Category: Reviews

We were super excited to receive the Go Green Playhouse from Little Tikes. Arjun didn’t have any other playhouses prior to this one and I was pretty excited for him to have his own little space to take care of – it isn’t just a playhouse, there’s a lot more to it – he’s all about learning through play, and this was a brilliant opportunity to introduce recycling and ways in which we can help the environment.

Arjun has recently begun growing his own vegetables in his vegetable patch with his grandparents and has taken an interest in how plants grow with water and the sun. We often cook with the produce that he has grown to show him the end to end process and he’s always super proud! It’s so important to me that he is “close to nature” as I believe it’s good for the soul! I love how his new playhouse can be used to interact with other parts of the garden.

The house comes with various parts to assemble and it took Preetam (and his assistant Arjun) approximately an hour – he said the instructions were pretty easy to follow though I think if it were left to me, it’d take me a few days to put together!

The playhouse itself has several features:

There’s a flower garden which he’ll be planting during the summer with his grandparents, I can’t wait for him to add a splash of colour and have his very own flower bed! His grandparents have already promised him a trip to the garden centre to pick his own.

A water reservoir which he found really fascinating – it helped that we set it up during the cooler months where he could see how rain was collected and how he was then able to use this water to water his vegetable patch. Bruno also enjoyed helping himself to a drink!

A solar light – each evening he looks out the window at his house and excitedly tells us how the roof caught the sun and saved it for his house light when it gets dark. Though he doesn’t fully understand the concept, it’s definitely been a brilliant introduction to solar powered lighting!

A real working sink which uses the rain water – you’ll often catch him washing his dishes after “cooking” in his house. He sometimes asks to wash his own dishes after his meals in his own house!

A letter box which he loves to post the cardboard for recycling through.

Recycling bins where we’ve introduced recycling milk cartons and cardboard boxes – he’s now taken to emptying the fridge to place random materials in his recycling baskets haha! Again, although he doesn’t always get it right, he definitely has such an awareness and now always asks the question “mummy is this for recyclying” before throwing anything in the bin.

A doorbell – more than anything, Arjun was quite interested in how the doorbell worked, he rings it and tries to figure out how the cause and effect relationship works – like father like son!

As well as the educational perks of the playhouse, it’s make up is brilliant for role play with its door, window and working sink – what we loved most about the playhouse is its versatility and how Arjun uses his imagination to quickly transform it in to a different space! Arjun often pretends that it’s his own restaurant and mimics a McDonalds drive thru serving rice crispies and ice cream! Haha!

We absolutely love our Go Green Playhouse – Arjun has hours of fun and has learnt so much without even realising! I think this is what really makes this playhouse stand out from the others – the fact that there are so many unique features which introduce the concept of greener living through play.

At £249.99, it’s a pretty big investment, but I think given how much more it has to offer, the price is fairly justified. You can purchase the playhouse at Little Tikes.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in the form of remuneration or in exchange for a product or service. However all views expressed above are my own.

With two dogs, a mucky toddler and a new baby, our house is going to be pretty chaotic! I’m totally not ready for it but I’ve done my best to put mini measures in place to help me manage things! When I was contacted by Vileda to review their Windomatic, I was hopeful that that was something that could be added to my list of “make my life easier things”!

Arjun loves touching mirrors and we have a lot of them in our house! All our wardrobes have mirrored doors. Bruno, our existing dog, is a professional window licker except the aftermath isn’t so professional! Now that we have two dogs (our latest addiction is another Rottweiler called Bella), two sets of doggy tongues and two sets of doggy paws, It’ll be no surprise when our windows and internal doors are going to need a lot more TLC than even before! Maybe bifold doors weren’t such a good idea?!

As you may or may not know, I’m currently living with my parents while our home renovation gets completed so I thought I’d test this little beauty out here. I’m so glad I did as it’s given me so much relief that I have a quick and easy way to mop up after Arjun and the dogs when required. Something to maintain my new house efficiently and easily!

Here’s my full review:

What is the Vileda Windowmatic?

“The Vileda Windomatic Cordless Window Vacuum cleaner is a quick and easy way to provide a streak-free finish after washing windows, for removing window condensation, wiping mirrors or cleaning up spills.”

What is the battery life like?

I put the device on charge for a few hours before testing. It’s recommended that it’s charged for at least 6 hours before use but it worked perfectly fine and the battery still hasn’t died. Once the battery is finished, it takes 6 hours to fully charge – you know it’s fully charged when the green light comes on.

How big is the water tank?

The water tank has a 100ml capacity. I did two doors (inside and out) and a door sized mirror and the tank barely had anything in it so I imagine it would last quite a while.

