Back to School with Poundland - great value stationery for students from infants to university

September is fast approaching, which means that the children will soon be heading back to school for the new academic year. It has become a ritual in our household to go shopping the week before school to buy the kids some brand new stationery to start the term, and they enjoy picking out the latest colourful pens, pencils and pencil cases.

Poundland has sent us some of their back to school range to try out. They have products suitable for infant school right through to university. With everything costing just £1, it makes it easy to budget. The range has plenty of appeal, with colourful, vibrant designs adding a fun element to education.

For the older kids there are some excellent Nu branded products including their binder folders, perfect for keeping A4 notes well organised. The range accompanies a free app - Nu Notes allowing you to capture, store and organise handwritten memos. You can scan, save and share notes through a unique interface on Android smartphones and iPhones.  The revision cards are very useful, helping you to memorise those all important facts for exams.

Poundland has some really fun products to inspire younger children including their highlighters which look like cosmetic items. The nail varnish and lipstick styled highlighters are fun and quirky. They also have a really funky neon range to add some brightness to the school day.

There are lots of craft, colouring and sticker sets featuring children's film and TV favourites such as Peppa Pig, Spiderman, Finding Dory, The Lion Guard and The Secret Life of Pets. They are perfect for keeping little ones entertained, and are great as the summer holidays come to an end to keep children busy.

For budding artists, Poundland has lots of crafty products including a range of ready mixed paints. The metallic paints come in handy resealable pouches and are ready to use to create some lovely shiny pictures.

Poundland is great value all year round and is the place to shop for lots of back to school essentials. Whatever age your child is, from infants through to university students, Poundland can supply their stationery needs.

                   

Zimpli Kids Chocolate Picture Maker Review

Freddy was sent a Chocolate Picture Maker from Zimpli Kids to try out over Easter and he had lots of fun making personalised chocolate bars!

The kids include a chocolate bar mould, milk, dark and white Belgian chocolate sachets and paper templates. The instructions are clear and it is easy to make delicious bars of chocolate featuring an impressive picture on the front!

The chocolate melts using warm tap water, making it very safe for children to use - microwaves or boiling water are not required. The chocolate can be piped directly from the bags once the corner is snipped off so it's not very messy to use. The dark choclate outlines the design, the white chocolate fills the image and the milk chocolate covers the design and fills the mould. The bar sets after 20 minutes in the fridge. Once it is turned out, the tripel coloured chocolate design looks really impressive.

The templates come in easy, medium and hard designs or you can create your own design using a name, message or a picture of your choice. The bars make an excellent, personalised gift idea.

Here is a video of Freddy, with a bit of help from his big sister Ella, making an Easter Bunny chocolate bar!


                        


The Chocolate Picture Maker is a simple but effective way to make some lovely personalised bars of chocolate. The chocolate is of an excellent quality, which I thought was a real plus! The mould and templates are reusable.

Follow @ZimpliKids and @ChocBarMaker on Twitter for offers and competitions and check out the website for further details. Sets start at £3.99 RRP for a one bar pack.

Ben & Jerry's Cookie Core Ice Cream

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream is one of the most indulgent makes of ice cream out there. They always seem to go that extra mile to add extra flavours, textures and surprises to their ice creams and the new Cookie Core range is definitely taking ice cream luxury to a whole new level.

What-a-Lotta Chocolate, Utter Peanut Butter Clutter and Speculoos? Specu-Love Cookie Cores have hit the supermarket frozen aisles and I was delighted to be offered the chance of trying some. Who could say no to Ben and Jerry's?!

The 500ml ice creams have a core of crumbly cookie running through the centre of the pot. It is a bit like a soft cheesecake base with a slightly crunchy, dense texture. It's a whole new way to eat cookies.

The three flavours available in the UK are:

Utter Peanut Butter Clutter: Peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter cookies & a crumbled peanut butter cookie core.

What-a-Lotta Chocolate: Chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and a crumbled chocolate cookie core.

Speculoos? Specu-Love: Caramel ice cream with traditional spiced Speculoos cookies and a crumbled, caramelised cookie core.

