Paracord Survival Bands Kit Review

My eight year old loves the outdoors, he enjoys learning survival skills at Beaver scouts and is great at living outdoors on our regular camping trips so he was delighted when we were given the opportunity to review the new Paracord Survival Wrist Bands kit from Interplay.  He couldn't wait to create some great looking and useful wristbands from the colourful paracords and accessories.

The FabLab set contains everything he needed to make a variety of coloured wristbands that will come in handy during his outdoor adventures and camping trips. Included in the box was; a full colour instruction booklet with easy to follow instructions detailing how to create both single and double colour wristbands as well as tips for adding the accessories, plastic clasps, a metal carabiner clasp, a compass, a container of chalk on a metal clip, glue and tape.

The kit is aimed at children aged 8 and above, Ben needed a little help starting off as some of the cord was tricky to thread through the plastic clasps but once he got going he found it really simple to follow the printed instructions and was interested in what he was creating and how it could be used. He has learned about different knots in Beavers (and from Daddy) and also practised these with the cords. Ben created a funky green wristband with a handy compass and then a black and camo two colour band using the metal carabiner clasp. There's enough materials in the kit for him to make another three bands also.

Ben is thrilled with how his paracord survival bands turned out and can't wait to take them into his next Beavers group meeting to show off!  As well as  instructions, the booklet in the kit explains how the cord wristbands can be used to make tourniquets, lashings for shelters, fishing lines and much, much more, they will come in handy next time we go camping I'm sure...

I'm really impressed at how easy the instructions were for Ben to follow and how he as able to complete the activities independently. He was interested in what he cold do with the completed wristbands and I thought it encouraged some really useful skills from measuring, to hand eye coordination. This kit is available at Amazon and retails at just £9.99 making it great value and an ideal gift for adventure loving children and teens. Check out what That Lancashire Lass and The Brick Castle's family thought of the Paracord kit too.

Camping is Ace! #BargainoftheWeek

We love camping! Our family Christmas present to ourselves was a brand new tent and we can't wait to take it out on our next outdoor adventure!

Tonight on the way to pick my eldest up from Beavers I popped into our local Morrisons and saw this t - shirt in their Nutmeg range...

 I agree Camping is Ace!

And for selling this at just £2 I think Morrisons is ace!

I picked one up for both my son and daughter, the loose fit and log sleeves will be ideal for running round fields on our net camping trip!

As I know my lovely readers are fans of the great outdoors as well as a bargain I just had to share this with you. The had a great selection of other clothes at great prices too but this top really stood out!

Have you found a good bargain this week? I'd love you to link it up here...



I was not asked to write this post, I paid for the t-shirts myself and just wanted to share!

Barnardos #Bigtoddle #countrykids

On Saturday morning our family returned to Heaton Park for the second charity walk of the week (Have you read our race for life post yet?) this time it was my two year old Elizabeth who was being sponsored, to take part in the Barnardos Big Toddle. 

We slapped on the suncream and packed a picnic, then walked up to her nursery to meet up with all her friends and their families ready for a lovely walk around one of our favourite parks...

It was a really enjoyable day and it was really nice to chat to the nursery staff and other parents in a less formal environment and hear lovely little anecdotes about our daughter, apparently she is a very keen hugger in nursery! (And a bossy boots but we knew that already!)

After waking for a little while we went to visit the animals at the farm centre, the children were quite taken with the ducks and goats, and I fell in love with the tiny baby piglets that were less than 3 weeks old, Adorable!

We had a snack and a cool drink and then we were off walking again in the direction of the small play area. Elizabeth looked so grown up walking along in her Frugi bunting sundress with her little friends.

They all had a lovely time on the play area, the wooden horse and carriage is always a favourite! We also got to have a run around on the grass and both my adventurous children had a go at climbing trees, they definitely get their love of nature from their scout leader Daddy...

We finished off our adventures by enjoying a yummy summer picnic on the grass...

It was a really lovely day but it was also about raising money for a good cause.

Barnardo's say... 

"The money you raise doing the Big Toddle helps fund Barnardo’s vital work with Britain’s most vulnerable toddlers and helps give them the childhood they deserve."

 Have your family taken part in a Big Toddle event? I would love to read about your experiences in the comments below...