There’s a gorgeous Winnie the Pooh Snack Plate and Egg Cup available at House of Fraser for £8.50 instead of £17.

• A friend forever snack plate and egg cup for you

I must admit that at £17 I would probably just gloss over this set, but at £8.50 it’s much more appealing.  The snack plate and egg cup are lovely keepsakes, but also practical and useable.

‘A Friend Forever’ is the theme of this set, which is fine china – so not really suitable for toddlers, I don’t think! – and is quite limited in it’s ease of use: it’s not microwave safe, not oven safe and needs to be handwashed… so perhaps more keepsake and dinner plate, but still.

You can buy and collect from House of Fraser for free, seven days a week, or you can have it delivered Monday to Friday for £3 – not too bad really.

All in all a lovely set for a collector or fan.

Thanks to missgem at HUKD

There’s 36% off the Bontempi Grand Piano at Play.com, selling at £8.29 and saving you £4.70.

• Plink plonk on the grand piano from Play

Apparently Bontempi are the leading manufacturer of easy-to-learn musical instruments, taking baby through from the ‘My First’ range, all the way through to starting their own band and creating their own music. I’m not sure what that means in terms of products or quality, but it sounds pretty impressive!

This is a brightly coloured grand piano with twelve keys and detachable legs for easy storage.

It is constructed from bright coloured plastic, and while the description uses the word ‘sturdy’ there is a review on Amazon that says it’s not really suited to ‘robust’ play.

The set comes with instructional materials for learning to play and the keys are coded to make learning easy and fun. This is an acoustic instrument, which means there are plastic rods inside that hit metal plates when the keys are played, rather like a real piano instead of  being all electrical. Unlike a real piano, however, the sharp keys are red and only for decoration, they aren’t connected to anything that actually makes any sound.

Although they say this is suitable for children aged three and over, I’d imagine there are better options out there for older age groups, and this would probably be a great ‘first piano’ for a very small, supervised child!

I'm just not great at messy play. I love the idea of it, but seriously, if I could, I would convert the garden shed into a messy play room so that I can just shut the door behind us till next time. If I ever get over that, I think we'll try these. Or maybe in the summer, when we can sit out on the grass and have minimal mess. And a hose down afterwards.

These painted marshmallows do look like fun though. A great alternative to an afternoon of building with Lego!

The Fisher-Price Little People Spin ‘n’ Crash Raceway is on almost half price sale at Argos as you save £12 off the £24.99 RRP.

• Spin and crash around the raceway

Despite the rather annoyingly sexist description of this item - Boys are in the driver's seat as they control all the thrills and spills fun around the Spin 'n' Crash Raceway from Fisher-Price  - I can totally see my daughter and myself having loads of fun with thisotoy.

This raceway includes two race cars, two driver figures, four flags and a trophy and weighs in at 2.2kg. It requires 4xC batteries which are not included.

The reviews on this are pretty good – a couple weren’t impressed, or it did crash loud enough or was quite noisy with the plastic on plastic crashing, but overall, the reviewers were positive and the kids loved it.

They are out of stock for home delivery, but you can click and collect and pick it up to make a saving on the rather hefty delivery charges anyway.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

Toys R Us have a BOGOF offer on Chuggington Die-Cast and Interactive trains until the 26^th of February with pieces ranging from £5.97 to £9.97 each. You just choose the two you want and the lowest priced item will automatically be zero’d in your basket.

• Build a home for your Chuggers

I’m loathed to have seen this pretty fab deal, because I’m going to spend the rest of the day going ‘Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chuggington’ in my head and it will eventually enter my dreams! The Chuggers are pretty sweet, but argh! Earworm. Lovely.

Anyway, we’re here now, so you may as well know, a lot of them are out of stock for home delivery, but they’re all available from Click and Collect.  Some of the Chuggers, like Puffer Pete are also on sale – Pete has 50p off.

The only problem I have with these is that I can’t figure out how big they are, there’s no scale and no size information available! The interactive ones talk, and greet other Chuggers – i.e. Brewster has up to 80 phrases when he’s around the entire rest of the crew.

They’re pretty nice looking and those that have been rated and reviewed have positive feedback from parents and children alike!

