UNTAMED Raptors by Fingerlings

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Fiona Martin

UNTAMED Raptors are the latest toy creation from the makers of Fingerlings. Coming in four different characters each with it’s own unique name and personality, they have snapping jaws and gripping claws. With Stealth, Blaze, Fury and Razor we were lucky to get Blaze to try out and see what we thought of him.

Just like Fingerlings, these UNTAMED Raptor creatures simply wrap their claws around your finger, and are the perfect size for little hands which my 7yr old was delighted about. There’s a simple on of switch on the back and with batteries included, your character is ready to play straightaway.

With a sturdy structure, the creature has moveable head, neck, mouth, eyes and tail although depending where you touch it, depends on how he reacts. Using various strokes, taps, sounds, cradling or even hanging them upside down, they’ll roar, hiss, snore or make whatever noise they fancy but treat them with care and they’ll be your friend, be unkind and they’ll display their anger with ferocious roars!!

With an impressive 40 plus sounds achievable, we are just learning the possibilities, but my 7yr old is definitely having fun exploring how Blaze works.

Not too loud and a toy that’s portable for out and about, these are great for keeping kids entertained although of course all your friends what a go when they see them! UNTAMED will definitely be a hit after the success of Fingerlings and one my boy is certainly interested in.

Available for £16.99, these UNTAMED Raptors are available from all leading toy retailers now and are sure to be popular with their young fans. Which one will you choose or will you collect them all?

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

Shrinkles Mini Packs – Dinosaurs, Unicorns & Puppies

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Shrinkles Mini Packs come in a variety of designs and we’ve been trying out the Dinosaur World, Magical Unicorns and Playful Puppies. Although they’ve been around for many years they aren’t something I did as a child so I was excited to do them with my children and see what they thought about them.

Inside each mini pack are two sheets of pre drawn Shrinkles, a coloured and transparent piece of Shrinkle paper, a 4 pack of coloured pencils, some stands for the finished pieces and instructions.

It was then a case of colouring in the pre printed designs in the theme for each box. The children enjoyed this but didn’t quite understand the concept of how much they would shrink until we’d ‘baked’ our first batch.

I was a little worried when I saw the designs curling up in the oven but if you leave them a little longer, you will then see them flatten out again. At this point I removed them from the oven and left them to cool. The children couldn’t believe how much they had shrunk and also were impressed how they had become solid and hard, like a 2D plastic figurine. They then put them on stands ready to play with.

Then we had a go at making our own designs using the plain pieces of Shrinkles paper. My daughter carefully traced the outline of a front cover of a book she is reading which came out really well. They also tried some other designs and below you can see the best of what they made, I think they came out really well and are now sitting as trinkets on the shelves in their bedrooms.

Overall Shrinkles has been a success. It was something new to us that the children enjoyed trying out and had fun making. They loved watching them shrink through the glass in the oven door, which was novel and different, resulting in finished pieces that are sturdy and will last for a little play afterwards.

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

Reward charts from Miggins & B – Review

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Fiona Martin

Reward charts are something I’ve used at various times over the last few years with my young children but finding one that works, keeps the child interested and is durable for multiple uses is often hard to find. Miggins & B have come up a set of reward charts that are fun, durable and a little bit different to other ones that I’ve seen and tried.

We received the “Blast Off” themed reward chart to try out with 5yr old Mister B. One of the biggest things I’m trying to tackle with him at the moment is tidying up! He forever leaves a trail of toys across the floor, particularly little bitty ones that he has several boxes for, so I thought I’d start using the chart to encourage him to tidy up.

The chart arrived rolled up, and being made of a lightweight pvc, this unrolled immediately and was flat, ready to hang on the back of one of our doors. Accompanying the chart is a sheet of adhesive backed vinyl stickers that stick well to the chart but are also easily removable, enabling the chart to be used again and again. The chart is A2 in size and easily wipeable making it a durable piece.

Here is Mister B with his first sticker, a little green alien. What I like about this chart is that the child can choose whereabouts they wish to put the stickers and it allows them to make up their own adventure. Here Mister B has put the alien on top of the red planet.

Not only that but there is a grey space at the bottom of the chart where you can stick all the stickers and when the child gets one, they just take it from the bottom and place it higher up. This way the stickers can’t be lost and it keeps everything in one place.

The chart comes with a total of 20 stickers with one being larger than the rest, in this case it is the rocket booster which can be the final sticker that the child earns each time. Mister B loved this concept and has made his own unique story each time he’s gone through the chart and is always eager to make the rocket blast off into space.

Here is his first adventure, apparently all the spaceman and aliens had got stuck on the planets and had to make a chain back down to the rocket!

The ultimate challenge was to get the rocket booster which meant that the chart was complete and Mister B would then get the chocolate coin that awaited him.

Look how proud he is of finally achieving his goal and I can honestly say we have had a much more tidier and helpful little boy around the house this past week – a big success!

