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Top 10 toys for September

Summer is officially over, which means it’s time to swap the outdoor toys for fun indoor activities. But, what a relief that you don’t have to store those garden toys in the shed!

Here are our top 10 toys to swap:

1) Lion King Mighty Roar Simba Interactive Plush by FurReal

Are your kids still on the Lion King hype? Then they’re going to love this interactive and cuddly Simba, perfect for imaginative play. The impressive part is he can challenge you to a roaring contest, which means you have to try and roar louder ⁠— great for anger management.

Also, if you had an awful day, you can pet him for some reassurance and he’ll say “you’re the best”.

2) The Lion King by Tonies

How about listening to the Lion King Tonie for bedtime? It also has the classic singalongs like Hakuna Matata 😍.

Not sure what I’m raving about? A Toniebox is an audio player that plays songs and stories when you place the little figure (a Tonie) on the box. It’s one of the most exciting toys this year! Check it out here.

3) The Jungle Book by Tonies

When you become sick and tired of hearing the kids sing Hakuna Matata ALL day 😩, I recommend trading the Lion King Tonie for this one. They’ll enjoy listening to Mowgli’s adventure of self-discovery as he is forced to flee the jungle back to human civilisation.

4) Mindful Kids

You don’t need your kids to go on a retreat to India to learn about mindfulness. Teach them from the comfort of your couch with this deck filled with 50 creative and fun mindfulness games. It’ll help your kids feel calmer, improve focus and learn kindness 😌.

5) Air Balloon Mobile by Le Toy Van

Mesmerise your baby with this mobile decorated with colourful shapes — helping them sleep so frazzled new mums and dads can relax a little bit 😅. Mobiles are one of those items that babies outgrow quickly, so get yours here and you can swap it for something else after.

6) Family Fun Summer Camper by Playmobil

Summer Nostalgia is real. Treat it at its source by offering your kids this camping set. This campervan has EVERYTHING, from a fully equipped kitchen to surfboards, so it’ll cover all the cool activities they did – even the fry up they had for breakfast 🍳.

7) Timber Tumble by Plan Toys

This game is a bit like Jenga, but the life of a cute beaver lies in your hands — no sweat. It’s a fun strategic game for the whole family. Each person takes a turn to push a log out from the dam using the stick, whilst making sure the beaver is balancing on. The one that balances the beaver for longest, wins. You can imagine how much patience this game will encourage as well as fine motor skills.

8) Stage Playset by Peppa Pig

This is THE playset that will pull your kids away from the TV. They’ll have fun coming up with creative stories with this interactive stage. There’s so much detail to encourage imaginative play, including a variety of backdrops and sound effects. But the best bit is the hidden drawer which allows you to pack away all the accessories 😆.

9) Wobbel360 Board by Wobbel

If you loved the Wobbel Board, you need to try this too! It’s not just a balance spinning board, it can transform from an elephant’s back to a boat – that’s the beauty of open-ended play. This will fuel your kid’s imagination and allow them to express their creativity. Bonus point: it can support adults too, tried and tested in the office 🙌.

10) Baby Laptop by VTech

If your little one can’t get enough of playing (destroying) with your laptop, treat them to this one. It’s an interactive laptop that introduces them to uplifting music, animal noises and the alphabet. Overall, it provides a fun learning experience whilst bashing bright buttons (it’s sturdier than a MacBook). But the main reason we love this is you can control the volume so it won’t drive you mad 🙈.

Ah there we have it, our top toy recommendations to help say goodbye to summer. Hope you enjoy them!

Guest Post: Top 5 ways to be Zero Waste

Joy and Lyall run Sustainable Jungle and they’ve been sharing ways in which you can kick start zero waste living with their top 5 tips and tricks.

For the last two and a half years we’ve tried (and still try) to live a more sustainable life. Fine tuning the ways in which we do things, from buying groceries and clothes to throwing trash away and composting.

All in an effort to minimise our footprint and leave the world a better place.

Of course, the lifestyle we have now is very different to the one we started out with. We’ve made small (and big) tweaks along the way. Some have been easier than others and we took our time to make adjustments in almost every aspect of our lives.

It’s been a purposeful journey and we like to think that we’re a little more conscious of our place in the world and the impact (positive or negative) that we’re capable of having.

