The Potato Story

This link is just for all of you who would like to see a nostalgic and humorous take on the humble British spud.



The Potato Story site http://www.thepotatostory.co.uk/parents has loads of ideas for activities to do at home, which will help your child learn about plant growth and nutrition. For example, you can find advice on how to grow your own potatoes, or get your children cooking with the fun and healthy potato based recipes. You could even pitch your knowledge against your child's by doing the multiple choice quiz games and comparing your scores!

Have fun!

Vtech Baby: Babytime Centre

Whilst Master Craftiness has been busy with his activities, so has Baby Craftiness. At 9 months his brain is rapidly developing so he is now at the stage where he needs mental stimulation more and more. That's when we discovered just how much he loved this toy!

THE VTECH BABYTIME CENTRE

This is the keyboard part of the toy which acts as a standalone toy in itself. Baby Craftiness will happily play in his playpen with this alone for about 15-20 minutes. The keyboard appeals to little hands to explore it by forming a smiley face. The favourite part for Baby Craftiness seems to be the joystick part of it. Perhaps that's because it seems a bit like forbidden remote controls and phones. Press a button and it will play songs or repeat colours or shapes. The repetitive nature of the console is designed to help with language development and phonics. As Baby can't speak yet it is a little too early to form an opinion on whether this helps or not.

The next part of this system is the really clever part; the plug and play. Plug the base unit in to the TV and baby can then interact with the characters. Pressing different buttons will initiate different outcomes; press the red button to cause a ball to appear and again to disappear. What most seemed to grasp the attention of Baby was when he could control certain characters from The Night Garden. The other theme was characters from the zoo.

I was initially a little dubious as to whether a computer system such as this would hold a baby's attention, but it seems from his reaction that it most certainly did. It certainly seems a factor as to why he loves it so much is because he realises that there is a cause and effect to his actions. He has learnt that his action causes a reaction from the characters.

You are also able to upload photos of relatives, pets, friends etc on to the system which really raised a smile from Baby. Imagine what a thrill it must be for a baby to see their family on TV!

The system is aimed at 9-36 months and there are a whole host of features, one being baby sign language featured within the games. As Baby is only 9 months I really feel we are only just starting to get the amazing benefits from this console. Within a few months I think that we are going to get more and more use out of this.



But as you can see for now Baby is very contented with his new toy.......

5 A Day glove puppet by Top That Publishing

One of the topics taught at the moment to Master Craftiness in school is 'healthy eating.' I felt that it would be helpful to him to learn a bit more about this at home. I searched the internet and this was the first product I found that emphasised the importance of healthy eating.

This is a brilliant book by Top That Publishing. It's not just a book; but a glove puppet book! The fact that it's a glove puppet means that it's great for bring the characters in the book to life.

This book was a really big hit with my seven year old and my 9 month old. My oldest even named the characters.

It's so bright and colourful that it is immediately pleasing on the eye. The fact that it was a glove puppet allowed my two boys to partake in some bonding time with my oldest using the glove puppet to make the story come to life.


This is a really novel idea to get little babies to sit and listen to a story. My youngest was simply enthralled as you can see by the pictures.



I was really impressed with the fact that the book made healthy eating so appealing. It is a simple little rhyming book that gives children ideas on how they can get their 5-a-day.

Orange juice and a banana...



Baked beans and strawberries....


Broccoli, carrots and peas..........

Master Craftiness immediately asked for some strawberries so it just shows how food can seem so appealing if it is portrayed in the right light.

An excellent little book which is fun but shows how important it is to make sure you get the right nutritional content. I will certainly be looking out for more books like this.

Keep an eye on the blog for more products that encourage healthy eating.

Polly and Jago

'Custard' and 'Crayons'; two words which conjure up images of blissful childhood days spent creating and crafting. The authors of the book have produced exactly the right content for us busy mums in need of creative inspiration. Especially in an age where hi-tech computers put artistic talents in the shade.

As soon as I saw the cover and synopsis of the book content it appealed to me. If you are a bit of a book collector like I am, often when you get a book home you realise that the content does not live up to its cover. I have lots of children's craft books and most of them require bits and pieces which require you to spend lots of money. You then proceed to buy all the equipment and find out it was a total waste of money as your child isn't even interested in making the project.

The authors are Sarah Rowden and Joanna Vestey. Sarah Rowden is described as 'one of London's best foodies.' She has been transforming kitchens across London for the last 18 years and runs a West London cafe and fine food store. She has two children and decided that she could intertwine her two greatest loves; her children and her food creativity skills to write this book.

Joanna Vestey MA is an award winning London based photographer and author. Her first book Faces of Exploration has been a huge success and her photographic work has been published in all major national newspapers and many international magazines including Living etc, House and Gardens, GQ, Geographical Magazine and Mens Journal. She is a juggling mother of two young children – Jago and Chloe.

Once you have read this book, I am sure like me you will really warm to the authors. Their love for their children shines through in crafting such amazing books as these.

