When you just can't get to sleep.....

My son loves reading he is 6 years old and a pretty confident reader, I have always encouraged reading from a young age and love reading myself so as such we are fortunate enough to get through lots of books!

Hibernation Hotel is a story about Bear.

A Brown Bear that was already late for hibernation time but he just could not get to sleep. With an overcrowded, noisy, smelly cave he makes his way to a fancy hotel to get himself some comfort and peace and quiet.

With a wake up call scheduled for the 1^st March he set about hibernating after he had enjoyed many of the things that staying in a hotel offers. Finally settling into bed he felt sleepy and as he is about to drift off to sleep other guests in the hotel have different ideas by hosting a party!

 Will Bear ever get to sleep?

This is a lovely story about all those reasons we find that we cannot settle and get to sleep and the illustrations are wonderful, my son loved the funny illustrations in the book and often made comments as we were reading on his interpretation of the illustrations.

When he had finished reading the book I asked him if he had enjoyed reading the book and he said it was really good. Alex is a huge fan of animals and he loves reading factual and fictional books that feature almost any kind of animal so this book was a huge hit with him.

He liked that the font was larger in the book and said it made it easier to read and more enjoyable to read alone. 

It was lovely to see him read the book alone, taking in the comical illustrations and commenting as he read the text on what he thought of the illustrations on each page including when Bear drank water from the toilet bowl, Alex thought this was disgusting!

A lovely book for you to read to your child and also for a child to read to themselves. 

Hibernation Hotel written by John Kelly and illustrated by Laura Brenlla.

Published by Little Tiger Press 

I received this book free of charge in exchange for my opinion.

Role Play Toys - Leapfrog Shapes & Sharing Picnic Basket

As a mum I have always remembered how when I was a child I enjoyed toys that involved an element of role play and with my son I struggled with this, he didn't enjoy his kitchen or playhouse both of which I enjoyed as a young child, so when my daughter came along I really thought about the types of toys that she would enjoy as a young child.

My daughter was born at the end of January so one of the gifts that she received was the Leapfrog Shapes & Sharing Picnic Basket. Admittedly it was me that fell in love with it more, the bright colours and sounds I was sure it would be a hit.

One of the main things I like about the Leapfrog range of toys is that they use British Voices which I find really helpful when your child is at the age where they are just starting to learn to talk and it also has 2 volume levels.

There is a large, brightly coloured butterfly button to the front that when pressed plays up to 30 audio responses.

Having had this from the age of 12 months it has become a very popular toy with my daughter and now at 19months of age she really enjoys the role play aspect, setting up the picnic blanket and setting out the food before then pretending to eat and drink.

 This is a lovely gift for both boys and girls alike, as it helps them to recognise shapes and colours with the help of the audio button with the preset phrases.

As with all of the Leapfrog toys they are robust and with a toddler dropping them at height and banging them around they show absolutely no signs of wear.

A 14 piece picnic basket which contains a picnic blanket, 2 plates, 2 forks, 2 cups, 6 pieces of food and the picnic basket itself.

This review is based on my own opinion and experience of using the toy with my daughter and it was provided as a gift by a family member.

Recommended from the age of 6-36months.
Requires 3 x AA batteries