Using My Noodle Again

Some of you may know that a couple of months back I decided to enroll on an adult learning course which was being held at my daughters school. It was a functional skills course covering English and Mathematics at level one. The course went well and I passed. It was a shock to the system at first being back in that classroom environment and doing homework but I am fairly confident in my maths and english abilities and found level one to be fairly easy to complete.

Last week I started level two. My oh my what a different kettle of fish level two is. I knew it would be harder and welcome the challenge of upping my game. Level two covers a lot more varied subjects and in greater detail. Even the questions seem to be worded differently to trip you up. But regardless of how challenging this course will become I am determined to stick it out, knuckle down and get a pass. A pass in this level would be the equivalent of a GCSE A*- C. Now thats got to look more appealing on the old CV rather than a big blank space under qualifications.

Aalliyahs school work has got a lot more difficult and is even receiving extra study support in Mathematics as she is on the verge of pushing through to a level 6 which is fantastic! As you can imagine she brings home some pretty mind boggling homework. Just the other day she asked for my help with some fractions questions and I may aswell have been looking at one of those magic eye illusion pictures where you have to try and find the hidden picture. No matter how many times I read and reread the question, nothing stuck. I guess another big reason I chose to go ahead with level two was to build my confidence and knowledge so that I may be able to assist Aalliyah with her studies which is something I would normally shy away from.

My brain is totally fried today! The amount of information I took in has left my brain feeling numb I dont even want to think about numbers for the rest of the day. I want nothing more than to get in a nice hot bath and crawl into my not so comfortable bed until morning. Yes its like sleeping on a cactus and I'd give anything to be drifting off to sleep on a luxury memory foam mattress but I am so drained after this mornings lessons I could sleep on a rock.

*This post is in collaboration with Zleeps.co.uk

Lego Ninjago Garmatron Playset Review

I absolutely love Lego! It's something I have grown up enjoying. We didn't have all the wonderful varieties that are available now but there was something magical about having a pile of rubble in front of you and being able to let your imagination run wild and build anything you wanted. I have always bought Aalliyah construction toys and she is a huge fan of the Lego sets in particular. 

Aalliyah loves the sets that you have to build piece by piece. My patience runs out after 5 minutes but she will happily sit there for hours until the last brick is in place. The Lego Ninjago Garmatron playset was a perfect choice for Aalliyah as it had enough pieces to be a challenge and I knew It would keep her entertained for a long time. The Garmatron is just one of many sets available in the Ninjago range. 

The set itself is a 328 piece which sounded like a lot, but it was actually a lot of little bits and bobs which added on so was in fact an easy build. The instructions were very surprisingly easy to follow, I thought they would be confusing but Aalliyah got on with it no problem. They set out each stage really clear with pictures so the children can get on with it themselves . I think its nice if its easy to follow as it give the younger ones the confidence to be able to build with limited input from the adults. This set was great as it came with the mini figures and featured an extra mini vehicle and a hidden prison inside the battle vehicle. I had almost as much fun playing with it as Aalliyah did, especially when we found a cool feature which shot out a bullet! Its sturdy too so can take a fair amount of play without breaking up.

Aalliyah has put an endless amount of Lego sets on her Christmas list this year but with so many to choose from there really is something for everyone. You can find more great action sets from the Ninjago range here.

Aalliyah gives this set a 10 out of 10 and seeing that it kept her quiet and entertained for near on 3 hours? So do I!

Shelby's Snack Shack Review - Learning Resources

Myself and Aalliyah are big fans of all that Learning Resources has to offer, so when we were given the opportunity to review another fantastic product we jumped at the chance. "Shelby's Snack Shack" is another fantastic board game, simple to master but gives hours of enjoyment as well as being a great educational aid.

The intended age recommendation for this game is 4 years and over. Being that Aalliyah was too old to benefit (although would still have a blast playing it) I decided to take Shelby's Snack Shack to somewhere that it could get a good and thorough road test....The classroom!!

With the agreement of the headteacher, I was able to give Shelby's Snack Shack to the reception class pupils who all had such a fun time playing it. The educational benefits of the game are incredible and it proved to be a vital learning aid. Some of the pupils have difficulty grasping a pen, so the structure of this game and the way the tweezers (Shelby) has to be held really helps to fine tune their gross motor skills.

