Mr L and I shared a gift to ourselves for Christmas of an iPad. It is without doubt THE best most used piece of tech to arrive in this house since Sky+

Whilst it is a gift to ourselves, it was also meant to be, an addition for the whole family I didn’t realise how much Lil H would love it and Baby G has her own apps too.

We were gifted a Megabloks app to review and “Megabloks playground hd” has been available to play on our iPad for about a month now.

As with any new icon addition to the iPad it was explored with excitement by Lil H (aged 3.5yrs). It has been revisited since the initial new arrival but Angry Birds still holds the number one spot, actually that’s not strictly true, an age totally inappropriate adventure fighting game is his favourite – obviously! Loaded by Mr L & uninstalled by me, mean mummy!

The landscape of the game is a playground the size of the iPad screen, you can zoom in & out, check out the pond, say hi to the dog, cows, ride the hot air balloon and play on the swings, slide and seesaw. There is a little boy and a little girl in the playground, you move them by tracing your finger from them where you want them to walk, the path traced leaves a trail of foot prints for the characters to follow. Lead the children to all three piles of megabloks and you’ll be rewarded with a model made of megabloks and another three piles of megabloks to find.

Lil H says “it’s good, I like tapping the seesaw, the boat and the balloon to make them move”. He’s more into making the objects move than adventuring around the playground collecting Megabloks but I could see this changing as he gets slightly older. I like the fact it’s age appropriate, it’s a good mid ground between basic tapping games which Baby G likes and adult games like Angry Birds. I think new / additional areas to explore would help refresh the game and retain interest as once you’ve done everything once you’ve done it. I love the fact it isn’t noisy, it doesn’t require me to assist with play, it doesn’t frustrate him and doesn’t fire him off to the app store with any easily done mis-taps! However it doesn’t hold his attention as long as other apps though like all apps are great value for money.

Overall I’d give it 7/10.

So on Monday I turned the page in my diary there it was.  A little sticker on today’s date … “Schools Out!”  How?  How can it be the middle of February?  How?  Well here we are February half term is upon us.  As a result this has consisted of me power working all week to cover everything off to allow a full time mummy week with Lil H and Baby G.  We’re not going away but have lots planned…

Starting off with a tweet up with bumpalicious Jordan, a chicken pox jab for Baby G, several playdates, a matinee movie – either a second viewing of Tangled or Yogi bear (anyone seen Yogi?), a blog event with Nutella at Stockley Farm, should it rain I’ll be over at Red Ted Art’s Blog for craft inspirations and last but by no means least, a day trip to London for the Save the Children Born To Blog Conference. 

If I had a a few more days I’d jump on a train and check out Wizard Week at the National Railway Museum at York. They sent me a choccie frog which Lil H ate whilst I read all their Wizard Week which looks like a lot of fun you can ride the Hogwarts Express steam train from the Harry Potter films from 19 – 27 February 2011 with extended hours from 9:30am all week so if there are any mini Wizards out there waning a spell-binding half term of magical performances there are owl displays and craft activities its worth checking it out here.  For more half term idea’s check out Ten Fabulous February Half Term Day’s Out over at Ready For Ten.

So what are you plans for half term?  Also what do you think, do I go for a second viewing of Tangled with Lil H or give Yogi Bear a go?

Another big thank you to Plum Baby for providing yet more great competition prizes … there are three stage 1 hampers which will include a copy of the Hardens Guide to Eating out with babies and toddlers up for grabs. 

Plum Baby sent me a copy of the Hardens guide, it is the latest addition to my day bag.  I’ve not had it a week and I know my own manor but there are some great places listed and I shall be adding my own recommendations for future editions!  I think its great for finding the family friendly places where you don’t live, finding baby & toddler friendly places when visiting friends and family with no kids is always challenging when they have no reason to know and also day trips and UK staycations. 

Want to get your hands on your own copy?  Quite right too!  I’m making it very easy and giving you lots of ways to enter: 

1.  Leave me a comment with you’re favourite place to eat as a young family

2.  Friend me on Facebook and leave me comment below saying “Let’s be friends!”

3.  Tweet and leave me “I tweeted it” as a comment!
      I’ve entered @Cheshire_Claire ‘s @Plum_Baby competition http://bit.ly/hjNQCu

By the way I *may* be blogging under the influence of my nearest and dearest Mr Pinot Grigio so reserve the right to change the contents of this post at any point in the future   Prize will be posted to a UK address and the winners will be selected at random. Competition will close at 8pm next Tuesday 22nd February 2011.

So go on, what are you waiting for, comment, friend, Tweet away, got to be in it to win it! 

Love, Me x