101 Brilliant Things For Kids To Do With Science

Dawn Isaac's 101 Brilliant Things for Kids to Do With Science is the follow up to her fab book 101 Things for Kids to Do Outside.  And Brilliant science is always a hit with Lara and Holly, we we jumped at the chance to review Dawn's latest book.

Inside the book, you'll find 101 different ideas for short activities that are awesomely fun, but each have a scientific lesson to learn. Lara, who is just about 8, has absolutely lapped this book up. Lara isn't just interested in the messy/interactive experiments and activities, I've seen her genuinely want to find out more about the science behind each activity.  Holly, who is now 5, is happy to join in and I know she is soaking it up too.

After school, the girls and their childminder like to choose an activity from the book. They've made boats in the bath, helicopters in the garden, messy tricks, big bubbles (cube-shaped ones in the picture below). At the weekend, Lara has been enjoying some of the kitchen-related science activities...

Last weekend Lara asked if she could buy some lemons, some bicarbonate of soda, some cream and some gelatine. She's been browsing 101 Brilliant Things for Kids to Do With Science and checking the cupboards to see which ingredients/accessories we already have, and which we needed to buy.  The book is perfectly targeted to Lara's age range and the style of writing is fun and engaging to her with hints of childish humour that encourage her to have a go and try something new.

The results of Lara's shopping list were soon revealed. Lara made her own fizzy lemonade by mixing bicarb soda with acidic lemon juice and water. She rather overdid the bicarb though so the chemical reaction was pretty wild... then the next day she and Holly did the same in the garden and thought it was hilarious to see the bubbles overflowing.

Later on, Lara asked me to help her make a mousse. A lemon mousse made from whipped egg white and whipped cream - a tasty experiment that teaches about trapping air in between strands of protein to help thicken a mousse. A fresh homemade lemon mousse was outstanding and Lara had great fun making it.

This weekend Lara has more plans - homemade air fresheners using gels and essential oils as well as a mandala made from natural objects in our garden. There's enough different ideas in this book to keep the girls going all summer and they are all so quick and easy to do. Each activity explains the sciency-bit in kid-friendly terms and gives you ideas of how you can take the experiment even further with your own explorations.

If you're looking for ideas of screen-free time for your kids then I really highly recommend 101 Brilliant Things for Kids To Do With Science.

  

Children's Book Review :: The Impressionists

Lara is nearly 8. Just like me, she is a natural academic and yet her favourite subjects at school are all creative - Lara loves art and recently she has been learning about different artistic styles. Boolino sent her a copy of The Impressionists, a hardback spiral bound book that is part of the My First Discoveries range by Moonlight Publishing.

The Impressionists is a short introduction to the styles of the most famous impressionist painters. Lara found it interesting to think that before the 19th century, people painted for fact, not for feeling. The book explains how the impressionist movement focussed on capturing the artists own impressions of the world around them including use of light, movements and feelings.

The pages of the book are board but this little guide to impressionism cleverly uses transparent pages and cut-out pages to help highlight specific parts of some of the paintings. The last few pages of the book include images of some classic paintings from Monet, Pissarro, Seurat, Cezanne, Van Gogh and more.

I think Lara found this a handy little introduction to the impressionist movement. She and Holly both seemed to "get" it when they saw three different paintings of the same cathedral in different light conditions.  Lara has read through it a few times and I can see her taking it all in.

There isn't a lot of content in The Impressionists and I can't see either girl going back to it as reference, even if they are working on a school project, but I am pleased that it gave them some insight into some of the worlds most famous artists and perhaps a spark of artistic inspiration.

The Elephant of Frimley

Today marks the start of a blog tour by a very special elephant - The Elephant of Frimley.

The Elephant of Frimley is a rhyming illustrated book for children. The story is about two sisters and an elephant who is, to all intents and purposes, lost.  I was drawn to the book because Lara and Holly were both born in Frimley so we were all a bit curious to find out about whether or not there really was an elephant to be found there.

The book was originally written by Nicholas Rawls as a bedtime story for his own daughters and we've found it to work very well as a quiet, calming rhyming story before bed. Each page is illustrated and includes a verse of rhyming story.

The story features a sad elephant who the girls, Hannah and Emily, find has wandered into their own back garden. I think my two girls would squeal with delight if they found an elephant in our garden! I'm not sure my two would be so conscientious as the sisters in the story book though; they set themselves a challenge to find out why and where the elephant has come from.

