Disclaimer: We were sent these SuperZings products for the purpose of this free of charge review. All opinions remain honest and our own.

Moose loves Superheroes and is also very partial to a blind bag not mention his passion for collectables. So, when a huge bundle of a toy ticking all of those boxes landed on our doorstep he was thrilled!

What are SuperZings

SuperZings are everyday objects and items transformed into Super Heroes and Dastardly Super Villains. They can be bought in several ways;

• Single figure blind bags priced at just 80p each making them the cheapest blind bags on the market! There are 80 figures to collect in the season 5 series. As with past series, there are hero SuperZings (Sky Runners, Air Wings or Flying Surfers) and there are villainous SuperZings (Lightning Raiders, Black Comets or Rocket Gang).

• SuperZing Skyracers. Each of these £4 blind bags contains a SuperZings character as well as a vehicle – each of these has it’s own cool features.

• SuperZings Mission Playsets. With an RRP of £15 they are a little pricier but you really get a lot of play value here. We received the Bank Assault Mission play set which comes with Agent Silverstar and villain Gold Hands. Moose loved the bank vault which you can blow open at the push of a button to reveal gold bars inside! We also received the Fire Strike set which comes with a fire engine and a helicopter which shoots “water”.

What did we think?

SuperZings seems to have really done their homework. Every single aspect of this collectable toy is appealing to my 5 yr old – and the price point is very appealing to me!

Moose loved the Hero Vs Villains game play so much. He’s spent hours playing out scenarios with the little figures. He even got some dice and created his own little battle game! He has returned to his SuperZings sets again and again since he received them and for the price they are I would be more than happy to buy more.

These products were gifted for the purpose of this post. All opinions remain honest and our own

Of all of the plans I had made for this year, becoming a full time teacher to my children was most definitely not top of the list – let’s be honest, it wasn’t even near the list.

Now that we are a few weeks into this home learning malarkey I am not exactly finding it easy but there have been a few tools that I have picked up along the way which seem to be really helping.

• I have my schedule written out and stuck to the fridge. That way everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing. A good thing about being at home is that the schedule can be loose. If we wake up on a Wednesday and its hot and sunny then we can make that our Saturday if we want to. I quite like that part of home learning and so do the children!
• On an average day we do PE with Joe at 9am to wake us up before we launch into any kind of learning. With everyone being at home so much more I think it makes a massive difference to how our day goes if we do something physical first
• I keep the snacks coming. I am led by my stomach and my offspring are no different. If they are hungry then nothing is going to go smoothly
• Most importantly:

Make learning fun

This is basically the most important thing I try to remember by far. Moose just responds so much more positively when we make learning into a game. A really easy way to do this of course is by actually playing games and nobody does educational games better than Learning Resources.

Learning Resources offered to send us a couple of their games to review and I jumped at the chance! I had seen both Sight Word Swat and Sum Swamp in the shops and I was interested to see how helpful they could be with Moose’s learning.

Sum Swamp

I love the idea behind this game. At first glance it is a fairly typical board game but this one has a twist! To play the game you have 3 dice to roll rather than 1. The 3 dice are 2 numbers and then one instruction dice with +/- on it. You roll all 3 and then you have to complete the sum shown on the dice to work out how many spaces to move.

There is a bit about halfway along on the board where you can get caught in a bit of a loop (which I do) but Moose finds this utterly hilarious.

The game itself doesn’t take long to play. It is suitable for 5+ which I think is about right. The game board is designed in bright colours with fab illustrations. It’s clearly laid out and we picked it up within 10 minutes of beginning to play. Moose asks to play this game everyday and we have actually begun to use the Sum Swamp dice for other games too!

Sight Word Swat!

Before my children started school I had no idea what a sight word was! It turns out that there is a list of words that our kids are expected to be able to recognise instantly and effortlessly, i.e. on sight. Some of these words can be sounded out phonetically, others need to be learned off by heart as they sound different than they look. The game – and our school – refers to these as ‘tricky words’. Sight Word Swat! aims to help your child to learn to do exactly that in the form of a fun game.

In the box

you will find 150 double-sided cards in the shape of flies featuring 300 different sight words. The cards are colour coded for five different phases, each with increasing difficult, and in addition all the harder ‘tricky’ words have been highlighted in bold and yellow.

