Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts

Giveaway #330 : Win a rocking horse from Love Christmas Ltd - closing date 30/10

Posted by on at 1:10 PM | 0 comments

When I was asked if I'd like to set up a partnership with Love Christmas Ltd, I headed off to see what they had in stock, expecting oodles of Christmas decorations, fairy lights and Christmas trees. Well, they do have all of that, but they also have a lot more, including snow globes, beautiful ornaments and toys.

 I'll be reviewing my top picks over the coming months, but in the meantime I went to choose a prize for one of you lucky lot and picked this utterly gorgeous rocking horse, that is bound to make someone's Christmas extra special when they find it under the tree (or next to it- underneath might be a bit difficult !).

It's a beautiful miniature (28 cm x 78 cm x 68 cm) rocking horse, complete with clip-clop sound effects, neighs and a moving mouth. It's got a solid-metal frame with foam mould to make it nice and sturdy. It's on sale on the website for £59.95 and if you're worried about how much delivery would set you back for a rocking horse, do not fear - all orders come with totally free delivery !

To be in with a chance fo winning this fabulous rocking horse, enter your details in the rafflecopter widget below.



UK only. Closing date : 30/10/13

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after a week, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners.

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Sabbiarelli Sand Art Kit review

Posted by on at 10:54 PM | 0 comments

I recently received an email from a lovely Italian mum, asking if we'd like to try out a creative toy from Italy that has just been launched on the UK market via Amazon. I went off to have a look and discovered a fun, brightly-coloured sand art kit. If you're unaware of the concept, it's like a painting by numbers kit except the paint is replaced by coloured sand which you apply to the adhesive under the carefully pre-cut designs on the boards. The clever part about this particular version is that the sand dispensers are shaped to look just like big pencils and the ends come off and flip over as funnels to put any excess sand back in the tubes.


The kit contains eight pictures, each measuring 21x15 cm, but up until the end of the month, they are also enclosing an extra pack of Halloween designs totally free. There is no mention of this on their amazon page but they do tell you about it on their Facebook page so it's definitely worth following them to keep abreast of any new offers.


So what did the Madhouse Mini-testers think? They LOVED it ! You may notice that I put down a plastic tablecloth before we started - this is absolutely indispensable as you will get sand everywhere, however hard you try not to ! 


The pencil-shaped distributors make it easy to get the sand in the right places (and the little red tool helps with peeling off the papers) but it is quite hard to get the excess sand back in the tubes without it going all over the place.


The designs are very cute and appealed to all three of the kids - that's no mean feat, finding a product that a 4-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old can all manage to do and all want to do. It was the perfect rainy day activity for all three of them to do at the same time.


Pierre needed a bit of help from big sister Sophie to get the unused sand back into the tubes but apart from that, he did it all by himself.


He loved picking out the colours and seeing the picture come to life before his eyes. As it is impossible to go over the lines, you get a really impressive-looking picture, whatever your age and cack-handedness !


Another added bonus is the free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch which replicates the sand art experience, even down to using the same pencil-shaped sand dispensers. It's a great app for travelling in the car or at the grandparents' when you don't want to get sand everywhere !

Both the app and the kit have been really popular. The Madhouse Mini-testers have already decided that when the pencil dispensers are empty, they will be great recycled as glitter dispensers for making Christmas cards. I'm sure you must be able to buy refill sand packs too though.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £29 (+ £7.95 UK delivery from Italy - hopefully the delivery charge will come down as they become more established in the UK and find local retailers)



Disclosure : We received the kit in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Picture Book Review : Cupcake and the Princess Party - Mandy Archer & Kirsteen Harris-Jones

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Magic Nail Laboratory review

Posted by on at 1:33 PM | 0 comments

Both of the Madhouse girls are big into playing around with make-up and nail varnish when they get the chance, so when we were sent a Magic Nail Laboratory from Interplay to review, I instantly knew that it would get a warm reception.

When it arrived, I was very pleased to see that it's part of the Wild Science collection, which goes way beyond a simple girlie pamper session accessory, providing an insight into the science behind beauty products (homemade and shop bought) as well as giving tips on looking after your body. We had a huge amount of fun with the Lip Balm Laboratory that we reviewed last year and were very impresed with the quality of the lip balms that the girls made, so we had very high hopes for the Magic Nail Laboratory.



The first thing to do was unpack the ingredients and look at all the contents. It contains :

Clear polish base
Shimmer cream
Red and white colourants
Nail stickers
Pots
Gift bottles
Brush
Toe separator
Stirring stick
Beaker
Buffer and sandpaper file

The instruction booklet gives lots of useful advice on looking after your nails and keeping them manicured, which Sophie was very interested in, but the main attraction was making their own nail varnish, adding pigments or shimmer to the polish base. Sophie took control of the fiddly measuring and mixing, but Juliette didn't feel left out because she was put in charge of the nail stickers. Very special nail stickers at that, because they are designed to change colour in sunlight or glow in the dark. Cue big whoops of excitement !

I was very pleased to see that the nail varnish came off easily in the bath too, peeling off without any need for harsh nail varnish remover and - all importantly - without damaging or drying out the nails underneath. 

I did take some photos of the finished nails but Sophie refused to let me post them because she was embarrassed of her chewed nails and cuticles. (She said I can add some in a few weeks when her nails have grown longer !) If this kit helps her kick the habit of biting her nails, that's an even bigger bonus. Even without that incentive, it's a really fun and educational kit that any tween or teenaged girl will love. 

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £12.99



Disclosure : We received the kit in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

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Board Game review : Bugs In The Kitchen

Posted by on at 1:38 PM | 0 comments


As soon as I saw the name of the latest Ravensburger board game that we had received to review, I knew it would be a hit with the Madhouse Mini-testers. "Bugs In The Kitchen." I could already hear them crying "eurgghhh" delightedly !



And that was before we even had a look inside the box and discovered that it has a Hex bug in it. The Madhouse Mini-testers had seen these before in a toy shop and thought they were very cool. They're little robotic bugs that scuttle about in a very fast, erratic and quite random manner. They give me the creeps a bit which just makes them love them even more !



The game is very simple to play. The board is made up of a maze of pivoting knives, forks and spoons. You roll the dice to know which piece of cutlery you can turn to try to guide the Hex bug through the maze to your designated trap.


It's more down to luck than judgement really because you can set up the perfect path to your corner then twiddle your thumbs helplessly when the bug scuttles off in the wrong direction. This evens up the odds for younger players but can be a bit frustrating for older players who want to use skill and strategy rather than sheer luck.

It's great fun and is a quick game to play if you're short on time (about 20 minutes usually). The kids invariably end up playing with the Hexbug on the table when the game is over though. The suggested age range on the box is 6+ but 4-year-old Pierre manages to play (and sometimes even win) quite successfully.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £19.99




Disclosure : We received the game in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Kids' app review : Henri le worm - The Missing Cookbook

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