Sabrina is a Lifestyle, Parenting and Product Review Blogger. A Writer, Photographer, Reviewer, Home Cook, Crafter & Nature Enthusiast. You will find a bit of all those categories here on Severn Wishes Blog, Welcome to Sabrina's Lifestyle Blogging & Honest Reviews.
The first time I heard of a Car Caddy I thought “what on earth is that?” but now I wouldn’t be without it! Especially when you’re a parent it’s hard enough to remember everything you need when you go out anyway, so a caddy gives you a bit of piece of mind that you have some essentials in the car that are relevant to your family dynamic.
For example, if you’re a new parent you would put everyone a spare outfit, nappies, wipes and the usual baby essentials in your caddy, so that if you ever got caught out with a mess and not enough items in your changing bag you know you’ve got extra in the car!
If you have a slightly older child/children like I do, you would still put a spare outfit, usually a drink and a snack, an educational toy and any medications that are required if you are going on any kind of journey. Anti allergy and sun cream are popular choices for us, as well as tissues.
As an adult a Car Caddy is perfect for keeping your vehicle tidy, you will carry your sun cream, bottled water, a sun hat and maybe even a change of clothes in the summer. But in the winter you’ll need items such as an ice scraper, a blanket, winter clothing like hat and gloves and even things such as a torch. A caddy is excellent for keeping these items tidy and in one place so you don’t fumble around the back seats or boot looking for them on a cold winter evening.
Keeping spare clothes, blankets, bottled water and other essentials in the car is a necessity all year round, in case of emergency such as people being poorly or even if you were to be unlucky and your vehicle brake down. You can grab your caddy out the back and sort people out while waiting for help, most of them come with a built in handle for easy transportation.
I used to have several re-useable carrier bags in the back of my car, and I found that when I went out I had no space for groceries or picking up family members. So when I got my caddy I only packed in it what was required for that month. As the seasons change you can simply bring your caddy in to your house and restock it with different items instead. Obviously if it gets emptied on a long journey you will restock it as and when required too.
Large handles on my caddy mean that it’s easy to transport, take in and out of the car and also great for when we may need it for picnic moments or days out, such as at the beach. A caddy isn’t just great for the car though, I used one as a nursing station with nappies and muslin cloths in, I also put snacks and water in for when I was breastfeeding and I moved it from room to room as necessary. Setting up where I was most comfortable. It would make a great gift for any new parent as well I think!
What’s inside my Car Caddy as of October 2023
1 Blanket 2 Bottles of Water 1 Small Portable Toys Box 1 Plastic Zipped Bag of Medicines, First Aid etc 1 Box of Tissues 1 Spare Change of Clothes (per person) 1 Small Bag of Snacks 1 Bottle of Hand Sanitizer 1 Portable Wooden Toy Box (check out my Instagram for how I made one)
As Winter approaches I will be adding my window ice scraper tool and another blanket. Plus some winter items like gloves, scarfs and hats just in case we go out and find that it is colder than we anticipated.
You can get several types of Caddy and more than a few styles, some have pockets on the outer edge like mine and others just have one at the front. You can choose to keep your caddy on the back seat of the car or in the boot. Mine goes in the middle so my son is able to reach things in it while I am driving such as his water bottle or his “on the journey” toys to keep him occupied.
I hope this blog post has given you some food for thought today, and perhaps if you already have a Car Caddy you can tell me what you have in yours?
Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year, and it should be enjoyed by people of all ages and of all abilities too. But as the cost of living goes up again with our need for heating on and more food, not to mention the loom of Christmas… most people will vote to stay in, worrying they cannot afford to go out.
Well I’m in the same boat as all of you again this season, knowing that money will be tight but I also want to make the most of weekends I have my son. School takes up so many hours of the week, and the majority of children don’t really want to be stuck inside (unless the weather is gale force and torrential rain!). So it’s important to come up with some cheap ideas that will suit everyone and that can be fun of course, so here’s what I do.
See what can you do for free in your local area. Where do you begin to look?
Start off by writing down on a piece of paper the people in your household, their ages and abilities.
Do you need toilets frequently, baby changing facilities or access for a pram or wheelchair?
Once you have established the type of place you need to find you can look up on an online map what is available for free in your area.
Check local free magazines in supermarkets, check out social media by searching in events local to you by so many miles radius.
Some of these things can include;
Public Footpaths. Canal Routes or Designated Walkways. Parks and Gardens. Local Heritage Sites. Castles or Stately Homes. Farms with Free Entry to look at Pumpkins, Flowers or do Maize Mazes. Nature Reserves with free car parking so you can do a Nature Walk to collect leaves. National Trust (some people will already be members, sometimes they have reduced entry fees).
What Can You Do While Out?
