Brilliant baby buys Archives - A Baby on Board blog

ModiBodi Reusable Nappy Review: We Tried The New ModiBodi Washable Nappies

Gillian — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 12:12:13 +0000

Read Our ModiBodi Reusable Nappy Review Have You Heard ModiBodi Make Reusable Nappies? We Tried Them And Here’s What We Thought Calling all parents…We’ve been trying out new ModiBodi reusable nappy, which brings Modibodi’s period pant technology to the washable diaper market. ModiBodi claim the new reusable nappy is the most absorbent reusable nappy ever, holding over 1 litre of liquid leak-free while keeping babies dry and comfortable and offering 12-hour overnight protection. And there are all the obvious environmental benefits of washable nappies. Which all sounds good, right? I can vouch that the ModiBodi period pants work brilliantly – you can read all about them in my ModiBodi review – so was intrigued to see how the ModiBodi reusable nappy would fare for babies, as the premise sounds promising. As my kids are all far too big now, I borrowed a baby (my one-year-old niece and sister-in-law volunteered to review them for us. You can read more about them in my post on what it’s like having a newborn in Coronavirus lockdown). We were sent ModiBodi reusables for the purposes of this review. Why Switch To Reusable Nappies? Do you use reusables? I know they’re not for everyone, and can seen confusing and expensive, but there are so many benefits. We didn’t try cloth nappies first time round, but when Flo was a baby, we tried out TotsBots EasyFits and TotsBots Peenut nappies. We then used them alongside disposables – its important to note you don’t have to make the change completely if it’s too daunting. Even occasional use of a reusable nappy means less disposables going to landfill. However, the environmental and financial costs of disposable nappies is huge. The average baby needs 6,500 nappy changes before moving on to pants. This generates one tonne of plastic waste which takes 150+ years to break down. And while the initial outlay for reusable nappies seems high, the cost per wear comes down each time they wear them. We’ve handed our reusables down to my niece, and there’s also a thriving second hand market for cloth nappies (try Facebook for swapping groups). What Is The ModiBodi Washable Nappy Like? One of the things that confused me about reusable nappies when I was a new mum was, well, how confusing they seemed. There seemed to be so many different styles and types and folds. So in the simplest terms, the Modibodi reusable nappy is a one piece reusable, meaning it’s in one colourful, patterned piece, shaped like your typical disposable nappy, that the baby wears like a normal nappy. Each of the reusable nappies uses the Modibodi polybrush lining, which is absorbent but soft. And the lining is black – when reusable brands are white – which means stains aren’t so much of an issue. There are adjustable velcro fasteners around the waist, and poppers at the front to make it smaller or bigger, depending on the size of your baby. Which means it will last a while, and you don’t have to size up or down. You can also buy biodegradable nappy liners from the brand, as well as the ModiBodi booster – a thick wedge of fabric to insert into the nappy to add more absorbency (you’d probably use this overnight). Each nappy can be put in a normal wash, with no additional soaking or scrubbing. Our ModiBodi Reusables Review: What We Thought My sister-in-law has been using our old reusable nappies with my niece since she’s been born. So she was keen to try out the new ModiBodi nappy to see what it was like. The feedback from her so far has been good. She was impressed with: The softness of the ModiBodi cloth nappy lining, especially around the seams (other reusables have tended to rub on the baby’s legs) The black lining, which looks so much better as no stains show It’s very easy to wash them, as you can just throw them in the washing machine, there’s no soaking or scrubbing needed. The absorbency The pattern – they look pretty. So far, it’s all been good! My sister-in-law is keen to keep using them. Are There Any Negatives About The Reusable Nappy? It seems like a slightly more bulky nappy than other reusables. It’s a one-size-fits-all nappy, but you’d need a smaller size for newborns or tiny babies (or bigger babies). Obviously with all reusables there is the initial cost implication, and the washing. Although you’re probably already doing a lot of washing with a baby anyway… How Much Do The ModBodi Reusable Nappies Cost? In terms of cost, a four pack of the Modibodi reusable nappies costs £75, and you can buy individual ones for £13.00 The booster costs £13.50 and you can also buy biodegradable nappy liners for £6. Where Can You Buy The ModBodi Reusable Nappies? You can buy them from the ModiBodi website (here). Once you’ve read our ModiBodi reusable nappy review, read these posts: If you’re interested in sustainable period products, read my Lily Cup One review Or read our Bugaboo Bee review And SnuzPod bedside crib review And follow me over on Pinterest, I’m Gill_Crawshaw

