Tag: Gifts for children

Kikkerland Hungry Bouncy Balls and Dizzy Monster Spinning Tops

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Gifts for children, Stocking Fillers, Toys

Disclaimer: We received these products free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

If you’re looking for last minute inexpensive stocking fillers then I have a couple of ideas from Kikkerland that are suitable for both boys and girls.

Hungry Bouncy Balls are packaged in an animal shaped box with the bouncy ball being the tummy of the creature. The clear bouncy ball is filled with liquid, glitter and three things that the animals like to eat which bob around as the ball moves. We received the Hungry Frog bouncy ball and as well as being fun to bounce around it’s quite fascinating just moving the ball around in your hands and seeing the glitter and ladybirds bob around – our mini reviewers love it! With a choice of Hungry Frog with ladybirds, Hungry Rabbit with carrots and Hungry Monkey with bananas these balls will keep the little ones entertained this Christmas and if you get a couple you can have competitions to see who can bounce the highest!

RRP £6

Traditional toys are a lot of fun and children will love the Dizzy Monster Spinning Tops which are made from cherrywood. There are three monsters to choose from which spin beautifully, twirling and dancing across the floor or table in a colourful show.

RRP £5

Edifier WH500

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, secret santa, Stocking Fillers, Tech

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

If you’re looking for gift ideas this Christmas you should consider these headphones from Edifier. The WH500 on-ear headphones are a lightweight set of bluetooth headphones in a choice of three colours – light blue, black and white. They’re a compact design with earcups that sit on the ear rather than over, but are quite comfortable and can be worn for long periods. With a foldable design they’re great for travel and as they have a 40 hour battery life you don’t need to worry about running out of charge on a weekend away. When they do need charging (with the included USB-C cable) a 10 minute charge gives an impressive 6 hour boost!

Controls are mounted on the right ear and give access to the most common functions allowing track skip, play / pause, call controls and volume to be adjusted. An extra button allows switching between music mode and game mode – that’s not something I’m too bothered about but I’m told by my teenage son that it reduces the latency which is important for gaming.

Although it isn’t necessary to use the headphones, installing the Edifier Connect app allows other features to be accessed. The prompt volume can be adjusted, a sleep timer set and the headphones can also be reset. Also available is a graphic equaliser and a way to limit the maximum volume – perfect for concerned parents.

The most important feature of course is the sound quality and I was really impressed with the performance of the 30mm drivers, I did try different equaliser settings but preferred the standard setting. Whilst the headphones do not feature active noise cancellation, the cups are well insulated meaning that when I am wearing them I can’t hear background noise.

These are a great pair of lightweight headphones and would be a good buy at the RRP of £40 but I noticed these are currently on a Black Friday offer at Amazon for just £20, making them a real bargain.

Best of the Royals

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, coronation, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Learning, Stocking Fillers, Toys

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own

Whilst the Coronation is still fresh in our minds it’s the perfect time to introduce a new game from Drumond Park. Best of The Royals is part of the popular LOGO brand and the theme of this version of the game is the Royal family, who are probably the most well-known family in the world.  

With 200+ Royal-themed questions it is not only a fun and entertaining game for all the family it is also a history lesson too!

Played with 2 teams (age 12+) rather than a traditional playing board, the players race to complete a royal themed jigsaw puzzle. Setting up the game is very simple, all you do is take the cards and jigsaw pieces out of the box, place the cards in the middle of the table and give each team their 22 jigsaw pieces.

Game play is nice and easy, the team with the youngest player starts first and the oldest player from the other team becomes Question Master. He takes the top card and asks the question or shows the picture to the other team (whilst hiding the answers from his own team as they might be able to win a bonus jigsaw piece if the other team answer incorrectly). If the team get the answer right, they select a corner piece and place it on the table, if they are wrong the other team have the opportunity to answer and win an extra piece. Play continues with the same team answering the remaining three questions on the card before play is passed to the other team. One jigsaw piece is awarded for every correct answer and the winner is the first team to finish the jigsaw with the large centre piece.

This is a great game to play at family parties, the questions are varied with the classic LOGO picture, theme and pot luck question cards. The questions cover the present day and life during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II and we learnt quite a lot when playing. I do wonder how many times we can play it without remembering the answers but with 200+ cards and different players I don’t think it will be too much of a problem just yet.

