Category Archives: Reviews

On Hoops and Crosses

Reviews

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I’m a bit of a crisp addict so when the folk from Walkers got in touch to ask me to do a review of their new Hoops and Crosses I was delighted, to put it mildly. So imagine my disappointment to discover that it was my KIDS who would be doing the reviewing! Pah! It’s me that does all the writing and tweeting and wordpress wrestling to bring LearnerMother to the world, so surely it should be me that gets to eat the crisps! Well, ‘corn snacks’ in this case, but whatevs. THE GOODIES SHOULD BE FOR ME!

Apparently it doesn’t work like that. I totally failed in my efforts to sneak the Hoops and Crosses upstairs and stuff them in peace and quiet under the duvet (don’t judge, you’ve been there).  The gang of three managed to co-ordinate their efforts – one looked heartbroken, one put on the cute you-know-I’m-worth-it face, and one muttered sarcastically about how I’m always on at THEM to share. So – never one to miss an opportunity – I bundled the Hoops and Crosses in with a going to bed on time and being generally nice to me deal. (Again – you KNOW you’ve been there.)

So – what was the verdict? Well, I was hoping they’d hate them so I could eat them but that didn’t happen, unfortunately…there was a resounding thumbs up from them all – they all agreed that they tasted a bit like Monster Munch, which is high praise indeed from the elder ones.

I did get to try half a hoop myself – we’d been sent the Roast Beef flavour, which was pretty tasty (though I am a die-hard ready salted fan FYI Walkers, in case you want to send some crisps JUST FOR ME) . The texture is kind of like Monster Munch but the pieces aren’t so big and the taste is not as sharp, which is probably why the youngest said he liked them better.

Would I buy them for me? Probably not – I’d always go for common or garden crisps if I was buying – but I’d more than happily eat someone else’s.

Would I buy them for the kids? Well, they’re like all crisp-type snacks in that I wouldn’t want them to have them every day,  but on a weekend or for a packed lunch on a school trip, yep – I’d be happy for them to have these. I particularly like the small packet size (18g) which means they feel they’ve lucked out in getting their own packet each without me fretting too much about salt and fat content. And they are made from wholegrain so I get a few Good Mother points there too. Bonus!

AVAILABILITY – The Hoops and Crosses range are available in 6 packs for around £1.79 in most supermarkets

DISCLOSURE – The Hoops and Crosses were sent to me free of charge; Walkers have paid me for this post (though they didn’t tell me what to write).

On the Oxotots screwdriver

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I have about a million ‘could do betters’ in my mental Scorecard of Motherhood. But today, I have one less! I have banished the battery blues AT LONG LAST!

I don’t know if anyone else is like me, but I never seem to be on top of keeping batteries in everything that should have batteries. Either I don’t have the batteries in, or I can’t find them, or – more commonly – because I am in the middle of doing something else whenever one or the other child comes to me bearing a sad, battery-less toy. Like trying to get them all out of the door for school/nursery, or cooking for the ungrateful wretches. And even if all the optimum conditions for battery changing are met, I usually fall at the final hurdle – the precision tools required. When I was a kid, you only needed a very sharp nail, or sometimes a 1p piece, to get into battery compartments. Now for some reason – probably to do with Health, Safety and Avoiding Lawsuits, you need a screwdriver. And not a normal screwdriver either – some of the screws on these toys are the size of about half an atom. That’s probably to do with Health, Safety and Avoiding Lawsuits too – seriously, even an ant couldn’t choke on those little suckers.

So I was very excited to receive THIS through the post yesterday from the good folk from Oxotots…it looks like a pen and is about the same size, but it’s actually a miniscrewdriver with four different screwheads – neat, huh?

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Admittedly I am a crap photographer but I think you get the idea – the screwdriverybits are so small as to be almost invisible to my aged squinting eyes, but PERFECT for things like Hexbugs, below.