This life of less waste or minimalism comes in a bunch of forms but for us it’s probably best expressed as zero waste living. It’s really an ideal, no one can ever truly be zero waste. But that’s missing the point.

To quote the old adage, it’s the journey not the destination.

What is zero waste?

Zero waste is trending. Even if you haven’t got your pulse on the topic of sustainable living, it’s likely you’ve heard this phrase (somewhere) before.

In a nutshell, the concept of zero waste is to send nothing to landfill. It’s a strategy or goal (however you like to put it) to eliminate waste. The “Circular Economy” or “Cradle to Cradle” is often used to describe this model as opposed to the mainstream approach of “Cradle to the Grave”. Single use plastics is probably the best example of the latter.

Without getting too technical, the aim of zero waste is to address the source of the problem. Be it a behavioural one that is habit driven or the way in which products are designed so as to be reused again and again. The result is that no waste is ever created. Much like the way mother nature operates.

Currently, our means of dealing with the linear approach is to recycle. This, in contrast, focuses on the final result. The end of an item’s short or single-use life when it becomes trash.

Unfortunately, recycling is not the answer. There are serious flaws with this “solution” and most of the world’s populous are completely unaware of this.

Recycling is not zero waste

You may have been diligently recycling for years but in reality only about 12% of plastics are recycled. 40% goes into landfills and 32% makes its way into rivers, streams, waterways and eventually the ocean.

We know. It’s hard to look past these disheartening figures and see a silver lining. We have certainly felt that way before and often there are times when we still do.

But there is a way around this. It’s about focusing your attention in the right direction. It’s about what you can do, not on what the world isn’t.

As we said, some call it zero waste, some call it sustainable living or just living a less wasteful life. However you like to frame it, it’s the response, on an individual level, to change the status quo. That is to change your habits, your way of life into a more sustainable one.

Zero Waste Tips and Tricks

1. Reusable cups and flasks

It’s ditching the disposable coffee cups and handy bottles of water for a stainless steel one that will last forever. Store it in your bag on your way to work, or in the bottom of your pram so you don’t forget it. Remember, you can always refill your water flask using your nearest refill water station, rather than buying another bottle.

2. Remember your bag for life

It’s a tricky habit to get into but store it in the bottom of the pram, or pop a small bag at the bottom of your work bag, so you always have one to hand. Once you get into this habit, it’ll always be there when you need it.

3. Composting food waste

It’s not a widely known fact but food dumped in landfill mixes with non-organic material and produces methane. Correctly disposing of your food waste to reduce not only the trash going to landfill but also carbon emissions is a very environmentally effective and cost effective alternative. Many councils now offer a food waste disposal service or get yourself a composting bin in the garden.

4. Reusable cloths

Stop, stop, stop using wet wipes, facial cleansing wipes, cotton wool, paper towels, disposable dish cloths, disposable household cleaning wipes. They either contain plastic or are wrapped in plastic and are terrible for the environment and our sewers. Instead buy a set of washable cloths that can be reused again and again. Top tip: buy them in different colours, sizes or textures so you know which ones should be used where. For example, pink cloths are for the face and hands, orange ones are for babies bottoms and green ones are for washing the dishes!

5. Don’t buy brand new

Think about what you need to own and what you can borrow. Do we need to own everything that we own? There are many companies out there giving consumers the option to rent items rather than own them. Great examples are to rent clothing, furniture, tools, baby clothes and of course toys!

Start slowly but start now

There are so many small (and big) changes that each of us can make that will overtime have a huge impact. The hardest part of this journey is the start. It can seem overwhelming and many think that it takes a lot of work to be “zero waste” or to live a sustainable life. But nobody is truly “zero waste” or living a perfectly sustainable life. We’re all somewhere on the spectrum.

The point is to just get going and move in the right direction. However small and however slowly. Our suggestion: start small and with one habit. Once you’ve built that into your daily routine, then add another and then another and before you know it, you’ll be looking back over the last while and realise how different your lifestyle has become. And just adding up all the positive changes you’ve made, you’ll see how big of an impact even just one person can have in the world.

We’ve found this journey to be fulfilling and purposeful, so much so that we even created our own blog about it.