RRP £20 and available from The Entertainer, Selfridges, The Range, or Amazon

Geomag

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Easter, Games, Gifts for children, Learning, Toys

Disclaimer: We received these products free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own

It’s not long until the Easter holidays and I have been thinking of ideas to keep my children occupied and to keep them off electronic gadgets. They love construction toys so I was really pleased to receive a couple of sets from Geomag which will certainly keep them out of mischief this Easter. Geomag is a popular construction toy which uses the power of magnets to build amazing structures using metal rods, spheres and plastic panels and it is so easy (and addictive) to do – the only limitation is your imagination!

Geomag is a great toy as the sets not only encourage hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills but are a fantastic way to encourage creativity and spark imagination, helping to form a love of science, puzzles and construction.

The E-Motion set  has all the parts needed to create a spinner – metal rods, spheres and square,  pentagon and triangular shaped panels. The instructions are simple to follow, and it didn’t take long to assemble the spinner. I was quite surprised at how long they spun for and we had great fun seeing whose design would spin for the longest. It was really easy to incorporate our existing Geomag sets with this to create different styles of spinners which really got the boys thinking about design and how to create the ultimate spinner. This is a great STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) toy as it combines harnessing the power of magnets in construction alongside the concept of movement.  

RRP £22

For little ones the Magic Cube Shapes Recycled Wheels set is the perfect construction toy. Consisting of magnetic shapes that are easy for little hands to hold, they attach to each other on all six sides. By using the invisible and magical properties of magnetism, children can create amazing models – one day we made dinosaurs, another day it was tractors and tomorrow will be something completely different!   

RRP £22.49

The Mechanics Gravity Loops & Turns is for older children and fits numerous STEM elements. The set contains 130 pieces that connect together enabling you to make a circuit for the spheres to be propelled around. The set uses the power of magnetism and gravity to move the spheres around the circuit and helps children learn about science. It took my 10 year old around an hour to build with a little bit of help from Dad and was surprisingly sturdy when finished. There are no batteries  which is always a bonus!

There are other circuits in the range so if you have a budding engineer in your midst then I can highly recommend this range.

£34.99

As well as being great toys I also love that everything is made from 100% recycled plastic. It’s great to see a big toy company being environmentally friendly.

Baked By Steph Christmas Cookies

Children, Christmas, Food & Drink, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Stocking Fillers, Vegan

Disclaimer: We recievd this product free of charge for the purpose of this review but all thoughts and opinions are our own

With Christmas fast approaching I find myself racing around trying to fit everything in. I have a long list of family members to buy for and as we won’t see everyone over the Christmas period, I am looking for gifts with a wow factor that can be ordered online and delivered straight to them.

Baked by Steph is a company I have only just discovered who create the most amazing and beautifully iced biscuits and treats that are perfect as Christmas gifts. The company started back in Jan 2019 when Steph’s enjoyment of baking snowballed from a hobby into a full time job and her biscuits were so popular she quickly outgrew her flat! She now has a bakery in East London where they create beautiful cookies, biscuits and treats and ship around the UK.

I received a box of the Merry Christmas Message Letter Box Cookies (RRP £18) and the Candyland Christmas Letterbox Cookies (RRP £26) which, as you can see from the photos, look absolutely stunning. My biscuits were beautifully packaged in pink carboard boxes, and they arrived in perfect condition thanks to being secured to the paper with a tiny bit of icing, meaning they don’t move around in transit. They all looked delicious, the hardest part was deciding which one to try first!

The cookies are gingerbread and tasted absolutely scrumptious  – nice and crisp and with just a hint of ginger. Despite being covered in icing they didn’t taste too sweet and were very moreish. The icing was crisp and just the right thickness so you could taste both the cookie and the icing.

These handmade cookies will make a lovely Christmas gift for friends or family this Christmas, or just order some for yourself – I won’t tell!!

The last day to order for this Christmas is 21st December so there’s still time to place an order. And don’t worry, they’re not only for Christmas – if you look at the website you’ll find cookies for birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, congratulations along with pretty much every seasonal event and occasion.

Blade and Rose Christmas Clothing

Baby, Children, Family Life, Gifts for children, Stocking Fillers, Winter

Disclaimer: We received these products free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own

With Christmas just around the corner, we were delighted to receive three items of clothing from the Blade and Rose Christmas range. Blade and Rose are renowned for their funky, yet practical outfits, and our mini reviewer couldn’t wait to wear his new Santa clothes. 