Enjoy a walk together as a family, don’t forget to take some photograph’s! Gather items to take home and make art and craft pieces another day. Go for a Nature Walk and talk about what you can see and hear (great for young children). Nature Bingo where you make a list before you go and then tick off the items as you find them. Discuss the life cycle of trees with older children and the importance of renewal each year.
(If you don’t mind spending a little money) Pumpkin Patch Picking Maize Maze or Woodland Trails Local Trust Properties or Heritage Sites
Sabrina’s Top Tip: Take a picnic or packed lunch with you, and drinks for everyone too which will save you money, even if you have to eat it in the car then it won’t matter because it’s still family time.
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Thank you for reading this blog post today, I do hope that I have given you some good ideas.
Have a great day and lots of fun if you take on board any of my tips!
How to make Birthday Bags on a Budget – it can be done!
My son recently had his birthday and a part of me was disheartened by the fact that I couldn’t afford to throw him a birthday party, one where his friends could come. We had family things going on all week but nothing with his school friends.
After talking to him about it one afternoon a week before his birthday, I asked him if he would like to do anything for his birthday on the day besides attend school, He said that he would like to share his favourite things with his school friends. I thought it was a lovely idea so we chatted about what sort of items he would include. After a lengthy conversation I decided we could do some birthday bags, and I hunted around for the best bargains. I was on a strict budget to I checked where things were on offer and started making a list.
So how do you make up a birthday bag?
You need either a birthday bag or a party bag, there are many varieties available online. You can get them usually with a handle so they are perfect for little hands to hold. I also chose to buy the plastic cones because I didn’t want Oreos to break up and/or go stale in the bags. This worked perfectly to break things up into sections, the Edibles and the Toys.
How do you stick to your Budget and get the best value?
✩ Sabrina’s Top Tips ✩
There are several ways to stick to budget and also find the best deals, here are my tips. 1. Decide your budget and make a list of what you need to buy. 2. How many are you buying for? Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy 50 bags than 20, bare this in mind. 3. Watch out for “lowest price in 30 days” and other useful slogans on offers. 4. Compare supermarkets online before you go out to do the shopping. 5. Use supermarket offers if you have a discount card with them. 6. Visit budget stores and compare the items you have seen online. 7. Always read the online reviews and filter by most recent as well. 8. Bulk Buy – Depending on whether you can reuse an item in the future for something else or even sell the remainder of the items on, bulk buying can be beneficial. (For us the Oreo’s were cheaper to bulk buy and so were the party bags). My son will happily eat any leftover biscuits let me tell you. 9. Work out the maximum you would like to spend, divide that by how many you are buying for, let’s say it’s 20 children. So divide your budget by 20, and you will understand how much it will cost to do a bag per child. Once you’ve made some essential purchases work out what is remaining of your budget and only spend what you have left. It might be that you have to buy a massive bag of sweets and divide them by hand into little sweet bags like I did with the Oreo biscuits.
Think smarter with your money and not buying things simply for convenience.
Why did we choose the items?
Picking for a mixture of genders is always tricky, but I don’t know a child who doesn’t love stickers and sweets / chocolate biscuits. Oreo is the choice because my son has food allergies but luckily he can eat original Oreo. The cars were because they were pull-back and super cool but also a car is gender neutral in my eyes, same goes for the bouncy balls. I asked all the parents (or my son told me) what peoples favourite colours were, and then labelled the bags and added the toys in accordingly. If I had someone who loved Red they got a red tie on their biscuit cone and they got a red car and a red ball. I would’ve loved to have included bubbles too but they would have sent me over budget. You could swap the bouncy balls for bubbles if your child would prefer those.
I divided the stickers between the children’s bags and kept the rest for my own reward charts at home, meaning each sheet only cost me 4 pence. Bargain!
Total Spent: £30.00 Total of Children: 16 Cost per Child: £1.79
I don’t think this was too bad, 16 happy children for less than £30 (as we had leftovers) and it was much cheaper than throwing a birthday party. My son got to share his favourite items with his friends too!
We have also got left over bouncy balls, birthday bags, cone bags, 6 sweet bags and 4 cars. The leftover pieces we can use whenever we like or give away at other occasions.
At the end of the day you can’t put a price on a child’s happiness and my son was over the moon to help me give out these little bags of joy to all of his friends at school, so that they could all celebrate his happy birthday together.
Thank you for reading this blog post today, I hope you have found it interesting and perhaps got a few useful tips in case you ever decide to do bags for your child’s birthday or a birthday party.
Today I am reviewing the back pack that I found Amazon that changed my life! If you’re like me and you are always having to put up with an adequate bag or whatever you can find, especially when it comes to a hand bag, then this article is for you. I was fed up of going down my local high street stores and not finding exactly what I wanted. Bags that were the right size but not secure because they didn’t have zips, or bags that weren’t rain proof, or even bags that didn’t have enough space or pockets. I needed something that was better, and now I finally found it!
