Saturday, 5 December 2015

Snow Queen at Z-arts in Manchester

I haven't been to Z-arts before, but I had heard of it. A huge building in Manchester which plays host to a range of arts groups for families and children, with an aim to be accessible for all. Tickets to the show are only £6 for children.

We were invited to the initial showing of their latest production - Snow Queen - an updated version of the Hans Christian Anderson classic tale about friendship and perseverance and hope. It is a bit scary, so suitable for children of school age around 7+.


Brought into the modern day by Philip Osment and Director Jonathan McGrath, the Snow Queen steals away the young boy through his computer game screen, and it is his adopted foster-sister who comes to find and rescue him, meeting a range of puppets and characters along the way.

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A Day Out At Martin Mere Wetland Centre - with a Giant LEGO Trail and Sail With Santa

This Winter Martin Mere Wetland Centre is host to a collection of 10 new exhibits - and they won't be needing a new enclosure because they're giant models of birds and other creatures you might find at Martin Mere which are built from LEGO.

Through weekends in December Santa will also be in residence on his own island, and children actually ride a boat out to meet him!

Sail with Santa and LEGO animal trail Martin Mere Burscough

We went along last weekend to see the giant LEGO creatures, and to 'Sail With Santa' ourselves. Children who see Santa also get a gift, a letter to Santa and a reply and a Christmas craft activity. We started with our craft activity - making glittery Christmas Tree decorations.

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Friday, 4 December 2015

Miles Kelly Children's Christmas Gift Set Book Bundles

Miles Kelly are a children's book publisher who specialise in fact books for children. They make interesting books that are full of answers to the myriad of questions that all children have, with loads of illustrations and other interesting features to tempt your reluctant readers.

This Christmas they're making it easier for you to choose books for your child by selling a range of gift sets for different interests and age ranges.


The bundles each contain 3 books which are themed to complement each other, and each bundle costs £20, saving money on buying separately.
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Thursday, 3 December 2015

Star Wars Reading Campaign Children's Books Giveaway and Review with Egmont Publishing

Egmont Publishing are working very hard this year to encourage children to develop a love of reading, and one of the ways they're doing it is by releasing a huge range of Star Wars books. We've been sent the Star Wars Treasury: The Original Trilogy and the Star Wars Starfighter Workshop, plus a Star Wars Young Reader each for my 5 and 7 year old boys.


It'll be no surprise to regular readers that my young boys both love reading, we're very lucky. My oldest son was a very reluctant reader, and one of the ways I managed to get him to read was by buying Star Wars books and annuals. We still have them, and my little boys still read them!
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Tuesday, 1 December 2015

Christmas at Eureka Children's Museum in Halifax

Eureka! The National Children's Museum is by the train station in Halifax, which is just off the M62 between Leeds and Manchester. Absolutely cram-packed with exhibits designed for children aged 0-11 to experience, touch, play with and learn from. During December they have several special events, including Santa's Grotto and a special festive show 'Night Lights'.

I've never been to Eureka before, I feel bad about that now because we actually only live 45 minutes drive away and my little lads adored it. They loved it there so much that we had to promise we'd come back just to make them leave.


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Monday, 30 November 2015

8 Toys To Keep Your Kids Active

Your kids have a lot of energy, and, despite your best efforts, sometimes they just don’t have a place to channel it! We’ve come up with some indoor and outdoor toy options to get your kids moving and depleting some of their vast energy stores.


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HARIBO Christmas Sweets Bundle Giveaway!!

This Christmas will be a happy one for HARIBO lovers as the treats giant have released a selection of special Christmas themed treats for your children - and lets face, for you!

Even better, HARIBO have put together a cracking bundle for me to give away to one of my readers!
The HARIBO Share The Fun Tub has all of HARIBO's most popular gums and jellies in one tub - bringing Starmix, Tangfastics and Super Mix together - no more having to choose - you can have them all! 720g divided into 24 mini treat bags to keep everything fresh until you're ready.


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Sunday, 29 November 2015

Coping With The First Christmas After Losing A Child...

The first Christmas after you lose one of your family is incredibly scary.

Christmas was always one of Elspeth's big things, she adored it and drank it all in with a glow of excitement. She'd sing carols from November onward and watch marathon sessions of Christmas movies. We had no idea how it could possibly be good without her there. As Christmas drew closer we began to panic more and do less.

One of the most crippling things about the depression following grief is that everything takes so much effort and seems so hard that you can't face it, but the longer you leave it, the scarier it becomes. Eventually you simply don't understand how it can ever be possible. We realised on 7th December that we were going to be letting our small children down if we didn't create Christmas.
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Thursday, 26 November 2015

Dream Letters - Making writing fun for children aged 5-12

Dream Letters is a big hit in France where it was first launched and now it's coming to the UK, just in time for Christmas. Designed to help encourage children to really enjoy reading and writing, it places your child into an imaginary storyline and uses their own responses to carry the story forward in a way that suits your child.


We'll be reviewing Dream Letters later on, but it'll only just arrive in time for Christmas, so it'd be too late to order if you want to look at it for your child.

Receiving letters through the post is a delight for any child, and writing letters in reply can be a great way to get a reluctant child to become excited about writing. When they are older penpals can be great for children, but younger children aren't really equipped to chat to a stranger who doesn't prompt them and talk about things that they understand.

Dream Letters is very different because your child is placed into their own personalised fantasy story. Your child's first letter informs them they're now King or Queen of their own kingdom, and the first pack contains 4 letters, a map, certificate, paper crown, stickers and a badge saying "Call Me Your Majesty".
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Caseapp £25 Voucher Giveaway and 20% Discount Code

How would you like a new personalised case for your Samsung phone with your best dressed Saturday night selfie, or maybe you could sort out that tricky-to-buy-for person by having their pride and joy Subaru Impreza or herd of cats pasted into an iPad Mini case? With a £25 voucher from Caseapp, it's really possible.


Caseapp use 4 colour printing to get excellent reproduction of colour and high resolution printing, and have a choice of either high gloss or satin finish, whichever design you choose.

As well as using your own photo's, Caseapp have a huge range of custom cases for you to choose from for your iPhone, Samsung Galaxy or iPad, including plenty that will be great for this Winter...


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