The Ana Mum Diary Reviews
Filofax : Springboard Organiser
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Its just beautiful isnt it?
The new Filofax Springboard organisers are available in pocket and personal size from May 2013 and are priced £30 – £35.
Filofax, are a fantastic brand, one that I know, love and trust. When I was asked to review a Filofax on the blog that not only looks amazing but was created to raise money for children who are struggling with literacy in the UK, I couldn’t say no.
The colours are bold, and contrasting, in a raspberry and vivid green, and it has two useful pockets on the front and back cover, as well as a black ruler page marker. The organiser comes with extra pages too, which are full of inspiring ideas which make reading, writing, spelling and language development fun and rewarding – a great touch!
£1.50 from the sale of every Springboard organiser will go to the charity Springboard for Children which aims to raise aspiration and attainment of children (in Britain) who are, for whatever reason, left behind in the education system. It will help these children reach their full potential. Its is proven that this kind of one to one tuition offered can change a child’s life. What an amazing organisation, and something very close to my heart.
“We are delighted to have teamed up with Springboard for Children”, says Sharon Golbey, Head of Marketing Services at Filofax. “It’s a natural association for us to support a charity that encourages and helps children to read and write. Springboard is a relatively small charity and we hope our support will help raise awareness of their work and make a real difference to the children they help”.
I hope this campaign is extremely successful, and I will be supporting it in any way I can.
Thank you for reading
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Sherlock Homes Night In : Elementary My Dear Watson!
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Elementary My Dear Watson!
My husband (Tall Dad) has been away for a week, so last night we have had a bit of Sherlock themed night in, together to catch up, thanks to some Sherlock Holmes goodies that had been sent to us. We are big fans of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic, even watching the new American series called Elementary. There is something quintessentially British about each of the adaptations, even when they have been set in America. We also love challenging one another to solve the mystery first.
So we decided to have some Moriarty’s (our newly named cocktail) kick back, and watch some of the DVD’s we had been sent and play a Sherlock Holmes game, while Tall Dad, attempted to get over his jet lag.
First up was the Guy Richie film -Sherlock Holmes. I have always had a bit a thing for Robert Downey Jr (who plays Sherlock) I think its the rebellious streak that he has in real life that he seems to always put into parts so well when he is acting. I first noticed him in Ally McBeal, and that maverick streak he has brought brilliantly to the screen in the Sherlock Homes films.
Saying all this, I think I prefer the UK series named Sherlock, where the story has been brought bang up to date, as it is set in 21st century London. Its humorous, very fast paced and the stories each week are very cleverly interwoven. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman star in this version, which brings together perfectly Sherlock’s fascination in solving weird and wonderful cases.
Next up, we had been sent Cluedo, which has been adapted to include all of the elements of the UK Sherlock series. It’s such a long time since I’ve played Cluedo, I had forgotten what great fun it is. It also brings out the inner competitive streak I have, so of course I won! No, I honestly didn’t cheat, whilst a jet lagged Tall Dad, wasn’t looking. 
So all in all we had a great night, I can confirm that an evening with Sherlock is very enjoyable, and even though I spent it without Robert Downey Jr himself.
Disclaimer: Thank you to Gala Bingo for sending me these items in celebration of the new Sheerluck Holmes Game.
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The Wooden Toy Shop
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Well all over bank holiday weekend, we have been reviewing a wooden playset from the fantastic website The Wooden Toy Shop. Miss A (who is nearly 4) is really lucky, and been asked to review the John Crane Tidlo Oldfield Farm (£47.95) and the Pintoy Farm Animals. (£17.95) Both are suitable for ages 3+.
I’ve taken some time to review the website as well, and it is very simple to navigate and there is free standard delivery on all orders – something I always look for, if possible. It has a great range of wooden toys, dolls houses, kitchens, train sets, and all of the accessories that go with them. It also sells furniture including some great wooden beds in the shape of boats, fire engines and racing cars, which I loved.
The farm set arrived flat-pack, together with screws and a small screwdriver so that it could be assembled. I assembled the farm, and was very simple and quick to do, the instruction provided were easy to follow. The flat-pack items were also well packaged and each house or barn, was packaged separately, so it made it really easy to assemble them. The farm animals, you simply took out the box, so that was Miss A’s job, no assemble was required at all. The dolls, we added from Miss A’s Dolls house, and they worked perfectly.