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New children’s books

Gillian — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 04:00:36 +0000

Here are some new children’s books we’ve been reading…Do you ever find yourself reading the same children’s books over and over again, on repeat? (This is the story of how ‘Miffy Goes to Stay’ took an extended holiday in the cupboard when one of my children was very little. Let’s hope she never reads *this*…) It’s always a relief to mix things up from time-to-time when it comes to books, isnt it? So we were very happy to be sent a package of new children’s books books from the Junior Magazine Book Club, to read and share with everyone. I’ve picked out everyone’s favourite book and asked them to give me a mini review: E’s favourite book: Baby’s First Bank Heist by Jim Whalley. Why? ‘Because it’s funny that the baby robs a bank! I really like the pictures.’ F’s favourite book: Maisy Goes To A Wedding by Lucy Cousins (She’s a big Maisy fan already, so this was possibly slightly predictable). But why? ‘Maisy is a very good character and I like all the animals, the wedding song and the story.’ My favourite book: A Lady has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks out for Women’s Rights by Kate Hannigan. Why? In a similar vein to other recent and rightly popular feminist books, this champions a lesser-know woman who fought for the rights of women and under-privileged people. But we liked all of them…with the exception of the Maisy book they were all new-to-us authors and all slightly different…the others we enjoyed included Hello Mr Dodo by Nicolas John Frith / Cyril and Pat by Emily Gravett / Tinyville Town Time for School! By Brian Biggs / Bob’s Blue Period by Mation Denchars and They Say Blue by Jillian Tamaki. What new children’s books have you read recently? Thanks to Junior for the books…you can also read a post I wrote for it on 20 modern classic children’s books. Here are more posts.. our fireplace bookshelf makeover…IKEA spice rack bookshelves…and how to make a magnetic chalkboard wall

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Capturing our summer memories, with Snapfish metal prints

Gillian — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 20:25:42 +0000

We’ve been capturing summer memories with Snapfish metal prints We’ve been printing our summer memories with Snapfish metal prints. Who takes a million photos? And who hardly ever prints them? *Waves hands.* We’ve been working with Snapfish to help us make a physical, printed record of our memories this summer. Like, I imagine, most people, I have a phone memory that’s full of thousands of photos, but as I’m so bad at actually taking the next step to do anything about it, that’s where they stay. Sound at all familiar…?! So I thought it would be great to use Snapfish to print out our summer memories to have around the house to look at, instead of squirrelling them all away on my phone. We’re putting the finishing touches to a gallery wall in our dining / middle room – which you can see here – and I wanted some more colourful, happy prints to add in to the gaps. One of the products from Snapfish I thought would work well on our wall were the metal prints, where your photos are printed on to thin aluminium. This means each one is sturdy, stand-alone and you don’t need a frame. I picked a selection of our happy summer memories from Bournemouth Beach: Which will *hopefully* be uplifting during the dreary grey days of A/W 18. The metal pictures come in three different sizes and include a bracket you can use to hang them on the wall. As they are so light they would work well with Command Strips, which are great if you don’t want to make holes in the wall with picture hooks. The quality is great, and as they are printed on metal the pictures would also work really well in a kitchen or bathroom: I also wanted the girls to record their own memories of the summer, as I have really fond memories of working on holiday scrapbooks when I was younger. Did anyone else make these? I have vague recollections of collecting everything from napkins to ice lolly wrappers to stick in, along with detailed descriptions of what we ate each day and exactly how many times we went swimming. Step forward the Snapfish notebooks… which you can personalise with your own design, photos and captions to make each one unique. And also, stop any arguments about which one belongs to which sister. There are a couple of different notebook options, but I picked the spiral one with the cactus template design, and added a photo for each (again, both on the beach in Bournemouth). As well as uploading your own photos you can easily import ones from Facebook, Instagram and Google Photos, which makes it really easy to use from your phone. As well as having scrapbook potential, these are great-sized notebooks for drawing and writing in when you’re out and about. Back home, we’re adding in photos and fantastic works of beach-inspired art… I also took the opportunity to actually print off some photos….with Snapfish you can print square photos which are *perfect* for Instagram – again, another section of photos you never get round to printing out. As these are only 12p per print I printed loads, for both the girls to stick into their notebooks and for us to have around the house, which makes me really happy. So here’s to making a record of summer memories…if this has tempted you to get printing your own, I have a special code for 40% off everything off the site – use SUMMERFUN40 at the checkout. Happy memory printing! Thanks to Snapfish for working with us on this post and sending us these products…more posts…26 signs you’re a mum in the summer and a nostalgic look at the summers of my childhood

