Lily's Summer Clothes Selection

 It is time for summer again! Which means a nice new selection of summer clothing! 

I have headed to various shops, online and high street to pick up a new selection of items that are great for the summer weather (that we hope to have.)

So I thought I would do a little round up and show you some of them. There are a few that I bought a few years ago and so they may not be still on sale but they generally have other fantastic options in store.

Hope you enjoy looking through and get some summer inspiration for your little one. 


1. New Backpack from Pink Lining
I have always love Pink Lining and had this put away for Lily for a little while now. It has a pocket on the front and side pockets too. With the cutest little doggy design. Perfect for holidays and days out. 

2. T-shirts from Poundland
I love that Poundland is now doing clothing. Although its not £1 its extreamly reasonably priced and all these t-shirts were £2.50 each. I loved the colours and beach themes to them. The orange one you can see the back off in the picture but it also has a little shell with sequins on it on the front. 

3. New Pjs by The Essential One
These Pjs I got a little while ago from the online store The essential One. I think they are really cute with the mouse on the front plus I like that the shorts arn't tiny on the legs and nice and baggy so they are cool and comfy to sleep in. 

4. Summer Bottoms from Primark
I always find Primark great to go to for clothing and this is where I got this years short and crop leggings. Again I could not resist the beach theme to these ones. A pack of shorts are only £4 for 2 pairs. 

5. New Swin Wear
I picked this up from Morrisons last year but it didn't fit lily so I have saved it for this year. The thing I like about this 2 piece is that it isn't bikini length and so covers up the tummy.  

6. New Accessories from George and Primark

Lily really needed new shoes but I really did struggle to find the type I wanted. I wanted the style in the photo but these were literally the only colour I could find in her size. Not that I mind the colour, they are super funky. I managed to find them in George, Asda.
The socks and hair clips are both from Primark. Lily loves unicorns now so these were perfect for her and the clips I love as they are perfect for the seaside themed clothing I have for her so far. 

7. New Dresses

There is a discount store in my town and these were both bought from there. Lily is a huge minnie mouse fan and so she is going to love the minnie dress. I Love the soft colours of the other dress.

8. New Dress\top from The Essential One. 

This was another dress I had put away for Lily from the online store The Essential One. It is going to look really nice with some white crop leggings with it. 

9. Dresses from Primark 

Primark is the perfect place to pick up some cute but casual summer dresses. I got both of these from there for £2.50 

Which above do you think you will get for your little one? 

Monthly Book Roundup - What we have been reading in June

I read to Lily each night with out fail. Story time is so important for settling a child for bed, giving them that extra one on one time plus it will help them with learning to read in the future. 

Lily is a lot fussier with the stories I read her now, and she does go back to her old favourites a lot of the time and as she is at an age where she can start to remember stories, she asks for specific ones. But I do get chance to introduce a few new new books each month, usually around 2.
  
You can read all my other book reviews from the last few years Here

This month I bought Lily a new book from a shop that she fancied and we also read a new one from her collection of books at home. 

Here is what we read.

1. Molly Maybe's Monsters, The Dappity Doofer by Kristina Stephenson
 

The look of this book has always attracted me to want to read it to Lily because of its lovely shiny front cover, but I hadden't read it to her yet as it was quite a long story. The older Lily is getting the better she is at longer stories and so I decided to introduce it to her. The story is all about Molly and a Monster who is digging in the next door neighbours garden. Molly must investigate! So she gets in her special machine that takes her underground to the Monster land. There she finds that a special statue has been stolen and the monsters are having a meeting about it. Realising it must be that monster that is digging in the garden she heads to find him. Upon finding him she hears that the monster buried the statue and doesn't know where it is. So molly helps him find it. It ends up that her neighbour has turned it into a water fountain and so the next mission is to retrieve the statue which they do with success and the monster can return it to where it belongs.