How easy is it to use? 

So simple! So efficient! So effective! After each use, empty the water reservoir and rinse and leave to dry or clean with a cloth.

How did we find it?

After you have washed your window/mirror with a window cleaning solution (I used soapy water), the light weight and low noise windomatic works like a hand vacuum to suck up the solution.

The vacuum comes with a rubber lip that squeegees your window to leave a streak-free finish. The way in which the rubber lip engages with the surface is so tight that you only need to run it down once making it very efficient. The results are brilliant on all the surfaces I tested the product on as you can see below.

I used an up to down motion and when it came to the bottom of the surface, I used a horizontal motion from left to right or right to left. What I loved about the vacuum is that you don’t have to run over the same area twice. It’s suction is so powerful and well made that the water sucks straight up leaving 0 streaks and no additional need to clean. There are no streaks left at the side of the rubber lip either which I was pleasantly surprised about.

Although it’s flexible neck reaches most corners and edges, I did find that on PVC doors, I needed to use a towel to wipe down the edges where I had difficulty in getting to them. But to be honest I didn’t try very hard!

It’s important that you scrub the windows using a sponge/cloth as the Windomatic isn’t designed to remove dirt, more to remove water and leave your windows and similar surfaces with a streak free finish.

I can imagine this device can be used on several surfaces similar to that of a window or mirror such as our microwave which has a glossy finish.

I decided to test three different surfaces with varying different marks.

1. The garden door
There were several finger prints on the door and it hasn’t been cleaned in a while (!). 

Before:

After:

2. The mirror by the dog bed
As you can see, there were several grimy marks on the mirror courtesy of the dog post park walks. 

Before:

After:

3. The patio door from the lounge to the office conservatory
Most of these little marks are courtesy of Arjun and the dog.

Before:

After:

To clean two doors on both sides and a door sized mirror it took me less than twenty minutes from start to finish and the outcome was brilliant. There were 0 streaks on any of the surfaces and it was really quick to use. Arjun also had lots of fun in assisting me!

I would highly recommend the Vileda WindoMatic Window Vacuum Cleaner at £49.99. 

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post either in the form of remuneration or a free product being sent to us for review however all thoughts and opinions are our own.

If you haven’t come across the Miles Kelly “Convertible” books collection, you’re really missing out!

We first came across them through a blog post done by a fellow blogger, Donna over at The London Mum. I purchased a tractor one for Arjun last Christmas and he loved it!
The book both doubles up as a story and can be cleverly assembled in to a toddler sized tractor which provides hours of fun. There are various ones available and they are so much fun and are great for the imagination.

When I was contacted to review a new collection they were launching, I was so excited! I’m even more excited as you guys also have the chance to win one!!

The new “convertible playmat” collection features a story which can then be unraveled in to a playmat and comes with lots of stand up figurines, buildings and props for make believe play. Something that Arjun loves! I’m really big on role play and kids using their imagination – the possibilities at that tender age are endless!

We were sent a bundle and chose the Fire Engine book to review – it was a great way to introduce him to fire safety and since then he’s really aware of fire and danger though probably not to the extent I wish he could be.

 

The book comes with instructions on how to assemble to building (it’s really easy!) and the characters and also provides descriptions of some of the figurines. The way in which the book folds up also means there’s a little slot where the figurines can be stored safely which is great especially in our house where the small bits and pieces have the tendency to go missing!

The books are hardback and the figures are also printed on thick card. The figures are double sided and come with a slitting stand for them to stand up. The figures themselves aren’t very sturdy and we found the stand fell out quite easily which meant they were easily knocked over – it wasn’t something that bothered Arjun though!

Arjun loved practising his “neenoh” sounds and it also helped build up his vocabulary by going through different animals, sounds, buildings and props.

More than reading the story itself, Arjun was interested in playing with the playmat and creating different scenarios.

The playmat also has a section that folds up in to a building – each internal wall has a different real life scene e.g. A fire station, a house, a gym. Again, great for using imagination and endless scenarios.

At £14.99 (currently on offer for £11!), these offer hours of imaginative fun and we absolutely love them! They make great gifts and are great value for money.

Would you love to win the Farm Convertible Playbook?

Here’s how!

 

The giveaway will run for a week from today. Entering is easy – click on the Rafflecopter below and enter through the various options available. The more entries you make, the higher the chances you have of winning!

 

The giveaway is open worldwide but shipping is only covered to the UK. Postage will need to be covered for outside of the UK and payment must be made via paypal within 2 days of the competition ending.

