Aug 13 2013

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Posted on August 13, 2013 by admin

costcutters logo GIVEAWAY: Toys, Toys, Toys! Win a £50 Voucher for Cost Cutters! (CD: 06/09/2013)

A few days ago, I was introduced to a new online toy shop specialising in educational toys - Cost Cutters. With 30 years of experience providing high quality educational supplies and toys at affordable prices, they stock a number of desirable and well-known toy brands including BigJigs, Lego, Wheely Bugs and Orchard Toys!

“Cutting cost, not quality” is our main aim – helping to allow your “budget to stretch further” without compromising on quality, choice, durability or reliability. Cost Cutters

I’m really impressed by the choice available, including a great selection of traditional wooden toys. There are ride on toys, role-playing toys, sensory toys, early years furniture and arts & crafts, all at incredibly reasonable prices - if you’re lucky enough to win this £50 voucher it’ll go a very long way!

Well the lovely guys at Cost Cutters have offered up an incredibly generous £50 voucher for one of you to win. Looking through the website, I’m insanely jealous as this could net you a whole host of stock fillers to squirrel away for Christmas. I think Dexter would shower us with kisses if he was to get his hands on a miniature Honeywell oven and hob set (£47.99), or the EverEarth work bench (£27.95) pictured above!

Entry is via Rafflecopter so get entering now to treat your little one and score some major mum or dad points!

NOTE: If you’d like to know more about how Rafflecopter works, SuperLucky Di has a fab little guide to walk you through it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&C’s – a.k.a – the boring bit!

Only 1 option is mandatory (leave me a comment) – the rest only improve your chances of winning so just complete as many as you feel like
UK entrants only – you must be over 18 too (sorry)
The winner will be contacted by email and must respond within 1 week of having been emailed (I’ll try all known avenues to contact them) or a new winner will be drawn
When the giveaway is closed, Rafflecopter will select the winner completely at random
The winners name will be published on this site

Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

Aug 9 2013

Meeting the Play Needs of a Nearly Toddler

Posted on August 9, 2013 by admin

I can’t believe how quickly Dex is growing up. Sometimes I have to double-take when I catch sight of his legs dangling from his highchair, or see him having a stretch in his cot. He’s going to be tall. Much taller than I, and maybe even Craig. His shoulders are broadening and he now has a little milk belly. He’s regularly taking little steps now and seems to have grown out of his first stage toys.

So I’ve packed away all his soft bricks and musical rattles for his little brother or sister to enjoy, and hunted down some ‘bigger boy’ toys for him to play with. Now he’s a little older we’d like to provide toys that will challenge him, improve his hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity, and get him thinking logically about how things fit together. It’s going to be very interesting to see how he gets on with the smaller pieces and if he can figure out how to approach each new toy.

From left to right: Melissa & Doug Scoop & Stack Ice Cream Cone Playset £20, Melissa & Doug Jumble Numbers puzzle £14, Melissa & Doug Shape Sequence Sorting Set £10, Melissa & Doug Swivel bridge train set £40, Melissa & Doug Plane and Carrier Set £17

Next up we have some crafty toys to encourage him to get creative. I’ve always been wary of introducing messy play and art & crafts too early just in case he draws some Picasso-style art on the walls, or mistakes a crayola for a biscotti, but he’s definitely taking an interest when he sees me scribbling in my blog planner.

Given our sole contribution to arts and crafts so far has been to plonk his hands in paint and onto a canvas. Secretly I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to introduce a few new art supplies - I can’t wait to Blu Tack his first pictures on the fridge.

So I’ve bought him a plastic picnic bench and table for the garden (I don’t quite trust him experimenting inside the house yet), and I’m going to see how he gets on with some pastels and crayons. I’ve also found some lovely Melissa & Doug craft supplies on Alex & Alexa for us both to get stuck into when he’s got the hang of it.

From left to right: Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Art Easel £70, Melissa & Doug Dinosaur stamp and pencil set £10, Melissa & Doug Decorate Your Own Race Car £4, Melissa & Doug Wooden Cupcake Set £15, Melissa & Doug Decorate Your Own Dinosaur Set £7

So there you have it. I can’t wait to see how we get on over the coming months. Hopefully we’ll have a few pictures of mummy’s growing belly on the fridge as he begins to better observe what is going on around him.

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Dec 18 2012

Review: EverEarth Trangle Activity Centre

Posted on December 18, 2012 by admin

Dexter is a very calm baby. He rarely cries and is easy to entertain. However, we do have the odd day where he throws a paddy and we run out of ideas for play-time.

Having bought him a number of traditional toys for Christmas - it’s been very hard to resist to opening them and letting him play. I just know he’s going to have a field day on Christmas Day ripping open his presents (with a little help from mum and dad). I’m not naive to the fact that it’s going to be a battle to get him to play with his toys rather than the paper - but I’m hoping some of them are a hit.

A few days ago, during one of Dexter’s “I’m bored” moments, my resistance broke and I opened a toy I ordered way back in November. This was an impulse buy when EverEarth were running a promotion with Casabu. I think I got it for around £10 but it’s available from a number of different retailers including Giraffe Toys (£15,95), Babe-equip (£17.95), Trendy Baby (£16.99) and Amazon (£19.63).

EE30934 Review: EverEarth Trangle Activity Centre

Although the recommended age is 18 months +, I never leave to Dexter to play alone and he loves to fiddle things so it’s ideal for him. The activity centre has six different activities including a peg maze, abacus, and bead slide - so is ideal for promoting hand-eye coordination, counting, and hand and finger dexterity. Another plus is that triangle can be placed anyway-up depending on which element has caught your baby’s eye.

As a note of caution, I should explain that I usually position Dexter between my legs and help him navigate all the different puzzles with his little fingers. I definitely wouldn’t allow him to play with it without having my hands over his as Dexter can lift this toy by himself and I suspect he’d wave it above his head and clunk himself with it given half the chance.

As a way to explore shapes, textures and colours - I love this toy. It’s very sturdy, well made, and is a great distraction for little people. EverEarth are also eco-friendly manufacturers and use only renewable resources for their toys. Above all - it looks gorgeous. You can’t beat the look of traditional wooden toys in your home and this one is no exception. It’s the sort of toy you don’t mind having on display in your nursery.

You can view all EverEarth’s toys on their website but they are available to buy from a number of UK retailers (both on and offline).