Secret Science: The Amazing World Beyond Your Eyes is a new release from Scholastic Books. Written by Stand-up Comedian, Mathematician and Scientist Dara O'Briain, it's like taking a foray through his head as he goes about his every day life, and if you know him from TV like I do, you'll read it entirely in his voice.


Subtitled The Amazing World Beyond Your Eyes, in this book we don't see the world as we would normally, we are shown the science behind everything we take for granted, from sleeping to flying to building sandcastle, and it is fascinating.

Simple Science is full of interesting illustrations by Dan Bramhall and they work perfectly. The whole package is incredibly funny and witty, with plenty of dry humour, but this is also an intelligent book.

I'm really pleased to bring you this review because MiniMaster Football is an excellently designed product with lots of care and attention and masses of added value. Miniature football you can play indoors, but big enough that you can stand up to play. You control the 1/8th scale footballer as if he's a real player, infinitely adjusting his angle and direction of kick - you can even chip, toe-poke and of course aim.


I first discovered MiniMaster Sports at BlogOn and they gave me a Football Set to bring home and review. Unusually for a family with 5 boys living in Manchester, although we follow football and watch a few matches, we don't have anyone who is footie mad, however everyone loves this!


No waste, very little non-essential or wasteful plastic, no batteries and everything is in a fairly compact box considering the size, which you can store it in afterwards. Christmas-morning and Earth-friendly.

Last night we were guests of Feld Entertainment to review Disney On Ice presents Dream Big at Manchester Arena. We all love Disney On Ice and it's always a really good night. Dream Big saw the first appearance by Moana and her sidekick Maui, one of my children's favourite characters, plus classic characters Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, one of my favourites...


Before the show we got to meet and greet with Mickey Mouse, and for the first time in ages my youngest joined in with the photo. Hes not keen on dressed up characters and has avoided them for a while, so it was really brave of him and hopefully a sign of things to come!


We had seats to the right side of the arena and first up was the Fit To Dance warm up, with a host of skaters on the ice in sparkly costumes that were really impressive. They looked great and really had the audience joining in.

Ravensburger are well known for puzzles and although it can use some brain-power, GraviTrax is a completely different story. A fantastic and incredibly attractive interactive ball track system, this takes your imagination and engineering skills to new levels. Make coloured metal balls roll, fly, bounce and drop along a pathway of your own creation. You can even race a couple of your friends...


We've been sent the Starter Set which has an rrp of £49.99 and 3 of the Expansion Sets at £9.99rrp each, The Catapult, Magnetic Cannon and Hammer. All of the GraviTrax system is suitable for age 8+. Children younger (5+) will be able to play with it, but are more likely to find construction frustrating.


The GraviTrax Starter Set has an impressive selection of pieces, over 100 in all (listed at the base of the post), including lots of special parts and plenty of pieces to make a proper length of track. There are 6 metal 'Gravity Spheres' or balls included, so even if you lose one under the sofa you won't be devastated.

I'm not getting anything in return for doing this giveaway, but it looks such a great event and the price is very fair, so I'm more than happy to promote it! Set in the centre of Liverpool at St Luke’s “Bombed-Out” Church at the top of Bold Street (one of Liverpool's most iconic Heritage sites), Winter Wonderland is a 4 week long spectacular which should create a Christmas Grotto visit to remember forever.

Set against a beautiful and atmospheric festive backdropsand with lots to explore, families will be escorted by an elf and immersed into their very own Christmas spectacular full of festive characters, workshops and fun activities,


Fondly known as the ‘Bombed-Out’ Church, St Luke’s is one of Liverpool’s best loved heritage sites and the inside will be transformed into a Winter Wonderland. Families will take part in a whole host of festive activities, including meeting the big man himself. Tickets are booked in advance for a 2 hour timeslot and there is plenty included to keep anyone busy.

The latest children's book I've been sent to review by Matador is The Price Of Magic by Gavin Neale. A good old-fashioned fantasy with battles and fairies and elves, swordsmanship and guardians. It also stars a feisty young lady called Abby, who is no stranger to this bizarre and magical world as she had to rescue her mother from it a couple of years ago.


Backstory is provided, so although The Price Of Magic is a sequel, it is also a standalone story. Abby and her neighbour Thomas are being looked after by two elderly ladies, Daphne and Nora, while their parents work. It all seems very ordinary until the surprise arrival of Erykah, the Queen of the Land of the Fairy, and Bryonny, her Pixie Chief ally.

Daphne and Nora are in fact witches and Guardians Of The Peace Accord between dimensions, they just pose as ordinary elderly ladies. War is threatened, the gap between the Fairy Realm and our Earth has been breached. Thomas is kidnapped and it is up to Abby to rescue him, but her guardians are very reluctant to let her become involved in the impending war.

My boys love all kinds of toys and they aren't scared by pink, so it was their choice to accept a Smooshins Surprise Maker Kit for review. The kit contains everything you need to make 4 different 8cm tall Smooshins - colourful, tactile and cute hand-sized characters - and you start with a Colour Pouch full of two-part liquid and a Smooshin Maker.


The box is a strange shape which isn't incredibly useful for storage and there are some necessary plastic bags, but unpacking is 5 minutes. You will need a small phillips screwdriver and 3 x AAA batteries (not included), but then you can read the instructions and start straightaway. Fairly Christmas morning friendly.

My boys were very lucky this week because they were sent a brand new Hatchimals Hatchibaby to review. I have done a video showing everything, including how long it takes to hatch and how to hatch your Hatchibaby, a link is below. Hatchibabies are, just like real babies, either male or female, and they also come in 2 varieties - Ponette or CheeTree.


There is an instruction booklet inside the box, which you should really read before you begin, as well as a Tips And Tricks sheet and a HatchiBirth Certificate which you can write the Hatchibaby's name and date of birth on, and add the secret slip of paper announcing 'Girl' or 'Boy' which you'll find once your Hatchibaby has hatched.


Your Hatchibaby is lots of fun straight away because it is really interesting even at the egg stage. It will interact and react from inside the egg, as soon as you have removed the locking keys at  the bottom, so play with it and make the most of this time.

This month's review for the Blogger Boardgame Club is Dixit from Asmodee and Libellud. Suitable for 3 to 6 players aged 6+, this is a family board game which we all really enjoyed and it's utterly beautiful.

Very easy to play as well as fun and funny, this is a great one for late into the evening when you don't fancy being physically active and want to calm the bigger kids (and grown ups) before bed. It's also a fascinating insight into everyone else's head!


Inside the box are 6 sets of press out cardboard voting tokens, 84 large Story Cards, 6 wooden rabbit player score markers, instructions, and the game board. There is very little waste packaging from the cards, the game is plastic free and the box is brilliant storage for your game afterwards. Full marks and Christmas morning friendly.

I spotted the RoboMaker Pro in the Toy Awards at BlogOn and it was one of the big toys that caught my eye. Clementoni construction sets are brilliant for encouraging STEM learning while having loads of fun.

Your child will practise engineering and design skills when building their model and then they'll learn about electricity, block programming and coding while they get to grips with controlling it - and with different sensors and lots of movement, there is absolutely loads it can do...


Cleverly there are instructions for 5 different models included, and they start fairly easy and become really quite complex. plus you can of course create your own models. Inside the box is everything you need except 4 x AAA batteries. Parts are still attached to the sprue, so you'll need 10 minutes to remove them before you first start.