We tend to play this with a mix of levels just because I find it helps Moose more. Plus it helps build his confidence! To play the game simply select your fly cards and lay them out on the table so that all players can see them. Then an adult would call out one of the words and the first player to find and swat that word wins. The beauty of this game is that it can be as long or as short as you want it to be. Set a time limit or a number of words. At the end of the game the players can read out their sight words to help reinforce that they know those words.

Moose did so much better at this than I had expected! He managed to find a good range of words and I think if he had kids his own age to play against it would have been fantastic fun. Unfortunately for him he played against his big sister. She didn’t go easy on him. Nonetheless he loves the game and I love how simple it is to play.

Learn more about Learning Resources

As well as creating some fabulous STEM toys and games, Learning Resources also have a website which offers a massive amount of boredom busting activities and ideas to keep your little ones focused both indoors and outdoors long after this Corona virus business has left us https://blog.learningresources.co.uk/free-resources-for-home-learning/

We are definitely going to be making good use of this weblink over the next few months I think. So many fab ideas and most using things we have laying around at home!

Products in this post were provided for the purposes of this or previous posts and reviews

I have always been a big advocate of all toys being meant for all children. There are no boys toys and girls toys in this house! Spinmaster are a brand whose toys have been consistently a hit with my children as well as nieces and nephews over the years. Now that we are heading from Spring and into Summer (and we all have far more month left than money) we are going through and sorting out toys to play with indoors and outdoors too! Here are a few of our Spinmaster favourites.

Fuggler

I will be honest, I’m not sure whether it’s me or Moose who loves these little guys more but since our first, Snuggla the Fuggler came to live with us, we have had many other Fuggler additions to our family. You can read more about our adventures with our very first Fuggler here

Meccano

For over 100 years, Meccano has inspired countless engineers, designers, architects and creative minds of all ages. Meccano is more than just a toy, it is a tool for teachers and educators.

Meccano has worked with the best schools and universities, including the USC Engineering and Robotics Research Lab, to make its Meccano Maker System line highly compatible with STEM initiatives.

Kinetic Sand and Rocks

A toy I both love and hate in equal measure. Don’t get me wrong, it is utterly brilliant for creative play but if you have ever tried to clean Kinetic rock off a rug then you know… Outdoor play with this stuff is (in my humble opinion) the way forward.

That said, Moose will play with his Kinetic rock or his Kinetic sand at any given opportunity and once it’s out, it keeps him occupied for AGES!

We were lucky enough to review both and you can read more about Kinetic rock here and Kinetic sand here.

Hatchimals

Moose loves a collectable and he enjoys a surprise toy. Hatchimals is seriously up his street! The characters are cute and the process of getting into the eggs is easy and quick enough for him not to get bored. A good all rounder I think. We were sent some Hatchimals to review and you can read more here

Air Hogs

Who doesn’t love a rocket? What I like best about the Air Hogs Sonic Rocket is how simple it is. Because it really is simple, Moose and his friends have hours of fun with it. You can read our review here 

Cool Maker KumiKreator

Easily spin to create: The cool maker kumikreator is a breakthrough bracelet maker, it makes it so easy to create friendship bracelets without a single knot needed! We have reviewed this one in the past – you can read about it here. Bess still uses it! Moose loves the bracelets his sister makes for him too.

Bakugan

This one has definitely been the big hit of the Spring in our house. Moose has been playing with this one most days! You can read our review here.

Some of the items in this post were received in exchange for inclusion. All opinions are honest and my own

Ordinarily our Easter plans would be very different. I love the Easter school holidays because it’s really the first one of the year where the weather is good enough to be able to head outdoors. A few months ago I bought a spring/summer pass for Sacrewell Farm which is local to us. My plan at the time had been to spend the bulk of our Easter holidays there at the farm! They have great out door spaces as well as all of the cute animals but then along came Covid19 to just stomp all over everyone’s plans.. Easter is no exception by the looks of things.

It does suck but it’s not the end of the world (just yet) so let’s just buckle up and let Easter be a big ol’ distraction, mmkay?

