With a steady stream of visiting friends over the Christmas holidays, and many with young children, we have been busy! Whilst we treated them to the hedonistic pleasures of the Aussie beach culture, we also spent a great deal of time indoors appreciating the ‘higher arts’. This can be tricky with young kids in tow, especially those who are jet-lagged and tantrum prone, but Melbourne has some fabulous museums and galleries, several of which are especially wonderful for children. Here are my top 3.
1. Melbourne Museum – This fabulous museum, located on the northern border of the Carlton Gardens behind the Royal Exhibition Building, is futuristic and interactive and connects architecture and nature – in the middle of the museum, you can walk through a forest! The Children’s Gallery is designed for children 3 to 8 but I would think it would delight even the younger toddler. The children’s exhibition, entitled 1,2,3 Grow, explores the many ways things, including humans, grow. Activities, children’s art, stories, an indoor sandpit with fossils beneath the sand which children are encouraged to discover, a kids puppet theatre and an outside play/picnic area including games such as skittles for the whole family, are just some of the attractions. It doesn’t matter how often we visit (we try to put our membership to good use after all) my children are always stimulated and engaged. Young children particularly love the insect section and the Forest gallery. Click here for more details. (more…)
These days I’m so busy with work, I don’t have much time for my much loved little creative projects (sewing, baking, drawing). But I love looking at craft and cooking blogs instead! Joel Henriques is a Portland-based artist who has two little kids and does the most amazing craft projects with them. Just have a look at his blog — these yo-yo balls are so sweet, and this design-tree-toy is to die for! Or this doll house…
If you have a printer at home you can print these cool designs for your kids to colour (just click on the picture to go to the original post for the download). I really love them!
I love bright colours — especially in this cold, grey winter season a splash of colour does wonders to my mood. And my daughter loves dresses she can twirl in — the moment a dress twirls, it is labelled a princess dress! So when we received a beautiful dress from Masala Baby, a NewYork-based label, we both thought it was the best.
The colours are fabulous: a rich pink contrasting with a deep shade of orange — colours that instantly remind you of India. The dress is made from soft cotton and because of its full skirt it twirls and twirls endlessly (or until she gets really, really dizzy).
I have been layering it up with a long sleeved T-shirt underneath, but I cannot wait for it to be warm enough so my daughter can just slip it on and go play in the sun.
Masala Baby are kindly offering a 20% discount to Babyccino Kids readers, just use the discount code: friends.
Oh, and we are also giving away one of Masala Baby’s Pure Cotton Wrap Tunics! Just leave a comment by Sunday, March 21st and we’ll pick a winner at random.
When the girls asked me to write for Babyccino one of my first ideas for a post was Kew Gardens. We got to know the Royal Botanical Gardens when we moved down South and immediately became members. We now go every couple of weeks and still love it just as much — it is such a great place for kids.
Apart from being a huge space to run around with fascinating trees, flowers and plants, there is also a dedicated indoor children’s area called Climbers and Creepers. All the zones have an educational element relating to plants and their habitat and have been so cleverly thought out to cater for a really wide age group (quoted as age 3 – 9 but there are great touchy-feely bits too which are good for babies).
On the other side of the gardens is the Treetop walkway (designed by the architects of The London Eye) which is 18 metres up in the air and 200 metres around — giving you an opportunity to see the tops of the trees and those who inhabit them. At ground level there is a tunnel with an exhibit giving insight to what happens under the trees (good for any bug and creepy-crawly enthusiasts!). (more…)
I love clever concepts. Something new, something different, something fresh! Take this jacket from Bastida Solutions: ONE jacket, that thanks to some clever zips and folds adjusts from a 6 months size to a 3 year size! How cool is that? And it’s not only ingenious in design, it’s also very cute! The bright colours are lovely, and the fact that the stitching is done in a contrasting colour makes it really casual and cool.
