Tag: Gifted

Posted in toys

100 Years of Disney – Plush Toy Review

Posted on by Amy

Do you have a favourite Disney memory growing up?
Or a favourite Disney toy/film from your childhood?

I have been a big Disney fan for as long as I can remember. Growing up in the 90’s Disney was a huge part of my childhood, I remember going to the cinema for the first time to watch The Lion King and it’s been one of my favourites ever since. When Ellie was born I passed on my old Simba plush, which to this day is one of her most favourites. It definitely looks well-loved!

Now Ellie is older, she has developed her own love for all things Disney. I dreamed about the day I’d sit with my own children watching the classics and sharing my passion with them. Now that dream is a reality and most days we watch or read something that is filled with the magic of Disney.

This year Disney is celebrating 100 years – can you believe that?

Disney 100 is a full-year celebration of the Past, Present, and Future of The Walt Disney Company and Simba Smoby UK is proud to be launching its own range of plush toys to celebrate the big occasion and we got our hands on them!

We are so excited to share in the celebrations and we’ve been sent two of the new Disney 100 Plush toys.

Disney 100 Mickey Mouse

The Mickey plush stands at 25cm tall and has super soft fur. Mickey looks exactly as you’d expect with his authentic character features such as his big ears, embroidered eyes and squishy feet! Mickeys attire has had an upgrade though and of cause he needs a cute, sparkly outfit to celebrate 100 years of Disney.

Just look at those sparkly, gold shoes!

Disney 100 Dumbo

We also received the Dumbo plush which made me and Ellie smile so much. Dumbo has a special place in our hearts as we’ve always linked it to being for Jason. This makes Ellie’s new Dumbo even more special as she said she can look after it for her big brother. I just love how easily she includes him in her life. Just like Mickey, Dumbo has satin and sparkly fabrics that make his iconic jumbo sized ears sparkle.

It’s been great introducing Ellie to Disney and watching her find her own favourites.

The other night I was reminded that as a child, would pretend to be Ariel and i’d splash around in the bath like a mermaid – this is something that Ellie has been doing in the bath too, it makes me smile seeing that innocence but also showing just how similar we are.

Disney has this way of bringing the whole family together.

Available from Very

DISCLOSURE – WE WERE KINDLY GIFTED THE PLUSH TOYS TO REVIEW HOWEVER AS ALWAYS ALL THOUGHTS, OPINIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY OWN.

Posted in product review, toys

Care Bears 40th Anniversary

Posted on by Amy

Who here remembers having a Care Bear when they were little? I certainly do, I’m pretty sure it was a Funshine Bear and I have such nostalgia when I see them now! I love that they are still as popular today as they were back in the 90’s but I didn’t realise Care Bears first came out in the 80’s and they are celebrating 40 years of the colourful, snuggly bears!

We are super excited to be able to celebrate 40 years of Care Bears and join in with their 40 Days of Caring challenge too – I’ll let you know more about this further down the review.

Who is Care-a-Lot Bear

Care-a-Lot is a brand new bear created to celebrate the 40th Anniversary and more excitingly the very first bear to exist in the magical kingdom of Care-a-Lot! She is never afraid to show how much she cares. Her passion to care for her neighbours and her community, bringing kindness and love to everyone she meets is what she cares most about!

Limited Edition and Collectible!

The newest Limited Edition Care-a-Lot bear is 14 inches tall and an ombre pink and purple with unique silver sparkles in her fur. She has a beautiful castle belly badge showing the kingdom of Care-a-Lot and illuminated by a rainbow, this is completely different to any other care bear and special “40th” embroidery on her foot. There’s also the signature Care Bears button on her bottom!

She also comes with a certificate of authenticity and is definitely a highly collectible bear!

40 Days of Caring

From 1st August until 9th September aka #ShareYourCareDay there will be a list of 40 daily challenges all revolving around caring to get involved with! You can join in by sharing your acts of kindness and the ways you care on Instagram just follow the steps below and you will be entered into a raffle for super awesome Care Bears swag!

How to Play

Each day they will reveal a new way to Share Your Care.

