If you head over to the Book People, you'll be able to pick up a copy of this Big Book of Drawing and Colouring for either boys or girls for just £4.99. The usual list price is £14.99.

• Click HERE for the Big Book of Drawing and Colouring for Girls*
• Click HERE for the Big Book of Drawing and Colouring for Boys *

If you want value for money then any kind of colouring and drawing book hits the spot as far as I'm concerned - they are an absolute must if you have children, of almost any age (well, perhaps not teenagers, but you know what I'm getting at).

I always adored colouring in pictures in colouring books when I was little - my nan kept a stash of them at her house; my grandma always had piles of blank paper and a huge tub of crayons on standby, and there were always colouring books at home too.

You could generally guarantee that something along the lines of a Big Book of Drawing, Doodling and Colouring would feature somewhere in the birthday and Christmas present haul as well.

For girls, the pages are full of birds, butterflies, fairies, fashion, rainbows and shooting stars, and all sorts of other pretty patterns and popular designs.  For the boys, there are cars, planes, aliens and other 'boy things' to enjoy.

Happy doodling, drawing and colouring!

The Book People are selling this Easter Things to Make and Do book for £2.99, its full recommended list price is £4.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at Easter Things to Make and Do *

I know we haven't got past Valentine's Day and half term yet, but Easter is early this year - it's at the end of March, last year it was very late and almost at the end of April.

Easter heralds the first two-week school holiday since the Christmas one (and doesn't Crimbo already seem like a lifetime ago!) and I know, from experience, that it pays to have some projects and activities lined up for young kids to do - the weather still isn't great, so turfing everyone out into the garden, to play, isn't likely to be an every day option.

This Easter Things to Make and Do book will not only occupy a few hours, but will also give you the chance to make some Easter gifts for the grandparents - they like that sort of thing...generally.

Each project in the book is explained with simple, illustrated step-by-step instructions, along with a colour photograph showing you how everything should look when it's finished.

There are pop-up chick cards to be made, delicious recipes to try, eggs to paint - I used to LOVE doing that! - and I'm pretty sure that you will have just as much fun doing some of these activities, as the kids will.  Easter Things to Make and Do also comes with a set of stickers that can be used to add the finishing touch to your projects too.

I can't find any free delivery codes, so you may just have to suck up the £2.80 single item delivery charge this time - sorry.

But, happy making things for Easter anyway!

It doesn't seem like the rain is going to stop any time soon, so this Rainy Day Book of Things to Make and Do may well just save the sanity of your entire family - £4.99 seems like a fair price to pay for that.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Rainy Day Book of Things to Make and Do *

There's only so much Christmas TV kids (of a certain age) can watch and, already, certain toys and games will have lost their sparkle; when you're stuck for things to amuse your children with, books like this Rainy Day Book of Things to Make and Do really come into their own.

This particular book is aimed at boys and girls (and their parents, of course - you don't have to be left out!) aged between three and 10 years old, and features a host of ideas for great gifts, top toys and plenty of other crafting activities.

Single item delivery costs an additional £2.80 - I'm not sure whether the current Christmas free delivery codes will still be working, but it's worth a bash anyway, the codes (some have conditions attached, such as being a new customer etc) are:

• FREE268
• BAUBLES
• XMAS266
• SANTA
• PANDP265

Happy making and doing things!

Amazon have some discounts on various Room on the Broom bits and pieces at the moment.

• Click HERE to take a look at all the Room on the Broom things *

I suppose it's conceivable that some people haven't heard of, or read, Room on the Broom - it's another GREAT story by Julia Donaldson, the creator of the Gruffalo (he's overshadowed her other books in the public consciousness somewhat!) and, along with the Snowman and the Snowdog (wow, I can't wait to settle down and watch that!), it's this year's must-watch animated offering.

I could narrate the entire story for you here - I won't - but essentially, a witch and her cat are zooming around happily on their broom one evening when the wind blows the witche's  hat off. A dog brings her hat back and he joins them for a ride on the broom.