Alicia (from Barcelona) has just started producing her cool concepts. At the moment this jacket and a pair of trousers are available, but hopefully there will be more products to come — I saw a lovely yellow dress on a picture that would look darling on the new baby…
If you’re interested in the concept, please send an email to Alicia at info@bastidasolutions.com.
It’s amazing how much of an impact the time of year your baby is born has on sartorial choices. My son was born in June — which is winter-time in Australia. So woolen hats outnumbered any other gift (other than socks, for some strange reason). But I was talking to a friend recently who had a summer baby and she said her son lives in nappy cover shorts. Unfortunately I never got the chance to buy these for little C… but maybe next time I’ll have a summer baby (am I really talking next time?!), and I’ll be able to buy bloomers such as these. I saw this range recently from Elki. Sisters Emma and Georgina import fabric directly from Liberty of London to hand-make their products. Just beautiful.
Williamsburg is seriously as cool as it gets.In fact, I used to joke with a friend of mine that they should just plaster a picture of either Beck or Moby on the front of all the Subway cars to identify that the “L” train to Brooklyn was for hipster transport only.
I guess now, with time being what it is, those young men and women with the complicated haircuts and ironic t-shirts are getting older and having kids of their own. And thank goodness they are because the children’s stores there are really just so darn cool!!!! If you have not been, you must go. Make a day of it as there are so many amazing shops and little places to eat.
Mini Jake – is kind of like the Brooklyn version of the popular Giggle chain.It’s a huge space filled with all things modern and cool — strollers, cribs, bedding, feeding stuff… you name it. In a nutshell, it is a modern parents dream as it is chock full of all those eco-fashionable brands that they go gaga for (Oeuf, Stokke, Bloom etc;).The store also has a huge selection toys (think Plan Toys and Playmobil) and a book nook with all the classics.
Sweet William – an absolutely gorgeous store carrying brands that I simply can’t find anywhere else.I am obsessed with under the radar brands like Makie and Talc and they carry both. The well edited selection caters mainly to the younger set — newborn to 5 yrs and has the type of stuff that you will hold on to for years just because it’s all too beautiful to part with. A perfect place for gifts for a newborn. (more…)
When packing for our trip I knew I had to pack children’s books — we couldn’t go a whole three months without them, no matter how heavy they made our suitcases! So I decided to pack books that were relevant to our travels — books about nature, animals, sea creatures, etc.
Over the years we’ve collected many of the books from the award-winning Read and Wonder series of nature storybooks, including One Tiny Turtle, Surprising Sharks, and Bat Loves the Night. The Read and Wonder storybooks are great because they merge stories with interesting facts, making them entertaining as well as educational.
These books have turned out to be perfect for our trip — we’ve seen so many of the featured animals (sharks, turtles, bats, frogs…) and so it’s fun for the kids to read about them. Plus the books are all paperback — making them much easier to lug around with us.
My son has a funny thing going on with witches and wolves. He can’t get enough of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and also the Three Little Pigs is another favourite. Especially if you make it a little more exciting with well implemented sounds and pauses, he’s completely enchanted. Never mind that he hears the same story for the gazillionth time! This cuddly wolf from Ebulobo has therefore stolen his heart. It’s a bit of a crazy wolf, because besides Pigs and Little Red Riding Hoods he eats saucepans, mobile phones and chickens. And even though my son should have outgrown this toy a little, he and even his big sister are still majorly entertained by it!
I found it amongst many other treasures in the new online shop Peanut & Pip, which is definitely worth a visit to discover some new, cool products.
Oh, I think I have died and gone to heaven! Olive’s friend Pop is a collection of vintage-inspired clothing inspired by proper little-girls’ clothes of post WWII, from a time when little girls looked like…well…little girls. They call it ‘nostalgic playwear‘ — capes, bonnets, overalls, pinafores, aprons and so much more. Simply adorable!
The collection was designed by two very clever Aussie mothers who are quick to concede that whilst their clothes are indeed ’special’ they are not ’special occasion’ wear. The materials are durable and robust, to be worn… because let’s face it, little girls may like getting ‘dressed up’ but they love getting ‘grubbed up’ too (oh, indeed they do, especially mine).
