Moon Sand Pet Shop Review

My children are always fascinated when this stuff is advertised on the television, but I have never been convinced that it would actually mould, after making numerous sandcastles over the years, would this stuff really stay together.
So I was very curious when we were given the opportunity to review the Moon Sand Pet Shop, in partnership with Blogmatch .

This is what they say about it :

Moon Sand gives you the most adorable Pet Shop imaginable! Easily mould a variety of cute animals in a matter of seconds. Enjoy the company of cats, turtles, dogs and bunnies - the Moon Sand Pet Shop lets you create them all! And with the easy-to-use sandbox container, you’ll always have a quick and simple clean up. Moon Sand never dries out, letting you repeatedly mould and play with your favourite animals. Mould your way into the perfect Pet Shop with Moon Sand! Includes Pet Shop, 13 moulds, 2-in1 tool & 2 colours of Moon Sand. Contents vary. For ages 3 years and over.

It was quite a large box that arrived, and the children aged 3 to 11 were very excited and opened up the box immediately.
It was very simple to use and they got straight to work...

The moulds were easy to use and the Sand stuck together well, although like any sand it did have a tendency to go EVERYWHERE, and I would definitely recommend a large plastic cloth on the floor, or use in an area that can be easily swept up afterwards.

It kept them amused for about an hour, and it was a very peaceful household.

The age range on this is quite vast, and can be adapted to suit, although I personally would say that 3 years old is a little too young, Eowyn was unable to grasp the concept that although they had been moulded together, they were not able to be thrown about like a bouncy ball, which resulted in sand being absolutely everywhere, in fact my dining room, resembled our local beach, but with purple and blue sand.

The product is great fun, but be prepared for lots of tidying up, it is one of those toys that you would probably buy for someone else's children, knowing that they will have great fun, but you will not be left with the mess to clear up.

After a weeks play, I did find myself groaning when they got it out, purely because of the mess it makes, but on a positive note the children loved it and had great fun.

Priced at £14.99 I think this is a fair price for the set as it is rather large and there was numerous play value.

Moon Sand Pet Shop available from: Argos, Tesco, The Entertainer, Smyths, ELC & Sainsbury’s

Pig Goes Pop Review and Giveaway

My children adore any kind of game to play, so they were incredibly excited to be given the chance to review Pig Goes Pop, in fact Kaide had it on his Christmas list, but Father Christmas had forgotten it!

Here is what is being said about Pig Goes Pop :

The Pig Goes Pop games is delightfully compact and easy to play in those frustratingly confined spaces – and everything packs away inside the pig, so you can pop him in your carrying bag when you embark.  All kids have to do is feed the Pig his burgers and pump up his swelling tummy WITHOUT bursting his coat open! On the roll of the colourful dice, each player feeds this friendly hog a purple, red, yellow or green hamburger, pushing his cheery head down the number of times shown on the burger.

Remember, this Pig is a greedy fella and although he can fit more than quite a few mouthfuls into his ever-bulging tummy, it won’t be long (although no-one knows how long) before his coat can no longer take the strain… and to everyone’s amazement and rapturous squealing delight, this little Pig goes POP! If that happens on your turn, you’re out – till the next round.  If not, you’re still in the game.  Just keep on going until he bursts at the seams. For a new game, just rewind his curly tail… and the next round commences.

The game advertises from age 4, but Eowyn aged three adores it too, and finds it incredibly easy to play. The fact that you can pack it all inside is fantastic and means that I don't find too many burgers around the house. It is very simple to play and all of the children had great fun playing, they even got nanny playing too!

It is extremely funny watching the anticipation on their faces as he gets bigger and bigger and most times the actual Pop makes one of them jump!!

For stockists visit www.drumondpark.com or call 01506 855577

The wonderful people at Drumond Park have kindly given me a Pig Goes Pop game to give to one lucky person, details of how to enter are below.
Good Luck xxx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pairs In Pears Review

The older children love any type of word games, so we were very excited to be sent PAIRSinPEARS by Bananagrams to try out.

This is what they say about it:

`PAIRSinPEARS, true to its name, is a fast-paced pair-making game, packed in a pear. Lettered tiles come in four distinct alphabet sets, and players race against each other to make connected pairs of words in matching patterns. It's a great way for children to develop memory and cognitive skills while learning the alphabet, pattern recognition, word construction, vowels, vocabulary, rhyming and more. Deceptively simple and exceptionally fun, PAIRSinPEARS is perfect for family time and classroom activities.'

It's a Word Construction game for 2-4 players aged 5+
Consisting of four alphabets (104 tiles) in different patterns, black white, spots and stripes.

Depending on the number of players determines the amount of letter tiles each player has, and also how many pairs of words need to be made.