During the course of the evening they pick up lots of other passengers but then the broom snaps and the story gets a bit tense from this moment forward.  I won't spoil the rest of the story for you - if you don't already have this excellent book in your collection then I recommend it!

If you do already own Room on the Broom then there are various other things, such as a Room on the Broom colouring book, a Room on the Broom sound book, and activity book and a song book with CD, to add to your collection and go along with watching it on TV.

Now onto the thorny issue of Christmas delivery - you still have a shot with Amazon, until Saturday or Sunday; it's going to cost you, but there are a couple of options to choose from:

1) One day delivery for orders placed before 11am Sunday 23 December - this will cost you £5.99; or

2) Delivery to pick-up locations for orders placed before 11am Saturday 22 December - everything you need to know about this new service is HERE.  I've used locker delivery services before - it's very easy, very convenient and a cheaper option.  Standard and One-Day Amazon locker delivery is £1.99 until 31 January 2013.

Just a quick word of advice - the 'search for location' of Amazon lockers and Collect+ stores (shops you can collect your Amazon order from) seems to be a little sensitive.  For example, I searched for NN6 and it returned no results; I searched for NN1 - which is all of six miles away - and it returned a string of options, so search for postcodes close to you too if you don't get any joy with your own specific post code.

I hope all that makes some sort of sense, and enjoy watching Room on the Broom  - I can't wait!

The Book People are selling copies of this How to Make Paper Aeroplanes book for £3.99, it's full recommended list price is £12.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at How to Make Paper Aeroplanes *

I always loved making paper aeroplanes as a child, what I didn't love so much was their complete inability to fly - it kind of defeated the object really.  I'd watch Record Breakers and marvel at the aeroplanes made from a standard A4 size piece of paper that flew for miles (okay, not REAL miles, but they flew a very long way) and wonder how on earth I could make my paper aeroplanes fly even six feet, rather than nosediving to the ground the moment they left my hand.

If you've spent your entire life wondering the same then this is the book for you; or if you're just looking for an activity book that's a little different, then How to Make Paper Aeroplanes is for you too.

There are objects and animals to be made in just minutes - good for younger children who don't have the patience for complicated things - and the instructions are accompanied by all the paper you need to complete them.

If you need your copy of How to Make Paper Aeroplanes to arrive before Christmas day then you're going to have suck it up and pay for next day delivery, which will set you back £6.50.

If you don't need it for Christmas (and there is life and birthdays and parties to go to AFTER Christmas!) then use the free delivery code SANTA and avoid paying delivery charges altogether - hurrah!

Happy paper aeroplane making!

The Book People are selling this rather lovely, and helpful, looking Toddler Christmas activity book for £3.99, rather than its recommended list price of £12.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at Toddler Christmas *

Yes, Christmas is nearly upon us - Christmas Eve is now a mere 33 days away and young kiddies will be starting to get beyond themselves with excitement (that is unless they're like my older two children whom, at 18 and 17 now, could never have cared less about Christmas - I used to have to wake them up just so I could open my presents!  Honestly, it was ridiculous!).

This hardback book features a ton of festive activities for your child to get engrossed with, from: writing letters to Father Christmas, games to play, special food to make for reindeers, puzzles to solve and bedtime stories to cuddle up and listen to whilst drinking a mug of scrummy hot chocolate.  It's almost enough to make me wish my youngest son, Edward, was still a little younger - he loves Christmas.

Existing owners of Toddler Christmas describe it as being a beautiful book that's much loved - if I had someone to buy it for, it would already be in my basket by now and I'd be checking out.

Whilst I'm on the subject of checking out - add PANP265 to the promotions/discount code box and the £2.80 single item delivery charge will be waived; hurrah!