 

The winner will be selected at random on Friday 16th December and will be notified via email.
Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post either in the form of remuneration or a free product being sent to us for review however all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Following on from my reviews of Fusion Lifestyle Leisure Centres, they have recently published the below article which is definitely thought evoking! 

As you may or may not know, we started Arjun off at swimming lessons when he was quite young (12 weeks) for two terms. Unfortunately after that, our busy social calendar took over and it became increasingly difficult (and expensive!) to attend our weekend lessons. 

I took Arjun to his first toddler swim class recently and I’m so keen to keep it up. 

What are your thoughts on the below? 

New research shows swimming lessons have positive impact on achievement for primary school pupils

Findings released today, ahead of the start of the new school term, by registered charity and leisure provider Fusion Lifestyle, suggest swimming lessons could be the key to giving children a head start as they start school. The findings reveal that children who have taken swimming lessons are significantly more likely to perform above average in maths, English, literacy and sport, than non-swimming children.

The survey further strengthens the link between swimming and the positive mental and physical development in young children and shows how incredibly important it is.

1,000 parents of children aged 4 – 8 revealed the following:

• 45% of children at Reception level who have had swimming lessons have achieved reading age 5 or above, with only 27% of those who haven’t had lessons in this range

• Children who have taken swimming lessons are more likely to enjoy reading (54%) than non-swimming children (47%) and are more likely to read daily outside of school (45%) than those who haven’t had lessons (36%)

• Children are also more able to recite their times tables, than those that haven’t taken swimming lessons, with 39% of swimmers able to recite their 5 times table v only 28% of non swimmers

• 37% of these children are also more likely to enjoy maths “very much”, vs only 29% of those who haven’t had lessons

• Swimming also appears to help overall sporting performance with 37% of those who have taken lessons performing above average in sport and PE, compared to 28% of those who haven’t taken lessons

Jon Glenn, Head of Learn to Swim at the Amateur Swimming Association, commented: “Swimming is a great way for children and young people to stay fit and active. Learning about water confidence at a young age is also important to help children to stay safe in and around water. For some time now, swimming and physical activity has been recognised as having additional positive impacts on development and social skills. We would recommend all children take part in swimming at the earliest possible opportunity, whether that is by having fun in the pool with families or receiving formal swimming instruction.”

Chris Jones, Group Sports and Development Manager of Fusion Lifestyle added, “The new school term is the perfect time to start thinking about swimming lessons and we hope these findings will give parents and guardians even more of an incentive to help their children get active and get in the pool. We passionately believe that children should learn to swim. It’s the only sport that can save your life, it’s a great way to exercise and now our research suggests it can help children do better at school too. We facilitated 3.5 million lessons in 2015 and are committed to increasing that in 2016 and beyond”

With 80 Fusion-run pools across the UK, their dedicated ‘Swim School’ programme offers ASA approved lessons that, under the Learn to Swim Framework, help children achieve confidence in the water. Over 46,000 children learn to swim with Fusion every week with their expert instructors in a friendly, safe and fun environment. Book your free assessment today at www.fusionswimschool.com to find out more.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post either in the form of remuneration or a free product being sent to us for review however all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Given Arjun hasn’t been for a swimming lesson since he was a tiny tot, I was quite excited. He absolutely loves being in the pool when on holiday and his confidence has definitely grown. I have never taken Arjun in to a swimming pool alone without Preetam before – another one of my many fears! When we were invited to review the toddler swimming lesson at Hanworth Leisure Centre, I thought it was the perfect opportunity for me to face another fear. It was also a great opportunity to meet with our friends Sam and Josie.

 

Here is my review:

Parking: there is a really big car park and despite the lesson we attended being during school holidays, we found parking easily with plenty more available. It was an added bonus that parking was free.

Friendliness of reception: The reception staff were really friendly and helpful and showed us as around the changing rooms and swimming pool.

Changing rooms: I was super excited when we entered the changing rooms as I’ve not been to a pool where I’ve noticed family changing facilities before. Perfect way to ease the burden I was carrying around on my shoulders about how on earth I’d get myself and Arjun dressed! There are 5 of these family changing rooms which include a bench to place your items while you get dressed, a change table, a nappy bin and a small little play pen – the play pen came in particularly useful when I was getting dressed after the lesson when Arjun thought it would be fun to unlock the door!  We managed to get a room each both on getting ready for the pool and when coming out.

A big point to note is that the changing rooms are mixed – I’m presuming this would need to be the case so that the family change rooms also welcome fathers. The showers and toilets are however split. The swimming pool changing showers are shared showers with no partition or individual cubicles and you have to keep your swim wear on which means you can’t have a “proper” shower post swimming. I’d have preferred to have had a full shower straight after the lesson and also be able to wash down Arjun properly.  However there are separate cubicle showers in the dry changing rooms available.

