Christmas Stocking Filler Ideas For All The Family

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Happy Christmas Twirlywoos

I have to admit that I haven't bought any Christmas gifts yet this year which is not like me as I usually begin as early as September. However I have started to make a note of some gift ideas that I have seen on other blogs and I have been sent some fabulous gift ideas to share with you. I have popped them below and I hope you enjoy having a browse.

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Review - Shark Bite by Drumond Park

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We have a new addition to our every growing games collection this month and it's Shark Bite by Drumond Park. I've mentioned it before but even though he is only 4,  little J absolutely loves playing games and playing them regularly as a family as really helped with learning to share and take turns. Little J loves 'fun' games and Shark Bite really is just that. It's a game where you have to go fishing in a shark's mouth before he snaps it shut.

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Board Game Club Blogger - Pandemic

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I have said before just how much we enjoy playing board games. We love playing games suitable for kids, family and adults. We love finding new games to play so when we were asked to join the Blogger Board Game Club a few months ago we had to say yes. It’s the perfect opportunity to try our new games and add to our ever growing collection. When this month’s game arrived we were excited to see it was an ‘adult’ type game. Pandemic puts you on a disease fighting team with the hopes that you will not only keep four deadly diseases at bay but also discover their cure.

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Disney Guess The Film

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Disclosure - We were gifted Disney Guess The Film by Jumbo for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own. 

Disney Guess The Film game will test your knowledge of Disney movies by showing you just a small part of a bigger image. To win a token you must get correctly, if you don't you are frozen out the round. Disney fun for all the family.

Setup for the game is really easy as are the rules. Guess the Film is similar to Guess Who however you are guessing a film not a person. 

How To Play

Shuffle all the movie image sheets that you’re going to play with and put them in the holder at the back of the screen with the coloured strip facing upwards. 

The sheets are divided into three levels of difficulty

Green - Easy 

Bue - Medium 

Red - Advanced level

 When playing you take turns rolling the dice and open the window with the corresponding colour to the die. 

Each coloured window reveals part of an image from the Disney film, and it’s down to you to guess which film the image is from. You must shout the film name out loud and the turn the screen towards you to check if you are correct. If you do guess correctly, you win a Mickey token. If you guessed incorrectly then you are frozen out of this round. If you don't want to guess you can just close the window and play will continue which the next player.  

If you roll the dice and reveal a star you can open any coloured window of your choice. 

The first player to earn four Mickey tokens wins the game.

Depending how good your knowledge is of Disney films each game can last up to approx 20 minutes.  You can play with as little as 2 players and it's recommend for ages 4+.

Disney Guess The Film really does test your knowledge of Disney and is a fun game for all the family. 

Unfortunately our giveaway is now closed however you can still enjoy Disney's Guess the Film by heading to Amazon to buy

I am always so grateful for any support I receive on my blog and social channels. If you did find this post useful there are a few ways that you could say thanks and support Playdays and Runways.

Have you played this game? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you thought. 

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Michelle

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Review - Hot Wheels Roto Revolution

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Hot Wheels has been popular with us since Big J was small. We have amassed a decent sized collection of Hot Wheels cars, and Little J loves each and every one of them . We were asked to review the Hot Wheels Roto Revolution Track Set, and Little J was so excited to try it out.

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Review - Mi Mic

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As a family we love trying out new gadgets so we were eager to receive Mi Mic Microphone. We had seen it on TV and it looked great and lots of fun. The Mi Mic Microphone is a karaoke microphone and speaker in one. 

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Super Wings Scan 'n Talk Flyer Jett

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You may remember back in the Summer I teamed up with the lovely people at Alpha Animation and became a Super Wings Ambassador. If you missed it then just to let you know Super Wings is a hugely popular, action-packed, animation series that can be watched twice daily on Cartoonito. Little J absolutely loves watching Super Wings and we have just started to watch series 2. I have teamed up with Alpha Animation again for a fabulous giveaway to win a Scan 'n Talk Flyer Jett.

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Oregon Scientific Smart Globe Adventure

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Disclosure - We were sent the products below for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our unless stated. This post contains affiliate links. 

