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This day I love.......

I laid the brightly coloured chunky Smartmax pieces out for Little Man to play with after his nap. The large chunky colours grabbed his attention and he toddled rather quickly over to investigate these new shapes.


In the box, then out the box, then in the box and out the box. Then he discovered that some pieces slot together.


click. Then pull apart, followed by another click.


Little Man was enjoying this. The chunky pieces the perfect size for a toddlers hands to grip. The animal shapes capturing his imagination as he made random animal noises, followed by asking me 'this' he says pointing at the animals.


He carefully matches up each colour. Not wanting to mix and match even though he could. Everything carefully thought out before he attempts the next move. 


Sometimes though the pieces didn't go click. Little Man looks at me confused. After a thinking for a little while he turns the piece round. Click. 


I have loved watching Little Man play with the Smartmax My first safari animals set. I love watching him trying to work out why it won't click together and his thought process in turning the pieces around. We build the animals together and have used the set to talk about animals and also talk about colours.  It has been a great introduction to both. His sisters like to line the animals up in size order too, which has been another topic of discussion.

Smartmax is a wonderful way to introduce the concept of magnets to children but it has also provided us with other discussion topics. My eldest at 7 is asking more in depth questions regarding magnets but we can still use the Smartmax pieces to demonstrate. Little Man just loves connecting the pieces together. I cannot wait until he discovers that due to the magnets in the pieces he will also be able to make them stick to other surfaces too!

The Smartmax My first safari animals set has certainly been a hit in our house. I have a feeling we will be buying other Smartmax kits to extend our building!

This item was sent for the purpose of review, all words are my own personal opinion. 

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The girls love imaginative play.  They love their Schleich figures and creating adventures.  Recently the girls were sent the Croco jungle research station by Schleich, and they were keen to create an adventure.  First though we had to build the station.

The Croco Jungle Research station took around 15 minutes to build but the instructions were clear and easy to follow.  Each piece was easy to fit together and nothing was too fiddly, in fact it was actually simple to build.  The girls helped, assembling trap doors and filling chests with gold coins.  As you would expect with Schleich everything is of exceptional build quality and could withstand a 5 year old attempting to fit pieces together.


The croco jungle research station is quite large when built and does take up most of my coffee table, the advantage is though that there is plenty of room to play.  The girls started making up their own individual stories whilst intertwining with each others imagination.  My youngest got the vet van and brought it over to the research station to aid her sister who had captured a crocodile!


The quality and detail on each piece is simply amazing, and I think it is down to the amount of detail that sparks such creativity.  The animals look realistic, even Little Man has begun to recognise animals from his Schleich animals.  There is so much care to attention to detail, photos cannot do each piece justice.

The Croco jungle research station as 3 areas that can be played with independently or together.  The crocodile rock has an upper jaw that can be opened, closed or removed.  Inside the jaw is a hiding place in one of the teeth.  The back of the skull can also be removed to reveal a hidden treasure chamber.  The Crocodile rock can then be clipped to the viewing platform.  In doing so the secret trapdoor leads into the treasure chamber.  This is then linked to the house.  A ranger and scientific equipment come with the set, along with 4 animals, and the girls use the house as the rangers house.  The third piece is a pen.  The girls open the pen up and use to capture crocodiles.  The pen can be placed near the house or further away.


There are so many ways that the Croco jungle research station can be played with.  The girls can play their own games but still interact with each other.  Little Man is often given an animal to play with.  It is rare that you can find something that can entertain 3 children of such varying ages.  The Croco jungle research station would make a perfect gift.



We were sent the croco jungle research station in exchange for this post.  All words are my own opinion. 
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The Schleich Farm World started set features 4 animal figures from Schleich, Cow, Donkey, Sheep and Cockerel.  As you would expect from Schleich the figures are of a great quality and are true to life, meaning they are instantly recognisable.  Little Man turns one this week and with it starts a new phase in his development.  We have begun talking about different animals, he already knows dog and points to J and says 'Og', so we have started with Farm animals.

Schleich Farm animals have brought all the children together in their imaginative worlds.  The girls move the animals around saying the different animal noises and Little Man plays with them 


There are not many products available that a 6,4 and 1 year old can all play with together, but in completely different ways.  Little Man tested out the quality by bashing the animals on the table and chewing them.  Each one with stood his tough play and still look as vibrant.


My youngest daughter started making up stories about the different animals and showed Little Man.  He would pick them up and look at them before handing back to his sister to make the noises again.  The animals are all small enough to be portable, so when we do visit a farm we can take them with us to reinforce his understanding of the different farm animals.


 Little Man loves to pick up each farm animal and look at them.  They are the perfect size and weight for him to look at and as he plays with them more he will begin to learn more about each animal, especially as his sisters have taken it upon himself to show him!


The Schleich animal farm starter set was sent for review, all words are my own opinion. 
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A Zebra grazes on the short green grass, blissfully unaware of the danger it is in


The Lion teaches his young cub the art of pouncing, hiding in the tall grass waiting the perfect moment


The Lion stays down, keeping well hidden in the tall grass


It all becomes too much for the monkey who can no longer watch


Meanwhile down at the watering hole, things are beginning to take shape


The animals line up ready to enter their new home


The girls begin to reenact scenes from 'Lion King' and 'Lion guard'




Making up songs and using their imagination to continue the stories they know so well


Each animal has a place to hide


A place to stand and watch


There is something amazing watching the girls imagination come to life.  Each one interacting with their sister as their stories unfolded and intertwined with each other.  Creating characters based on well known films and TV shows, or inventing their own it was a sheer delight to watch.