Just remember, every choice you make, from the products you buy to the brands you choose to support is casting a vote for the type of world you want to live in.

Joy & Lyall

Top 10 toys for August

I hope everyone is having a great time with the kids for their summer holiday! But, too much fun is exhausting, right? So, I’ve compiled a list of our must-have toys to help you out and to keep the kids and their besties entertained this summer.

1) Tonies Toniebox Starter Set by Tonies

Hands down, this is the most exciting and innovative toy of 2019 ✨! This audio player will change the way the kids listen to stories and dance along to their favourite nursery rhymes. Simply place the little figure (a Tonie) on the box and the content will start to play. We love this because there’s no confusing controls and display screen. It’s perfect for pulling them away from the screen (enough Peppa Pig please! 😂) and encouraging imaginative play instead through interactive stories.

Feeling creative? You can also record your own story using Creative Tonies and upload it on the Toniecloud via browser or app. Or just add your favourite music and throw some shapes with the kids!

2) The Little Prince by Tonies

Make sure to order some tonies too to check out a variety of stories. I recommend taking this little prince with you to read his timeless story. This whimsical story will capture the heart of all ages – teaching kids the importance of friendship and love, and reminding us grown-ups of what is truly important in life. It’s pretty #deep

We also have the book if you fancy reading it!

3) Micro Mini 2 Go Deluxe Scooter (Mint) by Micro

Yes! Shout out to Micro for cracking the perfect ride for a toddler who is raring to scoot but is yet to master their balance and co-ordination. The first step is to build their confidence by letting them use the scooter as a ride-on with the seat, which is also a clever storage drawer for toys or snacks (gamechanger!). Once your little one has mustered the courage to ride standing up, you can remove the detachable seat and proudly watch them push themselves off without any help 👋.

4) The Lion King Young Simba Plush by Disney

Can you believe that the classic animated film was released 25 years ago 😮? This means the kids who saw the film in cinema during its release have grown up – some have kids and might even be reading this right now. So we know both parents and kids will adore this cute and cuddly Simba, it’s perfect for imaginative play and recreating scenes from the film.

I bet this is the toy your child (and you) will get attached to, but no worries, you can keep it for as long as you like. #nostalgia

5) The Lion King Farting Pumba Plush by Disney

Wait, don’t forget to take the hilarious and loveable Pumba with you too! If you squeeze his tummy, he lets out a noisy fart – guaranteed to have the family laughing for hours.

Not gonna lie, we had way too much fun with this in the office. We figured out that the trick to hearing a funny fart noise is to gently squeeze his tummy, if you squeeze too fast, he ends up sounding like a duck.

6) Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty

There aren’t many books for future little scientists so when we found out about this award-winning book, we had to share it with you. This beautifully illustrated book also smashes stereotypes, promoting that women can do science 💪. But, this is not just a book for girls, everyone will be inspired by the curious Ada. She loves the question “Why?” and test scientific experiments which may not always go according to plan. Nonetheless, this little trooper is determined to try again! #HowToDealWithLife

7) Ghostbusters Slimer with Hot Dog Stand by Playmobil

Our Playmobil toys have been very popular especially the Ghostbuster set, so we added more to let the kids upgrade their adventures. They’ll have fun teaming up with the Ghostbusters to catch the mischevious slimer who’s been terrorising the poor hot dog vendor and engulfing all the food.

8) 18 Palos by Grapat

If there are cuter hand-carved wooden dolls than this then I want to see it. Look at their big and colourful hats 😍! What I love about the Palos is that they’re a great set for open-ended play and you can team them up with any other toys. The kids will be entertained for hours, coming up with characters for the little dolls, from a magical wizard to a lovely grandma who feeds you too much food – that’s the beauty of imaginative play.

9) Doctor Set by Plan Toys

This list wouldn’t be complete without Plan Toys. Grab this doctor set for an exciting pretend play with the kids and let them look after you. It’ll allow them to explore their imagination, teach them empathy and it can even prepare them for visits to the doctor so you don’t have to bribe them…

10) Dobble Card Game by Asmodee

I had to put this on the list because it’s our favourite at the Whirli HQ (I’ve yet to beat Rafique, our Whirli Dobble champion). It’s based on speed and visual perception whereby players compete with each other by being the fastest to match a symbol between two cards. Once you’ve spotted the symbols, say it out loud and place your card on the deck. Whoever is left with no cards in the end, wins. It’s a great game for the whole family because there’s no advantage to being a grown-up, you just need to be the fastest.

