How do you keep your children active and entertained during summer?

This is a good question we all ask ourselves how can we keep our kids entertained during the summer one without it costing too much and another that it's fun and keeps them entertained.


Well last year I covered a big section of my blog on this during the February Half term check it out here ...

So how can you fill 6 weeks I thought I would show you a few ideas I have up my sleeve.

We have just moved house in the last few months and our biggest challenge so far is the Garden. We have a lot of garden to try and clear so one of my ideas will be getting this under control we have already made a start so hoping we will have some more of this finished soon so we can think about getting some sand pits and outdoor toys for the kids to keep them amused even a paddling pool for those hot days (fingers crossed).

As you can see its not looking to bad already but the bottom section will be the hardest part so if i can get the top half done in time and get some things for the kids to play on, least that way they can have fun while poor mummy works on the tackling something out of sleeping beauty worst nightmare!

So whats next well we are lucky we live in Plymouth and have some great free events during June / August from La Solitaire du Figaro which is a great event for the city and the kids love watching all the boats on the sound plus there is a cool jazz and blues festival too. We also have Armed Forces day which is a great way to learn about the Forces last year we even got to sit on a Helicopter the boys loved that. 

We then have Flavour Fest which is great fun we get to try lots of different foods from all over and get to see how food gets transformed into daily meals, with lots of local traders its great to get into the community spirit and support the local area. One year we got to try blueberries never had them before and now me and the kids love them all thanks to the Food Festival. We also get some great ideas for cooking at home and as you know we love cooking check out some of our recent creations.

 So we will be doing plenty of cooking during the holidays and the kids love being so hands on in the kitchen and this is a great way bonding and having fun and cooking does not cost much and great for a rainy day too! We also love doing craft based projects being a creative family so we always try and keep empty boxes on hand so we can paint and decorate. 

In August we are proud to host the British Fireworks Championships  its a great two day event which is free and we get to watch some of the best fireworks in the country on display. 

These events are a few things that our on offer in Plymouth during the holidays so there are plenty of free events to keep my kids busy. But on those occasions where we can afford to do something more we have a great Aquarium nearby which we love to go and they also provide some great classes and activities to keep the kids entertained as well has great rates to go back and visit again its a firm favorite with the kids.

Other local attractions include woodlands which is one of the fun local theme parks in the area about a hour drive its a great way to spend a day having fun in the sun  or playing in the ball pool lots to do and a  good day out.

We also have National Trust passes so lots of great places to visit one of our favorites is Saltrum House where they film Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland. The kids love going there having there face painted and running around the Gardens. We normally pack a picnic too and with a  park on hand and ducks to feed its another great way to spend a day out. 

We are lucky enough to have so many wonderful things on our doorstep the Barbican will be holding their festival of the sea once again and last year the kids got to make there own costumes and walk in the parade around the town, Also have the Eden Project nearby too and some amazing beaches when the weather is hot. 

Last but not least we have Dartmoor, another great place to go during the summer with rivers to swim in and rocks to climb and big open spaces to run in its great. Last year we went for a swim in a place called Cadover Bridge the kids loved it so much they keep asking when we can go back so this will be a must again this summer. I also took them to a place called the rock which is a massive rock they can climb kids love it plus i can take a  chair and watch them without having to worry only that they don't fall .... 

So you can see Plymouth is a great place to go during the holiday we are just lucky we live here with so many things to do and most being free, there will plenty to talk about this summer on my blog, So weather the weather is hot or not we have some great ideas planned for keeping the kids entertained. 

I hope this may have given you some great ideas to plan ahead and find out what you city will be doing during the summer, if all else fails you know where to stay ... But keep checking out my blog as we will be posting some great places to go and things to do and this hopefully would have show you what too look forward too in the coming months. 