I have a feeling this is a brand to watch out for. The Winter/Autumn range (pictured) is available through stockists listed here.
I met the Reverend Ian about 9 years ago after I’d read an article about how Madonna’s son Rocco was wearing these scratch-mits from a new baby-wear brand he’d set up called Nippaz with Attitude (NWA). I immediately fell in love with him (not like that! but he is seriously one of the nicest guys on the planet) and the brand.
The Rev is not your usual man of the church — he used to work in A&R (artist and repertoire) for an indie record label but had a background in graphic design. As all his mates started to have kids he found it difficult to find really cool ‘new-baby’ gifts and so started to design some t-shirts and bibs. It grew from there and since then Nippaz has gone from strength to strength. The designs are reminiscent of record covers but have a great sense of humour — very much from the child’s perspective but playing with references familiar to grown-ups. We’ve all heard from our parents and probably said to our kids “it will end in tears” but when that is on a kid’s t-shirt as “its gonna end in tears” it’s somehow funny — that the child knows it already themselves! (more…)
Soul Cycle just opened an amazing new space in Tribeca and while I totally TOTALLY dread working out I decided to just suck it up and force myself to go. After all, as mentioned before, the only cardio routine I have these days is courtesy of the Dancey Dance segments from Yo Gabba Gabba.
So anyway– Soul Cycle has had a following for quite some time in other areas of the city andI was nervous as hell to go. I had never done a “spin class” before and I was pretty confident that I was going to die on the bike and make a total scene. As I stood in the lobby waiting for class to start I tried my best to look like a pro but when I saw the sweat drenched people emerge from the prior class I started to panic. (more…)
Need I say anything? I can just imagine the baby in my belly in 3 months time, born swift and safely, and cozied up in her Noonie after bath time. How sweet will she be?
Noonies are the original idea and design of Lala Pequenos, designer, mum, and co-owner of a rainforest (indeed). They’re made out of a 100% cotton shell in an array of colours and patterns, and have a lining so soft you wish you could squeeze yourself in. Organic choices are also available.
Now if you’ll excuse me — I’ll have to look dreamily at this picture again. Sigh.
xxx Esther
P.S. Noonies are not intended for un-supervised sleeping.
I’m probably not winning any points for originality with our Australian readers, but before coming to Australia I had never heard of Lucas’ Papaw Ointment and it has since become our favourite Australian discovery. This natural remedy, made from an enzyme in papaya fruit, can be used on burns, boils, cuts, insect bites, open wounds, chapped lips, haemorrhoids, and the list goes on. And it is definitely the best treatment for nappy rash I’ve ever used.
After stockpiling these little tubes to take back to London with me, I discovered you can actually buy it in London (the creator was, in fact, British)! Dr. Lucas formulated the papaw ointment more than 100 years ago in Australia after leaving London for a warmer climate. Its natural antiseptic quality is great for preventing infection in wounds, it’s totally safe to use on babies and children, and it is so natural it can also be taken internally to aid digestion. It also smells nice — an added bonus!
Two years ago our Christmas got canceled on Christmas Eve — well the trip we had planned to Switzerland did anyway. It was our first Christmas with a child and you know how important they are! We were devastated. I think the only thing that saved us was Melrose & Morgan, our local deli in Primrose Hill (where we lived at the time). We turned up at 12pm to a packed store of everyone collecting their orders and they thankfully managed to make us up one of their ‘Christmas’s in a box’. It honestly saved the day.
But Melrose & Morgan is not just for Christmas, their fantastic home-cooked meals are perfect to take home, heat up and make you look like a domestic goddess. Sadly my better-half isn’t easily fooled – Melrose & Morgan’s food is just that bit too delicious for him to believe it was made by me whilst I had 2 children hanging off my arms. (more…)
If you live anywhere but Australia you might be thinking, “what is she talking about?!” But maternity clothes are SO expensive in Australia. I didn’t buy any maternity jeans while pregnant because I couldn’t justify forking out $200-plus. So I walked around in my regular hipster jeans with the top button undone, and I wore a long top.
