Review: Chalkola Marker Pens

20/11/201911/01/2024 Lisa 2 Comments

Getting Creative with Chalkola Marker Pens

Following on from our previous review of Chalkola Marker Pens we were sent a new Bumper Set which includes some pretty funky colours such as AstroTurf Green and Pink Lemonade, and we weren’t disappointed.

A black board with hearts all in different colours drawn using Chalkola pens

What can you use Chalkola Markers for?

Chalkola Marker Pens can be used in loads of different ways. Pubs and Restaurants can use them to create stunning Specials Boards, and there are loads of ways for you to use them at home.

The Chalkola markers are so easy to use. Activate the nibs by giving the pen a shake and pressing down so that the colour comes through. The colours are so vibrant and fluid so you can get really creative.

What can you use Chalkola Markers on?

As well as being able to use the markers on a blackboard they can be used on glass, whiteboards or any other non-porous surface.

They’re easy to remove using a wet cloth or even a wetwipe ready to use again.

We were sent the pack of 30 which has some amazingly named colours such as Beetle Bug Green, Lake Green and Pink Lemonade.

We used the markers to create a Trick or Treat sign for Halloween which I thought was quite effective with our bowl of sweets, and Isabelle likes to create different designs and display the chalkboard in her bedroom.

We also used the markers to decorate Freddie’s mini pumpkin which looked amazing.

Other ways you could use the makers would be for writing up meal plans, shopping lists or messages.

The markers are both child safe and odour free. The dustless, non toxic formula is both eco-friendly and safe for use at home. There are different tips available depending what you want to use them for.

There are a range of different pack sizes and colour options. We used the 30 pack which were a mixture of classic and neon colours, retailing at £22.95.

Our Thoughts

We were already fans of the Chalkola markers as they can be used in so many ways. They last a long time which is great to know as a parent. Isabelle isn’t the best at putting the lids back on pens, and thankfully these don’t dry up which is also plus point.

Isabelle uses these for playing teachers with her dolls and teddies and is very happy using these. They wash off really easily and we’ve had no problem with the markers staining clothing or carpets.

The Chalkola Marker Pens get a huge thumbs up from us.

*we were sent a set of Chalkola Marker Pens for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a small payment if you purchase by clicking on this link at no extra cost to you.

Personalised Kids Stationery from GiftPup

13/10/201911/01/2024 Lisa 3 Comments

Back to School with Personalised Kids Stationery

It literally feels like the kids have only just gone back to school, yet here we are edging our way to yet another school holiday. Isabelle’s school do things a bit different in that they lump all the teacher training days together so that we end up with a two week break instead of one.

In some ways it’s great but not so much if you’re looking for holiday club type childcare which doesn’t exist during the first week. Thankfully this isn’t an issue for us, and it does mean you can have an October break a bit cheaper if you go in the first week.

Personailsed Kids Stationery from GiftPup the online personalised gift shop. They offer a great selection of kids stationery perfect for getting the kds back to school

Starting Year 4

Isabelle went into year 4 in September which, as with every new school year she gets quite anxious about everything from not liking her teacher to who she’s going to be sat next to.

Being in year 4 means that there’s less play and more work, but there are also some perks like being able to take your own pencil case. Isabelle, like me is a magpie to stationery and loves everything from gorgeous notebooks to pastel coloured paperclips.

A couple of weeks before she went back to school she got her bag ready and not one, not two but THREE pencil cases full of pens, pencils, erasers and highlighters. There was enough to supply the whole class so we had to come to a bit of a compromise with the amount she was allowed to take.

Personalised Unicorn stainless steel water bottle is great for making sure the kids stay hydrated whilst at school. It can be easily clipped onto their schoolbag and as it's personalised should be easily identifiable

Personalised Stationery is the way to go

Obviously as parents we encourage sharing, but there have been many occasions when some of her things have been borrowed by her classmates and not returned so either name label stickers or better still personalised stationery is a great way of things not ‘going missing’.