I tried the What-A-Lotta Chocolate flavour. It is rich and intense, definitely one for chocoholics! The core is thick and flavoursome with the slight crunch of a crumbled cookie. It is much like the consistency of the pieces in their Cookie Dough ice cream, but on a bigger scale! Crunchy pieces of chocolate cookie are studded through the ice cream giving a really full on chocolatey experience.

My daughter Ella is a huge fan of the Utter Peanut Butter Clutter variety, which is perfect for lovers of PB! I like the slight saltiness contrasted with the creaminess of the ice cream, and the peanut butter cookie core is lush. It is such an inventive and delicious combination.

Not only do Ben and Jerry make the most incredible ice cream creations, they do it in the most sustainable way using Fairtrade ingredients, responsibly sourced packaging and their Caring Dairy initiative. I am super excited to have read that Ben and Jerry's are planning to make a non-dairy ice cream suitable for vegans. I certainly hope that this is right and a vegan version of this iconic brand becomes available in the UK in the near future. That would be incredible!

You can find Ben & Jerry's Cookie Cores 500ml  in supermarkets for £4.99 RRP.
Find out more at : www.benjerry.co.uk

Disney's Planes Remote Controlled Driving Dusty

Freddy was sent a Disney's Planes 1:24 Remote Controlled Driving Dusty toy from Character Online. For a boy who adores all things Disney this was a toy that brought a huge amount of excitement!

The 1:24 model of the big-hearted, fast-flying crop duster Dusty from the new Disney film Planes, looks absolutely brilliant.  The animation lends itself perfectly to the creation of quality merchandise that looks totally like the film counterparts.  Dusty is full of character and the design of the model is very detailed.

First and foremost for anyone considering buying one, the RC Dusty does NOT fly.  It drives around the floor controlled by the RC handset.  This did not worry Freddy at all and he loved being able to drive Dusty around.  In the film, Dusty is afraid of heights, so his lack of flying is not at all out of character!

The handset is very user friendly for small hands.  There are two levers, one for backwards and forwards and one for left and right. There is also an on/off switch.  The RC handset also makes engine and plane sounds as you play with Dusty.

Freddy very quickly got to grips with the controls and had Dusty going back and forth and going around corners.  The propeller spins around as the plane whizzes along which is a nice touch and the wings dip as it takes corners.  The plane is robust and is surviving crashing into the sofa, door and wall under the control of my 4 year old. He has tested the durability of this toy quite extensively so far!

                         

I would have liked to have seen a speed limiter which would give little ones more control over the plane, because once it gets going, Dusty really does drive fast.  There would be fewer crashes if Freddy had more time to stop or turn Dusty.  But saying that Freddy thought it was hilarious to zoom Dusty around at high speed!

RC driving plane "Dusty" is equipped with a dual-channel wireless RC handset and full turbo function. He comes with sound and body drift. The plane is available in a 27 and 40 Mhz frequency. 1/24 scale model. Remote (3x 1.5V LR03 AAA) Plane (3x 1.5V LR6 AA). Not included. For ages 4 and over. RRP £49.99.

http://www.character-online.com/products/Planes/Planes-1-24-Remote-Control-Driving-Dusty-Plane/

Cupcake Charms Set

Bake It/ Shrink It Cupcake Charms from Great Gizmo's  4M range allows children to create, bake, and shrink their very own cupcake jewellery charms! 

Each kit includes 20 pre-cut cupcake shaped shrinking sheets with four colour pencils so you can start designing and colouring them in straight away. No fiddly cutting out required!

The rough side of the cupcakes need to be coloured in using colour pencils.  Kizzy and Freddy did this together, as he wanted to help his big sister.

When they are all coloured in, they are ready to bake in the oven to shrink them down.

You need to put them onto a baking sheet covered with foil and put into an oven at 160 degrees.

The cupcakes curl up and then flatten out very quickly. Cook for a further 30 seconds and allow to cool.  Freddy loved watching them through the oven door and was very intrigued to see them shrink into the cupcake charms.

The shrunken cupcakes are quite thick and hard and the colour is intensified by the baking process.  Each cupcake charm then needs to be attached to a metal ring. They come with a pre-cut hole which makes it easier, but the metal rings need to be prised open, threaded through and then squeezed back shut.  This was very tricky and fiddly and quite hard on the fingers, so Kizzy got her dad to do it for her!