There’s 60% off the Zhu Zhu Pets Baby Nursery at Amazon at the moment, taking this £24.99 toy down to a much more affordable £9.99.

• Get cozy in the nursery with Zhu Zhu Pets

I must admit, I dread the day my daughter comes home wanting xyz collection, and it’s probably the biggest reason we’re not too big on kiddies TV. The thought of what parents spend on these collectibles scares me! I’m sure a time will come when we won’t be able to escape it, but still, the thought of paying £24.99 for one toy, which doesn’t even include the hamsters is too much for me right now!

If it’s what you’re after, however, this Zhu Zhu Pets Baby Nursery is a great price. The baby  hamsters, which aren’t included, can sleep in the roundabout baby holder, or there’s space for them in their cradles in the nursery.

There’s only one reviewer, and he says this item comes with more ‘components’ than the other Zhu Zhu toys, and at £14.99 he was very happy with it, so at £9.99, it should be a great buy.

There’s more than £10 off the Lanka Kade Minibeast Skittles in the VUPBaby up to 70% off clearance sale. Normally priced at £24, they’re now £13.86.

• Have some family fun with indoor skittles

These skittles are just gorgeous, I think. They’re made from environmentally friendly rubber wood and each skittle is beautifully painted and decorated with ‘minibeasts’.

There a snail, spider, ladybug, beetle. Bee and some other critter I can’t quite make out – perhaps a butterfly – each with smiley faces and pretty flower decorations.

The six skittles come with three balls, and the whole lot can be packed and stored in the open wooden box it all comes in.

Skittles are 20cm tall, so they’re a lovely size for playing with and I’d imagine they could transform a rainy afternoon into a fun indoor tournament.  Lanka Kade Minibeast Skittles are not recommended for under three’s, although I can’t for the life of me imagine why.

Pick and Mix People from Orchard Toys are currently £5 at Play.com, which is a £2.50 saving on the £7.50 RRP.

• Pick and Mix with pick and mix people

I’ve been searching high and low for activities to have lined up to keep my two year old busy during the labour and birth of our new baby, and the days that follow. I’m pretty sure we’ll get in the swing of things quickly, and life will soon adjust to the ‘new’ normal, but in the meantime I need to make sure there are plenty stationary and sedentary things I can do to help her stay occupied.

I thought these Pick and Mix People from Orchard Toys could be loads of fun and a good laugh, and because of the wide age range, something she could really grow into!

The set comes with 12 characters split into three parts each – head, body and feet. So that gives you 36 cards to play with and talk about. You can match up the people with the right parts, or have a good laugh with your mix and match characters. There’s also an educational guide on the reverse if you want to make it more than a game!

Play.com is offering £2 off the Creations 3 In 1 Emotion Designs from Crayola, reducing it from £4.99 to £2.99. For almost a fiver, this is a little expensive, but for £3 it’s not too bad.

• Learn about emotions in a fun way

I don’t think I’ve met a little girl (especially) who didn’t love stickers. I remember as kids we used to collect and swap stickers, and every decade or so my sister and I will go through a box of old things at our parent’s house and rediscover the treasures  that have survived from those years.

These would be great for decorating a journal, or if you’re that way inclined, to help toddlers learn to understand and express emotions.

The pen includes two inks and a mechanical pencil mode, which  you change by twisting the barrel to the instrument you want to write with. The stamper is also three in one and has different patterns for decorating paper and envelopes and so on.

I can see this being loads of fun!

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

I'm not sure whether these are meant to be freebie printable sheets, but they certainly are printable, and if your child likes them you could buy the book with loads more doodles to colour. They're really nicely drawn and would make beautifully colourful pictures!

There’s something incredibly soothing about a hot shower on a cold day – short of soaking in the tub, it’s a wonderful way of relaxing or re-energising when you don’t have much time, isn’t it?

Mira have launched a new range of shower heads, and we asked Lynley to test it out. The final verdict from her is 10/10 – worth every penny. Here’s how she breaks it down:

The 450 piece Mega Bloks Hello Kitty Scoop and Build Tub is on sale at Argos for £10.99 instead of £24.99. It’s currently available from an Amazon seller for £37.99. I can’t seem to find it available anywhere else.