Isabelle was kindly gifted some personalised stationery from GiftPup who do a range of gifts for every occasion and can be personalised as an added touch. I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that all kids love things with their own name on it and even better if it features a unicorn on it.

We received a set of twelve white glittery rubber topped pencils that are personalised with Isabelle’s name. They came in a white presentation box all sharpened and it was very satisfying to see twelve unused pencils all lined up, must be the stationery lover in me.

Isabelle still does the majority of her work in pencil since she has yet to gain her pen license (ridiculous if you ask me) and does a lot of drawing at home so we’ve always got a lot of need for pencils. She has been particularly precious about these pencils and likes to keep them in the box all nice and neat.

We were also sent a Unicorn Notebook which says ‘Isabelle was born to ride unicorns”. She is going to use the notebook to keep note of the books that she reads at home so that she can do the online quiz at school which increases her reading level.

Personalised kids water bottle and notebook. Perfect for going back to school

Personalised Water Bottle

As well as the notebook and pencils we were sent a Personalised Water Bottle in keeping with the unicorn theme. I think this was our favourite thing since water bottles seem to disappear off the face of the earth on a regular basis. It’s an aluminium bottle which comes with two lids. A screw top drinking cap and and a hand carabiner clip which could be clipped onto a school bag. It’s a nice size (600ml) so perfect for taking to school.

A Little bit about GiftPup

GiftPup offers a range of Personalised Gifts for Men, Women and Children for all occasions from the Birth of a Baby to a Wedding Celebration.

To help you decide on your gift there are a range of options to choose from including gender, budget and the relationship of the person you’re buying for. This narrows down your search and helps you choose a gift they will enjoy.

There’s loads to choose from so pop over and have a browse.

Our Thoughts

Isabelle was very pleased with the items she received. She’s totally into unicorns and her name being on everything is just the icing in the cake. As a Mum, it’s great having things for school that stand out from her friends stuff, and less stuff to label is even better.

Our favourite item is the water bottle which is a great size and has been keeping her drinks cool which is great. Isabelle loves that it can clip onto her bag!

*We were sent some items for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Cortex Challenge Game Review

28/07/201911/01/2024 Lisa

Cortex Challenge Game Review – Cortex Challenge is a card based game for 2 – 6 players of eights years and above. As part of the Blogger Board Game Club we were sent a copy to see what we think.

What’s Inside?

74 Challenge Cards
10 Touch and Feel Cards
6 Touch Challenge Cards
24 Brain Pieces

The game is quite a small box which when added to our growing collection is a bonus. It also means that it’s a great choice for taking on holiday.

The Aim of the Game

Cortex Challenge is a game of fast thinking, memory and speed skills. The cards have eight different challenges on them including touch, duplicates, logical series, mazes, and colour puzzle just to name a few.

The top card is turned over for all players to see. The first person to work out the task has to slap their hand on the card and explain the answer/puzzle to earn themselves a piece of brain.

The winner is the person to collect all four brain pieces.

Our Thoughts

This is definitely a game for us. The puzzles and challenges are really fun and Isabelle is annoyingly quick at working out the puzzles and the touch cards were really good, but hard to work out.

A bonus is that this game only takes around 20 minutes to play so can be played whilst dinner is cooking or when we have a bit of spare time.

Cortex Challenge retails at £12.99 which I thought was very reasonably priced and can be bought from all major game retailers.

Cortex Challenge gets a BIG thumbs up from us!

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As part of the Blogger Board Game Club we also reviewed Get Packing and Ticket to Ride Europe.

*We were sent a copy of Cortex Challenge for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Little Brian Face Paint Sticks Review

04/07/201911/01/2024 Lisa 9 Comments

Little Brian Face Paint Sticks Review – All kids seem to love having their face painted and Isabelle is no different. We’ve stood in endless queues at fetes, fairs and school events so she can be transformed into a Butterfly or Unicorn.

When we were asked to review Little Brian Face Paint Sticks we were more than a little but excited. I was slightly worried that my actual face painting expertise might look more like a five year old armed with their Mums make-up bag but was willing to give it a go.

