Mummy & Moose
clapping, napping and yapping our way through the day

Baby Shark Let’s Go Hunt and Wooden Puzzle Review and Giveaway

We were sent these products in exchange for our honest review. All opinions are our own. 

Baby Shark DO DO DO DO DO DOOOO. If you don’t know what Baby Shark is then please comment below to let me know which rock you have been living under – I may want to move in!

When he is not busy building, Moose and his friends love Baby Shark and know all of the dance moves!

I am pretty sure that 99% of people opening this post will know all too well about this particularly aquatic ear worm. To add to the fun, Spinmaster have brought out some Baby Shark toys.

Lets Go Hunt

You will need 2x AA batteries to get started. The Baby Shark Lets Go Hunt game is bright and colourful. It plays the catchy tune as players use their miniature fishing rod to catch as many fish as possible. To make this a challenge, the pond that the fish are in rotates while the music plays and the fish open and close their mouths.

The Baby Shark Lets Go Hunt game is suitable for 2-4 players aged 4+. Moose loved this game and we had a lot of fun trying to best our scores on each go. We put a time limit on it to up the ante after a few games!

I think that this game is great for hand eye coordination. It’s simple enough for a 4 year old to set up and when I had to go and do other things Moose was happy to continue fishing by himself so it’s not just a multi-player toy.

Wooden Sound Puzzle

Moose has a lot of the wooden shape fit style puzzle but this one is a little different. Each member of the shark family has its own special place. When you slot them in, their part of the Baby Shark song plays. Pretty cool! Moose liked playing with this puzzle but I feel like it would be better suited to a child aged 2-3 (4 at a push).

That said, he liked it when I turned the pieces so that they were face down and selecting the correct piece presented a bit more of a challenge. You will need 2x AAA batteries for this puzzle. No volume control but you could switch it off and still use it as a puzzle.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Strictly Briks Classic Trap & Gap – LEGO compatible bricks review

We were sent this product in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

Moose absolutely loves building with bricks at the moment. The tablet he used to play with daily has been in a cupboard for god knows how long and from the moment he wakes up all he wants to do is build with LEGO.

I’m certainly not complaining. There is a reason why the market leader in building bricks is consistently top of the charts when it comes to children’s favourite toys. That stuff is pricey though!

We hadn’t heard of Strictly Briks before we were sent a set to review a couple of weeks ago. I was almost certain that nothing else would match up to “that brand”.

I was happy to be proved wrong.

The Strictly Briks Classic Trap and Gap is a set of stackers and base boards with ramps and trap doors. Moose immediately grabbed his toy cars. He wanted his Strictly Briks set to act as a garage/car park. He spent a long time building little walls on each level and then suddenly his garage was a house!

Along with the Strictly Briks Classic Trap and Gap we were sent a 156pc bag of bricks. Moose loved being able to build little pieces of furniture and he soon moved some mini figure super heroes into his creation.

The base boards in the Strictly Briks Classic Trap and Gap set are 10″x10″ which is not a size offered by LEGO. I thought that the base plates felt a little on the thin side. I did like that they are stackable though. So you can attach them on top of other bricks as well as using them as a base.

All of Mooses LEGO minifigures (and there are a lot) were compatible with Strictly Briks and not in a this-is-going-to-pop-off-any-minute way. They really do fit well!

Would we buy Strictly Briks?

The price point of Strictly Briks earns it some serious brownie points. The Strictly Briks Classic Trap and Gap set has an RRP of £21.99 and the 156pc bag of Strictly Briks retails at just £6.99.

I think this along with the variety of sets in their range makes it difficult not to consider it. We do love LEGO but Moose can’t tell the difference. At his age he just wants to play and Strictly Briks seems like a decent choice to me!

Living Arrows Week 29 2019

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

This week was the children’s last one in their current years at school. Moose will leave reception and Bess will be finishing year 8.

In September Bess will begin her GCSE’s. It used to be a 2 year course but this year her school have decided that it should be spread over 3 years. Hopefully this way of doing things will work to her advantage! She wasn’t phased by having to pick her GCSE subjects but when she heard that instead of being accepted for her choice of Italian, she was being assigned Geography. Well, let’s just say that she was a little upset..

This pic was taken on the day she found out and she really was gutted about it – hence the brooding. She went to her Italian teacher the next day to explain why she wasn’t happy and was thrilled to hear that it had been an admin error and that of course her Italian teacher would welcome her into her classroom. Phew!!

