Four Year Old Girls Christmas Gift Guide

As Isla gets older, she gets more and more excited for Christmas. At four she’s completely grasped the concept and by September she was already talking about what she was going to ask Father Christmas to bring her. To be honest as she gets older the range of things suitable for her age in the shops can be a little overwhelming as more and more things are released every year! I thought I’d share this gift guide to give you some idea of the things she is getting and to give you some ideas for your own four or five year old!

Some items were gifted for inclusion in this guide. 

My Fairy Garden Dragons' Tower

Isla has been obsessed with the My Fairy Garden range for a few months as she is constantly seeing it advertised on the television so I know she’s going to be thrilled with the new dragon tower they’ve released! It comes with little characters for her to play with and a beautifully presented tower for her to grow her own grass and pea shoots. I’m actually really excited for her to grow some things of her own- she grew sunflowers at school this year and it was a great learning opportunity so this gift should be too. 

3Doodler Starter Set

The 3Doodler is amazing and honestly I have so much envy for my own childhood toys not being as good as this. Using the special pen children can essentially 3D print their own designs or follow on the designs in the book that comes with it. From sunglasses to jewellery, there are loads of ideas in the guide and I can’t wait till Isla comes up with her own ideas for what to make. If you have a creatively inclined child and you’re looking to branch away from stereotypical colouring and painting I’d definitely recommend this for Christmas. 

TonieBox Starter Set

Isla is a massive music fan- she’s always singing along to the radio or having her own impromptu discos in the living room, so the Toniebox is absolutely PERFECT for her. Think of it as a child friendly and interactive speaker. The Toniebox itself comes in a variety of colours (we’ve chosen a festive green) and the starter set comes with a creative Tonie figure- we can upload up to 90 minutes of MP3 into this and when Isla wants to listen she can simply pop the character on top! When she’s done she just has to take him off again. As well as the creative Tonie, there are loads of other characters available for purchase which make amazing stocking fillers or additional collectibles- perfect for a relative who isn’t sure what to get your children. The characters all come preloaded with music and stories and as our two are currently Lion King mad, of course we’ve gone with Simba- there’s something for everyone though ranging from the Snowman (perfect for Christmas), to the Gruffalo and loads of classic Disney characters. I’m really excited to build our collection and I know the Toniebox is going to be huge this year.

Fuzzikins Fuzzi Street

Continuing with our “creative” arts and crafts style presents this year we’re going to give Isla this Fuzzikins Fuzzi Street set. These sets come with all customisable features which I think will keep Isla busy for hours. The fuzzy characters can be decorated with the stickers and felt tips included and then washed if she wants to start again! The shop can also be coloured and decorated and so can the accessories. Isla absolutely loves little “characters” and role playing with them and I love the fact that this range adds in the crafty element and can be done more than once!

BLOpens Rainbow Set

I remember Blopens being on television adverts even when I was a child and I always wanted some of my own to make spotty art! I’m really excited for Isla to use these and see what she comes up with. Using stencils and blowing, children create loads of different pictures and blend colours together easily with an airbrush effect. All the stencils are reusable and I know this gift will offer hours of fun for her and any child who loves to get creative. 

Little Brian Paint Sticks Art Station

We’re already big fans of the Little Brian Paint Sticks range in this house- we were gifted some of their fabric paint sticks from our friend for Isla’s birthday and I love how practical and clean they are vs traditional paint and brushes. I’m really excited about the Paint Sticks Art Station- there are two sides meaning Archer and Isla can draw together at the same time. One side is chalk and one you can hang paper and it all wipes clean- it also comes with the paint and chalk sticks. I hate saying “no” when Isla wants to paint and this will take the worry of her ruining the house out of things now. Everything you need for instant art is I the box so they can use it as soon as it’s out of the box and popped up! 

Chocolate Emoji Maker

What’s Christmas without chocolate? Jumping on the popularity of Emojis (my child is known to laugh at the poop one very often) these little kits make the perfect stocking filler and Isla will get to make her very own chocolate emoji. Once the brown is melted into the mould, she can use the white to draw her own designs or her favourites (again I expect the poop to be featured!). Yummy and creative, and a lovely activity to do together. We really like the little packs of things for a little activity time by Zimplii kids so I’m excited for her to try this. 