Firstly I decided to give up on the regular hand bag or shoulder bag style, I couldn’t get what I wanted in them anyway, and so I started researching what I thought was the next best thing, turned out they are way more versatile, they are back packs. I found high street ones but they were always too big or too small. I needed it to be just right considering bags aren’t cheap it’s an investment. That’s when I found this one and on Amazon of all places!
The Yoelike Mini Back Packs come in lots of colours but I chose Red. (I may even get another one soon for when I want a different colour as a back up). Let me show you a couple of pictures of it.
Let me tell you more about this awesome bag!
Bag Information
Colour: Red (Available as of May 2023: Black, Navy, Tartan, Red and Purple). Size: 29cm High when stood up, 26cm Wide across the Bottom (30cm if a bottle present in the side pocket). 18cm from the front to the back, side width is 13cm. Material: Nylon. Pockets: 4 Outer Pockets and 2 Additional Inner Pockets Details: Adjustable Straps, Soft Nylon Fabric, Splash Proof, Top Strap, Strong Zips. Price: £17 – £22 (Estimate as of May 2023 but bound to fluctuate as an Amazon product). Amazon: Product Link
My Honest Opinion
Overall I would like to rate the bag 5✩.
Quality 5✩ Features 5✩ Design 5✩ Durability 5✩
The quality of this bag is excellent, overall I love that it is durable in all weathers and I have worn it in the rain, ice and sunshine without it altering the fabric. The pockets are a huge plus and a wonderful bonus to what is already a great product. To get so many internal spaces and pockets that are zipped, as well as the outer ones is wonderful. An amazing bag for anyone in need of the space and security that this particular item brings.
I would rate it very highly due to using it for several months on an almost daily basis, and item still looks brand new with very little wear to it. I have recommended it to friends who have already purchased one for themselves after seeing the quality of mine. There are no downsides to this bag whatsoever. The straps are adjustable, the colour choice means that there is something for everyone, and the size means it’s ideal for many people.
Some uses include Parenting, Days Out, Travelling Abroad, Weekends Away from home, Beach Trip, Students, Work Needs and Shopping. It’s also ideal for a wide range of age ranges from a student at school to an adult taking it to work.
As someone who has a chronic illness I have to carry lots of things with me sometimes. This bag allows me to do just that and it has many pockets so I’m able to allocate things according to my needs.
If I’m going out for a day I even have enough space to put some of my sons items inside which helps me by not needing to take another bag along.
My favourite parts of the bag are how soft and comfortable it is to wear and how many amazing pockets there are, and with them being multiple sizes with strong zips it’s a bonus too!
I would recommend this back pack to anyone, anyone looking for a great bag or to replace a current bag that is on its way out due to wear and tear, or if you’re going away and need a travelling bag this is great because some of the pockets are really secure for your valuables.
If you would like to watch a video of me using the bag then please head on over to my YouTube channel where you can find my vlog and product review…
Thank you so much for visiting Severn Wishes Blog today, I hope you enjoyed this review and have a wonderful day!
You can see my latest product reviews by following me on social media Search #SevernWishesBlog on Google or #SevernSabrina or please click here to follow me on Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / YouTube
I am a huge believer in passing on knowledge to people when it might be useful to them, and for many years I had considered being a teacher. However my life took a different direction once I went off to university. It didn’t stop me from coming up with things that others may find handy though, it was just one of many reasons I decided to start my blog all those years ago.
After I became a parent I found I was coming up with lots of hacks and tips for my son that other parents might also find useful. This particular blog post today is all about NUMBERS! My son learnt his numbers 1 to 10 very quickly thanks to my tips and tricks, by the time he started preschool at 3 he could count to 31. He is now 4 and thanks to my encouragement he can count to a whopping 500!
The fab thing about my tips is that you may already have some of these items laying around in your home that you can use, and if not you can make your own cards like I have also done. Check out online second hand and local shops if you don’t have anything, as well as asking friends who may have slightly older children if they could have a clear out for you.Let me tell you about how I introduced and taught my son about numbers.
Child Clocks or Numbered Blocks
Your baby may already have toys with numbers on, things for age 6 month plus normally have various things on them, you may find a mix of nature and numerical combinations or well known characters with basic shapes and or numbers too. Toys and playmats also sometimes have numbers, those talking toys certainly will, but teaching your little one how to recognise a number visually is important.
You can easily get wooden toys that contain clocks on them or boards with numbers that can be removed and set out in a numerical order. These toys are great for learning the starter numbers (1-10) but also for starting with basic mathematics too. I bought my son a board of numbers and he has a wooden clock as well gifted by a relative. The blocks in my image above were bought online and are of the brand Infantino, these BPA free plastic cubes have an array of animals and numerical variations on them such as dots and actual written numbers. They were some of the first numbers my son saw as a baby.
