In preparation for Christmas Ethan is getting the chance to play with lots of new toys so that we can review them and find the 'Best Educational Toys for Toddlers' this Christmas.  Today we are playing with the LeapFrog Scribble & Write that was sent to us from LeapFrog.  It's an electronic writing pad to aid children in learning to write letters and numbers as part of their Communication, Language and Literacy development.


The LeapFrog Scribble & Write has a RRP of £19.99 (although it's currently £14.99 from most places, including Amazon).  I think it's very good value for such a unique product.  It combines sound, lights and a simple writing pad to teach children the basics of writing in a fun way.  

The recommended age for the Scribble & Write is 3 and up, so as Ethan is only 2 of course I wasn't expecting him to pick it up and start writing perfectly straight away.  He was drawn to the lights on the screen and of course loved pressing the different buttons.  We were able to hold the pen (stylus) together and trace over the lights that were showing how to write a chosen letter or number.  The voice tells you where to start and what button to press when you finish the letter.  It is very easy to use, and a 3 year old would certainly pick it up straight away.


The Scribble & Write has two different settings, so even after Ethan starts learning to write he will then be able to move up to level 2, which will show him how to write more accurately.  I love a toy that will last for a long time!  

Ethan is really enjoying playing with it both with me guiding him along and on his own (just scribbling over the lit up letter).  I think that this is good for him as well, early mark making skills are very important and he's learning that letters and numbers can be written, and that he will be able to write them (when he's ready).  It's also a nice big pen (stylus) that he can hold and we can work on his pencil grip as well, when he gets a bit older.  Overall we're really enjoying the Scribble & Write and would recommend it as a great gift for a toddler this Christmas.


* This has been a review post, LeapFrog gave us the Scribble & Write so that we could play with it and write a review for them. To see more about my review process please click here. *

Today I finished my preparations for Ethan's advent calendar this year.  There are so many fantastic ideas out there (just search Pinterest!) but I wanted something quite simple that Ethan would be able to enjoy at his age (he's just over 2 now).  I settled on the idea of using a pre made wooden advent calendar with boxes that I could put a healthy treat and an activity card in. The boxes are quite small, but I found these Organix Mini Oaty Bites that fit in the box perfectly.  


The activities I chose are all appropriate for a young toddler, and are things that I had hoped to do this month anyway.  I have created 30 cards, and plan to put each one in the night before, with a few extras so that if there are changes to our schedule I won't have to let Ethan down and have lots of options to chose from.  I have also put a little picture (clip art or from google images) to go with each activity so that Ethan can have a guess at what it is, as he's too young to read the cards.  Now I just can't wait until he gets to open the first one on Sunday!

• decorate the Christmas tree
• watch a Christmas movie
• visit Santa
• make a Christmas craft
• go out to see Christmas lights switch on
• have a Christmas play date
• go to a local Christmas fair
• go Christmas shopping
• drink hot chocolate
• go to a Christmas party
• make Christmas gifts
• bake Christmas cookies
• write Christmas cards
• go ice skating
• watch a play or panto
• play in the snow
• make Christmas crackers
• read Christmas books
• go on a Christmas nature walk
• make Christmas wrapping paper
• wrap Christmas gifts

If you would like to download our activities please click here

Today we have started working on our Christmas cards for this year!  Things are quite hectic in our house at the moment, so we're doing our Christmas cards in the easiest way possible. That means store bought cards (no photos this year) with a little special piece of artwork from Ethan inside.  Unfortunately, Ethan is not quite at the stage where he will happily sit and draw in 30 cards for me, so we had to be creative.  I saw some adorable fingerprint Christmas trees on Pinterest, but again there's no way that Ethan could create that many trees without growing bored.  So what I decided to do instead is to have him finger paint a large piece of green sugar paper, which I will then cut tree shapes out of.  Finger painting is great for Ethan's Creative Development as he gets to experiment with colours and the different effects that the paint makes when he smudges it around in different ways.


Ethan absolutely loved getting messy with the finger paints today!  We use Crayola Finger Paints and find that they work really well (and wash off easily).  I started off by showing Ethan that I wanted him to just put one finger in the paint and make little dots all over the paper to look like Christmas decorations.  But of course it didn't take long for Ethan to put his whole hand into the paint and smudge it all over the paper.  Friends and family beware, they may not be Pinterest quality artwork, but they are all Ethan's own, made by a boy having a lot of fun and getting messy :)

In the lead up to Christmas, Ethan and I have the pleasure of reviewing fabulous toys to compile our 'Best Educational Toys for Toddlers' list.  Learning Resources have sent us the Gears! Gears! Gears! Movin' Monkeys Building Set to review.  It is a building set that is fabulous for fine motor control as part of children's Physical Development.


