John Adams Sands Alive Play Sets – Review

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Sands Alive play sets from John Adams are a delight to young children who love sand, enjoy using their hands to be creative and like having fun making things. My two children were excited about the idea of playing with sand indoors and I found these sets to be quite well contained and easy to clean up.

We received the Classic and Animal set to try out. They both come with a tray to play in, a bag of sand and various moulds to shape the sand with.

Both children sat quietly playing, enjoying the texture of the soft sand through their fingers. It’s a great product that’s non sticky, really soft, making it great for kids of any age to play with.

Mister B loved the paw tracks roller which led to lots of imaginative play with some of his figure toys over the animal prints. What is quite amazing is how well defined the sand is one you stamp it or mould it. The edges are really smooth and clear to see. The shapes are easy to press out of the moulds with a few light taps.

Miss M was very proud of the sand ball that she made and it did look quite impressive. The animals were good although a little tricky for younger ones to get out of the mould easily, but we are practising and they are getting better as we get to grips with the moulds. We also made lots of towers for the animals to live in.

The children really enjoy playing with Sands Alive, it’s creative fun that they can play with in the house. We just used an art mat underneath and found it simple to hoover up any excess. I think these are great play sets for children, ideal gifts and something they will enjoy time and time again. A different, new texture that is great to explore!

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

Our family summer holiday to Perran Sands Cornwall

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Fiona Martin

After visiting Perran Sands in Cornwall for the first time last summer, we were quite impressed. We had glorious weather, spent everyday on the beach and I have to say the Haven caravan impressed me. I’ll be honest and say I was sceptical not having holidayed in a caravan for years, but it was almost brand new, modern decor, en suite toilet etc.

So as soon as we got back, we booked again for this year without hesitation. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t quite as sunny this year, but we did manage most days on the beach and the caravan surpassed itself. We believe we were probably in an upgrade to the level we booked and I reckon we had the best view on the whole site as we had a full on sea view and our caravan jutted further onto the cliff then any others so it felt very private. We had a decking balcony with table and chairs, not to mention a bath with shower over, as well as an en suite shower room off the main bedroom and washing machine in the kitchen.

Here’s the view from standing on our decking outside the lounge of our caravan:

So aside from my amazing caravan, the children couldn’t wait to get exploring. Not knowing that their cousins were due to arrive in another caravan, we headed to the central area where they had a play before we surprised them with my brother and his family.

Most days where then spent on the beach. Both my children just adore the sand, although Miss M has become a total water babe, she spent most of her time body boarding in the sea with daddy whilst Mister B and I played in the sand.

Mister B’s beach dumper truck was a big hit as usual, creating all sorts of imaginative play, it kept him occupied for hours!

Miss M opted for some beach gymnastics, to practice her cartwheels and handstands and I can definitely say she’s improved.

There is a steep cliff face coming down to the beach and with some water trickling though which made a river right across the beach. The children loved this and collected water there as well as making dams out of sand across the river, and having “sandball” fights against the cliff!

What I like about the beach at Perran Sands is that it is vast, so much room that you don’t feel cramped and they children had plenty of room to play. I’m pleased we had some good weather days where the sky was blue and the beach was sheltered, so the children could run around to their hearts content.

One day we went down quite late in the afternoon, not realising that the tide was on it’s way in, but that just provided extra entertainment with the children digging holes to sit in, and wait for them to fill up with water, before running inland a bit more and starting again!

When we weren’t on the beach, we made good use of the indoor pool, with Miss M enjoying one of the junior pool parties. She also had an archery lesson which she really enjoyed although I was surprised to see the bow was almost as tall as her!

The bungee trampoline was a big hit with Miss M where she could bounce up as high as the sky! She also successfully attempted some backflips which were amazing to see her twirling round in the air.

haven 10

It was soon time for our holiday to come to an end, and typically we woke up to an exceptionally sunny day when we were due to leave, so once we had packed the car up and handed in the key, we walked down to the dunes overlooking the cliff and finished our ice lollies, threw some whistling foam javelins between us and played in the sand bunker behind a huge dune. It was so peaceful, warm and sunny I could have stayed there all day, but it was time to say goodbye to another wonderful family beach holiday at Perran Sands…

Cra-Z-Sand Purple Playset – Review

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Fiona Martin

The new Cra-Z-Sand Deluxe Purple Playset from Character Options was bound to be a hit with my two children as they love sand, they love arts & crafts, they love being creative and they love making mess!!

My children’s eyes lit up when they saw the set and they couldn’t wait to play. Fortunately with the recent run of good weather, we took the opportunity to play outside. The set consisted of a pack of purple coloured sand, a sturdy plastic tray to play in (although my children preferred to play on the art mat), a roller and various scrapers to cut and sculpt the sand any way you wish.

