Wild About Learning - Learning Resource My First Microscope Review and Giveaway

We were asked last month by Learning Resources if we would like to be involved with their Wild About Learning Campaign. We love getting out doors and its the perfect place to learn. How could we say no? 

I got to choose something from Learning Resources Primary Science Section and their GeoSafari Section on the website. 

It was so tricky what to choose and so I thought I would think of an activity that I could do outdoors and then looked to see what would help that activity. My activity I had in mind was going out and exploring and collecting things from nature. Learning about them as we went.

So I chose a Geo Safari Bug Viewer and a Primary Science Magnifier and Tweezers. I then spotted the Geo Safari My first Microscope and thought how good it would be to then look at all the items we found under the microscope and learn more about them. 

When they arrived they looked great and we could not wait to get started with them. 

So let me tell you a little more about each product. Lets start with the Bug Viewer. This little plastic jar encourages children to get closer to nature. With its screw top magnifying lid that magnifies at 3x the magnification its the perfect thing for children to be able to collect specimens for themselves and view it from above. The little jar comes with a plastic spider as example. It only costs £3.25 and so is great value for lots of bug learning fun.

The Magnifier Glass and Tweezers come together in one set. They are the perfect tools for your little one to start exploring the world around them. The set costs £6.50 which I think is excellent value for learning.  

The Magnifier glass is really chunky to hold which is great for little hands. It also features a built in stand for hands free observation. It has a clear 4.5x magnifier and it measures at 11cm's of viewing area. 

The tweezers are also extra chunky for small hands. They are brilliant for helping exercise fine motor skills while your child practices picking up objects. They measure at 15cm and have a special easy grip area where your fingers should be placed and extra grip to pick up your objects at the end of the tweezers. 

Then we have the My First Microscope. Perfect for children aged 3-7 years old who are just starting to learn to use equipment to aid their learning. Its chunky design makes it easy for children to use and has a non scary appearance to encourage them to want to try it out. Instead of a regular one eye piece that you normally get with a microscope, this one has 2 eye pieces which eliminates the need to close one eye. It has 8x magnification and has a large chunky knob on the side for simple focusing. It also includes a LED light which you can turn on with a button at the front. This requires 3 AAA batteries. When I saw the price of this microscope I really was shocked to see how good value for money it was. It retails at only £19.80 which I think is great to say it provides so much and is such good quality. 

That day we packed up our magnifying glass, bug tub and tweezers and decided to take them to our local park. Our local park is great and has loads of space to explore and has big tree's and plenty of plants. I knew we would find lots of interesting things there. Lily enjoyed carrying around her magnifying glass and understood that she had to hold it to her face and look through it.

We found all sorts in the park, it was mostly me finding them and then pointing them out to Lily to then look at through her magnifying glass. At first she would stand up looking down at objects but I encouraged her to bend down closer to it to look.

She then had a try with the tweezers, Lily caught on pretty quickly how to hold them and put her fingers into a pincer grip. She then learn't that she had to squeeze to be able to pick things up. But she did struggle to do it with smaller objects. She managed to pick up big things like a pine cone, but could not have the finger strength to pick up the feather. It was really good seeing her try though and something that practice will make perfect. Her strength will grow as she gets older. 

I spent ages trying to find Lily bugs and all I found was some spiders. I must admit I am not a big fan of spiders and neither is Lily. I did man up thought and did try and catch her a few big black spiders I found by the water. I failed though as I think I was to wimpy to actually catch them. For ages after I didn't find anything and then a teeny tiny spider crawled onto my bag. Lily spotted it with her eagle eyes and so we got it to crawl into the bug tub. The tubs lid is really easy to screw on and off which is great as a lot of bugs are fast. I handed it to Lily so she could have a good look through the top of it. She was really interested in watching it crawl around in there and the magnifying lid did make it look a lot bigger than it was. 

After we had collected everything we headed inside to take a look at what we had found and place it under the microscope. We had collected a really nice range of things that would all look different under it. We had some bark from a tree, some pine cones, leafs, petals, a feather, a stick and a some seeds from tree's. 

