We have an easel with whiteboard set up in our kitchen. For the two years we’ve had it, it’s been an invaluable educational and social tool! We use it to explain things when helping out with homework, for playing Pictionary and just for fun! As Mrs ToysOnline is French, we’re a bilingual family, so the easel is also invaluable when it comes to teaching language, where daddy is usually the main beneficiary of its benefits. Have you any idea how humiliating it is to be taught stuff by a 4 year old?

Anyway, yesterday I thought it would be great fun if everyone drew an alien. There’s 4 of us in our family; mum, dad, big sis and little sis! Can you guess whose is whose? Looking at our aliens, I think each one is very consistent with our personalities, they eash say a lot about their respective creators.

Our easel is from the French toy company Janod. It’s height adjustable, has a paper roll holder, blackboard and white board and comes with paper and loads of accessories. You can get this Janod easel here.

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Jody Parenting, Reviews, Toys and Parenting

We have our very own Sophie’s doll house at the ToyBlog HQ so we decided a nice dad and daughter activity might be to do a video review of it, so here we are - we hope you like it and find it useful. It was a very enjoyable production to make, we hope you like it as much!

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Jody Reviews doll houses, le toy van, review

The Toy Blog crew were in Edinburgh over the May bank holiday weekend. For in flight entertainment on the journey home, we decided to take advantage of a three for two children’s book offer in Borders bookshop. This was despite appeals from no. 2 to buy an “In the Night Garden” board book. No way I was buying that. It might appeal to kids but it just can’t be right exposing them to that level of nonsense!

Anyway, one of the three children’s books I chose, somewhat randomly I must add, was a book called “No Matter What” by Debi Gliori. Small is feeling a bit blue and wonders if anyone loves him at all. He’s angry and sad and a bit confused. He wonders how it all works and if his mum loves him. It’s a beautiful story of human vulnerability and the basic need to be loved. Large, Small’s mum, reassures him that she loves him “no matter what”.

Brave Themes

What I really like about this book is that it raises two themes that are very important to children but that can be difficult to deal with as parents. The first of these is anger. Small is feeling “grim and dark”. He throws things around the room. He wonders if anyone loves him.  It can be confusing and scary for children when they experience anger. It’s important that children know that it’s natural to be angry and that it’s ok. They need to be free to express their emotions and it’s important that, as parents, we provide an environment where our children know they can talk about these things and they are listened to and taken seriously.

Sometimes, irrational fears in children can be a result of repressed anger. The way this can play out is that a child is angry for some reason, say, at a parent for not letting them watch TV, or whatever. This feeling of anger can scare them and they can feel guilty about it. Sometimes, the child can transfer this anger onto something else, dogs for example. So it is the angry dog they are scared of. This is easier for the child to deal with than facing up to their own anger. So, it’s important children realise anger is a normal emotion and that we help them to work through their feelings. So, it’s good for them to see characters in books experience normal emotions that they feel too.

The second important theme is fear of separation and death. Towards the end of the book, small wonders if love can “wear out” or break. He also wonders if, when they’re “dead and gone”, will his mum still love him then? I was very surprised and rather unprepared when my elder daughter, at around 4 years old, worried about what would happen when she died. Apparently this fear is common in young children but it’s not fear of death itself that worries the little creatures, all they know about death is that it means separation from their parents and it is this that scares them. This fear is brought out very gently in this book and Large comforts small with the reassuring image of the stars in the night sky, comparing their consistency with her love.

Conclusion

We have two daughters aged 2.5 and 6 years. Both of them love this book and fight over it at bedtime! It comes with a CD and our older girl loves popping it in the CD player and reading along with it. I think there are two things that really appeal to children in this story. The vulnerability of Small, his need for reassurance that he’s loved no matter what and even when he’s angry or when he’s been bad. The other appealing thing is the reassurance from Large that he is loved “no matter what”. The series of “even if… would you love me then?” scenarious provide warm comfort that a parent’s love is unshakeable. A really lovely book that is honest and warm and that your child will identify with.

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Jody Reviews Anger, Book Review, Debi Gliori, No Matter What, review

What is it?

Well, they call it “Dublin Children’s Museum” but I think the title is a little misleading. Basically, it’s two floors of indoor fun for children of all ages. There are many different play areas each with their own play themes and accessories. We’ll describe it all in more detail later.

Booking

The Imaginosity website advises booking in advance if you intend visiting on weekends or school holidays. Booking online was painless, just enter the date of your visit at https://www.imaginosity.ie/book/index.php and then click on the 2-hour time slot that suits you (only available time slots are shown). In the end, we needn’t have booked, but it was a nice day and perhaps less busy than normal.

Getting There

Getting there was almost easy. I printed the Google Maps directions which are conveniently accessed from this page on the Imaginosity website. However, once you are on Blackthorn Road in Sandyford, it is extremely easy to miss. I was expecting a prominent enough sign, but there was none. I should also have printed Imaginosity’s directions.  Imaginosity is in the Beacon complex if you look closely enough and squint, you’ll see Imaginosity on the small signs.

First Impressions

Our slot was 10am on Sunday morning. The entrance is bright and cheerful and the staff were extremely friendly. You know you’re somewhere child friendly straight away. We were visiting with our two girls aged 6 and 2.5 and they both got stamps on their wrists upon entering.