Little Brian Face Paint Sticks

We’re not new to the Little Brian range. We’ve reviewed both the Little Brian Paint Sticks and the Little Brian Fabric Paint Sticks which were both a big hit.

The Little Brian Face Paint Sticks come in a pack of twelve which retail at £9.99.

They look like marker pens and twist up like a glue stick, and it looks like we’re going to get quite a few faces out of them. The idea is that you can create the faces by using the face paint sticks like using a pen, so drawing on their faces.

We were given the challenge to create a Ladybird, a Dragon and we opted to have a go at the Unicorn. The set comes with a sheet which gives you step by step instructions on how to create twelve different faces from a Dog to a Tiger.

The Ladybird

I created the Ladybird using the face paint sticks as per the instructions. The paint glides on the face nicely, but it is quite tricky to do the smaller, detailed parts so I opted to use a paint brush with a little bit of water.

The Dragon

The paints are very quick drying which is perfect for kids with no patience like Isabelle. I love that the colours are as bright as they should be and were very easy to wash off.

The Unicorn

Isabelle is keen to give the Face Paint Sticks a go on her own, and I feel quite confident that she would be able to use these with minimal mess.

Our Thoughts

All in all these Face Paint Sticks would be a great buy to use at a birthday party or just to do on a lovely sunny day. The colours are lovely and bright, and apart from a little help for details with a brush they were extremely easy to use. The Face Paint Sticks get a big thumbs up from us.

*we were sent a set of Little Brian Face Paint Sticks for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own.

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Basic Fun Easter Gift Review

14/04/201926/05/2020 Lisa 12 Comments

Basic Fun Easter Gift Review

?????Basic Fun Easter Gift Review – I know that we’ve already done an alternative Easter Gift Review but when we were offered the opportunity to receive some Basic Fun items that would be suitable as Easter Gifts we jumped at the chance.

Let me tell you why – Retro My Little Pony!

Need I say more!

Basic Fun Easter Gifts - If you're looking for an inexpensive alternative to chocolate for the littles this Easter then here are a few from Basic Fun that I'm sure your kids would love to receive

The My Little Ponies that Isabelle plays with whilst are lovely, are not the My Little Pony’s that my sister and I played with as kids. Nowadays, the ponies have far more features, are slimmed down and the range is huge, but they were the must have toy and you were lucky if you had one.

We did also get a Little Lucky Lunchbox and a Cutetitos so lets not get too nostalgic.

Little Lucky Lunchbox

We hadn’t seen these before so Isabelle was super keen to get this cracked open to see what was inside.

The Little Lucky Lunchbox is a cute metal lunchbox which varies in design (so also collectible) and each lunchbox contains two foodie friends and two secret surprises. There are ten different lunchboxes to collect and 50 different surprises to collect. These retail for £6.99 from Amazon and other retailers and are suitable from 4+ years.

What we got

Oh Isabelle does love a surprise toy. The sight of the checklist is enough to send her over the edge with excitement!!

We got an Orange Bubble can where the lid pops off so you can hide things inside and a squishy Taco which had a little blind bag hiding inside it.

The two surprise gifts were a Foodie Friends Sticker which is a Blackberry and the other surprise was a little Pig.

Isabelle really loved the Lunchbox and it’s contents since it’s the perfect size to use as play food for some of her other toys. She’s already added this to her extensive list of ‘wants’.

Cutetito

This is Isabelle’s second Cutetito, she also has Luckito the cat which she loves.

Each Cutetitos comes wrapped like a burrito with the foil wrapper like you would get from a street food seller. Unwrap the burrito to reveal which of the Cutetio bunch you will get.

This time we got: Chihuahito the dog!

She’s purple and is Medium Spice which I think Isabelle would be able to handle.

This revelation has sparked up the old ‘can I have a dog’ question for Isabelle as she would like to have her own dog that she can carry around and a chihuahua is currently top of her list. Never mind that we already have a lovely dog, albeit a big and hairy and certainly not one you can carry around.

Isabelle likes to keep her Cutetitos in their wraps so they look like they’re in sleeping bags.