Balloon Fun by Lotte Moore

When I was a child, my mum always made a point of ensuring I got something new to read every Christmas- it can’t all be toys! This is something I’m keen to continue with my own children and Isla is just beginning to learn to read herself, so we read to her every night to keep her passion for reading high. This year she’s getting a lovely colourful and fun book by Lotte Moore- Balloon Fun. It tells the story of a fancy dress party attended by two cheeky balloons... I wonder what mischief they may have? It’s a lovely little book with really bright illustrations which I think will make her smile!

Dessineo Learn to Draw

The Dessineo Learn to Draw is a wonderful set designed to teach children to draw recognisable shapes and characters (cars, animals, people) and it’s perfect for keeping Isla entertained and for encouraging her creative mind to keep developing. With step by step guides as well as a projector to shine through and help her trace, I’m sure after no time she will be the master of drawing! There are 30 templates to slot into the projector for hours of fun and keep her busy. I’m really keen on this as the tracing and copying will really help her fine motor skills with a pencil which is perfect as she begins learning to write in school. 

Colourmazing 3D Jungle Adventures

The Colourmazing 3D drawing range are a really fun and innovative way of keeping children entertained. The sets come with magic ink and various activities to keep them busy. As they colour with the special pens, the ink spreads and blends together before magically stopping at the lines (so very little chance for them to get upset over leaving the lines!), and each activity sheet can be assembled to create something 3D- in this jungle set they can even create a mobile for their bedroom!

An interview with my four year old

Two years ago, I did a post called “An Interview with my Two Year Old” where I asked Isla these exact questions (except the first which I changed as Archer isn’t a baby anymore!). I said I’d redo it every six months but it just didn’t work out that way...

But now Isla is four and much cheekier and chattier than she used to be so I thought I’d see how her answers have changed! Be sure to check out the old post here to compare!

1. What do you like to play with? I like to play with my barbies!

2. What makes you happy? Playing with Archer, when we play the baby game

3. What makes you sad? Um, when things are too loud so I can’t sleep

4. What makes you laugh? When daddy does a fart kiss or when Alexa (yes, the amazon dot) does a fart 

5. How old are you? Four. You knew that!

6. How old is mummy? 23? Give me a clue. Is it 27?

7. How old is Daddy? Daddy is 27 because he is really tall and he’s a grown up!

8. What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my brother and laugh at him. 

9. Who is your best friend? Um, Archer because I love him and he’s my brother (oh my heart!!!)

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A hairdresser because I love hair. 

11. What are you really good at? I’m good at doing something cool (she just got on all fours and did a weird kick thing.... okay..)

12. What don't you like to do? I don’t like to sleep. 

13. What did you do today? I played with my friends at school, I think one is six. 

14. What is your favourite thing to eat? Tacos and fajitas! 

15. What is your favorite movie? My favourite movie is... oh dare I say it... return to oz!

16. What do you want for Christmas this year? Can I have... definitely... a new yoyo and some Harry Potter Lego and figures. And a boomerang. I forgot the rest. 

17. What is your favorite animal? A penguin. 

18. What is love? When somebody likes another person so much and they ask each other to get married if they like. 

19. What does daddy do for work? He does something for money... does he give people money on the computer?

20. What is your favourite colour? Pink and purple!

21. Tell me something fun about you? I play with people.

How would your little one answer?

First Week Of School- How are we adjusting?

Isla has been in Reception class at school for a week now! She’s done five sessions, though only three have been the full hours- they did a staggered start to get the children adjusted which I think is a fantastic idea.

It’s safe to say, despite me being unsure about it all as you can read here in my previous post about school, she was more than ready. I can’t believe how easily Isla has settled into it all, considering it’s a huge change to our routine after the summer holidays. 

I thought the lunches and long days may exhaust her but so far she’s not bothered. Every morning Isla flies into the classroom and barely looks back, other than pausing to hug her brother goodbye she’s gone instantly. The confidence is amazing. She’s also eaten all her lunch every day of the week, even on the day where she decided she wanted to try curry- she isn’t fussy at home but I doubt I’d have ever convinced her to try it if I’d cooked it!

Archer is adjusting. The first long day he seemed very quiet and withdrawn and clingy. There were a few moments where he tried to talk to her as well, before remembering. It was a little sad. Back when Isla was in preschool he napped for the 2-3 hours that she was gone, and then when he dropped his naps he had her home anyway as it was Summer! It’s all new to him to be alone with me!

