If you’re a parent; chances are you have one, or a couple of Micro Scooters hanging around your home. They’re the trendy way for kids to get around – especially if you’re a city dweller.

Micro Scooters are pretty generic in appearance. Lots of kids put stickers on them to funk them up a little – in the name of ‘awesome’ my husband made a personalised scooter by plastering skateboarding stickers all over our two-year-old’s scooter (I call it vicarious living).

And the latest craze is to bedeck them in millions of elastic bands: one kid does something random, and the rest follow suit making said randomness cool. It’s the way of the world.

To help kids to have their own personalised scooter and pimp their rides, Micro Scooters UK has expanded its range with a choice of nine different deck colours, seven different brake colours and five different colour handle bar grips.

Continue reading →

Tipped by many as one of this year’s hottest toys for girls; is Creative Cakes by LEGO, aimed at girls between the ages of two and five.

My two-year-old daughter is a tea party fanatic; she and I have great fun feeding fruit and tea to her teddies. We totally immerse ourselves in a world of ‘pretend’ – a world in which dollies, Hello Kitty and AA Milne characters meet each afternoon for a friendly cuppa.

It would be fabulous to add some delicious desserts to our tea party fantasy – but without the worry of sugar rush and rotten teeth. That’s where Creative Cakes comes in.

The DUPLO set includes 2 muffin cups, 3 muffin tops, 3 candles, 2 meringues, flowers and assorted LEGO DUPLO bricks. With this array of building materials, girls are able to construct their own tea party by creating cakes of all shapes and colours with pretty pastel blocks.

The set even comes a serving tray and inspirational building (cake) recipes.

Continue reading →

I read a statistic this week that left a big smile on my face! A new survey by Aviva has revealed that Brits spends an average of 100 minutes a week reading bedtime stories to young children, which works out to 87 hours a year. Pretty cool!

Reading to my toddler is honestly one of my most favourite things in the world. Even when she asks me to read the same book over and over – boring! – I am just so glad that she wants me to read at all.

I try never to be too busy to hook up a story. And admittedly, I am really enjoying becoming reacquainted with my favourite stories from childhood as well as a whole host of new ones.

At such a young age, her imagination is beautifully vibrant. And I know that it’s a result of reading.

Even if I am not reading to her, she spends ages paging through her books, looking at the pictures (a very important part of any worthwhile kid’s book) and reciting the stories to herself or her teddies.

Continue reading →

You need care for your child but have no idea where to start. If this is you, listen up!

Good Care Guide is a new useful childcare website that lists all registered group childcare settings, with data supplied by Ofsted. It also lists childcare and nanny agencies. The site allows users to can rate and review childcare they have used – quality of care, facilities and value for money are top points for consideration. The idea is to share experiences in the hope of informing others choosing care.

The useful childcare website is easy to navigate and the ‘search by postcode’ function means that results are specific to your location.

Good Care Guide also provides useful links to advice on childcare as well as six top tips:

1. Think ahead

2. Find out about local childcare

3. Visit setting

4. Check quality

Continue reading →

Paddington Bear was recently voted Britain’s favourite ever animated character, which is heartening news for those of us thirty-something parents who feel somewhat disillusioned by some of the all-singing, all-dancing modern children’s programmes played on a loop at all hours of the day and night.

While many modern programmes are great fun and intelligently produced, the gentle stories and basic animation of old kids TV shows from our own childhoods bring a certain kind of calm that seems to grab children’s attention in the way the quiet teacher can often control the class just as well if not better than the shouty one!

Paddington has also maintained his integrity when it comes to merchandise. From his stall at home in London’s Paddington Station, to his official website, the range of Paddington Bear-related gifts is littered with books, clothes and wooden toys for the young ones, while even grown-up fans can enjoy a reminder from their childhood in the shape of tea cups, notebooks and pens.

So what other throwbacks still exist in the world of old kids TV shows? Recently, I had the good fortune of stumbling on a stack of DVDs containing the complete collection of Ivor the Engine, near the checkout at my local DIY store, of all places!

And it was undoubtedly the most satisfying purchase of the trip, because it has been successful in calming my 2- and 5-year olds on many an overexcited occasion since.

Continue reading →