I’ve written before about how much Toby and Gabe love science and especially STEM toys like this magnetic construction set from Geomag. In fact we reviewed the Geomag Gravity Track set a few months ago which the boys really enjoyed playing with. And so when we were given the chance to add the Geomag Confetti set to their collection of magnetic toys we were delighted to accept.
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Toby and Gabe both love science and STEM toys are a big part of that. They absolutely love magnets playing with magnetic toys at the moment – we have a few different kinds of building sets. When the people from Geomag got in touch and asked if the boys would like to try their Gravity Magnetic Track (affiliate link) it sounded like it would be right up their street!
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At the beginning of December I was invited by Holiday at Home to spend a weekend in North Yorkshire at Brompton Lakes, a collection of luxury self-catering eco-lodges two miles outside Richmond. As a busy mum of two I don’t get to spend a huge amount of time without the responsibility of parenthood so the prospect of two nights away with friends was very exciting. Read more
Back in the summer, in the middle of the heatwave I got an email asking if I would like to try the 8K Flexwarm® heated jacket. ‘I would love to’ I replied, ‘but maybe not right now!’ Fast forward to November, and those scorching temperatures are far behind us, so now was the perfect time to test my new heated hooded jacket. Read more
My husband is a big fan of video games. He loves playing video games, he loves making video games and, luckily for me, he loves writing about video games! So when I was at BlogOn last weekend I met the lovely people from Rising Star Games. I was given the chance to get my hands on a copy of a new game, Little Dragons Cafe, I knew just where to turn for my review. It’s really a game aimed at children though so Barry roped in a couple of little helpers to see what they thought too… Read more
There are so many collectible toys available these days that it’s hard to know where to start, if you want to start collecting at all! We’ve mostly avoided blind bags and collectibles until this year, but when the Superzings stand appeared in our local Co-op I bought Toby and Gabe one bag each and they were hooked! Read more
One of my favourite things to do when I was younger was to get the big photo albums down from the shelf in my mum and dad’s spare room and look through all the old pictures from when I was little. Of course as a child born in the 70s there aren’t that many photos from my childhood and each album would probably cover a few years. Things are very different now and since the boys were born I have taken literally tens of thousands of my pictures but they are nearly all on my computer and hardly ever get looked at. Read more
Can you believe that we have been parents for nearly four and a half years now, and so far have avoided ever playing kids’ music in the car?! Well last week that all changed when we were sent the Kids Songs CD – three CDs full of all your favourite tunes from CBeebies. Read more
At three and a half Toby has had his fair share of wheeled transport. We got him a SmarTrike 4 in 1 trike for his first birthday, a sit on scooter for his second birthday, a balance bike for his third birthday… If I’m honest the second two haven’t seen much use – although Toby was full of enthusiasm he never really lasted more than ten minutes before he got fed up. I’ve seen lots of other kids his age who seem to be pros on a scooter so when we were given the chance to try the T1 scooter from SmarTrike I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to give it a try.
The added bonus of the T1 scooter is that is actually suitable from 15 months. With the addition of seat and adjustable handlebars it can be used as a ride on for younger children before removing the seat for scooting when your child is bigger. The scooter has two front wheels making it very stable for beginners too. Read more
I have a confession to make – I have never seen an episode of Peppa Pig, and neither have my kids. Not in my presence anyway, but at about 20 months Toby did start calling all pigs Peppa so I’m guessing she might have made an appearance at nursery somewhere along the line. Anyway, when I was asked if we would like to review some Peppa Pig wooden toys from Milly & Flynn my initial reaction was to say no. But then I had a look at the range and realised they were just some really nice wooden toys that happened to have Peppa Pig on them and there was really no reason for the boys not to play with them.
Milly & Flynn have a variety of different Peppa Pig toys; we were sent the Magnetic Play Set (RRP £12), the Peppa Pig Push-Along (RRP £15) and the Skittles Set (RRP £20). My theory was that Toby and Gabe would both be able to play with the skittles, the magnetic play set would be great for Toby and newly-walking Gabe would enjoy the push-along. Of course things don’t always work out the way you plan!
We set up the skittles but I think Toby managed one shot before Gabe decided it was much more fun to knock them over himself.
He then carried them off to the other side of the room and that was the end of that game! Gabe has had a lot of fun with the skittles though. He likes banging them together, or practising standing them up – which is trickier than it sounds when you’re only 15 months old.
The Magnetic Play Set is fab for Toby. He’s only just started to make up stories when he’s playing, and this double sided board with lots of pieces really helps him use his imagination. Here he was telling me a story about the purple dinosaur who was playing football in the park.
There are plenty of magnetic pieces to put on the board – enough that Toby and Gabe even managed to play together for a little bit without arguing!
The last item we were sent was the Peppa Pig Push-Along. Gabe has only just started walking, so walking and pushing is a skill he is still working on but he definitely enjoys it and the push-along is just the right size for him.
All the wooden toys that we have been trying out are lovely – they are really well made, and sturdy enough to cope with my not so gentle boys playing with them. There are more wooden toys available from Milly & Flynn – in the Peppa Pig range and they also have a Dear Zoo range.
I’m sure we’ll get plenty of use out of our new Peppa Pig toys for months, and even years to come. And you never know, one of these days Gabe might even let us have a proper game of skittles!!
**Disclosure: I was sent the featured products in return for this review. All opinions are my own.
