National Geographic Kids and LEGO® City inspire children to explore and learn more about our Jungles

National Geographic Kids and LEGO® City have collaborated on a special partnership to inspire children to explore, discover and learn about jungles and the importance of their preservation.

Known for his Science outreach work and exploration of the "Boiling River” in the Amazon, National Geographic Explorer, Andres Ruzo, is spearheading the project, and is passionate about sharing the importance of these habitats with future ‘young explorers’. 

Through LEGO City Jungle bricks, vehicles, and mini-figures Ruzo has created a fun way to highlight what incredible habitats jungles are, helping children learn more about their diversity, incredible plant and animal species, as well the importance of conservation for the future.

Ruzo shares “Of all my expeditions to the Amazon Rainforest this was definitely the one my 9-year-old-self would have not wanted to miss! 

The mission: To explore the sacred and mysterious Boiling River of the Amazon, deep in the heart of the jungle.

 The Goal: To inspire kids to care about the jungle and the planet. The Tools: High-tech gear like drones, GPS´s, and thermal cameras - and the new LEGO® City Jungle sets of course! I want kids to love the jungle, and to want to protect and understand it as much as I do. 

Long before I was ever exploring the jungle, I was dreaming up my own jungle adventures as a boy. This is why I am so excited for the LEGO City Jungle range, I want playtime to inspire the next generation of jungle explorers.”

LEGO City designer Andrew Butler Coghill, who has been part of developing the new Jungle models, comments; “Children are our role models and we believe that inviting children on a LEGO jungle adventure is a great way to inspire them to learn more about the real jungles. 

It has been very motivating to meet the reactions from the children when testing the products and I am really pleased that National Geographic Kids have partnered with us to use our models to teach children about life in the jungle”.

As part of the initiative, LEGO® City & National Geographic Kids will launch an exciting new competition to win a National Geographic Family Expedition to the jungles of Costa Rica in Central America! 

The winning family will explore the treetops and volcanic canyon landscapes of Rio Blanco, go zip lining through tropical forests surrounded by astonishing wildlife, visit a wildcat rescue centre to meet orphaned ocelots and jaguars, dine in a tree house and get to experience the real-life jungle.

The competition is open to children between the ages of 6 and 16, and open to residents of US, UK, Benelux, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, Hungary, Czech, Romania & Russia. 

For a chance to win, candidates must imagine something they might discover deep in the jungle – and then draw it or build it with LEGO bricks. For further details, and to enter, please visit: www.LEGO.com/jungle. 

A special jungle-themed issue of National Geographic Kids will be available from 16^th August and will include exciting LEGO® content, including a pull-out jungle poster which children can use as a backdrop to their imaginative play.

Within this Issue, you will find a LEGO City and National Geographic Kids ‘Explorer’s Handbook’ – a mini guide to everything you need to know about the jungle. From what to pack, to how to wrestle a caiman in an emergency, the Explorer’s Handbook is filled with fun facts and activities for children to delve into.

You can also explore the Jungle with LEGO City and National Geographic Kids online. Children can join the jungle expedition on LEGO.com/jungle and find funny facts, activities and videos and from 24th July, National Geographic Kids’ dedicated Jungle hub (www.natgeokids.com/jungle) will be available to children and parents globally. 

The jungle hub will be bursting with jungle facts and fun activities for kids. You can also check out the jungle videos following Andrés Ruzo and his LEGO companions through the Amazon on an educational and immersive journey of adventure and discovery.  

These can be viewed at www.LEGO.com/jungle from 1st July.

We have been very kindly sent a new Lego City Jungle Halftrack Mission set to build, so keep an eye on the blog to see what we thought.....

FLUFFNUT Cupcakes #NumNomsCrazyCreation

We've been getting creative in the kitchen with NumNoms for their latest food campaign 

#NumNomsCrazyCreation

We’ve seen the Cronut (donut and croissant combination), a genius idea, which brought together two of our favourite pastry items into one amazing desert. 

Next it was the turn of green tea cake, for the slightly more health conscious, which saw a refreshing cake born from a popular hot beverage. 

More recently, Marks and Spencer introduced the Croloaf, a loaf of bread make out of croissants 

When thinking of ideas for our creations, we sat down with all our NumNoms on the table and picked out our favourites.....

The over all winners were ....

Cherry Ann (doughnut type)

Softy Mallow (marshmallow type)

Nana Heart (Candy Num)

So from them we decided to make......

FLUFFNUT CUPCAKES!

RECIPE:

Mini Ring Doughnuts,

Fluff Spread

Love hearts.

The no bake cupcakes, that are just perfect for doing with the little ones.

Beware you can get rather sticky!!!

The end result was pretty epic!

They looked really sweet and tasted amazing, I could have eaten all of them!