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How to solve your storage woes – GLTC Easy Reach Storage review

Gillian — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 04:00:07 +0000

One of the many things they don’t tell you in NCT classes is about the sheer amount of things that come along with small children. Sure, it starts off small – lovely tiny babygros and a couple of tasteful toys – but a few years and a couple of Christmasses and another child down the line it all escalates dramatically. Even with stealth, dead-of-night clearouts, parenting can involve an overwhelming avalanche of stuff. So of course, you need places to store it all. But by default, lots of storage is boringly functional and it can be hard to find furniture that is practical for both parents and children and looks good too. In a bid to solve our storage woes we’ve been testing out the Great Little Trading Company Easy Reach Storage in the grey star design (find it online here). Who else *loves* GLTC? It’s always been one of my favourite children’s brands and I’ve spent many an hour rifling through the catalogue and checking out the toy kitchens online. So I was pretty thrilled to be picked to join the GLTC Testing Team recently which means I’ll be testing out products and all sorts of exciting things (read a little bit more about it over on the GLTC blog). But back to storage…Following our loft conversion, Florence moved into Eliza’s old bedroom, which you can see in her toddler room tour. Although it’s a smallish room it used to have two giant useful cupboards which were great, but unfortunately, had to make way for the loft stairs. And as result F’s room was lacking in storage and we had more of a ‘free-range’ strategy for all for F’s stuff i.e. it was all lined up against the wall. The Easy Reach Storage is a low and wide unit, with two toy shelves that children can easily access, along with three wheeled cube drawers. These have grey star pattern and chalkboard label for you to mark on the contents (*cough* if you can’t read my writing these currently say ‘secrets’, ‘F’s toys’ and ‘small things’ *cough*). We thought it would work well for Florence as on the practical side it would store a lot of the loose toys but also make it easy for her to play as she can access everything herself – either from the low shelves or by taking out the drawers. We’ve been using the shelves to store everything from toys to books – anything that she might want to access herself. The top shelf is also proving useful for a multitude of reasons, from being an actual shelf through to a train track ramp and Barbie ‘hotel.’ The three cubes are on wheels so very easy to take out, even when they are ever-so-slightly stuffed to the top with toys. Assembly-wise, the unit comes in a flat pack, which is very easy to put together (so I’m told). At £229 the unit is not the cheapest, but it’s sturdy and well made, quality piece of furniture. And as an added bonus you can also reverse the drawers if you don’t want the star design on display, which means it can be completely neutral (meaning it would look good in other parts of the house at a later date). What we like is that it allows you to proudly display the good toys within easy reach and hide all the less-than-pretty toys in the drawers – ou know the ones I mean – as well as holding all the millions of little things too. It’s also a good aid to play as it means you can rotate the toys around at different times. It’s a practical and timeless design that’s not tied to a particular age and would be as great for a baby as is for an older child. We were sent the Easy Reach Storage Grey Star Drawers for this post as part of the GLTC Testing Team More posts…What Kirstie and Phil don’t tell you about building work, and making a felt-ball garland.

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What we’re reading: new children’s books (and a video!)