My son would like to count things around him, so say I gave him 4 smiley faces for his tea I would ask how many I had given him, soon he started counting everything. 2 swings at the park, 7 birds on the fence, 5 sheep in the field. And so on, and lots of praise and encouragement when they get something right is also essential. Make learning a fun thing to do and participate in.
You can also begin time telling by showing them a phone or a watch and asking them to find the time. If they have a child’s clock they can match that time. A children’s clock may just have turn-able clock hands or some have the digits that are also removeable too. For example it might be 10.30am so you ask them what that would look like on their clock and see if they select the numbers appropriately. Making it fun means that it is more likely to sink in to their mind. If they have breakfast at 7.30am every day, you could ask them what the time is on the kitchen clock if you have a steady routine, or if bedtime is 7pm too.
The Home Calendar Block
My calendar block is also a clock! Many of us will have a Calendar block at home, these blocks rotate daily and allow children to understand the passing of days into months. When my son was two I introduced him to my block set, and every single morning before breakfast we would rotate the blocks. I started by giving him one and me the other, I would say something like “Today is the 17th so we need a 1 and a 7, I have the 7, can you find me a 1 please?” And his interest developed from there. Soon I could ask him to find any of the numbers from One to Thirty One and he could place them on the block correctly. For the past two years we have done this every day and he has learnt to count up to 31 just by doing the calendar. My son also asked me why the months were different numbers, why it didn’t go up to Thirty Two and such, it sparked an interest which lead to me making his flashcards up to 50 numbers.
Flashcards – Bought or Homemade
Flashcards are great, you can buy them from most online toy retailers, or if are creative and have pens, like me you could make them. My son has 50 of these homemade numbers now, and thanks to some games he can count up to 500. He does number work at school, and even got an award recently for how good he was with counting numbers. Making it colourful and fun is inviting the child to participate. Always encourage but never force your child to learn, do it on their own terms when you are at home. Plus if it is fun they will be more likely to want to repeat the exercise. My son is currently doing writing practice for his letters and numbers and coming on great thanks to wipeable board books which I highly recommend because they are reusable.
Originally I only made ten numbers but my son was soon asking for more, and the more he enjoyed counting them and laying them out in their order, the more I wanted to continue making and encouraging that growth in learning.
When my son turned 3 I also made a set of flashcards that had the number and the written word such as One and 1 on them, this was so my son learnt the word associated with the number in preparation for reading and writing them.
Other Fun Number Related Activities
Playing Dominoes is another fun learning activity which requires the counting of numbers, and games like Yahtzee, Playing Cards or Rummikub are also fun to start with children of a going to school age.
However you keep using numbers in your child’s life, know this, you are helping them learn through play.
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Thank you for reading this parenting related blog post today. I have tons of parenting tips and hacks across my blog and social media. I even do a Monday Mum Hack on Instagram.
Hello and Welcome to my blog! Today I am writing up another product review for you from a recentpurchase that I really felt the need to shout about.
The Tesco Magnetic Planner Board was only £3.00 in my local Tesco Extra store. Not only is that great value for money, but it is high quality throughout. As a whiteboard it’s both easy to write on and easy to see with the contrast in white board and black pen.
Inside the cellophane you get the white board planner with the seven days of the week and space to write on the other side. You find two magnetic strips with sticky tape attached so that you can align them and stick them down to suit your needs. Having this board on the fridge in the kitchen is a great idea for keeping track of meals. Butyou may want to use it for appointments or children’s activities, it’s so versatile.
I bought this to be a meal planner, and was pleasantly surprised when I opened up the pen to find that not only does it write well and smooth, but it has a sponge attached on the lid part so that you can use it to rub writing out once you’re done! That means no more wasting kitchen roll towels cleaning off the board! Another big tick for me!You can also recycle the cellophane the board comes wrapped in at your local Tesco too.
Something else very useful is that the pen does have a designated stand and loop to go into at the top of the board, however there is also a magnet attached to the pen lid squared offpart too! Meaning you can even have the pen anywhere on your fridge. Handy!
My final thought about this planner is how well it’s design has been thought out, it doesn’ttake up too much space because it’s only 16cm wide by 23cm high. Even if you have a small kitchen like I do, it’s still ideal. The only way I would see you needing more of these would be if you had many children and you wanted to keep track of each one with multipleactivities and appointments, which isn’t a bad thing at £3 a board you could get several.
As a mother who has a son with multiple food allergies I always write down the meals that we have had either together or separately because if any reactions were to occur I can refer back to the board that way. I have chosen to buy this so that I am not using as much paper, as I had previously written out my meal planners for the week on a Sunday and then clipped them to the fridge. This board is far more practical and if plans change it is easy to alter it too.
That’s a score of 5/5 and it means I highly recommend this product.
My TOP TIP would be to use this as a meal planner, you can also do one board per child as an activities board, you can have one board as a family board which looks at appointments and schedules. The list is endless but you can decide what you would use yours for, and now thanks to me you know where to find one!
