Nickelodeon Experimake Superb Sea Shaped Soaps

Nickelodeon Experimake Superb Sea Shaped Soaps by Addo Play is a fun science based craft kit aimed at children aged 8-10 years.  Available from The Entertainer toy shop it is part of a bigger range of craft kits all containing various experiment type projects. This one consists of making sea shaped soaps using included moulds, colourings and fragrances.

When opening the box the contents are displayed in two cardboard trays covered in science images which was rather fun but also helped us keep all the bits neatly together.

Included are:

  • 3 sea related moulds
  • red and blue colouring
  • vanilla fragrance
  • 3 pipettes
  • stirring sticks
  • soap base
  • gloves
  • gift bags
  • gift labels

The children couldn’t wait to get started and set about making their own sea life soaps.  I gave them each a microwaveable plastic pot to which they added the soap base cubes.  They put these in the microwave for short bursts until the soap had melted and then loved donning a glove each to add their chosen colours.  They quickly worked out that they could mix the colours to create new ones so by adding a couple of drops of red and a couple of blue which created purple.  They also noted that the yellow vanilla fragrance added to the blue created a green colour.  They thoroughly enjoyed using the pipettes and creating their own little liquid soap ready to pour into the seashaped moulds.

The instructions also suggest additional ingredients you can add to the soaps to give different properties such as salt for exfolitating, oats for an oatmeal soap, dried flowers for a rose petal soap or herbs for an aromatic soap – all things you may already have at home and can add to make more inventive style soaps.

We popped the moulds into the fridge for half an hour to set and then we found them easy to pop out, although you do need to press evenly across the shape to ensure it comes out whole and doesn’t break.  The children were thrilled with the finished results and really proud of the soaps they made.  They can’t wait to use them at bedtime!

A really nice touch with this set are the included three little organza gift bags and sticky labels that you can use to give the soaps as gifts. This really finishes off the set and makes a lovely handmade gift for your child to give.  My two are currently decided who they are going to gift a soap too and which ones to keep for their own use.

Overall I think the Nickelodeon Experimake Superb Sea Shaped Soaps is a really lovely set for children to create with and it’s relatively simple to do.  Obviously due to the high heat of the melted soap pieces it is best placed with slightly older children but it’s great to bring the science element into play at home with liquids/solids, adding liquids with a pipette and colour mixing.  A great set that would make a lovely gift for boy or girl!

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

Cool Create One Direction Swap Watch Review

Cool Create One Direction Swap Watch is a great craft kit for One Direction fans but also a great little set to make your own watches and be creative.  With lots of pieces inside we couldn’t wait to get started and get making.

one directionThe set comprises of:

  • 1 x watch face
  • 5 x watch face trims
  • 5 x watch surrounds
  • 5 x watch straps
  • 3 x coloured cord
  • 1 x elasticated cord
  • 9 x square beads
  • 13 x tube beads
  • 26 x round beads
  • 8 x connector pieces
  • 1 x instruction sheet

Miss M was excited when she saw all the pieces and couldn’t wait to start making her own watches.  There is one watch face which you can make different straps for and then interchange them when you wish.

one direction 2There are ready made straps and watch surrounds that you can interchange easily to make different design watchs, but Miss M’s favourite straps were the ones she made herself.  There three coloured lengths of cord which can be plaited to make a strap.  Also there is a bag of beads which can be threaded onto elasticated thread to make a stretchy watch strap.  Miss M loved picking the coloured beads to make a pattern on her strap.  These two straps are a great little activity that Miss M loved doing and kept her occupied.

one direction 3Children love mix and match watches and it’s great to have a different choice each morning, just pop out the watch face and put it into the strap that you want to wear.  Miss M is pleased with all her new watches and loves the fact that she made the straps herself.  Her favourite is the beaded one which I think looks lovely too.

one direction 4

A must have craft and watch set for any One Direction fan!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the One Direction watch swap set in order to write the review.

ToucanBox – Arts and Crafts Activities for Kids – Review

Toucanbox’s are themed monthly activity boxes for children delivered to your door suitable for children aged 3-8 years and come packed with all the supplies you need to make the activity ideas included.

My daughter Miss M loves getting crafty and is always busy making things so I knew this would be the ideal box for her.  We were sent the Artic box to try filled with polar themed activities to make and do.

When the box arrived we were really impressed with it’s large triangular shape.  Miss M couldn’t wait to get inside.  The box is cleverly designed to keep the child engaged and excited as they open it.  Inside on a shelf were two activity boxes.  Underneath the shelf were more goodies and the box itself had things to do on it from a fold out road scene to colour, to finger puppet toucaneers to make.

Toucan box 1

The kits included all the materials to make the activities inside such as lolly sticks, glitter glue, coloured pens, sequins etc and a really lovely polar activity sticker book, full of educational facts about polar animals and lots of stickers to add to the pages.

