Teletubbies: The Tubby Custard Ride #bookreview

Book review: I got this for my 2-year-old (plus 7-months) boy to enjoy. He saw me take it out of the package and said straight away, “Please can I have it?” He then took to it immediately saying, “Daddy look, Noo-Noo”, “Daddy look, Teletubbies” and “Daddy, what’s this, what’s this, daddy, what’s this?” as he flicked through the pages.

The cover contains a slide section and needless to say it is these bits in the book that he finds most interesting, the slide bits and the picture wheels.

It is a hard board book so he can easily turn the pages on his own (although he won’t always wait for you to read the text first before doing so). It is reasonably durable too, although he has managed to rip it a little when he thought there was a page inside a page (the problem of having a slide section in between making the pages thicker tricking him into thinking there is a page in-between).

Each page is bright, glossy and colourful and features the Teletubbies on them. The story he won’t let me read because he wants to turn the page, or play with the feature, but with Teletubbies the story doesn’t matter too much.

But the book is certainly keeping him happy at the moment as he sits with it in his hand watching TV, occasionally turning to it instead.

It's available on Amazon to buy HERE.

How to Draw Mr. Men by Roger Hargreaves #bookreview

Book review: I got this for my 5 and 9-year-old daughters. It is a nice package with a hard-back cover that opens to reveal a "How to Draw Book" on the left and a "Sketch Book" on the right.

The "How to Draw Book" contains step-by-step instructions on how to draw: Mr Happy, Mr Grumpy, Mr Greedy, Mr Tall, Little Miss Sunshine, Mr Cool, Little Miss Naughty, Mr Strong, Mr Bump, Little Miss Giggles, Mr Tickle, Mr Bounce, Little Miss Princess, Mr Messy, plus a page that contains pictures of all the other Mr Men and Little Misses so you can have a go at them. You can do these in the enclosed sketchbook if you want or elsewhere.

In addition to providing some blank pages to draw on the sketchbook also contains some Mr Men stencils and stickers, plus some fun exercises.

My girls loved creating Mr Men and tested me to see if I could recognise who they'd drawn. And there is still more fun to come.

Available to pre-order on AMAZON here (released 06/Oct/2016): HOW TO DRAW MR MEN 

Frozen: Back-to-School Kit by Disney Learning #bookreview

Book review: This little kit contains five A5 full-colour 16-page booklets. There are books for: 

• Adding
• Subtracting
• Reading and Comprehension
• Words to Read and Learn
• Sticker Book

My daughter is between Reception and Year 1. She has been doing these books today. She gives them 5 stars. They hold the interest. This is because they have variety to them, not only across the books but also within the books with the activities being different. Also she hasn't found the books too difficult which is another thing that can turn her off these sort of things. These workbooks seem the correct difficulty for her (age 5-6 as stated on the product) and contain concepts she has come across at school, like the number line. Another good point is the reward element with one of the books being the sticker book, which she can't wait for although she has to wait until the other books are done first (each with a certificate page at the end that she can put her name on once she has completed them). Lastly these are Frozen themed and the theme doesn't seem to be just tacked on as it sometimes can be - the tasks include the Frozen characters. 

So although short and likely to be completed within a day these are still worth it for my 5-year-old daughter as she prepares to go back to school in September.

These are available on Amazon for £6.99 HERE.

Real Life Family Photography by Amy Drucker

REAL LIFE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK REVIEW: What comes across most in this book about real life family photography is the author's passion for the subject, for her family and for photography. Across four main chapters (The Basics, Babies, Kids and Family) she gives tips and tricks of the trade whilst showing off lots of glossy colour photos to illustrate the points. Her main aim: "I want to encourage you to just keep photographing" and I think in that respect the book works.

The basics section introduces concepts such as exposure and aperture but you'll still need to refer to your camera's instruction manual to work it as this book is "less about the technical perfection than it is about subject matter and vision." Indeed I found tips on basic creative principles such as composition more useful and understandable for me as an amateur. Also interesting are bits of the book on photo editing software, such as Photoshop, and a section on the camera phone. ("I love my camera phone. You can't do everything with [it], but where it shines is its portability. 

All-in-all this is an inspiring book as it encourages you to take photos that "may seem mundane to you now, but one day, I promise, you'll cherish the slice of life, as they were at that moment in time." 

Available on Amazon HERE.

Inside Out - Handwriting practice by Disney Learning

INSIDE OUT: HANDWRITING PRACTICE 

BOOK REVIEW: I got this book for my nearly-6-year-old daughter but after only doing a few pages she has not done anymore saying that it isn't fun.

She has another handwriting book that she prefers. I note that the other one starts with her having to draw squiggles and outlines of shapes before moving onto letters. This one however has only letters. Also this book has a lot of white space compared to the other which is more colourful. Also both have stickers but whereas the other gives a reward sticker after every double-page spread is completed this one doesn't and loads of pages go by with no stickers being used as the sticker pages are very concentrated and few. So there is not the incentive there for my daughter.

There are a few story pages, and these could easily have been more incorporated into the exercises more, for example getting my daughter to trace in missing words.

So overall this hasn't been fun for my daughter.

