Find a penny …..

Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck.  Are you superstitious?  I certainly am.

We seem to have a ‘penny good luck’ benefactor.  On our short walk to pre-school we have to pass a mini supermarket and I think someone must get fed up of getting a penny change.  On more than three occasions over the last few weeks Monkey and I have found a penny on our way to school.  Each time we’ve picked the poor, lonely penny up, rubbed it and put it in my pocket for good luck.  I then transfer it to Monkey’s monkey box when I get back home.

Each time it has happened something nice has happened to us.  Yes, I hear you shouting at the screen – pure coincidence!  Well, I prefer to think of it as good luck

Today, a little penny was waiting for us again on our way to pre-school.  When I got home I found out I’d won one of the spot prizes from the #playfest Twitter part on Tuesday night with Haba, then Monkey came home and was in a wonderfully creative mood all afternoon – a double helping of good luck! To top it off I had some good news from a company I’ve been wanting to review for, for a while.  So thank you penny, for another day of good luck.

Before you ask, yes I do walk around ladders and say goodbye to every single magpie I drive pass.

Are you superstitious?  Tell me more …..

20% discount code for Father’s Day photobook – grab your code here

We recently reviewed an ItsYourStory photo book for Fathers Day – well you can now get 20% discount off the Zoo Adventure Book featured on their website until end of day on Monday 10th June 2013 – just enter code DADDYCOOL at checkout.

This offer does not include P&P and is not valid in conjunction with any other offer or voucher code.

 

Left Overs – thanks to PeerIndex

Thanks to PeerIndex and Avon Books we recently received a copy of Left Overs by Stella Newman to read.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Left Overs

Well, I think it’s fairly obvious to any reader of my blog that I love books, these days the focus is on passing that passion on to Monkey, so it’s nice when I actually have a ‘me’ book to read!

The book is based around Susie Rosen (if you like Bridget Jones, you’ll like Susie) as she comes to terms with a job in advertising that has left her disillusioned and a love life that leaves a lot to be desired.  She has a plan to change her destiny but will all the pieces fall into place?

As you’ll know if you’ve read an earlier review, I don’t believe in giving the plot away, why do that? If I do, what reason do you have to buy the book??

It did take me a while to really get into Left Overs, I think it was a ‘lighter’ read than I’d been used to for a while, and I didn’t get that ‘I can’t put this book down’ feeling.  Having said that, I did enjoy it, it made me laugh and I was quite pleased with the ending.

The added bonus with this book, for any pasta lover (yes, that’ll be me then) are the extra little recipes.  I will be trying one out shortly.

Left Overs currently retails at £6.99 (2013 price) and I would definately recommend it if you’re looking for something to read on holiday this summer – perfect match

Three little books from My Little Big Town

Monkey was feeling rather poorly last week and was in need of some cheering up, so we were both thrilled when three lovely little books arrived on our doormat from My Little Big Town.  We had received their newly published pre-school books ‘Where’s the Scone?‘ by Beth Dexter-Smith, ‘The Monster book of Numbers‘ and ‘The Monster book of Colours‘ both by Calvin Innes (who also illustrated all three books).

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com My Little Big Town books

They were just what Mummy needed to put a smile back on my 3 and half-year old Monkey’s face

We sat ourselves down on the sofa, Monkey picked ‘Where’s the Scone?‘ to start with.  It’s a counting book with a difference – its in reverse, based on a group of animal friends having a party with lots of yummy food.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Where’s the Scone?

Each page has some rhyming verse and some amusing illustrations as you count from 10 to 1 and then look for the scone.  Monkey found it very funny.  At the back of the book is a ‘can you find and count’ section to give an added element to the book.

We moved on to ‘The Monster Book of Numbers‘ (we were on a roll!).

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Monster numbers

Monkey thought the vibrantly coloured monsters with weird and wonderous names were excellent, Mummy liked the fact the numbers went beyond 10 – 15, 20, 25 and 50 expanding his numbers in a fun way. We both decided that the monster with 25 spikes was our favourite

Our last little treat was ‘The Monster Book of Colours‘ – we knew we were in for a splash of colour and a lot of fun before we opened the front cover.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Monster Colours

Monkey was very happy to discover some more wonderful monsters with funny names, Mummy liked the idea that there were a few different colour shades than you normally get as standard – so something different for him to learn.

