Sadly these are not real doughnuts but Zach was adamant they were!
Instead they are the pieces in a fast paced grab game Dough Nab, and, after a few rounds of nabbing action, you are grateful they aren’t real as they woud not be looking their best!
Dough Nab contains 3 plastic doughnuts and a pile of shaped cards, a turn taker to help keep track and a winner’s hat to wear when you win a round.
The game is aimed at over 8s but Anya is 7 and was able to understand the rules and join in (Zach was happy to sit in the corner with a fake doughnut and leave us in peace!)
The game is aimed at 3 to 6 players, cards are shuffled and then distributed. The cards are turned over and if there are a matching set then nab that doughnut!
There are also special cards to shake things up a bit and increase the speed and tension in the round.
The fastest nab gets the head baker hat for the next round. Make sure you agree how many rounds, otherwise the kids might never let the game end!
I played with Matthew and Anya so we removed one of the doughnuts and the associated cards, otherwise we all could have nabbed and therefore the round wouldn’t have worked.
The rules are quick to learn and the rounds are speedy. This would be a great addition to family games night or to keep the whole family entertained during the school holidays.
Dough Nab is available at Amazon and other retailers, with an rrp of £20.
*We were sent this game for the purpose of this review
Day 279: I have been taking these supplements after my latest set of blood tests and will be interested to see if they make any difference when I get the next lot done! These were bought from Amazon and were good value for money.
Day 280: night out with fellow bloggers at the VIP opening event for Cosy Club in Basingstoke. The atmosphere was great and I want to go back to try more of their vegan range and cocktails!
Day 281: another night out, this time an informal PTA meeting. It was so strange walking there and back in the dark, roads that I’m used to in daylight are quite scary by moonlight
Day 282: Zach has been struggling a little at preschool so we have been working on promoting turn taking and sharing
Day 283: we had a subtle reminder to sew on badges so I got to work (it’s been on my to do list since before the summer holiday, oops!)
Will you discover you are a master or still a student? New game Slap Ninja will tell you!
Hone your ninja fast reflexes against your opponent: the master (and his giant hand) are worked using a trigger mechanism and he needs to slap away the hand of the student trying to touch his red coin button.
If the master slaps their opponent’s hand or the student pushes the button, that person gets a point and a light comes on. The first person to score three times serves the loser with a big zap!
This is a very fast paced game as it doesn’t take long to score three times, plus the idea is to be lightning quick reaching for the button or pulling the trigger.
There were times that the hand would slap the student but not register which could be a little frustrating for the master. We worked out that particular angles worked better and made it fair for both players.
Music plays once the game has started and this helps to increase the anticipation. The vibration and noise is a fun way to get zapped, although be aware that children with sensory concerns may find this overwhelming.
The game itself is very easy to learn and, although aimed at children over 4, Zach aged 3 was able to play against his older siblings.
But don’t just take my word for the fun! Here is a video from JAKKS so you can see the game in action:
Slap Ninja has an RRP of £20 and is available from all good toy stores
*we were sent this game for the purpose of this review
Ooh, my heartstrings have been pulled with this book! Nina and Robyn both lost their husbands and volunteer at the shop which supports the charity which helped them through their darkest hours. When the shop closes, they both feel a bit lost so join the crusade in their neighbourhood to transform a rundown garden area for the local community and raise money for charity instead.
On the personal front, both women face the prospect of new love, something which Robyn relishes but Nina is terrified of giving her heart away again, feeling like she is cheating on her late husband.
The community project gains publicity and funds so a professional gardener assists them. Love begins to bloom between Nina and Colm…
Sadly the garden is wrecked by vandals and the developing romance is rocked by past love. Can there be a happy ending?
The Garden on Sparrow Street is a beautifully emotional book. The loss and grief that Nina has experienced is achingly believable, and her doubts and fears are also realistic. Her friendship with Robyn adds humour and conflict to the novel. The hope and love in the book are inspiring and moving and as readers we are able to root for the success of the garden and Nina’s lovelife.
There is great sadness in the book but this is softened by a comedy element provided by the peripheral characters. Tilly Tennant has constructed a community that her readers will become a part of as they involve themselves in the narrative.
As the cold winter nights draw in, escape to the sleepy town of Wrenwick, where the streets sparkle with snow and a lonely young widow is about to find that true love really can strike twice…
As Christmas cheer fills Sparrow Street with excitement, grieving widow Nina is having a hard time. December is always a difficult month to face without her beloved husband Gray, the days feel long and bleak, and to cap it all, she’s just lost her job.
So when Nina hears that Sparrow Street’s Community Garden, one of Gray’s favourite places, is to be put up for sale she knows she must do something. Filled with purpose, she gathers the residents of Sparrow Street around her to turn the neglected patch of land into a Garden of Memories.
Working with her neighbours, single mum Kelly and eighty-year-old Ada, Nina soon finds that she’s not the only lonely soul on Sparrow Street. And as the community comes together and the garden flourishes, Nina can’t help but be drawn to Irish gardener Colm with his sparkling blue eyes and kind heart, finding herself confiding in him about all her recent troubles.
But just as Colm and Nina grow closer and he opens up to her about his own secret loss, Colm’s estranged wife returns from Scotland, wanting to try again. Nina knows she should let the man she’s falling for go – it’s the right thing to do. But what if fate has other plans in store? Will the beautiful garden on Sparrow Street have brought two people together only for Nina’s cautious heart to push them apart?
If you love an uplifting, moving love story, then The Garden on Sparrow Street is the perfect romantic read to curl up with on a winter’s afternoon. Fans of Josie Silver and Carole Matthews will love this book!
Author Bio:
Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing. She wrote a novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. In 2016 she signed to the hugely successful Bookouture and is currently working on her next Tilly Tennant novel. She also writes as Sharon Sant, where she explores the darker side of life, and Poppy Galbraith, where things get a little crazier.
Well, I think the prize for the cutest toy of the year will go to this one! Meet Juno, My Baby Elephant!
Anya was a little dwarfed by the box; well, it is an elephant!
When you first remove Juno from the box, put batteries in straightaway! These are not provided and we tried to interact with Juno and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working! Once the batteries were in, the little elephant came to life…
She starts off incredibly shy and hiding behind her ears. Stroking pressure points on the head and trunk as advised in the instructions develops a bond with your child and begins the friendship.
Juno comes with a peanut and little mouse to interact and play games with. It was such a surprise for us all the first time that she swung her trunk around!
The eye movements and capacity to blink make this so realistic, as do the movements of the head and trunk. Juno makes a range of vocalisations (have a look at the video at the end of this post and see if you agree with me about Juno blowing bubbles rather than farting as Zach claims!)
There are a whole host of games and tricks that children can instigate and ‘teach’ the elephant. These take time to develop and are fun for the children to check on progress and development of young Juno. She encourages nurturing behaviour as well as music and memory skills.
Aimed at children aged 5+ and with an rrp of £80, Juno is simply gorgeous. The purple grey tone to the skin is a lovely colour and I think the addition of the blue on the ears means that boys won’t feel this is too girly. The box does say the elephant is female, but in fact Juno could be either gender and encourages interactive play for boys and girls. All three of my children were desperate to get involved in playing! Zach needed to be more gentle especially as the trunk is quite delicate, hence the age suggestion of over 5s.
*I was sent this toy for the purpose of this review
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