Lets talk about reward charts....

Five weeks into the summer holidays with lots of long road trips and I was feeling a bit broken. Constant whining, squabbling, mess and refusal to follow instructions and I was done. So I decided to reinstate REWARD  CHARTS - can you tell I'm a teacher?

So I made a very basic chart and decided upon three 'targets' for Mia and four for Ellis (as he's older!) to address the behavior issues that were cropping up. His were about not hitting his sister, following instructions first time, no tantrums and to write three sentences a day (very reluctant writer over here!). Hers were no hitting her brother (do you see a pattern emerging here?), to not take her brothers' toys and to brush her teeth nicely. Teeth brushing was a particularly grueling and harrowing process of pinning her down and lots of screaming which we dreaded every evening. Each day they would get a tick if they achieved each target. Mia is only two and a half but she willingly let me brush her teeth for the first time ever in return for her tick - we were onto something here!

If they got the majority of ticks they got a smiley face for that day and if they got enough smiley faces they got a treat at the end of the week. On the whole it worked and Ellis was definitely more willing to write (he has a holiday scrapbook project which has been lingering all holidays) and the change in Mia's attitude to teeth brushing was remarkable. Although Mia did earn her reward quicker than Ellis as he had a few 'grumpy' days. 

In perfect timing for the reward I was sent some 'Ready 2 Robot' toys to review. Ellis was delighted with them as they involve three of his favourite things:-

1) Blind bags (thanks for this Youtube!)
2) Slime- it comes in a little capsule at the top of the plastic pod with the robot's head inside. Mia really enjoyed playing with this as you can see in the picture above.
3) Construction (as you have to build the robots)

Of course his favourite thing of all was the index showing all the different robots you could collect. He's already begging for another one so it could turn out to be an expensive 'freebie' for us! They are available to buy from Smyths and there are even some mystery ones - which Ellis is keen to get his hands on.

He has sat for hours building them and they accompany him in the car (not recommended with all the small parts), to soft play, to the farm and his karate teacher even got to hear about all the inner workings of his robots and which ones he hoped to get next time! 

What techniques and ideas do you employ to keep your kids from killing each other in the holidays?

* I was sent these to review but all opinions included are my own. * 

Num noms Wacky Baker

So I've already blogged and vlogged before about our love of the cute Num Noms. My Toddler still plays with them all the time and the Baby still enjoys chewing on them! We had a play date last week, with older girls, and they really enjoyed stacking them up, lining them up and playing games with them.

Since Autumn brings new changes and a certain television show encourages everyone to try baking we decided to copy some of the Num Nom flavours and make a good after school healthy treat. We made banana, stawberry and blackberry smoothies. We used frozen fruit (that we make into smoothie bags in the freezer ready to go) and natural yogurt and orange juice. He enjoyed it but was distracted by the Num Noms in these pictures.

What flavour smoothies do you like to make?

Num Noms Series 2 Unboxing and Giveaway

I basically only became a teacher due to my love of stationary. In fact growing up my sisters and I all collected rubbers (erasers for my American readers). There was a cute little toy shop in our town called Lornas Toys and we used to literally race the half an hour journey to get there to see if they'd had a new shipment of scented rubbers. Do you remember them? One shaped liked a chocolate milkshake that smelt like it too? Bliss!

So when we received our parcel of Num Noms I don't know who was more excited - my Toddler or me. Check out our unboxing video below - let's just say we won't be going viral on youtube anytime soon! Haha!

These cute little scented mini foods that you can stack in loads of different combinations of flavours. For more detailed check out their website here. Series 2 has just been released and the flavours are almost good enough to eat! We got the Freezie Pop Deluxe Pack which contained 6 freezie pop Nums, 2 motorized Noms, 1 freezie pop container, 1 freezie pop accessory, and 1 collector's menu. My little boy loved the motorized noms the most and enjoyed raising them around on our wooden floor.

We also got a mystery pot which The Toddler loved as its like his favourite surprise eggs. Each pot contains a soft Num and then a Nom that is a stamp or lip gloss. Luckily ours was orange flavoured and was a cute little stamp which he loves to play with. 

I have one of these mystery pots to giveaway to a lucky reader. To be entered just comment below or on my twitter or instagram or facebook telling me what you collected as a child. 

I will announce the winner next Wednesday 20th July. 

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