00

Product Review: Stokke Crusi

Since having Tinnie we have come to realise that choosing a stroller or pushchair is a huge decision. Not only can a stroller set you back a tidy sum but it is something which we expect to last us a long time. We have been lucky enough to use the Stokke Scoot when Tinnie was small but I found the weight to much for me after some injuries and needed to change which meant making do with my double stroller for a while. We were recently contacted by Stokke and offered to review another one of their pushchairs, the Stokke Crusi. 

So why the Crusi?
The Stokke designs stand out to me when on the high street or in the school playground but the Xplory has become a common buggy amongst mums so the Crusi makes a nice practical alternative. The Crusi is not as compact as the Scoot but it has many other benefits which stuck out for me including some of the features below.

The Crusi can be used with carry cot, stroller seat, car seats and optional sibling solution.
3 parent facing positions: sleep, rest and active, and 2 forward facing positions: rest and active.
Lightweight, robust chassis with large shopping basket is easy to fold and light to carry.
High carry cot and stroller seat position brings the baby closer to mum and dad.
Spacious carry cot with soft interior lining provides a comfortable environment for the baby.
Soft, padded seat with an extra cushion that reduces the seat depth to fit the smallest babies.
Adjustable ergonomic foot rest on the seat eliminates dangling feet.
Ventilation in hood improves the air quality and reduces the risk of moisture inside the carry cot and stroller seat.
Ergonomic height and angle adjustable handle provides a wide range of positions.

When the Crusi arrived I was excited to see a huge difference in the size of the seat, The Crusi come with the Xplory seat which is seems a lot larger and deeper to me. You may have noticed I also choose to have the Stokke in the Deep Blue colour. It is absolutely beautiful and I can imagine that with the changing bag and parasol to match it would look even better.

Our first trip:

On our first time out we took the Crusi to the local super market. The trip to the shops was lovely Tinnie smiled at me all the way, babbling along and pointing to the things happening around him. Although I do talk to Tinnie when his in our forward facing double but he was a lot more interactive while he was able to face me. We discussed what we saw on the way to the shop, the big trucks, the traffic lights and even the train tracks as we went over the bridge.

Being in his Stokke Tinnie was the perfect height for pressing the button at the traffic lights. Children always reach the age where they need to be the one to press the button and he was so proud of himself for being able to reach.

 I don’t drive so having a large basket to store my shopping is important to me. I had plenty of room underneath for my Pink Lining changing beg which is quite bulky and three full shopping bags which was perfect for me. If Tinnie was facing forward I could place the changing bag over the handle bars to free up even more space. The Stokke stroller range do however come with holes underneath to attach a Stokke changing bag to which tucks it away and looks a lot neater too (it’s on my to buy list along with the cup holder and blankie) .

I thought I would go into as much detail as possible on the strollers features and if I have missed any thing out please feel free to leave your questions in the comment section below.

Stokke Crusi Hood

The Crusi hood is attached to the stroller using a zip which allows you to move the hood even further forward depending on the angle of the sun. The hood it’s self also allows you to move it backwards and forwards in several positions to suit the weather.  
The hood also has the extra feature of a zipp on visor which I have left on the hood as it can be easily flipped backwards inside the hood. 
There is an additional zip across the hood which opens up displaying a small strip giving extra ventilation or a way of keeping an eye on your little one if they are facing front ways . 

Stokke Crusi Basket

The basket is low down which according to Stokke means that the stroller will be more stable when filled with shopping. 
The basket is also described as deep. As I said before the basket is perfect for shopping in town or a day trip like a recent one to Lego Land where we were able to fit a coller bag and changing bag underneath. 
There are hoops at the front underneath the seat which allows you to attach a Stokke changing bag. 
The basket is accessible for all sides of the stroller making it easy to access with out disturbing your little one. 

Stokke Crusi Seat

The seat comes with a 5 point harness ensuring baby is safely secure while in the seat.
The seat sits high on the frame making it easier for eye contact with parent or carer. The height also makes it easy to use as a high chair when out and about for meal rather than a high chair. 
The seat cover is easily removed for spot cleaning or to adjust the straps using a zip at the back of the seat.
The seat can be both parent facing or front facing. This is easily switched by using the white button on each side. We tried the forward facing while at Lego land so Tinnie could she what was going on around him. 

