The Entertainer App London Review

For the last few years, we have headed down to London on New Years Day to visit the many wonderful museums that it has to offer. We decided this time to stay overnight to make the most of our day whilst also getting to see some of the many Christmas lights and decorations at night.

On day two, we used a new app called The Entertainer, this app has been around in few countries for a while now and has now launched in London, it allows you to get access to great offers throughout the capital. It is free to download the app and there are some offers included, although to unlock the best offers, you have to pay a yearly subscription of £40. This sounds like a lot but considering we saved £32.65 on the our one day out alone it could be rather useful app for someone who lives in London or who visits the capital a lot.

Available to use in restaurants, attractions, shops as well as at beauty and fitness venues around the city (and some further afield) it is a great way to save money as well as find new places to see and visit.

We chose the Tower of London as our first stop (more on our visit soon), you can search by location or scroll through to see what takes you fancy, you can also view on a map to see if there is anything close to you.

There are different offers at different venues, but the details are listed for you to see easily. Once you have decided the best option for you then you select the offer and it comes up with the redeem screen, you enter a pin and pass the phone to the member of staff who enters their code, it then gives them the reference for the discount code. Simple!

Since this app was newly launched, the lady who served us at the Tower of London wasn't aware of the app, however after a few discussions with her colleagues, they managed to sort it out, with a venue this big and so many staff we more than understood how it may have not yet filtered down to the front line.

Our second trip of the day, to the thai restaurant chain Busaba, was more successful, they were aware of what they needed to do and it all happened as smoothly as something this new possibly could of. The app allows you to see in your redemption history how much you have saved, although this isn't entirely correct as it is based on the average saving at that venue.

If you are looking to visit London this year, I highly recommend this app, not only might you find somewhere to eat or drink you didn't know about, you could also save yourself some money.

Nb: This is a collaborative review post.

Little Miss Hug

Yesterday saw the launch of a brilliant new Little Miss book, Little Miss Hug is a cheeky, pink character known for her hugs.

This new book is the 35^th book in the popular Little Miss series, and what a fantastic book it is.  Little Miss Hug is an expert hugger who knows how to give the perfect hug to all of her Mr Men and Little Miss friends in times of need and for fun, because you don’t need a reason to share a hug with your friends.

We love hugs in this family so this book went down a treat, so much so we read it two times last night.  I don't want to spoil the story but it is a truly wonderful and heart warming story with some of the most famous Mr Men characters making an appearance.

My daughter loves it so much and has been looking at the pictures, telling me about them. The pictures are bright and colourful and typical of this classic series.

This book fits in perfect with the whole Mr Men and Little Miss series and carries on the wonderful world that Roger Hargreaves created.

In addition to the new book is a free AR (Augmented Reality) App that is available to download on both Android and IOS, it is absolutely wonderful and works with the book as well as pages in the Mr Men and Little Miss magazine. 

Pointing the device at the book brings Little Miss Hug to life and from there you can play a game or even get her to give you a hug.

I love that the book is moving with the times and can be enjoyed in so many ways, we will always love reading the books most though :)

NB We were sent the book to review, all opinions and picture are my own.

Olly the Little White Van App Review

I recently saw on twitter that Olly the Little White Van had a free app, so decided to download it to see what it was like.

My son loves Olly so it is great to have something else he is familiar with on my phone for when I need to keep him occupied.

The app features two games, 'Delivery Race' where you help Olly pick-up and deliver packages around a maze in three different locations. And 'Fix It' where some of Olly’s friends have broken down and you have to help Olly put them back together by fitting their parts into the right places.

My son certainly seems to enjoy playing the game and it helps with recognition and co-ordination in a fun and playful way.

The games get a little repetitive with only a few levels but they are fun and keep my son entertained, plus the app is free so you most certainly can't grumble about it.

If you are looking for a free app for your phone to keep your children occupied then this most certainly fits the bill.

You can download the app free from itunes http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/olly-the-little-white-van/id516864646?mt=8

NB We have not received anything in return for this review, all opinions are my own.

City of Friends App Review

My husband is away a lot and before a recent week away we had the discussion of how we could teach our son about the emergency services, should anything happen to mummy or the house whilst my husband wasn't around.

So when we were offered the City of Friends app to review it sounded like the perfect opportunity to introduce my son to the emergency services and what they do.

 

The app has been launched around the kid’s TV show City of Friends which has turned into a global phenomenon and currently broadcasting in over 150 countries worldwide.

Designed for pre-schoolers and their families, the City of Friends app has become the number one app for children in its native Norway and teaches children about the emergency services by interacting with the show’s main characters; Max the police officer, Elphie the fire officer and Ted the paramedic.

There are a selection of games and some videos which are unlocked the more games you complete. This is great as a four year olds attention span can sometimes average only seconds so they can swap and change between games.

My personal favourite was the Put out fires with Elphie game, not only was this fun but as fire is a real killer and also a real possibility I think this certainly teaches them about what happens.

The pairs/memory game is also really good and always goes down well with my son, there is also a helicopter flying game and organize Ted’s first aid kit which are both really fun and also help teach how to match shapes and coordination.

Whilst I'm sure this is intentional due to the number of countries and therefore languages this is played in there are no words or commentary to assist the child in playing the games.  Nowhere does it say what you have to do to get more videos and it would be good if it could talk you through what you need to do and maybe what each implement, character or object is.

The only other thing that did bother us slightly was the addition of a Facebook and Website button, if this is aimed at 2-6 year olds there is really no need for this and our opinion is that it shouldn't take you to an external website from within the game itself.

Other than that though if you are looking for an educational and fun app that teaches children about the emergency services then at £1.49 this is most definitely a winner and we have certainly enjoyed playing it together.

NB: We were given a redemption code in order to review this app however all opinions are my own.