My younger boys still aren't sleeping well through the night, so being given the chance to review a teddy bear with glow-in-the-dark features is great. The Magic Glow Doodle Bear is suitable for children aged 3+ and comes in a choice of either pink or blue - Starr or Artie.


We were offered Starr, the pink bear, which is my 6 year old's favourite colour. The boys were far more pleased then I expected, and were anxious to get the Doodle Bear out of the packaging and have a proper look.

It may be a little late for Halloween, but the Hexbug Zombie Aquabot is a pet that's not just for one day a year - it's not even just for a small tank, it's brilliant in the bath, and especially when you turn the lights off! Suitable for children aged 3+, it's actually a sturdy little toy that's great fun all round.


The box was a bit crumpled when it arrived, but the fish was unharmed and ready for action. My 4 and 6 year olds were very excited - so much so that I had to ask both of them to get off the table!

The Brick Castle has teamed up with EA to offer you the chance to win a copy of the new Sims 4 game. We love it, and our review is here....

Since EA’s original release of The Sims in 2000 the game has sold more than 175 million copies of the series making it one of the most successful video game series in history.

The Sims 4 boasts a whole range of new features ranging from creating Sims to building houses and exploring new worlds.With rich emotions and quirky personality traits the all new Sims are more expressive than ever.

Storytelling with The Sims 4 is more powerful, more fun, and weirder than ever.

I've played The Sims on PC now for nearly 10 years, and I've watched it change and evolve and increase in size to the immense game it is now. Sims 4 is a continuation of that expansion, with the inclusion of some great new features including Star Wars outfits, the ability to play as a ghost and a host of interesting character traits - including some right nasty ones.
If your Sim accidentally electrocutes themselves and meets an early demise, they can continue in the game as a ghost, flying around dealing out mini-shocks to the other characters, and if they're killed by poisonous plants, they'll forever be handy with plants.

Yep - you can now have a ghost evil Princess Leia in your family who can't resist doing a bit of gardening, and who wouldn't want to?

If you've been invited to a firework night party or just want something to dip in your hot chocolate to warm up after an evening outside, these simple Firework Night Biscuits are perfect, and even better, the children can make them - with a little help from you.

Yesterday we had a smashing day out at Gulliver's World in Warrington. We only took the 2 little boys as the teenagers were all elsewhere, and that was ideal because Gulliver's World is a theme park especially suited to families with children aged 2-13. On the way home our 6 year old pronounced it "the best day ever".


Set in spacious grounds, but compact, incredibly flat and easy to walk around, even for younger children, Gulliver's World has over 90 rides, shows and attractions. 

When I was asked by Menkind if I would like to promote their time-saving gadgets and try a Smarter Wifi Kettle my first question was 'how does that work then?' My second question was 'what happens if the kettle is empty? My partner just went straight for the 'omg yeah'. As it turns out it might just be me who likes this handy gadget the most - because I'm the one gets out of bed to make a brew when we're watching TV in bed at night, and I'm the first one up and about in the morning...


Before you even see the kettle you're reminded of the fact you won't need to stop what you're doing to put it on. I'm not certain it'll save me 2 days a year though - sadly there's always something I can be doing in the kitchen anyway...


It's a gorgeous looking kettle, with a lovely brushed body and fantastic polished control buttons - just in case you want to use it like a regular kettle and switch it on with your index finger.

Yesterday's review from me was the LEGO City Arctic Outpost set 60035, which is a set designed for younger builders. It's a set that could easily be more detailed and complicated, but that would raise the difficulty level and lower the playability.

My partner asked the little boys if they didn't mind him having a play and adapting it, and with the addition of some wheels, Technic LEGO and a few other bits and pieces, he's transformed this...


Into this....the LEGO City Arctic Artic...

The LEGO City Arctic range is one that we are really keen on. It has lots of interesting vehicles and really fires the imagination. The whole range is really good value and designed for younger builders, so it has masses of playability.

The LEGO City Arctic Outpost set 60035 is designed for builders aged 5-12 and has 374 pieces. It's a bit trickier than other sets for age 5+, such as the LEGO City Arctic Ice Crawler 60033 we reviewed a while ago,  but still perfectly possible for our 4 1/2 year old.

The build is rewarding throughout, with instant gratification as you see the shape of your truck and trailer almost as soon as you start to build. It uses easy techniques and very few tiny elements, which makes it much less frustrating for a young LEGO fan.

 

Halloween again and you can never find the stuff you had last year - plus it had fake blood stains and had been trodden on. Fear not, ALDI have a large range of Halloween goodies at really low prices. They've sent us a selection to have a look at, and it includes a neat pack of Play-Doh in 15 small tubs which are brilliant for handing out to 'Trick Or Treaters' and won't damage their teeth!