Tag: dolls

Children, Families, Family Life, Imagination Play, Learning, Reviews, Sons, Toys

My First Baby Annabell:Review And Giveaway

by thejoyoffive115 Comments on My First Baby Annabell:Review And Giveaway

When it comes to dolls in this house there is certainly no gender stereotyping and the boys have loved playing with them just as much as the girls.

The biggest dolly fan though has definitely been Oscar and I love the benefits he gets from playing from them:

Learning Caring And Nurturing Skills – Looking after a dolls allows them to consider the needs of others such as – are they warm enough, do they need feeding, do they need changing.

Building fine Motor Skills – Having to line the bottle up feed the baby, putting on clothing andchanging the nappy are all great ways build their fine motor skills.

Using Their Imagination – The limits are endless to the way they can use their imaginations and role play with dolls. They can build all kinds of scenarios and let their imaginations run wild.

Oscar has built up a pretty good collection of dolls, but what he really wanted was one that can be taken around easily and for me something that is not to heavy and bulky for me to cart around when they’ve had enough!

My First Annabell’s baby brother arrived the other day and Oscar immediately fell in love with him. The squishy body makes him great to cuddle and being a smaller doll than the original Baby Annabell he is perfect to sit on the little ones lap for them to feed with a bottle

He fits easily into my handbag so when Oscar get fed up with parenting I can pack him away easily.

He arrives with a bottle for feeding and is dressed in a pretty, light blue baby grow with matching hat.

He would make the perfect first doll for any child, or a great addition when you want an easily transported doll.

If you want to win one of your very own then please feel free to enter the completion below.

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Children, Christmas, Families, Family Life, Parents, Reviews, Toys

Milestone Myths With Baby Annabell Learns To Walk

by thejoyoffiveLeave a Comment on Milestone Myths With Baby Annabell Learns To Walk

The arrival of a new baby is one of the most precious and wonderful moments of a parents life, they bring such overwhelming joy and love but also a whole host of worries and anxieties that get to us on a daily basis.

From how much they are eating to how much they are sleeping is a constant worry and also as they begin to grow and milestones are being reached the worries also turn into something a little more competitive. We begin to compare what off springs of families and friends are doing and goals they are reaching.

Toddler groups turn into a mine field of parents either bragging that their little ones have sat up for the first time or the poor parent at the other end of the scale that is still waiting for their child who is of the same age to even roll over.

As the years have past and the more children I have I’ve come to the realisation that hours or staring at developmental charts and comparing my babies with others is a negative waste of time and the focus should be on getting through those milestones when they are good and ready and not when a chart tells you they should.

As adults we are all still learning new skills which will be easier and done quicker for some than other and this is no different to when we a little. We all have strengths and weaknesses and this is what makes us all so wonderfully individual.

Being a Mum of five I can tell you that all of mine have taken their first steps at times rating from 9-14 months, some have crawled from as early a 6 months when others never crawled at all but ultimatly they have all reached those goals when they are good and ready.

With babies milestones in mind Baby Annabell have come up with the fabulous Baby Annabell Learns To Walk.

Doll mad Oscar was very excited to have a new friend to go with his favourite Little Brother doll and was in sheer amazement who he saw all the amazing things that this new doll could do.

Baby Annabel makes her way through those all important milestones from sitting to crawling and walking.

As with all children she has a few hiccups and when she is crawling will drop to her tummy and cry. This is not a problem as she will be happily picked up and sits on your knee whist wriggling and fidgeting around.

When it comes to walking she will happily take her first steps whist holding onto your hand a bubbling away with each move.

This doll has made a very welcome addition to our household and Oscar has been amazed with everything she’s does. The interation they can get from this doll is amazing and I’m sure this would be a welcome present under any tree this year.

*collaborated post

Children, Families, Family Life, Hobbies, Learning, Toys

Baby Annabel Learns To Swim Doll Giveaway

by thejoyoffive256 Comments on Baby Annabel Learns To Swim Doll Giveaway

I have always seen swimming as one of the most important skills for children to learn, it is a life skill as well as being great for exercise and obviously lots of fun.