The charms can then be made into jewellery.  The set includes beads, string, ear-ring attachments and chains to make your own jewellery designs, or the charms can be attached to the cute cupcake display stand which is included in the set. 

On the stand, it makes a pretty ornament for a girly bedroom.  Kizzy decided to do this as she liked the look of the charms on the stand, but she still has all the jewellery making accessories if she ever decides to have a go at making a cupcake design bracelet in the future.

The set costs about £10 and contains everything needed to create 20 colourful, cupcake shaped charms.  Some adult supervision is required for the baking and help will be needed to attach the rings.  It's a nice craft activity that will keep youngsters happily entertained and the end result is something they will be proud of.  It is versatile in that the activity can be extended to include making key rings, earrings and bracelets using the charms.  It allows kids to be really creative!

Pictionary Review

Pictionary is the quick sketching, crazy guessing game from Mattel.  For ages 8 and up and for 4 to 6 players, Pictionary is the perfect family game to play together. There are two levels of play with junior cards for the younger players to use so everyone can join in.

Each team moves around the playing board, landing on coloured squares.  Each square corresponds to a category on the playing cards.  Players have to attempt to draw whatever is on the card for their team mate to guess to keep control of the dice.  First time to get around the board wins.  There are three starting points so you can choose to play shorter games.

You don't have to be a great artist, in fact the worse your attempts, the funnier the game.  Being on the same wavelength as other players helps.  You have to sketch against the clock using the timer.  The categories include people and places, actions, objects, difficult words and miscellaneous.  Some words or phrases are really tricky and as the seconds tick by the tension rises...especially when your other half doesn't guess the brilliant illustration that you do for the word "Export"!!!

This game really is a lot of fun and I like the fact that 10 year old Kizzy could play alongside the grown-ups.  As long as the child is a competent reader then they can join in.  We really enjoyed our game of Pictionary and I'd definitely recommend this as a family must-have!

Rise of the Guardians Game Review

Let your imagination soar in Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game as you play as one of the classic childhood legends, including: North (aka Santa Claus), Tooth (aka the Tooth Fairy), Bunnymund (aka the Easter Bunny), Sandman, and Jack Frost. In this action-packed adventure game, each Guardian has their own set of extraordinary abilities that will help you take on the evil spirit “Pitch” and his infectious nightmares. Along the way, you’ll unlock new powers and spellbinding special moves that will increase your character’s strength and skills throughout the game, plus you can unleash cool team attacks with your fellow heroes. With drop-in-and-out multiplayer action supporting up to four players on consoles, you and your team of Guardians will work together to protect the hopes, beliefs and imaginations of children all over the world!

FEATURES

• Join Forces with Your Favorite Characters From the Film – Play as one of the classic childhood legends from DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming feature film, Rise of the Guardians, including: North, Tooth, Bunnymund, Sandman, and Jack Frost.
• Battle Pitch in an Epic Adventure – Take on Pitch and his evil nightmares in a deep and intuitive adventure combat game that includes new original enemies designed specifically for each Guardian’s realm.
• Unique Abilities and Upgrades – Unlock power-ups such as weapon upgrades for your character. Plus, earn unique new abilities including special combat moves like a snowball attack, summoning a swarm of miniature tooth fairies, and more!
• Explore Legendary Guardian Realms – Experience the imaginative worlds from Rise of the Guardians, including; Tooth’s Palace, North’s Workshop, Bunnymund’s Warren, and many more.
• Team up in Multiplayer – Swap between any of the characters in drop-in-and-out four-player squad based multiplayer action on consoles.

We were sent a copy of the game that is out today, to try out.  The whole premise of the Rise of the Guardians really appeals to my eldest children.  The idea that these childhood figures are not quite as cute and fluffy as we would believe is a stroke of genius.  They are in fact a kickass crew prepared to battle to protect children throughout the world as long as they still believe.

