We've reviewed quite a lot of games from Esdevium recently, and the latest two they've sent for us to review are Disney Rummy (£17.99) and Disney Charades (£12.99). Two family games which can be played with your younger children, and still enjoyed by their Grandparents.


Disney Rummy is suitable for 2-4 players aged around 4+. It's a simplified version of the ever-popular card game Rummy, but in this version there are 2 ways to play, and instead of cards we have plastic tiles. The tiles are easier for children to manage, and instead of a pile, you lay the cards face down on the table.

Smart Ass is an incredibly easy-to-learn trivia board game from University Games. Suitable for 2 to 8 players aged around 12+ because of the difficulty of some of the questions, my teenagers were delighted when they saw we had been sent this to review because they had all played Smart Ass before and already knew they liked it!


Each player has a counter which you move along a pathway on the board until someone reaches the final space.

When it's your turn you roll a coloured dice to decide which question you will ask the rest of the players. The question cards are either Orange: Who am I?, Blue: What am I? or Green: Where am I?

This Christmas The Works are offering a huge range of Christmas gifts to suit everyone - priced at the very reasonable £7 each, or 2 for £10. They've sent me a selection to review, to find out if they really can please all of my lot for a fiver each.

I honestly expected a small box, so the giant one which arrived was a complete surprise! The contents were also a very pleasant shock - instantly they looked much better quality than I'd anticipated, and so much more for your £5 than I'd have believed.

The Book Of Everyone make lovely light-hearted keepsake books personalised with your choice of name, gender and date of birth for recipient, and you even give your name and relationship to them, so that the book is especially from you. Your book design can be completed in practically the time it takes to type those details.


As soon as I started making my book I was really impressed. It had far more pages than I expected, and they were witty and humorous, and actually very interesting to read. It's not a collection of blah facts you've read in crackers, it's intelligent and very nicely put together.

The Imaginary by A. F. Harrold is probably best described as a fantasy book best suited to children aged around 8+. A tale of imagination, loss and friendship, it poses the question 'what happens to our fantasies when we don't remember them any more?'


The central characters are Amanda and Rudger. No-one except Amanda can see Rudger, and he lives in her wardrobe, so I think it's fair to say he is imaginary, and Amanda has an excellent imagination.

But then one day a man called Mr Bunting comes to the door and he can see Rudger. This is when the plot starts to get exciting...

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.

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.



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.

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.

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!

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.