At the end of the story the girls are thanked by a local zookeeper for returning the elephant. While I'm sitting here wondering quite where in Frimley you might find a zoo, the girls think that the very last line of the story is hilarious because of the attempts to rhyme and scan Frimley (that's what a love of phonics in school does for you).

We thought the rhyming was very clever and the illustrations were sensitive in this little children's tale.

You can find out what other children's book reviewers thought of The Elephant of Frimley by joining in the blog tour over the coming days.  You can find our friend the elephant in the following places from now until the 4th of June:

Pirate Pete and his Smelly Feet - Childrens Book Review

Holly loves rhyming stories at present - I think all her foundation work with phonics really helps her to recognise the art of rhyming words. Pirate Pete and his smelly feet is a fun and fast-paced rhyming picture book about a gang of pirates who've had enough of one of their shipmate's odorous feet and Holly thinks it is great fun.

First Pete has to walk the plank. Then he wanders all alone through the wilderness but finally, his old crew need him back to help out - Pete's cheesy feet are quite good at warding off shoals of sharks.  The story is written by Lucy Rowland and the illustrations are by Mark Chambers.

The paperback book comes with a sheet of stinky stickers for you to use throughout the book; scratch the stickers to release a very cheesy whiff indeed.  Holly and Lara both rushed to have a go before they'd even read the book!

I really loved the rhymes in this book - it always makes it so much easier to read out loud to the girls when the rhyme just works naturally. I found the story fun and fast and I particularly liked the way that the illustrations worked with the text to suggest passing of time as Pete sinks into the ocean and when he is wandering over the island.

The illustrations are bight and fun with lots of bright yellow whiffy, cheesiness and lots of piratey goodness to be found on ships, islands and oceans. Holly and I think it's a fabulous book that is lots and lots of fun.

Pirate Pete and his Smelly Feet is published by Pan Macmillan children's books and costs around £6.99.

Children's Book Review :: The Bee

Lara and Holly go to a school where bees are an important part of the school culture - from the very first term in reception, the children are taught about bee-keeping and get to see the school hives; bees and their lifecycle are a great prompt for writing, drawing, science and exploration which is why both Lara and Holly have absolutely loved reading and digesting this little book from the My First Discoveries range at Boolino books called The Bee.

The Bee is a captivating little hardback spiral-bound book with life-like illustrations that look so striking on their white backgrounds. Each page includes a series of facts or a question that prompts your child to think about what they see on the page. I love the fact that the illustrations are so detailed and that each page has a slightly different style; the mix of hard cardboard pages interlaced with clear cellophane pages to allow images to be overlayed is really very clever and makes this non-fiction book feel like something very special.

The Bee, by Moonlight Publishing, is suitable for infant school children from around 4-8 years old and would be the perfect inspiration for a school project. Lara enjoyed reading about the way in which bees make wax, and the different types of movement bees demonstrate under different circumstances.

Holly was most fascinated by the end of the book which looks at creatures similar to bees such as wasps and termites and how their homes differ. Holly can't quite read the text herself yet but it won't be long - the text is split into short paragraphs and bitesize facts which means they are easy to remember.

The Bee is part of a range of around 50 different non-fiction books which encourage detailed discovery of plants, animals, places, geographic phenomena and history; they are a great introduction to science and humanities.

Spiralize Every Day - A Book Review

This summer I became the proud owner of a spiraliser. Like many spiraliser owners, I was phenomenally excited to start with and spiralised everything that came into my path but then the novelty wore off and I struggled with ideas more inspiring than carrot and courgette "pasta". That's why I was interested to read Denis Smart's new cookbook, Spiralize Every Day - 80 recipies to help replace your carbs.

Spiralize every day is packed full of recipe ideas that use the different blades you get with your spiraliser. There are lots of recipes based on the "noodle" theme such as butternut squash spaghetti with walnut, or sweet and sour pork with daikon noodles. But as well as this there are lots of ideas you might not have thought of such as using the blades to create think slivers of fruit and vegetables as toppings for cakes, pastries or pizzas.

I found lots of the recipes in this book to feel quite light and summery - salads and light bites. I guess that's the nature of carb-free meals though. There are one or two warming heavier dishes such as a cauliflower-base pizza, vegetable lasagne or a carrot-rice style jambalaya.  All of the photos of the food look amazing. Because of the distinct lack of carbs, you really notice that the food looks brighter and more colourful. In fact, there are very few things in this book that I don't want to try - they all look so inviting.