Thank you for reading this product review today, I hope I have inspired you to get a planner of your own.
Let me know what you would use yours for!
This product is my Monday Mum Hack for Monday 20th of February too, why not check out my video on my Instagram.
Anyone who has ever put a child in school will know that there is so much to remember that it can make your head spin. For example, last weekend I labelled shoes, 37 items of clothing, 7 lunch boxes and a variety of other smaller items. Your child will have a Bag, a Lunch Box or Bag, quite often a Book Bag, a PE Kit and Bag as well as maybe other things to take in with them too. It’s a lot of work for one person (a single parent like me) to handle, and there are time saving ways of doing things and ways to make it easier on yourself too. Let’s see what ideas I have below and what I have done during these last two weeks in preparation for school starting up again.
Yearly Wall Planner and / or Yearly Diary Get a year long wall planner and some little round stickers to keep track of everything, make a key at one side and then add any appointments, school trips, swimming days, special dates (like those where additional things are required like dressing up or concerts) and keep updating it every time you know a knew agenda item. This is useful as well for the non-school days and other important reminders too such as Dentist, Doctors or Opticians for example. I think I would be lost without my wall planner.
Weekly Planner A weekly planner is also something that I have on my dining room table, it’s so that on a weekend I can prepare for the week ahead, read up on any paperwork sent home from school on a Friday and let my child know what is expected of them for that upcoming week. It could be school photo week or they are expected to bring an item in for show and tell, but we will know not to forget because of the planner. I can also arrange this planner in a way that has both adult and child organised, as well as meal planning if I have items to be used on a certain evening. A useful item and much better than a phone calendar you may forget to look at, but if you sit down to eat as we do together as a family, the planner is there for you to go through so everyone knows what is what and where and when.
Labelling – It is so Important! Label all of your children’s items for school including their lunch boxes, clothing, bags and shoes. There is nothing worse than them going to school and losing something, and because it’s not labelled it’s unlikely to be returned to you. Schools tend to have lost property boxes that are checked at the end of every day or the end of the week and the items appropriately returned, but this cannot be done without labels. I used a permanent laundry pen to write on my sons clothing labels, and I used stickers for the more solid items. Consider using their full names or even getting their own personalised stickers printed as I have done. Especially if your child has a popular first name.
Use the halved sticker hack for getting your children to put their shoes on themselves and to ensure that everyone knows which shoe is who’s. The sticker inside hack allows them to put their shoes on the correct feet every time and it’s genius. Simply cut a large sticker in half and place either side of it into the shoes. When the shoes are correct the sticker will match and the child will know that they have the shoes the correct way to go on their feet. See my photo below for inspiration.
Clothes Piles per School Day Fold up any school clothing into “day piles” in their bedroom on a weekend ready for the school week ahead. This hack of mine is so useful, I did it over the summer too with day clothes as I was getting my son to practice getting dressed by himself. It’s so that I don’t have to police every single item of clothing going on every morning. My son has pants with the days of the week on them, and because that’s the item he will put on first he then has a pile beneath that. So you start with a pair of pants with his daily school uniform laying under it. Pants, Socks and Trousers, then his Polo Shirt last and his jumper is always downstairs and the last item to go on (to save any breakfast getting on it). It’s also so much easier on a Sunday to just make these piles up and put them in the correct bedrooms ready for the week. If you have to wash midweek, even doing two piles of clothing is better than searching drawers first thing on a Monday morning for that missing sock.
Save On Washing – Remove at the Front Door This is always a good one! Take off their school jumpers and any “still clean” uniform pieces as soon as you get home through the door before they have time to get messy and creased. Hang the jumpers up especially on hangers close to the front door ready for the next morning. This helps save on the clothes washing and the ironing by hanging them up safely as soon as they take them off. And it’s always a good idea that a school jumper be the last item to go on in a morning routine anyway, after breakfast and teeth brushing so that it stays cleaner for longer.
Something else you can do to save on washing is always wash with full loads, if that means you get to Thursday and it isn’t full yet then why not consider wearing those similar colours yourself so as to fill up the load space.
Mini Cool Blocks Investing in some mini cool blocks so that the children’s lunch food stays fresh is important during the warmer months of the year. I place a block under a removable plastic section of his large Sistema lunch box, or I place it at the bottom of the small cool bag I send with him. It’s important if he’s wanting chicken for his lunch which should be maintained at a low temperature to prevent it going off. These are great for adult lunches and days out throughout the year too.
Practice Makes Perfect and Less Stressed Children Practice the opening and closing of lunch boxes, bags with zips and coats too. We are getting to that time of the year where bags need to be closed from the weather and our coats need to be zipped up. During the summer holiday we might not have used those items very much so it’s good to refresh your children’s memories by having them practice doing these things again. Lunch boxes are another one, as they might have a new one this term and you’ll need to make sure they can safely open and close it in order to get at their food or snacks. It’s important that your children drinks enough water while they are at school too, so get them a reusable water bottle that they really like and will continue using throughout the day.