Lily understood that she had to put the items under the microscope and also that she could turn the knob to move it up and down. I don't quite think she understands focusing yet though and I also had to remind her to move the microscope up for bigger items. When she looked through at the items she would say "I see it". Lily placed each one under the microscope. She is a little young to start describing objects to me but she knew that it got bigger as the item went underneath and said to me "its bigger". She would look down with her 2 eyes and found it quite easy to turn the knob all by herself. 

After we had been through all the objects. She decided that she wanted to do it all over again and this time did it all by herself while I sat back and watched. 

Our second trip out to collect things was while we were on holiday in Weymouth. We headed to Chesil Beach and so we took our magnifying glass and tweezers with us to see what we could find. We mostly found a lot of interesting looking stones and a interesting looking shell. But the items were way to big to pick up with the tweezers. But the magnifying glass was perfect to look at the stones with as most of the stones all had sparkling crystals inside and so we could then see them in real detail. We also at this time propped up the magnifying glass and placed a stone under it to look. It stands really sturdy and doesn't fall down which is great.

We also took the bug tub incase we found any seaside critters. But we didn't unfortunately. But Lily did find a piece of wood that she decided she wanted to put inside to have a look at. The bug tub works really well for other things as well as bugs.

When we got home from Weymouth, I got the microscope back out so we could have a look at the things we found. We brought home with us some different shaped rocks and shells. Some which looked like they had fossils in them and also the ones with the crystals in. Lily remember exactly what to do with the microscope and got straight to it. Again telling me that it got bigger when she looked through.

We are so happy with this set of learning resources. I can see them being something we will use for years to come and I love that I now own items that are really going to help Lily learn more about the outdoors and science. If you are looking for some toys that are great fun but also really help your child learn then I can 100% recommend these to you. This set sure has made us go Wild About Learning! 

Head to the Learning Resource Website to see more toys to help your child learn. 

If you are eager to get your little one learning then you may want to enter this competition to win the entire Wild About Learning Set. That includes the My First Microscope, The Magnifying Glass and Tweezer Set and the Bug Viewing Tub.

For your chance to win, Enter on the Gleam App Below. 

Win a Set of Wild About Learning Toys Inc a Kids Micrscope

Our Holiday to Weymouth 2017

Last week as you may know, Lily and I went on a family holiday to Weymouth in Dorset. I say family holiday, but there was one person missing which would have made the holiday even better. My partner Chris, who couldn't get the time off work to come with us. So it was just Lily, me, and my mum and dad. 

The holiday went really fast and was such a blurr. Feels like ages ago that I went even though it was just last week. So Im going to try and put as much as I can remember into this post.

My dad drove us down in the car and we set off at 4am. I thought that It would be hard getting Lily out of bed and into the car, and she did wake up but the first hour of the journey she was super excited and pointing at all the robots (electricity pillons) she could see and dancing about to the music. She eventually slept which meant I could get some sleep too.

We arrived in weymouth at about 9am. Did our usual of going for break fast and heading to our holiday flat. One difference from this year to last year was that there was the Seafood Festival on this year. The street where we were staying on which is on the harbour was rammed with people. We didn't get to get our suitcases into the flat until 6pm. But it was interesting to see all the stalls that they had on. It ended up being a really hot day. We spent a little time at the beach for Lily and also went for a nice walk around the Northe gardens. This is where we went to the small pebble beach that is quite secluded. Its one of my favourite spots and Lily enjoys going there and throwing the pebbles into the water. When it came to dinner time, I then had the yummiest pasta from one of the food stalls. Actually thinking about it, I really could eat that right now. It was a very different day to our normal saturday as the crowds meant we couldn't relax by the harbour as we usually did. Later that night I took Lily to the arcades. She has always loved this. I do find that the prizes are getting harder and harder to win each year though. There is one bar open at night time in weymouth that allows children and so we went there most nights.

