When David and I were shopping for a pram back in 2010 we did not really know what we were looking for until we found it. With twins on the way we knew our life was about to change beyond … Continue reading
When the day finally arrived that we could take our babies home, Day 59!!, we felt ready. Terrified but ready. The hospital staff prepared us well. One of the main things we had to do once home was to begin … Continue reading
For the last few weeks we have been testing tights for boys after the lovely Daisy Chain Baby answered my call for help. Remember this post about socks on the school run? I spoke to Daisy Chain Baby who offered … Continue reading
With Christmas just around the corner we are launching our Festive Forecast where we will share some of our best loved toys for Christmas. Today I want to tell you about Matilda Mae’s new best friend, the Galt Activity Pony. … Continue reading
Back in July Esther and William were given some birthday money from their Great Uncle and Aunt. I decided to use it to buy them some puzzles from Toyjeanius. I chose three puzzles and a wooden shape sorting stacker.
The puzzles, by Djeco, have become firm favourites in our household and make great early morning activities.
We like to spend our puzzle time in the lounge in front of the log fire. It is a lovely way to start the day.
The first puzzle we call the tummy puzzle. The puzzle is made up of 10 animals with circles missing from their tummies’. There are also 10 coloured circles, each of which completes one of the animals.
Tummy Puzzle
Esther and William love matching the tummy to its owner. For some reason the black dog is their favourite animal, I honestly do not know why. This puzzle has helped Esther and William to identify their colours and to think about complimentary colours such as orange and yellow, and purple with pink. It is also teaching them to share and to work together!! This is very important for any toddler but even more so I think when you are a twin.
Tummy Time Together
When Esther and William have finished playing with this puzzle they know to put it away straight away so as not to lose any of the pieces. We put each piece safely back into the box and as we do we say goodbye. Goodbye Owl, goodbye purple tummy. Goodbye Lion, goodbye orange tummy.
Goodbye!
At first they could only complete the puzzle with the aid of an adult but now they can get it out, complete and put it away all on their own. A fantastic value for money present and would make a great Christmas stocking filler.
Adult Aid!
I feel the same about each of the three puzzles actually. They are so simple, so very pretty but also educational and great value for money. They foster independence in very young children and develop their language and social skills. I think they have been a fabulous find for our family.
Miss Independent
The second puzzle, like the first, involves animals with bits missing from their bodies. This time each piece is not only differently coloured but also a different shape. This is another activity that has really helped to develop Esther and William’s vocabulary and their knowledge and understanding linked to shape, colour and pattern. They love this puzzle so much that they are now able to confidently place the octagon in the cows tummy and tell you what the polygon is called! That is good knowledge for any toddler, especially my premmie two year olds! I am one very proud mummy!
Pattern and Shape
Esther and William also make links with this puzzle. For example, they know that the toucan in the puzzle is like one of the birds in the Night Garden. They know that the diamond in the penguin’s tummy is like the kite on their playroom wall. These Djeco puzzles are fun ways to extend toddler learning.
The third puzzle is again about animals and matching. This time you have to match the animal to its home.
Habitats
The horse lives in the stable, the honey bee in a hive. When Esther and William first tried this puzzle back in August it was far too hard for them but now they can do it with ease. They have learned which animal belongs in which home. They can do it on their own!
Home Alone
Well, most of the time they can, when they are not distracted by the car mat!!
We have not been asked to review these puzzles from Djeco and Toyjeanius but with Christmas on the way I thought I would share them with you as they would be perfect stocking fillers for younger toddlers.
Priced at £6.95 they would make great little gifts from Santa too.
Each of the three puzzles is available to buy at www.toyjeanius.co.uk.
And we have a winner!! Please get in touch and let us know where we should send your prize. When Esther and William were born at 27 weeks they spent 59 long days in special care. They were in an … Continue reading
One week today and Matilda Mae will be 6 months old. I am in a state of shock that my delicious little newborn is now sitting up on her own and chewing everything in sight. Yes my little bundle of … Continue reading
As a breastfeeding Mummy I am a huge fan of the Mama Scarf and so I was very excited when I was recently sent a Snoodie from Mama Designs to review with Matilda Mae.
Nice Packaging!
A Snoodie is a baby dribble snood. It is a soft fabric scarf that absorbs baby dribble.