We’re doing lots of baking and playing and he’s getting used to it I think. He loves the free access to the “Isla” toy boxes without her getting cross that he isn’t playing her game properly or the usually “she/he isn’t sharing” arguments cropping up. I think he’s also enjoying the extra attention- he’s the second child so he’s never had time just with me. 

I’m putting him into a little toddler gymnastics class starting next week which will give him something exciting to do with mummy- just like Isla getting to go to ballet every week! We also plan on starting toddler group again now it’s September and he will be in charge of what we do for once as Isla won’t be there....

As for me and Jack? It’s definitely different for me. I’m getting up much earlier to get them ready and Jack walks past Isla’s school to go to work every day so he’s got the added company on his trip every morning. I have a lot more to remember compared to preschool and even though we’ve started it still feels like there’s always a million things to sign and bring in- I’m sure it’ll be like this for the next 18 years haha! Thankfully when I’m much more pregnant, Jack is able to drop Isla on his way to work and let me rest.

It’s all new to all of us. Getting up earlier and remembering book bags and cleaning school shoes.... it’s been an exciting step and I’m not really sure why I dreaded it. 

I’m not ready for her to start school.

I’ve just sat down, and had a little cry. Maybe it’s just my hormones, I told Jack. He said I’m being silly.

How can I explain how excited I am, but also very very sad? 

Tomorrow is the last day before Isla starts school. Yes, she’s done a whole school year at preschool already, five days a week- but that was only three hours a day. In reception, she will be in someone else’s hands from 8:45am till 3:30pm. 

Most mornings, by 8:30, she’s still parading around in her dressing gown, trying to swindle me out of more coco pops in exchange for cuddles under the blanket while we watch CBeebies with her little brother. Now, she will be running up the hill to school, stifling yawns as she spots her friends and disappears for the day. 

Lunchtime, I’d let her come into the kitchen to pick what she has. Archer wants a banana, she wants an apple. Sometimes if she was lucky I’d make noodles or pasta, and she could help me cook. 

She would go to preschool for a couple of hours. I’d relish in the quiet as it meant just chasing after one child for a while and getting some housework done. If she was tired, or had a sad day, at least it was only a couple of hours and she’d get to come home. 

We’ve had four years of long days together. Some days we made the most of every minute. Some days I swore I couldn’t wait for her to start school as we argued like we were both children- we are both strong willed and stubborn. Some days, I’d tell her I was too tired or too busy to play as I tried to keep up with the housework. 

It breaks my heart with regret to remember how often I said no to things. It’s impossible not to compare my parenting over the last years with those Pinterest perfect mums online who seem to have time for a trip, healthy lunch, educational craft activity and housework every day. I did my best for her, I have to keep telling myself we didn’t waste a moment. 

I feel so excited for her. School will help her grow and teach her things I never could. She will be permanently surrounded by all her little friends. She will flourish. 

I feel sad because the time with her felt so long, but now it’s done I feel like I really didn’t make the most of it. She will be in someone else’s hands most of her days now. 

I’m so so proud of our Isla, she’s grown so much and so fast- but it feels like it all went too fast. Isla is completely ready for school- more than ready. I think it’s just going to take me a little longer to stop seeing her as my baby. 

Baby Born Surprise [Review]

Surprise packs, eggs and blind bags are all the rage with children at the moment. Isla is especially keen on any type of toy you buy with absolutely no idea what is inside- it’s a bit like a present you have to unwrap and she loves the concept of collecting.

Baby Born Surprise is exactly the type of surprise toy she loves- there are twelve to collect, and ten individual surprises to discover when you open and interact with the doll!

When you first open the plastic casing, the baby surprise is wrapped inside a beautiful pink branded blanket, keeping the contents hidden. Once this is open, you discover your first surprise- which collectible swaddle is your baby wrapped in? Each swaddle is assigned a birth month, so you can find out your baby’s birthday with this and your children’s favourite numbers. They can also find out their baby’s star sign with this information!

Isla now has the butterfly and duck- for some reason she thought the duck was hilarious. I must admit, they look adorable sleeping in these little swaddles. The fabric is exceptionally soft and really well put together as well- the attention to detail for such a small product really makes it feel worth it.

