.
However, back to the game! The recommended age range is 4+, and the game can be played by 2-4 players. There are 24 pairs of socks, which is plenty.

I suggest if you are playing with younger children and there are less than 4 players, take out a few pairs of socks so that it isn't as tricky. If you're playing with grown ups then you can take out a couple of odd socks so that there are loose socks without a partner to make it harder.






We like this game, although I think when they're older children might scrap a bit over this game, it's very snatchy and is better supervised. Replayability is excellent, and it does suit all ages, a 9 year old will enjoy it as much as a 5 year old.

The Haba Lucky Sock Dip is currently at a special offer price on the Toadstool website at £9.90, usually it retails at £11.90, which is a very fair price and it makes a lovely gift.

I love all LEGO, and LEGO DUPLO is fantastic for younger children to start to explore their own creativity and imagination, making up stories and worlds and gaining all kinds of valuable skills.

Small children don't have the strength necessary in their fingers to push together, and pull apart, the little LEGO bricks, and they don't have the precision to create and play with a small model without frustration. LEGO DUPLO is a fantastic tool for building co-ordination and fine motor skills, which in turn gives younger children confidence and pride in their creations.


I'm really proud to have been asked to be on the jury panel for the LEGO DUPLO How Do You Play competition. I'll be helping to judge the final round, which will decide who will win a holiday to Billund in Denmark to the original LEGOLAND.

The competition is incredibly easy to enter, you need to film your children playing with their DUPLO. We want to see imagination and creativity in action. Submit your video of no more than 30 seconds to the app. on the LEGO DUPLO Facebook page.


My youngest child is now 4, he has been practising with little LEGO for a couple of years and is now pretty good with it. Although my little boys would love to keep the LEGO DUPLO, I don't think it would get the play it deserved and we're very lucky, we have lots of LEGO here, so I've chosen to give away my sets.


The first set I'm giving away is the Creative Picnic Set 10566. Suitable for children from 18 months, it is a lovely set with 52 chunky pieces which are too big to swallow, and including everything you need to make a delicious meal.


Using familiar items, in really simple shapes and an everyday setting, means that children have a good idea of what to do without play having to be led by adults, so they can work independently. It promotes thinking for themselves, problem-solving and decision-making.


The Creative Picnic set has a recommended retail price of £19.99 and makes an ideal starter set for a child new to LEGO DUPLO, or a brilliant addition to bricks you already have.


As I have to pay postage the giveaway is UK only, my apologies to everyone else. Entry to the giveaway is by rafflecopter form below. The first question is mandatory and must be answered as a comment to this post. Extra entries can be gained by completing additional tasks within the rafflecopter. Please read the additional terms and conditions at the bottom of the rafflecopter form. This giveaway will end at midnight Friday 23rd May when the timer will end and no more entries will be allowed.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

There are a bazillion LEGO facts being quoted on the internet at the moment, but one of my perennial favourites as a European living in the UK is that the plural of LEGO......is LEGO.....

Here's an infographic put together by the Kansas LEGOLAND Discovery Centre - which is a little further for me to visit than Manchester, but I'm happy to add it to the bucket list....and hey, if they ever want someone to review....

My boys adore animals, but don't get to see them that often, so an invite to check out the Family Workshops at Knowsley Safari Park was very welcome.

We met at 10am in the Safari School building, which was a really great room with all kinds of amazing skeletons and other interesting things to look at while everyone arrived. Our session "Food and Feeding" was led by two of the Park Rangers Nicky and Sue.

We started with explanations of the different types of foods animals, insects and other creatures eat and how their teeth work - including close ups with an Elephant's tooth and Lion's jaw


Then we met some of the creatures - the Hissing Cockroaches made everyone jump!








Then we made food for the Meercats! The Rangers explained they like to make it as interesting as possible, so we'd be filling hollowed out melons and logs.


This session is ideally designed for people aged 6+. Because my boys were younger they weren't allowed to handle Mealworms, our logs were filled with dog biscuits and fruit, plugged with melon and then carried over to the Meercat Enclosure.








We had an amazing time. It was really great to get up close and personal with so many creatures and animals and my boys came home and told the other children all about it. We all learnt a lot, in a really friendly atmosphere.

I'd recommend these sessions to anyone because they make so much more of your day out. I really do like bats and being so close to so many is an experience I won't ever forget.

Knowsley Safari Park regularly run all kinds of Family Workshops at a cost of only an extra £6.50 per person for 2 hours, and children receive a badge and certificate. All sessions are shown on their website. I've also posted a more general post about what's at Knowsley - including the amazing Seal Lions!

Everyone's seen Catch Phrase on the TV - the show with the the funny animated cartoons which depict a well-known phrase or saying. Drumond Park have turned Catch Phrase into a board game, and last night we played it with our 4 teenagers.