The set sells for £45.54 on the Learning Resources website.  There are 136 pieces in the box, including plates to build on, gears, levers and of course plenty of monkeys!  The age recommendation is from 4-8 years old.  

As Ethan is only 2, it isn't something that he could play with on his own, but we sat together for ages with him passing me the different coloured gears that I asked for and assembled the recommended structure in the instruction leaflet.  Ethan happily twirled the gears around the sections that I had finished and marvelled at the new structures I was creating.  Once we had a couple of sections done and were able to put them together came the most fun part for Ethan, he was able to turn a lever and make all of the gears turn!


This is definitely going to be a toy that Ethan can use for years to come as he grows and learns how to use it in different ways.  There are so many pieces and different configurations that can be made.  For now I actually think it will be a very fun toy for Ethan to play with his Daddy (as he's much more into building than I am) I can picture them sitting together for hours making different gears turn for the swinging monkeys!  Then as he grows older he will be able to build the structures himself, combining the pieces in different ways and learning how the gears work. For a child that is interested in how things work, this toy could keep them busy for hours!


If you order online from Learning Resources and use the code BLOGGER13 during checkout you will get free delivery on all orders.  Offer valid until December 31st 2013.  (Let me know what you order!)

We have now added a sticker to the 30 weeks box on our 'waiting for baby' calendar, which is wonderful (and very scary!)  So we continue to prepare Ethan for the impending arrival of his new sibling by meeting and interacting with as many other babies as possible!  I'm hoping that this will help Ethan to understand what babies are like and to feel secure about his relationship with me (even when I am holding another baby) as part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development in preparing him for the new baby.


Ethan actually really loves babies, he's always been quite intrigued by them.  He often wants to look into their prams and asks questions about what they're doing.  Lately I've been encouraging him to pay more attention to them and I've been trying to explain what they're doing (when they're being fed, etc.)  The other day I was holding a friends' baby while his Mummy was getting his milk ready, and he was crying (because he was hungry) and Ethan was so intrigued. He kept saying 'baby cry' and I was explaining that he was hungry and wanted milk. Then Ethan watched as he was given his milk and stopped crying.  For days afterwards he kept saying 'baby cry waaaaaa' and then saying 'give milk'.  He is definitely starting to understand, and quite thankfully doesn't get upset when I hold other babies.  We've also been talking a lot about how some of his friends are already big brothers or sisters, which hopefully makes sense to him and will prepare him for living with a baby.  Luckily we still have at least a few weeks to go to get him ready, any other suggestions would be appreciated :)

Today we went to the BritMums Christmas party! Our first proper Christmas event of the year, and the first blogging event that I've taken Ethan to! I was quite nervous about bringing Ethan, as you never know how a toddler will behave, but luckily for me he was very good.  It's also really nice for him to experience all sorts of social settings as part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

In preparation for Christmas Ethan and I are reviewing some fantastic educational toys to compile our list of the 'Best Educational Toys for Toddlers' this Christmas.  Our next toy was given to us by Galt Toys, it's the Where's My Mummy? game.  It's a game based on matching Mummy and baby animals, which is great for Ethan's Knowledge and Understanding of the World.


The game sells for £8.99 on the Galt website (there is also free postage with the code on the website until the end of December, perfect for buying Christmas gifts!)  I think it's very good value for money as it is a lovely game.

The game is aimed at children from 2-5 years old.  I was really unsure about any sort of game for 2 year olds, but Galt have very cleverly written 2 different sets of instructions (one for younger and one for older children).  So Ethan was able to play a simple matching game now, and when he's older we can play a memory game as well.  Games are an excellent way to learn about turn taking as part of children's Personal, Social and Emotional Development, so it will be interesting to see Ethan play the game with some of his friends.


Ethan picked up the game really quickly, we gave a game card to each of us and Ethan chose the Mummy cards that were face down from the middle.  He then decided whose card it was for and matched it.  For today Ethan did all of the steps himself, of course when playing with friends we'll make sure that everyone gets a turn.  I really liked that there were lots of opportunities for Ethan to learn about animals, or we could simply match them by how they looked.  I introduced some new Mummy and baby animal names to him, and we talked specifically about the trickier ones (like the butterfly Mummy and caterpillar baby).  I was really impressed with how quickly Ethan got the hang of the game and how engrossed he was in playing the game until all of the cards were full.  I would definitely recommend this game for younger and older toddlers, it's fantastic.