The books are a great size to put in a backpack to keep little ones amused in the car and on days out, and a fun alternative to the run of the mile counting and colour books.  They certainly kept Monkey’s attention at a time when he wasn’t at his best!

Each book mentioned, retails at £4.99 (2013 price) and I’d certainly recommend them as a fun way of learning for pre-schoolers.

disclaimer:  we were sent the books mentioned for the purpose of review, however the views expressed remain our own, honest thoughts

 

30% Discount code for Scented books – grab it here!

Yesterday I reviewed the Splotz and Theo at the Park scented books – great ideas.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Smelly books

The lovely people at Autumn Publishing are offering a 30% discount on their website for this week which includes the scented books I’ve highlighted above.  Just add the code halfterm at the checkout with www.smellessence.co.uk

 

My little hero

The last few weeks have been laden with bad news and illness.  I’ve found it all rather draining so I don’t suppose it was much of a surprise when I came down with a bug on Sunday.  Great timing though – at least my husband is actually around on Sunday’s so he could look after Monkey for the day, while I curled up under the duvet.

Monday, he also helped with the pre-school runs as there was no way I was capable.  Yesterday he was at work on another of his very long day and night shifts and Monkey doesn’t go to pre-school on Tuesdays.  I was still feeling really fragile yesterday morning and worrying about how to occupy a 3-year-old whilst feeling so rubbish.

I shouldn’t have worried.  My little Monkey was so great yesterday.  He just knew I wasn’t feeling very well.  He ate his breakfast straight up, no tantrums getting dressed and then disappeared.  All was quiet.  Oh no, what was he up to?  Bless him, he was sat on the sofa with his beloved teddy with a big pile of books, reading.  He spent the next HOUR, reading to teddy (obviously it was making up his own interpretation of the stories).  It was wonderful to watch and so much appreciated by a poorly Mummy.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Mummy’s little helper

For the rest of the day he was just lovely, no moaning, no tantrums, he ate all his dinner.  He made my life easier, it was much appreciated.  He just seemed to know that yesterday he needed to be a good boy – ALL day

Thankfully, I felt a lot better by bedtime.  But I’m sure it really helped having my little hero look after me for the day. I’m also sure ‘normal’ service will resume when I pick him up from pre-school later!

 

Scented books? What a great idea

When I was asked to review a range of Smellessence Splotz books, published through Autumn Publishing, I have to say I was rather intrigued.

Smellessence state: We are the leading publisher of ‘scented’ books for children that are fun, engaging and encourage children to read. This new and exciting technology involves children in the story and allows them to interact with the books on a multisensory level.

I’ve not come across books that smell before and wondered what my Monkey bookworm would make of them.

We were thrilled to receive the full set of 4 Splotz story books – complete with scented stickers.

http://www.ovder40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Splotz collection

The Splotz books are written by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and illustrated by David Boyle – there are 4 colourful characters – Ice (with a nice Minty scent), Blossom (who smells of Cherries), Bubbles (yep, you’ve guessed it, she smells of bubblegum) and Splitz (banana boy!).  The small little story books are 24 pages long and aimed at the over 3-year-old, so perfect for a nearly 3 and half year old Monkey.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Splotz characters

I have to say that these books were an instant hit with Monkey, he found the stories really funny. The rhyming text kept his attention and he was so surprised when we got to the last page and he could actually SMELL something when each of the characters when Spoltz! As readers of my book reviews will know I never reveal the ending for the books I review, so if you want to find out what makes these cheeky little characters explode – go buy the books

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Sploz stickers

To top his day off, each book comes complete with 18 stickers which you can also rub to release the character’s smell.  He got straight to sticking them all around the living room and kept going back to sniff them – they thoroughly amused him.  They even made smelly decorations for his dinosaur cave on Saturday!  I have to say, that 5 days after the first ones were rubbed, they still smell as strongly as they did last Thursday – can’t be bad.

The Splotz collection retail at £2.99 (2013 price) and Activity books are also available in the same series.