And hopefully I may even be lucky enough to review this 12ft  Twist Trampoline from EXIT now that we have a  garden big enough to fit one of these thanks to ActivitytoysDirect.com. If you have a  blog and fancy a chance at winning find all the details here:

Home Made Burgers

Like I promised here is a picture of tonight's tea we made homemade Burgers topped with melted cheese and bacon with added mushrooms fried onions and peppers .....

So this is how we made it ...

I bought two lots of minced beef about 540g in total added one chopped onion, Atbsp of Mustard with one egg yolk a tbsp of olive oil and about 30g of chopped Coriander. Then chucked this into a big bowl and mashed all together to make 8 burgers.

Pop these onto the grill to cook once they have cooked prepare the bacon and then place this on top of the burgers with a slice of processed burger cheese (we used dairylea slices)  pop these back into the oven.

While they are melting fry up the onions,mushrooms,and peppers and toast the burger buns.

Then the fun part making the burger I layered the onions and peppers on the bottom then added the burger with the bacon and melted cheese placed the mushrooms on the top and it was complete and it tasted amazing even the kids loved it which is great seeing as my boys are quite fussy when it comes to food.

The fun part was trying to eat it !!! 

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Catch Up Time !

Well had a busy week so far got a job interview this week at Build-A-Bear cant wait for that also had a few fab new reviews to do this week one of which will be live later today Suteki!  if all goes well. And a great opportunity for winning some cool stuff yourself more to follow today.

But please keep checking back for Iron Man 3 ArcStrike Toy review thanks to Toys R us toyologist program also received some Febreze from there new sleep serenity range thanks to super savvy.

Also a Box of OMG came today back full of goodies for the kids more to follow here too.

Also last monday me and my WWE crazed son went to the O2 Arena at watched WWE live was a great night and I even had fun too check out how close we were greats seats!

In the meantime have a look at what we have been cooking in the Bennett household this week from dino cupcakes + Popping candy to a home cooked chinese and Banana Fritters complete with syrup yummy!

Tonights menu homemade burgers with bacon and mushrooms and ships nom nom will post pics of this later too!

Fairy Platinum Dishwasher Tablet Review

We love trying new and exciting things in the Bennett household, but this time it was something I could really get my hands dirty with.

I was lucky enough to try out Fairy’s Platinum tablets for my dishwasher, now I normally just go and buy whatever tablets are on offer at the supermarket not really caring much on how well they might perform.

But after taking this trail run I think I will be buying Fairy from now on.

Fairy Dishwasher Tablets come in a great resalable bag perfect for kids and kittens not to get their hands on them, so great for storage and safety. The tablets come in two parts one side powder the other liquid detergent which contains a powerful anti-grease action great for stuck on grime. The tablets are encased in a film which dissolves without leaving a sticky residue on your dishes.

So we got to work trying these tablets out and letting all our friends and family know about how great the cleaning action can be, by handing out coupons and a free pack along with a little questionnaire to see how they got on.

And if you are anything like me the thought of putting your hand in the sink with floating weetabix or porridge or thick grease after a Spaghetti Bolognese night, there is nothing worse I can tell you but after putting all these horrid dishes in your dishwasher and finding they come out looking like new then you will be amazed and you can see for yourself the result are fab.

We had a go and trying  a few challenges from the kittens food bowls with dried in food to the cup with tea stains and each time the tablets did it.... is there nothing they can’t do!!!!

So not only will the tablets leave your dishes looking great it’s also has a high standard of degreasing your dishwashers filter too, I suggest you try the filter challenge for yourself I am sure it wont dissapoint ....

So needless to say we have now been fully converted to using Fairy all the time and so have my friends and family the only question WILL YOU BE TOO !!! 

I moustache you a question!!!

Never have I ever done any chocolate moulding before so I thought I would have a go ....

I went to my Favourite shop that sells all things cake and baking related and picked up a chocolate lolly mould my son had to pick the moustache one has he has a new t shirt which he loves that is same name as this blog post.

So we picked up some lollipop sticks and some chocolate and melted and moulded away.

