How to Build a Reading-Friendly Family Travel Routine

Having done a lot of travel with my kids, including nearly a month-long Interrail, with all-day travel days, you have to learn how to be savvy with keeping both yourself and the kids entertained during these times. Just picture this. You're three hours into a train journey, the kids have already worked through their snacks, the card games have lost their charm, and the tablet battery is blinking red. Sound familiar? Family travel can be full of these in-between moments. The waits at airports or train stations, the long drives, the evenings in a hotel room when everyone is too tired to go out but too wired to sleep. Often, the easiest option is to fill those gaps with screens. But as time goes on, an interst with screens, esepically while travelling, can be short-lived. Screens, as useful as they are, are not always the option, there's an engaging option that gets pulled out of suitcases less often than it should. Books! Reading on holiday isn't just for solo travellers with......

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My children's favourite book - Guess how much I love you

* I have partnered with Walker Books UK for this post to share my favourite classic kids book / AD With Valentine's fast approaching and my boys getting that little bit older, this year I want to celebrate that special kind of love between a parent and child, one that can even be hard to put into words and one that still to this day takes me by surprise. When I was expecting my first child, my mother bought me the Guess How Much I Love You book by Sam McBrantney and when I became a mum it immediately summed up that feeling of infinite love we have for our children.  When I was pregnant with my first I thought I knew what was coming (how blissful naivety is), I had read all the books and had a well-written birth plan, that incidentally was thrown out the window when labour actually arrived. The thing is I had never held a baby before until I held my own and that's when it all changed. Yes, it may sound cliche but the love for a child is different to any other and it never lessen......

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Inspiring creativity & a love for reading with Night Zookeeper

AD - This is a collaboration with  Night Zookeeper: Escape from Conform Prison   #mynzkhero    When it comes to gifting over the festive period, I always aim for the majority of our presents to have a purpose, to be useful or educational or inspiring, especially when it comes to children's presents. Recently we were invited to review the process of creating and ordering a personalised book from Night Zookeeper and my boys couldn't be more excited to see one of their creations in a printed book and this without a doubt with encouraging even the most reluctant of readers to start turning pages. Firstly what is the Night Zookeeper series?  Well, it's a set of 5 beautifully written and illustrated books by Joshua Davidson, aimed at 7-12yrs olds with the purpose of inspiring your child to fall in love with reading by offering a more interactive story setting that encourages children to use their imaginations with storylines that prompt action and highlights the impo......

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Tales by Mail - Children's book box review

*Tales by Mail provided us a PR sample to review - my words are my own & I have not been paid to provide this review Like most parents, I really encourage my children to see the joy in reading and how stories can come alive in our imagination in a way screens don't. This has never been so important especially when we cannot travel at the moment or see friends and family, to bring stories of wonder and adventures to life is helping get us through lockdown so when Tales by Mail got in touch to review one of their boxes I was really keen to see what their bi-monthly subscription boxes are all about.  First of all, what is Tales by Mail exactly? Well, it's a letterbox book club that sends two books every other month along with a few extra goodies such as chronicle pages & author cards, game, activities and a few small surprises. The box is aimed at children 8-12yrs old and also includes access to the Tales by Mail podcase with author interviews and book recommendations. ......

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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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Big stories, little writers + giveaway

I love anything a bit different, creative and offers a different perspective so when the people at Lost My Name decided to had the reins over to more than 1000 children aged 4-7yrs to write the Amazing Fantastic Year in review newspaper I thought it was a brilliant idea. Covering some of the years major topics but also what popping into their mind such as their opinion on a zombie apocalypse or Princess Charlotte weighing the same as a hedgehog it's guaranteed to be some entertaining reading. The printed newspaper is being distributed to commuters in 4 major cities - London, New York, Sydney and Toronto meaning it's go international but don't worry you can see the digital version here So why exactly did they do it? Basically because children and their imagination should inspire us all and should be given a platform to share their thoughts in a productive and creative way. When Lost my Name is not creating kids newspapers they are making personalised story bo......

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This Homeschooling life

Wow how did a whole month fly by so quickly? We have been so busy with the changing of the seasons and have been celebrating everything that Autumn has to offer with most days being spent outside. Half term also happened which means we also have a bit of a break and any "formal" learning went out the window and we did a whole lot more hands on activities during the dry weather We enjoyed pumpkin carving in the Park, worm charming and apple pressing at Forest Farm Nature Reserve as well as Autumn crafts, wild art and being apart of a Spider survey which involved recording all our spider finds as well as coming across some earwigs and snails. Mr A has also shown a big interest in Bird watching and we actually spotted two beautiful Kingfishers over the weekend which was a real highlight Another thing we have enjoyed lately is cooking together, something which Mr A seems to have a love hate relationship with, he is not a big eater and rather fussy and a......

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Summer Wanderlust Reading List

Every summer I put a little reading list together of books I want to read preferably outdoors in the sunshine and enjoy the simple pleasure of long summer days with a good piece of literature. This year my reading list is made up of 5 very unique books that are set in different parts of the world and I know will make a great travel companion for our summer adventures. 1. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty - another brilliant book published by Penguin and a real page turner. It's the first on my list and I am half way through and cannot put it down. A story of a mum Jane who had just moved to a new town and the mothers she meets at her son's new school. There is a rather large cast but the main focus is on three ladies who are from very different backgrounds but are connected by their children all starting school at the same time. Everyone has secrets to hide while rumours start to fly, with a murder mystery thrown into the mix this makes for exciting reading. ......

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Three things - Interior loves

So they say it's the little things in life that count and it's the small touches that really make a home so I thought I would share three things that have caught my eye this week and I would love to have in the home, all simple but beautiful. First of all I am trying to find more time to read and love this Literary Art from In Spaces , it would be perfect for my reading nook. If you read the blog you probably already know I love Scandi and Nordic interiors, the simplicity combined with well made furniture and beautiful objects if done well can create a lovely, creative space and I would love to put this Nordic slip glazed stoneware jug from Rigby & Mac, where is you will also find this hand screen-printed chevron cushion. I have a thing for yellow this season, it's one of my new favourite colours for the home....

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Ralph Lauren Literacy Event and Interior inspiration

Mr A at the Ralph Lauren Literacy Event  So last month we have the amazing opportunity to attend a wonderful event with Ralph Lauren in Harrods that not only combined kids fashion and style but also supported the Booktrust with the aim to encourage literacy - a win win all-round if you ask me. As some of you may already know John especially loves RL (well all of us do really) and we have never been disappointed with any of our purchases and they cater for the whole family plus also have some amazing homewares so Mr A was particularly excited about this and he loves taking the fast train to London. They had sectioned a special part off in Harrods Junior Design Apparel area with a beautiful mini bar just for the children which included the cutest little cat biscuits and pastries plus an array of sparking soft drinks. They created a little reading den with pillows scattered on the floor for the kids to sit on while TV presenter Gaby Roslin read her favourite children's ......

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Storytime Giveaway

For those who have not heard of Storytime magazine I really cannot personally recommend it enough. I am always skeptical when it comes to children's magazines, I have a real dislike of plastic toys and novelty items to sell low content publications but with Storytime it really is all about the content and is crammed fill with lovely age appropriate stories that are perfect for bedtime. A while ago I was sent there first issue and it's been throughly used and we often pick a story from it to read at  bed numerous times a week and for the first time in a longtime I think we are going to subscribe as there are no cheap gimmicks used to sell the magazine and the little man loves it So I am really excited to offer one of my readers a 3 month subscription to Storytime along with a copy of Ladybirds "read it yourself" versions of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. The perfect way to get exciting about reading and literacy. It's really easy to e......

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