The Santa Leggings not only look wonderfully festive, but they will keep your little one warm and snug during the cold winter. The red and brown stripes paired with the green cuffed trouser bottoms give the leggings a really Christmassy feel and the jolly Santa face, which you find on the bum section of the leggings, is great for making you smile. Unlike other baby leggings, the bum section on the Santa Leggings is super stretchy meaning it easily fits over both nappies and the bulkier cloth nappies.

The leggings are comfortable and easy to move about in thanks to their non restrictive fluffy knit material. 

Available in sizes 0-6m, 6-12m, 1-2yrs, 2-3yrs, and 3-4yrs. 

No Christmas outfit is complete without a Christmas jumper, and the Santa top is a stunning piece of festive children’s wear and goes beautifully with the leggings

Made from 95% Cotton and 5% Elastine, it will keep your little one warm and comfortable but without feeling constricted.

Santa’s jolly face is delicately appliquéd on to the top, and his fluffy beard will certainly keep your children entertained whilst wearing it. 

Available in sizes 0-6m, 6-12m, 1-2yrs, 2-3yrs, and 3-4yrs. 

Finally, to finish this jolly Christmas outfit, we have the super cute Santa Socks

These delightful little socks are adorable and will keep tiny toes warm and snug. The socks match the leggings and top perfectly and are soft on your little ones’ feet. 

The red and brown stripes with hints of green are the perfect Christmas colours, and the small fluffy santa face on the front of each sock is a very cute addition. 

Made from 65% Cotton, 20% Polymide, 10% Polyester and 5% Elastine.

Available in one size only. 

Santa Leggings RRP £10

Santa Top RRP £14

Santa Socks RRP £3.50.

Geomag Glow

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Gifts for Him, Toys

Disclaimer: We received this toy free for the purpose of this review but all words and opinions are our own

My sons have always loved construction toys and we have quite a collection of Geomag. We’ve just added the Geomag Glow set to our collection and it’s not just the boys who have been playing with it!

For those who haven’t come across GeoMag before, it’s a fantastic construction toy consisting of magnetic rods, metal spheres and plastic panels which you can use to construct almost anything, the only limitation is your imagination! Simply attach the rods and spheres in whatever configuration you decide and you can build some pretty impressive structures.

The GeoMag Glow set consists of 12 spheres, 12 magnetic rods and 1 plastic base and there is also a handy storage box (made of recycled plastic) to keep everything together. The magnetic rods are made with 100% natural glowing substances and when exposed to light they accumulate energy which they release in the dark giving the glow effect.

With only 25 pieces you can only build basic structures, but it is a great starter set and can easily be added to other GeoMag sets to create bigger construction projects.

The magnets contained in the pieces are really strong and are easy to build with. It encourages hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills and is also a great way to encourage creativity and spark their imagination, helping to create a love for science, puzzles and construction.

 

I also love that everything is made from 100% recycled plastic. It’s great to see a big toy company being environmentally friendly.

Geomag is suitable for children aged 3 to 99, although younger children will need supervision due to the size of the spheres. This would make a fantastic gift for both young and old this Christmas.

RRP £20

#geomag #toy #magnetic #glow #lights #Christmas #party #stockingfiller #giftsforbigkids #giftsforchildren #STEM #constructiontoys #glowinthedark #STEMtoys #learningthroughplay #homeschool #geomagglow

Tension

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Learning, Toys

Disclaimer: We received this game free of charge for the purpose of this review but all words and opinions are our own.

This week is International Games Week, so why not join in the fun this weekend and play a board game with your family?

We love board games and this week we have been playing Tension – the Top Ten Naming Game from Cheatwell games. It is recommended for ages 8+ and is played in teams.  

There is nothing worse than opening a game and spending 15 minutes or more setting it up – especially on Christmas day, so I was very impressed with Tension as it can be played pretty much straight away – the only setting up involved was a quick read of the rules and then we were ready to go. It took longer choosing the teams than it did to understand the rules – always the sign of a good game!

Once you have decided your teams then you choose a player to ask the questions (or you can keep swapping – especially if you are playing at Christmas with lots of children) they pick a card and ask the other team to name 10 things that are …….. Italian cities, actors who have played Doctor Who, popular Disney characters etc. The timer is turned and everyone in the team shouts out the answers. It sounds easy but the twist is you need to come up with the ten answers that are on the card to gain points. There is a handy scorer which makes it easy to keep track of correct answers.

