It's the 15th of the month and time to share the smiles again. Hopefully everyone has had some of that glorious sunshine - although it's tanking it down here just now! Thank you to everyone who shared their #tbcsmiles photos over the last month - they are genuinely such a pleasure to see and picking the handful to show you is now my children's job because it takes me hours to choose...

This month has been easier for us and I can share the fantastic news that our young person has been discharged from hospital. It's been their home from home for most of the past 2 years, but now they are so well that in fact they have already got a job and plans to return to education in September. They've also honed some pretty mean cooking skills and I had my dinner made for me last Friday. It was the best curry I could ever eat in my life because it was not only delicious, it meant so much. I really couldn't be happier and prouder.

Magic Tracks are a whole new sort of car track. Made from small pieces which clip together very quickly and easily - yet don't come apart at all during play. The track will bend and curve into almost any shape you could desire, you can even roll it up for storage.


Magic Tracks has minimal packaging which is really quick to open. The no frills box will however store all of your track when you want to put it away - you don't need anything else.


The set comes with 220 pieces of narrow, carefully shaped slot-together Glow Track in 4 different colours, adding up to an impressive 11ft of speedway in total.

Our latest review for Hasbro is Transformers 'The Last Knight' Turbo Changers. We've been sent Optimus Prime and Barricade 1-Step Turbo Changers (age 5+), plus the Tiny Turbo Changer Bumblebee (age 6+) to review. Promising super easy transformation, these should be the simplest Transformers yet...


I played Transformers with my little brother 30 years ago and now my big children are showing their younger siblings how it's done. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee may have withstood the test of time, but they are considerably less complicated than they used to be!

I'm sure every parent of school aged children spends far too much of their time saying "turn it down" or having to enjoy DanTDM or Little Mix on repeat for the 45th day in a row. An obvious solution that you may not have thought of is headphones. CozyPhones Children's Headband Headphones have been designed specially to be comfortable and easy to wear.


We've been sent a pair of CozyPhone Headphones and Gary clearly has influence here because my 7 year old surprisingly chose the Cat Headphones (Frog, Emoji, Unicorn and several others are also available). Packaging was completely minimal and effective, saving waste and postage charges.


Unlike earphones, which children find hard to wear and distracting, or regular headphones, which get dropped and broken and are very heavy for children, CozyPhones are speakers housed in a soft fabric headband.

Exam season is once again upon us and BIC, the company made famous in 1950 with the release of their ever-popular BIC Crystal Ballpoint Pen, have sent across some of their top tips for studying, as well as some of their stationery for my hardworking students here.



BIC Evolution Pencils - wood-free for no splinters. Made from 55% recycled plastic.
BICKids Evolution Ecolution Coloured Pencils - wood-free and chew-resistant with extra vibrant colours.
BIC 4Colour Shine Pen - every child wants one. The classic 4 colour pen.
BIC intensity Fineliner Pens - really bright and a good range of colours.

Clickbait is great isn't it? All those boxes at the bottom and side with snappy titles, encouraging you to click and look. You have a to-do list longer than your smartphone screen and it's all very very urgent, but somehow you are staring at page 27/31 of  The 10+ Most Disgusting Things Pulled Out Of A Shark.

You didn't start here, you were researching something very important and sensible and it just happened. 3 1/2 hours ago. Now there is 20 minutes to eat lunch, vacuum and take the washing out of the machine plus nip to the shop, and do that original urgent important thing you were going to do on the internet.

You may have a vague recollection of what you just saw, but you'll notice it disappears before you can quite catch it and hold onto it. This is because you were actually sleeping. Whatever you read and saw started melting away the moment you snapped yourself awake. 15 Of The Most Amazing Things That People Once Did With A Paperclip seemed fascinating at the time, but aside from a few essential functions like breathing, holding open your eyelids and swinging your chair side to side, you were dormant.

In an hour you won't be able to recall a single thing you saw. That's okay because it's entirely useless and irrelevant to the rest of your life.

Pirates: Dead Men's Tales is written by Anne Rooney and illustrated by Joe Wilson, and is one of the most gorgeous children's books we've ever reviewed. A larger format book beautifully bound with an embossed cover, it feels as special in your hand as it looks.


The illustrations are muted and resemble the illustrations on old maps, together with the off-white pages and textured cover, it gives the illusion of real age and makes it quite unusual.

BrickBox.me run a monthly LEGO and minifigure loot subscription service for children aged 3+. Each month the box has a theme and we've been sent April's LEGO Pirates BrickBox to review.


As soon as my 7 and 8 year old boys saw the front of the box they were very keen to get inside. Funnily enough, I didn't have to explain what it was, they understood this one straight away...


We love Pirates here and as my friends will already know, Ninja Pirates are my all time favourite. It even says it in my Twitter profile... I think BrickBox knew when they sent us this box.. The BrickBox April Box contained 2 great LEGO Ninjago Pirate polybag sets, as well as 3 other smaller pirate minifigure sets.

This post is written by English student Simon Adler. It's personal to him. It's always good to read a worldview which may not be the same as your own, just to see how other people feel. He's keen on his Mum, obviously...

Everyone wants their home to be home sweet home. Home doesn’t become sweet by keeping luxurious things. It becomes sweet by its environment. The environment should be so charming that people automatically get attracted toward it. They shouldn’t be finding peace only outside their home. In this aspect, a mother plays a very important role. No one can deny her huge contribution.

The Nerf N-Strike Elite AccuStrike Series FalconFire Blaster isn't only about the long title and the blaster, this is as much a review of the new AccuStrike darts with a rifled tip to make them the most accurate Nerf dart yet.


There two new AccuStrike blasters. We've been sent the FalconFire Blaster which comes complete with 6 of the new Elite AccuStrike Darts.