I really like this story as its comical and full of imagination. Lily really enjoyed some of the funny parts in it too. When you begin reading it, it is very difficult to read as it has lots of random words such as the "Dappity Doofer" and until you get into the flow of reading these words its tricky to roll them off the tongue.
Over all its a great book and you can pick this up online. 

2. Oops-a-Daisy Here Comes Maisy by Elizabeth Dale

This is a new book that Lily and I picked up recently. It was a steal for £1 at Home Bargains and it looked like such a good read and one that Lily would enjoy.

The story is about some fairy's and it is one of their Birthdays. They are all having a Birthday tea party and one fairy called Maisy is invited. The only problem with Maisy is that she isn't very good with her magic and is also quite clumsy. Poor Maisy ends up making a mess of the tea party and flies off upset, but the Birthday fairy opens her present from her which is a lovely hand made dress and goes to find Maisy to bring her back to the party. It is a lovely story all about friendship and to still love people when they mean best but don't always succeed.
For the price of the story I would definitely recommend getting your hands on it. Lily loved it and wanted to read it over and over.

Which of the 2 books do you like the sound of? 

Helpful Holiday Activities by Orchard Toys

It's coming up to Holiday time! You may be taking a really long trip on a plane, or maybe a shorter trip in a car, or maybe visiting family for the holidays. Either way there are times that we all need to keep our children amused.

Holidays are generally full of fun and excitement, but it is also great for your child to have some down time. 

Orchard Toys have the perfect solution to keeping you child entertained and thats in the form of fun activity books and mini games. 

We was sent some Activity Books and a Mini Game for Lily to take on her upcoming holiday and so I want to tell you all about them. 

We was sent the game Penguin Pairs and also 3 Activity books, My First Words, Outer Space and Things to do. 

The first thing that your kids are going to love about these activity books is that they come with lots of fun stickers! If your children are anything like Lily then I bet they love stickers. The stickers are all at a large size too and so easy for little fingers to peel off and stick down. 

The second thing your child will love is that it is filled with colouring in, every page has something for them to colour. 

And one thing you will love about as an adult, is that as well as fun the books are all very helpful for learning. Lily loves to learn and anything that she can engage her brain in she loves. 

Here is a little more about each book - 

My First Words 
As the title states, its all about first words. The way this book works is that is has pictures of the word EG cat and then under it will have the word cat written out several times in dotted form for your child to copy over. Then also it will leave space for your child to try and write the word themselves. The book also has extra fun of colouring and some funky colourful stickers to add to the pages. 

Outer Space 
This book has a theme of all about outer space. It has tons of colouring pages, areas for sticking stickers and then lots of fun activities like dot to dots, word searches and counting activities. 

Things To Do
This book has a mixed theme of fun things to do. Again it has dot to dots, word searches, puzzles, and counting activities. All the puzzles and activities increase in level difficulty and so its great for keeping your child learning new things while having fun. It also comes with plenty of space to colour and areas to stick fun colourful stickers. 

Lily really loves activity books and she is also a mega fan of learning. She currently loves writing and so thats why the My first Words book is perfect for her. We have had some Orchard Toys Activity books before and Lily couldn't put them down. As a parent I was really impressed with the books as the amount of learning opportunities is fantastic and also the quality of the paper in the books really nice. 

Each book is £3 and is well worth the money. 

Now a little more about the game. 

Orchard toys have a range of Mini Games. These are perfect for travelling and taking with you when you go away. 

The games are all in a flat small box and so really don't take up much space. They are also really quick and easy games to play. Perfect to keep a child entertained with out using up to much of your holiday time. 

We was sent Penguin Pairs. This game is super easy to play and to set it up all you have to do is lay down the penguins face down. You then take it in turns to pick up 2 penguins and you are looking for 2 that are the same. 

The great thing about this game is that it can be playing together, or your child can play on their own trying to find the matching penguins.

Mini games are only £5 each and so again, well worth the money. 

So if you are planning to go away, or are looking for things to keep your child entertained for the summer holidays. Head to the Orchard Toys Website and pick up some helpful holiday activities now.

