I wanted to share with you some of the picture and story books that we've recently been sent. As with most five year olds, The Boy loves reading books and there are some crackers in this batch, including plenty of tails and tales!
Personalised Peppa Pig Book: 'My Mummy' (Review)
The Boy's obsession with Peppa Pig is showing no signs of fading, with sticker albums being bought from pocket money, and the excitement of April being the month of Peppa Pig on Nick Jnr.
I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that!
However, as much as I roll my eyes about it, there are far worse programmes that The Boy could like. Peppa's world is happy, innocent and full of childhood goodness. There's no malevolence, the porcine siblings learn about the world in which they live in a safe and humorous environment which children can relate to.
And this is why I'm a big fan of the personalised Peppa Pig books which are available from Penwizard. Seeing The Boy's face when he opens up a new Peppa Pig book which features himself alongside his favourite character is something to treasure, it really is. The books are stories of the most popular episodes, episodes that he is incredibly familiar with, and he loves seeing his name and stylised image in the pages amongst the well-loved residents of Peppa's world.
The latest addition to Penwizard's collection is the 'My Mummy' story book which celebrates how fabulous mummies are!
Personalising the book is incredibly easy and takes only a matter of minutes. The book can accommodate up to two children in the story, with the options to input full names, select hair, eye and skin colours and the mummy's physical features can be chosen too.
This would be a wonderful present for both mums and children for birthdays, Mother's Day or even Easter.
The 'My Mummy' personalised Peppa Pig book is available from Penwizard directly for £14.99
I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.
How To Make A Hidden Treasure Book
World Book Day may have fallen earlier this month, but when you have a four year old child who devours reading books at the rate of knots then every day is a book day! Seeing my son settle himself down to read a book independently is one of the most amazing things I've seen as a mum, and it is reassuring to know that he already has a love of books.
Every child has at least one favourite story, and this easy craft activity can be used to help explore the book and bring the story to life.
The Holiday Book Selector (Sponsored Post)
How do you select your reading material for holidays?
The idea of reading a themed book to suit the location of a holiday had never occurred to me until we were waiting in Heathrow for out flight to Italy about seven years ago. I was browsing the book stand in one of the many shops, and came across the book 'I Love Capri' by Belinda Jones. I'd never read any of her books before but as our destination was the Amalfi coast and a day trip to Capri then it seemed an apt book for a bit of holiday reading. It wasn't until we returned that I had the chance to finish the book, and in actual fact we planned another trip out there the following year visiting many of the places that the main character visited. It felt more real somehow; the holistic immersion into the culture of the people and the places we were visiting really made me appreciate where we were so much more. [Read more…]
10 Tips To Help Your Child When Reading A Book Together
It seems like listening to your child read a book should be simple: sit down together, and work through the text from the first page to the last.
And in practise that is exactly what we've been doing with The Boy for months. Which is ridiculous because I'd never ask one of the children I teach in school to cold-read a book, and they're over seven years old. So why on Earth have I not been drawing on my professional knowledge with my own child? My son, who is only four years old and just embarking on to the voyage of discovery that is accessible through learning to read.
If I was one of parents in my school, I'd be criticising myself in the staffroom. [Read more…]
What's The Point Of A Bedtime Book?
For the past four years, since The Boy was six months old, we've had the same bedtime routine every night; no electronic devices or television from 5.30p.m. onwards, dinner, play a calming game, upstairs for a bath (every alternate night), pyjamas, first book, brush teeth, kisses and cuddles good night from the adult not doing bedtime, second book, lights out.
I feel very strongly that children's minds need to 'wind down' at the end of the day to enable them to sleep peacefully, and for me that means no stimulation from a television or a mobile device. Setting a peaceful tone and giving children the opportunity to make sense of their days and the world in which they live.
As a baby, the consistency of our bedtime routine sent The Boy silent signals about what the time of day was and what was going to happen. As a school-aged child the routine is just as important, but for very different reasons.
Reading good quality fiction is an essential tool for many reasons; not only is it a bonding experience between the child and the adult, but it also helps develop the child's imagination and their vocabulary. The Boy is an early stage reader who is progressing really well with the amount of words that he is beginning to recognise by sight. Children learn through modelling and exploration; seeing an adult decode words, using expression and fluency, recognising punctuation and using it appropriately, are all important skills that children pick up from story time. Doing all of this at bedtime enables the child time to process what they've just witnessed.
It also sends them off the land of nod with lots of lovely ideas for dreams!