Gillian — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 21:57:19 +0000

We’ve been sent a lot of new children’s books recently which we’ve been reading over and over, including the new book from Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson. Instead of writing about them, I thought it would be fun (!) to make a book review video instead about the ones we loved the most, and the surprising one I wasn’t too keen on. What could possibly go wrong? Well, not too much – it was half term so both children wanted to be in it but got bored quickly. One of them more bored than the other, as you’ll see from her sudden mysterious lurch off camera towards the camera. Some of these books are new to us but not necessarily new, if you see what I mean. And we were sent them all from the publishers apart from the Kate Pankhurst which we bought (so thank you!) The books are: The Giant Jumperee by Julia Donaldson and Helen Oxenbury / Grumpy Frog by Ed Vere / Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World by Kate Pankhurst / Loo Queue by Nicholas Allan / My Sister is Bigger than Me by Kate Morgan and Lisa Stubbs and Peppa goes to London More posts…the story of my life aka the hidden perils of picking the bedtime boo / How not to do bedtime / Five lies and one truth Topsy and Tim taught me about life

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Bugaboo Bee 5 Review – Five Reasons It’s The Perfect Mini City Stroller

Gillian — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 04:55:24 +0000

Read Our Bugaboo Bee 5 Review Thinking Of Buying A Bugaboo Stroller? We’ve Been Trying Out The Bugaboo Bee 5 – Here’s Why It’s A Perfect Mini City Stroller The Bugaboo Bee buggy has been given a makeover, and we’ve been trying it out over the past few weeks for our Bugaboo Bee 5 review. So how did we get on with the new model of the city pram from Bugaboo; is it still the queen bee of lightweight, urban prams? The Bugaboo Bee 5: First Impressions Of The City Stroller The Bugaboo Bee 5 is small, light and designed for urban use (the full spec and details are here). With over 100 different parts there are some significant changes with the new Bee 5 from the last version and we’ve been putting it through its paces for the past few weeks before it went on general sale at the start of the month. I was genuinely excited to be asked to try it out as we’ve been long-time Bugaboo fans. We bought the Bugaboo Bee+ as our first pram – during my first pregnancy – which is scarily nearly six years ago now – because we wanted a pram that was small, light and would work well on public transport as we didn’t have a car (most people I knew in London had one for those reasons). And it’s worked really well for us. Our original Bee has lasted us from the newborn stage – where we used it in rear-facing mode, with the soft cocoon and with the car seat clipped in – through to front facing fully-sitting-up toddler-mode, and then again for our second baby, with the buggy board. As I always use the Bee as the benchmark for any other prams we try, when we were offered the Bugaboo Bee 5 review I was intrigued by the changes and if it could still measure up to its predecessor. Our Bugaboo Review; What’s New With The Bugaboo Bee 5: So what’s new with the Bugaboo Bee 5? As well as retaining many of the brilliant original features there’s several different ones too. Here’s the buzz on what’s different (#dadjoke): The Bee 5 has improved front wheels and suspension and an extra-padded seat, for a smoother push and a more comfortable ride. This has made the biggest difference to us – more on that later The seat extends longer (meaning it will last longer for super-tall children) Improved straps; there’s still a five point harness safety harness but now has four separate straps to clip in rather than just two Changes to the frame and fabric – there’s a bigger hood with a zipped extension section, leather handle and integrated attachment points for the pram accessories. And an all-important pocket for the rain cover More options to customise the colours of the fabric and wheels. We were sent the grey fabric design, which I love – if this had been around when we bought ours this is the colour we would have gone for. Bugaboo set us a series of challenges with the Bee (taking it to the city, out to a cafe and to some new places in our area). And as well all of these it has it’s been everywhere with us, from the school run and the everyday crawl to the shop as well as on the bus, train, tube and overground train. It’s been out to lunch, in to museums and even gone 135 metres over London on the London Eye. Bugaboo Bee 5: The Best Bits Of This Mini City Stroller So after our extensive Bugaboo Bee 5 review over the past few weeks, here’s what we thought and five of the stand-out reasons why it’s – still – the perfect city pram for us: It’s light: 8.7kg in fact. The Bee has always been Buagboo’s lightweight mini city stroller and the new Bugaboo Bee 5 is no different. Why is having a lightweight pram important? If you use a pram around towns or cities it’s likely you’ll need to carry it at some point, be that in shops or up and down station steps as a lot of stations don’t have step-free access (I’m looking at YOU, Victoria Underground Station. And most of the London transport network). The Bugaboo Bee is designed so you can carry it easily and I can really do this, even with a toddler in it at the moment. It is easy to use on public transport: Again, this is important because we use public transport to get around. The Bugaboo Bee 5 is small enough that it’s easy to get on and off the bus, tubes and trains, thin enough that it can fit on the aisle and easy to park without blocking and the aisle (especially with the adjustable handle). You can easily fit it in the back of a black cab, too. If you need to fold it on public transport – or anywhere else, like when we went on the London Eye – there’s a simple fold mechanism. It doesn’t fold as compactly as an umbrella fold, but the handle means it’s easy to carry around on your shoulder. It’s small: The Bugaboo Bee 5 is a narrow pram that fits down bus aisles and into pram parks and around shops and in restaurants and coffee shops (this is important as you’ll probably spend a lot of time doing this when you first have a baby. Yet I’ve always found the Bee shopping basket to be big enough to cram in all the stuff and it’s even – miraculously – slightly bigger on the Bee5. It handles really well: The Bee has always steered one-handed and had good suspension (which is great for London pavements) but the improved suspension on the Bugaboo Bee 5 is the biggest difference I noticed. It handles curbs, steps and bumps in the road so much easier. Which is good if you have a sleeping baby you don’t want to wake up and […]