One section of the book that isn't carb-free is the baking and sweet treats chapter which has some really clever sweet ideas as well as some innovative bread ideas. The girls can't wait to try sweet potato and chocolate chip cookies made with shredded potato. Lara also seems quite tempted by beetroot cupcakes but I'm not so sure how she would feel sprializing beetroot as it can get very messy!

If you're looking for ideas of what to do with your spiraliser then I highly recommend this book for a bit of inspiration. It's only £9.99 and I promise there will be ideas in it that you'd never even have thought of.

Number one on my list for next weekend is...homemade carrot tortillas wraps with chipotle chicken.

Dear Zoo Drawing and Colouring Book Review

If you are looking for a Christmas gift or stocking filler for a Dear Zoo fan this Christmas then I highly recommend the Dear Zoo Drawing and Colouring Book. Both of my girls are big fans of the Dear Zoo picture book by Rod Campbell, especially since the day that they met Rod who inspired them with ideas of what to draw. This drawing and colouring book captures some of the Rod Campbell magic and inspires small people to get creative.

The book features over thirty peel-off colouring pages each of which contains a prompt to get your started drawing or colouring using ideas from the Dear Zoo book. The paper rests on a hard cardboard backing so that you have a good place to rest while you draw. Ideas include drawing in the elephants trunks where they are missing, colouring in different coloured crates of animals, drawing a happy camel instead of a grumpy one, drawing lots of jumping frogs, drawing your ideal gift from the zoo. It is a good way of getting the imaginative juices flowing and because some of the pages are prompts which invite you to draw, and others are templates for you to colour, this book is suitable for a wide age range. Both Lara and Holly have enjoyed filling in the pictures which goes to show the breadth of the appeal.

At the start of the book Rod Campbell has a note which recommends drawing in black ink and then colouring in with bright colours - this is exactly what he does and it means your pictures can look just like his.

We think this is a fab colouring book with a bit of a difference. It currently costs around £5.99 at Amazon.

Tickle Fingers Cookbook: Hands-on fun in the kitchen for 1 to 4s

This coming week sees the launch of a brand new cook book for children aged 1-4 years old; Tickle Fingers Cookbook by Annabel Woolmer is a recipe book with lots of ideas for getting toddlers and pre-schoolers to join in with cookery - one of our very favourite pastimes.

Lara and Holly have joined me in the kitchen to help prepare food from the very first days that they could sit upright and grasp a spoon. Cookery with children is so rewarding - messy, occasionally stressful, but packed full of learning opportunities and chances to explore tastes and textures.  The start of Annabel Woolmer's book spends quite some time talking about all the good reasons why to encourage kids to take part in cooking their own dishes as well as explaining some of the skills and techniques needed to make it as stress-free and fun as possible. The first part of the book also talks a little about nutrition which is incredibly important to help set your kids on the right path in life.

But the best parts of the Tickle Fingers Cookbook are the recipes. There is nothing ground-breaking in here but plenty of simple yet tasty dishes suitable for first experiments in cookery for smaller people and then, later on in the book, more adventurous dishes for older children who have got the hang of some of the important skills such as measuring and mixing.

There are 60 recipes in the Tickle Fingers Cookbook and they've all been thought through to avoid complexity and to emphasise the fun.. what toddler doesn't enjoy sorting, mixing, pouring and measuring? None of the recipes require a sharp knife, or use of the hob and there is no raw meat that needs prepping so most of these recipes can be done by small hands with little adult intervention.

While Lara and Holly may be a little older than the target audience for this book, they both found recipes in it that they liked the look of.  Holly's two favourites so far are a chocolate cake recipe and a really simple naan bread recipe which was awesome!

The Tickle Fingers Cookbook by Annabel Woolmer is available from Penguin Random House in hardcover or Kindle edition from the 3rd November.

Cooking with Kids - The Ingreedies

Lara and Holly don't need an awful lot of encouragement to try new foods, or to get involved in cooking new and exciting meals in the kitchen with me but anything which encourages a love of food for children, or which helps educate about the origins of the food we eat, is a good thing in my eyes.  Around the World with the Ingreedies is a new book which makes learning about world food fun; its a mixture of food facts and recipes from all around the world.