The class teacher had nothing but good comments about Shelby's Snack Shack. The rules were very easy for her to explain to the children. The game was simple to follow and was great for helping with lower ability counting skills while still being in a fun group setting. The game got the children working together and will continue to be a firm favorite for the class.

Review - Playfoam From Learning Resources

Aalliyah is very creative and one thing she loves as much as sketching and painting is building, whether its making models out of clay or designing cities with old shoe boxes. So when we were given the opportunity to review Playfoam, as you can imagine Aalliyah was very excited.

Playfoam is a fantastic moulding product which is completely different to any "dough" products out there. Playfoam is amazing! It never dries out, is totally mess free, has no sticky residue so will not stick to carpets or soft furnishings and what's more, when you mix the colours they do not blend into one bland colour like dough does, but instead mixes to make a wonderful multi coloured foam.

Upon opening the packet, Aalliyah decided after sorting the colours she wanted to mix them all and make a mass of multi coloured foam to start building with. The foam has a sticky feel to the touch, much like sellotape, but leaves no residue on your skin and can literally be moulded into anything. You can really let your imagination run wild, as you can see I too got a little over exited with the Playfoam!

One of the key features of Playfoam is the fact that it never dries out. This was something I was a bit dubious of, so when Aalliyah went to get it the next day I was amazed to see that it was exactly as we had left it. No need for any air tight containers or to even cover it. Playfoam stays in the same state and is ready to be played with over and over again.

I have had so many people asking me where they can get their hands on some Playfoam. The minute they have a play with it they are hooked! I cannot recommend this product highly enough.

As you can see in the following video, Aalliyah has fashioned herself a glove and played some catch! The possibilities really are endless and there is so much fun to be had with Playfoam.

Fancy winning some for yourself? Head over to their Facebook Page. Competition closes 7th June. Best of luck!

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel - Review

Sneaky snacky squirrel is another fantastic game from Learning Resources. Designed to help build up fine motor skills , easy enough for children to play from approximately 3 years old, but fun enough to still be enjoyed by children of any age and even by the parents too!

In a nut shell (pardon the squirrel related pun) the object of the game is to fill your piece of tree stump with one of each colour acorn. Players take it in turns to spin the spinner and follow the given instructions.

The first thing that struck me with this game was the box. I was so impressed with how funky it looked! Every single board game in Aalliyahs bedroom (and there's ALOT)  has a bog standard square box but this was so quirky and fun. I love the fact that the box was tree shaped, something so simple but immediately catches the attention of children and in my case the mums too!

I must admit when I quickly read the back of the box, I did have my reservations on weather or not the game would actually be as fun and or entertaining as it sounded and was worried it would be for a much younger audience. I do love being proved wrong...

Me and Aalliyah both had a whale of a time playing, and it didn't get boring even after the 6th or 7th time round. Aalliyah loved the squirrel shaped tongs that you had to use to pick up the acorns and loved the fact that I kept landing on the windy spot, which meant I had to put all my acorns back and start from scratch.

Overall I was extremely impressed with this game. I love the fact that it is so simple to follow and yet can entertain children of all ages. This game will fast become one of Aalliyahs favourites to pull out on rainy days.

If you fancy buying the game for yourself, why not head over to Learning Resources. Click on the following link where you will taken directly to there site where you can purchase Sneaky Snacky Squirrel as well as check out other products in their fantastic range.

Click Here To Buy Sneaky Snacky Squirrel

Knowing Me Knowing You Meme

For those of you that don't know me, My name is Emma and I am a complete newbie to the "blogging" world. I have been blogging on and on for the past month or so, but I would say it has only started to gain momentum in the past few weeks. 

The purpose of this meme was to bring bloggers together, to learn about the person behind the computer screen. I myself know how hard it is to form new friendships as a new blogger so to me this is a great idea!


The Rules:

• Nominate five other blogs in your post ( All must have less than 250 subscribers)
• Post five random facts about yourself.
• Answer the five questions that the "tagger" has asked you, and then list your own five questions to ask others.
• Let your five friends know you have tagged them by commenting on there blog/tweeting them.