The game, which is a tie-in of the Dreamworks film, features an elaborate environment to explore where you take on the enemy using special powers.  Swarms of nightmare creatures attack in waves. The fights are quite fast and furious as the legends unleash their powers to keep the nightmares away.  It is visually stunning and the characters are very much like their film counterparts.  The video cut-ins progress the story line and add to the enjoyment of the game.  The ability to switch between characters and the drop in multiplayer option adds variety for some fun sessions and adds to the replay value.

The game play is often seen from above and Kizzy, 10, sometimes lost her character in the melee that was going on, but other than that she managed the controls well.  The attack moves are easy to administer It's a good looking game that has made me really want to watch the film!  I love the edgy characters and the dark interpretation of the childhood legends.  Younger players will be able to handle this game and have fun with the familar cast. More accomplished players, who enjoy a good action/adventure game, will like it too.

Rise of the Guardians is available to purchase now from good stockists for the DS, 3DS, Wii, PS3, XBox 360 and Wii-U.  The XBox 360 game is £29.87 at Amazon.  It is a PEGI 12.

On Site With My 1st JCB

My 1st JCB On Site play sets from Golden Bear combine construction and role play for pre-schoolers who get to complete important tasks with their favourite JCB characters.  The chunky sets from Golden Bear are robust and  loaded with kid appeal!

The On Site Charlie Crane Set includes Joey, everyone's favourite JCB!  He is ready and waiting to collect the barrels that Charlie Crane is picking up with his giant claws and dropping down the chute.  Charlie has to be careful not to knock down the collapsible wall as he works.  A JCB garage, a giant turn table and the office, where the crane operator can oversee the job at hand, are part of the play set offering lots of scope for imaginative play.  Charlie says seven different phrases with the touch of a button and has a wind up, gripping claw so is very interactive.

The On Site Rock Loader Set includes Doug the Dump Truck.  He must deliver rocks from the excavation site up the chute and into the hopper where they are stored ready to drop and be taken away.  The control panel is up a ladder for the workman to use.

Both sets work together making an action packed and exciting construction site for budding little builders to explore.  Freddy was lucky enough to be sent them both to try out and he really loved putting them through their paces!

Both sets need to be put together and have the stickers put onto them, but full instructions are included.  Once built, they are very sturdy and solid and look great.  There are lots of things to explore and both sets include one workman and a vehicle to add to the play value.  The Crane Set includes a wall that can be built up like a jigsaw puzzle and knocked down by the swinging jaws of the crane.

Charlie Crane requires two AAA batteries (which are not included) which enables him to say phrases to add to the play value.  Other than that, everything else is kid powered!  The sets are fully compatible with existing JCB products so the fun can just keep building.

I love these sets.  The branding is brilliant.  The size, durability and solidity of the sets are superior to many others on the market. The are brightly coloured and look great.  The faces of the characters are just so appealing.  Little hands develop fine motor skills with the interactive features and pretend play is promoted by these imaginative toys.  Freddy really enjoyed role playing with the little workman and the vehicles.  He enjoyed transporting the rocks and the barrels and whizzed the vehicles up and down the slopes.  He had a lot of fun with the two playsets.

The On Site Charlie Crane Play Set is £34.99 (RRP) and the On Site Rock Loader Play Set is £24.99 (RRP).  They are available to buy alongside other toys in the JCB range at www.goldenbeartoys.com.

Rug Doctor Review

My son and his girlfriend have just moved house.  We helped them on Sunday with the big clean up to make everything look spick and span, and part of this job was to clean the beige coloured carpets.  Professional carpet cleaning can cost a lot of money, and for young couples the last thing they want to do is fork out cash unnecessarily.  It made sense to hire a Rug Doctor to deep clean their carpets for a fraction of the price.

Wherever you live in the UK, you are probably within a 10 minute car drive from a rental outlet.  Many supermarkets, cleaners and DIY stores are outlets from which you can hire a Rug Doctor.

A 24 hour rental complete with a bottle of cleaning detergent costs just over £30.  This will clean approximately 38 sq m of carpet (about two rooms).

The machine fitted easily into my son's car on the rear seat.  It was in a good and clean condition and ready to use straight away.

The instructions to get the machine ready for use were easy to follow and within minutes the cleaner was filled with warm water and cleaning detergent in the tanks.  

