Tag: fun

Jaques of London toy review

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle, parenting

Disclaimer: these items where gifted in exchange for review. Opinions are my own.

As you’ve probably seen we’ve worked with Jaques before a few times reviewing their lovely games. We absolutely love the quality of their wooden games and their games that can be handed down from generation to generation. We love the quality and they make the perfect gift for children as they can learn through play. Wooden toys mean more imagination then plastic (and a little bit of quiet).

With Elijah growing older I wanted to select some more mature items so I picked their abacus and their let’s play deluxe score 4.

The abacus is used to help with counting and maths which will be helpful for years to come with homework and just practicing our numbers and maths. We’ve used it to count to 100. To add and take away numbers to ten and to count forwards and backwards from 0-20. These are great for teaching the times tables too as you can grab how many you want to times and count them and visualise your maths which is helpful for all ages needing too visualise their maths.

The colours and quality are great the neutral counters means it can go nicely in a room without sticking out too much. The colours are great as you can tell which numbers your counting and move in groups of ten if you need too to do ten times tables.

If you’d like to shop this product click the link here- https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/products/luxury-abacus?_pos=1&_sid=7afbfddd0&_ss=r

As always they’re packaging is beautiful and makes the perfect gift without a need to reward before giving to someone else. The boxes fit the product perfectly as well so they take up less space on your games cupboard.

Secondly we choose the lets play deluxe score 4 which is fantastic as is travel size. The counters are a good size so that it works your fine motor skills as you grab them and drop them in your selected Column hole. The aim of this game is to get four counters in a row horizontally, diagonally or vertically. The winner is whoever who has the first four. As you can tell Elijah likes to cheat a little and continue a game or try to steal my counters back. Elijah and I really enjoyed this games and it’s so compact it’s travel friendly and could take for days out or holidays.

If you’d like to shop this game press then link here – https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/products/lets-play-deluxe-score-4

Jaques sell lots of games, puzzles and more and are fantastic educational toys. You can shop the rest of the range here- https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/collections/educational-toys-for-toddlers

As always Thank-you for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed!

Chalkola review

by Charlie-Jane, posted in lifestyle, parenting

Disclaimer I was gifted for a review. I also have a giveaway on my Instagram which ends Sunday if anyone would like to try win some goodies. I will post link after the review.

We love learning through play and have seen all over Instagram the lovely Chalkola blackboards and and chalk pens filling Instagram with their beauty. But are they worth all the hype? In short, YES!

Now I love chalk boards we already had three in the house, my meal planner, Elijahs chalkboard in his room and we had a large one for learning which we since gave to his nanny and grandad to use at their house. So when chalkola offered me the chalk board I couldn’t say no. Our learning chalk board was too big so I was so glad to give it to the grandparents as this chalkboard was the same size but doesn’t have massive legs and collapses. Which is a plus. It stands up with three legs or can be layed out flat. The quality is lovely and I also love that there’s a space to leave your own pen infront.

The chalk. There’s so many colours to choose from and we have loved playing with them all. I’ve been able to teach Elijah the shades of colours so saying dark green or light green and he can now differentiate between dark and light. The pens are fantastic quality and glide on the board so quickly without pressure.

They rub of with a wet damp cloth and then I dry with a dry cloth after to keep it looking new. Easy to remove your masterpieces! The products also just wash of table if your toddler scribbles on it and also easily comes of your hands.

What do I use the chalk for? Writing on my meal planner, drawing in Elijahs room and having fun. We also use it for learning. Instead of wasting lots of paper we simply wipe out when we’re done. I try to teach Elijah a subject at a time or a few things at once. I’ve been teaching Elijah to trace letters and he can identify colours, some words, read the alphabet and numbers so we use the chalk board to work on these skills and adapt more. Elijah loves drawing and copying what I do. His masterpieces he draws may end up a squiggle a lot of the time but we love them none the less!

Chalkola products are a fantastic resource for learning and also exploring colours. It’s perfect for the artist and the organised individual too. It’s a little something for everyone and we love our chalk board. We can’t wait to use it to celebrate birthdays and thing such as Henry coming home!

Shop Chalkola here- http://chalkola.com/ and use code CHARLIE10 for 10 percent off.

You can also use amazon- http://www.amazon.co.uk/chalkola and use code CHALKOLA10

To enter my giveaway for 30 chalk pens, check out my Instagram post here! follow the instructions to enter! -https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEGxIylBl2/?

Thanks for reading! Charlie x

Why we love soft play

by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle, parenting

Although it can be my idea of hell, soft play is a great little place for youngsters to flourish. They learn to make friends with other children and to do things like take turns and share. They also get exercise and a space to let go and be as loud and messy as they want. It is a place you get to be a child too and run round chasing them remembering the fun of your youth. It’s somewhere you can go and take a back seat and just sit watching them play and having fun. Where you haven’t got to run round and can just breath for a little bit. As they get older you can watch from further away until they’re big kids and you could have the luxury of a hot drink while they play in peace. (I cannot wait for this day). I

t can be a place to go with other mummy friends while the kids play together you can talk. You get out of the house and you get grown up conversation while your child has a fun experience. I love watching my little guy play and have fun smiling as he realises where he is and runs off to play. I love playing with him and racing him down slides or playing in the ball pit with him and showing him how to use and play with new things. It’s a great activity no matter the weather too, because it means Elijah can keep dry and warm instead of wet at the park on bad weather days. The thing I love the most is that it keeps Elijah healthy and happy and I’m up for anything like that.

My new found love of games.

by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle

I’m not talking video games here I’m talking more old school games. Games like monopoly, uno and any other board/card game you can think of. As times have gone past I find that nights with family and friends we’ve slowly forgotten about board games and they gather dust till Christmas time. But recently we brought our monopoly to one of our family nights and it’s reignited my family’s love for board games. Now that the sales are on I thought it’s a perfect time to buy some different board games.

We’ve started playing when people come round and when people come to ours as it’s a great way to get to know people and have a friendly bit of competition. You use your brain and enjoy time together instead of becoming drawn to your phone or the tv. I find it really brings everyone together and creates memories that last a long time. So dust of your board games or make your own and get lost in the fun!