 The three oldest children played a game first, meaning that they had 34 tiles each and they had to make three sets of words.

 Xene was the winner, but only just, both Lochlan and Neva had made two sets of words.

It is a very simple game that can be adapted to fit different ages and skills of children.

The fantastic feature about this game is the small amount of space it takes up, with six children in the house we are always looking for games that do not take up half of the lounge and this certainly fits the bill, it is easy to get out and play and just as easy to pack and store away.

 PAIRSinPEARS is available from Amazon or on their website. To find out more about Bananagrams visit their website at www.bananagrams.com or you can find them on Facebook or Twitter

Sorry Mum Domestic Goddess is not Genetic!!

Ever since I can remember my mum has had a `thing' about tidying up, my toys would all be placed neatly in a toy box, and if anything stood still long enough it would get hoovered or polished!!
Unfortunately the clean freak streak has not been passed down to my sister and I, much to my mum's disappointment - you know `the look' when she walks in and surveys the chaos shakes her head and says "Oh Amanda!" (Yes she even uses my Sunday name!)

Don't get me wrong, my house isn't dirty, just messy, well it does have six children living in it....

No sooner have I hoovered the lounge, then the children decide to get out something messy such as Art and Craft, I am not going to stop them doing it, but Oh how I wish it would clear itself away!!

My washing machine and tumble drier are permanently on, and the ironing pile can sometimes resemble Mount Everest, the only thing that saves me with this one is that I find Ironing relaxing and I have a HUGE Steam Geberator Iron, which means I don't have to keep refilling the water every three items...

I am currently running a Natural and Clean Competition and there are some fab tips written by my followers here obviously some people enjoy cleaning, or at least have some good tips that I may well use.

Over the past fourteen years of having children I have learnt that there isn't that much point trying to keep everything immaculate because it just is impossible.

However, there are certain things that I have found invaluable.

~ A Big Box - When there is mess or little toys lying around I scoop them all up into a box and then find their homes as I go around the house, it also makes the house look tidier!!

~ Hoover when the children have gone to bed, that way there is no chance of them making a mess until at least the next morning.

~ Always have a large supply of teabags! If it all gets too much, sit down and have a cup of tea/cofee guaranteed to make you feel less stressed and ready to tackle the next onslaught!

~ Don't offer to wash the entire Men's Rugby Kit, it may seem like a nice gesture but you WILL get it nearly every week!!

~ If you have a large family like me, then consider hiring your washing machine, I have been through so many washing machines, that I have given up and now pay £15 per month, safe in the knowledge that if something goes wrong with it, they will either repair in 24 hours or replace it, meaning I will never again have my entire bathroom taken over by dirty clothes (this happened the last time the washing machine broke and we were without for 10 days- it wasn't pretty!)

~ Pretend that housework is part of a game, and get the younger ones to join in... Unfortunately Eowyn put so much water on the floor, I then had to admit defeat and mop the kitchen!!

And finally....

~ Invite your Clean Freak mum around every so often to babysit for the grandchildren, knowing full well that when they have goone to bed she will give the downstairs a nice big clean !! THANKS MUM <3

Chick Update

Well, it is 9 days since I put 18 eggs into our incubator, we have candled the eggs and have 8 little wrigglers!

So from 18 eggs that have been through the Royal Mail system I am very happy, so are the children.

We did have a slight problem, I had put the eggs in the incubator on their sides and could only just get them in, but the incubator was advertised as a 24 egg incubator, so I turned to the source of all knowledge - Youtube!!

It turns out I had put them in wrong, this actual incubator stores the eggs upright, with the pointy end down, and with the design of the incubator, you can just turn it on its side, which will turn the eggs for you, instead of me having to turn them by hand every four hours!! It isn't a problem the way I have put them in, but it is quite time consuming turning them all...

I contacted the lady we had got the eggs from to tell her we had some fertilised eggs and she offered me a fantastic deal on some more eggs, so we made the decision to transfer the 8 eggs to a smaller incubator, that does store them on their sides and put the other eggs into the large 24 egg incubator.

So, this Wednesday evening, exactly one week after the other eggs were put in, we have set 24 Orpington eggs in the incubator-pointy end down and I now just rock the entire incubator one way or the other every four hours.

I will report back in a week, how many of the 24 eggs we have fertilised.

If, obviously I am now a super egg hatcher we could end up with a total of 32 chicks, its a good job the children are on school holidays to help me take care of our new babies, especially as the two hatches will be a week apart, we will need to supervise them and ensure the bigger ones don't intimidate the little ones, I envisage a school playground scene!

The eggs that we have chosen are all Orpingtons, but a mix of different coloured ones, all running together, so I cannot wait to see what amazing colours we achieve.