The Rug Doctor injects cleaning solution into the pile of the carpet and sucks it back up picking up all the dirt, grime and nasties lurking deep down.  A vibrating brush agitates the carpet loosening tough dirt and fluffing up the pile.  80% of the cleaning solution is extracted by the machine leaving carpets dry in just a couple of hours.

Using the Rug Doctor is much like using a very heavy vacuum cleaner that you pull backwards.  Unfortunately, the instructions on the machine were a bit vague and consequently he didn't manage to use the attachments, but we did get it all working.  My daughter, who was helping her brother, found it quite hard to use as she struggled to pull the machine backwards due to its weight and ended up with a painful wrist.  However, my son didn't have a problem using it.  The amount of solution going onto the carpet seemed a bit inconsistent leaving some patches much damper than others, but that could have been user error.  Overall though, the Rug Doctor worked efficiently and the carpet was cleaned quickly.  

I was impressed with the end result.  Although it was not 100% perfect, the carpet was much cleaner and the water in the tank was filthy, so we know that a lot of dirt and grime was lifted from the pile.  It definitely provided a new lease of life to the carpet.  As you can see from the Before and After photos below, most of the stains were considerably lightened or removed by the solution.  It is shocking to see just how much dirt is trapped inside the fibres of a carpet. 

For more information go to www.rugdoctor.co.uk

*We were sent a voucher for  24 hr hire.*

Graco U'Go Stroller Review

As a Graco ambassador I've tested some amazing products over the months including the Symbio, Fusio and Nautilus.  My latest product is the U'Go which is Graco's lightweight stroller, perfect for the summer holidays...convenient, compact and comfortable.

The U'Go looks good in black and grey with white patterns embroidered onto the padded seat.  It was easy to assemble, the wheels just click into place.  It has a good sized basket underneath and a pocket attached to the back of the hood which is perfect for storing your mobile and car keys.  It has swivel wheels and a foot operated braking system.

We took our U'Go to test out on our day out to West Midlands Safari Park.  It is such a compact stroller it took up very little boot space.  It is light and easy to carry when folded with a really useful handle on the side.

Brilliant Carry Handle makes carrying it a breeze.

Its compact size takes up very little boot space.

The U'Go was a good height to push and I was able to hang my Graco Baby Bag across the handles and store a lot of our stuff underneath.

Plenty of room for our paraphenalia.

During the course of our visit to the zoo, the U'Go was tested out for comfort by Freddy and Jack (son of Helen from The Crazy Kitchen!)  They are both 2 years old and both had a sleep in the U'Go.

Jack ponders the comfort of the U'Go

Freddy fast asleep.

The U'Go must be very comfortable because both boys had a long nap, happy in the well padded seat.  The backrest reclines from 100-150 degrees.  It was easy to push the stroller and it manoeuvred well around the attractions.  The stroller is only 48cm wide making negotiating tight spaces simple.

Perfect for holidays and days out.

The best thing about the U'Go which puts it above many other strollers on the market is its ease of folding.  The one-hand fold mechanism is so effective.  I could fold it down whilst holding Freddy in my other arm.  It folds smoothly and quickly and easily.  The latch secures it so the U'Go can be carried using the carry handle.  This makes it perfect for travelling and holidaying.  It weighs just 7.9kg.

The U'Go is available from Kiddicare for £84.  It is an excellent buy and a great stroller for convenience, compactness, ease of use and comfort.

John Crane's Stack-Up Cubes

Freddy is a lucky boy!  His latest toy for review from John Crane is their beautifully crafted Stack-Up from the Branching Out range.  The ten large size wooden cubes, featuring colourful wild animal designs, stack up to an impressive 104cm tall tower.  Perfect for floor play and for developing hand-eye co-ordination.  The cubes are numbered 1-10 so they are perfect for early counting skills.  When not in use they neatly nest together for easy storage.

As with all John Crane's toys, the wood comes from replenishable sources from Rubber Trees that have reached the end of their natural cycle, making them environmentally friendly.  The Stack-Up cubes are recommended for ages 18 months and over.  Here is our video review of how Freddy got on with Stack-Up!