The next surprise is baby’s hair- as I said before, there are 12 dolls to collect and each one has its own hair style. Isla loved this doll as she had the cutest pink hair band and brown hair.

The most exciting part for Isla was the eye surprise. Each baby arrives “sleeping” and with a little water and some gentle wiping, your child wakes the baby up to discover their eye colour.

Combining the eye and hair colour will reveal the first letter of your baby’s name- Isla had “F” for this doll!
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Next up, we found out our little baby was a bouncing girl by opening the surprise containing either a pink or blue bottle. We filled it with a little water and Isla gave her her first feed, ready to discover the next surprise in her nappy (the concept of which, Isla found absolutely hilarious- what child doesn’t find pee and poo hilarious at times?).

The inside of the nappy will fill with water and a pattern will be revealed- each pattern lets you know what your baby’s favourite food is. 

We did find it a little bit difficult to get the baby to do the "wee" but I figured that an extra bottle of water was enough to get it working- just the one didn't do the trick fast enough for Isla!

It was actually really exciting to join in and help Isla with this surprise toy- it took a lot longer than the usual ones she comes home with and we did a lot of talking and chatting about what each of the things she discovered meant for her baby. Having so many different characteristics also fascinated her, and she’s been telling Daddy and Archer all about her new babies and what they’re like!

I’d really recommend these little dolls for a stocking filler or a small birthday present- they’re the perfect size and definitely something I believe she’s going to play with consistently even though the surprise aspect is over. Being an egg shape, they could even be used as an alternative to chocolate at Easter! It’s nice to know she hasn’t just unwrapped a surprise containing more plastic that she will look at once just for the sake of opening something- a baby is a wonderful interactive imaginative toy. 

I was gifted two Baby Born Surprise dolls in exchange for this honest review. All words and opinions are my own. All photos are my own. 

Helping a child with nightmares- Dream Pillow Review & Giveaway

It's heartbreaking, to hear my daughter crying out in the night. For around a year now, around 3-4 times a month, Isla has nightmares. Sometimes her nightmares are mild and she tells us about them in a hazy half asleep way, before dropping back down onto her pillow- but there are some nightmares where she runs around her room and doesn't understand she isn't asleep anymore until we come in and turn on the light.

It's not a huge issue thankfully, and we put it down to her having a very big imagination, but it does disturb her sleep and she worries about going to bed sometimes in case a bad dream hits.

That's why I was so thrilled to be contacted by Dream Pillow. They have created three beautiful soft pillows designed especially for children aged 2-12, to help them combat bad dreams and get a good night sleep.

Isla was sent the "Lamby" pillow, which came with a pad of cloud shaped paper for her to write down her wishes for good dreams. For her first night trying it, she drew a rainbow and said she hoped she would get to go "over the rainbow" like Dorothy, just without the witches! After drawing or writing what she wants to dream about, she just has to slide the dream into the pillow and get to sleep.

I hoped that her having the positive images in mind in such a prominent and happy format would stop her imagination running away into scarier thoughts, and it seemed to ease her mind as well as she was actually excited to go to sleep!

She didn't dream about rainbows, but she didn't have any nightmares and said she will just have to try harder in her dreams the next night!

Dream Pillow is such a fantastic idea, and the creators have also produced a revolutionary sleep mask that reduces all light and up to 40 decibels of sound- so once the kids are settled with their pillows you can rest easy (or use it to ignore a snoring husband like me!).

If you'd like the chance to win both an original Dream Pillow and Sleep Mask, please do enter in the widget below! Thank you so much Dream Pillow for the good nights sleep!

Dream Pillow & Sleep Mask Giveaway

I was sent one Lamby Dream Pillow and sleep mask in exchange for this review. All words, photos and opinions are my own.

8 Toddler & Child friendly activities for Spring

The sun has been shining, and the daffodils are really making themselves known. This can only mean one thing (unless we are super unlucky and hit with another late snow)- Spring is right around the corner!

Spring really is a wonderful time for children, especially since it means after a long cold winter, they finally get to go outdoors more and take it all in. Newborn animals, flowers, seeds, baby birds, Easter... I've compiled a little bucket list of all the things we are going to do this season to both have fun and teach them about the changes in the world around them.