So there you have it, 10 awesome toys for the last leg of summer. Enjoy!

Swifter Swaps has arrived

Boom. We’ve just released Swifter Swaps – a new feature available to all Whirli subscribers free of charge. With Swifter Swaps, we’ve eliminated waiting time between returning toys and getting your next Whirli box.

This means you can get even better value for money with Whirli, and makes using our service even more convenient. Now that’s the Whirli way!

How does Swifter Swaps work?

When it’s time to swap some toys for something else, log in to your account on Whirli and:

Tell us what toys you plan on returning. You can do this by opening your basket (clicking on the top right), and selecting the returns tab. Simply check all the toys you plan on sending back.
As you select toys to return, you’ll see their corresponding token values being credited back to you immediately, available to spend on a new order!
After selecting toys to return, browse our catalogue and choose what you want to play with next and add these to your bag. Your token balance now takes fully into account your allowance and used tokens, the toys you’re returning, and the toys for your next order.
Once you’re satisfied with your swap, checkout to confirm the toys you’ll be receiving and the toys you’ll be returning.
Here’s the magic – we’ll despatch your new box immediately to you. When you receive it a day or two later, you can put the toys you’re returning into the box and send it back to us (whenever it is convenient for you).

No downtime without toys. No delays or waiting around if Royal Mail has misplaced your return parcel. No rush to drop a return off in the middle of a busy schedule. No hassle.

You can still make just an order, or just a return, and you can also still just pop toys into a returns parcel and send it back to us. If you change your mind and want to return more (or fewer) toys than you told us you’ll be returning, you can also do that.

But wait, what are the limits to Swifter Swaps?

We provide Swifter Swaps on a trust basis. But there are a few mechanisms in place to prevent complete abuse of our trust. For transparency these include:

You can only have one active order, return, or swap at a time. Batching orders and returns also helps us be more environmentally friendly. Your order or your return needs to be completed with toys received, before you can make another one.
If you end up returning fewer toys than you told us about, these toys will stay in your toy box and use tokens from your allowance. If this means you end up using more tokens than your allowance, you’ll need to come back into your allowance on your next swap.
There are hard caps in place so you can’t be massively over your token allowance.

Feedback for improvements and reporting any bugs

Thank you all for your patience while we worked to bring this feature to you. I hope you are as excited about this as we are! As ever, we’ll strive to continuously improving our service with new features but also ensuring everything we make available to you is seamless and error free.

If you have any ideas on how we can improve Swifter Swaps for you, or if you encounter any confusion, issues, or technical bugs, please get in touch with customer services!

Buying children’s birthday gifts: top 5 pitfalls

Gift buying for kids can be fun and rewarding, but it can also quickly descend into a desperate and frantic search. One that involves googling “best gift for a 3 year old girl with next day delivery (sent straight to the recipient) and gift wrapping with little sparkly confetti bits included….please!” A search that will rarely be fulfilled and one that invariably leaves you sweaty palmed.

Our Top 5 Pitfalls When Gift Buying:

Earlier this year we interviewed 2000 parents across the UK. We asked them a bunch of questions but when it came to gift buying for children, other than their own, these 5 shared pitfalls stood out:

1) Panic Buying

A third of people confessed to buying a gift for someone else’s child at the last minute. Not only does this all-too-common problem leave you spending way more than you budgeted but it also is more likely to lead to pitfalls 2 – 5.

2) Not liked by the child

Just under half of the gifts received in the last 12 months were not even liked by the child. This is actually quite common when buying for your own child never mind someone else’s. Thinking you know what a child likes is as predictable as a game of roulette. Sometimes you luck out, but clearly half the time we’re all getting it wrong.

3) Not liked by the parents

If it wasn’t tricky enough, two-thirds of gifts received in the last 12 months were not liked by the parents! Seriously? Common reasons given were the toys were too gender stereotyped or did not fit with their ideals or ethics. There’s more to gift buying than we ever anticipated.

