Bunchems! 3D Creations Fun for Kids

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Bunchems! from Spin Master are clever little colourful balls that stick together and can be built up to create 3D structures simply and easily. Just as quick you have built one, you can also pull it apart and rebuild into something totally different. My children have been eyeing this up over the last few months so I knew they’d be eager to try them out and have fun seeing if they were as good as they thought from the adverts!

We received a Mega Pack and Under the Sea glow in the dark pack of Bunchems! to try out. Within these sets there are plenty of coloured pieces to start playing with a long with what I thought was a good selection and variety of accessories which can be stuck onto your creations to add personality and bring them alive.

My 6yr old who has been eager to try these for a while, got stuck straight in and was building things all by himself. I was really impressed at how easy and quick they are to build and certainly kept both him and his 9yr old entertained all afternoon. The circle pieces have tiny hooks on the end of the spikes which simply hook together as you push them close. There are also small holes in one side which the accessories attach to.

Within just a few minutes my little boy had recreated this rather cute bird that he saw on the front of the box. He was very proud of it and I was amazed he made it so quickly and independently.

Before long I was being shown lots of wonderful creations – they all look fabulous!

I think Bunchems! are great and perfect for a range of ages although I’d say my 6yr old enjoyed them the most. They are non messy and great to do on a table or tray and can just be stored in a box when play has finished (we found a lidded plastic box perfect). For a different way to craft, create and have fun, then Bunchems! are a great toy to try out.

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

Shapes Don’t Bug Me Geometry Set – Review

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Fiona Martin

Shapes Don’t Bug Me from Learning Resources is a fabulous little educational activity set aimed at children aged 5-9 although both my children ages 3 and 6 have loved playing with this and had lots of fun learning about shapes and how they fit together.

The set comprises of 20 double sided activity cards ranging in difficulty from 1 up to 20. There are also 136 translucent plastic shapes included in 14 different variants including 5 different triangles, 2 different squares, hexagon, trapezoid, rhombus, circle, half circle and quarter circle. They also come in different colours helping to distinguish between the different shapes.

My two children were immediately eager to have a go and grabbed an activity card and got stuck in building the pictures with the shapes. I thought this was brilliant for Mister B, as he loved the easier bug pictures and had such a great sense of achievement when he had finished one. It was also a fun way for him to learn new shapes like a rhombus and trapezium. I was also trying to teach him a semi circle and it was great to do this with two halves and put them together to build a circle.

Although initial impressions may seem like this is quite easy, Miss M tackled some of the harder activity cards and they certainly challenged her. It was great to see her tackling some of the more mathematical ones, using smaller triangles to make larger triangles and again helping her get to grips with the make up of a circle, talking about halves, quarters and how many of each are needed to make a circle.

The trickiest cards contained just one large outline of a shape such as a triangle or a rhombus and you had to fill the inside completely with smaller shapes to make the larger one. Miss M had some really good attempts but they weren’t quite sitting accurately on the lines so I set about trying them with her. I have to say it took me a few attempts to fill them so there is definitely plenty of challenge in this set.

We’ve really enjoyed trying out the Shapes Don’t Bug Me geometry set, it is something that a good age range of children will enjoy and learn from and is bright, colourful and attracts children to sit and play. It’s also trickier than it looks so has plenty of learning potential and I think it’s brilliant that the activity cards are numbered in difficulty levels.

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

Fruit Bowl Snacks for Kids – Review

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Fiona Martin

Fruit Bowl offer an incredibly appealing range of prepacked snacks aimed at children, with the bonus of being healthy, in fact most of them provide 1 of their 5 a day portions of fruit. There are various varieties of snacks from fruit shapes, to fruit peelers and fruit bars. There are also yogurt coated fruit pieces although these only count as half of 1 of your 5 a day.

My children’s eyes lit up when they saw the selection of snacks we received from Fruit Bowl to try as they do love their snacks and are keen on fruit.

The Fruit Bowl Fruit shapes come in jungle or sea varieties and both of these were a big hit with my children. They love eating them and view them as a pack of sweets even though they contain 1 of their 5 a day. Made with apple, pear, strawberry and blackcurrant juices and containing no added sugar, these really are a handy but healthy snack.

Their other favourite were the Fruit peelers, which come in strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrant varieties, these are easy to eat and peel down into six thin strips. My children were really keen on these and it’s such an easy way to boost their fruit intake in a day.

School Bars are a chunky, fruity bar ideal for pack lunches. My two did find these a little hard to bite and were ok with the strawberry and raspberry flavours but not so keen on the apple and blackcurrant variants.

Yogurt Raisins were a big hit with Mister B and he probably could have eaten them endlessly if I’d let him. He loves raisins anyway, so covered in yogurt just makes them extra tasty.

Being pre packed, I found Fruit Bowl snacks really handy for when out and about. They are also useful for pack lunches but I found them most invaluable when on days out at the weekend, after school activities and days with Mister B when he’s not at nursery.

I can always carry a few packs in my handbag, particularly the shapes and peelers in my children’s cases as these were their preferred options, but being fruit based they couldn’t melt or get crushed. All importantly though, I know that I’ve always got a healthy snack on me for them that I know they’ll enjoy. I’d definitely recommend trying Fruit Bowl if you haven’t already, a healthy option that kids love!

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