Thank you for reading this blog post today I really hope that you’ve liked it and found at least one of my ideas to be useful. By getting yourself and your family into good habits like these early on, it will make sure you have more time and energy to deal with anything else that happens. Because life nearly always throws you a curve ball when you just about have everything under control am I right?
I hope I see you again for another of my parenting articles, I hope you have a lovely month of September with (I also hope) minimal stresses.
We live in an age where so much is readily accessible to us, but there can be so much information out there that it can often be overwhelming, especially for first time parents. With so many websites, forums and blogs that can sometimes be opinionated and not necessarily filled with the facts. Every person knows where they would prefer to get their information from, some of us like books and others like the world wide web!
Sometimes you can have a baby that is completely different to any before it or any you have known, and you may need additional help or advice. During these times you should always turn to a Midwife, Doctor or Paediatrician if you have concerns of any kind.
There were things I wished I had known more about before I had my son, and that was despite me reading both books and websites for hours at night when I had terribly painful SPD. I found lots of the websites and apps that I have listed below extremely useful at one point or another during the last four years. So I thought a blog post might help other expectant parents to see what information is available to them.
As a parenting blogger I often get asked about my personal opinion of which apps and websites have helped me since I became a mother. So in order to achieve this post I have gone back over four years of my browsing and researching and screenshot history, to bring you an alphabetical list of all the things that I have found the most useful. I have only included websites and apps that I used more than once and found them beneficial long term.
A Aptaclub Pregnancy and Birth B Bounty App B Baby Centre Apps and Email Newsletter and Website B Baby Names App B Baby and Child (British Red Cross First Aid)
D Duo ABC E Ella’s Kitchen E Emma’s Diary F Free Prints (Photos and FP Cards)
G Get Creative (CBeebies) G Go Explore (CBeebies) K Kicks Count Website
N NHS Website O Online 4 Baby Website
P Pokémon Smile (Teaching Toddler Teeth Brushing) P PooGoesHomeToPooland (Teaching How To Use The Toilet)
S Storytime (CBeebies) S Snapfish (Photo Printing)
Y Your Baby Club Website and Social Media
Let me now elaborate on a few of these now and the reasons why I found them so useful. Some of them are of course self explanatory, but others are really handy for tips and tricks. Some offer you freebies and others offer key medical advice or milestone information.
Bounty App The app gives you information on the progress of your baby whilst in the womb, and then after the birth it gives you key advice on milestones and growth. An app that I found generally fascinating to look at every week as my pregnancy progressed. Now that my son is older he is still on the app as a 48 month old! And the app offers me developmental advice and articles to read. The articles can be read at any time of your pregnancy and usually the app updates what is relevant to you at the time you need it. There are also useful check lists on it too. I score this app a 5✩.
Baby and Child (British Red Cross First Aid) First Aid is such an important part of human life, however most people go through their entire pregnancy without knowing how to do life saving procedures on babies or young children such as, choking, allergic reactions and dealing with illness. The Baby and Child App gives advice as well as videos that people can watch at their leisure for a variety of situations. Just some of what they cover include; Asthma, Bleeding, Burns, Choking, Epileptic Seizure, Fever, Head Injury, Meningitis, Vomiting etc. This app is one that I believe every single person should have on their phone, just in case. I score this app a 5✩.
Duo ABC I found this app while researching after my son had to start Speech and Language therapy. Due to the support being so sporadic due to the pandemic I did my own research, started my own lessons with my child at home, and created my own flash cards. But this app came up on a results search, and despite it being American my son found aspects of it to be beneficial. Writing the letters on the phone screen with his finger, sounding out letters and recognising upper and lowercase letters all helped on our journey. I did just 20 minutes with him a day for 3 months, alongside my other teaching and he soon knew his alphabet and could say all but 5 of the letters properly. If anyone is struggling with their child and they seem distanced from paper methods, try this app, just ten minutes a day with you, you may just see a difference as I did. I score this app 4✩.
Ella’s Kitchen Once your little one reaches the 6 month milestone and you consider starting to wean them alongside their daily milk amount, you may want some advice. Ella’s Kitchen App provide you with advice, recipes and you can sign up for a free pack with a journey poster, stickers and some vouchers for their snacks. It was fun when my son was little, but when he developed lots of food allergies I made my own recipes up. I score this app 4✩.
Emma’s Diary Emma’s Diary is a fun app where you can create all sorts of fun things to keep throughout your pregnancy, it also offers some information and it gives away bags of goodies at certain points of your pregnancy. It’s worth signing up to this as soon as you find out you’re pregnant to take advantage of all the items on offer. I score this app 4✩.