The first activity we did was to make an igloo using an upside down bowl and sticking foam peanuts to it to resemble ice bricks.  They loved this and carefully worked together to build the igloo.  Miss M then coloured some figures which you could stand up beside the igloo.

Toucan box 2

We then made some snowflakes by sticking lolly sticks together like a star then decorated them with white paint, glitter, sequins and glitter glues.  Both my children loved this, Miss M hard at work concentrating on the task and Mister B observing telling Miss M what coloured sequin to use next!  Also included is some wool to use to hang the decorations up.toucan box 3The polar activity book was sure to be a hit having stickers to put in place for some of the animals, something my two always find fun. The book was excellent quality and what I like about it was that it was educational with lots of facts to read and learn about the animals.  Miss M now keeps this on her bookshelf with other animal books as it’s something to look back at and keep learning from.

toucan box 4

For me the toucanBox provided much more fun that I first thought.  We sat down one afternoon to do the activities but didn’t finish leaving more to do the next day.  For little ones this really will keep them occupied for a few crafty sessions and it’s lovely to see all the things they make.  The Artic box is great for this time of year with it’s wintery feel to it.

What makes the toucanBox overall a success is the lovely range of ideas, simple clear instruction cards, an exciting fun box to open and above anything else is that everything is included – all materials that you need to make the crafts.  The only thing we had to use from home was a pair of scissors.

toucan box 5The other important aspect for me is whether the children enjoyed the toucanBox and how easy it was for them to follow.  I can honestly say that Miss M loved the toucanBox and happily crafted with the contents for hours.  She needed minimal guidance to follow the instructions and made all the creations herself.  As you can see above, she is proudly standing by her finished decorations that have adorned our fireplace this Christmas.

Here’s a short video showing some of the activities being made:

I think any young child would be happy to receive one of these boxes, subscriptions start from just £9.95 a month and there are a wide range of themed boxes available from birds, ballerinas, pirates to mad scientists – something for everyone, why not check them out?

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.

 

Christmas Activites for Children from Vertbaudet

Children love to make things at Christmas time and Vertbaudet have come up with a lovely selection of things to keep them occupied on the run up to the big day!

Here’s a list of things you can make and do:

  • An Advent calendar
  • Paper garland
  • Paper pompoms
  • Letter to Santa
  • Colouring pictures
  • Christmas gift tags
  • Woollen pompoms
  • Paper stars

Most things are easy to make and all have easy to follow instructions, you’ll have most things at home already so why don’t you give something a try.

My 3yr old Mister B wanted to try some colouring sheets so we printed some off for him, while Miss M was keen to try the paper star.  We followed the instructions and with a bit of help from mummy the star came together – she was so pleased and I love it too – it looked really effective hanging up by the tree.  We are going to make some more this week to decorate around the house.

Vertbaudet starsLots of lovely ideas to try – why don’t you try something this weekend to keep the children occupied and add to the festive decorations in your house.

 

Duck Tape Crafty Fun and Giveaway

Duck Tape Colours is traditional Duck Tape in a fun new range of colours and patterns.  Not just for DIY use, Duck Tape is perfect for crafting with so many inspirational things to make and do with it.  Currently available in 11 vibrant colours and 4 exciting patterns we were sent a few rolls to play around with and see what we thought.

Duck Tape coloursMiss M was super exciting when she saw the rolls, she loves her art and crafts and couldn’t wait to get making.  First she started with the Penguin Invasion Duck Tape and decided to make her little brother Mister B some binoculars.

Duck Tape binoculars penguinsAlthough he had other ideas and just used a couple of rolls to peep through!

Duck Tape BI decided to make a flower and Miss M was keen to make one too, although she was very insistent that I didn’t help her and she carefully copied what the steps I made.  The Duck Tape is very strong which makes it ideal for crafting, particularly the petals on the flowers which easily stand up once folded over.  Miss M did need a little help with the scissors as the tape needed a good strong cut, but I just cut little squares of tape and left them on the table for Miss M to fold and stick how she wished.

Duck Tape flower Miss MI was so proud of her finished flowers, all crafted on her own, she got completely into the swing of it and even added some leaves, she’s now in the process of making a big tree – I await the finished results!!

Below are Miss M’s beautiful flowers (the bottom left is my creation).

Duck Tape flowersWe’ve loved crafting with Duck Tape, something we’d never have thought of using before, although these new exciting colours and designs have made it much more interesting.  The finish of our creations is shiny and smooth, much better than some paper crafts that don’t last long and get easily squashed.  Miss M proudly gave her bunch of flowers to Nanny last weekend who now has them in a small vase in her kitchen.  I love seeing them each time I visit, a great reminder of her handiwork.

Duck Tape is so versatile, the possibilities are endless.  Each roll is 48mm wide and 9.1m long and is availabe on Amazon for around £6.

Would you like to have a go at crafting with it?  Well I have 3 rolls of Duck Tape to give away to one of my readers so if you’d like to win some, just fill out the form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Winners will be emailed and will need to reply within 5 days or a new winner will be drawn
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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.