Stokke Crusi Handle

The handle can be adjusted easily adjusted using a push in button  in the centre of the handle making it easy to change the height while pushing. 
A large part of the handle is covered in a firm foam which helps grip the handle when going up kerbs and pushing the stroller. Unfortunately our handle as cracked slightly in one place already. 
There is a section in the middle of the handle to add a cup holder which is available to order separately. I plan on getting one to keep Tinnies cup. 

The Crusi also fit’s nicely in our boot, we have a Audi A4 which has a big boot but we found that even with all daddies work bits we could still fit it in with room to spare. We have also tried it in a Focus but have yet to try it in nannies Ka. The only point I’m not keen on which is the same with many strollers on the market is tat you need to remove the seat before placing it in the boot. 

So does the Crusi tick all our boxes? Completely. The quality of the Crusi is brilliant, I must admit I kind of treat it like a forth child as I love it so much. Tinnies seems to love his new pushchair and always falls asleep with ease when needed. The stroller is light and easy to push. I would highly recommend the Crusi to other mums and have done at toddler groups and in the school play ground. 

Product Review: Squidgy Sparkle Numbers

This September my little man will be starting school and on the build up I wanted to incorporate numbers and letters in our play a little more. Little man will be 5 in September and has already started to ask me about letter sounds and begun to make up his own number problems to solve so I know he is ready to start learning more about them. It’s important this is done through activities that interest him to allow him to concentrate for longer and absorb more of the information he is learning about. 
We recently received a pack of Squidgy Sparkle Numbers from TTS Group, I have had my eye on these since my nursery days and never got round to purchasing some so I was very excited to use them with Little Man. 
I have big plans for these numbers so you are likely to find them in a few of my posts in the future. When they first arrived all the children loved the two tone effect and sat happily squishing them in between their fingers. My first thought was to use them in a similar way to TTS and I added them to our tray of couscous. 
The bold colours made the activity very inviting, H and J instantly got to work lining the numbers up and working together to make a number line. Once completed they shared the numbers out by colour and tried again. 
While the numbers are not in use they are hung in front of my patio doors where the sun will shine through most of the day. They often catch the children eye when they are sitting at the dinner table and J will use them to demonstrate that he can recognise the numbers up to 9. 
The numbers are made out of good quality plastic so they can be used in a variety of ways by the children without close supervision. Filled with gel and glitter they easily catch children’s eye and stand out especially in the water tray or for doing a number hunt in the snow. 
Squidgy Sparkle Numbers are suitable for age 3+, Pack includes numbers 0-9, Size 15cm £18.95ex VAT
Activities to come including quidgy sparkle numbers (links to be added):
Snow number hunt
Number games on the light table
Number fishing
and many more 

Product Review: Rainbow Weavers

‘Transform any window into a fabulous creative space of colour and pattern using these gorgeous weaving frames. Made from high quality Perspex the frames are supplied in Primary colours which when woven and attached to classroom windows will create beautiful areas of colour, pattern and light.’-TTS- Group


We’ve been busy transforming our garden into a more exciting environment for the children to explore. So far the garden has a new bug hotel, wild flower area, mud kitchen and vegetable planting area. To only thing I thought it was missing was a little colour so when we were asked if we would like to review the Rainbow Weavers from TTS Group I thought these would work perfectly the hang in the garden to birds away from the children’s seeds. 

You can weave with a range of found/recycled materials such as ribbons, beads, threads, pipe cleaners and feathers. Whilst developing essential fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination children of all skill levels will enjoy exploring texture, pattern and materials as they work on their design.

We weaved ours using wool to finish the frame and the ribbon in a wide range of colours for the weaving when making the small ones the children wanted to keep indoor. The children love the stain glass effect, they light up our back doors beautifully. The nine year olds found this a little tricky as we were using fiddly ribbon instead on celephane and tougher materials. 
We then planned to use a mixture of materials on the outdoors frames which hung beautifully over our wild flower area which has yet to flower. The idea was that we could add objects we found in the garden that we liked, adding feathers to the weaving pattern and glueing petals to the frame. We also found a plastic table cloth and some other materials. The end product was perfect and the children enjoy adding piece every time they go out side. 

For now the frame hang under the plum tree but once we have a new line up we will move them to the planting area. The babies absolutely love watching them move in the breeze and the light shines through them beautifully. 

If you would like to purchase the Rainbow weavers for your own home or setting you can find them here on the TTS Group website. 