Toddler & Child Friendly Activities for Spring

1. Flower Planting

I've been explaining to Isla, that after everything has died or "gone to sleep" in nature during Winter, Spring is the time when everything gets it's colour back! Blossom, new leaves on trees, and new flowers! I want to get some seeds and bulbs and teach her how to plant them so she can see this for herself.

2. Making birds nests

Spring- the birds are tweeting as the sun rises earlier, and the trees are absolutely stuffed with nests ready to hatch the first chicks of the year. A simple craft activity that can be done with twigs, yarn, straw (or anything else you have to hand really!) and some glue. Get it all moulded around something round and non-stick like an inflated balloon, and once it's dry you pop it off and your little ones can display their nest with pride! Throw in some of those cute plastic eggs from the poundshop and they'll be so pleased.

3. Go on a nature walk

It sounds simple, but Spring really is a great opportunity to get outside as the weather warms up. Head outdoors and point out all the changes you can see happening, smell the flowers and take it all in together.

4. Jump in puddles

Spring isn't all sunshine and picnics- in England especially, it's often wet and rainy! Let your little ones throw on their wellies and jump in as many puddles as they can. At least it will be warmer so other than laundry, you don't really need to worry too much about anyone catching a cold and it's a great way for them to use up some energy.

5. Flower Printing

If you have any flowers around that are looking a little sad and limp, why not give them a final purpose? Let your little ones dab paint on the petals and stalk, and use them to print shapes on paper to make a Spring picture or collage! Let them glue petals on or even dip them in paint and just splat with them. Just make sure they know not to pick wild flowers or they'll be hoping to paint with whatever they see outdoors!

6. Pack a Picnic

Isla is obsessed with picnics, she loves eating outdoors and taking a football and all sitting together with sandwiches. It's such a simple thing but something kids of all ages enjoy, and a great way to get away from screens and distractions and get some good fresh air and a bit of vitamin D.

7. Visit a local farm

If you're lucky like us, there'll be plenty of farms around you with baby animals coming any time soon... We were lucky enough to catch some lambs being born last Spring and the children absolutely loved seeing all the baby animals and learning about it all. Most are pretty cheap and it makes a great day out!

8. Go on a bug hunt

With all the flowers and warm (often moist) air, it's the time when all the bugs come out to play. Take your kids out in the garden with some spades and help them look for worms. Or take a magnifying glass and see what you can find in the flowers. It's fun, dirty, and potentially educational- perfect for this time of year.

What do you plan on doing with your little ones this Spring?

Isla at Three Years Old

I may sound like a broken record when I gush about how time has flown, but my little baby girl is now a whopping three years old and it's honestly blowing my mind.

I look back at the last three years and I can't believe my first baby and all her rolls and dimples, has grown into a such a smart and beautiful little girl.

Gone are the toddler days- Isla has the conversational skills of a 5 year old (from what the health visitors have said) and an understanding of the world to match.

We've recently began teaching her phonics and she nearly has the entire alphabet covered- with help she can sound out basic words like "cat" and "dog", though properly reading is likely a long way off now still.

Physically, she's doing wonderfully. She loves to run and jump, though she's often a little more cautious in this area. We've just started to teach her to ride her bike (with stabilisers of course) which has been an exciting new challenge for her, and she's absolutely loving it.

Isla has been potty trained since she was around a month off her second birthday, and she is also dry at night (though we wear a pull up at night in case, as we have no upstairs bathroom for her to be able to use at night) which is fantastic as I can't imagine having gone through changing two lots of nappies when her brother moved onto solids haha!

At three years old, Isla is a hugely curious and confident little girl, with a sassy smart ass attitude and a love for asking questions. Sometimes she is cautious, and she is very in touch with her emotions- she will tell you when and why she is feeling sad, or angry or even just tell you that she's really happy.

She loves to tell us when we're breaking the rules and she absolutely loves to "mother" her little brother and boss him around. A persistent little girl, ever since we started playgroup she has flourished and loves to chase the other boys and girls and talk to them until they become her friends.

Favourite Things: puzzles, arts and crafts, Sylvanian Families, Disney, David Bowie, playing at playgroup with her little brother, playing dolls houses, reading, coco pops, spaghetti and tacos.

Least Favourite Things: Eggs, Burgers, Pizza, washing her hair, saying goodbye, watching Trolls (no idea why on this one), being tickled.