Thanks to kawaiiuk at HUKD

Tamsin wrote about printing with the Lorax last week, and earlier this week, my daughters and I went to see The Lorax in London. We had an absolutely fantastic time, and I’ll confess that as the credits rolled, I wondered how one would go about planting a tree. It really shocked me when I realised what I was thinking because obviously the message of the Lorax impacted on me – how much more on my girls?

Well, at least it’s a good message, and when I gave my almost 3-year old The Lorax: Colour and Create she was pretty ecstatic. I was quite surprised by how she recognised the characters from the movie and I’ve been equally impressed by how she’s taken to colouring each page (each page, in highlighter pink, and nothing else!)

There are two Lorax activity books, the Colour and Create and the Sticker and Activity Book. If you are travelling this summer, or worse, staying at home, the activity books are really nice, especially if you’ve seen the movie.

While they are colouring books, they also have instructions and a bit of a story line, for example, “The Lorax sees a beautiful rainbow. Colour it in.” Or there’s a half a Truffula Tree, with the instruction “Complete The Truffula Tree.” Or going beyond just colouring, there’s mini-games, like ‘Find the line that connects the Once-ler’s knitting needles to the Thneed” for a maze activity.

There are also sixty something stickers with which you can decorate the book or in my daughter’s case the floor, living room and furniture.

The Colour and Create book is pretty similar, but without the stickers, and with different activities and pictures. At the end of this book, there’s a ‘certificate’ that says ‘Official Friend of the Lorax’ for your little one to colour and add their name to.

The activity books have 32 and 48 pages and retail at £3.99.

Both books say not suitable for children under 36 months due to small parts, but I’m not sure which parts those refer to. As I said my two year old is enjoying it, but to be honest, the older the child, the more they’ll get out of it. She’s enjoying the colouring, but not really able to follow the activities or really get the most of it in the same way someone a little older definitely would!

If you're not fed-up with everything meerkat yet then you might want to a look at this Where's the Meerkat? On Holiday book - it'll certainly keep the kids amused for a little while (if they like this sort of thing) and for £2.99 you won't have lost anything if they don't.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Where's the Meerkat? book

I got over (compare the) Meerkat madness a fair while ago - it Alexander the Meerkat, and his sidekick Sergei, were funny for a little while but, for me at least, they're a little tired now and only marginally less annoying than the terribly Go Compare adverts with the fat opera singing dude - I want to KILL HIM!

I must make it clear that this Where's the Meerkat? book has nothing to do with either company - it just features 10 meerkats on each page that you have to find; think Where's Wally? with meerkats and that's what you've got.

I used to quite like things like this as a child and occasionally now I'm grown up, if I'm away from home and have time to kill and can't 'work' on my phone.

Standard delivery is free and the usual price for this Where's the Meerkat? book, by the way, is £7.99.

Thanks to andywedge at HUKD

The Hut have what they claim is a 93% discount on four activity paperbacks and two hardback titles. They’re selling the six books for £2.95 instead of £40.94. While I can’t imagine ever paying that for single use books I know that they’re worth a lot more than £2.95!

• Make the first preparations for the Christmas holidays

I actually reviewed The Night Before Christmas, Chilly the Snowman, and The Twelve Days of Christmas before Christmas and think they are absolutely brilliant activity books.

They are full of stickers and activities such as dot to dot puzzles, spot the difference pictures, and press out models, along with other things.

The book Santa’s Snowy Surprise is a pop-up book with bright illustrations to capture the imagination and is apparently full of hidden surprises.  The final book, My Treasury of Farmyard Tales has 160 pages of stories featuring a range of farmyard animals, perfect for bedtime any time of the year.  

These books are so good, they are worth ordering to keep as presents, or to put away for your own little ones for Christmas.

Thanks to tasi124 at HUKD

The Book People are selling this 1000 Things To Make And Do activity book for £6.99, rather than its list price of £20.

