Bestest Christmas Gift Guide – LEGO Hero Factory
Way way back, many centuries ago, my then-7yr old son fell in love with LEGO Bionicles. Remember them? For my LEGO-mad boy, they were the ultimate in amazingness. Big robotic-looking creatures with an entire world created around them. the figures came in tubs, and were magnificent when arrayed along a shelf – and excellent to play with too, having jointed limbs and awesome weaponry involving waving ice swords and actually really...
Bestest Christmas Gift Guide – Farmville Hungry Hungry Herd
For all the digital gubbins in my children’s life, I find there’s still a place for the old traditional board game. There’s nothing quite like being gathered around the table on a wet Sunday afternoon, yelling and shouting at each other as you desperately try to win (competitive? us? ). One of our old trusty favourites form when the boys were really small was Hungry Hippos – and it’s still as madly fought...
Bestest Christmas Gift Guide – Clara, The Dress Up Doll. LOOK!
Have you met Clara yet? Oh, you’re going to LOVE her. Y’see, Clara is grumpy. She does not like having to stand around in her grumpy pants AT ALL. This gorgeous set of two oversized postcards & extra outfits has all you need to dress Miss Clara up in her favourite clothes. Reminiscent of the paper dolls we used to play with when we were little – and I admit it, I’ve not cut these up, I have stashed...
Woah! The ATK – All Terrain Kart!
Back when I was a kid my brother and I always had a go-kart project on the go. We were always thinking up, working on and scouring for materials to built the ultimate go-kart. Sometimes we did actually achieve working models but they did fall apart too soon. Kids today are so very lucky because all they need to satisfy their go-karting dreams is the ATK – All Terrain Kart. Oh wow. I would’ve given every last coin in my...
Bestest Christmas Gift Guide – the Micro MX Trixx Scooter. It’s sick. Dude.
Scooters – we love them, don’t we? But the trouble is, once they’re past the scooting-happily-along-to-nursery stage, they get a bit older, a bit braver… and they want to ‘do’ stuff. Tricksy stuff. And those early (safe) scooters just don’t cut it for your average 9yr old. Oh no. They want to do STUNTS. They aim to master Hops and Ollies, 180’s, Stalls and maybe even the Tail Whip. Uh...
Minecraft – a Top Ten Tips for Parents
Minecraft – if your child is not already playing it, they’ll have a membership near the top of their Christmas list, I’m guessing. But do you actually understand what it is? How it works? The risks and pitfalls of letting your child loose online within its confines? No, I didn’t either, to begin with. Thankfully I have a young teen who has been a Minecraft fanatic since the very first Beta version wa-a-a-y back...