When you think of a good day out in the North West of England, Blackburn Town Centre might not be top of your list, but it's well worth a visit. Often overshadowed because we have so much to see and do locally, Blackburn has a huge pedestrianised town centre, lots of shops, a really vibrant, airy indoor market, and some gorgeous buildings.
And if you arrive by car, you can always find somewhere to park right in the heart of the town, at a really reasonable rate...

We were in Blackburn last week to have a go at the Brickburn LEGO Model Trail, and this year the theme was dinosaurs, or 'Brickosaurs'. 15 models were placed around the town centre, and although we didn't catch them all, we genuinely did have a 'roarsome' time.

The newest release from Zuru Toys is the Smashers Epic Dino Egg. This gigantic surprise-filled dinosaur egg has been flying off the shelves in Smyths Toy Superstores and is bound to be a huge hit this Christmas.

We've teamed up with Smyths and Zuru, who have sent us a Smashers Epic Dino Egg plus some of the regular series 3 Dino Smashers to review - and if you are reading this before midnight Friday 27th September, I'm giving away a £25 Smyths voucher on my Facebook page so that one of my readers can buy their own Zuru Smashers Dino Egg goodies in store (the Epic Dino Egg is currently reduced to £19.99 at Smyths Toy Superstore as I am typing this).


Dino are the 3rd series after Sport and Gross. The Smashers Epic Dino Egg is MASSIVE. It really looks an impressive present and the images on the back of the packaging just add to the excitement.


It says it has over 25 surprises inside, which is a huge number and we were keen to see what was included. Not as heavy as you might expect and no giveaway noises coming from inside...

This month Bandai have sent us three of the Mini Dig Kits from National Geographic for review. Smaller than the standard Dig Kits, each contains one genuine specimen which your child can dig out using the tool included.


The Mini Dig Kits are hard plastic-wrapped, so not very eco-friendly. With scissors they're much more easily opened, but can have sharp edges, so watch your fingers. Inside is your specimen and a digging tool, as well as a leaflet with information.


I may not be so keen on the packaging, but I love the contents and so do children. Dig Kits offer a surprise reward - you don't know what you'll end up with exactly, and no two end results are the same.

National Geographic make a huge range of STEM sets which allow your child to explore, create and discover something amazing about the natural world. Crystal growing, archaeology digs, sharks teeth, bugs, stones and my favourite - geodes. There's so much out there for us to discover and learn about. I'm proud to announce we've been chosen as Bandai STEM Ambassadors for the next few months and for our first job they've sent us the National Geographic Real Bug Dig Kit and the Dino Fossil Dig Kit for review.


Any regular readers will probably be well aware that I'm no stranger to the National Geographic STEM activity sets. I love them and so do all of my family. I can't tell you how many of these sets we've bought and completed over the years with all of our children, but it's easily 50. They're a brilliant tool to get kids thinking about their world from a different angle, and they teach us all so much.

This is a toy giveaway which is aimed more at younger members of the family. Sent to us for review by Zuru Toys, the Robo Alive Dino is a walking, roaring Dinosaur who opens and closes his mouth and will no doubt be very popular with young paleontologists.


The Dino takes ages to unpack and open. It's not difficult, there's just a lot of tape and then the Dino's feet are fastened on by plastic pegs. You'll need 2 x AAA batteries too, so I can't call this one entirely Christmas-morning friendly. Once the batteries are in though, he's away.

The new Jurassic Kingdom movie is out and so are some brand new Dinosaur toys! On Thursday 14th June BrainStorm will be having a Twitter party with several fantastic giveaways, and they've sent us some of their newest dinosaur toys to take a look beforehand...


Brainstorm bring us a lot of really excellent STEM supporting toys for curious kids and future scientists. They help children explore their world - and beyond! We last worked with them on a project involving Brainstorm's Space Toys. This one is based a little further back in prehistoric times...

It's Ferocious Friday and I have a great giveaway to celebrate. The most ferocious of them all - dinosaurs! Okay, he might really only be a tiny bit ferocious, but he's very, very cool and cute. A relative of the incredibly popular Fingerlings, the UNTAMED Raptor responds to your touch and movement, and will even close his eyes and go to sleep - plus he's a dinosaur!


We recently reviewed UNTAMED Raptor and he's great. We were sent Stealth to review, but there are four different characters available, each with their own colour: Blaze (orange), Fury (blue), Stealth (green) and Razor (purple)!