(My Dad and Lily)

The next day which was Sunday we headed back to the beach for the morning. Lily had a great time running around and splashing in the little sea puddles that kept forming. Lily isn't a big fan of getting her feet wet so took a little while to convince her, but when we had, we then couldn't get her back out of it. Lunchtime came, as it was a sunday we decided to go for a carvery. I have to admit, it wasn't the best one I had had. The beef was still bloody which I couldn't eat and then the vegatables quite raw. I filled myself up as much as I could and then we decided that it was today we would head out on our extra long walk along the front to Bowleaze cove. It my favourite walk to do, and it wouldn't be a holiday in Weymouth with out doing it. It does take over an hour to walk there and there is a massive hill that we all had to take turns pushing the pram up. But when we got there we all treated our selfs to an ice cream. I say all...I didn't actually get an ice cream. I ended up having to hold Lily's and help her eat it because it was so big. We then spent a little more time on the beach there which is another pebble beach. We found a new little bar that had opened up on that beach and this is where we sat and had a refreshing drink. We sat on the benches on the actual beach before we realised that they had a terrace up on a balcony you could sit. I was on the strong stuff... Lager Shandy! Im not a big drinker and especially not when i'm around Lily. 
We then walked it back. Yes another hours walk. Had some food and then did our usual routine of arcade and child friendly bar and then I would take Lily back to the flat to bed.

(Me on the Balcony)

Monday we went on a long walk called the rodwell walk. Its where an old railway line used to be and now the tracks have been removed its just a path which leads to a beautiful garden with a ruined castle in it called Sandfoot Castle. I am not going to tell you much about this day here as I plan to write a full blog post of what we saw on the walk.

(My Mum and Lily)

Tuesday we had a rainy day. A VERY rainy day in fact. So I decided to take Lily to the Sealife Centre. Im not sure what was wrong with Lily on this day but she was super moody. Maybe the late nights were catching up with her. She also said she didn't like the fact that it was a little dark. But I wasn't having any of it and insisted that she looked at the fish. We found a dory fish like the one from Finding dory and that cheered her up a lot. We then went for some lunch, which cost me a fortune but Lily loved the pasta I got her and ate loads of it luckily. She then fell asleep and so I decided to try and wait to see if the rain would stop. As I waited I got a cup of tea and then suddently everyone else from the park came into the cafe. (or at least it felt like it was everyone). It was madness and I was in screaming child hell. I waited, but the rain wasn't going to stop. Lily was still fast asleep so I decided to take a run for the next room of fish. Thats the problem with the Sealife centre at weymouth. It has different buildings for each type of fish so there is a lot of out door things too. Lily eventually woke up and in her dazed state watched the fish from her pushchair. She really enjoyed seeing the penguins, even though we was getting soaked from the rain. But her favourite part was watching the seals. The room wasn't too dark and she loved standing by the windows watching them. We must have stayed here for ages. There was also a button that she could press that made bubbles in the tank. She loved pressing that button and making the bubbles.
That night the weather got a little better. I wanted a earlier night for Lily so it was a quick trip to the arcade and then I let her burn her energy off on the beach. 

Wednesday came, and this is where I start feeling like the holiday is half way over and we will be coming home before we know it. It was a slightly cloudy morning so I decided to take Lily to the local play cafe they have there. I swear down its the best play cafe I have ever seen. It has so many toys for them to play with and tons of big play things like a car with a slide attached. Lily was in her element playing with all the toys. It was something she hadden't had much chance to be doing on holiday so far. The out door area to the cafe is amazing too. It has so many play houses. One is even in the design of a princess castle. Which lily loved. The weather booked up that afternoon and we went for a nice walk around the Northe Gardens. The views from the gardens are amazing and you can see right out to sea. There is also a little tea cabin up there that we love and visit a few times in the week. That night we headed back to the arcades with Lily. By now she is starting to get a right little gambler and fully knows what to do with the 2p machines. Its great that they have little stools for them to stand on to be able to play themselves. She really takes after her mummy and daddy for enjoying the arcade so much.

Thursday was a very busy day. We started by heading to the local market which is open on a Thursday. There was a car boot there also which I ended up spending way to much money on Lily there. But she has some nice new books that we shall be reading toggether and that will most likely get written about on here soon. Lily loved looking around the toy stalls, but then she spotted a bouncy castle. Lily has a love hate relationship with them and sometimes loves going on them, and sometimes hates it. Today she asked to go on. So I payed for her and luckily she loved it! She was laughing her little head off as she bounced around and was falling over everywhere.
After the market we jumped into the car and headed to a little cafe at the end of Chesil Beach. We had a lovely lunch and then spent some time on chesil beach. This is where we did some hunting for nice rocks which have crystals in them. We relaxed here for a while and then decided to jump in the car and head up to portland bill. Which is where the lighthouse is. Lily wasn't very interested in the lighthouse though and was more interested in ice cream. Me and my dad took a nice walk to the edge of portland where there are cliffs and rocks and waves crashing agains't them. I love this area, it feels like your at the end of the earth. We then went back to weymouth where I left Lily with my mum and dad and went and did a photoshoot of my friend. Maybe you may see some of those in a photography post soon.