I honestly couldn't be prouder of who she is becoming.

Is it my fault she's shy?

When I was a child, I can remember feeling nervous in big groups. I would get very anxious about whether or not I would fit in, and I would panic and think about all the things that could go wrong. For a large period, I was terrified of going out or taking the bus or having to use the phone. Usually, once I acclimatised I was okay and I was quite good at smiling and pretending my heart wasn't trying to break out of my chest.

This reflects pretty heavily on my personality as an adult. I have pretty severe social anxiety and don't have very many friends at all- I've always panicked about what people think of me, reading between the lines and creating a situation in my head which leads me to believe people don't want to be around me.

In a lucid moment, I always know I'm being ridiculous and as I was as a child, I'm still very good at forcing myself to just get on with it.

The hardest part of it all, is seeing my toddler be shy. Once a super outgoing pre-walker who had no sense of "stranger danger" in the slightest, Isla is now terrified of new people and experiences. I take her to the soft play and she is very anxious about playing with other children.

You can see that she really wants to join in and be a part of it all, and she talks furiously about going to meet new friend and asking me if she can play with the boys and girls.. it's just once she's beside them she panics and runs back to me.

She is similar to how I was, and once she gets used to a new place or being around someone new, she can relax... but it's heartbreaking when she sobs into my lap and I don't know how to reassure her.

I honestly believe it is my fault. What if she has picked up the vibe from me? I've only taken her to toddler group twice and that is a new development that took me 24 months to be brave enough to do. Can she tell I'm terrified? I worry my own anxiety and shyness has stopped her getting socialised outside her circle of friends and family. I do try very very hard to make a point of being friendly and chatty to everyone we meet so she see's they aren't frightening.

I'm doing everything I can now. Isla recently had her 2.5 year review with the health visitor team who were shocked by how advanced her speech and mental development is. They said she is on par with a four year old but in order to keep her from playing up and struggling in future, I needed to try offer her more situations to "get it all out" and use her skills. So I took the plunge and have finally started taking her to toddler group every week.

It's a small step, but I'm already seeing improvements in her- she is keener on other children besides the ones she already knew, and she was even brave enough to play away from me at our last session.

If anyone has any tips or just knows what I'm going through do share in the comments or tweet me. I need some reassurance that it isn't forever and she won't always be shy...!

Thank you for reading.

Steph xo

Spider Grab- Toddler Friendly Activities

Carrying on the theme of Halloween, we've been playing a new sensory game this week- Spider Grab!

The whole thing only cost around £2.50 and took less than five minutes to put together, and Isla has been playing with it for days now.

I found this small storage basket in Poundland, as well as the crochet wool/string and some spiders. I weaved the string through the holes and then placed the spiders in the bottom of the basket.

The idea is that the string makes it quite challenging to collect the spiders as they get tangled, and with it being pulled taut Isla had to weave her hand around to reach the bottom. It's a lovely activity to help develop fine motor skills and to develop problem solving skills.

With the spiders and the string "web" it's a lovely themed activity for the season. We've also tried putting conkers in the bottom, and doing it timed! You can also make it harder by adding more string or using tweezers instead of fingers.

Halloween is getting so close now!

Steph xo

Toddler Favourites- September 2017

September is over and gone already- and boy did it go fast. We were gone for a week in Great Yarmouth, Isla started attending a playgroup every  and we've had barely five minutes to stop and notice we're now in October.

A lot of the things Isla has talked about and enjoyed this month were discovered on our holiday! It was the first one we've been on where she actually understood what was going on and we had a wonderful time. With that said, here are Isla's favourite's from September.

1. The Aquarium

Watching penguins at the aquarium.

During our trip to Yarmouth, we visited the Sea Life Aquarium. We've been to pretty much all their branches now it feels like! Isla was always quite young though and didn't overly get the point before, but this visit she was loving life. She ran around collecting stamps, learning, and searching for Nemo and Dory who we found at the end. It was weeks ago and she's still talking about it like it was the best day of her life. I'll be doing a post about the aquarium later this month.

2. The Clever Sleeping Bag

We stayed in a static on our holiday, and with the adult to child ratio... Isla ended up needing to be in a travel cot. Some toddlers her age are still in cots and use the travel version, but she's been using a big girl bed since around 18 months old so we spent months looking out for a travel alternative comfier than a sleeping bag. We found this- and honestly it's amazing. She was comfy and warm and it's the perfect size for 2-5 year olds. It wraps up compact and she loves the fact it has ponies on it.