The great advantage of this farm, is promotes imaginative play. It is very well constructed, and feels strong and robust. Its great to be used as a fun tool to teach a child all about farms, and to encourage a child to look after animals. The whole thing really does look the part too, it is painted with lovely details on it. Right down to the roof tiles and brick work.
This fantastic wooden farm has a barn with loft and exterior loft ladder, a farmhouse, an animal shed, a pig sty and fences to be arranged as appropriate. The farm has a wooden base to help keep all the pieces together and the roof panels are attached with magnets which allow children to remove the roofs for additional play possibilities.
The Pintoy Farm animals set comprises dairy cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and sheep. again, very well consructed, they feel robust, and are very well painted with details.
Miss A really loved that she could take the roofs off the buildings, and I think that really is a great idea, and make is so much easier to play with. I think Miss A’s favourite thing to do was to feed the animals, and move them around the farm. She spent a really long time talking to them, and deciding where they would live, and when she was finished she decided it was night time, and put them all away in there respective houses to sleep.
I can see that we are going to have many hours of play with the farm set, Miss A absolutely loves it and I think it offers great value for money.
Thank you to The Wooden Toy Shop for letting us review the farm set and animals it is a great toy addition to our home.
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Seedlets: Gardening Time Together
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What gorgeous weather we have had so far over the bank holiday weekend. We took advantage of this and took to the garden all day yesterday. The girls had been sent (the above) gardening tools to try out and a pack of seeds from the Seedlets range by Chris Collins – The resident gardener at Blue Peter.
The range has three levels of ability - beginner, intermediate and expert. We were sent items from the first two age ranges. We had also bought some herbs and salads that needed planting, as well as some more seeds, so we were really ready to put the Seedlets range through its paces!
Miss A who is 3 (nearly 4 – she insisted I wrote that !) loved the gardening gloves (2.99), and hand tools (3.99) from the beginner range (ages 3-5) she found them very easy to use. They are well made, and the perfect size for little hands I think. She took to sowing carrots, rocket and watercress, very easily. As they are also some of her favourites to eat, I thought this would be a great place to start with her, and increase her knowledge about where food comes from. I spent a long time explaining the growing process, and she really drank it all in and enjoyed learning. We have also been given a farm to review recently, so I think this has helped too as she has hit the…”but why?” stage now.
The tools are well packaged, with helpful hints on the labels. The beginner range is also multicoloured, so easy to spot. It makes complete sense to have different tools for your children, as adult size do tend to be too heavy, and can be dangerous.
Miss N is 10, decided she wanted to pot up all of the herbs. We try to use as many fresh herbs as we can, in cooking, and Miss N is getting to the age where she really wants to help much more in the kitchen, so this seemed perfect. From the intermediate range (Ages 5-10) she was sent the watering can (8.99) and a mini tool set (5.99). I think for Miss N, the look and feel of the intermediate range tool set was a little too young. I would say it would be better placed at an upper limit of 8. However, it didn’t hamper at all her enjoyment of planting the plants.
Miss N declared she would love to plant more things this summer, we do usually grow a small selection including tomatoes and courgettes but unfortunately didn’t last year. So I’ve promised that she can choose a few more thing to grow, that we can then cook together afterwards.
It was such a lovely way to spend time together. Miss N is actually in her science class, observing and recording the growth of a runner bean in a glass jar. So this was a great activity to do to complement what she is being taught at school. We all enjoyed the activity and I really felt I was supporting their knowledge of where food comes from, which is so important.
The final job of the day was to water, always a favourite! The tin watering can was great, so much so we have decided to change our current plastic adult one to a tin watering can. It had a fine watering rose perfect for directing a fine spray of water to the base of the plants.
Overall we couldn’t recommend the Seedlets range highly enough. It is a great idea to encourage you children to get involved in growing things, and now we have the tools to do it, we will be definitely be encouraging the girls even more, to get into the garden and SOW IT, GROW IT & EAT IT.
Thank you for reading
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