This book is for anyone who wants to make each day a creative adventure for their child. If you have ever thought about making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday or pumpkin soup on Halloween, then this book will expand your repertoire to make a fun day out of every day. Children grow up so quickly and to me that is the perfect reason to make the most of every day you have with them. Every month is covered by a calendar in the book which lets you know if there is any event or festival etc to be celebrated.

It's a fabulous book because it's more than just a craft book as it educates children on the origins and rituals of the celebrations. Educational and fun; it's got to prove to be a winner with everyone!

Here's a peek into some of the activities contained for October in the book.


If you find you can't put 'Custard and Crayons' down then you might want to also read 'Make, bake and celebrate..... with Polly and Jago.' This is last year's book jam-packed full of interesting recipes and craft for you to try out.

As you might have realised, I ABSOLUTELY love these books. The projects are so simple, yet so impressive! The books really go along with the theme of my blog which is all about making each and every day a creative adventure! What I really love about the books is that there is no need for expensive craft products. I just love everything about them!

Over the next few weeks I will be blogging our makes and bakes from the books. Why not grab yourself a copy from http://www.centralbooks.co.uk and join in with us. I would love to see your makes!

See you soon!!

Dodopads

We are rapidly approaching Christmas and so I was very aware that I quickly needed to get my thoughts in order. Not just my thoughts for that matter but the stack of paperwork that was becoming a small mountain.

The fact that various important forms were spilling from the dining room chair on to the floor caused me to have a search online to see what products were available to organise my hectic life. That's when I discovered the ingenious product known simply as a 'Dodopad.'

The Dodopad in my opinion is a product that is for people who want to have an organised life and yet remain down-to-earth and keep their sense of humour. The two products which pricked up my ears were 'The Dodo Household Organiser' and the '2010 Dodopad.'

I aim to tell you a little more about the Dodopad and exactly how it lives up to its promise of 'aiding organisation and curtailing the chaos of any home.' That is a very big duty to live up to in my hectic household, so how exactly did this product work??

Its ring bound so very easy to add sheets or remove unnecessary sheets. Whilst this feature isn't unique to the Dodopad, the bright and breezy design of the cover and individual pages is.

This Dodo household stuff book is certainly 'indodispensable' to me!

As you can see from the above photo there are tabs to organise all your household woes. There is also a section dedicated to 'Vital information' which contains 50 sheets of 'indodispensable' paper. You can dedicate a sheet to whatever is troubling your muddled mind. Whether it is a work meeting you want to remind yourself about or your dreaded dentist appointment. If you just want to hide the reminder to pay that humongous Next bill you want no-one to know about, then you can do this as well! You really can banish all those scraps of unsightly paper laying about the house for good!


I wish I had been bought a book that contained a diary for birthdays a lot sooner. I always end up having to buy the most unsuitable presents because I only remember a birthday when prompted by someone the night before.

Another aspect of design which I love about this book is the pouches, you can store birthday cards or any other scraps you need to keep in order. Too often staring at a list of bills can leave you feeling deflated and depressed, but how can you feel anything but upbeat when you have the humorous quotations written on every pouch.

Another feature which I like about the Dodopad is the endless spaces for doodles. I often get off the phone and realise that it really wasn't a good idea to be doodling robots on little Gilbert's report card. Yes, this really is the ultimate of organisers - even a place for doodles. This is the family organiser for me. Even down to the last page you are invited in to the world of Lord Dodo's mindset and this is guaranteed to be a nice place to be. I feel in an odd way like I have fallen down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, where everything is quaint but amazingly exciting. This is an achievement for something that should be as humdrum and monotonous as an organiser.

And so there you go; there is my little roundup of the quirky world of Dodopad! I don't know whether you will be quite the same after using a Dodopad - it proves that business can be mixed with pleasure; and that is a very interesting fact to learn! If you think the Dodo Household Stuff Book has the capability to declutter your home and further than that; declutter your bills and birthday-filled brain then you might like to try the Dodopad 2010.

______________________________________________________________

Here's a peek at the cover. As you can see it's uniquely illustrated.

A space for everyone in your family to make a note of any commitments they might have. So that's a space for all the mundane and fun things your life might contain.
More ludicrously funny cartoons and lots of space to plan your hectic life with. What more do you need to know. Uncluttered house, uncluttered brain.......

Yoropens

Stationery alert! Stationery alert!!
I'm a self-confessed stationery-aholic and so my eyes were filled with delight when I set them upon these Yoropens. One of my fondest memories as a child was to go into the local stationers where the rows upon rows of pens, pencils and submarine shaped erasers lined the shelves and called to me to buy them. I am 27 now and my taste still hasn't changed - only I have diversified slightly as I now enjoy buying reams of craft equipment including fancy coloured pens and rubber stamps. Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about my latest find:

This pen is such a novel design - I had to have it when I saw it to try out. It claimed to:

• make writing easier
• help reduce writing strain
• be especially good for children, students, left-handers, dyspraxia and arthritis sufferers.