There are plenty of lockers located in the changing rooms which require a refundable £1.

The changing rooms were clean and spacious.

The class: The pool itself and the surrounding area was very clean. The temperature was warm and the pool was large. Double the size of the pools I was used to seeing with previous high priced swimming lessons! The equipment was also clean. The class lasted 30 minutes which was the perfect amount of time before the babies got tired from splish splashing.

The class consisted of about 8 other kids plus a parent. It wasn’t overcrowded and the pool was more than big enough for everyone to have their personal space – even with the babies going in all directions!

The teacher was really friendly and had a bubbly personality which helped get the children engaged. She was really encouraging and gave lots of 1 on 1 attention if the parents were unsure of anything for example advising us to stand behind our babies when trying to get them to lie on their backs so they could rest their heads on our shoulder.

I loved that she sung familiar nursery rhymes such as “the wheels on the bus” “zoom zoom zoom we’re going to the moon” and “humpty dumpty” during the lesson which definitely got Arjun in to the swing of things! For example she used “the wheels on the bus” to get the toddlers to circle their arms in the water. The teacher also used animals to describe to the children the way in which to move, for example a frog and how it jumps to move their legs. By the end of the lesson, Arjun was able to understand to move his legs and arms at the same time with a floating age. He was so confident and even jumped in to my arms standing from the side of the pool at the end – he’s never done that before!

I had assumed that being a leisure centre, there would be a small section of a main pool sectioned off for the toddler lesson, however I was pleasantly surprised that there was a totally separate pool that is totally separate from the main pools.

Would we go again? We would definitely return back. Arjun and Josie both really enjoyed the lesson!

 

 

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post either in the form of remuneration or a free product being sent to us for review however all thoughts and opinions are our own.

My memories of Brentford Leisure Centre are of the wave pool as a little girl. I’d never visited the softplay area and was looking forward to taking Arjun to somewhere new.
We’d been invited to come and review the softplay facilities and kindly the invite was extended to a +1 for both Arj and I. We took along E and her mummy F.

Parking: there was plenty of parking when we arrived at 11am. They also have parent and toddler parking available which is located closer to the entrance – very helpful when you have two inquisitive mobile toddlers in tow! Parking cost £1 for 2 hours.

The soft play gym: There is a special area to allocate your shoes as you enter which is really helpful in ensuring shoes don’t go missing or aren’t trampled on!
The softplay centre is four stories high although not very wide and is recommended for ages 5-11. It includes two slides, a mountain challenge offering lots of climbing opportunity, and a wobbly bridge. The area for older children includes lots of colourful bolsters which are different sizes catering for different heights where the children climb up on to the next floor. Arj and E, after a few assisted turns, managed to climb up themselves with perseverance!



There is a separate toddler area for children aged 2 – 4 years on the ground story which consists of a ball pool, a smaller slide, giant soft play see saws and bish bosh bolsters. Arj and E spent a lot of their time here and their favourite was taking it in turns on the slide whilst bellowing “my turn my turn!” as they did so. Arj also really liked the bish bosh bolsters.

Both kids definitely preferred the smaller slide situated on the ground story to the larger slide situated on the third story although Arjun did decide to make his way up there by himself half way through again

We found everything really clean – the soft play items appeared to be cleaned regularly and we didn’t spot any dirt around either.

Upon entering at first, I thought the AC was on really high till I climbed three stories and realised I’d worked up a sweat! Thank goodness for Aunti F to help Arj when I was too tired! Both kids got the hang of climbing up unaided pretty quick even in the big kids area.

Random animal noises play through the area at intervals. The babies had fun guessing which animal it was “froggy” “monkey”!

We visited on a Thursday morning at 11am and I was expecting it to be really busy given its also school holidays. Upon entering, I was pleasantly surprised to find only one other toddler there. I was surprised at how quiet it was however it may have been as it was a hot day. The busiest it got was towards 12pm where there were a maximum of 7 children including ours. The other mummies and babies present were really friendly.

Food wise there is a little cafe located just by reception that serve panini soups and sandwiches, however we decided to venture outdoors as it was a beautiful day!

Needless to say, both babes were absolutely shattered after their fun at the soft play centre! We’ll definitely be visiting again as we loved how quiet it was and that it was in quite a contained area.

Brentford Leisure Centre Softplay opening hours:

Monday-Friday 10:00 – 16:00
Saturday and Sunday 09:00 – 11:15

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post either in the form of remuneration or a free product being sent to us for review however all thoughts and opinions are our own.