Available on AMAZON

Finding Dory - Telling the Time, Ages 5-6 by Disney Learning

Book review: I got this book for my 5-year-old daughter who is currently near the end of her reception year at school and is within the age group stated on the cover of the book (5-6). 

The book provides exercises in reading the time and progresses along quite nicely. My daughter was doing alright up until the part of the book where we had to say what the time would be an hour in the future or half an hour in the past which she found a bit harder. 

There are some good tips in the book for her. Like “don't worry if you make a mistake - everyone does when they are learning!” And there are some Finding Dory stories to break up the exercises. The first story is incorporated into an exercise but the other two are unrelated to the exercises which is not what I was expecting. Also on these stories I would say that a child of 5-6 would struggle to read these independently so I do think adult supervision is required.

We did notice a mistake though as we were going through the book with one of the stickers (saying half past 6 instead of half past 2). This could lead to confusion for a child who might think they have mastered the art of telling the time only to find this mistake and then doubt themselves.  

Disney could have made this book better by providing a mechanical clock face. True at the very end of the book they give you instructions on how to make your own clock face from a paper plate (which would have been useful to have at the beginning of the book, before going through the exercises) but a clock face with arms that moved in tandem would have helped with the exercises telling the time in the future or the past. 

All-in-all then this is ok but could be better.

On AMAZON UK: Finding Dory - Telling the Time

Bond 11+ English and Verbal Reasoning Assessment Papers for the CEM 11+ tests: 8-9 years

Book Review: We've got a few of these Bond 11+ books for our 9-year-old daughter. It gives her a little extra help with the stuff she is learning at school. This one is for the 8 to 9-year-old age group. Despite her being in this age group she hasn't learnt all that is in this book at school yet. For example she knows synonyms well but was unfamiliar with the opposite term antonym until she got this book.

Although she doesn't live in a grammar school area and so is unlikely to do an 11+ exam this is still good in helping her with her schooling. For those with children facing the 11+ I imagine these past papers would be the best possible preparation.

My 9-year-old says, "It is really good because it tests your knowledge, and your memory."

Available on AMAZON

KS2 Maths SAT Buster - Shape,Measures & Data by CGP Books

Book Review: There has been a lot of news about SATS and the stress that 11-year-olds feel under when doing them. So is it a good idea to get these books for your child? Well in my opinion with my children I think that these can only help. The more practice they do, the more prepared they should feel, so they should feel under less stress.

I got this for my 8-year-old because she is quite advanced in Maths. Obviously for her she has not been taught everything that is in this book at school yet but having a Maths background I am able to help her, plus the level is pretty simple so most adults can hopefully help. For example she hadn't been taught what probability is yet.

The good thing at the start of this book is that it tries to make it fun. It talks about the student becoming an Shape&Datagator, and that is followed through in the book with the marking system.

The bad thing is that all the maths books are available to buy separately. This one covers Shape, Measures & Data so doesn't fully cover the SATS programme. Other maths SATS books available are "Number" and "Mental Maths". The answers book is only available separately too. So maybe you might want to look at getting the full set if inclined that way.

Overall though my 8-year-old is enjoying doing this in her own time (she said "this is fun") and without any parental pressure.

Publication date: 15 March 2013

Amazon UK link: KS2 Maths SAT Buster - Shape, Measures & Data

KS2 Maths SAT Buster - Mental Maths by CGP Books

Book review: There has been a lot of news about SATS and the stress that 11-year-olds feel under in doing them. So is it a good idea to get these books for your child? Well in my opinion with my children I think that these can only help. The more practice they do, the more prepared they should feel, and the less unknowns they should face so they should feel under less stress.

I got this for my 8-year-old because she is quite advanced in Maths. Obviously for her she has not been taught everything that is in this book at school yet but having a Maths background I am able to help her, plus the level is pretty simple so most adults can hopefully help. For example she hadn't been taught what prime numbers were yet.

The good thing at the start of this book is that it tries to make it fun. It talks about the student becoming an Arithmosauras-rex, and that is followed through in the book with the marking system.

The bad thing is that all the maths books are available to buy separately. This one covers Mental Maths so doesn't fully cover the SATS programme. Other maths SATS books available are "Number" and "Shape, Measures & Data". The answers book is only available separately too. So maybe you might want to look at getting the full set if inclined that way.

Overall though my 8-year-old is enjoying doing this in her own time and without any parental pressure.

Publication date: 16 December 2013

Amazon UK link: KS2 Maths SAT Buster - Mental Maths

120 Ways to Annoy Your Mother (and Influence People) by Ana Benaroya

I was looking for a book for our daughter, and what better than one that annoys the mother, in 120 ways?

Styled as "part journal, part sketchbook and field guide" this is a fun book not to be taken too seriously. Yes, it is titled 120 ways to annoy your mother and so may be seen as a little controversial with it's little tongue-in-cheek tips to help 11-14 year-olds "transform into a fish" or "turn your life into a soap opera" but I didn't have any problems with it, because it is all a bit of fun, and clearly so.

This is like an ideas book. Each of the 120 ways have 4 tips, some drawing and a little page (most of the time) to add some of your own funny ideas to the pot. It makes for a creative package for the target age group. And bits are funny, although humour is subjective of course.