• Click HERE to take a look at 1000 Things To Make And Do

So, day three of the Easter holidays - how's it going? I have to say, that whilst having teenagers in the house is not a lot of fun a lot some of the time they are rather good at entertaining themselves during the school holidays - I say entertaining themselves, what I really mean is sleeping for 20 hours of every day.

Younger children, however, are like little tornadoes of energy combined with the attention span of gnats and keeping them occupied for two entire weeks can be a challenge.

The weather isn't reliable and now that the kids are off school it's turned just a tad chilly (typical) so messing around in the garden for hours isn't really an option; going out is just hellishly expensive and there's only so much babysitting your TV should do.

The solution, then, could lie in this 1000 Things To Make And Do book.  It's jam packed full of little projects that can be done at home - painting, drawing, cutting, sticking or whatever takes your fancy.

Reviews are good, here's just one of them...

"I bought this for my 5 year old for Christmas and it has to have been the best purchase I made. She spends hours leafing through, oohing and aahing at all the suggestions. She makes four or five things a week from here and it has saved us on a lot of cold, wet miserable days since Christmas. I can see her getting a lot of mileage out of this so it was worth every penny. Highly recommended and I'll buy more copies for her friend's birthdays."

If this is all you buy from The Book People then a £1.95 single item delivery charge will apply.

This 1000 Things to Make and Do book looks rather fabulous for keeping the kids entertained and out of mischief for the rest of the Christmas holidays, the price looks rather fabulous too as The Book People have reduced it down to £6.99 from £20.

• Click HERE to go over to The Book People

There are enough projects here to keep your child amused for over almost three years if they just did one thing a day; imagine that, peace and quiet for that long!

Although the downside would be having 1000 'things' to have to find homes for them all if your child is anything like my youngest and becomes distraught at the idea of throwing any of this arty crafty creations away!

Whether your child likes sticking, cutting out, painting or drawing there's plenty of everything crammed into the pages of this book, which may just save your sanity throughout all of the school holidays still to come between now and Christmas 2012 (not that I'm wishing time away you understand!).

Here's what one 1000 Things to Make and Do owner has to say about it...

"This Usborne book is packed full of inspirational ideas and is a must for creative arts activities. I ordered it to help keep our grandchildren occupied and it certainly achieves this goal. So many exciting ideas and what a bargain!"

Marvellous; happy making and doing!

Apart from food, Aldi often offer seasonal specials, and at the moment, they have some great (and some not so great) Christmas activities and entertainment kits for children available.  We’ve been reviewing four items from Aldi’s Christmas range for the last few weeks.

First out the box was the Marvin’s Magic ‘Fifty Pranks To Freak Your Friends’ kit.

It looks like fun, and at the top of the neatly packed box is a sponge thing – I later found out was meant to be a rock – and a book with fifty tricks you can pull.

This Klutz Book of Animation is ABSOLUTELY the last thing I'm buying my youngest for Christmas!

• Click HERE to get animated over at Amazon

Disaster struck last week - I'd bought the LEGO Darth Vadar Mini-Figure Clock I told you about and it was in the kitchen, ready and waiting to go upstairs.  My youngest and his dad made an impromptu visit and it was SPOTTED!!

Having been categorically told, "I don't like alarm clocks..." I'm now debating whether to take it back and replace it with this Klutz Book of Animation instead; I think I might...I hate being present busted!

So, this book - it looks rather awesome (watch the little video on Amazon) and looks like it will provide hours of fun not just on Christmas Day, but for days, weeks and months after that.

It will teach you how to make stop-motion animation and includes: animation software, one blob of plasticine clay, googly eyes (you've got to love googly eyes!) and links to Klutz created sample videos.

I can picture it now: the hottest new name in animation is being interviewed about their latest blockbuster that has smashed all previous animation records, "So, how did you get involved in animation?"  

"Well, it all started when I was given a Klutz Book of Animation for Christmas one year..."

The usual price for the Klutz Book of Animation is £12.99; you can pick it up for £8.93 until Amazon change the price.

Happy Animating!