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Thanks for the Miffy memories

Gillian — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 04:51:03 +0000

I was really sad to read about the death of Dick Bruna, creator of the Miffy books. He’d written and illustrated 124 books over 60 years, including 32 Miffy books, which are now published in more than 50 languages and have sold over 85 million copies worldwide. The books are a testament to the power of simplicity; the line drawings and bold colours of the Miffy drawings and universal themes of the books have meant she’s been a timeless classic for years. And Iike so many other people, I love Miffy. When asked to explain his success, Dick Bruna said ‘I think it is because I spend as long as possible, throwing lots away…Every shape captures the imagination and I leave plenty of space for children’s imagination.’ How amazing is that? And what a legacy; I can’t imagine knowing that you’ve had such an impact on the lives of so many children. Did you love Miffy? Which was your favourite? For such a small rabbit, she made a big impression on me; Miffy is woven into the fabric of my life and is the maker of many memories (and blog posts!). So from all of us, thanks Dick Bruna, and here’s three of my Miffy memories: Miffy and the new baby: For my 21st birthday my parents gave me the box set of Miffy as a jokey nostalgia present to remind me of my childhood love. Through many years of house moves I somehow managed to hold on to the books, as well as my original copy of Miffy’s Birthday, and little did I know that I would read these with my children years later. They’ve actually been really useful – like Topsy and Tim, there’s a Miffy book to hold a mirror to pretty much every pre-school emotion or event. Although Miffy and the new baby is light on the biological details of how siblings arrive, it was in heavy rotation when I was pregnant with the baby – here (and was also useful when I FaceTimed my parents to tell them the news and my mum managed to miss all my subtle hints until I showed her the book we were currently reading). Miffy Milestones: We were sent a set of Miffy Milestone cards when Florence was born (the cards that depict a different baby milestone on each). I had great plans to take so many photos with these and then promptly forgot, although they did make a guest appearance here. Sorry, second child. However, I did remember for the honour of her first weaning session, where she took BLW to extremes by munching on the card shortly after this photo was taken (for this post on the secret reason we love BLW). Miffy and the…too much Miffy: Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Eliza quickly latched on to Miffy Comes to Stay, and we read it so many times, on so many occasions. Even now, it’s a memory I’ll never forget as I can still recite it by heart. Eventually, it went on a long extended break into the ‘secret cupboard’ and we moved on to the others instead. Photo from my post on how not to do bedtime…More posts…everything I learned from Judy Blume and the politics of Paw Patrol

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Graco Modes 3 Lite Trio Review: We Try A New 3-In-1 Travel System

