Abney and Teal Magazine – Review

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Fiona Martin

Abney and Teal is one of the hit tv show on Cbeebies. My two both watch it which kind of surprises me as I’ve never really taken too much notice of it myself although if they like it, then it’s the sort of programme I’m happy for them to watch. It seems to have a calm nature but one that keeps them intrigued hence why I was happy to review the new Abney and Teal magazine.

First impressions where that it had a winning musical instrument set on the front – something my two loved! Although I’m sure I’m not the only parent to say that the recorder sounded like a whistle that my little boy decided to repeatedly blow on for days on end – not that I’m complaining – he obviously enjoyed it showing that the magazine was a hit with him.

I next looked inside the magazine and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the pages. Either filled with stories or worthwhile activities that kept my just turned 4yrs old Mister B thoroughly entertained and wanting for more. From adding stickers to practising letters, counting objects or making his way through a maze, Mister B didn’t want to stop. He knew all the characters and immediately declared his favourite as Toby dog. He was totally familiar with the neeps and the poc pocs – obviously I haven’t been watching it enough lately!

This magazine totally gripped my newly 4 year old. He was eager to learn through the activities and loved the familiarity of characters he knew. I’d definitely buy this magazine again based on the amount of interaction my little boy has had with it, to be honest I’ve been pleasantly surprised!

The magazine was released on 23rd October, why not grab a copy now?

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

Tractor Ted Easter Activity Book – Review and Giveaway x 5

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Fiona Martin

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Tractor Ted is a cute green tractor that lives in Tractorland and gives children a great insight into tractors and farming life through a series of books, dvd’s, clothing and more. We were exciting to receive Tractor Ted’s Activity Book 2, a special Easter edition of the series of activity books from Tractor Ted.

My first impressions of Tractor Ted’s Activity Book 2 were really good. Firstly I loved the quality of the book, a high gloss cover and thick, durable pages inside covered in brightly coloured illustrations. Also the size of the book is quite handy compared to usual children’s activity books, as it’s easy to carry around and gives younger children just a one activity per page to concentrate on.It’s aimed at Early Years children and I feel that Mister B who’s 3 and a half next month is the perfect age to carry out the activities within the book. I also feel that the activities have been well thought out and put together, giving a great variety but also being of an appropriate level for Mister B to do.

The book shows children about farming and all things related to Easter time, such as baby animals and Easter themed recipes. There are also counting activities, colours, matching, mazes, recipes, colouring in, writing skills and baby animal recognition. I am really impressed with the variety and quality of this activity book.

Mister B has loved looking through this book, taking in the information from the pictures and really having a good practice of his writing skills. Even big sister Miss M joined in beside him copying the same words on a piece of paper and guiding him through the writing. She’s also keen to try out the recipes at the back of the book, being an eager cook. I can honestly say I’d recommend this book for a 3/4 year old to get to grips with pen skills and learn about animals and farming. Of course Mister B was loving all the tractors and enjoyed picking out his favourite coloured ones.

Tractor Ted have kindly offered 5 copies to give away to my readers, so if you have a little one who’d love to learn more about farming, baby animals and boost their writing skills then why not enter to win one below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only
Winners will be selected by Rafflecopter at the end of the giveaway.
Winners will be contacted within 48 hours of the giveaway ending and if I am unable to make contact within 14 days, then I may pick an alternative winner.
Your details will be passed to Tractor Ted who will be responsible for sending out the prize.

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

Twinkl – Printable Learning Resources for Home or School

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Fiona Martin

Twinkl is an amazing website, jam packed with printable learning resources including simple activity sheets, games, writing borders, signs, labels etc. The list really does go on – with over 88,000 printable resources for EYFS, KS1, KS2, teachers, home educators, childminders, nurseries and more.

We were given a premium subscription to try – normally costing £29.99 which gave us access to more than 10,000 further resources and also enabled downloading multiple resources at once – an option that would be ideal for schools.

The Twinkl site is easily broken down into the different age groups and also different topics. With the vast amount of choice on offer we decided to look at the parenting section which offers things like parenting guides, activity sheets in maths and reading skills, printable games and a behavioural section with things such as reward charts and certificates.