Snoodie Cutie!
The Snoodie is very absorbent. Matilda Mae is teeting really badly at the moment and often her sleepsuit and vest are both soaked through. With a Snoodie this saturation was far less as the dribble soaked into the Snoodie.
Some absorbed, some still dribbled!!
The Snoodie does what it is designed to do and it also looks very cute. I found it to be quite bulky on Matilda and she is not a small baby at almost 6 months and over 17lbs. The back of the Snoodie left a lot of unneeded fabric. I wonder if I was putting it on wrong?
Rear View Snoodie
The Snoodie is really very soft and so the excess material though looking a little strange did not seem to cause Matilda any discomfort. The Snoodie did keep her dry and she did look undeniably sweet.
Happy Customer
For Matilda and I the best thing is that this thick material snood does gently protect her neck from dribble and drool. She does tend to suffer with a sore neck where the dribble catches in her adorable rolls of fat!!
The Snoodie costs £6.95 and for such fashionable peace of mind and a dry chest through the chills of winter I feel that this is a very fair price.
You can buy a Snoodie for your little one to snuggle in at any of these stockists or purchase direct from Mama Designs on their website.
You can also check out Snoodies and other Mama Designs products at The Baby Show where they will be on Stand B3O.
See You Snood!
See you there!
We were sent one Snoodie for the purpose of this review.
Dear The Essential One
My Mummy says that you are a guardian angel.
You watch over us and send us exactly what we need.
She says that you can do this for all mummies.
Mummy says that you can provide mummies and new babies with all they need for the first twelve months of their life.
All of the essentials for little ones just like me.
Vests to keep a tummy warm.
Vests for Warmth
Sleepsuits for peaceful sleep and cosy play.
Cute and Cosy
Snowsuits and pramsuits for snuggly warmth
Pretty in Pink!
Rompers for special occasions, like Christmas!!
Mittens to protect tiny faces from scratches
Hats to hold in the heat of the day
Blankets to cover us, keep us secure
Sleeping Bags for the coldest of nights
Beautiful bags for clothes, wellies, snacks, nappies, toys, spare clothes (Mummy LOVES the bags!)
Beauty and the Bag
Everything that a mummy might need when her new baby first comes along
Everything that a new mummy will need when she first takes her baby home
Perfect presents for new parents
Perfect Presents
Gifts for new families
My mummy says that if she ever needs anything for any baby, especially me, then she knows where she can go
To you
No frills, no fuss
Just the essentials
The Essential One
Served with a great big dollop of love and care
Thank you
Your biggest (or should that be littlest?) fan
Mummy and Me x
Matilda Mae
c/o Mummy x
We were kindly sent this wonderful pink suit to review. Full review coming soon but first we felt the need to share some Essential love x
For the last few weeks I have been familiarising myself with the Twinkl Early Years and Primary Teaching and Learning Resource website.
As a mummy and a teacher I think it is fabulous. When I was teaching Year 2 I spent a lot of my time making resources for my classroom walls, cupboards and for children to use.
This website would mean if I were to go into a classroom now I would be able to print of most of what I might need from here.
But I was not really viewing Twinkl through my teacher eyes. I have been out of the classroom for a few years now. I was looking with my mummy eyes and I am seriously impressed.
I will definitely be using Twinkl over the coming years to brighten up our playroom, link to preschool learning and to enable learning at home.
I want to share with you some of the great things I have found on the site and how I might be using them in my home.
Firstly I have been really impressed with how easy it is to search and browse this huge library of resources. My children love stories and so I typed the names of some of their favourites into the search bar and was rewarded with a fast response and a plethora of relevant activity ideas and resources.
With Autumn now in full swing we will be colouring and collaging the Owl Babies characters one rainy day soon.
Colour in Characters from Favourite Stories
Almost every meal time in our house we read the story of The Gruffalo. It is also the DVD that Esther and William like to watch when they are a little poorly or feeling tired. Twinkl provides lots of resources to go with this book including stick puppets, colouring sheets and sequencing activities.
Gruffalo Cut Outs
These Gruffalo cut outs are a fantastic resource that can be used in so many ways such as creating a scene from The Gruffalo, making a very simple 2D animation, predicting what happens next in the story. They are a great way of making the reading of the story come alive for young children.
