Funky Giraffe are best known for their fantastic range of baby bibs, socks and other delightful accessories sure to make your baby look like a star but this year they have a new Christmas 2013 range featuring these wonderful stockings!
The stockings are absolutely gorgeous. You only have to feel them to know they are made from high quality material and are super thick, not like the thin cheaper stockings which you can find on the high street. They are deep enough that Santa will have no problems in fitting in all those little treats on Christmas eve.
Aalliyah has already got hers ready for the big man. I think I need to follow the pattern here and get the rest of the decorations up now! These stockings start from only £8 and you can even get a personalized one from as little as £10. Perfect for making those first Christmas's extra special.
Why not head over to Funky Giraffe and see all the wonderful things they have to offer. From dribble bibs to socks, you are sure to find something you'll love.
As parents, having a clean and hygienic home is important to us. We spend both our time and money making sure our home is as germ free as possible. We are always happy to spend money on products which are going to leave our kitchens, bathrooms and floors hygienically clean. We spend so much time caring about the bacteria on things like our kitchen surfaces, toilets and door handles we forget about the simple things around our home that could be harboring far more bacteria than a dirty floor.
The average childrens toy has over 2500 germs per 100cm2, whereas the average households toilet seat has only 1600 germs per 100cm2. You would never let your child get their hands on a toilet seat and yet they could be cuddling up to their favorite teddy all day which is a breeding ground for bacteria. Its not just soft toys that like to play host to these germs. Here are the top culprits for bacteria around our home.
Garden Trampolines are one of the worst offenders with a shocking 640,000 germs per 100m2.
Balls and bikes both gave a reading of 14,000 per 100m2.
The average games console controller had over 7800 germs per 100m2
The avergae households fridge handle showed more than 7400 germs per 100m2.
With that in mind, how can we ensure our home is "actually" clean. Especially with younger children who touch millions of different surfaces and have constant hand to mouth contact with things they encounter through the day. Here are a few simples ways to help keep your childrens toys clean and sanitized and help keep that bacteria at bay.
Before attempting to sanitize any toy it is important to make sure the toy is actually clean and remove any dirt/debris or grease from the surface. This can be done by using a damp cloth and any mild detergent. Scrub all the surfaces of the toy and make sure any residue/dirt is lifted from toy. If you have any hard to reach nooks an ear bud works great at getting into these places.
To effectively sanitize a toy, submerging the toy in a sanitizing solution works best. Obviously do not attempt to submerge any electronic toys, but for hard shell/plastic toys this is a great method. You can purchase many different sterilizing products for sterilising babies bottles and table wear which would also be as effective in sanitizing toys. After soaking the toys give a once over with a damp cloth to remove any solution residue and dry completely with a dry cloth/towel.
To effectively sanitize an electronic toy, the best option is to wipe down the entire toy with a cloth which is soaked in a sterilising solution. Make sure to wipe down every area and pay particular attention to buttons. Make sure to gently wring out the cloth before wiping to ensure no water seeps into the toy. Again use an ear bud for harder to reach areas and once done wipe over with a damp cloth to remove any solution residue and then dry.
For soft toys and teddies, the easiest and most effective way to clean them is by putting them in a washing machine. Check the labels to make sure they are washing machine safe and use a cold or gentle cycle. Allow to dry naturally by hanging them up or allowing to sit and dry. For more delicate materials that cannot be put into a machine , take a sponge with some washing liquid and water solution gentle rub into entire surface of teddy, repeat with a sponge and warm water then allow to air dry.
By following these handy hints, you can ensure your childrens toys are hygienically clean and safe to play with. How do you fancy winning a months worth of cleaning products? What's more is that these products all contain Byotrol technology which you can read more about here. We are giving this prize to not 1 but 5 lucky readers! To be in with a chance of winning, just fill in the simple rafflecopter below.
I don't think there are many of us ladies out there that don't remember "My Little Pony" . Even some of the guys too! They wont admit it but I bet a few of them had a pony knocking around in their toy box alongside their "Ninja Turtles" and "Power Rangers". I loved My Little Pony and loved the fact that you got your own special combs with them. Do you remember the plastic combs? How many of you tried to brush your own hair with the mini thing? I know I did and ended up getting it tangled up in my hair on numerous occasions.
To celebrate to launch of the MLP Welcome To Ponyville DVD we were sent a copy to watch and see what we thought and my how those little ponies have changed! They are cool, hip and super chic and have been totally revamped! So much so that upon seeing their modern new look Aalliyah was eager to watch the DVD. We watched it once and absolutely loved it! Aalliyah has since watched it again and really enjoys the fresh new and improved My Little Pony. The characters are fantastic and the storylines were great too. Easy to follow and kept you engaged throughout the episodes. Aalliyah already has her favorite pony... Fluttershy! She has a face which just makes you want to adopt her!
Available for the first time on DVD , My Little Pony, Welcome to Ponyville is available from 2nd September in all good retailers aswell as from clearvision.co.uk . The DVD retails at £12.99 and is certificate U so suitable to be enjoyed by all! *Promo disc received for review purposes.All opinions are 100% honest and my own.
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.
We absolutely love board games in our house, so when the opportunity arose to review a new game we jumped at the chance. But this was no ordinary board game. Spin Mania is a fun and fast paced game of plate spinning.
Once you set the timer, it's a heart thumping race against time to take your spin spike and transfer your spinning plate on and off of all 3 spikes and returning it to the base. It sounded so simple when I first read the instructions, but boy was I wrong! Once you get the technique right, it does get easier :-) After a few games , It does get a little tedious so it's good to shake things up a bit and make it more complicated. Maybe try putting a spike on a much higher level or in hard to reach areas? Its a great game, but does need a certain amount of imagination to stop it from becoming boring. Overall, we both love this game and my daughter still beats me hands down every time!
Drumond Park offer many more fantastic games which are available in most high street department/toy stores as well as online. Click on the following link to be taken directly to their site, where you can view their wide range of games and magic sets.
Its Saturday again, which can only mean on thing... SatCap time :-)
We were watching a movie the other day and it was chilly so I told Aalliyah to go and get her fleece and pick a teddy... Well it seems she couldn't decide as I came in from the kitchen and found her like this!
Do you have a fun caption to go with this snap? Why not head over to Mammasaurus and have fun captioning many more photos.
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.
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 :-)
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.
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