Now, finally, a high-street brand has come out with a range of maternity jeans. THANK YOU Just Jeans, especially as they are going to retail for $89.95.
Another fabulous interactive colouring book just begging to be illustrated! They seem to be popping up everywhere these days and with good reason too. Created by talented Melbournian Nicole Mandile, in the first of her My Picture Storybooks series, The Magical Milky Way’s Super Galactic Zoo kept my rambunctious 4-year-old son in check on a long-haul airplane flight recently. So naturally I am a big fan. He was totally engrossed in creating, drawing and pasting away, each page providing the perfect canvas for his masterpiece. It helps that he has a complete fascination with all things galaxy-related.
The book is created using uncoated paper, a great surface to sketch on and is staple bound so the pages open flat. It is printed in Australia on 100% recycled paper. It isn’t too long or too short — just perfect to capture their little attention spans.
Available through weheartbooks for local and international shipment.
If only just for the intro you should have a look at the website of Franka Stockholm. I think it’s one of the coolest websites I’ve seen! I admit I usually have no patience for a website intro, but I promise you this one shouldn’t be missed — it will give you an immediate impression of the children’s clothing brand it represents: original, fresh, playful and interesting!
The design and quality of the clothes is great, but above all they’re functional: they’re playful clothes made for playful children. I really like the originality of the pieces and the easiness to wear, without becoming grungy or cheap.
And I really LOVE the little baby dresses — let the baby come and the summer begin (another 10 weeks to go)!
While I would really love for my kids to play with handcrafted, eco-friendly and artistically stunning toys, I also know full well that I might as well just set a pile of money on fire.The beautiful wooden farm house with hand painted animals is coated in a layer of dust. The hand-sewn finger puppet theater has yet to be touched by a human hand. That being said, I don’t want a house full of flashing plastic junk but I do like to find items that my kids will actually play with.
Kidding Around is a toy store in Chelsea that I really love as it does a great job stocking toys which are both parent savvy and ones that your kids will love. The website is in dire need of a makeover but if you visit the store in person you will be extremely pleased with what you find inside. Not only is it huge but it has everything that a child could want from birth through the teen years — all of which is thoughtfully edited and categorized. It is my go-to place for amazing birthday gifts and I always stumble upon something new when I go.
I have my sights set on this little red accordian to buy as a gift for someone who bought my girls two recorders last month. Payback time!
When we planned our trip to Australia we purposely scheduled our campervan trip in the middle to allow for some down-time after the camping. We thought we would return to Sydney to spend three more weeks in the city, but unfortunately we weren’t very organized and by the time we set out to book accommodation there wasn’t a single room available in the entire city! (Apparently this past week was the busiest Sydney has been in more than two years — with several concerts and sporting events in town as well as the Mardi Gras festival.) So we were forced to look outside of Sydney… which is how we stumbled upon Bellachara — a really lovely boutique hotel two hours south of Sydney. The hotel was a lucky find — it is extremely kid-friendly with a playground and kid’s club, the rooms are equipped with kitchens and full-sized fridges, there’s a laundry room, a restaurant, a couple pools, etc… (I totally recommend it for families in Sydney who want a weekend away!) Plus, it’s a really beautiful area with green rolling hills and beautiful beaches. Here are some photos of the area…
With a steady stream of visiting friends over the Christmas holidays, and many with young children, we have been busy! Whilst we treated them to the hedonistic pleasures of the Aussie beach culture, we also spent a great deal of time indoors appreciating the ‘higher arts’. This can be tricky with young kids in tow, especially those who are jet-lagged and tantrum prone, but Melbourne has some fabulous museums and galleries, several of which are especially wonderful for children. Here are my top 3.
Sara in Melbourne
Mar 16, 2010
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. The Read and Wonder storybooks are great because they merge stories with interesting facts, making them entertaining as well as educational.