  1. Take a picture of yourself doing the Share Your Care activity that is posted for today’s date in the calendar.
  2. Submit your picture through the form or by tagging #40DaysOfCaring on Instagram.
  3. Share your post to your social media accounts for bonus raffle entries.
  4. Collect votes from friends and family for even more chances to win. Each vote counts as one raffle entry!
  5. Come back each day to play again! Each new post counts as an entry in the raffle that you can collect votes on, too! The possibilities are endless!

Where to buy…

Care-a-Lot 40th Anniversary Care Bear is available to buy from Smyths, ToyMaster, House of Fraser, John Lewis and all good independent retailers.

Disclosure – We were kindly gifted the product to review however as always all thoughts, opinions and photographs are my own.
Posted in Gifted, product review

Fun To Learn Peppa Pig Magazine Review

Posted on by Amy
Are you even a parent of a young child if you haven’t caught yourself singing “Jumping up and down in muddy puddles” out loud when the kids aren’t even in the room?

Peppa Pig is still a very loved character in our house. Ellie loves watching Peppa, George and her friends (especially Emily Elephant – she’s a clever cloggs) go on adventures and have lots of fun and as a parent I actually don’t mind them either.
The Peppa Pig merchandise is everywhere – from toys, films, clothing and books but did you know there are now two Peppa Pig magazines as well? One is the official Fun To Learn Peppa Pig magazine and the second is the Peppa Pig Bag O’ Fun. We’ve been sent one of each to review and Ellie couldn’t wait to get stuck in to them both!

Fun to Learn Peppa Pig Magazine

The Fun to Learn Peppa Pig magazine is an interactive magazine aimed at all children between the ages of 3 and 7. Of cause, it is filled with the beloved characters from the popular TV Show Peppa Pig! Every issue is designed to make learning fun and the activities, games, stories and stickers ensure just that. The magazine helps children develop their skills in reading, writing, maths, creativity and art, turn taking and lots of other skills! There are plenty of opportunities for parents to interact with your child as well as encouraging independent learning as well.

We’ve had fun playing The Fairground game together.

While also learning how to draw a circus tent!

Ellie’s even tried read the stories, using her phonics skills to decode any tricky words.

Each issue comes with a free toy for added fun! In this copy there was the cutest little Peppa beach hut play set – comprising of a Peppa and George character, a beach hut and 7 little beach items. It was lovely watching Ellie put the sun cream on Peppa and George and telling them why it was important to use! She’s a real Mummy Pig already.

Peppa Pig Bag O’ Fun Magazine

The Peppa Pig Bag O’ Fun magazine is still a fun and interactive activity magazine and comes with very exciting gifts and extras.

The Peppa Pig Bag O’ Fun magazine is different to the Fun to Learn Peppa Pig magazine – it comes sealed and the contents are a nice surprise where as the other can be browsed before purchasing. Although there are some sneak peeks at the back of the packaging!

The Peppa Pig Bag O’ Fun magazine has a theme to the activities and stories running throughout the book. This issue’s theme is America which is evident throughout.

The Bag O’ Fun also comes with a magic painting book, this is great! It’s mess free and only needs water to make the pictures come to life with colour.

The spot the difference was a huge hit with Ellie! Who definitely, definitely did NOT need my help.

There’s so many activities to keep kids entertained for hours! The mazes alone develop their fine motor skills and writing skills!

I’ve never met a child who doesn’t love stickers! I’m just grateful these stickers have specific places in the magazine and not over the walls!

Both magazines support the Early Years Curriculum and are the number 1 selling preschool magazine from 2018-2021. They have won multiple awards, NWA 2017 & 2019 and the Mum’s Choice Award Gold 2021.

Don’t forget…

To enter the amazing competitions found in both magazines! There are some fantastic prizes to be won.

Where to find them

Fun To Learn Peppa Pig and Fun To Learn Peppa Pig Bag O’ Fun Magazines are available now from all good supermarkets, convenience stores, newsagents and WHSmith High Street and Travel. Single issues and subscriptions can also be purchased from our online shop http://www.redan.co.uk/store

Disclosure – We were kindly gifted these to review however as always all thoughts, opinions and photographs are my own.

Posted in product review, toys

GooZonians UK toy review

Posted on by Amy

We’ve been checking out the NEW GooZonian toys from Character Toys this week. These are out now and available to buy from Smyths Toy Superstore – Ellie can’t wait to go and add to her new collection as there are 6 characters to collect!