The Ingreedies are a set of illustrated characters, each of whom has a particular interest in a different type of food - Lexi the veggie whizz, Larry the meat dude, Melvin the seafood freak and lots more, not forgetting Chef, the flavour genius. Packed in amongst the recipes you'll find the characters introducing the facts about different foods of the world as well as special facts about different ingredients in those parts of the world. For instance, you'll find a whole page about US agriculture including sweetcorn, pumpkins, apples and beef cattle.

Around the World with the Ingreedies is written by Zoe Bather and Joe Sharpe and illustrated by Chris Dickinson.  The book features some really lovely recipes that all of us wanted to get cooking - Lara chose to start with a north/south Indian curry with flatbreads as well as a Persian jewelled rice dish.  Throughout the book you can find a french classic, mexican street food and and a thai vegetable curry as well as recipes from Australia, china and Morocco. I'd expected the recipes to take second fiddle to the Ingreedies characters but we were all pleasantly surprised.

Lara has totally immersed herself in this book.  I asked her whether she would be as interested in the facts and figures if it wasn't illustrated, or if it didn't have the named characters...she said no, she probably wouldn't have bothered to read much of the book.  I've mixed feelings about this, I'm glad the authors and illustrators have found a way to engage with children but it makes me just a little bit sad that the exciting things about ingredients, cuisines, geography, and culture have to be dressed up with funny characters in order to make them "interesting".  However, I'm not seven, so I'm not the best person to judge!

The Ingreedies have captured Lara's imagination and its good to see her devouring the facts in this book like an encyclopedia, or an atlas. Lara has already lined up this Mexican beef dish (mainly because it includes chocolate) as her next creation from the book and I'll back her all the way.

 

The Darkest Dark by astronaut Chris Hadfield

The Darkest Dark is a children's story book about a little boy who is afraid of the dark...I think it is also probably very true to the childhood experiences of its author, the astronaut, Chris Hadfield.

Little Chris has an active imagination - he dreams about being an astronaut, exploring far off planets and hunting for aliens. But young Chris is terrified of the dark and won't settle in his own room at night for fear of aliens and the deep dark depths of the night.  On the night that he and his family watch the televised moon landings of Apollo 11, Chris realises that in space there is a type of darkness much darker than he is used to in his own bedroom. And that is when he decides he wants to be an astronaut, not just dream about them.

This book held particular fascination for Lara because she was interested to know that Commander Chris Hadfield is a genuine US astronaut. Lara enjoyed reading the material at the back of the book about Chris Hadfield's space career and looking at the photos of him as a boy, a young man, and in space. It really brought life to the story to know it was based on a real person.

This is a great story for any budding young astronauts or for children who are struggling to cope with the dark themselves. I think the moon landings needed a little bit of an explanation to Lara and Holly who didn't really grasp the weight of such an occasion and how it might impact someone's life.

I'm not sure that the text of the story itself has grasped either of my girls' imaginations - they remember the story but not necessarily the way in which it was told.

Childrens Reading Book Review :: Little Legends

Lara first discovered the Little Legends books earlier this year - the series by Tom Percival is a set of fairy-tale inspired reading books for early readers and Lara absolutely loved the first two in the series - The Spell Thief and The Great Troll Rescue.  This autumn, the next two episodes from the Little Legends book series are now available; The Genies Curse and The Magic Looking Glass.

The Little Legends books are what Lara calls "chapter books" - longer reading books for confident early readers.  They are very easy reads for Lara now but I'd recommend them from about age 6 to 10, depending on reading ability. The stories have universal appeal because they are based on the real-life adventures of fairytale characters that we already know and love - Repaunzel, Hansel and Gretal, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (as in beanstalk).  The books are adventure books where a group of characters have a quest they need to achieve such as lifting a magical curse or recapturing some stolen magic. It is just the sort of thing that whisks Lara off into her imagination.

The Magic Looking Glass by Tom Percival tells the tale of twins, Hansel and Gretel who make an unlikely friend - a wolf! Together they discover an enchanted magical mirror in the woods which is the gateway to some pretty unpleasant magic that threatens them all. The story is so fast paced that Lara literally did not put the book down until she had read it from cover to cover and she finished with an enormous smile on her face.