Twinkl have not only made resources for popular stories but also for lots of songs. On a Monday we go to a wonderful music class called Fun Train and we often sing the songs from that class at home. One of our favourites is 5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer. The song has accompanying actions but now with resources from Twinkl we can act out the song with stick puppets and even make our own pop style video. Esther and William are going to have such a wonderful time once I am all organised. I am storing all these ideas for the long, cold winter ahead!
Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer
As well as activity ideas and resources Twinkl also provides labels for your home. Esther and William’s language is wonderful and their vocabulary is growing every day. Today during puddle play I introduced the words shallow and deep. They can now confidently say the words and use them in the correct context. I have always planned to make labels for things around the house but with three children under three I don’t have a whole lot of spare time. How wonderful then for me to discover that Twinkl have found the time for me. They have made labels for the main things found in each room of the house. I am going to start with the bathroom!
I love that the labels are in a cursive script so that the children can get used to the shape of the letters and the form of the words. Their Daddy is a visual speller and so I think by introducing the written word at such an early age will help them if they inherit this learning style from him. It is also just good practice I think to get children to interact with words.
Esther and William love words. They talk all the time. They also love numbers. They recognise numbers to ten and can count with one to one correspondence up to four. I am a very proud Mummy!
They also love shapes and can identify circles, squares, ovals, rectangles, triangles and pentagons. I love the playdough mats on Twinkl and love these creative shape activities. Using shape knowledge to add to pictures. What a great idea!!
Creative Shape Playdough Mats
As well as learning Twinkl has also thought about home and school routines and they provide one of my favourite things. A visual timetable. I have found a childminding routine timetable that will really work for us at home. Esther and William love routine. They are comforted by knowing what they are going to do and so I think a visual timetable could really work for us. The pictorial cards could also be used as a way of choosing what activity we might like to do next. Again a resource, I think, with lots of possibilities!
Routine Routine Routine!
Because our playroom has a jungle theme we will be using this snake to display our timetable in. Love it!
SSSSSnake!
Esther and William love imaginative play and in our playroom we have a castle. Inside the castle we have a wizard’s hat, a princess hat and a dragon. With the role play resource pack from Twinkl we will be able to add a lot more and extend our ideas for its use. Twinkl has lots of role play packs for different settings and situations.
Role Play Corner Castle
Twinkl also has lots of photos of classroom displays including children’s artwork. I found this lovely fingerprint picture that I am hoping to recreate with mine this week. A perfectly pretty idea for pinkies!
Perfectly Pretty Pinkie Prints!
I have really enjoyed my time browsing Twinkl and I am certain that there are still lots of things for me to find. Plenty that I will find useful with my own children at home and with pupils when I return to the classroom or tutor from home.
Twinkl is a community for parents and educators. The website is full to bursting with bright, colourful resources for children of primary age. Twinkl covers a huge range of topics and events. There really is something for everyone. And if they do not have what you are looking for, just tell them, and they will most likely be able to add it to their ever growing collection. Twinkl uses social media really well to get people talking about their products and sharing ideas and resources. They have an active Facebook page and a brilliant blog.
The vast majority of their quality resources for early years settings and schools are free but there are some things which you are only able to access with a Premium subscription. This membership is annual and costs just £29.99. Well worth the money I believe.
Twinkl Premium is a low cost subscription based service, giving you access to the following…
Over 10,000 fantastic new premium resources, including lovely new and unique role play and storybook and nursery rhyme resources
Download whole sections of our lovely resources quickly and easily using our resource packs feature!
You have full access to the complete twinkl range of over 65,000 resources for just £2.50 per month, payable as £29.99 over a year (this price is £24.99 plus VAT). We’ll continue to add thousands of new resources to this collection.
Unlimited downloads, subject to acceptable use
Help to financially support both our work and also the twinkl community; your community.
First access to new and lovely resources. These will be released to twinkl premium users first
Benefit from first access to upcoming new twinkl projects.
Twinkl has so much to offer anyone looking to teach or learn with little ones I am sure I have barely uncovered the tip of the iceberg so please do go and explore for yourselves.
And watch this blog too as I am planning to write about some of our activities and flag up the resources that we choose to use from the site.
I am very excited about Twinkl and plan on making the most of the Premium subscription we were given in return for this honest review.