In the pool you can use this in a number of ways. Drop it in the water and it sinks to the bottom, use it to play catch with or throw it underwater and watch it glide like a real torpedo. It glides beautifully and goes a long way to great squeals of delight. As a parent of two who can’t yet swim I am slightly anxious when it glides off into the distance. I’ve now trained them to glide in the shallow sections and feel much happier!

It is amazing for water confidence as they are constantly diving underwater to retrieve it and within minutes they were happy to have water in their eyes, put their face in the water, duck down to collect it. I’ve tried on many, many occasions to get them to do this and never managed what the toypedo has achieved!

Great value for money as it is a toy that will grow with the boys.

Hydro Flyer airplane
The Hydro Flyer is another great toy for boys both big and small. Basically it is an underwater stunt plane. Simply wind up the plane propeller (which twist an elastic band) and release. It then glides, dives and loops (depending on where you’ve set the tail fin) in the water. The boys play with this at the pool, in the bath and round the house. It makes splashing around in the pool fun and has increased our time in the pool.

Previously we would only last about twenty minutes but now armed with two interactive toys we happily spend an hour.

Excellent service and speedy delivery.

The bear itself is very soft and cwtchy and extremely good quality. I would have liked him to say more phrases or for more than a few bars of music to be played, but Freddie is thrilled with them. He took him to nursery on Friday and then accidentally left him there so has been missing him terribly, but I’ll be there on Monday to fetch him when they open again.

So a huge 9 out of 10 for this bear.

‘There 2 there 4 there 6 there 8 – shunting trucks and hauling frieght’ Its blinking Catchy, if you have a Thomas the tank fan you will more than likely find yourself singing along to that little tune.

Thomas the Tank engine, seems to be such a big part of Harry’s life, weather it be on an item of clothes, on his dinner plates, Thomas toys, or even the new Thomas snacks that ASDA now sell, Thomas is right there with his smiley face!

Harry really does love ‘choo choo’ as he calls him, and of tern pestering me and his dad so he can watch him on youtube.

So when i was asked if he would like to review the new Thomas DVD Thomas & Friends Rescue on the rails. How could i say no? Harry would never forgive me, so i snapped up the offer.

With all this rainy weather, its perfect excuse to stick on a DVD and have a chilled day, and what better than to chill to ‘chooo choo’

Here’s Harry ready to enjoy the DVD, I thought it fitting he wear his Thomas hat and T-shirt for the review!

The DVD comprises of 4 thrill-a-minute episodes

Fiery Flynn,
James to the Rescue,
Edward the Hero
Stop That Bus!

In these episodes the enterprising engines brave the rails to rescue their friends and discover that being heroic is more than having speed and strength, it’s about teamwork and a big heart – which puts every ‘Really Useful Engine’ on the right track.

I love that Thomas the Tank is all about teamwork, and hard work. I no Harry’s not quite old enough to understand these life lessons, but that’s the brilliant thing with Thomas, it will grow with your child and they will love it when there 1 equally as much when there 5 and 6 or even older. I also love the British-ness of Thomas, (The character of Flynn is American, he fits in really well!)

The run time is 54 mins, and hands up i didn’t watch all the episodes, but Harry did, so it gave me chance to tidy, and catch up with a few things that i needed to do! Perfect. (OK i was on Twitter for a big part of that time, but shh no one tell on me!)

The DVD launches on May 21st, and RRPS at £12.99, which when you think about your little ones watching it time and time again, works out at pennys.

There are also some extras on the DVD,

Down at the Station: The Level Crossing
Guess Who?: Edward and James

I’d say more for the older children, that for Harry’s age but i no he will grow to love them.

Do you have a little Thomas fan?

Love Lucy x
http://www.leopardprintmommy.blogspot.com

It is a great size for smaller ones to carry, yet large enough to fit in the things that are important to her (usually several toys, a drink and a snack). The ability to fasten the chest strap herself makes her feel very grown up and means the bag does not slip off her shoulders like others we have (and means I have half a chance of finding things in my handbag as it is less cluttered).

The back pack itself is good quality and appears very robust (it has been dragged around various floors so far and appears no worse for wear). This bag also has the huge advantage (in my opinion) of being a relatively neutral colour and containing no glitter / sparkly things / disney characters!

The main reason for choosing this bag over others however is the ability to use it for both function and entertainment. The number of times it has been useful to fill in those moments of boredom have already made it invaluable! Like others though, I did anticipate it arriving with pencils or pens as shown on the advertising picture. The side pocket is just not quite deep enough to hold tall pencils so crayons are the only thing that really work with this (unless you want to store them in the main compartment of the back pack).

Overall, a great product which I would recommend!

The long plastic tube makes the product unique. It allows you to use both hands to do what you need to. Therefore its fantastic when breast feeding as it can hang at the back of a chair or a bed. So once you’ve sat down you’ll have a drink ready. However the height at which it is kept when in use has to be higher to allow gravity to draw the water through the tube. Ie it can not be kept on the floor for use as the tube will not fill.

The mouth piece you bite on and suck to draw drink. This limits the life span of the product as it will need replacing periodically. As once this has been used the seal will go which in turn means it will leak.

The tube is very difficult to clean. Which means that its use is limited to water. Due to the lack of instructions I’m not sure if the product is dishwasher safe or bpa free.

I would definitely recommend this product to any person convalescing or to breastfeeding mother. I think its good value for money.

The hydrant looks like a suction gadget from a hospital. Although very simple to use it doesn’t come with any instructions! It has two different lids one with a spout which you can suck from or a long plastic tube.

The long plastic tube makes the product unique. It allows you to use both hands to do what you need to. Therefore its fantastic when breast feeding as it can hang at the back of a chair or a bed. So once you’ve sat down you’ll have a drink ready. However the height at which it is kept when in use has to be higher to allow gravity to draw the water through the tube. Ie it can not be kept on the floor for use as the tube will not fill.

The mouth piece you bite on and suck to draw drink. This limits the life span of the product as it will need replacing periodically. As once this has been used the seal will go which in turn means it will leak.

The tube is very difficult to clean. Which means that its use is limited to water. Due to the lack of instructions I’m not sure if the product is dishwasher safe or bpa free.

I would definitely recommend this product to any person convalescing or to breastfeeding mother. I think its good value for money.

Hungry Seals Game:
A great way to encourage water confidence in children is to play games in the swimming pool, it instantly puts my children at ease and helps them to forget their nerves. We have been familiar with Zoggs water toys previously but had never come across the Hungry Seals game. The game consists of 2 hungry seals (which are rubbery plastic plunger type devices which you hold in your hand!) and 4 pieces of weighted ‘food’ (which are little yellow discs). The discs are numbered 1-4.

There are no hard and fast rules on how to play this game but the idea is that you drop the discs onto the floor of the swimming pool and the players retrieve them using the hungry seals. If you press the end of the seal over the disc it fits snuggly into the seals mouth. The discs are then removed by pressing the sides of the seals mouth. Both of my girls found it quite hard to remove the discs but I think this will probably get easier as they are used more though.
We played the game in 2 ways. Firstly I put the discs number side down on the floor of the pool and they collected 2 discs each, the person with the highest score was then the winner. This was Maddison’s favourite game to play, because her number recognition is not that great and it was quite hard for her to see the numbers under water. We also played where the numbers where facing up and I would shout out a number and they would take it in turns to swim to the bottom and retrieve the correct number. This really helped Maddison with her numbers and improved the amount of time she was able to stay under water. There are endless ways to play this game and although recommended for children aged 3 years and over my 9 year old absolutely loved it. It is a really versatile game which is excellent value for money and I think it will provide years of water fun.