4) Age inappropriate gifts

50% of the gifts received were not even age appropriate. Surely this is a straight forward ask. But still problematic, clearly!

5) Duplicate gifts

Half of parents said their child had received a duplicate gift in the last 12 months. So that toy you just bought someone, which is not liked by the child, or parent, that was panic bought in the first place, and is age inappropriate is actually something they already have!

#giftfail

Guest Post: The importance of toys for children’s development

As an early childhood specialist, I spend a lot of time with children and much of this is spent observing the benefits of play. In recent years, there has been a shift from “traditional toys” to more natural and heuristic resources, which are objects and properties from the real world (think pots, pans, buttons, corks, pebbles, mud and cardboard boxes).

Whilst I am an avid fan of this form of play, it is all about creating a balance. I recently visited a nursery who had almost eradicated their use of “traditional toys”. Initially, I thought, “what a great idea” but it quickly became apparent that the children were missing something…

When I spoke with the children, they shared stories of their favourite toys including action figures, construction blocks and books. It made me realise that whatever we offer children in terms of play, we have to include their beloved toys. Children love and learn from toys. If we have any doubts about this, half an hour in a toy shop will show us the way…

Less is more, basic is best

While children do not need an abundance of toys, playing with different types of toys has been found beneficial to young children’s interactions, thinking and creative expression (Trawick-Smith,2011). Open-ended toys such as blocks, construction, role play, and small world, which includes objects such as dinosaurs, play people or small dolls houses are considered most valuable because children have endless and multiple opportunities to develop their play scripts. And what’s more, these items can be combined with heuristic materials, for example, playing with the dinosaurs outside in the mud, or drawing roads on cardboard boxes for endless adventures.

Rotate for clutter-free toys

“Children on average have 238 toys, but parents suggest that only 12 of these are used on a regular and daily basis” (Dauch et al., 2018)

Play is considered a child’s “work” and they often become very immersed in a particular theme or with a particular set of toys. The advantage of this is that children learn to focus, pay attention and to problem solve. For example, talking through the steps to make dinner with a wooden tea set. Children need uninterrupted play with toys to really reap the rewards.

However, when children have access to an abundance of toys, their play can become fleeting and they may not become as fully invested. Imagine, going into a sweet shop and being told to, “help yourself”. It would be difficult to fully focus, and you may become much more easily distracted. Research suggests that too many toys reduce play quality-time and stifle creativity (Dauch et al., 2018 ). Rotating toys is a useful solution to this and means that you can build anticipation for your child. You may also find that if your child has a particular attachment to a toy, they will ask for it, helping you to build a more meaningful toy collection.

Try and test it

Research has suggested that often when a child shows an interest in a particular toy, it may not live up to its expectations, or they may outgrow it quickly. The use of toy-swaps or donating once you are finished can lead to the right toys getting to the right children. It can also open up important discussions with children about the ways in which toys can be shared and encourages the concept of turn-taking. Often toys can pile up and go unused, but toy swaps give children the chance to tell you when they may have finished with a toy and to think about the power of recycling. From an environmental perspective, it also cuts down on our purchasing of plastic resources.

Final thoughts

There has been extensive research on the importance of play for young children (See Ginsburg, 2007), and findings consistently suggest that children benefit from enhanced cognitive (thinking), social, emotional and physical development. This is especially true if they are supported by a playful adult, who can act as a play partner and facilitator. It is through play, that children make sense of the world, allowing them, to try out and practice new skills safely and securely.

Building a meaningful toy collection is an important process in child development. Children often become very attached to their toys and this forms the foundations of their play memories. Children’s interests and fascinations can change rapidly as they become more skilled in their play, so sharing and re-distributing toys can lead to other children making happy memories. And what a great way to avoid the pile up!

Reference list:

The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. Kenneth R. Ginsburg. Pediatrics Jan 2007, 119 (1) 182-191. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2006-2697

The influence of the number of toys in the environment on toddler’s play (2017). Carly Dauch, Michelle Imwalle, Brooke Ocasio & Alexia E. Metz. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2017.11.005

Measuring the effects of toys on the problem solving, creative and social behaviours of pre-school children (2011). Jeffrey Trawick-Smith 2011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2010.503892

Top 10 toys for July

Are the kids done with the toys and it’s time to swap? Not sure what to choose because we have over +1000 amazing toys? I’ve got you! Here’s a list of our favourite toys for July.