Gillian — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 21:59:13 +0000

If You’re Looking For A Travel System, Read Our Graco Modes 3 Lite Review Have you heard about the new Graco Modes 3 Lite Trio? It’s a brand new three-in-one travel system, suitable from birth to 15kg, that comes with the Graco SnugRide first stage infant car seat, baby carrycot and toddler seat all as part of the package. Sounds intriguing, and in an impressive display of pram-product Tetris, it all arrives in one box. Here’s Our Graco Modes 3 Lite trio review: We’re working with Graco and our next review is of the Graco Modes 3 Lite Trio; so what did we think? Firstly, What Type Of Pram Is The Graco Modes 3 Lite? The Graco Modes 3 Lite Trio is a three-wheeled travel system that offers up to seven different modes of travel, from the car seat through to rear-facing and forward facing seat It’s suitable up to about three years old. It has a five-point safety harness, FastAction one second fold (really…more on this later) It also has ClickConnect technology to make it easy to add and remove the various seat configurations. Testing Out The Modes 3 Lite Trio Having a two-year-old we’re well past the baby carry cot and car seat stage – you can see them in the video – so we’ve been testing it out with the forward facing stroller mode. Although the two-year-old was having a ‘no photos’ day, hence her older sister stepping in… As part of our Graco Modes 3 Lite Trio review, we filmed an unboxing video of us taking everything out and assembling the pram. So what’s in the box and how easy is it to assemble? (More about our Pokemon Christmas jumpers here!). How Easy Was The Graco Pram To Assemble? The Graco Modes 3 Lite was reasonably easy to assemble – the biggest issue we had was with the back wheels, which were fairly fiddly and took a while for us to get right. But apart from that it is easy to assemble and also to change the configurations (the seat / cot / car seat clips in to the frame). What We Liked From Our Graco Modes 3 Lite Trio Review: The FastAction Fold: An amazing design feature is the fold on the pram. It is SO simple – you just pull the fabric lever that’s on the seat – and quick, it folds in seconds, actual seconds. Considering it’s taken me an embarrassingly long while to master the fold on most of the prams we’ve had this is a big bonus (I demonstrate this at the end of the video, so make sure you watch!). The shopping basket: It’s huge! I know there’s more to prams than the shopping basket but it makes life easier (especially in those days when going to the shop is all you do). The colour scheme: I’m not a massive fan of patterned prams and so this simple design is perfect. The design: For a travel system it’s pretty light – even with the toddler seat in – but still really sturdy. And it’s still comfortable, though – both girls liked the deep, padded seat and even my very tall four-year-old who is way past pram age could sit in it. What We Didn’t Like About Our Graco Modes 3 Pram Review: A big sticking point for us is the big back wheel span. We live in a standard-sized Victorian terrace house and the pram only just fits down our hall; we also really struggled to get it in and out of the front door unless it was at an awkward angle. The bus is usually our litmus test for prams and I wouldn’t take the Graco Modes 3 Lite on unfolded as the back wheels are too wide to fit comfortably down the aisle and it would take up most of the pram space. The handle height: You can’t adjust the handle so it’s permanently at one height. I’d expect than on an umbrella fold but not a travel system. The cup holder: I’m not a massive fan of this as a permanent feature on any pram. On the Graco car seats the cup holder is removable, which I think would be a better pram feature. Although saying that the girls loved this most of all: But the biggest plus point is the price. It retails at £389 for *everything.* Considering most people buy a pram then pay extra for the car seat, car seat adapters, carry cot, foot muff and so on, this is really good value for money. As in our Graco Milestone review, we liked the fact this is a baby product that will last your child a lot longer without you having to buy any additional extras. It’s sturdy and light for a travel system. and the fold is make-your-life-easier fantastic. You’d get the greatest benefit buying this from birth so you can use the car seat and carrycot (it would be a waste to buy this as a stand-alone stroller for a toddler). But if you’re looking for a more budget-friendly pram or travel system that doesn’t compromise on features – and you don’t have small hallways – then this is a really good option. More info on the Graco website. If you liked our Graco Modes 3 Lite Trio review then read our Quinny Moodd review, tips for using public transport in London with a pram, how to get a baby on board badge and post-natal depletion – do you have it?

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Brilliant children’s Christmas books (that adults will love too)