Round 1 is The Individual Round and players take it in turns to have 15 seconds to try and guess the catch phrase from the picture clue. If they get it right then they have a turn at the Bonus Round, if wrong then it's opened up to the rest of the players to have 15 seconds to take a guess.


When a player correctly guesses a catch phrase then they can have a turn at the Bonus Catch Phrase Round. This is a really neat card with 9 removable windows that reveal the full photo slowly after each correct answer just as in the TV show.


Each card answered correctly earns you £100, and the bonus round earns you £300. When you have exposed all of the picture in the bonus round or it has been guessed then play moves on to round 2.


Round 2 is the Rapid Fire Round. The host places a card on the Mr Chips stand and all players can shout out as many guesses as they like until the timer runs out. 5 cards are played and every one answered correctly within the time limit earns £200.


Round 3 is the Super Catch Phrase Round. This uses special one-sided cards placed randomly on a board with 6 spaces. One question from each row in turn must be answered correctly as in the rapid fire round, winning £300, £400 and £500 respectively. Then the next player has a turn to host and we start again at Round 1. After every player has hosted, money is counted and the winner declared.


My one complaint about catch phrase is that the Super Catch Phrase cards didn't really work. They have the 'answer' written on them and it's meant to be invisible without the special red film, but at certain angles you could easily read it, so we ended up having to obscure it anyway.


I really enjoyed this game. With 6 of us gameplay was a bit long, but it was great fun. There are plenty of 'ooooh' and 'aaaaagh' moments, and lots of laughs.

Catch Phrase The Board Game retails at around £19.99 and I think that's a great price for a game such as this. Replay is a little limited as there are only 30 bonus catch phrase cards, 2 of which are visible when you open the box, and I think after a few plays through you would learn them all, but it still offers excellent value for money.


Drumond Park have very kindly offered a copy of Catch Phrase The Board Game to give away to one of my readers. Entry is by Rafflecopter below. The first question is mandatory and must be answered as a comment on this post, and extra entries can be gained by completing more tasks. UK entries only please. Entries will cease on Friday 16th May at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog On 2013 was in July. At this point 2 weeks beforehand I was getting ready to attend my first ever blogging conference, excited and nervous.  I'd bought a new frock, packed goodie bags with Laura and then the proverbial hit the fan for us in a huge and forever way - my partner got Meningitis.

My partner out of immediate danger and home from hospital I went to Blog On. I left my 2 little boys with their 5 teenage siblings, with one teenager responsible for her Dad, including regularly waking him to drink water and checking his temperature every hour as his body couldn't regulate it yet. I had money for a quick taxi home just in case, and various other back up plans. At that point he was only awake for a couple of hours a day so in fact he slept the entire day and wasn't really aware that I'd gone anywhere.

I didn't realise until afterwards just what a mess I was. I was absolutely shattered and drained and really desperately needed that time off. I wrote another post about how great Blog On had been, I carried on doing my best to keep everything together and then another month later I broke my leg. The latter half of 2013 vanished into a blur and while it seemed to last an eternity at the time, I have very little memory of most of it - reading that post is like vaguely remembering a dream I once had.

My apologies to anyone who I met and don't remember this time...and please say hello and don't hold it against me. And anyone who I met who doesn't remember me - it's a win!

Blog On 2014 will be different. I will be there in body AND mind. I will remember the faces and names of people I meet. I won't be nipping out to ring home every hour and I won't be so tired that I try to get off the tram after one stop because I'm convinced I'm on a bus.

In case you wanted to know a bit more about me, Laura has put together a few questions, so here are my answers....

Name - Jenny
Twitter - @thebrickcastle
facebook - The Brick Castle
Location - North Manchester
Kids - 7 of them. They're everywhere, making my living room look a mess.
Favourite Food - Proper mushy peas, in fact, black peas.
Tea or coffee - Coffee, I have a dislike of tea.
Cat or Dog - Dog, I have a dislike of cats
I'm Left handed
Dietary requirements - Veggie since I was 13.
Special talents - I can sing the whole of 'Up The Junction' by Squeeze however drunk I am.
Describe Yourself In Seven Words - My hair is completely unmanageable - and blonde.
What Is The Best And Worst Thing About Blogging - The record of events is brilliant, the feeling when you've promised someone a post and don't have any time and it's already 2am not so brilliant.
What is the most embarrassing thing you've ever done - This is a family blog!
What will you be wearing at Blog ON - I'll be wearing a dress with a brick effect, so that if I stand in front of a window you'll think I'm floating outside.
What’s your favourite blog post you have written this year so far - This one - The post where someone I didn't know brought an entire street made of LEGO to my house to show us. It was such a stunning and bizarre thing to do, and we've made a great friend because of it - and playing with a 5 foot long street full of LEGO was awesome.
If you choke a smurf what colour does it turn - grey.
While you are here would you like some cake? What kind? - Benny