So overall a fun package.

Available on Amazon (from £9.10 at time of writing): 120 Ways to Annoy Mother  

Publication date: 1 Sep 2014

Colour me in! An activity book

I asked my 7-year-old daughter whether she liked this book or not. She said yes, I asked why, she said because it has lots of activities, and it has over 100 puzzles and games in it (although she read that last bit off of the back cover). She said there are dot-to-dots and lots more games that are fun.

One of the first games she did was draw animal halves and join them together. She made a ramster, a cross between a rabbit and a hamster, a dfrog, a cross between a dog and a frog and some others.

Another game had her drawing the poos of a mole, which she was laughing at.

The pages are all in red and blue. This is where the title is clever "Colour me in!" It suggests another activity to do on top of the ones suggested in the inside.

Another thing in the book is a little flip book at one of the bottom corners, whilst in the other corner it encourages you to create your own. 

There is plenty to do in here so you can't really complain, although she skips some parts in preference to others.

Publication date: 5 August 2013

Thames and Hudson link: Colour me in! An activity book

Amazon UK link: Colour me in! An activity book

The Kids Only Cookbook by Sue Quinn

I got this for my almost 7-year-old daughter. She did some cookery classes at an after-school club and this is a continuation of that. She read the intro to me. It says "the book is aimed at children aged 8-12, but those younger and older than this will also have lots to enjoy". So she falls into the "lots to enjoy" category.

There are some easy recipes mixed with some harder ones. We've just started with some easy ones like the jam-wich, which is a sandwich with butter and jam which is cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. She read the instructions out then did it with some supervision, and now she makes this on her own. We are moving on now to harder recipes using the difficulty star rating so that we can choose appropriately easy recipes. 

The pictures and layout of the pages are nice and colourful and she likes the title "Kids-Only" which makes the book feel like it really belongs to her and her alone. I can see her using this book over the next few years to make her first steps cooking her own things, before we can pass the book to her younger sister. 

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.)

What can you spot in Winnie's world? by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

Korky Paul is a great artist and his pictures in the normal Winnie the Witch books are great as their funny details really add to the enjoyment of the stories. However here the double spread pictures don't work as well. First there are only 12 of them. Second, they are not that detailed as to make finding the items mentioned difficult to find. The busy picture on the front is misleading as most of the images aren't as busy as that, and that isn't even one of the 12 images anyway so you aren't asked to find any items within it. Lastly once the items have been found by your child the first time then they will easily be able to find them again, putting the claim on the front "endless hours of happy hunting" to shame.

When getting this I thought it would be like the Where's Wally series but it isn't a patch on those in my opinion.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.)

My Big Photo Activity Book by Pascale Estellon

I asked my nearly-6-year-old whether she liked this book or not. She said yeah, I asked why, she said because she loves drawing. 

The book is big in size, and glossy with the pages having photos on them together with little ideas at the bottom of what the picture can be turned into, e.g. sponges turned into animals or bubbles of text to be filled in.

What’s more she can be left unsupervised as she follows the instructions on each page. And I reckon it must contain at least 10-hours worth of fun for her. Then at the end she will have a big book of her art. Plus it saves her drawing on all the office paper we have.

My one complaint though is that it seems some of the pages haven’t been translated from French into English so she was asking me what they meant. I guess this is a mistake that will be rectified if printed again (or maybe it has been rectified in other copies). Pretty big mistake (maybe the translator went on a break at that time) but never mind.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

The Stick Man Activity Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

My daughter chose this book because she had the main Stick Man book at school.

When it came in the post I was surprised to see that it was thicker than I expected. This is due in part to an embossed section which is a bit more reinforced than the rest with some push out pieces (postcards, a memory game etc.) but nevertheless there is still plenty else to do too. My daughter who is 5, nearly 6 has been getting stuck in completing some dot-to-dot puzzles featuring characters from the main Stick Man book, she has done some wordsearches, and a maze. We haven’t even started with the stickers, recipes (e.g. for a spider cake), colouring, making of the Stick Man bunting, the stick man bed, the postcards, but will I expect at some point soon.

On the negative though I suppose that some of the stuff can only be done once, like the dot-to-dots, although some of the activities can also be done again and again – the recipes for example, and the reusable sticker scenes. 

My 5-year-old recommends it.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

Muddle Princess Palace by Jennie Poh

Good points:

The design of this book is brilliant. The magnets are stored in a carriage and can be released by pulling out a piece of card. Also the book can be carried from place to place with a handle and a clip that closes the book. The 4 play-scenes are good too with the right sort of things my daughter likes to play: a maze, a dressing-up area, a ballroom and a play scene matching princesses to their respective butlers. The book also has replayability unlike a lot of my daughter's other books.

Bad points:

The story is not as good as it could be, although because this is an activity book more than a story book it probably matters not a jot. There are only 4 play-scenes when there could have been more and only 16 magnets leaves a limited amount of playing. Plus the magnets can easily get lost.

Overall though I like it, she can take it to her friends houses and she has played with it more than once. 

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed on Amazon here.)