Gillian — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 12:32:14 +0000

Children’s Christmas books! Combining books, Christmas, reading and childhood nostalgia; what’s not to love? Here’s some ideas for brilliant children’s books for Christmas that grown-ups will love too. While I’ve temporarily misplaced my love of reading books for myself, there’s always time for more children’s books and Christmas books are a big part of the festive season for us. Growing up we always read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve so it’s something we do now and I’ve just ordered this childhood favourite – and this slightly younger version – to start a new / old tradition from this year. We’ve been sent four books that would be great to give as gifts or read on or around Christmas. So here’s four brilliant children’s books for Christmas (that adults will love too). Make sure you also read my posts on the hidden perils of picking the bedtime book and everything I learned from Judy Blume. My Kingdom Books personalised books My Kingdom children’s books are really clever interactive books where the story is personalised to your child’s name… And in a clever technological twist, come alive with the help of your iPad: The book tells the tale of a Princess – or Prince – who lives in a kingdom where a wicked witch has stolen all the fun *shock horror*. She has to go on a quest to get it back, meeting characters along the way who spell out ‘her’ name (you child’s name). And using the My Kingdom iPad app the story is animated and props, building, characters and letters come alive. It uses the same technology as Pokemon Go, another massive favourite in our house, so this has been a big hit. Children absolutely love anything with their name in, don’t they? So the personalisation aspect is lovely (and also helps younger children with spelling). At the moment the only aspect you can personalise is the name and choice of prince or princess, but being able to change the appearance, especially skin colour, would be a good future addition to the story to make it inclusive for everyone. The story really works and would be brilliant for children who are more into technology than reading as a way to hook them in, as it really adds an extra dimension. What’s also good is that it doesn’t rely totally on the iPad and works as stand-alone story too. Definitely one for gadget-loving mums and dads (and their children). V&A Fashion Mash-up book Spoiler alert, I LOVE this book, possibly more than my children do, and they love it an awful lot. It is many, many things, all of them fashionably brilliant. If you’re a fan of The September Issue then you will love this. The Fashion Mash-up book is a history of fashion (with images from the V&A museum archive) along with stylish quotes, photos, push-out paper dolls that you can colour in or dress up to play with and millions of stickers. There are also Instagram backgrounds for you (*ahem* your child) to pose your dolls in front of and take photos. Written by fashion blogger Isabelle O’Carolle and illustrated by Daisy Villeneuve, it looks fantastic and is fantastic and works for so many different ages on so many different levels. It costs around £15, buy it here. Otto the Book Bear in the Snow (by Katie Cleminson) Spoiler alert, this is brilliant too! We’ve not read any of the Otto books before, but oh MY – we all loved this one. It’s a book about the magic of books and reading, which is pretty magical. It’s about a book bear called Otto who lives with his book in the library, along with fellow book bear Ernest (!). They love nothing more than their book being read, but when it – and they – gets taken out of the library pretty close to Christmas they worry that they will miss the library Christmas party. What follows is a quest of epic, LOTR proportions wrapped up in a wintery-themed children’s book with beautiful illustrations as they battle against fate and the elements to make in time for the party. We thought this was really brilliant. To quote the Manic Street Preachers (because why not), libraries gave us power – and Otto is a total hero for the modern day and being wrapped up in this story is an anecdote for currently wordly woes. Buy it here. I’m also going to get the first Otto book for the girls (/ me) for Christmas. The Snowman And finally, it wouldn’t be Christmas without The Snowman would it? This is the classic of all children’s Christmas books. We watch the cartoon every Christmas (and the slightly cheerier Snowman and the Snowdog) but the book is no less beautiful and doesn’t age at all. I always forget that it’s pictures-only, no words, which make it more imaginative. Warning: the ending doesn’t get any less brutal the older you get and no matter how frozen your heart is. Buy it here. P.S. it’s not too early! We watched our first Christmas film – Home Alone – a few weeks ago…although we don’t tend to get our tree until mid-December, what about everyone else? We were sent all these books for the purpose of this review, all options are my own. Contains affiliate links. More posts – easy children’s Christmas decorations, how to toddler-proof Christmas and an alternative gift guide for mums

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A brilliant tip for Do You Know? fans

Gillian — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 04:05:09 +0000

I LOVED all the love that *everyone* seems to have for Do You Know? (the CBeebies science show explaining about how things work, I wrote about motherhood mysteries I’d like Do You Know to answer). And I now have a brilliant tip for Do You Know? fans of the show – and their children… The show is hosted by the wonderous Maddie Moate and if you send a stamped, addressed envelope – blast from the past! – to Maddie’s agent, details here, they will send you a signed Christmas photo of her. I know two children that would be so happy to get one of these. Thanks so much to Gemma for sharing this tip for Do You Know fans on my A Baby on Board Facebook page. You can also check out Maddie’s YouTube channel here. Amazing stuff. Make sure you catch up on recent posts on Barbie and Feminism and our trip to Dreamland Margate. And this old one about being a less-than-perfect mum.

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