Miggins & B have a variety of charts available to suit different children such as football, dinosaurs, flowers, fairies and horses. If you are looking to encourage better behaviours in your child then do pop over and check them out as a better behaved child makes for a happier household!

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

Gold Stars Dinosaurs by Parragon – Review

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Travel Back Through Time to the Land of Dinosaurs is a book by Parragon in their Gold Stars series, meaning it is educational but fun, encouraging young ones to engage in learning, almost without realising it.

With over 100 full colour pages there is so much to learn and do in this action packed book and my 4yr old Mister B was eager to get started. One of his favourite activities in these type of books are mazes, and there were plenty of them in here to keep him occupied.

The pages contain a mixture of facts and activities, plenty to learn and do. What I really like about the facts and information in the book is that it is set out in numerous different ways encouraging interest rather than being paragraphs of information. For example to understand how big dinosaurs were, there are diagrams likening them to the size of buses. There are also things for children to do on the same pages as information, therefore I found that I could read out bits while Mister B enjoyed a bit of colouring or drawing but he also discussed the facts with me. He was rather amused to learn that a Diplodocus made the biggest dinosaur poo, due to the amount that it ate!!

What a fabulous book to use to occupy your child at the weekends or over the summer, knowing that they are having fun but learning at the same time.

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

Schleich Mini Dinosaurs – Review

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Schleich mini dinosaurs are the latest collection of creatures from Schleich, the world renowned company for producing high quality, detailed figurine toys.

We received five of the Schleich mini dinosaurs including:

Velociraptor
Triceratops
Saichania
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Stegosaurus

These figures are made of a high quality plastic with loads of attention to detail to give them a realistic look. Mister B was thrilled with these dinosaurs and being a mini version they are perfect for little fingers. His imagination went wild with this as he took them on little adventures around the house, climbing up furniture, taking them for drives in the back of toy trucks and they are even perfect sized to take out to a restaurant and keep him entertained while waiting for his meal which we did one day.

These Schleich mini dinosaurs have been a big success with us and are a toy that I know will last, is durable and doesn’t ever seem to date. Schleich have an excellent reputation already and I feel that these dinosaurs continue that standard and are an excellent addition to the range of products already on offer. I particularly love the idea of mini creatures as these have been perfect for my 4 year old. We would highly recommend them.

All reviews are my own opinions and I received the mini dinosaurs in order to write the review.

Dinosaur Wall Stickers from Walls of the Wild

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Fiona Martin

Every child loves something on their bedroom wall and with Mister B’s room looking rather bare at the moment, we’ve been keeping an eye out for some kind of wall art to give it a bit more character. Walls of the Wild are a collection of beautifully hand painted images that are reproduced onto a self-adhesive, peel and stick polyester. They include ranges such as birds, plants, underwater, jungle and something that would have great appeal to Mister B – dinosaurs!

We received a selection of dinosaur wall stickers from Wall of the Wild to try out and couldn’t wait to get them up on the wall. They are very sticky so adhere to the wall very easily, and can be removed if required. It’s easy to smooth them out and create a flawless finish. The only one we did find a little tricky was the large Triceratops, which being such a large sticker did require a little more time and care to apply smoothly.

The Walls of the Wild stickers are a peel and stick polyester which gives a seamless finish to the wall. The designs were originally hand painted by artist Dede Lifgren before being reproduced into wall art. The detail in the picture is fantastic and creates life like images that truly look painted onto your own wall. If I had the time it would have been great to paint a background scene on which to place the dinosaur stickers!

I think they look truly fabulous and so seamless to the wall. My personal favourite is the Pterodactyl with it’s wide swooping wings. This looks really stunning on the wall, although I have to say my photos do not do these stickers justice. I catch a glimpse of it every time I walk past Mister B’s bedroom door and always have to take a second look.

So what did Mister B think? Well he already has dinosaur duvet covers, storage boxes, model dinosaurs, and dinosaur pyjamas, so when he saw his newly decorated bedroom his little face just lit up into a huge grin!

“I love it mummy, I’ve got a dinosaur bedroom”

The dinosaur stickers from Walls of the Wild have been a big hit with us. We would thoroughly recommend them for their quality. They are a little expensive compared to other stickers I’ve seen but with a combination of the artwork and durability I think it’s a case of you get what you pay for. They are well worth a look.

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.

Dinosaur crafty fun with clay!!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Fiona Martin

The theme at Mister B’s museum group this week was dinosaurs, which he was rather excited about. We started by looked at some old dinosaur fossils and feeling their textures before getting on to the messy task of clay!

Unfortunately Mister B prefered to prod the ball of clay with the plastic crafting tools rather than get his fingers stuck in and then ordered mummy do create the body of his dinosaur although he did eventually join in adding bits along the back and to the tail. Then he used his tools to add some texture to the side of the dinosaur.

We were given a black and white picture of a dinosaur head which Mister B loved colouring in and after sticking it to a lollipop stick we poked it into the neck of the dinosaur to finish it off.

