If you had a magic flying bed, where would you go?

That was the question that was put to my children by Memory Foam Warehouse this weekend. To give the children inspiration they sent us a huge parcel of snacks, a pad of paper and an art set, and a copy of the 1971 children's classic - Bedknobs And Broomsticks.

Treasure!

Isn't that Jessica Fletcher?

  

Very proud - he's never had his own art set before

My 5 year old took it very seriously. He decided that his magic bed would take him somewhere very real - the jungle! He started with a tiger and trees, then added monkeys swinging from vines. Then he drew himself on the magic bed - complete with magic bedknob and patterned duvet - I was very impressed.


His finished masterpiece also includes a beach - because every jungle needs a beach and refreshing water with waves to keep you cool.... I asked what the weather would be like - sunny with little white clouds. Apart from the tiger it sounds idyllic...


My 3 year old wanted to draw a jungle like his brother, but when he started it turned into a space scene - which is far more his usual sort of storyline, and I was pleased because it's much better to use your own imagination.


Although he managed to draw on his face, hands and neck with 3 different felt tips before I put them away, my 3 year old's picture was all in orange "because it's the best".

He's sitting on his bed and floating around among the stars.....it's a lot more peaceful than I'd expect from my lively littlest one!


It was really sweet to see what ideas they came up with, and I was surprised that both of them chose something far more 'normal' than the land full of talking animals that appears in the film.

We had a great afternoon and the boys really enjoyed it. Where would your little ones choose to go?

LEGO Legends Of Chima: The Lion, The Crocodile And The Power Of Chi is a 2 disc, 3 hour compilation DVD with 10 episodes of the Legends Of Chima animated TV show, as broadcast previously on Cartoon Network.


It features the familiar characters from all of the animal-based tribes in Chima, including lions, wolves, crocodiles, gorillas and eagles among others. The tribes are all fighting to gain control of the Chi, a mystical power source that provides energy for the characters.

The episodes included in The Lion, The Crocodile And The Power Of Chi are:

Disc 1
The Legends Of Chima
The Great Story
The Warrior Within
The Joy Ride
Market Day

Disc 2
Attack On Eagle Spire
The Hundred Year Moon
The Biggest Race Ever
Gorillas Gone Wild
Foxtrot

Each episode is approximately 20 minutes in length.

The quality of the animation is good and the stories have humour and just enough depth. Each of the characters has a distinct personality, and although they are officially 'fighting', they work together whenever it's necessary to protect the tribes as a whole.


I have to say that the adults and teenagers didn't really get much from this DVD, it was fairly formulaic and we could see the storylines opening up before they happened. It didn't hold our attention. It also didn't hold the attention of my nearly 4 year old as it was a bit beyond him, however my 5 1/2 year old thinks it's brilliant. He could follow the storyline and really got engrossed into what was happening. He sat and watched the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I think that this is a great DVD for a child of 5+ who likes animated shows, whether they have an interest in LEGO or not (heaven forbid). It has male and female characters, but I honestly think that it's probably going to be more attractive to boys as it's the sort of action adventure that they tend to prefer.

LEGO Legends Of Chima ~ The Lion, The Crocodile And The Power Of Chi was released by Warner Bros' Home Entertainment on 17th Feb 2014 and is available now from most major supermarkets and online from Amazon with an RRP of £7.00.

If you haven't yet seen The LEGO Movie and you're going to, you probably should wait and read this later. I'll try not to spoil it too much, but inevitably I'll give stuff away and I don't want to ruin it for you.

Before you see it, you might feel the LEGO movie is very American and schmaltzy, and has also lost the original ideals of Lego, and indeed I did think that might be the case, even when I started watching, but as it turns out, it isn't true.


LEGO have had a lot of stick lately for making everything too formulaic, losing creativity and concentrating on movie tie-in's and branded LEGO. The fact is that, hard as it is to believe, in the mid 90's LEGO sales were on a real downhill slope and by 2000 it was getting scary. They began desperately searching for new ideas and ways to break into new markets in a world obsessed with  technology. They stuck a finger in every pie and came back with very little. By 2003 they were on the verge of bankruptcy and Mattel were waiting in the wings ready to take over.

Proper focus with clever expansion towards 'adult' LEGO in the Mindstorms and Technic ranges, and the collaboration with good quality franchises such as Star Wars were what saved them....and us. By 2012 they were the world's 3rd biggest toy producer and they're riding a hugely successful wave right now. Everyone loves LEGO and everything is awesome. Interestingly Mattel (the world's biggest toy producer) yesterday made a bid yesterday to buy Megabloks - clearly they're still keen to expand into the block market.


So isn't it a little unfair to complain about what was necessary in order to survive? I think so. I also think that people who complain about Movie tie-in LEGO and kits with instructions stifling creativity are missing the point.