After 20 minutes in the fridge this was the final the result.

I can say I am very impressed and will be looking  out for more chocolate moulds and they went down great as a chocolate treat.

Also great for unwanted Easter eggs ....melt down the chocolate to make more lolly's.

Eggshellent Weekend

We have been busy in the Bennett household this weekend baking lots of Easter treats .. and decorating our eggs .....

We started the weekend off making Easter bonnets and cake and even a Easter bonnet cake that the kids decorated ...

We used a basic Cake recipe and made the inside just like my rainbow cake here Rainbow Cake recipe  click the link to check the method  and details on what you will need to use . and then I stacked them on top of each other and decorated with a layer of icing and let the kids get to work.

I had prepared a few bits for them to add on and then let them choose where and what they wanted on the cake and I must it Looked fab and even more yummy to eat too ...

We were inspired by TwoLittleFleas competition to make a Easter inspired cake thanks to The Pink Whisk Blog  and I hope you guys love it as much as my kids loved making it and eating it too ... Its nice to have in the kitchen this time of year. So thanks for the great comp why not join in the fun click the links above to check it out or cooking not your style then try out the Bingo fingers crossed you win something  good ...

The next step was my fav Easter Biscuits i love making these and I always use a simple recipe:

2oz of Caster Sugar
4oz of Butter
6oz  of Plain flour
And a drop of milk if needed

Mix the ingredients to form a  dough that is not to sticky add more milk or flour either way to get the perfect dough.

Roll out some flour before rolling the dough  this is my kids favourite part is choosing what shapes to make and cut out, and then all taking turns to make the biscuit shapes.

Makes about 20 biscuits depending on what shapes you make if you need to make more then I always double up the recipe.

Bake in the oven on 180 degrees  for about 15 minutes until golden leave to cool on a rack before decorating we made two lots and the kids just love

Next job on our list was to decorate some hard boiled eggs that we prepared the night before and my boys being mad on Turtles and Dinosaurs I took this task to making them look like there fav toys . I can honestly say this was fun to do and the kids loved it as well. We even got my sons new Easter toy Godzilla in with action as well has our cat Skips who wanted to have some fun too .....


Let us know what you are up to this weekend what have you been doing by posting below.

My Style – Super Loops Bands Review

We were thrilled to unexpectedly receive the myStyle Super LoopBands for review last week. Both myself and my daughter absolutely love craft-making and have done a review for myStyle in the past for their Shamballa Jewellery so were delighted to have the chance to look at another high quality product from the same brand. Click here to check out the Shamballa fire Jewellery review.  

We were very keen to get this one all set up and ready to go and as the extended Easter break from school allows us ample time for fun we dived straight in! The box contains one hundred and twenty five different colour silicone loops, five metal ‘S’ clasps and a twelve page instruction booklet to help you along each step of the way.

The first step was to decide on the colours and we began by selecting twenty five silicone loops (you can use twenty for smaller hands). The contents of the set actually allow you make up to six bracelets depending on if you use twenty or twenty five silicone loops

From reading the instructions it seemed simple enough but as we progressed my little girl, age eleven, found it a little tricky at loop the silicone loop around the other one while trying to hold it in place.

I found the process easier within a few minutes I was able to make my own  bracelet. Once my daughter watched me make one she had another go and found it quite easy after watching me and then managed to make herself her own bracelet without any further difficulty 

We both found the instruction booklet very useful and it had clear and precise instructions that were easy to follow so the initial difficulties that my little girl had were more to do with coordination than confusion and soon we were happily onto making our next cool bracelets.

The best part about these fab bracelets is that if you fancy changing the colours they are easy to undo and start again so there is certainly a lot of replay value in the myStyle Super Loop Bands. With the low retail price of just £9.99 they make a great gift as well as keeping children (and adults) entertained. The bands themselves make really eye-catching accessories for the holidays so expect to see plenty of them around the high streets, and kids imaginary catwalks, as we move into summer!