There are orange and purple cards and the card you select is determined by the coloured circle on the board. The orange cards tend to be easier so when we have been playing with younger children we tend just to choose these so that they can come up with answers, but if you have older children or are playing it with adults you can play based on where your counter lands.

Once the minute is up the correct answers are counted and the team move their counter forward this number of places. The first team to reach the finish space wins the game.

With Christmas fast approaching it is the perfect game to play as everyone can join in, we’ll be playing it with 3 generations of our family and with 400 topics it will be a great way to keep the children off electronics over the Christmas period!

RRP £12 from Tesco

Oclean Flow Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, eco friendly, Family Life, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, health, REUSABLE, Tech

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

If you’re looking for an electric toothbrush, you will be astounded at both the range available and the price of them! Oclean have launched a reasonably priced toothbrush at less than £25 which is both rechargeable by USB and sonic.  They sent us one this week to try out.

The Oclean Flow toothbrush has everything you would expect but at that surprising price.  It has Sonic Technology, so that’s sonic speed to the brush oscillation which is 38,000 strokes per minute. It has 5 easy to use brush modes (Morning, Night, Standard, Whitening and General) with a 2-minute smart timer. Flicking through each of the modes is just at the touch of the one on/off button so there isn’t anything complicated to learn or read up about in order to get your routine. You can even do two of the modes back-to-back if you want to go the extra mile.

The toothbrush comes with one brush head which is made of DuPont bristles. I liked the bright orange bristles, which make it much easier to see in the dark mornings! They also act as an indicator to let you know when the brush head needs replacing.

Charging is easy with the USB Type-C lead which comes with the toothbrush. The Type-C port is at the base of the toothbrush which is accessible from a lid which flips open. You know when there is 10% or less charge left in the toothbrush because the round button flashes red to indicate it needs charging. One single charge can last up to 25 weeks though with morning and evening brushing.

When using it, the instructions give you a warning that it may make your gums tingle if you haven’t used an electric toothbrush before, but as I usually do, it wasn’t a problem for me. I liked the firmness of the bristles and how easy it is to use especially with just one control button and nothing too complicated for late at night or early in the morning. The same goes with the 2-minute timer so you don’t have to think much. My teeth were left clean and fresh afterwards, as you would expect!

It is surprising that this brush is so cheap and that it’s aimed at adults and teenagers because it’s rather sophisticated for what it can do, but easy to use. I think most children would be able to use it easily, and the white look and packaging makes it universal for everyone.  Perhaps good for taking on holiday, especially with such a long charge amount and the ability to charge from a USB outlet? It’s a fabulous present for anyone and looks like it’s a lot more expensive than it is!

Available for £21.10 at:

Top It Board Game Review

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Learning

Disclaimer – we received this game for the purpose of the review but all thoughts and opinions are our own.


Does anyone else look forward to winter and cosy nights in playing board games with friends and family? My family certainly does, and it certainly wouldn’t be Christmas if Father Christmas didn’t leave a new board game alongside his empty beer glass and cake crumbs!

This year we will be playing Top It from Cheatwell Games, it is the perfect game to play at a family get together and can be played by 2+ players. It does say it is suitable for ages 10+ but we played it with our 7-year-old nephew and he was able to come up with plenty of answers but it does depend on the child – you can always select a different question to give them a little help.

The game is packaged in a carboard box and inside the box are
• 75 double sided Top It Topics Cards
• 60 Top It Cones
• 18 Letter Discs
• Sand timer
• Score Pad
• Pencil

It’s easy to play – each player is given 10 cones and then 9 letter discs are placed on a table and finally a topic card is selected.

The timer is turned and then the fun begins! Players shout out an answer that not only fits the topic but also starts with one of the 9 letters on show, they then place their cone on that letter. However, this is where the fun starts – if another player comes up with something starting with the same letter after you, they can then Top-It with their own cone.

It quickly becomes very competitive as the cones stack up, but only the last cone counts, winning all the points! The topics are quite wide and it was quite astounding hearing the items my family came up with to suit the topics. When “Things found in a garden!” came up my son shouted out “treasure chest” I’ve been searching our garden all week but I haven’t found it yet!!!!

This is a great game and a fun way to bring the all the family together this Christmas

RRP £26.99 available from Amazon