I love the way the activities incorporate fun, brightly coloured pictures but also include an educational aspect, like the butterfly to colour in – using particular colours depending on the answer to the mathematical sum in each area of the picture. Miss M who is 5yrs old loved the sheets when I showed them to her and couldn’t wait to get stuck in. She likes to be kept occupied and challenged in what she does.

Within the topic section on Twinkl there is one called Under the Sea, which I knew my children would love. We often pop down to our local aquarium as they love looking at the various fish, sharks, starfish, seahorses etc. So seeing the sealife on the activity sheets really appealed to them and added interest as it was something that they could easily relate to.

We found some interesting fun addition/subtraction sheets and some pattern worksheets with brightly coloured images of all kinds of sealife and other underwater objects which both my children loved. Although Mister B is a little young for the activities he loved pointing to the objects and telling me what they were while Miss M finished the lines of patterns and did the sums. The Under the Sea section has a wide range of worksheets – something for everyone as well as display sheets, power points and writing frames.

There’s also a friendly Forum on the site which is a helpful little place where you can ask any questions or advice and you are sure to get an answer. I’ve had a little look around and it’s very simply set making it easy to use and ask the questions you want to.

The resources on Twinkl are perfect for schools and there is currently a special offer running giving schools a free trial (normally £249.99 though prices vary according to the size of school) – this gives them access to the premium subscription offering over an extra 10,000 resources. Why not give it a go if you work in a school environment or recommend it to your local school.

I’m really pleased by what I have seen of Twinkl so far. It’s full of resources perfect for me to print for my children to help them build on skills learnt at school but also ones that are fun and they enjoy doing. Miss M thoroughly enjoyed working through a flower addition worksheet by herself and you can see her efforts below.

I’d definitely recommend Twinkl for anyone looking for printable materials – there’s such a vast selection that everyone is catered for. We’ve already printed a little folder of sheets for Miss M to work through during the summer holidays at her own leisure!

Hot Dots – Let’s Learn! Maths – Interactive Learning for Children!

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Fiona Martin

Hot Dots is an interactive learning system from Learning Resources that children can play independently. It consists of a talking pen which is used against multiple choice answers in a book to encourage learning and reinforcement of skills already learnt.

We were sent the Hot Dots – Let’s Learn! Maths set which comprises of one talking pen and three interactive work books. The pen is brightly coloured and chunky so not easily lost. Little hands love to hold it and it is used to answer questions throughout the books. The books are well made, with durable glossy pages and being spiral bound means it’s easy to turn pages, keep them flat when open and see everything on the page.

In the Maths set of Hot Dots, the three books cover Addition Subtraction and Time Telling and using just the numbers from 0-20, means they are the perfect introduction into basic Maths and great for those in their first couple of years at school. Miss M who is 5 could do the first couple of pages in these fairly easily but then they became more challenging. She did a lot of counting on fingers to work out the answers but with the repetition of doing these books again and again means that hopefully she will finally be able to carry out these sums in her head.

What I really loved about the concept of the interaction and Miss M knowing whether she was right or wrong, meant that she could sit independently and work through the books. She loved finding out whether she was right or wrong and determined to get to the right answer. If I noticed she kept getting the wrong answers, it gave me an opportunity to sit down with her and talk her through the harder sums before letting her move on through the books.

I liked the idea of the time telling book which is included in this set – it makes it a bit different. There are various pictures of clocks and you have to select the time that is showing on the clock. Miss M gets very muddled with telling the time so I’m hoping this will help her get to grips with the basics. I think we have mastered o’clock and half past now so we have had some success.

Being a handy size, the Hot Dots Maths set can be used anywhere, great for long journeys in the car, sitting in bed before night time, or just sitting at home. I’m hoping that by using these over the school holidays, Miss M will keep up with the basic Maths skills she has learnt in foundation class at school and increase her knowledge a little further before starting back in Year 1 this September.

What I also like about the Hot Dots range is that once you have a talking pen, you can buy extra sets of activity cards for children to work through covering many areas such as phonics, vocabulary, science, grammer and spelling. The age ranges vary on each set so this is something that can grow with your child and be used over many ages.

We like Hot Dots and think it is a great learning tool for children – Miss M has already packed it in her suitcase for our family holiday this weekend. I think it’s a great back up to what they learn in school and gives them the independence to learn on their own. To find out more check out the Hot Dots range on the Learning Resources website.

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.