Free Prints (Photos and FP Cards) Free Prints have two useful apps, the first one is Photo’s and you get some free prints every month just pay the postage. And the second one is Cards where you get one free card a month like a postcard, just pay postage. Upgrade to proper cards for pennies and they offer lots of other fun affordable products throughout the year. The more you order the more deals you’ll get. I score these apps 4✩.
Get Creative (CBeebies) and Go Explore (CBeebies) Apps that I don’t know what I would have done without! When I became a single parent even taking a shower was tricky. Sitting my son on the bathroom floor safely on a bean bag when he was a toddler, my phone playing CBeebies programs and videos off the app were a godsend! Now he is older he is using the various parts of the app to learn all sorts of things like shape sorting, mathematics, role play like shopping and problem solving. The Creative app allows freedom in Art and expression using some of the CBeebies favourite characters, and the Go Explore is more about learning and fun, again with the usual friendly faces. Love these apps! In moderation of course. I score these apps 5✩.
Kicks Count Website Kicks Count is something that is really important, and all pregnant women should visit the website and learn about the importance of kick counting and the work this group do. It’s worth following them on social media too. I score this 5✩.
NHS Website When you have questions in the small hours of the morning the NHS website can have useful information or point you in the direction of help if you need it. I score this 5✩.
Online 4 Baby Website An excellent website for affordable baby items such as changing mats and muslin cloths. Worth a look when they have a sale on for certain! I score this website 4✩.
Pokémon Smile (Teaching Toddler Teeth Brushing) Whether you like Pokémon or loathe it, if you have a child that refuses to brush their teeth you will try literally ANYTHING to make that time of the day and night less stressful. For us it was this app that allowed my son to turn a corner! There is an icon of the mouth that follows them while they brush and indicates where to go next so they don’t miss any teeth. I score this app 5✩.
PooGoesHomeToPooland (Teaching How To Use The Toilet) Another app that is a little annoying but if it helps your child to understand that poo goes down the toilet and not on the floor then so be it! My son watched it every day for about a month and then got bored of it, but it certainly helped him realise that I score this app 3✩.
Storytime (CBeebies) Another CBeebies app and this one is all about books and stories. The app can read to your child or they can try and read themselves. The stories are often interactive as well, lots of fun. I score this app 5✩.
Snapfish (Photo Printing) Free photo’s every month just pay the postage, a great way to keep family up to date with how little one changes and you can make an album of their first year for less than £20. I score this app 4✩.
Your Baby Club Website and Social Media As a Blogger Writer for Your Baby Club I often provide them with useful articles surrounding parenting. These first hand experiences from parents go alongside their informative articles on the websites and on their social media platforms too. I score this 5✩.
Thank you for reading this blog post today, I do hope that you have found it useful. Please pass the link to my website on to family or friends who are expecting so that you can share these excellent websites and apps with them. Hopefully they will be just as happy with them as you were today! (I hope).
Keep on visiting Severn Wishes Blog for Parenting related blogging, Product Reviews and general Lifestyle Posts! Thank you! Have a lovely day!
Hello Severn Wishes Blog Fans! Today I am bringing you a Lifestyle / Parenting / Hacks / Product Review article I have written all about something I have now owned for well over a year! And that item is… The TUFF TRAY!
These fantastic trays are usually found in a school setting, especially with younger children like those in a preschool or nursery setting, but due to their versatility they have been becoming more and more popular with mums who are able to do a lot with their children at home.
As soon as I heard about them I knew it would be a great investment for the future. I ordered mine in black but they do come in a variety of colours. I preferred the black due to it not getting stained or if we made any scuff marks with toys they wouldn’t be showing up as easily. Overall I’m really happy with the quality of the tray for what I paid for it. So far it has withstood a toddler doing all sorts on it and in it! I chose to purchase without the stand so it was then just suitable for laying down on the floor.
Be it Sensory, Messy Play or just toys on a flat surface, the Tuff Tray is ideal for lots of reasons when you have little ones growing up. Here are just some of the many ways that we have used our tray this past year or so! Both in visual form and I made a little list too!
1. Ideal for Craft to keep the craft pieces and mess contained in the tray borders.
2. Great for when you want to do some Messy Play and use paint so it doesn’t get on the floor.
3. Doing some experimenting with foods in toddlerhood? Keep those rice crispies, rice grains and other food stuffs within easy clean up-able reach. You can wipe clean anything off it.
4. Using Glitter today? This tray is ideal to wipe clean after your picture making as the bits will all be contained within the tray walls. Sit your children outside of it and let the mess be inside (mostly).
5. Potty Training? Stick the Potty in the centre of the tray on the floor, and it will be easy to clean spillages off the plastic rather than off your floor!
6. Building Lego or Duplo or Blocks? It can be annoying for little ones if pieces are rolling away or falling over all the while! But on the tuff tray they won’t get far at all! It also means it is a flat surface for the building to become easier on little hands.