* This has been a review post, Galt gave us the Where's my Mummy game so that we could play with it and write a review for them. To see more about my review process please click here. *

As it's getting closer to Christmas and I'm starting to plan for Ethan's third Christmas (I can't even believe it, I don't know where the time has gone) I'm looking back to Ethan's previous Christmas'.  I wasn't really blogging for Ethan's first Christmas, and being a parent was still so new (he was only 3 months old) that we just had a very simple and lovely Christmas at home.  

Last year, however, for Ethan's second Christmas, we went all out!  (And just wait for this year, baby!) So I'm looking back and remembering all of the things we did, to find inspiration for this year, and maybe to inspire others to go all out for Christmas with a one year old :)

In preparation for Christmas Ethan and I will be reviewing some fantastic educational toys to compile our list of the 'Best Educational Toys for Toddlers' this Christmas.  Our first toy was given to us by Smyths toy shop, and it's the LeapFrog LeapReader.  As an aid to learning to read and write, it will help Ethan to develop his Communication, Language and Literacy skills.



The LeapFrog LeapReader sells for £31.99 from Smyths.  There are other accessories that you can buy to go along with it and of course other books that can be read with the LeapReader (they are about £12.99 each).  If you are going to get this for your little one for Christmas, I would recommend getting a couple of other books as well, that way they'll keep busy while you're preparing the Christmas dinner.  

The LeapReader is aimed at children from 4-8, so some of the features are a bit advanced for Ethan, but he still loves it.  He sat with the book in his lap, pointing the pen at the different pictures to hear what the characters said.  Then we sat and held the pen together to point at the words in the book and have it be read out loud to us.  This is great in many ways for pre-readers, it's teaching Ethan where the words are and that the words are what is being read.  It's also a little break for my voice, as Ethan wants to read about 100 books a day :)  



The main feature of the LeapReader is that it reads books aloud, but it can also teach your child to write, play games, play music, and listen to audio books.  For writing, they trace over a letter on the special learning paper, the pen then gives them feedback on which lines to draw. You can also hook up the pen to your computer to download music, audio books and trivia games.  It comes with a few for free that you can try out, and then you are able to pay to download more from the LeapFrog website.  The instructions included are very straightforward and easy to follow (even when you have a wriggly toddler in your lap insisting that you hurry up so he can play!)

Overall, Ethan is loving the LeapReader.  He is able to sit with just the pen and listen to the two audio books provided, listen to the LeapFrog learning songs (about punctuation, vowels, letter blends, etc), and listen to trivia (amazing animal facts.)  I am sure that as he gets older it will be even better as he finds more ways to play and learn with it.  I would definitely recommend this as an educational Christmas present for toddlers and young children.

* This has been a review post, Smyths gave us this LeapFrog LeapReader so that we could play with it and write a review for them. To see more about my review process please click here. *

Today Ethan wrote his letter to Santa! It seems a bit early, but Royal Mail say that if you send it in by December 6th you will get a reply from Santa.  I have also ordered a letter from the NSPCC, just in case we don't get one from Royal Mail (and because it's nice to give to charity at Christmas). It's great for Ethan's Communication, Language and Literacy development as he did some 'writing' on the letter.

Today we put another sticker on our 'Waiting for Baby' calendar as we're now at 29 weeks!  In our continuing effort to prepare Ethan to be a big brother, Zapf Creation gave us a lovely Baby Born Interactive doll to review.  I am hoping that by playing with this doll he will learn about caring for a baby and being gentle as part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development as we prepare him for the arrival of his new sibling.

The Baby Born Interactive doll is available from many shops and sells at £34.99 from Amazon.  It comes dressed in a nappy and bodysuit, and comes with a spare nappy, a dummy, a bottle, a bowl and spoon, a food sachet and a potty.  



I thought it would be easiest to ease Ethan in by just using a couple of the features at a time. Today we just focused on cuddling the baby, being gentle with the baby and feeding the baby. Ethan has been so incredibly sweet and gentle with the baby, he's really surprised me.  He holds the baby very carefully and covers him up with a blanket to keep him warm.  

Today we were lucky enough to go to yet another birthday party.  This one was organised for 11 children who have all turned two in the past month or so.  Of course Ethan was very excited for another birthday party, and it's seems the perfect way to end our party season and move onto the Christmas season.  Another excuse to celebrate our lovely little 2 year old boy, and great for Ethan's Personal, Social and Emotional Development to learn about sharing a celebration day with other children.