I'm not sure who was more excited about receiving the Oregon Smart Globe Adventure a few weeks ago, little J or John and I. I absolutely love anything to do with maps, countries, capitals but have never actually owned a globe so this was very exciting. The Smart Globe Adventure is an interactive globe giving you the chance to explore and learn about 220 countries, interesting facts, play games and even unlock a 3D Augmented Reality feature using an app on your smartphone.

The Smart Globe comes with a smart pen so this took little J a while to get used to. He is only really familiar with touch screen on his iPad and our phones but once we showed him how he could easily use it. 

We explained to little J that The Smart Globe was a map of the world and the first thing he wanted to do was spin it. It is so much fun spinning a globe around,  it does spin left and right but it does not spin up or down. This can be annoying if you are playing a game and it asks you to find Antarctica and the pen doesn't quite reach it. 

Once he had finished spinning he asked where we are on the globe. We showed him the UK and he used his smart pen to touch it. It played a little song but to find out more about the UK or other countries we would have to go to the base of the globe and choose an activity. If you leave the globe idle for a few moments it will ask you what you would like to do. 

First we chose a 'find' game. You can choose from Continents, Capitals, Countries and our personal favourite The Ultimate Challenge. 

Once you have chosen what 'find' game you would like to play the Smart Globe will ask you to find and touch as many of your chosen topic as possible. It does tell you what to look for and plays music while you try and find it, the music will go faster as your time starts to run out. 

The Ultimate Challenge is our favourite and is a time challenge were you have to find as many places as you can in the time provided. We are very competitive when it comes to this game as so far we can't seem to get more than 10 on Level 1 however we are still trying. 

Next you can choose a 'touch' activity. There are lots to choose from including Continent, Name, Capital, Population, Area, Currency, History, Features, Geography, Language, Highest Point, National Anthem and Amazing Facts. 

The touch activities are jam packed with lots of different facts about the countries you touch with your smart pen. Our personal favourite is listening to all the different National Anthems from around the world. 

Within the 'touch' activities there are 6 that can also be played in French.

Next you can choose the 'compare' activities. You choose 2 different countries and the Smart Globe will compare the area or the population of both countries. 

On the base of the globe there is a more detailed map of Britain and Ireland. Here you can do all the activities that are mentioned above but for cities too. 

As we live in Liverpool it was nice to hear some facts about where we live. 

The base also has a pause, repeat and volume button which you will need as it is very loud. 

What We Loved

Great Quality

Makes learning fun with lots of games and fun facts

220 countries to explore

6 French activities

Detailed map of Britain and Ireland which allows us to find out more about cities we are close to.

Love hearing little J playing with the Globe and then shouting to us 'Where's Japan Mum?"

Will be a perfect learning tool throughout Little J's school journey.

What Could Improve

There are some places, mainly on the bottom of the globe which the pen doesn't quite reach and it takes quite a while for the globe to detect the pen. 

When playing some of the games you have to be quite precise with pen, this can get a little frustrating especially if you are playing the Ultimate Challenge and trying to beat your score. 

At the moment we haven't quite grasped the AR side of the globe yet as there are just so many features to get to grips with we are just having fun exploring at the moment. 

Little J has just started reception so I know from a learning point of view the globe will be a perfect tool throughout his school journey. for now we are enjoying finding out facts, exploring the globe and playing games.

The Smart Globe Adventure is recommended for age 5+ however little J is still only 4 and he really enjoys it.

You can find out more about the Smart Globe Adventure by visiting Oregon Scientific Store and it is also available to buy over on Amazon

Michelle

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Giveaway - Teletubbies Big Hugs CD

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We have mentioned on our blog before that we are huge fans of the Teletubbies and you may have read recently that we reviewed some Tiddlytubbies which are a new addition to the Teletubbies Dome and they are so cute. As parents we have been fans since big J was little, over 15 years ago. I absolutely love that they are still going strong and they have just released a new CD called Teletubbies - Big Hugs.