According to a survey of 35,000 8 – 16 year olds by The National Literacy Trust, only 28% of children read daily in 2012. This genuinely shocks me, although I can see how the busy lifestyle of working parents makes it difficult to fit in, I don't feel that it is impossible; surely bedtime reading is the perfect time to read together? Both Mr. TBaM and I love reading and have heaving bookshelves, we can't imagine The Boy not wanting to do the same!
To help us with our bedtime routine of nurturing a love of reading, Marks and Spencer sent us a wonderful selection of books along with some warm, brushed cotton pyjamas (in a lovely presentation box complete with a cuddly teddy).
The Boy has really taken to the First Readers books which are designed to be read with an adult (one page an adult, one page a child) and thoroughly enjoys trying to read some of the words on 'our' pages. And as for the pyjamas? How cute and cosy does he look?
I was sent the pyjamas and books to help support this reading and writing project with The Boy, my thoughts and opinions are my own.
'Florentine & Pig And The Lost Pirate Treasure' by Eva Katzler (Book Review)
This is an absolutely charming story that tells the tale of Florentine and her friend Pig. Imaginative and descriptive, it uses the good old fashioned medium of pretend play to help them both find Florentine's lost Ever-So-Sparkly Button.
When they wake one morning, the discover that they can't play outside as intended as it is pouring down (clearly not my child, we'd be out in our wellies and macs!) and so they decide to dress up, which is when the disaster concerning the button happens! They end up using a map to 'sail' to the Lost Treasure Island in order to find it, and whip up a picnic basket to help them on their way (these recipes are included at the back of the book when the story has finished), and search the island high and low for the lost Ever-So-Sparkly Button.
'Florentine and Pig and the Lost Pirate Treasure' is published by Bloomsbury and is available as a hardback, paperback and eBook. Prices start from £6.99.
I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.
'Penguin On Holiday' by Salina Yoon (Book Review)
'Penguin On Holiday' is without a doubt one of The Boy's most favourite books at the moment! And I have to say, he's not the only one who's found of reading it!
One day Penguin wakes up and realises that he's a bit bored of all the snow and normal snow activities, so spotting an ocean liner in the distance, he packs his bags for a holiday, waves goodbye to his Grandpa and sets off on his journey on an iceberg. Landing on a tropical island, he soon realises that all the activities which he normally likes to do don't work so well on sand. At a bit of a loss as to what to do, and beginning to feel homesick, he soon befriends Crab who helps him find new holiday activities. Soon it's time for him to return home and wave goodbye to his friend.
But is that the end of their friendship?
This is a really sweet story and one that is excellent for explaining to The Boy that there are different climates around the world, different animals who have adapted to live in them, and where these climates are. We've both really enjoyed reading this book and as it's coincided with my brother emigrating to Australia, The Boy is now eager to see a map of the world and find both of their locations!
'Penguin On Holiday' is published by Bloomsbury and is available as a hardback, paperback and eBook. Prices start from £5.39.
I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.
'Spider Sandwiches' by Claire Freedman (Book Review)
As the title suggests 'Spider Sandwiches' is a truly digusting book about a rather foul little monster called Max and his 'monster' appetite! He's particularly fond of fisheye cheese, bug burgers, snail trail sauce and cockroach curry, but his absolute teatime must have is spider sandwiches. Every day.
I'll be honest, at this time of year, he'd be welcome to come and clear my garden for me…
I've digressed.
This is one of those books which I struggle to read without grimacing a few times, but I ham it up for The Boy and we both laugh and giggle with lots of "Ewwww" and "Yuck" comments thrown in for good measure. There's nothing educational about this book, but then sometimes you just need to read a silly book designed to appeal to children's inner 'ick' factor!
'Spider Sandwiches' is published by Bloomsbury and is available as a hardback, paperback and eBook. Prices start from £6.29.
I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased. (Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of it, but The Boy likes it.)
'Tidy Books' Book Storage (Review & Giveaway)
I'm pretty sure that our home is like many other young families' homes all over Britain in that the vast majority of the children's toys and books are stored in a large, cuboid, storage system from a well-known Scandinavian company. It's efficient, cheap and it works.
Only it doesn't.
It doesn't work for books.
Granted they fit, and you can actually get a lot of them in the sections, but the problem that I've discovered is that The Boy forgets that they're there. For the vast majority of the time he does not remember about his fifty or so books in the dining room storage unit because he can't see them.
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