My five random facts:

1. My confirmation name is Monica and was only chosen as a group of us all chose names from the show "Friends" (Great religious meaning there lol)
2. I still have an irrational fear of the dark. (Have to have hallway or bathroom light on when I'm in bed lol)
3. I'm a bit of a Call Of Duty addict. Granted I can't play half as well as the guys on there.. But I give it my all and get very angry in the process lol
4. I have 2 tattoos. One of my lower spine and one on my shoulder (Both wording)
5. I am a massive Dr Who fan! But can't stand the new episodes with Matt smith lol

Here is the five questions I was asked to answer:

1. What is the most embarrassing experience you have ever had?

Hmmm.. How do I choose? I am the most clumsiest person ever so have taken an embarrassing tumble more times than I can remember, but I would say the most embarrassing thing to happen to me was being in labour and having to have the normal "dilation checks" as you do and being escorted to a ward with zero power, so having a friendly little helper having to hold a huge JCB builders torch over me while I was examined.

    2.  What is your most treasured childhood memory?

The number one thing that stands out for me is sharing a room with my sister. I remember we had everything matching, and I believe at one point it was a Pierro Clown theme. (No wonder I have a fear of them now) I remember constantly making up dances and performances with my sister and one that sticks out in particular was a dance we did to Shakespears Sister's Stay. We practised for hours and them performed it for our parents.

   3.   What is your favourite meal?

That's easy.. Boiled gammon joint, potatoes and cabbage. Proper comfort food!! Haven't had it for so long (Following pro points plan and trying to be good) 

   4.   If you could go to any destination in the world, where would it be an why?

OK, So it's not a far away land or exotic location, but I would love to go to New York. Having struggled with work and finances, I have not been in a position to be able to go on a holiday like this and so Aalliyah is yet to experience her first plane holiday. She would absolutely love New York more than me. So now I have quit smoking (Nearly a year now) Hopefully back in employment very very soon! This is definitely our first holiday :-)

  5.   If you could wish for just one thing for your child, what would it be?

This is by far the hardest question of the lot. How do I choose just one?? I guess one of the main ones, is that I wish that she is happy in whatever she chooses to do. Many people can have big bank balances, big cars and even bigger houses and be the loneliest people in the world.

I am tagging the following five people to take part:

http://glitzygleam.blogspot.co.uk/
http://themumstodolist.blogspot.co.uk/
http://mumtales.wordpress.com/
http://theoliversmadhouse.wordpress.com/
http://teacakeandmyboy.blogspot.co.uk/

Your five questions to answer:

What one thing (material object) could you not live without?
What is your favourite blog post?
If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
If you could go back in time what one thing would you change and why?
If you had one wish right now( at time of writing post) what would it be for and why?

Let me know when you have done your post and I'll check it out :-)

Learning Resources Hot Dots Hands On Review

Learning Resources offer a fantastic range of learning aids and toys, with their main customer base being teachers and other workers in the education field. They manufacture a varied range of items which have been specifically developed to aid in children's learning and development.

As a parent I think it is extremely important that my child learns through play, so when we were given the opportunity to review something from Learning Resources Hot Dots range, I was delighted.

We were askled to review a Hot Dots pen and set of accompanying flash cards which were the Hot Dots Junior - Numbers and Counting set.

The pen is very easy to use. Easy to hold onto - even for little hands, and with only 2 buttons, not overly complicated for children to operate. One button switches the sound on and off while the other alternates between sound effects and sound effects with voice (For when you get an answer right or wrong)

The cards are brightly illustrated and feature a question and a multiple choice answer selection. Each answer has a corresponding dot next to it, which when you place the pens nib and push down onto it will let you know if you have got the correct answer or not. To do this it will either light up green or red and will actually speak and tell you if you right with phrases such as "Err No!" and "Good Job!" They come in a handy little box making them easy to carry around and perfect to take with you anywhere.

This innovative new idea, is a fantastic way of letting children check there own answers and with so many different card sets available, which cater for a range of different ages and levels, the fun never has to end.

Take a look at the following video which shows how easy the set is to handle, use and understand.