I was very excited to be given the job of organising the party bags, and we also brought the yogurt and berry muffins that we made yesterday to add to the huge amount of food that everyone else brought.  The theme of the party was pirates, princesses, elves and fairies!  I decided to just stick with pirates and princesses for the party bags and muffins.  So I made a mini treasure chest for each birthday girl and boy and put them all in a big treasure chest (a cardboard box that I covered in brown paper and added tape and a lock and some gold tinsel to make it shine).  I also had a cute little 'pirate' teddy for the two baby siblings :)

• treasure chest - Glis box from Ikea - decorated with gold washi tape, pirate cut outs and a scroll label
• nursery rhyme book
• flute whistle
• chocolate coins
• pirate telescope
• pirate eye patch
• rat soft toy from Ikea

• treasure chest - Glis box from Ikea - decorated with gold washi tape, princess cut outs and a scroll label
• nursery rhyme book
• flute whistle
• chocolate coins
• necklace
• star wand
• frog prince soft toy from Ikea

Today we made some yogurt and berry muffins.  Ethan loves baking, and I was looking for a really simple muffin recipe that used frozen berries and found this one from Red Ted Art for yogurt muffins.  It's a brilliantly simple recipe that uses the yogurt pot to measure out the quantities of all of the other ingredients, it's the perfect way to cook with a toddler.  Great for Ethan's Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy skills as he learns about measuring out ingredients.

• 1 pot of yogurt (any flavour)
• 3/4 pot sunflower oil
• 1 pot sugar
• 3 pots self raising flour
• 1 egg
• 1 pot frozen berries

Today is Children in Need day, children (and adults) around the UK wore pyjamas for the day and did a variety of other things to raise money for a great cause.  Ethan doesn't go to nursery yet, and actually he wasn't very well today so we didn't get up to much at all.  We didn't get a chance to do any fundraising (although I text in during the show to make a donation) but Ethan did get to wear his Pudsey ears, cuddle his Pudsey bear and play the Pudsey apps on the ipad.  


Hope everyone else managed to raise lots of money :)  If you didn't get a chance, you can still donate here.

My poor little Ethan still isn't feeling very well, so we've been spending a lot of quiet afternoons at home.  Today we read lots of stories, I gathered together some wintery books from our book shelf to suit the chillier weather outside.  Ethan loves looking at books, and I don't think that he remembers ever seeing snow, so it's fun for him to see in books.  Reading is great for developing his Communication, Language and Literacy skills.

Today we went to story time at our local library.  As Ethan isn't feeling very well, he still isn't really interested in being very active, and he's very cuddly (which I don't mind at all!)  So we went to the library because we needed to get out of the house (even though when I asked Ethan what he wanted to do he said 'stay home', so sad).  He ended up staying in my lap to listen to the stories, and bringing me other stories to read to him.  I suppose as he wasn't feeling well, he just wasn't in the mood to sit with the other children and listen.  He did strike up the courage to pick up a colouring sheet at the end though, and coloured in a lovely cat picture for his Daddy.  Really hoping he'll be feeling better soon, I miss my playful little boy.

I am now 28 weeks pregnant and had a midwife appointment today, which lead me to thinking that it really is time to start preparing Ethan for the arrival of his sibling.  We already have a few books that we've been reading to introduce the idea of a new baby to Ethan (I've already written about them here, here and here), I also have a few ideas of activities that we can do to learn about babies and what it will be like to have a new baby in the house.  We started today by making a calendar to keep track of the weeks that have passed already and how many more weeks we will have to wait for the baby to arrive.  This should help Ethan to prepare and hopefully give him an idea of how much longer we will wait, all of this is part of Ethan's Personal, Social and Emotional Development.


I made the calendar and printed it out and explained to Ethan that many of the weeks had passed already, and there were also quite a few weeks left.  I then got out some heart stickers and Ethan put a sticker on each week that had passed.  We then looked at the calendar together and I pointed out the weeks that we went in for scans and had appointments to hear the baby's heartbeat.  Ethan has been really good for all of the appointments and seems genuinely interested in everything that's going on.  From now on we'll do some sort of activity to prepare Ethan for the arrival of his new sibling every week and put it on the calendar.  

I have some ideas for activities, but I would love more ideas of ways to prepare Ethan for the baby.  I am also looking for more books and possibly toys or games that we could review as part of the series, please contact me if you would like me to review your product.