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Review and Giveaway - My First Scalextric

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Scalextric has always been one of favourite toys, from growing up to today, there has always been at least one set around, even if it’s been stored in the loft until one of the little ones has been old enough to play.  I think I was more excited than anyone when ‘My First Scalextric’ was due to arrive for Little J to try. The box is quite compact and reminded me initially of the micro sets. We have had a couple of these over the years, transformers being the last I remember.  Included in the box are a simple track set up, controllers, adapter and 2 reasonably sized BMW cars.

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Review - Havex Machines

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For the past week or so we have had lots of fun playing with Havex Machines. We had seen an advert on you tube for them and they looked amazing so little J was excited to receive two to play with. The tag line is Race Transform Battle and that is exactly what they do. The Havex Machine comes with a small micro car very similar to Micro Machines for those old enough to remember. You can play with the car but once you are ready to battle you drive the car into the Havex Machine and it triggers the machine to transform in to a bot ready to battle.

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Review - PJ Masks Headquarters

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Little J first heard about PJ Masks quite late on when we stumbled upon it on TV. We had no idea what it was but it was really good. Now, he absolutely loves it and like most boys and girls runs around our living room pretending to be Cat Boy, Owlette and Gecko. He recently was given some PJ Masks figures from his Grandparents which was perfect timing as we received PJ Masks Headquarters to review recently.

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Review - Chad Valley Street Showdown Racing Track & Cars Set

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You may have read our recent announcement that we are back on the Chad Valley Play Panel and we are super excited. We love receiving toys and as part of our new role we were very lucky to receive the new Street Showdown Racing Track & Cars Set last week. Little J loves cars so was super excited to try this out.

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We're On The Chad Valley Play Panel and Giveaway

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I am so excited and honoured to let you all know that we have been chosen once again to be part of the Chad Valley Play Panel. I mentioned last year just how much we love Chad Valley toys and how Argos and Chad Valley were a huge part of our childhood. I think everyone I know would spend the lead up to Christmas writing out their Christmas lists from toys in the Argos Catalogue. I used to write out the product codes too. Chad Valley have been making toys for over 150 years and I really do hope they continue to make toys for little ones for many more.  

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Disney Mickey Roadsters Super Training Tracks

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Disclosure - We were sent the product below for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our unless stated. This post contains affiliate links. 

We are huge fans of all things Disney and especially Mickey Mouse. Little J absolutely loves the new edition to Disney Junior, Mickey and The Roadster Races. We first heard about it when we were in Walt Disney World and little J wanted to collect the cars. Then when we got home we found it whilst browsing the TV. If you haven't heard of Mickey and The Roadster Races before its very similar to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so you can imagine that its very bright, colourful and features the main Disney Characters. 

We were recently sent The Mickey Roadsters Super Training Tracks to review and as you can imagine it was a big hit with little J. He loves making tracks and cars so two of his favourite things in one package. 

The Mickey Roadster track is simple to set up - even I was able to do it. I followed the instructions and every piece is labelled. I'm not sure if you can see it on the piece above but They all have letters and numbers on to make it easier to build. 

Once the back of the playset was built I started making the tracks. The back has a lift which you use to take the cars up to their starting position. 

Last but not least I added the traffic lights to the starting lines. 

Once built you put the two cars in their starting positions and get ready to race. 

The set comes with Mickey and Pete. Mickey comes in his Hot Dogging Hot Rod and Pete in his Super Crusher. Each car can be pushed off the started line by using a flipper type switch. 

There is 100cm of track for the cars to race down.

The winner is the first car to pass the finish line. 

The Disney Mickey Roadsters Super Training Tracks are bright, colourful and perfect for roadster fans. It has 100cm of track which are easy to build with all parts labelled

The set features two cars, however they do work with normal cars too which is an added bonus. 

The Mickey and The Roadster Races Super Training Tracks is available from most good toy stores and online at Amazon.

Michelle

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Review - Thomas & Friends Adventures, Cranky At The Docks

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There has been quite an increase in children’s toys adverts over the last few weeks and we have been receiving Christmas catalogues from local toy shops too. This can only mean one thing, Christmas is coming. I was unsure what little J would be asking for this year as he just loves everything but I know one thing that will definitely be on his Christmas list and that is a Thomas Train Set. He loves Thomas & Friends and was thrilled when he received Thomas & Friends Adventures, Cranky At The Docks. We have had lots of fun playing with the play set and he’s also managed to merge it with other Adventures sets he has too.