Keep your eye out on the Lily's Little Learners Instagram for pictures of Lily trying them out.

Which of the books do you think your child would like?

Are you planning any holidays where activities like this could come in handy? 

The Dream Pillow - Review and Giveaway

(Ad, Review)

Dreaming can be a lovely thing to have but also something that can cause distress for children. It can play a major part of a child's life and really have an impact on them. 

Unlike us as adults who pretty much shrug off most of our dreams, for Children it can be very hard for them to understand it is not real, leaving them confused and sometimes scared. Especially if they end up having a nightmare. 

Around Pre-school, children can start to have bad dreams because there little minds are over working all the new changes that are happening to them. Leaving Nursery, Starting School, both really big things and although you child may be excited, it is definitely something than could play on there mind. 

This is where the dream pillow company decided that they would invent something to help, and it is simply called The Dream Pillow. 

The idea behind the pillow is to help children gain a good nights sleep and nice dreams by providing them with positive imagery before bed. 

Now I already try and have a very routined settled bedtime for Lily. It is pretty much always at the same time, it consists of at least 3 story books and some nice quiet cuddles before she rolls over to go to sleep. She usually gets up at least once after I have put to bed but then will go straight to sleep. 

As for waking up, Lily suffers from night terrors. I wrote a post all about it here.
Night terrors are different to dreams as a child won't actually remember they are having them and so the morning after won't be effected and won't be scared. I am not sure what causes them and so far nothing will stop them.

But apart from that Lily doesn't often have nightmares. But that doesn't mean that she can't suddenly start getting them and with some stressful things going on at home, and her starting school soon, there is a possibility her little mind will be upset and so she would be less settled. 

This feels the perfect time to be using The Dream Pillow and so they offered to send me one to try out. 

They have 3 pillows to choose from, The original pillow, the Lamby pillow and the Sharkie pillow. I chose the Lamby pillow as I felt it was the most gentle but also cute design they had. 

Your pillow arrives in a white and blue box with fun doodles all over it. It also comes with a little pad of dream paper and a little booklet explaining about the pillow and how it works. 

Lily was delighted with the pillow and cuddled it saying it was so cute. I first gave it to her at bedtime so it was something new and exciting for her bed. She has always slept on a extra pillow which has always been her choice and she was sleeping on one with a unicorn on, but as soon as Lamby was introduced, that was thrown straight out the window and replaced. 

Lily has been using the pillow each night and actually calls it her bunny pillow. I can see why she thinks that, it does also look like a bunny. I don't mind if she wants it to be a bunny. What ever makes her happy. 

So the way the pillow works is that you use the pad of card to draw or write all about the lovely dreams you would like to have. This is the perfect time to be able to sit down with your child and help create positive happy imagery for them to be thinking about before they fall asleep. The pillow has a opening where you can put your arms right though it and this is where you fold up your card and place it inside. To help make the nice dreams happen.

A first I was a little unsure about leaving a piece of card in there. Would she be able to feel it? What if it fell out?
Feeling the pillow with it inside, you can't even tell its there. The pillow is so soft and thick that all you can feel is the super comfort of it. Also the card hasn't fell out the pillow once, not even when she has lifted the pillow and moved it around. 

The pillow is so adorable though and as soft to stroke as you would a teddy, Lily loves giving it a cuddle. The only thing I didn't like was the massive label sticking out from the side as I kept tucking it in but it kept coming out which I would find annoying it it touched my face. 

Lily has been drawing some lovely things on her cards before bed. Some examples are "playing with mummy, riding my new bike, spiderman saving the day" 

I do find that Lily does get a little excited before doing it which does encourage her to want to go to bed, and knowing she is going to have nice dreams encourages her to want to sleep.

But you do need to set a little extra time aside to do this as I think it should be done in a nice calm manor, taking the time to talk about what they have drawn.

