Miles Kelly Children’s Books – Review

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Miles Kelly is an independent children’s book publisher that covers everytime of book from fiction, non fiction, activity books and sticker books. They really have a wide umbrella of titles, something for everyone.

We received a selection of books suitable to my children’s ages to try out and I have to say we were impressed by them all. They are are of an excellent quality and my children were eager to get reading when they saw them.

Miss M starting looking through the 100 Facts Solar System and recalled some things she recognised from learning at school last year. Each page of this book is full colour and packed full of annotated pictures and fact files whilst going through 100 interesting facts about the solar system. Going through the book with her, we found some facts that turned into quite fascinating talking points which even my young son enjoyed listening to and making sounds/actions to, demonstrating the points we were discussing, such as meteorites being blasted out of the surface by other rocks smashing into them!

I think it’s great when children can take in snippets of information from books like this as you know it’s something that they will remember. The book is fun to look through and you can read as much or as little as you like at a time. There are short quizzes dotted throughout the book to test your knowledge of the pages you’ve just read which is always fun when you are going through the book together, encouraging children to want to learn so they get the answers right.

The book that really grabbed Miss M’s attention is the mini Encyclopedia of British History, although surprising, I knew she would be interested as she is currently learning British History at school and really does have an interest in seeing things outside of school that are relevant to what she is learning. She immediately sat flicking through this book and seemed quite engrossed, but she had come across the era that all her homework is based on this term, Stone Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age. She found a great labelled picture of a round house from which she used the information for her own drawing of a round house which she had to label. And she was really inspired about the Iron Age hill forts and got lots of ideas for the model she had to make for one of her school assignments.

This book gives a fascinating journey through time in Britain from the era where woolly mammoths existed right up to the 2012 London Olympics. With just short of 400 pages this mini encyclopedia is packed full of infomation in short bursts of paragraphs and facts with lots of colour illustrations to engage the reader.

Reading Together Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a brilliant story and activity book for those just starting to read. Mister B started school this year but his reading is already progressing well and this book has been great for him. Not to mention Goldilocks has been a topic at school this term!

The book follows the story of Goldilocks along illustrated pages but at the bottom of each page are some words for your child to read related to words or sounds in the story. There are 70 stickers to use within the book encouraging children to learn their phonics and find the right ones for each pages activity. This really engaged Mister B and made the learning fun and is different to other phonics based activity books I’ve come across.

Our final book is The Three Little Pigs, a picture book for young children. A lovely size with full colour pages that are beautifully illustrated, this is an excellent rendition of the traditional tale. The pictures are fun and engaging, with plenty for young children to look at, point at and tell you what they think is going on in the story. I know Mister B loves giving his version of the a story’s events before I read a page, showing that he’s engaging to what he’s listened to previously.

Overall I think the Miles Kelly books are of excellent quality and full of engaging content for children. They are beautifully put together and there is such a wide variety of books available to cover each child’s tastes that there really is something for everyone. My children have thoroughly enjoyed these books, and this is definitely a publisher that I’d recommend.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the books in order to write an honest review.

House of Fraser Children’s Clothes – Review

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Fiona Martin

House of Fraser sell a wide range of branded children’s clothes online, more than I realised as my local store is quite limited in children’s clothes. Looking online really opened my eyes to the various ranges available and the choice which was generous for both boys and girls.

Having both a boy and a girl, I picked several pieces to try out with each of them.

Miss M went for this MANGO hoodie and jogging trousers. Sold separately but we opted to get both, they actually proved a major hit with her wearing them all weekend and then made the perfect comfort outfit on the ferry to France with her grandparents this half term. She found them ultra comfy, soft and easy to wear.

My opinion was that they were soft, well made and lightweight, perfect as a summerwear tracksuit. The colour was almost nude, a peachy pink colour that complimented Miss M’s skintone and matches other pieces easily.

It had L.A. West Coast, Surfing Club, Venice West Beach logo on it both on the hoodie and the trousers. They were ultra comfy as Miss has worn them non stop. They are a size 9-10 but we always find we need to go up a size or two for Miss M even though we don’t consider her to be large for her size but she is tall and fits a bigger size.

I love the label inside the hoodie, to add your name and details to avoid losing it at school or a at a club etc. Overall we love this tracksuit and with it’s soft, easy to wear texture makes it an everyday staple.