The Genies curse features load of characters who have appeared throughout the Little Legends series but the primary characters are Rapunzel (who seems a little out of her depth), a green monkey (?) and a genie in a magic lamp. There are references to lots of different magical fairy stories throughout the book but it's not that which Lara enjoys most; its the drama and urgency of each story that draws her in.

We are really hoping that there are more Little Legends books in the pipeline because they are really enjoyable reads.

Also look out for the Little Legends Race Day, a free app for Little Legends fans.

Children's Book Review :: The Night the Stars Went Out

There once was a tiny alien, with a very big job...Alien was a star shiner.

Holly and Lara were both transported into magical sparkly space when I first read them this book; their eyes were wide open. Can you imagine having to shine all of the stars in the universe? Can you imagine if all of those stars suddenly stopped shining? Wow. The Night the Stars Went Out by Suz Hughes is the tale about the biggest problem that this tiny alien has ever had to solve. The girls couldn't believe it!

This delightful picture book follows poor little alien down to planet earth in search of special star shining varnish. Down on planet earth, the alien makes a new friend (star shining is a very lonely business normally) and discovers that there is more to life than shining stars. It really put a smile on my own face as we reached the end of the story and discovered that fun and friends, not special star shining varnish, were all that was needed to save the day!

This fun and friendly picture story book by Suz Hughes is published by Curious Fox and features bright, bold illustrations with lots of alien fun. We particularly loved the illustrations of the dark night sky with a rollercoaster path down to planet earth. Alien has very cool eyebrows and a very groovy moustache - it would be quite hard not to want to be friends with him!

I'd recommend The Night The Stars Went Out for children of about 2-7 years old - it makes a fabulous warming story just before bedtime.

Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes

This weekend has been all about the Gruffalo! Holly and I have really enjoyed spending our weekend cooking delightful creations from Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes, a new kids cookery book based on the characters and illustrations of the classic children's book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

This fabulous hardback book features lots of recipe ideas that are easy to cook with children; from snacks to main courses and of course desserts.  I let Holly choose a menu for Saturday night of:-

Frog Muffins
Snake's Log Pile House
Turned Out Toes
Roasted Fox

We enjoyed buying the ingredients for our menu and we spent the afternoon together in the kitchen.

Holly particularly enjoyed mixing up a big bowl of sweet potato fries with spices to make our roasted fox.  Holly can't yet read the recipes herself but was keen to use the pictures in the book as a guide for our creations.

The girls tried lots of different foods that they wouldn't normally touch (cream cheese, sweet potato, olives, spinach) and the meal was a hit.  Of course, Holly had to dress the part for dinner.

On Sunday we went for a long walk looking for blackberries so that we could make our own Gruffalo crumble for pudding. It was a very popular pudding - no wonder mouse likes it.

Next weekend Holly is eager for us to make Fox sandwiches and Owl Ice Cream.

This is a fabulous cookbook that is easy to follow and includes tips for how to make the recipes more accessible for small people e.g. use of scissors instead of a knife for chopping parsley.  Its a book of foodie inspiration for small people and is packed full of ideas for a Gruffalo themed meal or even a party.

Children's Book Review :: HippoPandaMouse

HippoPandaMouse is a cute picture book by Jools Bentley available now in paperback from Pan Macmillan.

This is Jools' debut book as an author although Jools was already acclaimed for her illustrations.  This picture story book is packed full of fun animated creatures of all shapes - the cute and cuddly creations of Fluffley's Fine Toys store, the toy shop of choice for royalty!

The story tells the tale of a visit from Princess Flo and all of the hard work and preparation that the staff at the toy store go through for her visit.  Princess Flo is looking for something a little out of the ordinary and, thanks to a bit of a hiccup in preparations, she finds exactly what she is looking for.  A HippoPandaMouse.  Perfect.

Holly and Lara (4 and 6) both enjoy this story - Lara really appreciates that something doesn't have to confirm to be desirable. I just wish she'd learn this lesson in her school life too. Holly likes looking through the different animals and cuddly toys on each page.

Children's Book Review : Prince Ribbit

Prince Ribbit is a fun picture story book by Jonathan Emmett that both Holly (4) and Lara (7) have enjoyed me reading to them at bedtime. It is a very familiar story about princesses and frogs...

Princess Martha thinks her two big sisters are being very silly when they believe a cheeky frog who is pretending to be a Frog Prince. They treat him like royalty and spoil him in the hope that he'll turn into a handsome prince.