Friday is our last full day in weymouth. This is the day we made sure that we did all the things we love to do on holiday one last time. We decided to pack that morning so then we could relax for the day and not have to do it later. It was cloudy out and the weather was meant to get better as it went on. After packing we did a little gift shopping and then decided we would walk to one of our favourite cafes called Jurassic Rock Cafe. Its such a lovely cafe that looks out over the sea. It also sells the best Dorset apple cake that I have ever had! After our lunch we took Lily to a near by area which has a paddling pool and sand pit. It was empty that day so we had it all to our selfs which was great. Lily loved running around the sand pit with her nan. It took us a while but we finally encouraged her to go in the paddling pool and when she did she really loved it. It was really nice to see her trying something new. 
After a decent amount of time in the paddling pool, we set off walking back to the beach. Lily and I walked along the pebble beach and collected shells and pebbles which we plan to use for an activity soon. The beach eventually turns from pebbles to sand and so we sat on the beach and let Lily build some sandcastles. She really enjoyed the beach this year.
We then went out for a nice family meal at Prezzo, Lily really enjoyed eating pasta again and it was nice to sit toggether and eat. I put Lily in a really cute dress for the last night and we then hit the arcades for one last time. After winning lots of tickets and claiming a prize of a paw patrol blanket and cushion we went to the child friendly bar one last time. Lily loved dancing to the music there but soon got distracted when she noticed the soft play area was open. We sure did have a great last day and night and Lily stayed up until 11pm!  

So saturday arrives and later this day we will be going home. I always feel so sad on this day. Weymouth is like a second home to me as we have been so many years. We spent the last day wandering the shops, going for nice walks and made one last trip to the beach. Lily made sure her last trip to the beach was fun by having a go on the trampolines. It was tricky to get her off these and I had to climb on to get her off haha. We made out last stop at the tea cabin in the gardens before getting into the car at 2pm and driving home.

We had such a lovely holiday, and I hope you have enjoyed reading about it. I mostly have written this down so then in years to come I can read about it. I cant wait to head back to weymouth next year for more holiday fun. 

Orchard Toys Mini Games - Jungle Dominoes Review

Its summer time and the weather is nice. We are all off for days out and some of us are lucky enough to be going away for a holiday. Wether it be a short break or long break, Orchard Toys have now got Mini Games to keep your children entertained. 

These are perfect for the journey, or while away for those times you know your child may be a little bit bored. For example - Waiting for lunch to be served and having to sit still around a table.

Orchard Toys asked us if we would like to take one of their games away on holiday with us to try out and review. Knowing that Lily would be having times sat around in the flat between going out I thought it was a great idea. Orchard Toys sent us Jungle Dominoes. 

The game is aimed at children aged 3-5 years old and is for 2-4 players. It comes with 28 dominoes and an Elephant play piece. When I got them out I was impressed at how colourful they all are. They are really simply illustrated with the animal picture on and a coloured background. Each animal has a individual colour, so for example a Lion has a pink background. This is great to keep the game not to confusing and help the child recognise the pieces to be able to match them up. As always with Orchard toys games. The pieces are really sturdy and so won't be easy to break.

The rules of this game is like any other dominoes game. you each get 7 dominoes each and the rest go into a pile. you then take it in turns to place a matching domino down from either end you start to make a domino trail. Each time you take a turn you take a card from the pile. Each time you can't take a turn you take a card from the pile. The first person to get rid of all their dominoes or the person who has the least dominoes left, wins. 

We decided to play the first match in the flat while we were taking a break from the sun. Lily was super patient as I set up the game. We have played dominoes before, so she understands the concept of the game. But I think the easy colour and picture concept really helps her be able to play quicker and so not get frustrated trying to find pieces.

We wasn't too sure of the purpose of the elephant other than just a nice extra to the game. He guarded our pile of dominoes and Lily was delighted to have him take part.

We played a full game and Lily won. 

The idea of these games being a Mini Game is so then you can take it with you. So one day when we headed out on a walk, I packed it into our bag. The box is really small and so packs away nicely. 

