BigJigs Toys - Learn to Count

There are lots of ways to learn to count:

• Counting stairs
• Counting animals
• Counting cars

I could go on and on but the list is endless.

As part of BigJigs Toys Play Patrol, we were sent the Learn to Count toy to review along with a rather cool backpack for Isaac and Eliza, plus an official tester t-shirt and a certificate!

The Learn to Count toy is recommended for ages 24 months and up, but although Eliza is the official reviewer, Isaac put it through its paces too!

Like all Bigjigs Toys it is a bold, colourful and tactile wooden toy that is built to last.

It comes with a solid base with a pegboard & dots, colourful stacking discs and numbered tiles.  Perfect for practicing dexterity as well as early counting, colour and number identification.

Eliza most enjoyed stacking the discs, but it was Isaac who got the most from this toy.  He counted the dots and matched up the coloured discs, counting them onto the pegs before adding the numbered squares to their corresponding position.

It isn't that often that Isaac and Eliza play nicely together, but he was so patient with her and explained where each coloured disc had to go and then counted them all with her.

Isaac is working on basic addition and subtraction at school, and this is the perfect tool to help him.  My next plan is to use the discs to make simple sums for him and to progress Eliza up from counting from 10 up to 20 (she currently gets lost somewhere around 14).

Eliza is a little over enthusiastic taking the discs off the peg board to start again, so I ended up with a couple disappearing under the sofa as they rolled away. If you have a more contained area to use this toy, then I strongly recommend using it.......however chasing after rolling discs can be fun too!!

Silent Sunday

Project 365 - Week 20

The week started Sunday with a trip to Christchurch Food Festival, which if I am honest wasn't as good as it has been previous years but we still came back with some yummy goodies to tantalize our tastebuds.

On Monday Eliza was adamant she wanted to go to Farmer Palmers, however instead of seeing the animals we spent almost all of the day in the hay barn and on the bouncy castle.

Tuesday was a bit wet, so we spent most of it indoors, however the sun came out after school so we headed to the park for a brief spell of fresh air before the rain returned!

Wednesday was swimming with Eliza day, and as it was the Europa Cup final, Daddy got all the Chelsea bears down from the "shrine" and Eliza arranged a tea party whilst the match was on.  We did manage to scare her a couple of times with our shrieks but she has now nailed shouting the word "shoot" when we get near the goal!

Thursday was raining (again), so the boys out the XBox Kinect and were boxing, rowing and giggling their way through the games.

Friday saw me having to call on Abbey and her boyfriend to help me unload the new bathroom tiles from the car, after which they proceeded to wind the kids up so they wouldn't go to bed!

We visited a new play area on Saturday and the little ones were delighted with the dressing up outfits on offer.  I love this picture!!

133.  Mummy - I want this Giant Ice Cream
134.  Master at climbing ladders
135.  Off to the park
136.  The Chelsea Tea Party - Europa League final
137.  Kinect fun
138.  Big Sister kisses
139.  The Dragon and Princess Strawberry

Active Playtime

For a whole month I am taking part in the Mark Warner Active Family challenge and this weeks challenge is "Active Playtime".

It got me thinking about what "Active Playtime" is to us and although it does vary from week to week, here is some of the things we got up to this week.

The Park:

Our local park isn't brilliant, but this one is just 10 minutes away in the car and it is fantastic with trails to follow, logs to balance on, giant hills to climb and the best curly wurly slide ever!!

 Isaac loves the zipwire and I just had to film him as it can't help but make you giggle along too!

The Farm:

Eliza insisted on going to the local farm on Monday and although we did wander around, see the animals and explore, we spent most of our time clambering around in the slide barn practicing her gross motor skills, or bouncing on the bouncy castle!

Behind the House:

Although I do moan about the lack of equipment at our local park, it is right behind our house so we spotted a break in the clouds and made a dash for it before the rain came back!

Indoors:

On rainy days, sometimes you just don't want to go outside - especially if you are like me with a big pregnant bump that you cannot get a coat done up over it.  I do moan about the amount of time my kids (especially the older ones) want to spend on the XBox, however, XBox Kinect and the Wii are fabulous for promoting exercise in some of their games.

Here are the boys enjoying a spot of boxing and basketball:

Adventure Park:

Because of my job we are very lucky to have some season passes to some great activity places.  Although Adventure Wonderland has fun rides to go on, the kids much prefer bouncing on the trampolines and clambering up the giant inflatable slide.  (When I say kids, I include Daddy in that term).

Not so soft play:

We decided to try out a new play area this weekend which is based in central Bournemouth.  It is a totally natural wooden playframe set indoors for kids ages 3 - 12, with activities for smaller ones too.