They were easy and super quick to put together and everyone got involved.

The boys and myself were all really impressed with our creative make and I know it will be requested the next time I go shopping.

Tackling Early Morning Wake Up Calls With The Gro Clock

Having twins is great, but having twins does have its downside.

Like when one wakes up at 5am and decides its an awesome idea to get the other one up.

For them to both coming running through shouting and screaming about one thing or another is not so great.

These lovely sunny mornings are lovely but they're a right pain in the bum when the kids don't quite understand it isn't really time to get up.

It's just like when Ana says to Else in Frozen

"The Suns awake, so I'm awake."

So out of desperation I decided to contact the Gro Company and see if I could review their Gro Clock.

I had heard great things from other bloggers and my Sister in Law swears by hers.

They were lovely enough to say yes and sent one out to me straight away.

The Gro Clock;

FEATURES

• Glowing screen shows images of stars and sun to communicate ‘sleep’ and ‘wake-up’ time
• Includes fun bedtime story book
• Stars go out one-by-one during the night to show the passing of time
• Key-lock option
• Option to set two separate wake-up times (weekday/weekend or night-time/day-time nap)
• Adjustable screen brightness
• Silent operation
• Optional audible alarm feature
• Mains powered (adapter included)
• Suitable from age 2+ years
• Conforms to highest applicable British and European Standards
• Educational option of showing digital clock during the ‘stars to sun’ countdown
• “Mr Star” night time graphic
• Beautifully illustrated bedtime storybook

The night that it arrived I sat the twins down and explained what it was and what it meant.

They looked at me like I was talking another language, so I told them to listen to the story and hoped they'd understand by the time the story was finished.....

Thankfully it had sunken in and they were ready to prove to me they understood what it meant when the clock was blue and when it was yellow.

I set the clock so that the sun would come up at 7am.

That would leave me to get up at 6.30 and potter around without all the chaos and commotion of having them all up early and it gave me a bit of a lay in too.

Getting up at 5am is no fun, it leaves us all feeling grumpy and miserable for the rest of the day.

To be honest I wasn't 100% sure it would work but I crossed my fingers as I went to bed that night....

To my amazement the boys did stay asleep until 6.30 which is a bit of a record for them and when they came through to my room, I asked them if their special sun had come up to which they replied No. 

So I questioned them ...."what does that mean?!"

 They both replied .... "We should still be in bed"

To which they both went back off to bed and stayed their chatting quietly until the sun had come up.

We've been using the Gro Clock for around two weeks now and they are still waking up before the sun but only by 15 to 10 minutes before the sun is due up. 

They aren't running through to us screaming or shouting as soon as they wake, they just sit in their room quietly and I'm pretty happy with that!

The 5am wake up calls have stopped and we all are 100% happier for it!

"Getting lots of sleep, you see, gives us bags of energy.

So if you want a day of fun,

stay in bed until the sun!"

You can buy the Gro Clock from the Gro Store.

3 Steps Towards That Once In A Lifetime Family Holiday

As a parent, you may find that you don't spend as much quality time with your kids as you would like. This is not for want of trying - but all too often, life just gets in the way, and family life becomes driven by routine. 

Shaking up that routine, however, can be a huge benefit for both parent and child alike. Modern families operate very differently to the way they did thirty or forty years ago - the notion of eating dinner together has vanished from a huge proportion of households, and the rise of technology has meant that young children are spending less time outside and more time in front of a screen. 

Parents also spend more time working, commuting and ferrying their kids around - and even Mum deserves a break too! That's why a big family holiday can be the best way to reconnect with your kids among the madness of everyday life. 

It is also something on many people's bucket lists: to take their kids away on a once in a lifetime trip that they'll remember forever. 

But pulling off such an excursion is easier said than done. There's a lot of money involved, and you want to make sure you pick somewhere that appeals to everyone (something that's quite hard if you have kids of different ages). 

However, if have faith in your planning abilities and you're dead set on giving your children the holiday they always dreamed of, here are a few ways to bring that dream to life.

Image source

Get your finances in order

There's no shying away from the fact that ANY family holiday costs a lot of money. But if you want to do something special next year, you'll need to start rethinking the way in which you handle your finances. 

The first thing to consider is where the bulk of the money is going to come from. You may already have a tasty savings pot, or perhaps you were fortunate enough to come into some inheritance a few years ago. If this isn't the case, however, you may need to get a little more inventive. 

One such way you can access the money required to fund such a trip is by looking into home owner loans.

Unlike other loans (questionable payday lenders, we're looking at you!), a home owner loan is secured against your property, making it altogether more reliable.

A lot of people use their home owner loan to see their kids through university or to reinvest back into the house, but there's nothing to stop you putting some of the funds towards a vacation either.