GooZonians – the stretchiest Superheroes protecting the magical realm of GooZonia. All while juggling new powers, royal responsibilities and squad goals! GooZonians are squishy and stretchy and tactile – designed for girls aged 4-6. Ellie is 5 and loves them!

We have been kindly gifted two of the new characters – Cora and Princess Flik – for an honest opinion.

The story

Many generations ago, the Stone Heart turned the enchanted rainbow hued goo dull and hardened it across the land and in the hearts of the people. It caused chaos and destruction in GooZonia. The Queen (Cinder) saved her people by creating six charms from the last of the flowing goo and gave them the power to defeat Stone Heart and reverse it’s effects. Now Stone Heart is back and the Superheroes must find the hidden charms to protect GooZonia from the ApoGoolypse!

Characters

The GooZonian characters all have special qualities different to each other. Each one is brightly coloured allows children to build on their storytelling skills.

Queen Ember – a Pheonix – leads the good people of GooZonia. She is brave, charismatic, dutiful but critical. Ember is filled with flame effect strands and star shaped sparkles combined with red, orange and yellow flecks of shimmer.
Roxy – the life of the party in GooZonia. She is the royal spokesperson and head of the castle’s social committee. She is glamorous, naive, generous but superficial. Discover her silver snowflakes and blue stars.

Isla – an avid surfer and animal lover, she is the most environmentally aware GooZonian. She is independent, easy-going, optimistic but forgetful. She is filled with purple moon and star shaped sparkles and clear water beads.
Princess Flik – a true princess of GooZonia who believes she should be patrolling the realm and be ready for battle always. She is confident, adventurous, impulsive but clumsy. Flik is filled with swirling galaxy effect and a lightning shaped shimmer.
Cora – the artistic director of the Royal Performance Company. She sings, dances and acts and keeps the GooZonians entertained. She’s enthusiastic, creative, opinionated but overconfident. Stretch her to see her small hexagonal sparkles in her pink and orange filling.
Glyda – an enigmatic introvert. She loves to solve problems and ways to stop the Stone Heart. She’s shy, inventive, passionate but insecure. There’s lots going on inside her filling – a mix of pink and purple water beads and a dragon scale effect with pink sparkle dust suspended inside too!

The Toys

We received Princess Flik and Cora to try out and review. Both these toys are super stretchy, super squishy and lots of fun! They always return to their original shape which absolutely amazed Ellie, she tried so hard to stretch them further and further and then watched them return back to their shape within seconds. She loves the texture and the feel of the toys, Ellie can be quite sensory sometimes and can be put off by the texture of objects. Ellie enjoyed experimenting with the different ways she could reveal the hidden magic power charms in her two superheroes – squishing and squeezing until the gooey bodies moved.

As a parent they feel therapeutically tactile, hard-wearing and have endless possibilities for imaginative play!

To accompany the new launch, the GooZonians also have their very own webisode which is live over at Character Kidz TV and so fun to watch! The webisode has really brought life to these empowering heroines and Ellie has absolutely loved watching the first episode.

Would we recommend…

100% yes! Ellie has had lots of fun playing with these new figures and having them watch the episodes with her too. The stretch appeal along with the bright colours really appeal to Ellie and others aged 4-6 years old will love them too!

Disclosure – We were gifted the GooZonian toys to review however as always all thoughts, opinions and photographs are my own.

Posted in Gifted, parenting, product review, toys

Petite Amelie Wooden Dolls House – review

Posted on by Amy
Post contains PR Product.

Ellie has such a kind and caring nature and she absolutely loves looking after her toys – she feeds them in her play kitchen, she puts them down for naps and she plays with such a vivid imagination. I love nothing more than sitting down with a cuppa and listening to the storylines she comes up with – although worryingly it usually starts with the Mum dying!!

I knew she would be over the moon with the wooden dolls house we received from Petite Amélie and she has played with it non-stop since she first saw it.

So here’s our review of our new dolls house. It’s possibly one of the few times Ellie has willingly let me bother her for photos!