1) Sand Play Set by Plan Toys

Don’t forget to pack this wooden set for the family trip to the beach which is a nice change from the usual single-use plastic ones. This set includes a bucket and 3 spades with different shapes, perfect for building sandcastles and creating different patterns on the sand. Parents absolutely love Plan Toys because it uses sustainable and ethically sourced wood for all their toys. But, parents love Whirli even more because when they’re done with it, they can swap it for something else and they don’t have to store any outdoor toys all year round.

2) Submarine Bath Toy by Plan Toys

Let them continue their imaginative play when they get home from the beach with this cute yellow submarine *queue the Yellow Submarine song by The Beatles* bath toy with a little explorer inside. They can submerge the boat underwater to discover the deep sea and create stories during bathtime.

3) Football Game by Plan Toys

This reminds me of the Foosball table Joey and Chandler (from Friends) had in their flat, and how I’ve always thought it would be cool to own one. But now we have a smaller version at Whirli! I really like curved wooden football pitch because of its minimal and contemporary design, which Plan Toys always excel at. This is the perfect activity to keep the whole family entertained and challenge each other to think strategically on how to score a goal.

4) Wooden Latches Board by Melissa & Doug

Ready to let your toddler challenge their inquisitive mind? This is the perfect educational activity board for them which will also help build their motor skills. They’ll be fascinated how to undo 6 latches through snapping, unhooking and sliding to discover what colourful animals are hiding inside the house. Once it’s open, you can also ask them to identify colours, animals and numbers, helping them practice their vocabulary. It’ll definitely keep the kids busy for a while because they’ll be determined to open all the doors and windows (we definitely were).

5) Basic Skills Board by Melissa & Doug

If your child has already mastered the Melissa and Doug wooden latches board listed above. How about swapping it for this basic skills board to try another challenge? This time they will learn how to dress the bear by tying, zipping, buckling and snapping. Not only will this improve fine motor skills, but it’ll help them master the art of dressing themselves up.

6) Cuddles My Dream Kitten by Little Live Pets

Has your child reached that age yet where they’re constantly begging you to buy a pet? But there’s no way that is happening because you’re not ready to commit to taking care of another living thing? Meet Cuddles, the solution to this problem. This cute ball of white fluff really does look, move and purr like a real kitten. Its tail even curls up when you pat it, it has 20 kitten sounds and its eyes close when it sleeps so your child is bound to fall in love with it. It’s a great way to learn how to care for a real pet one day.

7) Sleeping Beauty by Smart Games

This is one of our favourite puzzle games because it’s great fun for the whole family. Although it’s a single-player game, collaboration is encouraged to conquer challenges together. This has 60 challenges with different levels of difficulty, which is bound to help develop both spatial problem solving and planning skills. The aim is to guide characters through the maze, which could either be helping the knight rescue sleeping beauty or planning how sleeping beauty can escape by herself #strongindependentwoman. Or for an advanced level, make sure the dragon prevents both lovebirds from meeting each other. We can guarantee that parents will enjoy playing this original board game with their kids…and continue when the kids go to bed.

8) Country Large Farm by Playmobil

We recently added Playmobil toys to our ever-growing toy box which is a big hit for kids and their parents. Although they might not be as popular as Lego because they don’t tap into the Hollywood film franchises, Playmobil is still flourishing because people love their simple sets which are based on real life. This means kids can create their own stories from their imagination. They’re quite expensive so try them out first from Whirli, check out this extensive farm set, yes there’s even a milking machine! This is a great one for the city kids to learn more about nature.

9) Floating Pirate Raiders Ship with Cannon by Playmobil

Already tried the classic set above? How about trying out the Pirate Raiders set for a different kind of adventure? Kids will have sailing the boat on the water and inventing stories for their little characters. There’s even a firing cannon to make sure they fight off the rogue pirates!

10) Floating Pirate Raft by Playmobil

Make sure to get this one too to upgrade the adventure, which is another reason why we love Playmobil. Kids will have fun building the raft which also floats on water. Are these pirates the bad guys? Or are they simply discussing the lack of functioning government which has lead illegal fishing and piracy to thrive? Who knows… that’s the beauty of imaginative play!