My Little Pony Retro

I saved the best til last, in my opinion. Isabelle was quite intrigued to see what kind of toys I used to play with in the olden days. Cheeky Monkey! A My Little Pony Retro…….

???????She noticed straight away that the pony has fatter legs and is bigger than the ponies that she has. She loved that it had lovely colourful hair and that it came with a comb which I’m not sure mine did.

The names are different which I’m not aware of when these changed. Isabelle recieved Confetti which she absolutely loves.

What chocolate alternatives are you getting for your kids?

Lisa

*we were sent these items for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. This post contains affiliate links.

Lets go fly a kite – Kitedrone Kites

20/03/201929/01/2024 Lisa 10 Comments

Lets go fly a kite – Kitedrone Kites

Lets go fly a kite up where the air is bright! Did you know that the 8th February marks National Kite Flying Day where kite flying enthusiasts head outside and hope for some fantastic wind.

Kitedrone is the ultimate range of high performance kites all set to transform the skies into a colourful spectacle this Spring! The impressive range of kites are supplied in their own transport tube and are available in both Aircraft and Twinstar styles and are all super-easy to assemble and launch up to 300 feet in the air.

Kitedrone offer a fab range of brightly coloured easy to assemble kites that can achieve amazing heights.

Did you know that kites date back to China in 470 B.C. and the history of the origins relate to the way the wind affects the leaves on the trees, te shelters the people lived in and the blowing of the sails on their ship and the hats they wore upon their heads.

Everybody can enjoy a kite from keen enthusiasts to a fun free family activity.

Kitedrone Kites

Kitedrone is the ultimate range of high performance kites all set to transform the skies into a colourful spectacle this Spring! The impressive range of kites are supplied in their own transport tube and are available in both Aircraft and Twinstar styles and are all super-easy to assemble and launch up to 300 feet in the air.

Kitedrone offer two shapes of kite, the traditional Box Style kite which is ready to go with a quick one step assembly and can be hooked up to a Go-pro to record your flights.

The Aircraft style kite requires no assembly and has an impressive 5ft wingspan. Air pockets in the body inflate the fuselage and engine pods to increase flying performance giving the ultimate flying experience.

Both kites comes in a transport tube which makes it perfect for putting in and out of the car and storing. Kitedrone kites are just £29.99 and can be used time and again.

We were gifted a Kitedrone Buster Fusionwing in Camo print to see what we thought.

We headed to the site of the Exmouth Kite Festival which we went to last year. Its a large open space right next to the estuary which is the perfect spot for flying. we weren’t the only ones with the same idea as we saw families and groups unloading kites, windsurfing gear and surfing gear.

We were thoroughly impressed when we took the kite out of the tube and apart from attaching the spool it was ready to go. It was a lot bigger than I expected, but was a cool shape and we were excited to give it a go. It looked well made even with our inexpert eyes.

It was hilarious watching Isabelle and Chris getting the kite in the air. Watching Isabelle being pulled along as the wind took the kite was so funny, but she soon got the hand of letting out the string and it went really high looping and soaring.

We all had a turn and I was quite surprised at how strong the pull was when I had a go. Freddie observed from the comfort of his pram and was happy sat watching.

I would say that we spent a good couple of hours flying the kite before everybody got a bit hungry and cold.

Our Thoughts on the Kitedrone Kite

We really enjoyed ourselves. The kite itself was well made and easy to use straight out of the tube. We spent a good couple of hours running around flying, taking it in turns which was a lot of fun.

I would definitely recommend the Kitedrone kites for a fun and free activity (aside the initial cost) which gets the family outside and running about.

Next time were going to make it a bit of a family thing and go with some of the cousins which will be a fun day for Isabelle.

Lisa x

*we were gifted a Kitedrone Kite for the purpose of this review. This post contains affiliate links.

Lollipets Interactive Pets Review

01/03/201926/05/2020 Lisa 11 Comments

Lollipets Interactive Pets Review

Lollipets Interactive Pets Review – Have you seen the latest interactive pets from Spinmaster. With 20 characters to collect including mice, elephants and rabbits.

