Review: Magic Dip Design Art Centre

Miss E was super pleased to receive the Magic Dip Design Art Centre from character. It retails for £29.99 and is available from most good toy stores and online at places like Amazon. The best price I found it for was at John Lewis where it is currently £24.99.

We've made a video with Miss E using the design art centre and talking about how she enjoys it and if she finds it easy, have a watch -



Here are the pros and cons that we found -

Pro's -

• It was easy enough for a 9 year old to set up and use alone (whilst under my beady eye)
• The marbled items look fabulous if you use a light hand to dip them
• You get unique items every time
• You can dip and marble most anything you fancy - candles, ceramic, silicon, plastics, wood, paper, card, glass and textiles
• It dries quickly and the spay sets the paint
• Once you have dipped your item, you can clear the water really easily to mix fresh paints and dip something else
• Any messes are easily cleared up with simple nail polish remover
• it is great fun and keeps the kids happy

Points to think about -

• Don't forget to protect your work area (we use an old oil cloth on the table) and use an apron (we forgot!)
• Make sure the water is room temp, it makes the world of difference
• You have to be quick, once the paint is on the water it is starting to set already
• Dip paper or card based products quickly as too much time in the water and they start to soak it up
• Only one glove supplied and ours was ruined after one session
• The paint contains irritants, is toxic to aquatic life and is highly flammable, so it needed to be used carefully and under supervision. We found our dining room was quite smelly after a while and I had to open the window and finish our session.

In all we think the Magic Dip Design Art Centre is great and would make a super Christmas present for a young boy or girl who likes to craft. Due to the ingredients of the paints the child needs to be 8+ years and work under supervision in a well ventilated room.

You can also buy a starter kit with 4 paints, glossy spray, glitter, gems and a few things to dip for just £10, as well as replacement paints, which are £5 for 5 colours and I think that is reasonable.

Disclosure: We received this set free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Make-A-Bar Chocolate Factory Creative Kits

The kids were sent through some newly launched Make-a-bar chocolate factory creative kits so they could make Daddy a nice surprise for Fathers Day and they had loads of fun.

The kits retail for £3.99 each and that makes you one bar of chocolate and I have to report that I was super surprised - the chocolate tastes great (100% Belgium chocolate that is preservative and additive free). Normally with kits like this it is low quality products but not so with this, I'd be happy to be given one of these bars and would be really happy to eat it.

You can also buy twin packs at £7.99 or packs of four at the value price of £11.99.

Miss E and I were the first to make some bars and this is how we did -

The bars are very easy to make, Miss E is 7 and after the first bar I was able to allow her to do the second one alone whilst I cooked dinner. Here is how we made our bars -

• Firstly you fill a bowl with tap hot water (not too hot for your fingers)
• Put the three bags of chocolate in the water to melt (milk, dark and white - all labelled)
• Decide which design you want to make. Either use one of the eight supplied with your set, draw your own or create your own online and download it for free. Place the design under the plastic tray (we used blu-tac to keep it in place).
• After about 3-5 minutes the chocolate will have melted, feel the bags to test before cutting open. Massage any lumps in the bag in the warm water. Try to make sure the chocolate is really well melted as you can then get a thinner line/ more precise picture.
• Cut a tiny bit off the corner of the dark chocolate and use this to create the pattern outline in your plastic tray.
• Do the same with the white chocolate and fill in your design.
• Then do the same with the bigger milk chocolate pouch and you need to ensure it goes right across the plastic tray. It can be a bit tricky to get the milk chocolate right across, just a little more in the bag would have been perfect.
• Tap the tray to eliminate bubbles and ensure equal coverage and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set.
• Then either enjoy the chocolate or wrap in some cellophane like we did and give it as a gift.

We found it wasn't that easy to get precise lines with the little chocolate bags. I think our tap water was not quite hot enough as the chocolate never really got fully liquid but as you can see in the pictures it didn't matter as the rough and ready look is pretty cool anyway.

We have had toys like the chocolate coin maker before and whilst the kids have loved them they have been a complete faff - expensive, rubbish tasting chocolate, hard to clean and really difficult to use. These are the complete opposite, cheap, easy to use, no cleaning and easy for kids to use alone. -brilliant, we loved them and would definitely use them as gifts again in the future.

They would also make a great activity for a children's party, all the kids can make their own and allow them to set during the party and then they can take them home as their party gift.

Check out http://makeabar.co.uk/ to find out more and place an order. They can also be followed on @magichocuk and Facebook.

Disclosure: We received 4 kits for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review - Aqua Beads Jewel Starter Kit

Aquabeads have been a firm favourite for some time now, much like the more established Hama beads in that you can make little designs, keyrings, photo frames, 3D boxes etc but the massive plus point with Aquabeads is that they just need a spray of water and about an hour to fix solid and thus the children can do it themselves.  No more having to get the ironing board out and buying expensive backing paper to iron the beads and make their designs.

When we first got Aquabeads a couple of years back I did wonder if the designs might fall apart after a while but actually as long as you spray them and allow them to dry and then spray the other side they last an age. We still have some that have been hanging around way in excess of a year now.

The set we were sent to review is the new Aquabeads jewel starter set and this means the beads are not round and opaque they are jewel shaped and translucent and sparkly.  My twins really loved them and it is a nice twist on something which is popular with them already.

You make the designs in the same way as always. Open up your 800 beads (sounds a lot but actually they will be gone in a flash) and put them in the little plastic dish that you get to keep the colours separate. This has a very flimsy plastic lid for storing your beads but I would recommend getting a better storage box if you intend to build on your collection or use these a lot.