I hope this list has inspired you what to swap next for your little ones and to keep them entertained this summer. Make sure to give them a Whirli! And when you’re done, swap them for something else.

Guest Post: Parenting with disabilities, why I love Whirli!

My name is Pip, I have 1 cheeky and very active little boy Harrison who is 2 in August and a very handsome assistance dog named Rusty. I had always wanted to be a mum, so even when I started to use a wheelchair or when I had my feeding tube fitted, it didn’t stop me dreaming about becoming a family. He was by all means a miracle, after years of heartache and fixing up my broken body we beat all the odds to become a family. Despite all the challenges, I love life, I love being a wife, a mum and helping people in both my local community and online community.

My husband John (Harrisons Dad), is an electrician that works shifts and long hours, 4 shifts in a row made up of 2 x 14 hour days, then 2 night shifts. The day shifts are particularly hard due to limited energy and being so long, until we found Whirli!

Wasting money on toys

Harrison absolutely loves new toys, but after a couple of hours, they just get thrown in the toy box and he’s looking for the next thing to discover. I’d say buying brand new toys is a waste of money, but when you are desperate for entertainment and in a lot of pain, you do want you have to do to get by!

Better value for money

When I spotted an ad for Whirli, I thought this could be my saviour! £90 worth of toys that can be swapped at any time for £9.99 a month? In a year, if I swap once a month, Harrison would have played with £1080 worth of toys for just under £120. Wow, that really would help with the weekly long day shifts!

So I excitedly went through to their website for a look. We are trying to reduce plastic use, like a lot of other families and love wooden toys. Grimms, Plan toys & Melissa & Doug are some of our favourites and we’ve been wanting to get Harrison a Wobbel board for a while.

Our new daily routine

Skip to delivery day, and my nurse brought in the parcel and placed it on the bottom of the bed then went to draw up my injections.

I call Harrison and he’s so excited to open the parcel!

We’ve been with Whirli a month now, and it’s been the best thing we’ve done! When daddy goes to work Harrison knows it’s new toy day! We open each new box when my nurse does my meds, and then he plays with his new toys all day. We get books to read together, games than can be played on the bed, and toys he can play independently.

It’s brought us closer together, and I don’t get anxious about daddy going to work now. I know our days are going to be full of fun and new discoveries, making better memories together.

Pip x

Toy Story 4: Movie review and everything you need to know before heading to the cinemas

Thinking about whether to catch Toy Story 4 at the cinemas? You absolutely should! Toy Story 4 was just released in cinemas on Friday 21st June 2019, and my partner and I made plans to catch it on a Saturday night screening the following day. We thoroughly enjoyed it!

We chose a late screening for 10pm at our local cinema as it was easier to get tickets. For a late screening of a family oriented film, I thought we might even have the theatre to ourselves! I really enjoy movie trailers, so we took our seats early as usual. By the time the movie actually got going at half past, the theatre was half full – pretty decent for our local cinema mind you – and impressively most of the audience were groups or couples of young adults with no children.

Such is the power of the Toy Story franchise that first gripped myself and many others over two decades ago. Such is the power of Disney Pixar’s reputation where family friendly films are not just for the children!

Check out our favourite toys from the movie here or see all our Toy Story 4 toys. These toys are perfect for getting kids fired up for a day at the cinema, or to stir their imagination and recreate the scenes once they come home.

What do I need to know before going to see Toy Story 4?

Not much to be honest. The original Toy Story was released in 1995, and the previous instalment Toy Story 3 released in 2010. Franchises that span multiple decades always risk alienating new audiences or not paying enough homage to the fans.

In Toy Story 4, Disney Pixar managed to balance this really well. Familiar faces return with the core posse of toys in their supporting minor roles (Hamm and Rex were two of my favourites and I always crack up at their lines). It is worth remembering that in Toy Story 3, Woody and the entire group of toys have been unloved by Andy. As Andy moves for college, he gives his toys to a little young girl, Bonnie, to play with.