 

To celebrate the end of their reception year, Moose and his classmates had a drive-in cinema experience. They were assigned family homework a few weeks ago which was to make a cardboard car for the drive-in cinema. Moose quite liked this although I maintain that it was actually a homework designed for us, the parents. Some of the other cars were awesome but Moose was so happy when he won the prize for the boys! (between you and me, his dad was pretty chuffed too!)

 

Living Arrows

 

Smashers Epic Dino Egg Review

This product was sent to us in exchange for our honest review. All opinions remain our own. 

 

Moose absolutely loves Dinosaurs. His favourite CBeebies programme is Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures and he can happily reel off a whole list of obscure Dinosaur names at any given opportunity. As well as Dinos. he also loves collectables and surprise eggs. You can imagine then how pleased he was to receive the new Smashers Epic Dino Egg to play with!

Smashers Epic Dino Egg Smashers Epic Dino Egg

What’s inside the Smashers Epic Dino Egg?

The egg itself is a plastic casing which can be reassembled so you can use it to store stuff inside. When you smash it open you will find a yolk bag and a small map. On one side of the map is a list of the collectables you might find and on the other side a a scratch and reveal style map.

Inside the yolk bag you will find 5 compounds hiding Dino binos. To discover which Smashosaurus Dino you might have you need to scratch the panel off the map and use the compound. As well as this you will also find 6 of the smaller Smashers eggs, an egg stand to help when rebuilding the eggs and an excavation tool.

The rebuilder tool is SO handy. We have played with Smashers previously and I found them difficult to put back together again. With the rebuilder, it’s a cinch! I would recommend also purchasing the collectors tin. This comes with one smashers egg plus an exclusive dino inside. It’s great for storing all of the smaller Dinos inside.

How to find your Dino bones

Dino Dirt: Yellow kinetic sand style substance which you pick apart to find the bones! This comes in a resealable bag.

Fossil Rock: This was a solid bit of what I think was chalk. We eventually had to call for back up in the form of a big sister to help with this one though. It took a long time for Moose to use the tool to get into it and he did start to get a bit frustrated.

Fizzy Lava: This was Moose’s favourite. Basically an orange bath bomb. He dropped it into a bowl of water and watched in delight as it fizzed and bubbled away.

Smashers Epic Dino Egg Smashers Epic Dino Egg

Glowing Slime: Moose described this stuff as Bright green Dinosaur snot. I couldn’t prove otherwise so I just nodded along and thanked my lucky stars that I had chosen for us to open the Smashers Epic Dino Egg outside!

Ice Age Putty: Moose quite liked this stuff. Not as sticky as slime but still nice and tactile for little ones to search through for the hidden Dino bones.

What Did We Think

This toy was pleasantly surprising. There was a lot to do. Loads to keep Moose occupied for well over an hour. I would highly recommend opening the Smashers Epic Dino Egg outside. A Tuff Tray would be ideal for it. The Fossil Rock in particular creates a lot of chalk dust. I really liked the little collectible dinosaurs. The larger Dinosaur was really nice quality, easy to assemble and Moose will definitely get a lot of play out of it.

Smashers Epic Dino Egg

The Smashers Epic Dino Egg is not a cheap toy but I do think it is good value. There is a lot going on here and the toys that you get to keep after all of the activity is over with is a good quality one.

We found Crazy Eyes the Brachiosaurus inside this one but there are also a T-Rex and a Triceratops (my favourite) to collect.

Although we were sent this Smashers Epic Dino Egg I am planning to purchase another to give to Moose for his birthday. I have no idea how I will wrap it mind you.

The Smashers Epic Dino Egg retails at RRP: £24.99, is suitable for ages 5+ and is available at Smyths, The Entertainer, Argos, Tesco, Asda, B&M, SAINSBURY’S Supermarket and all the major retailers.   https://smashersworld.zuru.com/

 

 

Living Arrows Week 26 2019

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

Bess went along to the Peterborough Pride march and Carnival Of Love last weekend. It was a celebration with a turnout of more than 1000 people and Bess really wanted to go with her friends. I love how happy she looks in this photo, she said it was a really awesome day and that she utterly loved the experience. Any occasion which encourages acceptance and love in these troubled times is, in my opinion, to be encouraged.

Moose has been out in the garden enjoying the sun this week. I took this pic while he was playing with his Dad. I believe he was instructing him to fill up the paddling pool here.. He got his wish of course.

Living Arrows