This said taking those first steps into the pool can be a pretty daunting time and I know that for two of mine it took a lot of hard work and dedication to get them happy and relaxed with the water.

This is where the new Baby Annabel Learns To Swim Doll can come into play to help ease the transition from dry land to water.

Baby Annabel have teamed up with Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington to create this brilliant doll that splashes, moves her arms and legs in water and floats on her back.

Here are a few of Rebecca’s top tips on how to get your little ones confident in the water:

Rebecca Adlington says: “Learning to swim is an important milestone, helping to instil confidence from an early age as well as being a really fun bonding experience between a parent and child. If your little one is nervous it can be a challenging process – expect plenty of tears and tantrums, however initial fears can be overcome by slowly building confidence and trust.”

Whether your child is an anxious swimmer or an excited water baby, Rebecca Adlington’s top tips will help turn your child into a little Olympian in no time –

• Children can be initially nervous of the water, baby steps and lots of praise will help them overcome a lack of confidence. Try taking them alone to just watch for the first time, then toes in next time and so on, along with lots of positive praise to help encourage them to take that first dip.

• Toys are a brilliant tool, they are such a good distraction for anyone who doesn’t normally like putting their face in the water or splashing. Toys such as the new Baby Annabell Learns to Swim doll are a great way to give children (and parents!) the courage to take those first steps towards swimming.

• Swimming is huge bonding experience. The learning process is a lot to do with trust and really builds a closer relationship between and parent and child. For this reason, try not to use your phone during lessons to avoid distractions.

• The younger you start swimming lessons the better. I took Summer from 3 weeks old. It is all about building confidence and awareness of the water from a young age. Swimming also helps with a child’s muscular development and is fantastic for understanding their physical abilities.

• Make good use of the equipment that’s there. Whether it’s armbands, noodles, or vests, use whatever your child is more comfortable with. I tend to do five minutes with floatation equipment and five without, this helps when they’re really young and still building confidence.

• Mix up who takes the child swimming. Whether its Mum, Dad, Grandparents etc. It’s good to go with someone they trust whilst getting used to swimming with different people.

If this sounds something your little ones would like them simply tell me in the comments below when Rebecca first took her daughter Summer swimming for your chance to WIN a doll of your very own.

Competition T’s and C’s –

The winner will be announced on 5th November 2017.

The prize is non refundable and is no cash alternative.

Children, Families, Family Life

Welcoming Baby Anabell’s Baby Brother 

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A while ago Oscar was over the moon to have his first dolly that he was allowed to love and look after.

He named her Sue and she had been one of his favourite toys ever since.

When Sue arrived I spoke a lot about the stigma and stereotypical feelings that people still have towards boys playing with dolls and it really is something that over time I hope will be quashed.

I think that one of the things that doesn’t help with this issue is the fact that the majority of dolls on the market are girls.

You walk into a sea of pink in most toy stores when it comes to the baby doll section and it is very rare to see a little boy.

If you do happen to come across one they tend to be your bog standard doll that offered nothing more than being just that.

That is why when I saw Baby Annabell’s Little Brother I was extremely interested to find out what he offered and knew that he would make a wonderful friend for baby ‘Sue’.

Oscar’s eyes lit up when ‘John’ as he has been named arrived.

His super cuddly body came dressed in a beautifully soft blue romper with a matching hat and bib.

It wasn’t long before Oscar spotted the bottle and dummy and was intrigued at how he could give him a drink and comfort him with the dummy.

To his amazement he went from being a settled baby that was peacefully sleeping to a unsettled little one that cried real tears!

Cleverly though with a little bit of soothing and rubbing he soon settled again and showed his contentment with a few wriggles.

The highlight of any interactive dolls for my children is the feeding and Oscar was not disappointed here.