The Book People website is one of my favourite places to shop for books; you really can't beat them for great book deals and their service is reliable too.

If you've got a young Peppa Pig fan in your family then you might want to take a look at this Peppa Super Activity Collection, it's just £7.99 and comes with a free gift, worth £2.50, too.

• Click HERE to pop over to The Book People

The Peppa's Super Activity Collection has a mix of eight books ranging from story books, puzzle and sticker books and a collection of simple first activities to encourage creativity.

As is often the case with book collections like these, they are ideal for splitting up and putting inside party bags for other young Peppa fans to take home with a slice of birthday cake.

If you DO buy this Peppa Super Activity Collection for party purposes then you're going to be extra pleased with the free gift - it's 20 Peppa Pig Thank You cards - they are automatically added to your basket when you order the eight Peppa books.

Single item delivery with The Book People costs £1.95, standard delivery for more than one item is £3.95 and if your order comes to more than £25 you don't pay anything for delivery at all.

Thanks to Snoopylover9 at HUKD

If you have, or know, a Hello Kitty fan then here's a lovely little deal for you.

The Book People are selling this 10-book  Hello Kitty Book Collection for £9.99 instead of the usual £40.90 list price.

• Click HERE to go over to The Book People

The Hello Kitty Book Collection is a lovely mix of sticker books, colouring books, activity books and a, rather fabulous, 'Things To Do When You're Bored' book .

My niece is sticker crazy and this would make the perfect Christmas present for her; equally, if you have a little girl's birthday party coming up, you could split up this Hello Kitty Book Collection and put a book in each party bag along with a Hello Kitty pencil and rubber perhaps.

The book collection is pink and cute and fluffy and your young Hello Kitty fanatic is bound to love it.

A single item item delivery charge of £1.95 will apply if this is all you order, but if you find a few other bits and pieces that take your fancy, which bring your order over £25 then you'll be entitled to free delivery.

Thanks to fluffhead7 at HUKD 

I'm still on the prowl for sticker books for my mum to buy my niece for Christmas; I've just come across this Charlie and Lola: My Shopping Sticker Book over at Red House for £2.99 instead of £4.00.

• Click HERE to snap up this deal

My youngest niece loves sticker books.

She's only two-and-a-half and is very, VERY precise when it comes to sticking stickers in her books.  If they're not positioned just so, she'll take them off and reposition them if she can.  If they don't come off the page easily, or tear, then all hell can break loose.

Sticking is, clearly, a very important business.

She will absolutely adore this Charlie and Lola: My Shopping Sticker Book as she'll need to help Lola stock the shelves in her shop - precise sticking of items on shelves is definitely going to be the order of the day for her.

There are 16 pages of sticking joy and over 100 stickers to apply to them; that should keep her busy for a little while!

If you can find other bits and pieces to make your order up to £15 then Red House will deliver your order for free, otherwise a single item delivery charge of £1.95 will apply.

Happy sticking!

The Hut are selling this rather fabulous pack of four Princess books for just £3.99; they say the original price should be £33.99 - I'm not sure anyone has ever paid that for them (I wouldn't), but what do I know!

• Click HERE to go over to The Hut

I would, however, pay £3.99 for them and might, as I have a little girl to buy a birthday pressie for this month.

In the 'I'm a Pretty Princess' book you can add a picture of your daughter so she can star in her very own Princess adventure.

The 'Who's Hiding in Princess World?' is a lovely hardback book with lots of Princess related activitites - your daughter will need to find all the characters in the fun filled, action packed story scenes with over 1000 things to spot; that should keep her busy for a while *grin*

Then there is the favourite sticker and activity books - 2 books in 1 volume full of puzzles, games and activities with lots of stickers to use.

Finally there is the 'Girls Press Out Dolls and Dress Up Dolls' - a big 2 in 1 volume full of over 350 press out Princesses, fairies and ballerina's with all their clothes and accessories.

