Zu3D Animation Kit Review

You may have noticed by now, that we live in Bristol. The land of snazzy bridges, waterways, graffiti and Morph. The latter may explain why L has always been completely obsessed with animation. Particularly stop-motion. I even started putting them on YouTube. This 54 second Minecraft animation has been viewed over 2,000 times and it shows how you really don't have to be an animation pro to have a lot of fun with this hobby. He was just nine then and I think we are living in an amazing age of technology, when children of any age can make their own films. We were sent the Zu3D Animation Kit free for L to try and these are our thoughts.

Halloween Spectacular at The Wild Place Project, Bristol

The Wild Place Project, near Cribbs Causeway in Bristol, is a sister park to Bristol Zoo. It opened in 2013 and we have been regular visitors ever since. It has been lovely to watch it grow and expand and it is obvious that the staff and keepers have a great affection for the place. The emphasis is very much on the welfare of the animals and their habitats and this is my favourite aspect of the park. It is very close to our house, so we visit a lot, but this time we were invited to review the new Halloween Spectacular, taking place over half term (21st-29th October) and received free admission in return for letting you know what we thought about it.

Halloween Competition! Win a Monster High Draculaura Doll

Bristol Zoo Events for Children

It's been over a year since our last Bristol Zoo Review and this post is a bit different to the last one. This time, I really want to focus on the additional events that are provided on a seasonal basis, as part of your ticket price  Bristol Zoo puts a lot of effort into making the venue even more entertaining for children in the school holidays and so we're going to be reviewing the recent events we attended, as well as those that are coming up in the near future. Most importantly, the next activity in the Zoo's calendar; the Halloween Festival. Obviously, we can't actually review it, as it hadn't happened at the time of writing, but we can tell you all about it. 

The Importance of Movement in Children and a Competition with Reima

The title of this post may sound like an obvious statement, but, as with all parenting essentials, it's surprisingly easy to take your eye of the ball (sorry about the pun) and find that physical activity has gone by the wayside. Particularly as the nights draw in and the weather turns colder and wetter, you may find the family as a whole favouring the warmer indoors and getting less exercise as a result. Obviously, it's less safe for children to be outside when the evenings are dark, so how can we make sure movement and fitness are part of life and not something we have to remind ourselves to do? 

Insomnia: How to Get Back to Sleep

There are different types of insomnia. Some people can't get to sleep at all, and lie awake for hours counting the minutes until the alarm goes off, where as some people sleep for a little while, then wake up and can't get back to sleep. I usually fall into the second category and I have found that there isn't a huge amount of advice available for getting back to sleep, once you've woken up. I've written before about the thoughts that keep me awake at night, and I even wrote a poem about insomnia, with help from my son, but I thought it was time I shared some of the ideas that have worked for me.

Win Christina Aguilera Perfume