They climbed the giant frame, whizzed down the slide, shot each other with the air cannons and threw giant balls and foam bricks around.  It was fantastic, the kids had a whale of a time and were absolutely exhausted by the time we came out!!

The Garden:

If I really cannot face leaving the house, I simply open the door to the garden.  It may not look much, and needs some work but the kids love it - you can even bpunce on the trampoline with Mickey Mouse!

Sometimes I worry that my kids aren't active enough, but looking at this weeks photographs and knowing we also fit in swimming lessons and daily walks to and from school I needn't worry too much at all!

  

Saturday is Caption Day - 18th May 2013

As we are having our old (but gorgeous) bath replaced this week, I just had to get one more shot of the little ones enjoying one of their favourite times of the day - bathtime!!

Can you caption this beauty?

Wobble

For those of you that read my blog, you will know that I am quite chirpy and pretty much just gets on with the things that life chucks my way, but this week I am having a wobble.

It started off with hubby being drafted to work away for 5 weeks - not ideal when I am heavily pregnant and he's in Orpington, Kent, which is a good couple of hours drive on away a good day!

Then there is our bathroom.  The plumber was supposed to start on Wednesday and after promising to be here first thing in the morning, he rolled up a lunchtime, took a couple of tiles off the wall and announced he couldn't start until Saturday.  Not the end of the world, I know, but mightily frustrating!

With hubby working away, I knew I had to find alternative arrangements for childcare for CybHer and asked my daughter.  Her work won't allow her to swap her shift so now I cannot attend that either, which after selling my BritMums ticket because of the baby is doubly frustrating.

Today I was supposed to attend Mums Show Live, but my sugar levels have been really high in the last two weeks, so I had a hospital appointment.  The scan was fine - baby is on the large side and they are concerned about the amount of water I am carrying so I now have to see them weekly and may need to be put on even more medication which means even more needles.

The final straw was picking the tiles up for the bathroom - they take up pretty much all the space in the car and I can't lift them out so now I can't use the car at the weekend.

So feeling wobbly - yes that's me at the moment and I apologise for my grumpier than usual tweets.

P.S.... If you know anyone who wants a ticket to Cybher, please send them my way..... I am willing to accept an offer.

Disneyland Paris - Day 3

Today was all about Isaac - after all it was his 5th birthday and you can read all about his extra special treats in my magical birthday post.

We woke early as had a character breakfast planned, but were immediately worried that we wouldn't all make it as Eliza was sick several times.  In fact she couldn't keep anything down, not even water for about an hour.

Hubby continued to get everyone ready and opened Isaac's cards with him, as I looked after Eliza.  She suddenly seemed to improve before our eyes and all I can out it down to is extreme tiredness as she had had two very busy days previously and wasn't sleeping well in a cot.

After the character breakfast (see above post link), we headed off into the park for Day 3.  Isaac's first ride of the day was the Buzz Lightyear Laser game and Eliza was "It's a Small World" - a real pattern was emerging here, but we decided as we hadn't spent much time in Walt Disney Studio's that we would spend most of the day in there.

After posing for a few photographs it was decided that we were going to do some of the shows, so we got all the information on times and made a plan of attack.

The first show of the day was Stitch Live, which is an interactive show with a cartoon Stitch.  Stitch has stolen a spaceship and we have to help find him with the help of a guide.  What stunned us was that Stitch was actually talking to the group and he wished Isaac a Happy Birthday.

It was great fun watching Stitch up to his antics, and he even told Kian he did the best monkey impression and took a photograph of him and showed it on the screen.  I cannot recommend this show highly enough - but be aware you may get picked on to participate!

Next up was Animagique.  Set in a dark theatre you are introduced to Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse who are drawing animations.  Let us just say that Mickey's are better and Donald wasn't very happy and steals Mickey's key.

You are then transported to a magical world of Disney History with puppets and dancing characters from films such as Dumbo, Jungle Book, Lion King, The Little Mermaid and more.  It was brilliant - the kids were enthralled from beginning to end and I dare you not to sing along!

We also saw the animation show with Mushu - the dragon from Mulan.  Eddie Murphy's voiceover was fabulous but this was a show that appealed more to older children and adults as it showed how they develop the characters from the first ideas until completion.

The kids favourite had to be Playhouse Disney though, and they had great fun dancing along to their favourite shows - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, where is was Minnie's birthday, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and Winnie the Pooh.

We saw the Stars in their cars parade for the first time too, which was absolutely amazing but get there early to grab your space as it gets very busy very quickly!

Once the parade had finished we headed off out the park as Isaac wanted to look in the shops to spend his birthday money and we had to be at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show by 5.30pm.  (See above link to a magical birthday)