We have been using the pillow for about 2 weeks now. I haven't really seen much improvement with the night terrors but that one really is a mystery to why she has them. And as Lily never really has bad dreams I can't say to wether it has helped in that way. But what I do know is that Lily loves her pillow and she doesn't want to sleep without it at the moment. Plus it does help her settle knowing she can sleep and the nice dream pillow will help get rid of any bad dreams. 

I think if there came a time when Lily was having bad dreams the pillow would help because its the perfect way to switch a childs mind from the negative to the positive. 

If your child is having bad dreams I would definitely give the pillow a try. 

You can buy the pillows from the Dream Pillow website for £19.99 which I think is a really nice price. 

Maybe you would like to enter to win one???

Enter below on the gleam and you could have the chance to choose yourself a pillow for your child. 

What would your child draw for there nice dreams? 


Win a Sharkie Dream Pillow

Baby Annabell Baby Walker and Deluxe Knit Outfit Review

We are always so pleased to see what Baby Annabell has next and what I am about to tell you about today is a Baby Annabell product that both Lily and I just love. 

Zaph Creation sent us The new Baby Annabell Baby Walker. They also sent us a very cute Deluxe Knit Outfit which fits nicely on Baby Sweet Dreams Mia. 

As always Lily was super excited to have something new that was baby related. Her babies are the thing she plays with me most at the moment and so anything that just adds to that play is perfect for her. 

The baby walker does take some assembly but its quite easy and we got it fixed together in no time at all. You are also going to need batteries. You will need 4 AA batteries and 2 AAA batteries. 

When all placed together it is ready to be played with. It looks so cute and just like a real baby walker would. The theme is Baby Annabell's usual cute little lamb and the colours are a nice pale pink and white to match the rest of Baby Annabell's accessories. I love that it has handles and also a cute little toy at the top where the baby would push the beads along. 

The seat of the walker is a little tricky for little ones to place there baby in, Lily managed it depending on the size of her baby, and sometimes she needed help. The seat is elasticated in places to make it so then you can tightly fit in your doll and it won't fall out. It has a soft material making it comfortable for your baby doll to sit. It is all also build so then when a doll is inside it, it wont tip over. Zapf creation state that it is build for dolls sized up to 43cm. 

I do love how baby Annabell make everything so like you would if it was for a real baby, this really helps a child get into the mind of pretending to be a mummy or daddy. I think the softness of the seat, the design and the little toy addition all help this. But there is an extra element that just makes it so much better. The walker is actually operated via a remote control, this means it looks like Baby Annabel is walking all by herself. 

I am super impressed with this element of the toy. The remote is really easy to use and you can move the walker forwards, backwards and left and right. The walker moves so smoothly and turns corners really easily too, this really helped Lily be able to move the walker and she managed to drive it from one room to another around the house. 

Lily has been playing with this loads since I gave it to her and I know it is something she will keep playing with over and over again. 

Now for the outfit that we was sent. 

Lily loves being able to dress and undress her dolls and so when this new clothing set arrived she was so pleased to have another outfit to play with.

The outfit is super cute as always with Baby Annabel clothing. It is all pink with pretty pictures of flowers and the Baby Annabel lamb on the front. The skirt part to the dress is tutu like and the set also comes with some little pink knickers to go underneath.

The top half of the dress is knitted along with a matching hat. It is made really well and feels like such a cosy outfit. Again this would give a child the feeling they are really dressing their baby in real baby clothing. 

The cutest part to the outfit in my opinion is the shoes. They are super sparkly and I love the shape to them. They are made out of a plastic and so reality sturdy shoes. Lily has needed slight help slipping them onto the dolls feel, but can easily take the shoes off. 

When the baby was dressed up Lily said she looked beautiful and was super pleased that her baby had a brand new outfit. 

The Baby Annabell Walker is priced at £34.99 and can be bought from Smyths Toy Store. 

The Deluxe Knit Outfit is retailed at £21.75 and can be found on Amazon 

Would your child like these items for their Baby Annabel dolls?