We’re introduced to new characters including:

Forky – a spork that comes to life when he is created to be a toy using strings for arms, sticks for feet, and googly eyes (voiced by Tony Hale)
Gabby Gabby – a doll our group encounters on their adventures (voiced by Christina Hendricks)
Ducky and Bunny – inseparable plush toys that bring family friendly dark comedy (voiced by comedic duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele)
Duke Caboom – a motorbike stuntman action figure (voiced by reddit’s favourite person right now, Keanu Reeves)

Lastly, Bo Peep plays a central role in this film after not appearing at all in Toy Story 3. Bo Peep belonged to Andy’s sister, and previously it was mentioned that she was given away to other children to play with.

What should I expect for Toy Story 4?

I had high expectations going in. Toy Story 4 is scoring an astounding 98% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 95% audience score. For it’s first weekend, the film grossed over $238 million world wide – and somehow this was still short of analyst’s expectations.

There’s always a risk going into a cinema with such high expectations. I couldn’t put it better than the critic consensus from Rotten Tomatoes so I’ll just leave it here:

“Heartwarming, funny, and beautifully animated, Toy Story 4 manages the unlikely feat of extending – and perhaps concluding – a practically perfect animated saga.” — Rotten Tomatoes, Toy Story 4

What did I think of the movie? My review of Toy Story 4

I loved it. It has everything you want – humour, strong characters, teary moments, and even the occasional suspense and thrill (that caused my partner to startle once or twice).

Toy Story 4 extends the core premise of the franchise as well as explore new and modern themes. Much like Inside Out (one of my all time Pixar favourites), the themes explored in this movie appeal at different depths to all ages. For children, the complexity of Toy Story 4’s character arcs will also teach about emotions and empathy.

Bo Beep is a stand-out character for me and it is great to see her take a leading role in the film. Likewise with newcomer Gabby Gabby whose arc develops and concludes majestically in the film. It’s fantastic to see two leading female figures in this Toy Story film, as the franchise that can otherwise be dominated by leading males Woody and Buzz.

Forky provides a light-hearted, more silly and slightly slapstick character younger children will adore. Yet his existential crisis about being ‘trash’, not a ‘toy’, and how he develops from the infancy of his sentience to his persona at the end, is complex and mature.

Toy Story 4 is a wonderful film. It’s overarching plot is a relatively simple frame against which many different character arcs blossom and conclude. The movie is well paced and entertaining. It’s hard to find any fault with it!

Are there post credits scenes?

I’m a big fan of Marvel films and always stay back for the post credit scenes. With Toy Story 4, there are a few mid-credits scenes and a final post credit scenes. None of them reveal any important plot points or hint at what future movies (if any) might look like.

The mid-credits scenes are pretty hilarious and certainly worth the few minute wait. Besides, I much prefer to hang about and not rush out in a human stampede. The end credits scene gives a light chuckle, but I wouldn’t wait unless you’re a huge Pixar fan.

Knowing when you’ve had a ‘Whirli moment’

The moment when you realise there’s a solution to your children’s toy clutter.

Every parent can relate – toy clutter at home is a thing! A thing that you are forever tackling. No sooner do you re-organise the bedroom, the living room becomes the next dumping ground. And so, last weekend me and the other half decide to tackle the shed. So full of stuff, we can’t open the door without disturbing its fragile ‘jenga-like’ arrangement.

Sunnylife giant tumbling tower

Do we need all this stuff?

We turf its entire contents onto the lawn. What do we need and what can we get rid of? Garden chairs we never really use? Left over timber, pipes and rods? Gone – we find them a new home with neighbours and family.

The kid’s paddling pool, swing ball and garden games set? Surely not! We need them.

Hang-on, do we? The padding pool is hard, rigid and huge. The swing ball never stays upright. And the garden games set is rarely played with.

That Whirli moment

It then occurs to me – why don’t we use our Whirli subscription to get a good, inflatable paddling pool. A swingball set that actually swings and a set of games that we can swap. Then at the end of summer, we return everything.

Sunnylife inflatable backyard pool

Decision made – we find new homes for almost everything. Except the lawnmover, a bunch of tools and a few household favourites.

Even though I work for Whirli, we still get these Whirli moments. Times at home when it occurs to me that my Whirli subscription is beyond a perk. It’s a change of lifestyle. Now let’s see if by this time next year we’ve managed to keep the shed clutter at bay!