Edible treats

G&B’S ULTIMATE ORGANIC EASTER EGG BASKET

The Ultimate Green & Black’s Easter Egg hamper perfect for indulging all your family and friends at Easter. Delivered in a beautiful black twisted paper woven onto black metal frame hamper with black faux leather with two silver metal clasps. Open the Ultimate Easter basket to to reveal the new collection of indulgent organic dark and milk chocolate chocolate eggs from Green & Black’s.

Lily O’Brien’s Desserts Collection

This indulgent box of assorted chocolates inspired by the world’s best loved dessert and pudding recipes.

Each chocolate box contains 18 chocolates including milk, dark and white chocolates including Hazelnut Torte, Passion Fruit Posset, Banoffee Pie, Creme Brulee, Raspberry Infusion and Key Limey Pie.

Personalised Retro Red Sweet Hamper 

The best things come in small packages and this hamper is packed to the brim with a fantastic assortment of retro sweet classics. It is beautifully presented and very unusual so will make a great gift for any occasion.

The dimensions of the hamper are: 5.5cm high x 25cm wide x 17cm deep

Inside is a 500g classic assortment of all your favourite Swizzels sweets.

Contents may vary but will include a combination of some of the following: 500g assortment of old school classic sweets that includes Love Hearts, Refreshers, Drumsticks, Parma Violets, Double Dip, Double Lollies, Fizzers & Fruity Pops.

Mixed Gnawbles Taster pack!

If you are searching for your new favourite lower sugar treat, this is the ultimate taster pack of Gnawbles for you! With 4 delicious without doubt flavours for you to try, you can’t go wrong here!

All flavours are Vegan and Top 14 allergen Safe… that’s right, even the hazelNOT flavour!

DAIRY MILK POPPING CANDY HOLLOW BUNNY

Cadbury chocolate shaped hollow bunny made with delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk with popping candy in. This will appeal to adults and children alike!

Non Edible treats

A DIY non edible egg hunt

Moose absolutely loves these surprise eggs. There are all sorts which I like to treat him to sometimes on shopping trips. His current favourite is the Treasure X Aliens eggs. Break open the hard outer shell to discover a squishy alien egg inside Squeeze to hatch and watch it explode Inside, covered in alien ooze is a mini slime sucking alien plus an alien treasure. Will you find a real gem? 12 to collect

They would make a great egg hunt and because they aren’t chocolate, they are great for a warmer Easter or for children for whom chocolate isn’t an option.

Smiggle Egg-cellent Surprise

What’s inside? It’s a surprise!

Each egg contains 6 items including

• 1x Fluffy Sand
• a Sticky Slap Hand
• 1x Slapband
• a Keyring
• 1x Squishie
• a Wallet

Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Spring Bouquet

Hatchimals are ready to bloom for Spring! This beautiful Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Spring Bouquet includes six exclusive characters – five hidden inside flowers and one cutie ready to play! Remove each stem from the bouquet and gently crack open each flower to reveal your new Springtime friends. Discover exclusive brightly-colored characters with golden glittery wings inside each bloom! Place the stems back into the bouquet and display your characters on top.

With a total of 12 characters to collect from two different bouquets (each sold separately), the Spring Bouquet is the prettiest way to display your Hatchimals! The Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Spring Bouquet is the perfect way to celebrate Spring and makes a great Easter gift for kids aged 5 and up. Hatch the sweetest flower bouquet with the Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Spring Bouquet!

Real Littles Stacey Cakes’ Icy Treats Scooter

Shopkins Real Littles™ have arrived in the frozen aisle! Real brands from the supermarket freezer, made mini! Discover and collect all the new Mini Packs to create your own mini mega market frozen food aisle! Meet the sweet Stacey Cakes and her 2 “Good Humoured” Shopkins – Sami Strawberry Ice Cream and Lil’ Chip Cookie Sandwich!

Stacey Cakes is ready to go shopping on her Icy Treats Scooter, and she can store her Mini Packs in the scooter’s storage box, ready to ride! This is the coolest way to beat the heat! With more than 40 Real Littles™ mini frozen brands to collect the Shopkins Real Littles™ are great fun for girls and boys who love shopping play, collectibles and cool surprises.