I wasn't very girly when I was small and my daughter wasn't either so I didn't get to buy this sort of thing for her - thank HEAVENS for friends with cute princess-type daughters.

You won't pay for delivery from The Hut, so £3.99 is all you're going to spend.

Thanks to ozzy15 at HUKD

OH JOY!

OH RAPTURE!

A Gruffalo Activity Collection!

• Click HERE to grab these activity things Gruffalo

My youngest turns five years old two weeks tomorrow and trying to work out what to get him for his birthday is a nightmare.

You see, he already has more Lego - of Star Wars and original varieties - than you can shake a stick at, an entire community of Bakugans, ten tons of anything Ben 10 and a troop of Transformers.

He's already got a bike, a scooter and a ride-on Tractor and is having a 'party in the park' with 25 of his classmates in attendance - his dad is bracing himself for the arrival of 25 different plastic toys to add to the toy room of their little batchelor pad!

Lucky for me my youngest ADORES the Gruffalo as much as we do here at PlayPennies - so I've just ordered him this Gruffalo Activity Collection of five books.

He's got a copy of The Gruffalo, but not the activity or colouring book.  He's got a copy of Room on the Broom, but not the activity book. He's got a copy of The Smartest Giant in Town, but not the activity book...you see where I'm going with this, right?

The list price for the Gruffalo Activity Collection is £19.95 but The Book People are selling it for £4.99 instead; I love The Book People.

There's a single item delivery charge of £1.95 if this is all you buy; spend over £30 and delivery will be free.

HUGE thanks to fish1234567 at HUKD (for solving my 5th birthday present woes!)

Those lovely folks at Red House Books are selling these two In the Night Garden activity books for toddlers for £3.99 instead of £7.98.

• Click HERE to go over to Red House Books

I love activity books, they are a great way to keep toddlers amused and provides a opportunity to teach them that some books are appropriate for drawing in and others aren't.

You see, I love books and I can get a bit precious when it comes to looking after them – I can’t stand broken spines, bent corners and pages that have been written on, so activity books are GREAT because they’re designed to be ‘lived in’ (I can’t think of a better way to describe how loved activity books look).

Your child can take a pen to the pages and not worry that they’re going to be told, “STOP! Noooo you musn’t draw in books!”

These In the Night Garden activity books are perfect for young In the Night Garden fans;  in Happy Garden! the stickers are BIG enough to be handled easily with little hands and they can create their own In the Night Garden scenes on the fold-out front cover.

In Hello Makka Pakka! your little one will have the freedom to draw, colour and scribble all over the pages; there are brilliant press-out and play pieces which are also big enough for titchy fingers.

If you find other books to take your fancy and your order comes to more than £15 then you'll qualify for free delivery, otherwise there's a single item delivery charge of £1.95.

Happy drawing in books *shudder*

If you’ve got a small Peppa Pig fan with a birthday coming up, then this Peppa Pig Activity Book Collection might  be of interest to you.

• Click HERE to wallow in this great deal with The Book People

I do love books and I can get a bit precious when it comes to looking after them – I can’t stand broken spines, bent corners and pages that have been written on….unless they are activity books.

Activity books are GREAT because they’re designed to be ‘lived in’ (I can’t think of a better way to describe how loved activity books look); your child can take a pen to the pages and not worry that they’re going to be told, "STOP! Noooo you musn’t draw in books!"

There are eight Peppa activity books in this collection and are jam packed with lots of things for your little ones to do: colouring in, sticking in stickets, games, puzzles, quizzes, dot-to-dot and all the other favourites.

Activity books are perfect for a rainy days, keeping small people occupied during half-term (just two weeks away now) or for splitting up and putting in party bags.

The list price for this Peppa Pig Activity Book Collection is £29.92, The Book People are letting them go for £7.99 and if you only order this then you'll pay the 'single item delivery charge' which is just £1.95.

Thanks to timnlaura at HUKD