We filled the bottle with some water and once the feeding started he began to move his eyes and mouth in and extremely life like fashion.


Feeding complete it was now time for a nappy change that I encourage the boys to do in imaginative play as it is not going to come from learnt behaviour from their dad!

Oscar really loved Baby Annabell’s baby brother and he had become a welcome part of our family.

I love the fact that alongside the imaginative play that is bought out by using this doll the ability to grow a child’s loving and nurturing side is easy with the fact the doll can be visibly soothed by a bit of TLC.

It is a really welcome change to see a male doll with all these great additional features and I’m sure he would be a welcome addition to any toy box.

*I was given this doll for the purpose of this review and they are all my own, honest opinions.

Children, Chocolate, Egg hunts, Families, Family Life, Gifts

L.O.L Surprise Easter Hunt

by thejoyoffive3 Comments on L.O.L Surprise Easter Hunt

A few months back we went along to the launch of the new collectables that have taken America by storm, L.O.L Surprise.

The children were really taken with them and Izzy has started quite a collection since our visit.

We were challenged to an Easter hunt with a difference by using lots of gifts that are based around these great dolls.

Easter can be a complete chocolate over load so it can be really nice to have something a little different to hunt for rather than the traditional eggs.

I placed the L.O.L diva bow, secret message, joke, colouring in sheet, postcard and sweets around the garden and told her how many gifts she had to find.


A took a while to collect them all together and when she finally did her big prize was an L.O.L Surprise doll which is another task in itself.

She had great fun peeling off each layer of the packaging to reveal a surprise under each one until finally unveiling the doll inside.


It make a great change to the usual hunts and will last a lot longer than a few chocolate eggs!
*we were given the gifts for the purpose of this hunt.

Blogging, Children, Families, Family Life

L.O.L Surprise Launch

by thejoyoffive1 Comment on L.O.L Surprise Launch

Over the years we have had countless collections of collectables. Some have been a huge hit and some have been five minute wonders.

When we were asked along to the launch of the US hit LOL Surprise I was intrigued as to what this new craze was going to bring.

We arrived at Westfield and were immediaty greeted with a huge stage and lots of buzzing children that were eagar to see the launch of the dolls that was going to be hosted by the hit YouTube child star Tiana from Toys And Me.

My daughter spends hours watching all of her unboxing videos and was super excited to get to meet her in person.

After Tiana launched through a huge paper screen to take to the stage she unveiled the new LOL Surprise dolls in front of a a crowd of little ones that were hanging on her every word.

There was then a chance to go and meet her in and take away our own doll to take a look at for ourselves.

We headed off with a gang of blogging buddies to investigate what had caused such a big hype over in America.

For me the best way to describe these collectables is that it is like having a ‘pass the parcel’ package all to yourself.

Each ball is covered with seven layers that hold a secrecy message sticker, collectable sticker sheet, water bottle charm, shoes, outfit, accessory and finally the doll under each separate layer.

The doll itself will be a complete suprise and it is up to you to find out if she will cry, wee, spit or change colour.

 

The dolls were a huge hit with Izzy as well as Frankie and they loved the element of surprise that came under each wrapper and the want to know which each different doll would do.

I can for see a lot of pocket money being spent on these as Izzy is very keen to grow her collection. 

Children, Families, Family Life

L.O.L Surprise Meet And Greet With Toys And Me

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Toys And Me

Half term is only a few days away and I’m sure you are all pulling your hair out thinking of ways to keep the children occupied.

Well if you head over to Westfields, Shepherds Bush on Monday there is the chance to have a meet and great with ‘Toys And Me’ a huge YouTube star who is there to introduce you all to the fantastic new collection of collectables called L.O.L Surprise.

It is a ticket only event but the tickets are free and each ticket holder will receive a doll at the event. 

Tickets can be ordered by simply clicking through to this link ‘here’. 

We are going along to join in the fun and can’t wait. I know that my YouTube obsessed daughter is itchy to meet Toys And Me and get to see what L.O.L Surprise have to offer!