Pick something suitable

Trying to find a holiday that means everybody's requirements can be a pretty complex process. Your youngest might want nothing more than to go to Disneyworld, but you know full well that your eldest would sulk the whole time if your holiday revolved around talking animals and princesses. In this instance, you may want to try and meet in the middle; for example, booking a vacation to America and traveling through South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 

That way, you can visit Disneyworld for those who are interested, but your whole vacation doesn't revolve around it. Don't be afraid to think outside the box, either. 

Africa may not be the go-to option for family vacations, but it boasts some surprisingly beautiful beach resorts, and taking your kids on safari is something they'll never forget.

Image source

Set some rules in place before you leave

Holidays are all about having fun and relaxing. 

So, the last thing you want is for your children to be fighting the whole time you are there, or for there to be a sour atmosphere in the air. 

This type of behavior can have a knock-on effect on the whole holiday, which in turn can leave a bad taste in everyone's mouths. When you start planning the excursion, sit your children down and explain that you will only be going on the trip if they promise to show good behaviour.

Making efforts to change any bad behavior before jetting off will help you feel calmer about the whole thing. Also, make sure you are prepared to deal with all the eventualities that traveling with kids can bring. A screaming child on an airplane is no fun for anyone, least of all the parent of said child! So bring plenty of onboard entertainment to keep them occupied throughout the journey. 
Laying down the ground rules and being prepared simply means you will have more chance to sit back and enjoy your well-deserved break.

*Collaborative Post.

Hiding From The Sun With Fuzzy-Felt.

Last week was sooo hot that we often found ourselves hiding away indoors.

During one of our hide out sessions we decided to open up the Paw Patrol Fuzzy-Felt pack that we were sent from John Adams

Inside the box you get,

Over 70 assorted felt shapes,

Ideas Leaflet

Felt play board.

Ru loves Paw Patrol and he needed no instructions on what to do with the felt pieces, he instantly started making pictures with the different pieces.

He really enjoyed making different pictures and showing me the end results.

The felt shapes stick nicely to the play board and they're is a nice selection of different pieces to choose from.

Ru spent a good half an hour making up different scenes and chatting away to himself whilst he did so.

Making up little scenes and playing with the Paw Patrol team.

It was the perfect activity to keep Ru entertained whilst we kept him in from the sun for a bit.

The twins have also had a play with it and both enjoyed it as much as Ru did.

We've never had a Fuzzy-Felt toy before, but I certainly will be buying more when looking for Christmas or birthday presents.

Paw Patrol Fuzzy-Felt is suitable for children aged 3-6yrs.

Fuzzy-Felt is one of Britains best loved toys!

You can buy this Paw Patrol Fuzzy-Felt from amazon for £12.99.

Weekend Vibes..

It wasn't a weekend filled with excitement but I thought I would share what we got up too.

With Jon's back still healing we are very limited to what we can do, as he isn't allowed to be in a car or walk too far, but we tried to make it as fun for the boys as we could.

Saturday

We put up our new framed posters in the lounge, we recently had a re-jig in the lounge and are trying to put our own stamp on it rather than have it looking like it came out of the Next catalogue.

So both Jon and I picked one of our favourite films and found a poster ....

Mine is My Neighbour Totoro and Jon's is The Goonies.

The lounge is really becoming how we both want it to look.

One of the best things about the lounge is that there are no toys in there!

The twins had a party to attend in the afternoon, so I took them off and left Jon with Ru and Noah.

The party was over the road at the lavender farm, so before we went into the play barn I got the boys to take a picture next to the rows of lavender and of course they couldn't pose nicely, they both had to dab...

I also managed to get a quick snap of a bumblebee as we headed off towards the barn.

I'm going to have to go back with my camera and see if I can capture some better pictures.

The boys had a nice time at the party and were both ready for bed by the time we got back home.

They ate their cake and goodies from their party bag whilst the rest of us had dinner.

Once the boys were all in bed I cracked on with my cross stitch as I was determined to finish it before we settled down to watch Dr Who.

Sunday.

After the morning tidy up, I sat down with the boys and we had a bit of a Lego session.

They had been given a couple of sets for their birthday and Rupert found my Wonder Woman set that has been sat on my bedside table forever.

We then sat down and played a few games which I had been sent, but you'll find out about those in another post.

Sam came over and kept Noah entertained and the twins and Ru sat down to watch Goosebumps, one of their favourite films at the moment.

When they weren't playing games with me or in their rooms they were in the garden on their bikes.

Whilst the boys were busy in the garden I decided that I would put up all my cross stitch projects up on the kitchen wall....

It's a work in progress as I have more kits in the post.

I'm really enjoying my new hobby.

Once dinner was finished and Sam had gone home we sat down and did some homework with the boys.

As you can see it wasn't really that exciting but the boys all had fun just chilling and playing.