The sand is a really pliable texture and can be moulded and shaped anyway you wish. Just as easily as it can be broken up and flows through your fingers, it can be compacted and moulded into a perfect shape.

I have to say my two didn’t need any encouragement with this, they just got on and happily played, loving pressing there fingers into the sand and rolling it into balls etc. The sand is a really satisfying texture that feels soft and is totally non-sticky!

We used some sand moulds we already had to make shapes and they really do turn out perfectly formed with a simple tap and wiggle of the mould. This makes it really satisfying for children to see and feel that they have achieved something quite amazing.

I really liked Cra-Z-Sand and can confirm that my children loved it!! They have already asked if I can get them some different colours to play with. I think this is a fun, enjoyable, tactile play substance that although really isn’t that messy. It’s dry, non sticky and can be brushed off or hoovered up quite easily. The tray and accessories are strong and sturdy making this a good quality set.

We give Cra-Z-Sand a big thumbs up as we all enjoyed it, had lots of fun and loved the texture of it!!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and the Cra-Z-Sand was sent to us in order to write the review.

A Trip to Looe Beach in Cornwall

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Fiona Martin

A few weeks ago, we ventured down to Looe in Cornwall for the day. The husband was working and the children are always itching to get out and love the beach so Looe seemed like the ideal place to go without being too far to travel.

The weather wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, a bit drizzly, but the children didn’t bat an eyelid as we parked up and walked off. We couldn’t help but walk past a rather fun play park at the end of the car park so I let them have ten minutes to run around.

In fact the park was so good, I wished it had been nearer to home as it would be a great place to pop to for the children to have a play. Mister B loved climbing a spider web like rope structure to be like his favourite superhero “Spiderman”. Miss M was at home on all the ropes and swinging paraphernalia being the action girl that she is!

With swings, slides, things to climb on and lots of rope activities, they could have stayed here all day, but we soon headed down towards the beach.

The children were delighted when they saw the vast sandy beach in front of them, Miss M ran straight down to the water to fill the buckets whilst Mister B couldn’t wait to start digging in the sand. He happily built himself a little castle and found a feather to put on top.

They both played happily in the sand before deciding to dig a hole by the sea.

The tide was coming in so they dug faster and faster eager for the sea to fill their hole, and when it did they excitedly giggled before encouraging each other to dig even quicker to make a longer river for the sea to fill.

As you can see the finished river was quite long and if it wasn’t getting a little chilly and the sea wasn’t coming in quite so fast, I think they would have been happy to stay their until bedtime!

All in all a successful day at Looe, my children love the beach whatever the weather and being somewhere we can travel to in just under an hour, it’s a great day out that always guarantees fun and excitement.

As you can imagine, after something to eat and a hot bath, they slept soundly through the night after a day in the fresh sea breeze.

Wembury Beach – family fun in the January sun!!

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Fiona Martin

Waking up last Saturday to the glorious sunshine, we just knew it was a day to take advantage of. So we decided to head over to the beach which turned out to be packed, not a carpark space in site!! The tide was in, the beach was rocky, the few sandy spots were murky grey, gritty sand – but the children didn’t care!! Dressed in their rain suits, wellies and accompanied with buckets and spades they were in fresh air heaven, digging away, building dams with the rocks across the mini rivers than emanated down from the rocky cliff face, finding rectangular ‘car’ shaped rocks to drive through the makeshift sandy roads, braving the shallow waves hitting the shoreline to fill their buckets with seawater, they were in their element playing as the bright sunshine hit the beach for the afternoon.

Buckets and spades at the ready, Miss M and Mister B couldn’t wait to get digging. With the tide in, there was little sand to be found amongst the rocks but this didn’t deter them one little bit. There were squeals of excitement as they dug in, trying to build the biggest hole they could!

Mister B was excited by a rectangular shaped rock he found and decided it was a car. He then made a sandy track with his hand to drive his ‘car’ through. He was absolutely thrilled with his little road and just loved the freedom of the beach and fresh air to play in.

Miss M was keen to have a little paddle and fill her bucket with water to fill their freshly dug hole. She loved waiting for each wave to come in although had to keep emptying her water filled wellies!! Not that it bothered her, it just seemed to add to her fun!!

They then decided to venture over the rocks at the back of the beach and Miss M was eager to climb, while Mister B was desperate to copy. I wasn’t too keen so they posed for a couple of photos and came back down.

All in all we had a fantastic afternoon at the beach. The children loved being outside, the thrill of the beach, however small and stony kept them entertained for hours and they were sad to go home, but after some dinner and a warm bath they were soon tucked away in their beds fast asleep for the night and mummy wasn’t far behind after spending time in the fresh sea air!