• Scoop and Build with Hello Kitty and Mega Bloks

This seems to be quite a large set, with 450 pieces aimed at the over four age group, it also contains a sticker sheet and comes in a decorative storage bin. The lid of the storage bin can be used as a scoop for quick and easy cleaning up.

The blocks themselves are themed for summer and picnics, with a good sized Hello Kitty figure for playing with. There’s a boat, a picnic area and even special decorative blocks you can use the stickers on. Picnic done, Hello Kitty can pick fruit out of the trees and hide from the summer sun (!) under a red and yellow parasol.

The reviewers on it are all happy with it, and their children all seem to love it.  Seems like pretty good value for money!

Thanks to beanz-on-toast at HUKD

I was shocked, recently, to find a recipe on how to make one of our favourite snacks – yoghurt covered raisins. You know? The healthy snack for children? Yeah. Not so healthy. Six cups of icing sugar to every cup of raisins!  So much for healthy.  It’s made me  highly suspicious of children’s snacks, to say the least.

Recently I found a snack I’m really impressed with, however.  Smoothie Melts from Kiddylicious are absolutely stunning. We don’t normally ‘do’ toddler food, because it just doesn’t appeal in the same way as ‘real’ food does, but I will admit to actually eating these myself. They are beyond yummy.

At the moment, you’ll find Kiddylicious Smoothie Melts in Passion Fruit, Banana and Mango and in Strawberry and Banana, both of which are fantastic flavours. They’re 100% fruit with no added sugar or salt,  and each bag is equivalent to one portion of fruit for a young child.

The fruity squares are made by blending the fruit until it’s frothy, then it’s set into squares. They are crispy and crackle in your mouth, but if you don’t eat it all in one go, they become quite soft in a day or so… they’re still tasty and totally edible, just more chewy and less crunchy.

Kiddylicious snacks can be found in most supermarkets, but these are brand, brand new and may not be available in your local shops yet – they’re not even on the Kiddylicious website yet.  They have an RRP of 59p per bag, which is cheaper than some snacks, and more expensive than others, but at least with this, I’m filling my child with fabulous fruit flavours, not six to one sugar!

These super cute toadstool money boxes are currently £2.95 at the Dotcom Gift Shop, reduced from £6.95 each.  Delivery is £3.95 to mainland UK and free for orders over £50

• Plant a money garden with these toadstools

I found this new website recently and I think they have the cutest stuff for adults and children. At the moment their toadstool money boxes are on sale and I think a bunch of these on a windowsill would be really cute!

You could write on them what each different box is saving for – ‘movies’, ‘new camera’, ‘shoes’, - or if you don’t have specific savings, label them with the value of the coins that will go in them, i.e £1, 50p and so – and have a money saving garden.

I think it would look lovely!

The toadstools are made of wood and rubber – I’m assuming the bit that keeps the money inside is the rubber bit, and each mushroom stands 12cm tall. With a diameter of 10cm, you could probably fit five or six of them comfortably on a windowsill… see I’m really invested in that idea!

There’s a great offer on the Thomas And Friends – Thomas and Cranky Playset at Tesco Direct, who are selling the friendly little engine for £10, with £3 for delivery, or free click and collect.  It’s £16.99 from an Amazon seller, so add another £5.13 for shipping, and £27.99, apparently, at Toys R Us.

• Play with Thomas and Cranky

This set comes complete with Thomas, Percy, Crank and the Fat Controller and a foldable play mat that you can take with you anywhere you go.

I don’t think this is the best deal on train playsets at the moment, but if you’re specifically after a Thomas and Friends set, this one is obviously among the best going at the moment and it is cheapest from Tesco right now.

Reviewers say it’s a good product, especially at sale prices, and that the trains are nice and chunky for little hands. The carts apparently separate a bit too easily, which can be annoying, but the kids don’t seem to mind it too much.

The play mat isn’t actually a mat, but cardboard, and it doesn’t go totally flat as it’s been folded in the box, but again – it seems to bug the adults more than the kids.

Thanks to Andywedge at HUKD

What a fun idea for a kids party, or even a fussy eater's lunch box? There's no website to link this to, it's simply a Pinterest upload, but I think it's a fabulously simple idea, both for separating snacks, and saving money and the environment with using just one bag instead of two.  And then, it's just really cute!

