Things we've loved this month

We've been sent recent some wonderful things to try out over the last month or so, here's a rundown of some of our favourites.

Lost my name
The most adorable, wonderful personalised books you will find anywhere. Each story is unique to the name of your child, taking them on a journey to find the little boy (or girls) lost name. This is Baxter following his story - so far the little boy in his book has found a B given to him by a big Bear, an A which an Aardvark donated (because he has an extra one) and an X - I wonder what could be coming next...

POP

As you may already know we are big Polarn O. Pyret fans here - just look how happy Kaya is with her new playsuit. And Marley's pretty chuffed with uber cool t-shirt too. More to follow on Instagram! 

Freaky Rivet

I really love the idea behind this site - a brilliantly put together website that aims to get your kids off the screens and out in the open. Here's what they have say about it themselves: - 

Our mission is to get kids moving, creating and exploring. We're not at all anti-technology, but we are very pro-balance. So we don't think iPads and laptops are evil spawns of Beelzebub, but we do think being on them for several hours a day to the detriment of interacting with people, nature, objects and the physical world is nearly a mortal sin. Especially for parents who allow it!

- We try to address this by creating activities that are fun and reconnect kids to all that is great about us living in a world of people, nature and other physical stuff. Today, that means we publish activities to our members on a weekly basis that they can do with their kids. The activities are varied, ranging from the physical (fitness and speed training to be a special operative - languages to come soon), through the natural (a version of a nature hunt with smartphones), the creative (robot mask making), scientific (planet design), to the plain ludicrous (word games of no consequence other than to make participants laugh). We send these out to members weekly by email, and give them access through our site. All have step by step instructions, safety guidelines where needed, kit lists, and many have videos.
- Our goal is to have an environment where the kids motivate each other to do things. So much as they egg each other on by creating monsters in Moshi Monsters, or decorating Penguins or whatever, we want to have that same enthusiasm and want of bragging rights transplanted to doing real-world activities. Our first step, which is imminent, is to have an online club for their kids where they will get rewards for creating or doing activities. The key is to provide motivation for the kids to develop their own skills, hobbies and interests.

 I promise you it is definitely worth a look so do pop over there. 

Lego Duplo

Lego Duplo is still going strong in our household and this newest addition is a definitely winner. The Lego Duplo number Train helps children learn numbers in a fun way and when left to their own devises it's amazing what they can come up with. I left all three kids playing with it one afternoon and when I returned the 9 year old was giving her younger brothers a maths lesson using the number train to show how the sums added up.

Tea India

Finally to Tea India - a range of gorgeous Indian teas made by people who are passionate about making the simple pleasures in life the best they possibly can be.
I especially liked the Masala Chai blend which brought me straight back to sitting in an Australian field in the middle of nowhere. A very loud band was playing and a lot of dubious smells emanated from the dreadlocked characters all around me as I sipped on a cuppa... Ah life's simple pleasures. Hard to beat.

Thanks to all the lovely companies mentioned above for sending us the products - we've thoroughly enjoyed using them.

Disclosure: This is a review post. All opinions are my own.