In 2010 when a mum-to-be wasn’t able to find the cot of her dreams for her daughter – she took matters into her own hands and designed one herself and had it made – it was at that moment that Petite Amélie was born. They have since expanded their range of products to include complete baby and children’s bedrooms, transitional beds, infants chests of drawers and wardrobes, children’s bed linen and wooden toys – furniture perfect for Nurseries or Toddler Rooms..

Their main goal – to inspire parents to create a beautiful nursery that has unique furniture and accessories suitable for babies and children alike.

With so many beautifully designed, timeless products to choose from I found it difficult knowing what to pick when we were offered to choose something from the site – however since we already have all the furniture we need we decided to look at the wooden toys and decided on the La maison d’Amélie wooden dolls house.

Traditional Toys with a Modern Touch

The La maison d’Amélie wooden dolls house is a house of dreams! It’s stylish open fronted design is a great way to encourage children to play – the neutral tones of white, grey and black match with the natural wood perfectly too allowing it to be appealing to all children.

The wooden dolls house does come flat packed and was relatively easy to assemble when little hands arent trying to “help”. Initially I had decided to build the dolls house but found getting the balcony to fit a tad bit tricky so set Luke off on the task and of course, being the Master Builder he is, he did it in no time at all! The house also comes with a 19 piece furniture set too which is already assembled and matches the main house with its neutral colours and wood. It would be easy to add some colour and a bit of the childs personality to the house by painting the furniture but honestly I really love the natural look and love how it all looks inside when we’ve set it up.

The dolls house has rooms on 4 floors and just like a real home it has a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room and office space as well as a balcony on the top floor too! The possibilities for play are endless – every time Ellie plays with it her role play is different to the last. We’ve had role play linked to every day life – bath time, breakfast and Ellie loves tucking her little family in to bed at night – and we’ve had rescue missions, flooding and evil pirates but Ellie’s favourite is to pretend she’s a giant reaching in through the window and scaring the children!

Our Overall Verdict

I particularly love the fact that the wooden toys from Petite Amélie are made from high quality materials (SFC wood and organic cotton where possible) and the house is EN71 safety tested and the paint used is safe for children too, I also like the additional thought on safety with the rounded edges.

We’ve had such many nights after school playing with our new dolls house, it’s been a fantastic way to watch Ellie’s imagination grow and we’ve used it to talk about our days when she hasn’t been so keen to share! It’s been a wonderful addition to Ellie’s playroom and I can’t wait to watch her grow and maybe one day pass on to her children too!

Have you had any toys or furniture from Petite Amélie?
Will you be buying wooden toys this year?
Christmas is only 92 days away after all!
Let us know in the comments below!

Disclosure – We were gifted the La maison D’Amelie wooden dolls house to review however as always all thoughts, opinions and photographs are my own.

Posted in baking, Food, Gifted, parenting, product review

Doughlicious Gourmet Cookie Dough – Review

Posted on by Amy

I love baking, it’s something i’ve enjoyed doing for many years but being a busy, full time working Mum/Wife/Sister/Daughter/Friend/Influencer means I rarely get time to even think about baking let alone doing it. During lockdown I loved being able to have the time to bake with Ellie, she loved making cupcakes and cookies.

However I have lately been craving the thing I love most about baking – enjoying something fresh out of the oven.

***Enter Doughlicious Gourmet Cookie Dough***

We have recently been gifted 6 boxes of their “Ready-to-bake” range in return for an honest review. So before I get stuck in I thought i’d give a little bit more information on Doughlicious first.

Doughlicious first started in 2014 when the founder, Kathryn, decided to share her secret on how to make tasty american-style cookies using only the finest natural ingredients. What makes Doughlicious stand out is that their products are 100% gluten-free. They pride themselves on being inclusive for all so they even have dairy-free, organic and vegan flavours too!

How does it work?

Each delivery comes well packaged with freezer bags to keep them cool. You can either store the cookie dough in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to bake. Our order had fantastic dates – none of them were out of date before December although NONE of them have made it past 2 weeks!

The cookies bake in less than 15 minutes, perfect for a quick treat or for the busy working mum to win brownie (or cookie) points with the kids! They certainly won Ellie over!

We were able to review 6 of their fantastic flavours but to check out the others head on over to the Doughlicious website to see them all!

