League of Super Evil

The boys have decided to start off the day by watching some recordings of League of Super Evil. They find this cartoon extremely amusing and as lovely as it is to hear them laughing at it and enjoying it, I am not sure how much I can stand! We have loads of episodes recorded so it could be something they decide to do all day!

Mars Rover Lego Designs

The boys have been really excited learning about the Mars Rover and therefore decided to make some out of Lego. Here are their designs, they hope you like them! As you can see, they both think that plants will be found on Mars, they feel there is still life there and cannot wait to see what signs of this are found by the exploration going on there. 

Fantastic Blog!

We have just been looking at this most amazing blog. They have some fantastic lego designs . The pictures above was our favourite, but why not have a look yourself and see which one you like the best. Drop us a comment and let us know! They were truly spectacular!

Review : Lego Technic 9391 Crane/Bulldozer

The boys had never had Lego Technic before and so they were really excited about getting this LEGO Technic 9391: Tracked Crane . It is for age 8-12 and they did notice the difference in difficulty, needing help with putting it together. However, they absolutely loved it when it was built, especially all of the moving parts. Toby liked the fact that it span round and the crane arm goes up and down as well as the proper track wheels. He said that it was just like a proper crane.

Review : Toy Story 3 : Evil Dr Porkchop Attacks

 This Toy Story game has been a great hit with Toby and Sam. You set up the various stages of the stunt kit and then set off a chain reaction. There are several stages where once you hit the first button, you then move a figure that hits the next button and so on. At the end there is even a car which breaks in half, much to the children's delight.

Toby said it was so cool and if you collect all three sets you can join them all together and make a big set. Sam loved it and also said it was cool.

It was also great for their imagination as they made games around it which made it even more fun.

Exciting Robot News!

There has been an exciting development in robot research. Not only is there now a robot that can change its shape to get in to small spaces, it now can camoflage itself as well. It does not stop there either with the camouflage not only limited to colour which is controlled by dye running through it down wires, but it can have thermal camouflage as well where hot or cold liquid is passed through it and even fluorescent, It may not look much like it in the picture, but it has been designed to act a bit like a sea creature and it is felt it will be useful for some types of medical training and search and rescue operations. More details about this ground breaking design can be found in this BBC article. Exciting Stuff!

Birthday Fun

Toby and Sam have their seventh birthday today - so happy birthday boys! They are having lots of fun with their new toys and I am sure they will want to review them all soon. Of course they had new Lego but also some cool hot wheels cars, toys story stunt sets, Geomax car sets and many other cool things. Once they have had a chance to play with them all, we will work on some reviews.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOBY AND SAM!!

Review : Lego Cars Mack's Team Truck

This LEGO®Cars 8486 : Mack's Team Truck looks irresistible to all boys. It is the truck form the cars film and not only comes complete with a Lightning McQueen car that fits inside but also a selection of tools. It provided a lot of great fun.

This Lego truck actually stayed made up for very much longer than many of the other Lego items we have bought in the past. Often the boys like to take things apart and then mix them in with the rest of tehir Lego, but this one stayed whole for months. They enjoyed playing with it as it was but also stuffing the truck with all sorts of other things and transporting them around.

The boys both thought it was very cool.

Earning Pocket Money

I do not believe in giving pocket money without children earning it well that's what I tell the children anyway as they do not know they have a child trust fund! I think it does them good to understand about the value of money by having to work for it.

They earn stickers by helping out in the house and behaving well. Once they have 10 stickers the earn £1 and they have a bank account to pay it into when they want to.

As a child I did not get a formal financial education form my parents but I observed how they saved hard for what they wanted and hated being in debt if they were forced to borrow money to buy emergency items. Now, I am the same and save hard and spend wisely and I hope that I can teach the children the same thing.

At the moment they want to save up for toys, but I am really hoping that they will start to understand how important investment at an early age is and so by the time they have saved up for what they want, they will no longer want it. I am not sure that the desire for a Lego Robot or a Nintendo DS will wear off, but I hope that it will.

Review : Lego Mindstorms Robot

This LEGO 8547 Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Robot is the reason that Toby wants a robot so much. He has seen this in the Lego shop and cannot forget it. We have not bought one, as they are too expensive at the moment but it would be fantastic to get him one.

At the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2011, the Lego Education stand had lots of computers with Lego animals and minifigures attached to them to show children programming. You could make the  Lego figures that were attached to the computer move or make noises and it was all very expensive.

The Lego Education items are more expensive than their other ranges but they really are a great combination of computers programming and engineering and so a fantastic tool for any child who likes this sort of thing (as well as any parent!)

Lego Club

For any parents who do not have tehir children signed up to the Lego Club it is worth knowing that it is free to join. The children get regular comics/magazines and although they do have advertisements for their products in them, they are great fun too.

It is easy to join the club as well. Just go to the appropriate page on the Lego website here.

Review : Lego City Tank Truck

The boys have had two of these now and love them. The LEGO City 3180: Tank Truck is something which every bot will want and it takes a while to build but not too long. The best part is the petrol pump where the minifigure can have a go at filling the lorry with fuel. This was a definite winner with the boys and a Lego piece that took longer than usual before it was dismantled to be formed into other wierd and wonderful creations.

Olympic Fun

The boys have been so excited by the Olympics. They cannot wait for the Paralympics to start and they have even been going to bed wearing their Team GB wristbands. It is fantastic that they have found the games so inspiring.

Toby says that he would like to be in the Olympics either doing the pole vault or the gymnastics rings (which are both extremely easy according to him). Sam would like to play badminton. Who knows what the future holds for our children and hopefully we will have some fit and healthy youngsters who have some great ambitions whether they are sport related or not.

Buying Cheap Toys

One problem that parents always have is the expense of having children. It is lovely to be able to buy them everything that they want but paying for it can be difficult. Discount vouchers and codes can make a big difference when you are buying online and I have found that by using Quidco I have saved a lot of money over the years.

Review : Lego Rescue Robot

This is the LEGO®Creator 5764 : Rescue Robot for ages 7-12. The boys really liked the idea of this because of the light brick in it and it did not fail to please.

The model can be built in to three different things the rescue robot robocat and laserbot. This is great for children who like to rebuild models mine decided to keep it as the robot and never attempted to make any of the other designs. He did enjoy removing the light brick and using it in other models that he constructed.

Toby really liked the light brick and said that he particularly liked the fact that there were Lego pieces in this set that he had never had before.