Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Half Shell Heroes: Blast To The Past is a brand new DVD release from Universal Pictures and Nickleodeon. Available from Monday 16th May, it's a bit different from some of the other Turtles DVD's we've reviewed because Half-Shell Heroes aims to capture the interest and imagination of the younger members of your family. Less dark and more about the fun side of crime-fighting and sewer-living pizza-eating.


In Half-Shell Heroes: Blast To The Past, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles accidentally time travel back to the Jurassic Era. During their stay they encounter several friendly dinosaurs, but also rather bizarrely some dangerous aliens from the future. Using their ninja skills the Turtles have to find a way to save the day and possibly just as importantly get back home.

Books in our house are usually screen-free and mainly read in the bedroom. Occasionally though a book needs to be let loose a little, and the Ice Age Collision Course Augmented Reality Book by Emily Steed (on sale June 2nd) can definitely use more space. By downloading the free app. your phone or tablet can bring the characters from the book to life in your own home....or even outside your own home...


The new Ice Age movie is released in July this year, and it will see our favourite characters (including Manny, Scrat, Sid and Diego) travel a little higher than before - in space. Ice Age Collision Course AR gives us an insight into an some of the scrapes they will be getting themselves into. The first section of the book lets you help Scrat chase his eternal nemesis - the acorn...

The What’s so Special Club, is, in their own words "a brand new, FREE online club for young dinosaur fans and budding palaeontologists everywhere". If that doesn't sound good then I am guessing you don't have children aged around 5-8. I know both of my boys are fascinated by dinosaurs and will love it.

Genuine Iguanodon Footprint - The Isle Of Wight

The What's So Special Club is run by Nicky Dee, the same person who created the What's So Special About.....? children's dinosaur books that we recently reviewed. We love them, they're a great crossover from little children's basic picture books towards complicated text-based dinosaur books. The website compliments the books, but can also be used entirely on its own for children (and their adults) to have fun while they learn.

What is the plural of Stegosaurus?

Membership of the Club gives children access to fun dinosaur games and facts, colouring sheets to download, dinosaur brain teasers and quizzes. There is regularly updated information and competitions, and a very special look behind the scenes for the making of the 3D models used in the What's so special About? dinosaur books.

It's been a while, but I'm delighted to announce we have been selected as LEGO Family Bloggers for the 3rd year running, and we are back with another LEGO review. This is from the brand new movie tie-in theme The Angry Birds Movie, and as we have a giant pirate ship in our house, what could be better than the Piggy Pirate Ship set 75825.


In the box there are no loose pieces, just 6 bags. With only 620 pieces there isn't an intimidating volume for a less experienced builder. The Angry Birds and Pigs themselves appear 1 by 1 in separate bags.

This year would have been Beatrix Potter's 150th birthday, and her most popular character Peter Rabbit is 114 himself. He's looking good for it and that instantly recognisable blue jacket has worn very well.

My children have mainly moved on from Beatrix Potter stories, but they have all enjoyed them, as did I when I was young, and he is still as popular today. We've been sent the latest DVD release from Abbey Home Media to review, and I also have a copy to give away to one of my readers.


The Tale Of The Great Breakout is the fourth compilation of animated adventures and comprises 6 Peter Rabbit episodes lasting over 70 minutes in total:

The Tale Of The Great Breakout
The Tale Of The Mystery Plum Thief
The Tale Of Benjamin's Strawberry Raid
The Tale Of The Downhill Escape
The Tale Of The Unguarded Garden
The Tale Of The Cat And The Rat

Today we drove into Manchester centre to visit the Artisan Bar And Kitchen where The Hut were previewing a few of their new items for Summer. It's a gorgeous day with no rain for once, so a trip into town was actually really pleasant, and we didn't even need coats. It was like being on holiday!


I like The Hut. They are an online department store who have some great bargains at times, and a really wide range of products. Several years ago I won a £250 voucher from their Facebook page just before Christmas. Everybody got extra that year.

This year marks the 45th birthday of Roger Hargreaves ever-popular characters, the Mr Men. Mr Tickle was the first book to be published, and as it was also the year I was born, it's probably no coincidence that Mr Tickle was also my first Mr Men book.


To celebrate the 45th birthday of the Mr Men a series of 4 new books and a special edition Mr Men Birthday Party Book are being released. The Birthday Party doesn't quite go to plan. It's Mr Silly's birthday and some of the Mr Men are not really capable of organising a party in spite of their best intentions!

I've been asked if I wanted to comment on a study which looks at the 'Age Of Payback' among British families. At first I thought that sounded a bit harsh, but actually what it's looking at is the age at which our children start to treat us to some of the things we have previously bought for them.


No-one needs to tell me how expensive adult children are - we have 4, including our 22 year old (who started his first full time job in January) and then the 2 small boys waiting in the wings. Although the dream is that they'll all get part-time jobs early on and support their own hobbies and pastimes, the reality is not quite so simple, and the need to revise and pass exams and go to College does somewhat get in the way.

If you have competent young readers who have a good imagination then you could do worse than take a look at One Third Stories. Started by two men (Alex and Jonny) who have a love of languages and storytelling, One Third Stories start in English and end in a different language. The stories are incomplete, and readers aged up to 11 are asked to finish them, with the best entries winning prizes.

I was really keen to review the My Living World Pocket Microscope, mainly because I have only very recently finally given up and thrown away the one which belonged to my second oldest son - now 18. After 10 years use, inspection and misuse it finally came apart never to be repaired. It'll have seen a few sights...


The My Living World Pocket Microscope is made by Interplay - the children's craft, nature, technology and science kit specialists. We've reviewed several of their kits, but this is our first in the My Living World range.