Organic Carrot Cake

Per cookie: 128 calories, 8g fat, 10g carbs, 4g sugar, 2g fibre, 3g protein

These cookies give a definite carrot cake taste – the spices work perfectly with the oats and the kitchen smells so good whilst they are baking. I found they didn’t flatten as much as the other flavours (but think this was more me than the cookie!) but they still tasted delicious. These were Husband’s favourite seeing as he ate 5 of them!

Dairy free/Gluten free/Vegetarian/Vegan/Organic

Chunky Oat Chocolate Chip

Per cookie: 140 calories, 7g fat, 16g carbs, 7g sugar, 2g fibre, 2g protein

These were simply amazing and possibly my favourite flavour. I love an oat cookie but these were on another level all together! I’d have never known they were vegan if I hadn’t have seen the packaging. The double wammy of oats (rolled oats and oat flour) gives a fantastic taste and texture to the cookie while the vegan chocolate chips gives it a soft gooey texture too.

Dairy free/Gluten free/Vegan/Vegetarian

Chocolate and Vanilla

Per cookie: 150 calories, 8g fat, 18g carbs, 10g sugar, 1g fibre, 2g protein.

I loved the look of these, so much so I had to bake these first/ The idea of having both chocolate and vanilla in one cookie and the way they were split so evenly in half excited me. They definitely lived up to my expectations, the rich chocolate flavour was balanced perfectly with the lightness of the vanilla. Ellie also loved the two-tone look to the cookie.

Gluten free/Vegetarian/Nut free

Chocolate Chip

Per cookie: 153 calories, 8.1g fat, 18g carbs, 10g sugar, 1g fibre, 1.7g protein.

This flavour has won the great taste award twice! You can’t beat an old-favourite can you? These are best when warm and the dark chocolate has melted. I definitely ate more than one of these.

Gluten free/Vegetarian/Nut free

Peanut Butter

Per cookie: 158 calories, 9g fat, 14g carbs, 8g sugar, 1g fibre, 4g protein.

Peanut Butter is the main ingredient in these cookies – which for someone who doesn’t like Peanut Butter I feel I was wasted when tasting them. So I asked Ellie and Luke what they thought for a more genuine review – they both loved them. They said the smoothness and doesn’t lose the peanut butter flavour.

Gluten free/Vegetarian

Double Chocolate

Per cookie: 153 calories, 8.7g fat, 16g carbs, 9.8g sugar, 1.6g fibre, 2.1g protein.

This is the chocolate lover’s dream! A rich chocolate cookie with soft cookie dough matched with melting chunks of dark chocolate. It leaves you wanting more!

Gluten free/Vegetarian/Nut free

Our verdict:

I’ve not been able to find a fault within these cookies! The fact that they take less than 15 minutes to bake, make no mess or washing up and they have the perfect balance between texture and flavour. The ingredients are natural, of a high quality and this comes through in the taste. I love the range of flavours, appealing to the chocoholics, the nutty and the healthier ones out there who still like a treat every once in a while.

The whole family have definitely enjoyed being my taste-testers. We will definitely be ordering more Doughlicious treats soon – their Salted Caramel and Dark Chocolate cookies launching in just 4 days (7th October) is definitely one I NEED to try!

Disclosure: I was gifted the flavours mentioned above in exchange for an honest review by Doughlicious.co.uk
All views, opinions and images are my own.


Posted in Gifted, product review, reading

Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus Review

Posted on by Amy

Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus is the first children’s story written by TV producer Sonia Beldom – who in 2018 fulfilled her life long dream of qualifying as a bus driver! Sonia decided to write this book to raise funds for bus-related charities during COVID-19 and we’ve been given a copy to read and share our thoughts on.

Synopsis:

Granny Franny is always surprising her grandchildren with sensational stories and surprise days out. One day she decides to do something super special for their birthday. She buys a big red bus to take them on a magical tour of London; what she’s forgotten is that she can’t actually drive a bus. Then she meets Thinkerbell, the talking bus bell and everything changes.


First of all, as always, Ellie got very excited when she realised she had a new book to read. She looked at the front cover and read the words “big red bus” which was made her even more excited to read it together. We talked about what she thought Granny Franny might be doing and decided she was going on holiday.

Ellie is very intrigued by rhyming words at the minute and is always trying to rhyme words when she is mumbling to herself (her favourite being “wee wee, pee pee, tee pee”) so we talked a lot about the different rhyming words in the book and she tried to spot them herself.