Children, Families, Family Life

Barbie™Video Game Hero Giveaway

by thejoyoffive55 Comments on Barbie™Video Game Hero Giveaway

Barbie™ has come a long way since my day and I love how she has evolved and become a strong woman with a zest for life that young girls can use their imagination and really get involved with. 

Alongside the great dolls and accessories  Mattel have just bought out a fab new DVD Barbie™ Video Game Hero, that is due for release on 13th February 2017 and sees Barbie getting sucked into her favourite video game where she meets a whole host of new friends that I’m sure you would love to meet as much as her!

Barbie™ finds herself transporting through the many different levels with her new found friend Cutie, a super sweet cloud shaped character.

They are there perfect pairing and use there skills in a bid to complete the game to save the world.

Do you think Barbie™ and her friends have what it takes to solve the game?

The only way to find out is to take a look for yourselves and what better way to do this then to win your own copy.

For your chance to win all you need to do is answer this simple question in the comments section below. Good Luck!

What is the name of Barbie’s new cloud shaped friend? 

Children, Christmas, Families, Family Life, Fashion, Reviews, Reviews, Toys, Uncategorized

Bratz Instapets Review

by thejoyoffiveLeave a Comment on Bratz Instapets Review

As with everything toys have to move with the times and Bratz dolls have always been at the top of the trends.

Over the past year we have been lucky enough to try out the Bratz Remix Doll and the Festival Vibes Doll.

Both of these dolls have kept their quirky design with the addition of fun, current themes.

We were asked to try out Jade from the new Instapets range and I knew my social media loving daughter would love everything about this doll.

Jade and the other girls from the range have a kawaii theme behind them which is something that originates from Japanese popular culture and in simple terms means ‘cute’.

Jade comes with her cute purple fluffy jumper to match her cat, a funky leather skirt and spiked boots.

She also has plenty of accessories to change up her outfit such as cat shaped earnings and cat eye sunglasses that are perfect to get her ‘insta ready’.

They encourage you to get some snaps with your own pet and upload them to Instagram which was the favourite part for number three.

We spent ages styling her hair and changing around her accessories to get her ready for the camera.


I think there will be another doll firmly on the Christmas list this year!  

*we were given this doll for the purpose of this review and they are all my own honest opinions. 

Children, Families, Family Life, Gifts, Imagination Play, Reviews, Reviews, Toys

Baby Born:Not Just For Girls

by thejoyoffive1 Comment on Baby Born:Not Just For Girls

Our house has been full of dolls for years now and they have by no means been just for the girls.

All of the boys at some point have loved looking after a dolly and I actively encourage this.

For me a toy that encourages a child to nurture, love and show empathy is a huge winner in my books and hope that it can help my boys grow into kind and caring fathers themselves in the future.

When I was asked to review the Baby Born Interactive Happy Birthday Doll I knew that number five would be more than happy to help me try her out.


I was actually shocked to find out that Baby Born was celebrating her 25th birthday, and I have to say she’s looking pretty good for her age!

This doll comes complete with a pretty party dress, party hat and plates and cups to help her celebrate.

Number five didn’t know where to start and after giving her a cuddle he set to pacifying her with the dummy.


All settled he decided it was time for some food and drink. Yes this clever baby can be fed with the little porridge sachet provided and given a drink of water from her special bottle.


He was complete amazed at the fact he was allowed to feed his baby real food but even more taken when from the push of a belly button he could see it all coming out the other end!


After a long time of feeding and changing I decided to see how the real tears worked.

After a few presses of her right arm the tears came flowing from her eyes and number five was way more upset than I was expecting.


To say this doll was a hit would be an understatement. He has randomly named her ‘Sue’ and she has not left his side since he first opened her.

This would make a wonderful present for girls and boys alike and this birthday edition offers that something a little bit different.
*we were given this doll for the purpose of this review and they are all my own honest opinions.