While we left the dinosaurs to dry we played with some dinosaur themed toys. Mister B really enjoyed the dinosaur puzzles which he completed all on his own. He’s never had much interest in puzzles up to now but seems to have suddenly found a real fondness for them which is great for his hand eye coordination and we have plenty at home for him to practice with.

Another fun filled week at the museum over and one happy little boy proudly carrying his finished masterpiece out the door of the museum and down the road!!

Mister B is 2!!

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Fiona Martin

Last week my gorgeous Mister B celebrated his 2^nd birthday!! Where have the last two years gone? My little baby boy is now a charming, cute little boy whose favourite phrase of the week is “I like birthday cake!!”. Instead of having a party this year we just had a small celebration with family at home but did pop out to Prezzo for lunch which my children love. I love the setting of the restaurant which sits alongside the water and is great to go for a walk along after your meal for a bit of fresh air. Mister B was a little grumpy when we arrived as it was 12pm and he was rather eager for his dinner but once it was brought to the table he got stuck right in.

Miss M couldn’t wait for dessert, they both chose ice cream which comes with Miss M’s favourite, the Bambinocino!! Being a huge fan Miss M devoured both her own and Mister B’s leaving her with a chocolate sprinkled milky moustache!!

After a yummy meal enjoyed by all (lite pizza and salad for mummy but I did sneak a honeycomb smash cheesecake for dessert) we ventured back to the house for present opening and cakes. I opted for the easy option of cupcakes this year although they did taste rather yummy. Poor Mister B though didn’t really understand the concept of blowing out the candles and looked rather afraid but never fear, big sister is here. She couldn’t wait to blow the candles out on behalf of her baby brother – ahh!!

And then to the present opening – Miss M took control here too, assisting Mister B in ripping off the paper to reveal his array of birthday presents. His favourites being his wooden railway, Happyland construction site and his Cath Kidston dinosaur merchandise (backpack, pyjamas, plate, dish & beaker and a set of play dinosaurs!!).

A happy day had by all – congratulations Mister B!!

Harry And His Bucket Full Of Dinosaurs DVD – “Schools Out”

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Fiona Martin

When we received the new Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs DVD – “School’s Out” from Abbey Home Media to review I was very pleased. With a long wet summer ahead, DVD’s were on the agenda and Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs was a programme that we had caught occasional episodes of on television. Dinosaurs and traditional style cartoons seem to be hitting the mark with 4 and half year old Miss M at the moment. When I put this DVD on, both my children sat down and proceeded to be rather glued to the tv.

With six episodes included there are 66 minutes of fun to watch:

School’s Out
Hurray for Pizza
Superheroes Don’t Dance
Is that Really a Lamp?
I Want to Help
Somebody’s Moving

The storylines follow the magical journey into Dino World as Harry jumps into his magical blue bucket and his prehistoric toys spring to life. The Dino’s attend Dino School in which Harry is their teacher getting up to larger than life antics that are sure to entertain any little one. My two found the stories fun, entertaining and exciting leaving them with big grins on their little faces as the antics unfolded – the bicarbonate of soda volcano being a particular favourite!!

This is a great DVD for entertaining the children that we would recommend and is available from 6th August 2012 from all good stockists – perfect timing for the summer holidays!!

For 4 year old Miss M’s views on Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs DVD, please watch the video below:

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.

Dinosaur Race by Orchard Toys – Review

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Fiona Martin

We were asked to review Dinosaur Race by Orchard Toys for izziwizzikids.co.uk.

With Miss M being quite young we have only just started playing board games but when I was offered the opportunity to try out the new Dinosaur Race game from Orchard Toys for ages 3+, I knew she would love it. She is an avid dinosaur fan having watched the Jurassic Park films over and over again and has a number of dinosaur books on her bookshelf.

An exciting aspect of this game that jumped out at me was the race track and medal podium – with the 2012 London Olympics this year, what a fabulous way of introducing children to sport and helping them to engage with the largest event to be held in the country this summer.

Having already experienced a number of Orchard Toys games, I knew the quality of the pieces would be made to their usual high standard especially considering they are made of 75% recycled cardboard. The pictures on both the box and the game are highly colourful, bright and eye catching – perfect for the suggested 3 to 10 years age range of this game.

Miss M couldn’t wait to get the pieces out of the box when she saw it and was very excited with the various contents. The first little novelty was that the game board was like a mini jigsaw and mummy was ordered not to touch it while Miss M carefully put the pieces together. I liked the fact that the dinosaur playing pieces had little plastic stands to create a three dimensional effect to the game. And the ultimate finishing touch has to be the medal podium complete with medals enabling you to hold a medal ceremony at the end of each race – London Olympics 2012 here we come!!!

We played the game with the maximum 4 players and this definitely produced a fun, exciting atmosphere that created tension and competitiveness as the dinosaurs approached the finish line.

We all had great fun playing this game and definitely felt it was different and unique to other games we had seen before. It retails at £11.75 which I feel is a reasonable price for the game and is available to purchase from Orchard Toys.

Here is our video review of Dinosaur Race by Orchard Toys for izziwizzikids:

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.