This is a lovely toy.  The characters are very cute and appealing and the counting element helps develop early number skills.  The tower stands impressively high and it was very tempting for Freddy to kick over!  He loved exploring the cubes, building them up, knocking them down and fitting smaller ones into bigger ones.  They certainly tested his dexterity and his hand-eye co-ordination.  As he gets older I can see the Stack-Ups playing a bigger role in his learning, whilst remaining a very appealing and fun activity.

I think Stack-Ups are absolutely lovely.  They are robust, sturdy, colourful and big!  The fact that they nest together for storage is brilliant.  I'd highly recommend them!

You can buy Stack-Up from Amazon for £25.49 with free UK delivery.

HiPP Organic's Brand New Look

HiPP Organic has long been renowned for its range of nutritious wholesome recipes.  From pots, jars, juices, fruit pots, cereals and tray meals, HiPP provide a range of natural, healthy meal solutions to make parenthood easier and mealtimes more convenient.

This year, HiPP have given themselves a makeover with a new fresher and friendlier logo; innovative packaging designs incorporating stylish food photography that depicts the fresh, quality produce found in their products and the introduction of a whole host of brand new products and flavours.

HiPP are also including Omega 3 into their savoury jars.  Sourced from rapeseed oil, this is good news for us vegetarians too!!  This addition will aid baby's neurological development and provide energy and goodness for maintaining mental and physical growth.

We are already big fans of HiPP Organic Inside the Wendy House. I've always used a combination of home prepared foods alongside ready made baby foods for convenience and to provide a greater range of taste experiences. I love the fact that HiPP uses organic ingredients in all its products and has such a wide range of products to choose from.  At the moment Freddy loves the Organic Elephant 'Little Nibbles' Biscuits which is part of the organic snack range of products.

I have been sent a selection of  HiPP Organic products to review, including some of the new look jars and pots, for my Tiny Tester Freddy to enjoy.  I loved the new labels with the photographs of the ingredients.  It made a really good visual showing the real quality food content of their products.  As Freddy is being raised as a vegetarian, he won't be eating the meaty meals, but he has a little friend who will enjoy eating them on his behalf!  With flavours such as Scrumptious Sunday Lunch and Sweet Carrot and Pea Risotto, I'm sure they will be very much enjoyed. Freddy was very keen to sample the Purely Fruit and the Fruit and Yogurt for himself!

Suitable for babies from 4 - 36 months (consult your health visitor for advice on weaning), the Fruit & Yogurt and Purely Fruits come in convenient single serving sized plastic pots.  Perfect for lunch or for a tea time treat, they are made from organic ingredients with no added sugar and they count as a whole portion of fruit towards baby's recommended 5 a day!

The Purely Fruits contain 100% pure organic fruit puree.  Delicious on its own or added to dried cereals, they even make a fab healthy snack for older children.  The new range includes Just Fruit with new flavours and vibrant photos of delicious looking fruits on the packaging.

The Pear with Yogurt contains a smooth blend of organic apple and pear purees with added organic yogurt.  Freddy really enjoyed eating a pot as a part of his lunch time meal.  It was very fruity and obviously very delicious as this series of photos show!  His HiPP bib looks pretty snazzy too!!

With Easter fast approaching, HiPP can also offer a helping hand to make outings and gift ideas that little bit easier.

HiPP Organic's Wholesome Pots are an ideal meal solution when out and about on a day trip or on holiday.  They are compact enough to fit into a handbag or glove compartment.  They come in resealable and reusable plastic pots making them very handy.  With gourmet sounding flavours such as Fruity Vegetable Tagine with Coucous and Sweet Red Pepper and Aubergine Penne, Freddy's vegetarian diet is well catered for too!

Your baby may be too young for a chocolate Easter egg this year, but they don't have to miss out on the fun.  Visit the new look HiPP website at www.hipp.co.uk where you can trawl the HiPP Organic shop for great gift ideas.

Check out the HiPP Baby Club for free samples and information, expert advice from pregnancy to toddlerhood, inspiring ideas, competitions and quizzes.

Like HiPP Organic on Facebook and join in the fun and chat!