Princess Martha prefers books about facts, than books about fairy tales but when Prince Ribbit shows no sign of turning into a handsome prince, she decides to read a few fairy stories to find out what all the fuss is about.

The story quite closely follows that of the classic Frog Prince but with an interesting twist that got Lara and Holly interested.  None of us were quite sure whether to expect a fairy tale ending or not?!?

With humourous illustrations from Poly Bernatene, and lots of silliness to spot on each page, we all loved this book and the girls have gone back to it several times since.  Holly even cheered when she saw me writing up the review today and asked me to read it again.

  

Children's Book Review :: The Castle of Inside Out

Over the summer holidays, Lara has devoured the contents of her bookcase; sometimes whizzing through an entire book in one day. She is unstoppable.  One of the books she couldn't put down was The Castle of Inside Out by David Henry Wilson (and illustrated by Chris Riddell).  Today I has time to kill waiting outside a kids birthday party so I thought I'd try reading the book myself to see what was so un-put-downable about it.

So I sat down and read The Castle of Inside Out cover to cover in under an hour...and I loved it.  It reminded me of a cross between Alice in Wonderland with Animal Farm; but far more fluid and readable than either of the above!  The Castle of Inside Out is clearly inspired by Alice in Wonderland; it starts with Lorina, a young girl with an active imagination, getting lost and following a black rabbit into the woods. There she learns about the "green people" and the Insiders (those who live inside the castle that dominates the landscape) and the Outsiders (those that live outside the castle).

Lorina finds herself in a land where the animals have taken over. They've imprisoned the king, set the green people to work and they're polluting the landscape. Its a powerful story telling the tale of greed, gluttony and laziness.  Lorina shows selflessness in her quest to try and find food for the starving Outsiders and to prevent the thick smoke (from the furnaces in the castle fuelled by waste food) from poisoning those who live outside the castle.  On her travels she meets many of the pigs and animals who rule the country and is disgusted by the effect that wealth and power has had on them.

There are such strong similarities between this story and those of both Alice in Wonderland and Animal Farm that can't be a co-incidence. From the funny little ditties that each of the pigs sings, to the fabulous chapter of rhyming wonderfullness that brings a light-hearted humour to the execution scene, I was reminded of Alice at many times when reading this book. Lara is still a bit young to be able to appreciate the complex turns of phrase of Lewis Carroll but the humour and language used by David Henry Wilson is far more appropriate for young readers.

Lara enjoyed the silly languages that the different animals use (the cuckoo often uses the word cuck half way through his normal words) and she appreciated the references to different animals such as the Piggident (president), The Ox-Man (executioner) and of course the the Asses from Assenal and the Donkeys from Donkaster Rovers who play in a Hoofball match.

In among the humour, Lara really understood the messaging of the story and took away the morals that greed and gluttony can cause hurt and suffering. She understood that the pigs were representing an extreme reflection of humanity. And she really felt the frustration and irritation of the lead character Lorina as she was passed from one contact to another in order to try and find anyone who cared about the Outsider's fate...this frustration too reminded me a lot of Alice in Wonderland who gets increasingly frustrated with the silliness of the world she has imagined.

I really, really enjoyed this book and I'm so glad Lara did too.

Flying Lemurs :: Children's Book Review

Having spent several nights away from home over the past few months, we had got stuck in a bit of a bedtime story rut (there are only so many books you can pack in your suitcase) - it was nice to get home to a few new story books from Macmillan to inject a bit of fun back into bedtime.

Flying Lemurs by Zehra Hicks is definitely fun - lemurs by definition are fun in my eyes!  This is a picture book featuring a little lemur who is part of a family of amazing jumpers - from Dad who can jump on a trampoline, to Granny who can jump out of a cannon...everyone knows that lemurs can jump.  Except of course this tiny lemur who is just a little bit scared of jumping.

We enjoyed the first-person explanation from the little lemur of his worries about jumping - it struck a chord with both of my girls who often struggle a bit with nerves when they're asked to perform.  Flying Lemurs has a gentle message in it about practicing things about which you are a little nervous but I think there is also a strong message about exploring your own strengths - if you don't think you're very good at jumping, then how about looking at what you really are good?

Each page features lots of fun lemur sketches and the illustrations are enhanced with pictures of different fabrics and textures that really bring the images to life; did you ever expect to see a lemur in a frilly skirt made from tassels?

