Zookeeper Zoe – Boots Fun Free Eye Check Storybook

Last Sunday we were invited to a a really cool event. It was the launch party of a free and fun eye check storybook called Zookeeper Zoe from Boots Opticians and it was held in Central London at St Martin’s Lane Hotel which is a 5 star hotel. How cool is that?

So you can have an idea of how fun this event was, I thought it would be nice for you to watch a short video we made of the event (or watch here on YouTube). Please watch the video below:

I hope you enjoyed the video. Now you can read all about this fantastic event.

Zookeeper Zoe is about the story of Zoe, a little girl who loves animals and dreams of becoming a zoo keeper when she grows up. On a day out at the zoo she unexpectedly has to step in and help look after the animals. For Zoe, who is “crazy about crocs and barmy about bears” this is a dream come true. As the story unfolds, the copy and illustrations guide parents through basic checks designed to help identify any problems with sharpness of vision, the ability to focus properly and to detect different colours. This book has been made in such a way that kids can get very engaged with it. Since we got this book, Bella has asked us to read it every night at bedtime which I think is lovely. She likes to do all the activities that the book contains.

For us this storybook is very interesting as Nick is colour blind and partially sighted in one eye. I was listening as Nick was reading the book to Bella the other night as they were going through the activities. Nick asked Bella if she was able to identify certain numbers inside circles full of coloured dots. Nick was not able to see the numbers in some of the circles because of his problem. Bella however, was very good and was able to correctly read all of the numbers. This was proof of how good this book is as we could see that Bella, unlike her Daddy, did not have any of the sight problems that the book tests for. I thought this was just fantastic.

The need for good eyesight is really important because a child learns almost everything through their vision. The book is also designed to remind families that all children should have a regular eye health check. This book was developed with the National Literacy Trust and created for children aged four to six in collaboration with celebrity Dad, Peter Andre. To ensure all children across the country have access to Zookeeper Zoe, 350,000 printed copies are being given away in Boots UK and Boots Opticians stores from 16 March.

This fantastic and fun storybook is also free to read online or download from zookeeperzoe.co.uk. It is also available as an iOS and Android app. How amazing is that?

The party for the launch of this storybook was super fun. They organised a zoo-themed celebration with different activities to do. Upon arrival we were given a card that we needed to stamp after finishing each activity so that the girls could then be given a goody bag. The different activities were ‘cardboard characters’, ‘reading corner’, ‘animal encounters’, ‘balloon artist’, ‘face painting’, ‘mask making’, ‘colouring corner’ and a ‘green screen’.

We started off with the cardboard characters. It was fun for the girls to play around these characters and have some photos. Sienna was delighted about it as they were all bigger than her, so I guess she felt like she was near some huge animals, lol.

After that we sat at the reading corner. They had a stand full of the Zookeeper Zoe storybook available for all the kids to read. This was a very cosy area with a nice sofa and a few big cushions on the floor. They also offered us something to drink, bringing us some coffee which was nice. I sat down with Bella and read the book to her. We tried the activities as we read it and she was very interested. In the meantime, Sienna was happily playing on the floor or laying on the big cushions as they were very comfy.

We then went to the animal encounters area. This was by far the most enjoyable activity for my girls. They were fascinated to be able to see and touch the animals. They had snakes, millipedes, a cockroach, a colourful parrot and also the cutest lemur ever. The girls were able to feed the lemur which was something very exciting for them to do. I was very surprised about Bella as she was like a fish in water with all these animals (a bit like Zoe!). She twice had the snake around her neck and she was so happy to which I thought was incredibly brave of her. I didn’t do it, although I did touch it as it was very soft. The snake also at some point went inside the handle of my camera case which was quite funny. It was a naughty one for sure, lol. Sienna was more fascinated about the parrot. I think it’s colours drew her attention.

After the animal encounters we went to the face painting area. Bella chose to have a flamingo in one of her cheeks. It was really cute. I loved how it looked on her. Sienna didn’t do this as she is still too little for this kind of thing.

The next activities were the mask making and colouring corner. For the mask making, there were different animals to choose from and they were able to transform them into masks. At the colouring corner they have lots of pre-printed paper so they were able to colour them in or make some animal pictures.

There was also a green screen corner where Bella had her photo taken with the Zookeeper Zoe cover as a background. We also had a family photo which I love a lot. It was nice to have something like this to remember. They then gave the photos that had been taken and put them inside a plastic cover which then went around your neck so we were showing them all the time. I loved this idea a lot.

The next activity was the balloon artist. The man was really talented. He made a little pink poodle for Sienna and a big snake for Bella. We waited a little bit for this as it was really popular.

And finally, for the duration of the party there were an entertainer who was doing some party games, keeping the kids happy and busy. My girls loved this area. They had a gorilla statue that was quite big and Sienna and Bella were obsessed with it, especially Sienna who kept kissing it every 5 minutes lol.

There were champagne, cupcakes and canapés available for the whole party. They also had a big celebration cake. The party was around lunchtime so each of the kids received a packed lunch with assorted yummy sandwiches, a fruit and a drink.

There were also balloons everywhere. Sienna loves jumping and playing with balloons. She played for almost 20 minutes with them! When the party had finished, we were given one of the huge balloon arrangements. I was not very keen with this as were going back home on the tube, but Bella insisted that she wanted them so we had to take them with us for the whole journey home. That was an experience itself on a busy Sunday afternoon walking through London and getting on the tube. Although we were incredibly lucky as it was actually okay and not overly busy. When we arrived home the balloons were everywhere. The girls played with them for the rest of the afternoon so thankfully they were incredibly entertaining, LOL!!! They were then so tired that they ended up completely shattered. It was a fantastic day for them.

We really enjoyed this party. We were very happy to be invited and we all had a fantastic time. This was the first event that we were surrounded by so many celebrities too, which was amazing! We loved it! If you are nosey and want to know which celebrities were there you can read this article from the Daily Mail, 😉

We just want to say THANK YOU so much to Boots for this AMAZING experience!! We could not have spent a better Sunday morning!! The Zookeeper Zoe storybook is a really clever and great idea and we hope that now more kids have access to an additional way of checking their sight so then they will know if they need a proper appointment with an optician. Get your free copy from Boots Opticians now!

What do you think of this storybook? Do you like this idea? Will you be going to Boots to get your free copy of the book? Do you think this will help parents to identify a potential sight problem? Please leave me your comments below as I would love to read what your thoughts are.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

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