We were also sent a Scentsational Storybook Theo at the Park, written by Jaclyn Crupi and illustrated by Aurélia Verdoux.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Theo at the Park

This 24 page book is also aimed at the over 3 year olds and is a lovely story about a little dog called Theo who has lost his sense of smell.  We join him on his journey as he retraces his steps to find his smelly nose, with lots of scented surprises for us, the readers, along the way.  I really liked this book, the story and the vibrant illustrations.  Monkey loved trying to work out which pages had the smelling ‘scentsations’.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Theo – pages

Theo at the Park retails at £6.99 (2013 price) and I can thoroughly recommend it.

disclaimer:  We went sent all the books mentioned for the purpose of review, our comments though remain our own honest opinions

Don’t forget Gramps on Father’s Day

The lovely people at Love2Read saw my recent review for Grandpa’s Garden and asked me if I’d like to review one of their personalised photo books for Father’s Day – but for a Grandfather.  I loved the idea, and decided that we would create a book for Gramps in Spain.

It’s very easy to create your book, there are lots of different titles shown on the website and even a ‘make your own’ title – great for different languages or nicknames etc.  At this time of year ‘My Dad‘ is very popular for obvious reasons.  There are even demo’s you can view if you’re not too confident with making your book.

Anyway, I selected ‘Gramps‘ as my book title and followed the easy instructions to create a personal message at the beginning of our book, uploaded photos and added comments to each page.  you can add 10 photos in total.  There is a Help button if you need it, but if I can upload without any problems, then anyone can!  You can preview the finished book and make changes if needed.  Hit the order button and await the results.

The books are 17cm x 17cm, printed on 300gsm card, folded and stapled and in order to protect the book the front cover is laminated.  Each book costs £14.99 with £2.00 for postage (top tip: if you order more than one book then postage is free and there is also a discount for bulk orders).

Shipping takes up to 10 days from order confirmation, I received a wonderful despatch advice email – it’s a masterpiece in its own right! and our finished book arrived the following working day.

We are really pleased with it …..

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Love2read Gramps

The paper is sturdy, so great for smaller children to get their hands on, without damaging the pages.  At the back of the book there is a collage page of all the photos used within the book. I’d certainly recommend one of the Love2Read books for any Daddy or Gramps this Father’s Day.

I am now packaging it up ready to post to Gramps for Father’s Day, I know he’ll love it, and it’ll be waiting for him to read with Monkey the next time we visit

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  we were sent this book for the purpose of review, but our comments remain our own, honest opinions

Dinosaur world with a little help from Duplo

We should have been going to see some tractors today but Monkey decided he wanted to stay at home.  We’re always running around and this week has been rather fraught so I took his lead and thought ‘ok, let’s just chill out today’.

We recently won a copy of Harry and the Dinosaurs go to School and he is now obsessed!

So much so that I bought him a collection at our Pre-School Nearly New Sale last Saturday.  They now go everywhere with him.  His Triceratops even goes to bed with him

Anyway, we got his Duplo out and decided to make a Dinosaur world for them to play in, we added a fruit box as a cave for them to hide in and Monkey was away.  There was, of course, a visit from a Fire Engine (another obsession!) and I got instructed to make a Plus Plus Dinosaur to add the collection.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Dinosaur World

Yes, I’m not sure it looks like a Dinosaur either – but hey, I don’t pretend to have ANY artistic flair!!

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com pluis Plus Dinosaur???

He had a wonderful time making up stories and using his wonderful imagination:)

Sensory play – Playdoh, Rosemary and some pennies

It’s been a funny week this week, with the weather, Monkey not feeling too well and lots of sad things happening.

To lighten the mood we had a Playdoh session – adding Rosemary to make it smell and burying pennies in it so we can dig up buried treasure.

Monkey loves smelling all my herbs and spices and he likes Rosemary as it’s a bit easier to pick up.  So he sprinkled some onto the table and started to roll his playdoh in it.  He then pretended to be a sniffer dog and sniffed the Rosemary out – I got there just in time or he’d have been eating it!

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Playdoh treasure and smells

We’ve been reading Port Side Pirates from Barefoot Books a lot lately so I suggested to Monkey that we hide some pennies in his smelly playdoh and he could pretend to be a pirate and dig for buried treasure. He had a great time and told me when he’d finished that the pennies were for his money-box – no flies on him!

As you know from a previous post, we’ve been hunting snails lately on the way to and from pre-school so we also made some playdoh snails.  Monkey then decided to make some snakes and monsters – as you do.

http://www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com Playdoh snails and more

Monkey had a whale of a time.  Simple ideas, no real mess = one happy boy.