Isabelle was asked to review a selection of the Lollipets which she was very excited about. We received:

Hazel the dog from Cake Pop Coast, Smushy the Mouse from Marshmallow Meadows and Echo the Elephant from Cake Pop Coast.

The single packs retail at £7.99 and the double packs at £14.99 which I thought was a reasonable price.

What are Lollipets?

Lollipets are the latest collectible interactive toys from Spinmaster. Each pet comes with its own lollipop which is used to control the pet:

Holding the lollipop in front of the pet will make them chase it.

Hover the lollipop above the pet to see them hop.

Chase them with the lollipop from behind.

Make them dodge the lollipop by holding it to their side.

They also interact with other pets by giving them a kiss.

You can switch the pets on and off by a switch underneath, and they can be paired to their lollipop which sticks magnetically when you put them away.

The pets are small enough that you can take them with you to keep the kids entertained.

Our Thoughts

Isabelle loves the Lollipets and was very pleased in particular to receive the elephant which she’d hoped to get.

Freddie took a keen interest in these and now that he’s crawling there’s no stopping him from chasing them.

Isabelle played with these a lot over the half-term and when her friend came to stay they each chose one to look after. They now live in her princess castle when she’s not playing with them.

From a parents point of view I thought these were a great toy and something you could stash away in the birthday box for upcoming birthday parties. They’re reasonable priced as well.

What collectibles are your kids covering at the moment?

Lisa

*we were sent a selection of Lollipets for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Off the Hook Dolls Review

28/02/201911/01/2024 Lisa

Off the Hook Dolls Review

Off the Hook Dolls Review – when we were asked to review a selection of Off the Hook Dolls by Spinmaster, Isabelle screamed with delight. She’d seen them advertised on TV and had already made us aware that she would like some of these for her birthday ( September) and Christmas!

Off the Hook Dolls are interchangeable dolls that you can take apart to create your own stylish looks just by pulling them apart and clicking into place, including the hair.

The individual Off the Hook doll sets (RRP £7.99) come with a doll and two surprise blind bag style packages which can include fun accessories such as hats, sunglasses, shoes and bags.

We were sent the Off the Hook Style Studio (RRP £19.99) which comes with a doll, six outfit options and six accessories, four of which come as a surprise ‘blind bag’ style.

This gives you the option to mix and match over 100 combinations. The Style Studio wardrobe has hanging space for both tops and bottoms as well as spaces to places shoes and accessories.

There are six Off The Hook girls to collect – Jenni, Vivian, Alexis, Naia, Mila and Brooklyn.

There’s also a checklist so that you can keep track of all the outfits and accessories that you have.

Isabelle has had a lot of fun creating lots of different style combinations. Of course all of the dolls have been given American accents. She’s really into making fake You Tube videos and these are the perfect toy for this.

Our Thoughts

From my point if view as a mum I can’t fault this collection. They’re affordable, have lots of appeal for my daughters age range of eight and are affordable to buy for your own children or to give as gifts.

Of course my opinion means nothing unless its followed by a big thumbs up from Isabelle which the Off the Hook Dolls whole heartedly get! She loved setting up the wardrobe, the dolls and all the accessories. They’re also small enough that she took her entire collection to Nanny and Papa’s to play with when we went for dinner, and her friends have also taken a keen interest. The blind bags that came with the sets with additional accessories were the icing on the cake for Isabelle who is obsessed with surprise gifts.

*We were sent a selection of Off the Hook dolls for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Guinness World Record Challenge Game Review

18/12/201825/01/2024 Lisa

Guinness World Record Challenge Game Review

Guinness World Record Challenge Game Review – Hands up if you have a Guinness World Record book. The book full of weird and wonderful facts. Many of them unbelievable or a bit cringy like the longest ever finger nails.

We used to buy Ryan the Guinness World Records book every Christmas and he would sit reading out all the strangest facts that he could find.

Guinness World Records Challenges Game

We played this with Isabelle who is really looking forward to playing again on Christmas Day with her big brother who will be with us. Any chance to make him do silly things.