You then place a template sheet between the base tray and the layout tray and start to use the bead pen to delicately place your bead over the relevant space to start making the pattern shown in the template.  Of course you can also free style if you like to but my girls tend to like to follow the pattern.  Miss E actually finds it easier to use her fingers than the bead pen as she has a steady hand and lots of patience but Miss M uses the bead pen as she tends to knock all the other beads she has already placed otherwise!

The Aquabeads jewel starter set is recommended for age 4 years and upwards and I think it is worth every penny of its £10.99 price tag as it provides a lot of fun and some nice creative items at the end to keep. Miss E is currently making a rainbow with one bead missing at the top so she can thread a silver chain through it and wear it as a necklace.

For more inspiration you can follow Aquabeads on Facebook , Instagram and Pinterest and brilliantly you can also download new templates so your children can make even more designs.

Disclosure:  We were provided with this set free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Sylvanian Families Cosy Cottage & Chocolate Rabbit Twin Set

Miss E has liked Sylvanian families for a while now and she was over the moon when we were offered the Cosy Cottage to review. The RRP for this is £24.99 and I think that price is a really good deal

In the past I have found that many Sylvanian buildings come without anything inside, no furniture and no figures and it then becomes a bit expensive to buy the building and kit it out. I really liked that the Cosy Cottage comes with a starter pack of Freya chocolate rabbit, table and chairs, bench, cooker and accessories, bed and linen and ladder.

You can have the house as two storey or the top floor is removable and when turned over the wooden floor becomes green grass and it can go just outside as the garden or in the case of Miss E be used as the picnic area.

I was super surprised that when Miss E (age 7) got this out to play with her 10 year old brother came over and really wanted in on the action too, so they got the camper van set out and played that long lost cousins had come to visit. I do love a bit of good imaginative play and the Sylvanian families sets really lend themselves well to this.

In my experience the Sylvanian families toys are very good quality and are built to last, the plastic is not flimsy like with some toys and there is also really beautiful and detailed styling in the accessories that come with the sets. In this case it was saucepan, plate and food.

Another good feature about the cottage is that it can be connected to Maple Manor and Beechwood Hall if you choose to buy more and extend your collection.

As well as the cottage we also received chocolate rabbit twin set and considering my girls are twins they really loved this. You get two little tiny babies, a double pushchair and a few accessories like a dummy and bottle for £9.99. Freya the rabbit that came with our house must be over the moon to have twins, but where is her husband?

Great prizes to be won
There is also a fabulous competition running at the moment to win a wonderful Forest holiday worth £1000 and some super sylvanian families products. All you have to do is take a picture of your Sylvanian family characters enjoying their summer and submit it by the deadline of 31st August 2014. Take a look at their webiste for full details and the T&C's too.

Just look at these little guys enjoying their time on the beach!

Disclosure: We received these toys free of charge for the purpose of writing this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Interesting children's books from Francis Lincoln & QED Publishing

I have two book lovers and one who finds all this reading lark just too difficult for words. I am therefore determined that I'll find some books to help my little Miss E to love books as much as her siblings and I do.

Miss E is an amazing artist and has really great skills for a 6 year old and this is where she chooses to focus her attention, so with that in mind I ordered her a book from QED publishing called 'Drawing and Sketching', it is aimed at 7 - 11 year olds but was fine for her and she is 6.  The retail price is £5.99 and for this you get 32 pages of tips and techniques to help you draw better. We found it a great starter to get your child interested in learning about building pictures up but Miss E was desperate for even more than this book gave her.

Here are a couple of samples pages from the book -

This is the squirrel that Miss E drew herself in about 10 minutes and since then she has drawn me loads of other creatures too, not bad for a  year old!

At school right now the girls are learning about pirates on their learning journey, so when I saw the hard backed 'Buccaneering Book of Pirates' I knew it would be a big hit. This book retails for £12.99 and has some fabulous stories in it to enchant your children, it is great to read to younger children or older ones can read it themselves. Our book headed into school and the whole class have been enjoying the stories.  In the front pocket is also a massive poster of a pirate with lots of little fun part to move, take out and educate. There are good sturdy metal holes in the top of hang it by, you can see just how big it is in the picture against Miss E!

The last book I choose I ordered with Miss M in mind. She is a confident reader and gets bored really quickly so I knew that some silly word poems would be right up her street. As well as reading them to herself and her twin sister she has been regaling anyone that has visited our house in the last week with a live rendition.

I am a poetato has 80 pages and is hardbacked, it is chocca full of really fun poems and they come in all forms, so it is fabulously educational for helping Miss M understand how to create poems and prose in new forms. The retail price is £12.99.

I'd happily recommend each of these books but my personal favourite has to be I am a Poetato as it combines fun and learning together in such a great way.

Disclosure: we received these books free of charge for the purposes of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Clarks 100 things to do - Paint like a famous artist

As you'll know my children and I are working our way through the Clarks new initiative '100 things to do before you are 10'. The first 50 things have been launched for summer and the next 50 will follow in the autumn.

So far we have - Played water wars and written to a penpal.

This week Miss E tackled the task number 6 - paint like a famous artist.

She was lucky enough to have a unique and personalised work of art sent through to her from the artist Dermot Flynn who is known for his work painting with food. He did the art pieces for the Marmits love it or hate it campaign. Miss E had a picture of herself panted onto a T-shirt using household stain products! A little different but she was chuffed. Here he is doing the art work -

Miss E had fun the other day creating a masterpiece t-shirt for herself. She also used some food products to make her artwork, this is what she created -

Disclosure: I was provided with Clarks vouchers to take part in this initiative. I have not been told what to write and I remain honest.