While reading I noticed the illustrations are big and colourful – perfect for young children. Granny Franny is aimed at children aged 3-7 but could be shared to younger children and primary aged children too.

I thought the book was great, there was a clear message of love between Granny Franny and her grandchildren, a sense of family and compassion. There were so many talking points throughout too such as the other vehicles helping Thinkerbell.

Ellie’s Thoughts:

I asked Ellie what she liked the most about Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus and her reply was:

Thinkerbell is funny and has a silly voice and does lots of rhyming words. I liked the bus getting stuck in the sticky mud and the fire man coming to save the day.

Disclosure: I was gifted a copy of Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus in exchange for an honest review. All views, opinions and images are my own

Posted in Gifted, product review

Newspaper Headlines Personalised Football Book – Review

Posted on by Amy

Do you have a special person in your life who is sport mad? More specifically football mad? Honestly i’ve never really understood why people get so involved in a football game they arent playing – that was until the most recent World Cup and I cheered on England more than anyone in the house! I grew up with a family who were fans of Rugby more than football so I never really had a team to cheer on, I once supported Liverpool but that was just because I fancied Michael Owen at the time -cringe!-

My husband has been an Aston Villa supporter ever since he started going to football games with his Grandad so when Historic Newspapers asked if I’d like to collaborate on their Newspaper Headlines Book of cause I jumped at the chance.

First of all I wanted to talk about the range of books they offer on the website. With so many options from personalised childrens books (which we have reviewed in a previous post – check it out!) to personalised ladybird humour books for adults. There is something for everyone!

Historic Newspapers have a range of different newspaper books to choose from; birthday, anniversary, war, pictorials as well as their personalised football newspaper books (starting price £39.99) These special books feature newspaper stories from 1905 and appear in colour from 2006! They are available in hardbound, hardback covers which can be upgraded to leather or leatherette cover. The cover is embossed in gold detail and you can add the recipients name and a special message on the inside. The deluxe pictorial edition comes with a keepsake box, which is also embossed. At first glance, the overall presentation is of a really high standard.


I have been fascinated while flicking through the pages and reading some of the articles from the early 1900’s but my husband has been ecstatic in learning more about the team he has supported for so many years. This specific edition has also been updated to include the 2019 playoff victory! I have been so pleased with how much is included in the book. The extra addition of photographs of players, team shots and matches was also a hit with my husband.

Our pictorial edition ends with a very strange newspaper article with the announcement of football being suspended due to the Coronavirus in March of this year. This, for me, will always be a reminder of a year where we learnt to appreciate so much more than we ever did and as a family, this book features the highs and lows of being a Villa supporter and is a fantastic way to get to know the history behind the team.


It’s the kind of gift that you can dip in and out of, you could spend years reading and rereading articles and I know Luke can’t wait to show it off to my brother and Ellie when she is older too.

Of cause you want to know whether your team is even available and I wasn’t sure Villa would be one of those teams but I was surprised by how many teams they had to choose from!

I am so impressed by the quality, the presentation and the whole concept of this Historic Newspapers Gift, from adding in those extra details, making it personal to the recipient, to the final product. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for the perfect gift for a football lover, whether that is Father’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas or just to show someone you care! It is so unique and I can imagine each team has a very different story to tell through their own articles.

Disclosure: I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review by Historic Newspapers. All views, opinions and images are my own.

Posted in Gifted, product review

In The Book – Review

Posted on by Amy

In The Book is an online book company specialising in personalised books for children and adults of all ages. They have a wide range of books and there really is something for everyone; Disney, Peter Rabbit, Marvel, The Hungry Caterpillar, Beano and so many more. This isn’t including their own range of personalised stories. We have been very fortunate to have been gifted two of their books to review.

These stories are built around you (or your child); giving them the fun and excitement of seeing their own name built in to the story. I loved this idea as not only is the name written in the illustrations but it is also the main character in the story too.

The website is extremely easy to use and navigate, the hardest part is choosing which book to personalise. There is the option of A4 softback, A4 hardback (both available in the standard cover) and the classic hardback which is bound in a premium hardcover with gold embossing.