The weavers come in a set of nine (3 small, 3 medium and 3 large) with suckers in case you would like to stick them on the windows as we have. the only down sides I can find for these products are that it would be nice if the come in a wider variety of colours rather then just red, yellow and blue. They can also be quite heavy so I would suggest large frames should be hung instead of using the suckers. 

Disclaimer: We were sent the Rainbow Weavers by TTS Group to review. All opinions on the weavers are our own. 

Our Butlin’s Break- Non Stop Entertainment

When we first joined the team of Butlin’s Ambassadors there were are few of us that had been before. It’s was lovely to read reviews of their previous visits and find out more about the three Butlin’s resorts. Some thing that stood out to me was the ‘non stop entertainment’. Many people told me that the children would have a fantastic time and that they would never get bored. I did a bit of further research before booking and decided that Bognor Regis would be the best site for our family. I was told that you could even look at the activities available to help plan in advance but I decided this was a little over the top for me and we would wait until we got there. 
We arrived at the resort at 9.30pm on the Friday night as I had work that day and the children I look after would not be collected until 6pm. From this point on wards the holiday was full of indeed  non stop entertainment. That evening we had some dinner at the Papa Johns restaurant, it was the only restaurant open this time of night so we didn’t have much choice but the food was good and to be honest we just wanted to eat quickly and look around to see what the resort had to offer.  
The resort was buzzing and as we walked around the skyline pavilion it felt like a little village with a party in full swing. The area surrounding the pavilion was made up of little shops to buy gifts, a convince store and the restaurants.  We all had a play on the arcades before returning to our hotel to unpack  get the kiddies in bed ready for a day promising to be busy and pack with fun. 
The following day we woke up bight and early for breakfast and went to find the Splash pool. While walking through the skyline pavilion we spotted a show on the main stage. Angelina Ballerina was showing all the children how to do a ballet routine and Little Man was straight over to give it a go. The whole way through he had a great big beaming smile.

After an hours swim we went back to the hotel to drop our stuff off, ate our lunch and went to join in a pantomine. P sat down the front while Little Man sat with us as he was a little bit scared of the ‘bad lady’. I do love a panto and I try when possible to take the children each year so it was lovely to watch one while on holiday. I was really impressed by this panto. It’s was well put together and the staff were fantastic. 

Over the whole weekend I think we had an hour where we were stuck for something to do due to the weather so we explored the computer room at the bottom of our hotel. The children loved this and it was a good opportunity for them the have some wind down time and play games with their dad. 
I would suggest it is worth downloading the free Butlins app to keep up with what is going on on the park so you do not miss any thing. 

The picture are not great I’m afraid but the highlight for all of us during our stay was the Circus. The show was simply amazing. The clowns had us laughing all the way through the performance especially with their paper plane air planes and the rope act was simply unbelievable. We have been to few circus’ in the UK and this has to be the best we have ever seen. I would definitely recommend that you take this extra cost into consideration when planning your holiday because you wont want to miss it.  

On our last day the children enjoyed watching the sesame Street show. A performance that had all the children up and dancing. Little Man was in awe that he had met the real elmo. I think it’s things like this that set Butlins a part from other holiday parks. There is always some thing to do even if it’s raining or your children are a range of ages no one will miss out. 

This show’s change through out the year so you will not find you have to sit through the same show’s every year that you go. I believe the current show is Thomas the Tank Engine.

The street entertainers always found my husband. The poor thing was desperately trying to avoid them by the end of the holiday but Little Man would always run up to say hello. They added a nice little touch to the holiday.

Before we left we took the children to the FREE fair. This may not be the most exciting photo but I wanted to mention the staff because for me they made the holiday what it was. The staff at Butlins go above and beyond to keep the families happy. The gentleman went on a ride with P so that both of the children could go on at the same time as they needed to be accompanied by an adult. As you walk around the park Red coats are every where talking to the children and their parents. The restaurant staff  help you to your table and get the children sat down. They even helped the children get their food and drinks when I had my hands full with Tinne. The whole hoilday my husband and I were commenting on how brilliant the staff were, they clearly enjoy what they do and this shines through. 
By the end of the holiday I could have done with another holiday to get over Butlins. To me this is a good this and what family holidays are all about. Butlin’s will always be our holiday destination in the UK now. I thinks its great value for money and will make some beautiful memories for the children.