In the Winter months, I’m always looking for something to fill those bewitching hours after school and before dinner.  Anya’s instinct is to fill those hours with TV but since that’s not allowed (mean mama here) I encourage her to do other things which often means I end up doing them with her.  Jigsaw puzzles, board games, reading books are all part of our after school play but there’s only so many times I can do the same puzzle or board game before I go crazy!  While searching for something new to do I came across Lotta magazine from Australia.  I haven’t tried it yet but it looks really promising with lots of arts, crafts, games and puzzles to get through in each issue, not to mention the cute and colourful illustrations.  Lotta is for 5-10 year olds and is published 4 times a year with each issue exploring a particular theme like ‘secrets’ or ‘sea life’ or ‘history’.  It’s aimed at filling time in the school holidays but I think it would be great for that empty after school time and one issue should get us through couple of weeks at least. 

Lotta magazine is available in the UK at Abacus-kids.