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Review - Ticket To Ride, First Journey

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Playing games is something we have always enjoyed and over the years our board game collection has grew and grew until now we can only have a section downstairs and the majority have gone in the loft until we are ready to play. As big J got older our games become more for adults as he was able to understand more complicated games and had a longer attention span. One of our favourite games is Ticket to Ride. The game is a cross-country train adventure in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. As part of the Board Game Club, last month we received Ticket To Ride, First Journey which is aimed at younger players. 

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Little Green Men Battle Pack Review

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Disclosure - We were sent the products below for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our unless stated. This post contains affiliate links. 

For the past few weeks we have having lots of fun and battles playing with Awesome Little Green Men. Little J watches children opening 'blind bags' all the time on you tube but these Little Green Men combine blind box opening with actual gameplay and is lots of fun. 

We received The Awesome Little Green Battle Pack and two mystery boxes. The battle pack also contains 2 mystery soldiers as well as three green men and 3 blue men. Three of the six included were vehicles which little J loved. 

 First thing to do was to open the mystery boxes. Little J got 2 green men so his green army outweighed the blue. 

Each Little Green Man comes with his own dog tag which you can wear.

Once the blind boxes are open its time to play. 

There are official game rules which come in the battle pack or can be downloaded online however little J made his own army rules up.  For those that want to play the proper game here are the game play rules.

SET UP

1- Pick Your Armies. Add up the power points printed on the bottom of each soldier. Each army must have the same total power points.

2 - Next, each player selects a prized possession of equal size to guard as his or her goal.

3 - Your battlefield should be a smooth, long surface about 6 feet in length, so a long table or the floor are perfect. Set up both armies at opposite ends of the battlefield. No soldier should be more than one soldier length in front of their goal.

HOW TO PLAY

The youngest player goes first. Each turn, a player takes four actions. Choose to march or attack.

 To attack, place an "Attack" Slider on either side of your attacking soldier. Aim at an enemy and flick the Slider. If you miss, that's one action. If you hit the enemy, that enemy takes Hit Points (HP) equal to the Attack Strength of the attacking soldier. 

 Each soldier has a different total amount of Hit Points (HP) they can take. Once a soldier reaches his or her total Hit Points, the opposing army captures that soldier. Keep track of Hit Points by putting one of the bandage stickers on the soldier for each hit they take. 

Your mission is to capture your opponent’s goal. Clear the soldiers in front and then attempt 5 to hit his or her goal with your “March” Slider without hitting an enemy soldier in the process.

If the Slider cleanly hits the goal, you’ve marched in and captured the prized possession.You win.

What We Loved

Great idea and the figures are really good quality. 

Little J loves the vehicles which we also use when playing with cars and hot wheels tracks. 

For those that have children that are obsessed with the 'bling bag' phenomenon then these will be perfect.

What Could Improve

Nothing, we love them and will be adding to our collection very soon.

The Awesome Little Green Men battle pack (RRP £24.99) and Mystery boxes are available to buy in Smyths Toys or online at Amazon

Michelle 

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Review - Kinetic Rock Crusher

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Little J has played for many hours with his Kinetic Sand set so when we received Kinetic Rock I knew it would be a hit. The Kinetic Rock Crusher set is very similar to the sand however it is made up of tiny pieces of rock. The Rock Crusher set consists of a small bag of Kinetic Rock, a construction worker figure, dumper truck with removable bucket, rock crusher, rock shaping mould, a tool and a sign. Once we had opened it we soon realised that the box doubles up as a box to play with the rocks in. It is designed as a construction site and perfect to help contain the rocks in one place. 

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Giveaway - Win Zomlings Series 6 Goodies

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Playdays and Runways have teamed up with Magic Box Toys UK to offer one lucky reader and follower the chance to win Zomlings Series 6 goodies. The Zomlings series 6 range features blind bags with 105 characters to collect, a starter set, different capsules, different zom-mobiles, blister packs and various play sets.

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