Fingerlings are awesome, but Fingerlings have evolved and Untamed Raptors have an extra, more ferocious dimension. They caught my attention and will appeal to a huge range of children - they're dinosaurs! We've been sent Stealth to review and he doesn't disappoint.


Your Velociraptor takes a couple of minutes to open, and you may benefit from scissors because he's held in place by a plastic band around his body. Batteries are included, so once unleashed he's ready to go - just switch him on!

Nicky Dee is a Children's book author who we've become very fond of in our house. Working with Palaeontologist Dean R. Lomax, she has created a series of fascinating and factual Dinosaur Books - the What's So Special? series, and The Bone Wars; Clash Of The Dinosaur Hunters! (with illustrations by Ian Durneen) is her first venture into traditional story-telling.


The Bone Wars tells the tale of two of the most prominent dinosaur hunters - Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. They were so determined to outdo each other that they were prepared to go to extreme lengths and forget the real reason why they were even there.

The What's So Special About...Dinosaurs? books are great and my 6 and 8 year old boys really love them. Written by dinosaur expert Nicky Dee and published by Dragonfly Group, I have 2 books each to give away to 2 winners. Each book tells you all about one specific dinosaur, so you can pick your child's favourites.


The What's So special...? books are really easy to read and full of fascinating information. The text is in smaller chunks, and there are lots of images that school age children grasp easily. These books are excellent for dipping in to, and are great for reluctant readers.

We love a good dinosaur book, and our latest review for Ivy Kids is a good dinosaur book. Written by Sean Callery and illustrated by Sam Hubbard, and released on October 6th, the full title is Dinosaurs In 30 Seconds: 30 Fascinating Topics For Dinosaur Detectives Explained In Half A Minute.


This is a book written in a style which really appeals to young independent readers. All of the text is in small snappy paragraphs which aren't too intimidating, and the whole book is broken into five segments each with it's own glossary, so even new words are introduced a few at a time, and nicely explained.

The What’s so Special Club, is, in their own words "a brand new, FREE online club for young dinosaur fans and budding palaeontologists everywhere". If that doesn't sound good then I am guessing you don't have children aged around 5-8. I know both of my boys are fascinated by dinosaurs and will love it.

Genuine Iguanodon Footprint - The Isle Of Wight

The What's So Special Club is run by Nicky Dee, the same person who created the What's So Special About.....? children's dinosaur books that we recently reviewed. We love them, they're a great crossover from little children's basic picture books towards complicated text-based dinosaur books. The website compliments the books, but can also be used entirely on its own for children (and their adults) to have fun while they learn.

What is the plural of Stegosaurus?

Membership of the Club gives children access to fun dinosaur games and facts, colouring sheets to download, dinosaur brain teasers and quizzes. There is regularly updated information and competitions, and a very special look behind the scenes for the making of the 3D models used in the What's so special About? dinosaur books.

The What's So Special About...? series of books were published this week by Dragonfly Group. They are really interesting and different factual dinosaur books featuring individual dinosaurs. The books have been written by dinosaur expert Nicky Dee and verified by multiple award-winning palaeontologist Dean R. Lomax.

Last Thursday we were invited to a Magical Christmas Party at the Disney Store in Manchester Arndale Centre, to find out about their new charity initiative, which is taking place right up until Christmas this year.

"Take a festive photo in one of our stores, or dig out a classic from the family album and share it through Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #DisneyStoreFamily."

For every treasured moment shared, Disney Store will donate a soft toy to children's charities. This year their chosen charities for the UK are Great Ormond Street Hospital and In Kind Direct. If you don't have Twitter or Instagram, you can also share via The Disney Store's page on Facebook.

That's not all though, each family that submits a photo will be entered into a competition to win a family trip to New York, including a private shopping spree at the Disney Store in Times Square. It's a huge prize for someone, and so we gave it our best efforts to win while we were there!

The Jurassic World movie is out today and what better way to celebrate than to play with some LEGO? We were asked if we'd like to review the Raptor Rampage set 75917, and my partner received the Dilophosaurus Ambush set 75916 for his birthday.


Raptor Rampage set 75917 contains Clare, Owen, an ACU Trooper, the two Raptors - Delta and Blue, plus the Mobile Vet Unit with a rotating shooter and Owen's motorbike. The build is split into 2 books, surprising for what is only a 324 piece model, and is recommended for children aged 6-12. I think there are a couple of aspects of the build that maybe need a 6 year old or up, but otherwise it's okay and possible for children a little younger.