A lot of people would think of games as an indoor thing. But there is no written rule that states that and I can't think of a better place to play a game than while enjoying some outdoor time.

We found a really nice spot by the sea, there is a big seating area type place that you can sit and it was the perfect place to be able to play the game. Lily was really excited to get to play it outdoors. 

We set the game up and she decided to play it with her Nan. Again she did so well with it and knew exactly how to play. After she played it with her Nan, she wanted to play again and so this time I joined in.

It was so relaxing, Lily was calm, the sea was calm, the sun was shinning. It was the perfect activity for a summers afternoon.

Orchard Toys has a full range of games and you can see them on the website. The Mini games retail at only £4.99 and so I really would head out and get one for the summer months. We 100% enjoy Orchard Toys games and really recommend them to you. 

Where would you play your travel game? 

My Photography Post - July 2017

As well as working hard being a mummy to Lily, one of the other things I do is photography. I shoot lots of different things, fashion, weddings, photo journalism, though at the moment not getting much time to shoot. 

To keep my head in photography I have decided to do a blog post a month all about my photography, you can see Junes post here. 

This month I have been taking so many photographs. The weather has been great and so I have managed to get out and about with my new camera a lot. 

It was really hard to choose which photographs to show you this month. But I have decided to show you some that I took last week of the beautiful Weymouth while I was on holiday there. 

I had my camera with me all week and so just took photographs as the inspiration grabbed me. Most you see here are of the beautiful views around me. Some are because I liked how the light looked and how shadows were formed. I still have so many photographs to edit and show you, so maybe next months photographs will be those. 

Hope you enjoy this months photographs. 

1. Weymouth Harbour - This is the beautiful harbour that I got to see each day. I have taken photographs from this bridge so many times but I don't think I have ever captured it looking so blue and the sky looking so clear. 

2. The Boot - This is the oldest pub in weymouth, rumoured to be haunted. I do love that Weymouth still has its nice old buildings still around. Just behind it you can see a building that is tudor. As I passed it I just had to go and get a photograph.

3. Portland - This year we took a long walk that brought us out to a place that I could get a really nice photograph of Portland. I have always loved the shape of Portland which sticks out to see at the end of Chesil beach. 

4. Peeping Portland - I also got this photograph of Portland through the doorway of an old castle. I liked how the door way framed the view.

5. Sea Steps - This photograph I took because I loved how the light was creating fun patterned shadows on the steps. The lighting was also falling really nicely on the rocks making them stand out. I always get over excited about light and the way it can fall on something to make it look interesting and beautiful. 

6. Zen - Okay I hold my hands up, the rocks wern't piled up like this. I did that myself because I had this picture in mind and thought it would be nice. This place on Chesil Beach is so relaxing, the pebbles are huge and I love to sit on them and hear the sea crash against them. This is one place I am at my most relaxed. 

7. Portland Lighthouse  - I love Portland Lighthouse. I love its traditional stripes and how it towers above anything else at the end of Portland. No matter where you stand at portland you can always see it. I sometimes feel really surreal looking at it just because of how big it is. I Liked how you could see it peeping from these rocks and how the huge rocks make the lighthouse look small. Which it is anything but. 

8. Pulpit Rock - This rock is one of my favourites. It stands strongly and sticks out at the end of portland and has for years. How it survives the waves crashing against it at a great force is beyond me.

9. Navy Boat - This huge boat was harboured into Weymouth for most of the week. I saw the boat from lots of different angles but what I spotted this day was the 3 smaller boats tied up across from it. Showing the size of the navy ship. It also has a feeling of something uniformed too and gives the Navy ship a look of authority.

10. Towards the Brewers Quay  - Walking a long this street I loved how the low but strong sun was creating shadows on the wall. Making the street so bright but yet the Brewers Quay building so dark and scary. 

I was going to show just 10 photographs, but I have one more for you. I name this one Life's Tough Choices. As approaching the end of this path, I had a choice to go left along a coastal path, or right a long a coastal path. It made me giggle because of the choice I would have to make and how it was such a hard choice having to choose between a lovely coastal path or another coastal path. At this moment I thought sarcastically to myself. Life is hard! Haha 

So which of this months photographs do you like the most and why? 

(Images all Copyright to Cassandra Mayers Photography)