First Floor - Miniature Town - Role Play

This is where we spent the first 45 minutes of our visit and is where our girls had the most fun. The area is laid out like a miniature town. There’s a garage, supermarket, bank, doctor’s surgery, diner, library and post office. The first thing to strike you as you enter is a full sized smart car modified for junior drivers. The interior is fitted with a monitor and touch screen control panel. Using the steering wheel and foot pedals, you can “drive” the car like you’re in a video game. This is really only suitable for older children as younger ones won’t reach the pedals. It took a while to work out how to get the car started.

We felt most activities could benefit from either more interaction from staff, explaining what is to be done and how, or, at least, instruction signs or sheets, explaining how to use stuff.

Next was the super market. This is, by far, the most fun activity in Imaginosity - for us anyway. This one had our whole family involved. You get a shopping list and trolley and must go around the supermarket and find all the things on your list. The supermarket is very well stocked and has tons of play food stalls. There’s a butcher, a section for fresh bread and pastries, fresh fruit and vegetables, tinned foods and drinks. Once your child is done filling their trolley, it’s checkout time. The checkout is fully equipped with a manually operated conveyor belt, cash register and beeping bar code scanner. This is where a parent or sibling can come in. We had great fun… daddy operated the conveyor, mummy scanned the items and little sister was the volunteer from the local school packing the bags and putting the toiletries in with your fresh meat.

This activity too could have benefited from a little instruction from staff. It was a little while before we realised there were shopping lists and initially our elder girl just went around filling the trolley. The shopping list makes it more fun and sets the child an objective. It makes all the difference. A little engagement from staff could help kids get a lot more from the experience.

Next was the Eddie Rockets style diner. This is where our younger girl (2.5) had a real blast. There are tables and stools for customers and a fully equipped kitchen. There are menus and our girl got a great kick out of taking our orders. There are drinks machines that make gurgling noises when the button is pressed. I had at least 20 coffee refills! My toast was actually a bread loaf from the super market - but we thought it wise not to complain to the manager! Little sister got so into this activity that she started stealing orders indended for other kids and was brining coffee and sandwiches to the other parents!

During our shopping antics, I accidentally scratched big sister on the cheek. There was only one thing for it. She had to be rushed to the doctor’s surgery. I placed her on the examination table and used one of the 50 stethoscopes to listen to her heartbeat. I also listened to her forehead, feet and elbows. That got a bit of a laugh. An X-ray was required. There is a box full of real x-rays and one of those x-ray display thingies that you’ve seen on telly. It would be a lie to say that the kids were the only ones fantasising in here!

Once big sister had made a full recovery, it was time to deliver the post. The post office was full of letters and parcels to be delivered all over town. So off we set… a small letter for Dr Appleaday’s Surgery - in it went into the letter box. A big parcel for the Garage, a letter for the bank.

For the under twos, there is a closed off cushioned area which has the same idea. There is a little house with a door and doorbell. Visitors must ring the bell and normally get invited in for a cup of tea. The little ones then get busy in the fully equipped kitchen rustling up tea and biscuits for the visitors. Only one problem… no tea cups!! This brings up another grievance we had. Maybe Imaginosity is suffering from a little wear and tear, but it seemed that some activities were missing the critical bits and pieces needed to fully exploit idea.

Second Floor - Create and Imagine

There are two main themes to the second floor. The first is a construction/creative theme. There are a number of activities involving building and construction that will especially appeal to boys. One of my favourites was the giant sized wooden blocks. We made a huge building that DD decided was a church. We attracted lots of diapproving looks when the demolition started.

One of the main features of the second floor is a fully equipped theatre. There are controllable spot lights and a fully equipped wardrobe and stage. This activity really needed some co-ordination and structure. It’s a little much to expect kids to conceive and carry out their own theatre productions in the space of a half-hour. It really needs the involvement of staff to put some structure on it. Perhaps this happens on occasion - but while we were there it was completely unattended.

Also, on the second floor there is a big doll house, musical activities and an area for the under ones.

The second floor would be of more interest to older children - it wasn’t very interesting for our 2.5 year old who was a little lost there. It wasn’t long before they were asking to go down.

Half way through the visit, the roof garden was opened up. This is a curious affair. There is a underground play badger house that smells like an underground badger house. As an engineer, the most curious feature of the roof garden was a solar panel that was in the shade at 12pm!

Food

At 12:30, little sister was getting hungry and just a little cranky. We decided to eat in the in-house cafe. Mum and dad had the Pannini and coffee deal for €6. The kids had ham sambos and Caprisun. I don’t remember how much they were but it all seemed reasonable enough and the quality was good. The coffee was excellent!

Conclusions

All in all, a terrific 2.5 hours of fun for both girls. Neither wanted to leave and we’re now under pressure to commit to a date for the next visit! We had two gripes. Firstly, we felt that most activities could benefit from the engagement of staff to put a little structure on things and help the kids get the most out of each activity and tell them what they’re supposed to do. In the absence of participation by staff, we felt there could be a lot more by way of instruction. For some activities it can take a while to establish what the objective is. Secondly, much of the equipment seems to have fallen into a state of disrepair. A lot of the equipment wasn’t working and in some cases, this ruined the whole activity.

Toy Blog Tips:

• Read the website directions (don’t rely on Google!)
• Don’t forget the shopping list in the super market!
• Kids will get a lot more out of it with parent participation
• Go for the 10 to 12 slot at weekends. From 12 on it was getting busy and competition for equipment etc. is likely to increase after this
• Keep an eye on your kids if they go into the climber, we witnessed more than one distressed child inside

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Jody Reviews, Uncategorized days out, Imaginosity, Reviews