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I also discovered that the screwdriverybits (it’s a WORD, ok!) are magnetic which saved an awful lot of scrabbling around for lost screws, and probably a fair bit of swearing too – plus gave me the bonus opportunity to explain (badly) to no 1 son the properties of magnets. DOUBLE MOTHERING POINTS  for me then for including a secret educational session – I’m loving this screwdriver more by the minute…

Of course, it didn’t stop there. The call went out and suddenly a collection of toys appeared, all of which now have sparkly new batteries in them – and double bonus – my glasses aren’t held together with sellotape any more either, because this little beauty works for them too! Of course, the down side is that the Husband is threatening to leave home because of all the electronic yodelling, singing, squawking noises that are now unleashed every time someone even looks at a toy. Oh well, can’t win ’em all!

IMG_1279Some of the happy creatures!

AVAILABILITY – The 4-in-1 mini screwdriver (around £7),  along with a bunch of other cool OxoTots baby/toddler stuff, can be found  in John Lewis, Lakeland, House of Fraser, JojoMamanBebe and various other outlets – find your closest here.

DISCLOSURE – The Oxotot 4-in-1 Mini Screwdriver was given to me free of charge.

On ParcPlay

Cardiff Stuff, Family, Reviews, Wales, , , , , ,

Yay for Sunshine! So we packed a picnic and off to ParcPlay we went, along with a friend and her kids, who are the same age as my eldest two. The kids were mega excited as ParcPlay is one of their favourite places – they were up, dressed, and ready without so much as a grumble, which is always refreshing (and would be even more refreshing on school mornings, no?)

I’m not sure if we’re just extra lucky in Cardiff, but I’ve never come across a place like ParcPlay anywhere else. It looks unpromising from the outside, sitting on the riverbank behind the station and in amongst warehouses, garages and storage centres. But once you’re through the wooden gates, it’s a different story entirely – wooden climbing frames, slides, a zip wire, a table tennis area, a BIG sandplay area with a pirate ship and even a fenced off quarter for under 5s to go if they get a bit overwhelmed by the big stuff. Half of the area is covered, though not enclosed, so you can tick off the ‘fresh air’ bit even if it’s raining. Here’s a few pics taken from ParcPlay’s Facebook page:

ParcPlay, Cardiff

ParcPlay Cardiff

 

ParcPlay CardiffParcPlay Cardiff

 

Because it can be a bit chilly for us poor adults, there are fab ‘cabins’ with heaters in – but which you can see out of to keep an eye on the little darlings. There are also deckchairs – and there are some good sunspots on a summers day, if you are there early enough! For the other 355 days of the year there are also blankets for your knees, and rugs on the benches, which were being well used today! A couple more photos from Facebook here:

ParcPlay Cardiff

ParcPlay Cardiff

One of the best things about ParcPlay is that picnics are welcome, even encouraged – and even if it’s brass monkeys cold, picnicking is a feasible option because of the heated cabins. And another BIG plus – they do proper, decent, coffee. Not with bells and whistles – no mochafrappasemichinos here – but good, strong, and with half price refills. There are also a range of other drinks and snacks on offer for if you don’t want to bring your own – all reasonably priced. Admittedly there’s not a massive variety but equally, there’s a not massive kitchen taking up space that could be used for playing – seems a sensible trade off to me.

ParcPlay CardiffParcPlay Cardiff

We spent about 4 hours at Parcplay today – the bigger kids would probably have stayed a bit longer but the 3 yo was getting a bit past it – not surprising since apart from 20 mins hoovering up the picnic, he was on the run the whole time. Apart from a minor incident on the slide (for which an icepack immediately appeared – thank you!) it was a great day – not least because my friend and I actually managed to have a decent catch up while the kids were playing (we’ve both been in The Tunnel for far too long, so it was well overdue!) All in all, a lovely way to spend one of our last holiday days before school starts again 🙂

Entry prices:

Free for adults, £1.75 under 2 (or free with older sibling), £3.75 ages 2 and 3, £5 ages 4-12

ParcPlay is now open every day through till November -there’s more info on parties, group bookings, events etc on www.parcplay.com

Mums do travel