The sets are great because they teach the techniques and building skills that the children can take away with them. They show how to make better use of bricks and create corners and vehicle chassis and all sorts of other things. They give you special and interesting elements to enhance what you have. They give you a basis to work with and you can then build 'another car' or an extra bit of scenery to go with what you have - Batman needs a Batcave? No problem, the parts from Goblin King's Battle make a great Batcave when you make it taller and leave a gap underneath. Sets can stretch the imagination, they don't stifle it.

My blog backdrop is a photo I took using stuff from my children's bedroom floor that they'd been playing with that day. They were younger there and LEGO wasn't even something they used by itself, it was a part of a bigger play scene which included cars and Playmobil and anything else they wanted. Now they've moved on from wooden blocks and are better able to create whatever they want from LEGO, so they don't mix it with other brands so much, but they definitely mix it up. This is part of my living room floor this morning. These are all kits with instructions, but they've been dismantled to make something else.


The movie starts off in LEGO City, and then the characters break out and escape into other worlds. The Western and Space and Star Wars worlds collide with Lego Friends. We have a scene we've actually had at home ourselves - where no-one is actually sure if they're looking at Dumbledore or Gandalf - it's brilliant!

The LEGO Movie reminds us that we don't have to follow instructions, creativity can be everything and leaving models intact isn't always right, they're to be played with. I've had a long running joke with a couple of other bloggers to this effect, and I'm proud to say I was the one telling them glue was the Devil's work and should be banned. It's LEGO, you can rebuild it to the instructions later if you want - that's the whole point!


We've obviously gone out and bought sets from the movie, we had the winnings from our Carcraft competition to spend, and as yet they're still intact and complete, no doubt they won't be for long. We don't have a Benny or a spaceship to go with it, so my 3 year old made his own. Creativity is alive and well. Everything is awesome.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

With two parents who can't walk more than a few hundred yards we knew our Barny Winter Little Adventure Challenge might have to take place close to home, so I wanted to make it exciting and different. I waited for snow, but it never came, so plan B was to go out and explore our everyday in a different way - at night!





















The Barny snacks were an excellent snack for adventurers and have a hidden fruit filling which the boys agreed was extra tasty. We even let the teenagers have one each too because we're kind. The rest will be perfect for packed lunches.

Barny are available from supermarkets nationwide in multipacks of 5 individually wrapped bears with 4 different varieties - Milk and Chocolate, and new Apple and Strawberry, all.with an RRP of £1.69.

Hotel Chocolat recently contacted me and asked if I'd like to give away something from their Mother's Day range of gifts to a deserving blogger. I could think of no-one more deserving than Anna from In The Playroom.

Anna has 3 children under 6, one of whom has Autism and global developmental delay, yet she still manages to blog and give advice and help to anyone who needs it. I have no idea where she finds the time - although I'm well aware she doesn't get much sleep! She never complains or moans and has so much patience for everyone, she's a star. Her boys are absolutely adorable with the cheekiest grins, but a little small yet to buy her anything for Mother's Day, so she gets my gift.

It was a hard choice to pick from all of the gifts available...






I know Anna's boys go to bed at a decent hour, and her husband often works into the evening, so she can sit and enjoy these in peace and quiet.

Hotel Chocolat offered me the chance to have a H Box 'For My Mum' selection for myself, but I've had lots of nice things (mainly Lego) recently, so I've decided to give them away to one of my readers.

Entry is by rafflecopter below. The competition will end at midnight on Friday March 21st in order that the chocolates can be delivered by Hotel Chocolat in time for Mother's Day. The first question is mandatory and answering that as a comment on this post will open up additional tasks for extra entries into the competition.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mothers out there!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I proudly announced my affiliation with LEGO earlier today, and my first job is to show you a brand new range of pocket money priced toys which will be released this Saturday 1st March - LEGO Mixels.

Familiar from the LEGO Mixels TV series on Cartoon Network, series 1 has 9 unique characters which are part of the 3 different tribes: Infernites, Cragsters and Electroids. All of the characters are in named bags with up to 70 pieces of LEGO in each, including some new and (as yet) unique elements. Aimed at the 6+ market mainly because of the delicate finger skills and strength required to put them together, they retail at only £3 each.

41507 ZAPTOR is the 'super-charged adrenaline junkie' of the Electroids.
A living lightening rod!

 

 

41500 FLAIN is the adventurous leader of the Infernites.
"The Smart One"

 

My no.3 boy had no issues with this build, although it did stretch him. The characters use some quite fiddly building techniques in order to fit so much into such a small model.

 

SEISMO 41504 is the quiet, shy Cragster who can cause an earthquake with a stamp of his feet. 

 

I think this was the easiest build of the 3, and my son's favourite. He was really impressed with the way you build the characters torso and head, and then make the feet and attach them. This use of ball joints gives a really poseable figure.