It is safe to say the girls have had some Big adventures with the Big Adventure at the Watering Hole playset from Schleich.

All words are my own opinion, this item was sent in exchange for this post. 


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Both girls have been asking lots of questions recently about animals and winter.  Where have the birds gone? Why are the squirrels burying nuts in our garden? Where do Hedgehogs sleep? To help me answer these questions I took the girls to our local Yorkshire Wildlife trust to learn a little more about hibernation.

After listening to a talk on Hedgehogs and animals hibernating, the girls got to make their very own hedgehog out of clay and twigs


 After they had made their hedgehog, they had to make somewhere for the hedgehog to hibernate


The hedgehogs have now been placed under the girls beds to keep them warm through the winter.  

After making clay hedgehogs the girls got to meet two live hedgehogs, Kate weighed 1Kg and was the right weight for hibernation, sweep however only weighed 240g and was too little to hibernate.  The girls could hold both so they got to understand the difference between a hedgehog at the right weight to hibernate and one underweight.


The girls are now really fascinated with the wildlife in our garden and how we can help them through the winter.  As soon as we got home they demanded to fill the bird feeders full of wild bird seed ready for the birds for winter, and put some food out on our bird table for the squirrels.  


I love that the girls are showing a real interest in nature and wanting to care more for the wildlife that comes into our garden.  I have plans to make part of our garden and sensory and wildlife garden and am hoping they join me in designing it.

This day I love Hibernation and Winter 

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I sometimes think my youngest daughter is Dr Doolittle.  She loves all animals and I honestly believe she is at her happiest when she is sat with our dogs or with any animal.

girls with spotty dogyoungest with dog







Paw Patrol appeals to my youngest as it is an action packed adventure featuring six brave pups - Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Zuma, Rubble and Skye.  They are led by a tech savy 10 year old called Ryder.  My youngest loves watching the pups and the adventures they get up to.

Paw Patrol are back in adventure bay with 8 new episodes on DVD on 27th July.  My youngest has had a little sneak peak and she was hooked for the 92minutes.  Especially with Marshall who reminds her of our spotty dog.

paw patrol dvd cover

If your little one likes Paw Patrol feel free to download the activity sheets.

activity 1activity 2activity 3

 We were sent a review disk, all words are my own opinion

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Growl with the animals is a book packed full of fun. There are 10 buttons each one with a related animal sound. Each page is packed full of colourful photography which helps bring the text to life. Growl with the animals also features sturdy picture tabs so little fingers can go quickly to their favourite animals and bring the noisy animal world to life.

Growl with the animals

My youngest daughter simply loves the book.  I think because it makes noise.  I can often find her pressing the buttons even when the book is in the book case.  This is great as it encourages her to go over to the bookcase and interact with the books that are there.

Of course all these animal noises also mean that when we go out for a walk we also have to growl like animals!

Growling on the bridge

Growl with the animals was sent to us as part of our Parragon book buddy.  All words are my own opinion
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Imagine a book similar to where's Wally? but aimed at younger children and with animals.  This is how I would some up Spot A lot.  The girls and I have had a lot of fun with Spot A Lot.  The book is written by Steve Smallman, and illustrated by Nicola Slater.

Spot a Lot sees the animals at a zoo escape and it is up to you to help find them.  Each page the number of animals to find increments.  This means it is a fun way to teach children to count.  On each page their is a hidden tortoise and my girls love to find him.  Our favourite page is with him on the trampoline.  You have to see the book to understand.


Each page also has a colour theme to it.  This means not only can I introduce counting to the girls but I can also discuss colour with them.  As this is done in a friendly and relaxed manner they are more receptive to learn.  Spot A Lot offers such a Lot.

The story is beautiful too, so if you simply wanted to read the story you could.  If you wanted to go more in depth you could talk about colour, count the missing animals or answer some of the questions hidden in the story.  Thanks to the wonderful illustrations the story is brought to life and the girls want to interact with it.  Spot A lot is a truly great book and one that should be on all Children book shelves.

We are part of Parragon Book buddy and have been sent this book as our September book.  These are my own opinions of the book. 
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Spending more time with the girls recently has shown me just how much my youngest has grown up.  She likes to help, although her version of helping is sometimes different to mine

youngest washing up

She loves to be outside and takes every opportunity to explore

girls exploring

She adores animals and can often be found with J

youngest with J

She is constantly eating and is always messy, I wouldn't have it any other way

youngest chocolate chops

She might keep me up all night but she gives the best cuddles and has a beautiful smile

beautiful smiles

I feel so guilty I missed out on so much of her growing up but am so lucky to be able to spend this time with her.

This day I love my chocolate chops helper. 

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About me

About Me

Welcome to This Day I love.

My name is Leyla, also known as Mum to my 3 humans and dog Mum to J. I have a passion for the outdoors and love to run. I can often be found off road exploring the trails and fells and covering distances all the way up to 50 miles. As a family we love travelling and discovering new adventures, as I try and run around the world!

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