For Mister B, we chose these Minene pyjamas. They come beautifully packaged in a small chiffon style bag. I love both the colour and design on these pyjamas, a soft grey with star design on the trousers and airplane on the top. They are lovely and soft, perfect for a comfy nights sleep. I really rate the Minene pyjamas for the quality and designs and would definitely purchase them again. Unfortunately Mister B went a bit camera shy when modelling these for me so I couldn’t get any pics of him in them but they are lovely to wear and having the cuffed bottoms means they don’t hang on the floor and give a better fit.

I think the brands available at House of Fraser are great and always deliver on style and quality, therefore I’d recommend anyone to check them out. There is a huge offering online and often bargains to be had a sale time!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the products in order to write the review.

Children’s Clothes from House of Fraser – Review

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Fiona Martin

House of Fraser is one of those department stores on the high street that I often pop into to look at clothes for me or the husband but rarely for the children, so I was intrigued to see what was on offer and whether it would be worth checking out the children’s section more often.

I was asked to pick some items from the online range and with most things in the sale I managed to pick up some great named pieces that my children love!

For 4yr old Mister B I spotted a blue T-shirt by Animal and knew he’d just love it, and I was right, he couldn’t wait to try it on and strike some poses for the camera! Animal is a make I’m familiar with as the husband has a few of their clothes so I knew the quality would be good. Mister B loves the design and I know it’s a t-shirt he’ll wear and love that won’t go out of shape.

Miss M loves wearing shorts, whether it’s winter ones with tights, or summer ones. These light coloured denim ones with pretty lace detail by Name It are perfect for the summer months. With an adjustable waist and easy to do up button front, Miss M found these very comfortable and I can see these becoming a staple item in her summer wardrobe this year. I love the detail, they look cute and are not too short!

We also tried some pyjamas for Miss M from Minene, which came folded in a cute organza bag. They are made from the softest, silkiest 100% cotton making them totally comfortable for night time.

With a pretty flower pattern and simple design, these pyjamas are perfect for snuggling up in. Miss M loved them and wants to wear them every night, the sure sign of comfy nightwear. They are well made and nicely cut, so I’d definitely look to buy more of this style again.

Both my children are 100% happy with their clothes from House of Fraser and would love to try more out from there. Which means I can safely say that I can recommend them as I love to have happy kids but I’m also happy with the quality of the clothes.

Why not give House of Fraser kidswear a look at today?

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the clothes in order to write the review.

Yellow Mellon Children’s Clothes – Review

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Fiona Martin

Yellow Mellon are a fashion forward online children’s clothing retailer and kindly offered to send my two children a complete outfit to try out. I know my daughter Miss M can be rather fussy, so provided details of their likes and dislikes, not knowing which items of clothing would be sent.

This is what we received from Yellow Mellon, presented beautifully in tissue wrapping, like a present waiting to be undone.

Miss M received a Minx denim jumpsuit, made from a lightweight, soft feel fabric. It has an elasticated waist and buttons down from the top to put on. She also received a simple, basic style vest top in bright pink to go underneath. At £12.49 for the jumpsuit and £1.99 for the vest top, I thought this was excellent value for the whole outfit.

When I first showed her the outfit, her eyes lit up, and she said ” I love it, can I try it on now?”. She likes to be comfortable in what she wears and tends to prefer trousers over skirts and dresses, so this outfit was right up her street!

We asked for a size 7-8, although she is only 6, as she is fairly tall and we tend to find a size up is always a better fit. The pink vest top is a very slim fit and Miss M actually struggled a little getting it on over her head and it didn’t leave much room around her body when on. Although it did have a soft feel and was comfortable, I would go a size up again if I was to buy one. The jumpsuit was the perfect length, and good fit around her. Miss M loved this outfit and found it really comfortable as all the fabric was soft and easy to wear. It is perfect for everyday wear during the summer and I can see this being worn many more times this year.

Mister B received a smart looking, collared polo shirt by Freaky, with two buttons to undo at the top. It features stripes in turquoise, grey, white and navy, which Mister B loved. This seems to be of a good quality and well made. It is a good thickness and suitable for year round wear. It also has a smarter look, being collared so suits many occasions. This was a very good fit and looked perfect on him. He also tried some Jeans from the Freaky range. These were also of a good quality and look really stylish. They were a good fit with an adjustable waist, they were a tiny bit long so we turned them up, but they still looked as good and give him something to grow into.