As I mentioned before there are a wide range of card sets available which covers topics such as Spelling, Vocabulary, Numbers, Counting, Telling the time, Mathematics and more. Click on the link below to be taken to the Learning Resources site, where you can view the full range of Hot Dots Accessories.

Buy Hot Dots Now

Fancy winning a Hot Dots pen and set of Hot Dots Junior cards? Head over to their Facebook competition now by clicking the link below, but hurry as the closing date is Friday 16th November. Good Luck :-)

Win A Hot Dots Set

Overall I was really impressed with the pen and cards. They are a fantastic learning aid for children at all levels and I would definitely recommend them to teachers and parents alike.

Please note: I was not paid for this review and it is all of my own honest opinion.

The Gallery - Books! ..(Glorious Books)

I think there is nothing more important than reading for a child, get rid of every learning aid and toy you have, but as long as you have a book, there is no reason why your child can't learn from it. Reading, pronunciation  spelling.. All comes from picking up a book. I used to read to Aalliyah when she was a matter of weeks old! 

Aalliyah is a massive bookworm. She always has her nose deep into the pages of a book whenever she has some spare time. She reads every night before bed, when she comes home from school (as part of her homework) and all the spare minutes in between.

She took part in a summer reading challenge at our local library and has since fallen in love with the place. We visit every weekend and she gets lost in the rows upon rows of books. She normally comes out with around 10 books.. Enough to see her through the week, but if she enjoys a particular book there is no doubt she could read it in one sitting.

One of her favourite authors is Roald Dahl , so there is no surprise what costume I made her for world book day?!

"Ooompa Loompa Doopadee Dooo.. I've Got Another Puzzle For You"

As for me? I prefer the darker side of the library ;-)

Have used ebook reading apps before but there is something magical about getting books out at the library, the crinkle of the pages and the smell of the print! 

This weeks Gallery theme is Books.. Head over to Sticky Fingers and check out some other entries :-)

TV Time.. How Much Is Too Much?

Most children are introduced to television at a young age. I remember when my own daughter watched her first bit of television and watching her nearly burst with excitement as she watched the colourful things bopping around on screen and listened to the music. She would often sit in her bouncy chair after breakfast and watch something (Fimbles , If my memory serves me right) But did this make me a bad parent? Did that hour of television make me a lazy parent? Regardless of what the other hours in the day were filled up with?

There have been endless studies into the link between how much time a child spends watching TV and their weight. Personally I think this is ridiculous. Children of overweight parents are more likely to be overweight and children that do not participate in games/sports/outdoor play are more likely to be overweight but the fact is that nine times out of ten the parents and the lifestyle they choose for their child will determine weather or not your child will be a healthy weight. Not how much time is spent watching TV.

You will always find contradictions in what ever research you come across. My daughter is 9 years old, and in very good shape athletically as well as having a good and balanced diet. She still enjoys her not so good sweet things (in moderation) and YES! she does watch television. In the mornings , after getting up, having breakfast etc there is no time for television, which is good as we would end up being late! Even I tend not to watch as I always end up sucked in to some story on daybreak and end up running late. But when she comes home from school, she normally spends the first hour, getting changed, doing homework etc then I will let her have a few hours of television (Providing her homework/reading is complete). During this time she will no doubt have dinner. I live in a ground floor flat so Its not a case of laziness having dinner infront of the TV, but I have no dining room and no where to eat other than our small coffee table that we sit at and eat. Yes the TV is still on at this time, but more or less not being watched and we still enjoy conversation over dinner abot her day at school and so on.

Aalliyah has watched TV from a very young age. She has also (past year) began using the internet a lot more. She does research for projects and homework, but also spends a lot of time on various websites, such as Cbbc, Mathletics etc. I have yet to find her on a game which had no learning value! She is doing fantastically at school, with high levels in Maths and English. Again yet more information which contradicts most of the research you will find online.

Overall I would say Aalliyah watches TV on average 2 hours a day, more at weekends, if we are not out somewhere and she will play a DVD at night when she goes to bed. The DVD is never watched past 5 mins and she is asleep. But these are all choices that I make for her as her parent, I feel they are right for us as a family, and If I felt they were affecting her behaviour or abilities in anyway, I would change her routine.

Every single parent is different, and I guess there is no right or wrong answer to the worldwide debate of TV time.