7. Doing a Jigsaw? Be it an adult one or a children’s one? Do it on your Tuff Tray and you’ll be able to move it at a moments notice off the floor and then continue it later.
8. Want to do some baking with the kids but you want to do it at their level? It is much safer to do it on the floor where nobody is balancing and this tray doubles as a big flat surface, just clean it with sterilising spray and let it air dry before you start any food preparation.
9. Sensory Play can involve all sorts of things like craft or food stuffs, having it all contained within the Tuff Tray makes life easier for you and if you planned to do it for a few sessions over a week you could even leave it on the tray and just move the whole tray instead of packing everything up.
10. Play-Doh can get messy and easily sticks to hard surfaces like tables or floors, but by using a Tuff Tray base for all of the items they are contained within its sides. If you choose to get a stand with your tray you can even have the tray at a suitable height for your little ones. Or you can do what I do and maintain it on a flat floor, whichever is easier for you.
11. A Tuff Tray can be used outside for a water table or a sand table due to its sides being all the way around with no holes within its surface.
12. Design a World – Use your Tuff Tray and things like chalks or washable paint to create a world, a map or a world for your children to put their toys in to and play. I have drawn a road on mine for my sons toy cars before now and also used elements like sand made of ground cereal to make a beach.
So overall the Tuff Tray doubles up as another useful hard surface within your home and is ideal for playing, learning and food preparing. Young children can safely sit within its boundary or outside of it leaning in in order to play. There are no sharp edges on the Tray and the hard plastic is coated so its easy to wipe clean after every use. I purchased the standard (medium) size but it is also available in small or extra large depending on the supplier you’re purchasing it from. They are also available in many colours. Prices range from £11 to £70 and all Tray prices do depend upon the colour, and the size and whether you wish to buy a stand with your Tuff Tray purchase. They can be used inside or outside but I would recommend you keep them out of direct sunlight and harsh weather conditions and keep them inside a garage or shed when not in use in order to maintain the sturdiness of the plastic.
What do we use our Tuff Tray for the most?
Craft and Messy Play and Sensory Play mainly.
Thank you for reading this blog post today, I hope I have inspired you and if I have then I would love to hear what you and your family use your Tuff Tray for!
Well look at that, three years have literally gone past in a blur, and I am sitting here trying to fight back my eyes welling up. My baby boy is no longer my little baby boy, and in fact he has grown up so much this year that it’s scary. Having just emailed in all of the many forms I am now sitting on my sofa writing this blog post as I prepare for him to go off to Pre-School this September.
Backpack – Ollie & Millie’s Sistema Tubs – Tesco Kids Shoes – Tesco F&F Fox Cool Bag – Ollie & Millie’s
Going to school is like a right of passage and it’s a huge milestone in any child’s life. So I wanted to get my son some items to make that transition a bit easier. I had seen this gorgeous backpack on a page I follow on Facebook called Ollie & Millie’s. I had been looking at buying one for months, I looked around for a while, and then I decided to order one from them when I couldn’t find anything that looked as niceas theirs.
And because of Covid19 the School is not able to share some things any longer such as plasters, so every child must have their own in their bag. But that isn’t all, and my sons allergies also pose issues so he has to have everything he needs altogether in one bag. Luckily everything has fitted into the one I have chosen to buy from Ollie & Millie’s. Things such as a reusable water bottle (which we use already in my house but I bought my son a new one just for his school days), a (I chose personalised) backpack, snack pots, wellies for outdoor play and any medical items they require for the time frame they are at school are also included.
I’m very impressed with the backpack because of its quality in both material and its features such as strong straps and zips. There are several colours to choose from but my son loves blue so I chose blue for him, and because it’s a light sky blue colour the writing for his name really stands out. I was impressed with the time frame between ordering the product and receiving it from Ollie & Millie’s. The backpack also has versatility because I was surprised by just how much I could fit inside it, once I had gently opened it out when it arrived. Overall I rate it exceptionally highly and would recommend it to any parents who are after a good priced backpack with their child’s name on. The cool bag is also a lovely product and it is of excellent quality with a very cute fox design. Ollie & Millie’s have a wide range of products and also make personalised t-shirts and other clothing as well.
Other items that I have got to make things easier for both my son and myself are some fantastic plastic tubs from Tesco which are from the brand Sistema. The tubs are not only different sizes than what you would usually see in the supermarket, but they also have fun sections built in and have genius clips and lids too. Bonus points that I could get them in blue to match my sons bag as well!
Everything shown in my picture above is now inside the backpack, and with a handy bottle pocket on the side my sons drink is safe and secure too.
Thank you for clicking on this post, I hope you have enjoyed reading it.
Have you got any young children heading to School this term? I do hope they take it all in their stride! I will be doing a follow up post about how things went after the first few weeks too.
✩ Sabrina ✩
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