Mothers Day Craft Activities for Kids

With Mother's day fast approaching, I've been helping the girls get in the mood (it can't hurt to drop a few hints!).  The girls have been creating a few Mother's Day themed crafts using kits from Yellow Moon - our number one stop for craft kits and art activities.

Both Lara and Holly had great fun making these Mothers Day Rosette Badge Kits which cost £3.49 for a set of 6 different designs.  The kits are easy to create as they are made up of foam pieces which stick together. The last piece of the puzzle is a small badge clip which you stick into place -we've had mixed results with these actually staying on because the badge itself is a little too heavy.  Thankfully the girls aren't insisting that I wear the badges but I am under strict instructions to display them proudly on my desk at work.

Next up are these lovely Mothers Day sand art pictures.  If you've never tried sand art then I highly recommend it.  It feels so much more adventurous than colouring a picture but essentially that's what you're doing... colouring with sand.  Yellow Moon sell big packs of 8 different colours of sand which are incredible value at £10.99 because. if you catch all the run-off carefully so that you can re-use it, these tubs last for AGES!  Sand art is still a bit tricky for Holly but Lara very much enjoys it as she likes to think hard about the colours she wants to use.

Other than a card or a rosette, its nice to receive a little gift from the girls at Mothers Day.  Last year Lara very thoughtfully bought me a jewellery holder from a stall at school but this year maybe she might even make me one with these fun hand-made Jewellery Hands that you can paint or colour in yourself to hold rings, bracelets and necklaces. These come in a pack of two for £2.49 so I'm hoping both Lara and Holly can create me one.

Don't forget that you can earn between 5% and 20% cashback for your school on most Yellow Moon purchases.

Cleo - A Movie Review

It is not very often that Holly, my three year old, sits still for more than 10 minutes in one go. Even her favourite movie (the one with Anna and Elsa... you know the one) is watched in bursts but this weekend I witnessed a little miracle.  Holly sat and watched a whole movie in breathless silence.  Cleo.

Cleo is the tale of an enormous cuddly dog (a St. Bernard I'd guess) who lives with his 11 year old owner, Luke.  Luke and his friends live in a very snowy small town and over the school holidays his friends challenge each other to a snowball fight on an epic scale.  Cleo encourages his owner to take part and is there egging them all on through thick and thin as the group of warring friends challenge each other to bigger and bigger snowball fights.

There are lots of different characters in the story from the tiny genius (who designed this amazing fort) to the grumpy early teens.  From the feisty new neighbours to the silly twins.  Holly enjoyed seeing all of the different characters develop.  But of course, the start of the show is Cleo the dog who takes on all of the challenges with such enthusiasm and is responsible for bringing all of the friends together in lots of different ways.

The animation in Cleo is quite unlike anything else you will have recently seen. The people style is distinct and the colouring is strange (mostly because, in a snowy environment the screen is either very bright, or else very dark when the sun drops).  The style is one of the things which I think intrigued Holly because it was so different to anything else she watches.

There were laughs (who doesn't enjoy watching people slurp cold drinks and get brain-freeze?).  There were also tears.  Be warned, there is a very emotional ending which got both of my girls snuggling me on the sofa.

Cleo is out now on DVD and digital download - it recently premiered at the Sundance film festival under the title Snowtime.

CreateMeBooks Personalised Childrens Book Review

There is something very magical about receiving a personalised book. Both Holly and Lara get particularly excited about a book that bears their own name and even I still have a personalised book I received when I was about 4 or 5 years old!  CreateMeBooks are personalised bedtime stories that feature your child's cartoon character and name to make a very special bedtime story to share together.

Creating your CreateMeBooks book is very simple, you choose whether it is for a girl or a boy, choose the skin colour, hair style and colour and facial features that you want your main character to have, and supply their first name.  You can also provide a small piece of text to place on the fly page of the book as a message to your child.  You use the online book designer and can preview your creation before you choose to buy.

I created two books - one each for Lara and Holly.  On each book I chose a different coloured outfit, and different hair.  In general though, the book is the same; as a small company it doesn't surprise me that Lisa, the owner, has only written one story (prince and princess versions) but as a parent buying for two children of the same sex, it would be preferable if there was a little more choice.  And, while my two girls do very much enjoy pinks, purples and unicorns these days...it would be nice to be given the choice of unicorn vs dragon, and blues vs purples rather than having the decision made for you.

The story itself is a lovely bedtime story about your child settling down to sleep and drifting into a dream about animals, magical kingdoms and soft, bouncy clouds.  It is a versed story which seems to rhyme at the start, but by the end is more descriptive and less about rhyme.  Holly particularly enjoys the story and asks to hear both her story and her sisters in close succession.  Lara's favourite parts are in the middle when a series of forest animals all refer the princess to one another for help finding the Land of Nod.  For Holly it works very well as a bedtime story as it helps her wind down at the end of the day.

Each personalised bedtime story book from CreateMeBooks costs £17.99 plus postage.  I think the book is of a better quality (nice thick pages and lots of them) and it has a more personal feel than the big-brand personalised story books.  I felt the choice of skin colour, hair style and outfit colour really helped to pinpoint the appeal to each of my girls.  And designing the book online at CreateMeBooks was a breeze.