I’m not sure if this is a glitch in Amazon’s system or not, and I don’t suppose it’ll be round for very long, but for those of us that manage to grab it, this is a steal. Usually retailing at £19.99, there’s pretty much 100% off the Multiprint House of Hello Kitty Figurine Dolls, selling at 1p – but there’s £4.62 shipping to consider as it's a marketplace seller. Even so - £4.63 for what would have been £24.62 is not bad going, in my book.

You can also get it Amazon for £10.26, including delivery, which is still 49% off.

• Stamp away with Hello Kitty

So, what is it? Well, it’s a stamping kit, with seven Hello Kitty designs, in a Hello Kitty ‘house’. There’s an ink pad built into the clip on lid, and the box is more than just packaging – you can actually use it for storage.

The grammar in the description is a bit off, it’s dispatched from an Amazon seller (which I’ve never had any problems with!) and there’s a hefty postage fee, but for a Hello Kitty fan, this could make a lovely gift. I know my two year old is loving using stamps at the moment,  and I think these would be a hit!

Green People has a his and hers offer for Valentines day, and for the duration of February, there’s free delivery too.

• Share the love with Green People for her
• And of course, for him

The For Her gift contains a 50ml Vita Min Fix and a 50ml Vita Min Mask, reduced from £26.90 to £18.95. Vita Min is an intense, vitamin rich blend of organic essential oils and natural actives to improve radiance and nourish the skin.  Vita Min Fix is an indulgent, super rich day and night cream with skin nutrients Evening Primrose and Avocado oils to regenerate and feed the skin, whilst marshmallow and seaweed promote the production of new cells. Skin is left nourished and luminous for that special day.

For Him has been reduced from £27 to £14.95 and contains Scrub It Exfoliator and Active Fix Repair Serum. Scrub It (50ml) prepares the skin with Bamboo extract and Cranberry powder to remove dead skin cells, then natural clay draws out toxins and impurities from the pores. And if it’s a super-close shave you want, then Scrub It will lift the stubble from the surface of the skin for smooth, kissable results.

Active Fix Repair Serum is a power-packed age reversal formula for eyes, face and neck and contains clinically tested actives to firm skin and reduce wrinkles.

And then – free delivery… not bad at all!

gNappies are the new cloth nappy to hit the UK. They’re a hybrid cloth and disposable as the outer layer and inner ‘pouch’ are reuseable, and the filler on the inside can be either a biodegradable, compostable disposable inner or a reusable cloth inner.  For the month of February, gNappies are offering a Baby Buds Massage Oil with every purchase of a Good Fortune Red little gPant (the outer bit.)

• Go red with gNappies

gNappies are expensive to start off with, but the savings along the way are on a par with any other cloth nappy. Additionally, the savings on the environment if you choose to use the disposable options are amazing as the disposable inner breaks down and disappears within about 50 days, rather than the roughly 500 years a regular nappy takes.

So, if you head over to gNappies and choose a Good Fortune Red gPant, a bottle of Baby Buds Massage Oil will be included in your order without you having to do anything else.

Have a browse around their website – my favourite feature of gNappies is that they’re about the same size as a regular disposable, so your child doesn’t have to wear ‘bigger’ clothes just to fit with cloth bums.

There’s 60% off the Crayola Colour Explosion Glow Dome at Amazon, reducing the price from £24.99 to £10.

• Colour your Dome with a Glow Explosion

This rather interesting looking gadget is a drawing board, of sorts. It comes with six brightly coloured markers and two starter scenes to trace from and children either trace or draw freehand onto the plastic dome and the glow panel inside.

Once finished, children can turn out the lights in the room, and control the lights, speed, and rotation of their creations on the base of the dome. With a push of the spin-action button, the built-in motor rotates the dome at three separate speeds: slow, medium, or fast. Move the slider on the light feature to illuminate either the inner panel, the outer dome, both or a mixture. A built-in motor rotates the dome at different speeds which creates the illusion of animation with flashing lights.

The two drawing surfaces wipe clean with a little water and cloth or paper towel so you can create scene after scene. When finished, children can put the markers away in two compartments on the glow base, making sure they don't get lost.

Most of the reviews on this are pretty positive, and for £10 it looks like a nice way to explore colour and movement with children.