3. Magazines

Mostly because of the gifts, but she does get a good kick from the pictures and stickers too! Isla got several magazines this month- Peter Rabbit, and a Swashbuckle one being her favourites. She finally got her hands on some "Gem's Jewels" (Swashbuckle fans will know) thanks to that mag and they were great for quiet time on our holiday too.

What're your little ones enjoying at the moment? Let me know!

Autumn Soup Sensory Bin- Toddler Friendly Activities

Autumn is finally here! Besides the fact that it means the spiders are also here, it really is my favourite time of year.

I've been trying over the course of the year to tell Isla all about the seasons we are in. She knows that in Spring, the flowers all come out, baby animals are born and it starts to get warmer. She also knows that in Summer the sun is hot and it's holiday time, and now it is Autumn I want to teach her about the changing leaves, harvest and cooler days.

We took a walk to playgroup on Monday, and on the way back I decided to start telling Isla about the leaves and conkers and she was fascinated. She started to pick up the leaves and tell me all about the colours- red, orange, brown... we took them all home and tried to think of something to do with them.

Lately, I've really started enjoying creating sensory bins for Isla- something to encourage her to explore new objects, textures and concepts. With this in mind, I decided we were going to have a play making "Autumn Soup".

We took all the leaves and conkers we'd found on our walk and mixed them with some nice warm water. I added in a teaspoon of ginger and a teaspoon of all spice to give the water a nice cosy smell and to make it look nice and brown and muddy (without needing to bring actual dirt indoors!). I then threw in some spoons and other kitchen bits and just let her explore the tub while we talked about what we had learnt about Autumn.

Isla absolutely loved it and has declared she loves Autumn the most, just like mummy.

What activities are you using to teach your little ones about this new season?

Steph xo

Halloween Crafts- Toddler Friendly Activities

Did someone say Halloween?! Yes it is only September- there's actually over a month before Halloween hits us (although the shops would think it was Halloween as soon as the summer ranges left the shelves) but it's my favourite holiday so I just couldn't resist getting Isla into it a bit.

We've simply taken a bunch of old bits from our arts and crafts box- straws, pom poms, lolly pop sticks, foam shapes, googly eyes and glitter- and used them to make these spooky monster puppets and pom pom spiders.

Both crafts take less than 25 minutes (not including drying time) and there's no real directions to follow. I just encouraged Isla to copy me and try out each stage of putting bits together while talking about all the things we will do for Halloween to get her in the spirit.

Using the small googly eyes and small grains of glitter are also great ways of helping strengthen the fine motor skills and pincer grip. You can also ask a lot of questions to get your child thinking while they create e.g. "What colour are you using?" "Which eyes are the biggest?"

What spooky activities are you going to be trying out before Halloween? Let us know!

Steph xo

What They Wore- September Weeks 1-2

It's definitely started to get cooler the past few weeks so we've pulled out a lot of warmer items. I've also realised in the past week or so that Isla mostly owns shorts and dresses in her current size. They were all she wore when potty training and she gets so hot so fast as well- definitely need to invest in some more tights and thicker leggings for the coming months.

Here's my outfit highlights for Isla and Archer over the last two weeks!

Isla

This pinafore dress was gifted to us by Isla's great grandma. It's from next. I honestly wouldn't have thought myself to buy something this style, but it's such a nice heavy material, perfect for layering over the colder months and it does look adorable on her.

This dress is from Tu clothing and is a lovely warm cotton. Not too thick so it's also perfect for layering with a cardigan and some thick tights as it gets colder.

Archer

Blast off! I absolutely adore this set from F&F Clothing. The bottoms and top came together and honestly monochrome is my favourite aesthetic. I love the bold design!

This is another outfit from F&F Clothing. A gorgeous modern 3-piece with robots all over. Matching outfits really are the best on babies right?

The final outfit for Archer really embodies the weather in the UK at the moment and sends off some proper Autumn vibes. Who doesn't love a proper cosy jumper on a cold morning...!

Are you looking forward to comfy cosy clothes now it's getting colder? Let me know what your favourite thing is to wear on a cold morning!

Steph xo