A Fruity Start to your Day....Nestle Superfruity Shredded Wheat

It is a worrying statistic that 1 in 6 children go to school without having eaten breakfast.  Eating a healthy breakfast is vital, setting the tone for the rest of the day.  It helps aid concentration, avoids tiredness and keeps blood sugar levels from dropping.  Some people skip breakfast thinking it is a good way to cut down on calories, however it has been proven to be a vital part of successful weight loss to include a healthy breakfast to keep your metabolism from stalling.  So all in all breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Nestle have launced their new Superfruity Shredded Wheat.  Each hearty bite size wholegrain square has a hidden centre full to bursting with real fruit and berries.  They also contain the added benefit of antioxidants which are reputed to aid health.  Available in Rasberry, Strawberry and Cranberry and Blackcurrant, Blackberry and Blueberry flavours, they are low in fat, high in wholegrain fibre and contain 156 calories per 40 g serving.  Each bowlful provides 15% of an adult's RDA of Selenium.  They are sure to appeal to a whole new generation of Shredded Wheat eaters.  So how will they fair Inside the Wendy House?!

The mini Shredded Wheats are filled with a fruity puree.  Here is the raspberry, strawberry and cranberry cut in half.  You can see that it is well filled.  I personally don't like dried fruit and most cereals use the dried variety in their fruity varieties.  So, as these contained a smooth puree, I was very interested to give them a try.

This morning me and Kizzy gave them a go!  As it is half term we had the luxury of a rush free morning with breakfast in our pyjamas.  Bliss!  We love the bold design and the colourful packaging and the pictures of fruit make the cereal seem very enticing.

Like Shredded Wheat Bitesize, the cereal stayed quite firm in the milk and didn't go mushy.  They softened but the filling stayed inside giving an explosion of fruitiness when you eat them.  The flavour was quite like jam but slightly tarter (which I'm guessing was down to the cranberry.)  I think they make a really nice alternative to my usual cereals and I will definitely be buying these in the future.

Kizzy tucked into her bowlful with her So Good soya milk.  She said they were "everso fruity and the flavour went well with the taste of the cereal."  

The Superfruity Shredded Wheat does contain added sugar wherby their original counterpart does not.  So that is a consideration.  However, I'd much rather my child had a cereal with added fruit rather than a chocolate flavoured or sugar coated variety.  It adds an element of interest to breakfast and hopefully will encourage more people to eat a wholegrain cereal in the mornings.

Inside the Wendy House Thumbs Up!!!!

*Nestle provided the cereal for this review but the opinions voiced are my own!*

My Carry Potty Review

Freddy is 19 months old now.  He tells us when he's filled his nappy by pulling at his trousers and saying "poo!"  He's at a definite turning point in his development and heading rapidly towards being potty trained.

When I got the opportunity to review My Carry Potty I jumped at the chance.  I was familiar with the concept and thought it was a great idea to give ownership of the potty to the child, instilling a sense of pride and achievement during the tricky transition of toilet training.  Anything that adds a sense of fun to the process is sure to be a real plus!

My Carry Potty is a lightweight, fully portable potty that has a clip shut lid which transforms it into a carry case.  My son loves carrying around his sister's lunch box on the school run, so he immediately took a shine to the lovely bright blue My Carry Potty (also available in pink and yellow).  He saw it as his own!  A great start to the potty training process.

When training a child to use a potty, it is an awkward time.  My Carry Potty is completely portable and discreet so it can come with you anywhere, giving your child the familiarity of his own potty whenever he needs it.  With the snap shut lid, you can transport the potty's contents until you can dispose of it hygienically.  No more having to sling baby poo into a hedge or pour wee down a drain on a public road (we've all had those shameful moments!!)  It is completely leakproof and odour proof too. Perfect for car journeys!

My Carry Potty has been designed by mums for mums.  It is such a simple yet ingenious concept....I just wish it had been available 20 years ago when I was potty training my first born son!

Just think of the money you will save by potty training your child when he's ready...£8.40 a week is the average spend on nappies for a toddler.  With My Carry Potty you don't need to put training off because you're worried about leaving the house and being out and about with your toddler without a nappy!

Available for just £24.99, it is a real solution to many of the problems associated with potty training.  Perfect for home or away, indoors and out  it's the only potty you'll ever need.

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