He also loved his outfit and seemed perfectly comfortable in this all day. I thought he looked smart and my first view of the outfit was that it was from a good brand and didn’t look cheap.

I think all the outfits we received were of a better quality than I expected, the clothes certainly all seem to be good value and the designs are all modern and fresh. Both my children were absolutely thrilled with their outfits which is also important to me and when they have something that is comfortable and they are happy to wear, then, then it makes for a happy family!

Yellow Mellon are a clothing company I hadn’t really heard of before and not sure I would have ordered from before trying these clothes. But seeing the great value isn’t a compromise on quality, then I would be more than happy to purchase from them in the future.

The company have been trading online since 2011, although have over 40 years experience in manufacturing and supplying children’s clothes. They cover a whole range of designs for 0-13 years, from wardrobe staples to partywear and as well as their own brands, Minx for girls, Freaky for boys, and they also sell a range of character products such as Disney (Frozen, princesses etc), Ben 10, Spiderman, Thomas and Hello Kitty.

Yellow Mellon are very trend led with some of their logo t-shirts for the older ages, which I’m not so keen on, but there are plenty of other plainer items that still feel fashionable, tutu skirts, party dresses, pretty woollen bolero cardigans and lots of accessories such as hairbands and bags. I also spotted some Disney Frozen pyjamas which I imagine would be a big hit with a lot of young girls right now!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and the clothes were sent to us in order to write the review.

The Night Before Christmas – Book Review

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Fiona Martin

The Night Before Christmas by Parragon books is the perfect book to read to children on Christmas Eve or anytime on the run up to Christmas. This Parragon picture book is a lovely quality with beautifully illustrated full colour pages by Henry Fisher that are sure to delight any young child. The front cover is glittery and gives a magical feel to the book.

Written by Clement C. Moore this delightful story about The Night Before Christmas when Father Christmas took to the skies with his reindeer pulling his sleigh delivering presents in the quiet of the night is a pleasure to read. With it’s rhyming lines, children are eager to hear what happens next and use the pictures to help bring the story to life.

My two children love this and it has been on the reading pile every night. They find the story enchanting and love the excitement of the quick paced tale. I’d highly recommend for everyone to read this to their children through the festive period. It really helps keep the spirit of Father Christmas alive!!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.

Elektra Inline Skates – Review

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Fiona Martin

Inline skating was something I remember doing many years ago, and I knew when Miss M received some Elektra Inline Skates from Ozbozz, she’d be thrilled, partly because she’s always wanted to try skating but also because she loves being outdoors.

The look on 5yr old Miss M’s face said it all when she saw these inline skates, they were pink – her favourite colour, they were big grown up inline skates and she couldn’t wait to try them on and skate across the front room.

What I liked about the Elektra Inline Skates is that they are adjustable and can be made to fit shoe sizes between 13 and 3. This is fantastic with Miss M just being a 13 means she will have plenty of use out of them and they’ll hopefully last a few years. By simply sliding the outer casing forward and back you can change the size, the inner lining also can be adapted according to size with velcro.

These are well designed solid skates that easily glide across the ground. The next day we tried them at the local park and I was surprised at how quickly Miss M found her feet and was gliding across the ground, with the odd stumble of course, but having little fear at her age she just went for it and did very well. A few more tries and she’ll be a fabulous little skater.

We have had so much fun with these inline skates – Miss M thinks they are brilliant and wants to go to the park with them at any given opportunity. I think they will get a lot of use over the next few years and definitely recommend them.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.

Vertbaudet – Children’s clothing from the Autumn/Winter range

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Fiona Martin

When it comes to children’s clothes I always look at the quality, does it look good?, will it wash well? will it last? So when I was sent some items from the new Autumn/Winter range of Vertbaudet, an online children’s clothing company originating from France I was keen to see what the clothes were like. Although I had heard a lot of good things about Vertbaudet, I had never actually tried them out for myself.