Lara and Holly both love lemurs so they enjoyed this book; I think they both understood the message in the story and were impressed with the little lemur. I found the story enjoyable to read to them - I liked the first person aspect because it really highlights the main character but there is one page with speech from other family members which took me by surprise!

Flying Lemurs is written and illustrated by Zehra Hicks and is available in paperback and hardback.

  

Children's Book Review: Hedgehugs by Lucy Tapper and Steve Wilson

As part of the Boolino Friends scheme, we are reviewing some gorgeous children's books; if you subscribe to the Boolino emails at www.boolino.co.uk you can also receive free weekend and bedtime stories with audio and text online but this week Lara and Holly have been enjoying a new paperback book, Hedgehugs by Lucy Tapper and Steve Wilson.

I first read Hedgehugs tonight because the girls have been pestering me for the last few nights - they first heard it from Daddy at the weekend and they both really enjoyed it so have asked me to read it to them again.  Mr. B. had warned me that the story was very sad, and I had prepared myself for a little bedtime tear or two... but now I've read it, I think he was just being soft!

Hedgehugs is the tail of Horace and Hattie, two hedgehogs who are very good friends, perhaps even in love.  They love doing all sorts of things together but one thing that Horace and Hattie can't do is hug...they are just too spiky. This makes Mr. B. very sad indeed!

We loved the cute hedgehog illustrations throughout the book and Lara particularly noticed that the story tells the tale through each of the seasons of the year with lots of patterns and prints that look like different fabric offcuts.  The text is big and bold and not too complex so older children can enjoy reading the story themselves. You can get a taste of Lucy Tapper's cute illustrative style at www.fromlucy.com

When the story ends, you find out how hedgehogs can hug each other and it brings a smile to everyone's face. I won't ruin the story for you but lets say, the ending really has got my girls thinking about where our mountain of odd socks has come from.

I'd recommend Hedgehugs as a picture story book for children from about 3 years to 8 years.

Dinosaur Roar! - Book Review

Dinosaur Roar was not a picture book I has come across before and yet it was originally published back in 1994; the book is now available in a new paperback and board book versions endorsed by the Natural History Museum.

With our recent visit to the Lost Kingdom, both girls are very much into dinosaurs at present and so they enjoyed reading this story with me.  Holly is just starting to want to try and read herself so she had a go at some of the words - she certainly recognises the word "ROAR"!

Dinosaur Roar is written by Henrietta Stickland and illustrated by Paul Stickland and is a fun rhyming picture book that features some interesting opposites.  Not just your normal big/small thinfat type of opposites but also slightly more unusual opposites that made the girls ask questions such as fierce/meek or spiky/lumpy.

Both of the girls giggled when we got to the end of the story and all of the dinosaurs were munching their lunches.

The new edition of Dinosaur Roar! features brightly coloured illustrations and a special pull-out poster of all the featured dinosaurs that you can put on your wall and talk to as you read; it's a great opportunity to get the girls thinking about what they are listening to by asking them questions where they need to find the dinosaur answers on the poster.

I thought Dinosaur Roar! was a great rhyming story book with a gentle but fun rhythm that has huge appeal.

Fairy Tale Activity Book Review

We are taking a few days away as a family over the half term holidays and I always like to pack a few activities that the girls can do while we are away in the evenings, or to break up the travel.  This time I've packed My Giant Fairy Tale Activity Book.

This bumper book is filled with over 100 activities including colouring, doodling challenges, puzzles and mazes.  The book is split into four themed sections where all of the activities correspond to a well known fairy tale - Hansel and Gretel, The Three Little Pigs, The Princess and the Pea and Little Red Riding Hood.

Because the stories are familiar, Lara finds this activity book really engaging - the fairy tale is the starting point for lots of different imaginative games and doodles that she can explore.  Lara is very much into drawing at present but she is definitely someone who needs a prompt and do the little hints and challenges on each page are the trigger for her imagination to flow.

On this page, for instance, your child is asked to find a tall princess, a pink princess, a sleepy princess etc.  And then they are prompted to doodle more princesses dancing to the music, and draw tiaras on those princesses who have forgotten theirs!

There are nearly 130 pages of activities in this book so I'm really hoping that it will last Lara for most of our half term holiday!  I'd recommend the activities for children from around 4-8 years old.

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