Isabelle’s first challenge was to stack as many coins on her bent elbow as possible. I thought that she wouldn’t be able to do this but she was surprisingly good and managed to stack five before they fell off.

We all had a go at the back to front hand clap challenge which was a lot of fun.

This game puts players knowledge about Guinness World Records to the test and challenges opponents to demonstrate some nifty record- breaking skills using everyday household items!

Included in the game are the board, 20 challenge cards (10 best time and 10 timed challenges), 150 Guinness World Record cards with 600 questions including some amazing records, a score pad, counters, dice and a ping pong ball. The aim of the game is to collect three challenge cards to be crowned the winner.

Its amazing just reading the world records alone and here are a few that caught Isabelle’s eye:

Most Modelling Balloon Sculptures Made In One Hour – John Cassidy (USA) made 747 balloon shapes in just one hour at Buck County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA on 14 November 2007.

Most M&M’s Eaten in One Minute Blindfolded using Chopsticks – On 8 December 2011, Ashrita Furman (USA) at 20 M&M’s in 60 seconds while blindfolded in New York, USA.

Largest Pizza Commercially Available – The Giant Sicilian has on sale at Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizzeria in Los Angeles, California, USA since 2010. It measures 1.87m (20ft 36in).

Our thoughts

I thought this was a really fun family game. It was a chance for everybody to get a bit silly and the challenges were things that Isabelle could get involved with as well. This gets a huge thumbs up from us and we would recommend it for the top choice for playing over Christmas. It would also be a lot of fun to get a group of friends round to play when the kids are in bed. We can’t wait to see Ryan try and put as many socks on as he can whilst standing on one foot!

The game is available to buy at online and at most toy retailers for £24.99

*We were sent a copy of the Guinness World Record Challenges Game for the purpose of this review. All opinions and thoughts are our own.

Beaker Creatures Review + Competition

18/12/201820/02/2021 Lisa 107 Comments

Beaker Creatures Review + Competition

Beaker Creatures Review + Competition – Isabelle loves a kit of any kind, but one that has surprise toys inside is even better. When we were asked to give Beaker Creatures a go she was very excited.

Beaker Creatures is a kids science kit with the end result revealing collectible alien creatures.

The kit comes with:

Two Beaker Creature Reactor Pods
Two Classification Cards
Two double-sided Mini-posters featuring amazing science facts and fun images
Two Hydroplungers
Two Beakers
Liquid Reactor Super Lab base
A set of tongs and a stir rod
Experiment Guide featuring step-by-step instructions for five experiments
Full-size poster for display

Setting up

Setting up the set was really simple. Everything just clicks into place so we were good to go in a few minutes.

There were two reactor pods in the set and Isabelle was really excited to see which creatures she would find.

We had to fill the plungers with water, and as per the guide we decided to use coloured water to make it a bit more interesting.

We chose blue water to go with the red pod and yellow water to go with the green pod. I had to help Isabelle fill up the plungers with water but everything else she was able to do herself.

She placed the first reactor pod into the beaker and plunged the water which started to fizz. It was very exciting and once the fizzing stopped she used the tongs to fish out the little creature.

The whole process was very exciting and she was really pleased with her alien creatures.

once the fizzing has subsided we were able to reveal our creatures. She got an Astrolyte called Blerk and a Minisaur called Hornfello.

Our thoughts

Isabelle loved this kit and has asked for some more reactor pods so that she can do it again. From a parents perspective I was really pleased with it since it was really easy to put together and the instructions were very clear and easy to follow. We did it on a tray but there was very little mess and the set can also be used to perform other experiments such as making alien slime so will be used time and again. I would definitely recommend this set as it was a lot of fun and we’ll use it time and again.

The Beaker Creatures Liquid Reactor Super Lab retails at £25.00 from Learning Resources website and the extra pods are £4.00 each.

Win a Beaker Creatures Liquid Reactor Super Lab – Just fill in the Rafflecopter Form below

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*We were sent a Beaker Creatures Liquid Reactor Super Lab for the purpose of this review.