Designing our Dream Pet with PetPlan

Petplan recently got in touch and asked if my eldest would like to have a go at designing his own dream pet and as my 7yr old absolutely loves spending hours drawing and getting creative as well as a keen animal lover I knew this was a match made in heaven. Now I didn't tell him that his drawing was actually going to be made into a real soft toy, I left that as a surprise and what a surprise it was. Both of my sons grew up with our family dog Sam who sadly passed away last year after a long and happy life and has been really missed by all of us. We have discussed the possibility of getting another pet or as we like to call it a "new member" of the family. My son absolutely loves everything about Cats so I wasn't surprised when that was his natural choice when it came to designing his own dream pet, although this cat is different, it's a superhero cat with wings who flies around helping others.  When it arrived I was really excited to see w......

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Inspiring Literacy and Creativity + Giveaway

When it comes to screen time we don't watch an awful lot in our household and while the kids are still young we have restrictions but we do love a trip to the cinema for a day out and there is always something special about watching a movie on the big screen. When I heard about the new Star Wars films coming out I knew it would be one for the boys as John is a big fan of the original series and while I had my apprehensions about it I didn't want to stand in the way of a father and son connection as John has relieved his youth and passed on this enthusiasm for film to our son. So it was with much excitement when Egmont sent us some fantastic books to inspire reading and creativity at home. Also our eldest has a real fascination with space and I think Star Wars just has that natural attraction for the fantastical and incredible. With our eldest learning how to read we are always encouraging him to do this on his own steam at home but it can be hard finding things t......

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The Age of Believing

Bedknobs and Broomsticks - an original disney production  In our house we believe that everything in moderation is the best way to approach most things and so far it has seemed to work fairly well. For example we don't do TV during the week but we allow for some light watching over the weekend and "movie" night on Sunday as John is a huge cinema and film buff and to deny him the satisfaction of watching a film with the little man would be unfair. It's something that ends our weekend and is quite relaxing and since it's only once a week it's a special time, so when we were asked to take part in the "age of believing" challenge which involved watching the original 1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks disney film we couldn't wait. I had't seen the film in full before and I wondered if it would be too much for the little man but he absolutely loved it and at various points throughout the film he burst into laughter, which is a good sign. The bo......

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