We received a girls striped cotton knitted dress for Miss M, a perfect wardrobe staple for the winter. This can be worn with tights or leggings and is soft so you know will be ultra comfy to wear. You can see from the knit on this that it is well made, a good thick quality with a smooth finish to the dress. The stripes on the body of the dress match across to the arms, something I always like to see. The added detail of a different coloured stripe across the top with a little woollen bow is the perfect finishing touch to this simple design.

We liked this Vertbaudet dress and think it’s a great winter dress for all occasions, it hung nicely on the body and the length was great too – not too short. Vertbaudet dress

For Mister B we received a Vertbaudet boy’s jumper, I love the style and the colours – in fact it couldn’t have been more perfect as the colours and style are what I would have chosen. Again this jumper is well made with nice detailing on the backs of the arms and the buttons around the collar. The jumper is soft and comfortable to wear – in fact Mister B loved it so much he didn’t want to take it off and wore it for the rest of the day. It did mean I had to wash it due to dinner spills so the photo below on the right is after washing. The jumper washed beautifully, stayed in perfect shape, all stains gone, and no bobbling in sight – a sure sign of a good quality jumper!

Mister B was also lucky to try out a boy’s Vertbaudet yellow Parka coat. The coat is 100% showerproof on the outside with a soft warm fleecy lining on the inside. I love the detail on this with lots of zipped pockets and a badge detail on one arm. It also has a reflective strip on the back so they can always be spotted on those dark mornings or winter evenings.

This coat fitted Mister B perfectly, I loved the way the hood came right over his head to protect him and could be zipped up high with a tab going across the top of the zip. The quality of this jacket is wonderful, exactly what you’d expect from Vertbaudet. I look forward to testing this out more through the winter months but I have a feeling Mister B will remain warm, snug and dry all zipped up in this cosy but stylish coat.

I highly recommend taking a look through Vertbaudet’s Autumn/Winter collections, some lovely pieces and it all looks like it would be of the same high quality as the pieces we tried.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.

Bizzy the Butterfly and the Over the Log Frog – Audiobook Review

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Fiona Martin

Bizzy the Butterfly and the Over the Log Frog is the second audiobook in the Bizzy the Butterfly series. The stories are aimed at babies and toddlers combining a mixture of spoken story along with music.

Miss M and Mister B were keen to sit and listen to the story. It follows the story of Bizzy the Butterfly who meet a frog with a log, who wants to jump over it to reach the river but as much as he tries jumping, his attempts are unsuccessful. Bizzy discovers an alternative way to reach the river and the frog is forever grateful to Bizzy for helping him. Thus the message in the story is about helping others. If you notice someone who is a bit stuck in some way, see if you can find a way to help them.

As soon as the music started, my two were up dancing around. They also enjoyed the interactive questions that are asked at various points during the story, both trying to be first to shout out the answers. They enjoyed sitting, or should I say a combination of sitting and dancing around the room to the story of Bizzy the Butterfly and the Over the Log Frog.

If you want to try one of the Bizzy the Butterfly audiobooks yourself, they can be purchased from Bizzy’s Shop, from as little as £1.50 for the mp3, or there are options for an audio CD and book, so why not head over there now and take a look for yourself.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.

Bizzy the Butterfly and the Creepy Crawly Co-operating Caterpillar Audiobook – Review

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Fiona Martin

Bizzy the Butterfly and the Creepy Crawly Co-operating Caterpillar is the first audiobook in the Bizzy the Butterfly series. The stories are aimed at babies and toddlers combining a mixture of spoken story along with music.

The story contains simple words and uses questions alongside to help encourage interaction with toddlers. This is a lovely story that delivers a message about helping and co-operating with each other, a great moral for toddlers to learn that they will encounter in everyday life whether at home, nursery or just playing with friends.

I played this to my two children, 2yr old Mister B and 5yr old Miss M. They both sat down eager to listen and as soon as the music started Miss M was up on her feet fluttering around the room performing moves she learns at her ballet class. Mister B was right behind, copying her every move. As the music stopped they both ran back to their little chairs keen to hear the next part of the story. They did this continually throughout the audiobook which I thought was very sweet. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it and both had smiles on their faces at the end.

The audiobooks can be purchased from Bizzy’s Shop, from as little as £1.50 for the mp3, or there are options for an audio CD and book, so why not head over there now and take a look for yourself.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.