Once chosen there are three steps to personalising the book:

When our books arrived I was absolutely amazed at the quality and size. I obviously hadn’t read the A4 sizing and was expecting a smaller book which I was worried would be too small to keep Ellie’s attention. These are the perfect size for all readers, big and small. Each page is beautifully illustrated and the story is just magical.




“Ellie’s Unicorn Adventure” is a wonderful story about a Unicorn (with your child’s name) who gets bored in the meadow and goes off on an adventure to find new places. From a pink candyland to the snowy mountain tops this story takes the reader to so many wonderful places.

Ellie’s Thoughts:

I asked Ellie what she liked the most about the Unicorn’s adventure and her reply was:

I like the Unicorn because she has the same name as me. She is cheeky. My name is in the sky. See E, L, L, I, E it says Ellie! The Unicorn likes the snow, it has footprints to go back home so she doesn’t get lost.

We also received a beautifully illustrated “Book of Nursery Rhymes” Ellie loves to sing and she has always loved nursery rhymes so I knew she would love this one so much. The book of nursery rhymes is packed full of songs little ones will already know and love such as Humpty Dumpty, The Wheels On The Bus and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, there’s even a few Mummy doesn’t remember!




Similar to the Unicorn book, Ellie’s name is on the front cover and appears throughout the pages in the illustrations. We’ve had lots of fun getting Ellie to find her name hidden on drain pipes, buses and even on pies. She gets so excited when she’s found it. It’s a great way to get them to recognise their name in written form!

For me, the best part is that you can include a picture of your child on the back page. I love this as it’s a way of remembering how old they were when they received the book. Ellie couldn’t believe her picture was in there too, she told me it must have been magic. I know that even when she is too old to be singing nursery rhymes and believing in unicorns I will always remember the smile on her face when we would read them together.

Disclosure: I was gifted these two books in exchange for an honest review by In The Book. All views, opinions and images are my own.

Posted in Gifted, product review

Chalkola – Review

Posted on by Amy

Being in lockdown has meant we’ve been filling our days with nursery home learning, baking and art and crafts. Ellie has enjoyed being creative so much that we have run out of paint and can’t seem to buy any anywhere!

When Chalkola got in touch to see whether we’d like to try out some of their products I knew this would be a great replacement for the paint. They gifted us a Chalkola chalkboard and a pack of their chalk markers to try out and review.

We’ve been having lots of fun creating different masterpieces on the chalkboard and trying out the different colours with 30 chalk markers in the bigger pack we’ve had plenty to try out!

They work on so many non-porous surfaces; mirrors, chalk boards, glass, tuff trays, metal, ceramic and plastic and wipe off as easily as they go on. For more permanent designs they can also be used on wood, paper, fabric and clay! They really are perfect for every occasion. I’m already thinking of how I can use them at Christmas!

The markers are easy to use, shake the pen to activate the ink and then push on the tip until the colour starts to show then get creative! It really is as easy as that.

Not only has Ellie had fun creating her own art work we have used these for learning too! The chalkboard is great for teaching letter and number formation. Ellie has been using the markers to write her name and her numbers while homeschooling and has loved learning all the different colours too. We’ve even labelled some of our Tupperware with the labels provided too!

To remove the markers all you need is a damp cloth however I must add that as long as the markers are left to dry they don’t smudge or are accidentally wiped away either!

I was concerned over whether the markers would be safe for Ellie to us but once again Chalk Ola have thought of it all. Not only are they non-toxic but they are acid-free and odour-less.

Ellie has really loved being able to be creative in her drawings and i’ve noticed a huge inprovement in the way she draws too. People now have ears and eyebrows rather than just the eyes, nose and mouth. She is using her imagination more too! We’ve made homeschooling more fun and colourful with the help of the 30 colours in the pack.

I also asked Ellie what she thought of the Chalkola markers:

I love them. I like the red one the best. Red is my favourite, it is good to draw with red. I like writing my name and my numbers with the colourful pens.

If you are looking to find out more you can head to their website where you can also use the discount code: AMYP10 on any order!

You can also find Chalk Ola products on Amazon where you can use the discount code CHALKOLA10 on any order!

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Disclosure: I was gifted the chalkboard and Chalkola chalk markers in exchange for an honest review. All views, opinions and images are my own.