I first tested this pen out a few days back - I used it to entice Master Craftiness to do his homework. He shot to the table when I told him he could use it. On handling it for the first time, he informed me that it felt 'weird.' Obviously this is because it is a different design to a biro pen. If you take a look at the picture above you will see that it angles about an inch above the nib. This design enables you to actually see what you are writing and so is ideal for children learning to form their letters.

It will be interesting to see whether this design takes off, because as a nation we are all very used to the conventionally designed pen. Maybe if we were to see these pens introduced in to schools then we would see youngsters with less problems with writing. Interesting thought to ponder upon.......


Anyhow, after Master Craftiness's initial reaction of telling me it felt 'weird,' he then proceeded to write very neatly. Being a left-hander this is not something that usually comes easily to him (sorry if you are a leftie reading this, but all the lefties I have ever known have had messy writing). I observed him writing with the pen and it seemed to be easier for him to write because of the fact that he could clearly see what the pen was doing, because there was much more visual space than what you would get with a normal pen.

Another factor which I feel helped Master Craftiness was the adjustable grip on the pen. You twist the grip to the left if you are a leftie and it then encourages the correct hold on the pen.


After Master Craftiness had finished using the pen to complete his homework I retrieved the pen to have a go at writing with. I felt the same as Master Craftiness initially that it felt a little odd to hold, but after writing with the pen for five minutes my writing seemed to flow and 15 minutes later and it seemed so much easier on the joints in my hands. I tend to suffer with writers cramp as I do so much writing but this position of writing just seems so much more natural.


My verdict: A nifty little pen. Looks very modern. Comes in an array of funky colours. Biggest factor that swayed my opinion on this pen was the comfort of writing with it. And at £3.00 it hardly breaks the bank.

Available from www.penheaven.co.uk

Horrible Science 'Violent Volcano'

My son's love of learning prompted me to buy this kit whilst strolling around WHSmith. I thought it would be a great way of highlighting how much fun science can be. Whilst I was weighing up the educational content, Master Craftiness just seemed eager to put on the safety glasses and take on the role of nutty professor.

Here are the box contents:

Ingredients of the experiment:

• 1 pair of safety glasses (required to elevate child's ego and enable inner persona of nutty professor)
• Vinegar (I don't know about safety glasses but a peg for my nose would have been appreciated - phewee!)
• Bicarbonate of soda
• Plastic volcano
• Illustrations of people running away from a volcano
• Instruction sheet

The instruction sheet advised that this experiment was best done outside in case the experiment got a bit messy. However, it was a task in itself to stop the sheet flying away as it was so windy, so we opted for the safe option of doing it indoors as all the bicarbonate of soda would just have flown away.

Step 1: Put base of the volcano on tray. Create a landscape out of soil, twigs and stones. I wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of Master Craftiness bringing tons of soil in the house though so we opted for some stones to prop the 'village people' up with.

Step 2: Master Craftiness carefully poured the vinegar in and the overpowering stench filled our nostrils (no wonder the people were running for cover) but we persevered in the name of 'Horrible Science'.

Step 3: An adult assistant is needed for this step. I added one teaspoon of the bicarbonate of soda and quickly screwed on the top of the volcano crater. Immediately it started fizzing and foaming, it happened so quickly I couldn't take a photo of it as I had vinegar all over my hands.

Step 4: According to the instructions, we should have been standing back from the volcano because it was going to blow. In actual fact we didn't have time to stand back, as it was so quick reacting.

Here are the photos of the almighty eruption:

Look at the destruction - the poor people who live in those villages!

And thereby we learn the destruction a simple chemical reaction can make!


So what did Master Craftiness learn?

• Master Craftiness learnt that the volcano erupting was actually a chemical reaction. This means that one substance (the vinegar) changes when the other substance (the bicarbonate of soda) is added to it.
• Vinegar is an ACID which REACTS with the bicarbonate of soda and GAS fizzes out, making it look like the volcano is erupting.

• A real volcano forms when MAGMA (hot liquid rock) collects in a chamber deep underground. As more and more magma flows in to the chamber, pressure gradually builds up until the magma is forced upwards through a narrow tube called a VENT. Then, like a shaken lemonade bottle, the ash, magma and burning gas burst through an opening in the surface of the Earth, creating a VOLCANIC ERUPTION.
• When the magma comes out of the ground it is called LAVA.
• LAVA is composed of liquid rock which flows out of the volcano.
• LAVA can travel very quickly or so slowly you can hardly see it moving.
• A lava flow burns everything in its path, until eventually it cools down again and turns in to solid rock.
• The cooled fragments are called TEPHRA which fall back to Earth, covering everything in ash.

Things I have learnt:

• To put a peg on my nose when dealing with this much vinegar.
• To have a camera on a tripod, in timer mode to capture future disasters.
• The Stromboli volcano in Italy has been erupting for the past 2,400 years.
• The largest volcano in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars.
• There are about 1,500 active volcanoes in the world, so as you're reading this there's probably a volcano erupting somewhere.

Our opinion: This was a great little kit to illustrate how much fun science can be and we both learnt some interesting facts about volcanoes.