Djeco Geoforme magnetic toy
I know I probably sound like a broken record, mentioning yet another Djeco toy… but it really seems like they can’t go wrong. I recently got this Djeco Geoforme boxed set for my boys and it is a huge, huge hit (other than the fighting over the pieces!). It’s essentially a box with a magnetic inside, and it comes with 42 colorful magnetic shapes to form different objects and scenes. Your kids can create their own images, or they can use the cards to give them guidance.
My 4-year-old really gets the hang of it, and the 2-year-old really just likes sorting the shapes and colors together. Either way, it’s fun for them AND educational!
-Courtney
Little Lunalu stroller covers
Little Lunalu is new UK webshop with a cute collection of kid’s clothing, accessories, toys and other baby essentials. They’ve just designed their own range of cute Bugaboo buggy covers (foot muffs and matching canopies) so you can customize your buggy and keep your babies nice and cozy this time of year. The buggy covers are reversible and come in five different designs — a great way to give an older buggy a face-lift, or personalize a new one.
I also love their collection of kid’s Hunter Wellies (my favorite!) and darling Moccasin booties. Cute!
And lucky for me — they’re in the process of setting up a shop in London… so stay tuned.
-Courtney
Lakeshore Learning
This morning, conveniently before we were about to leave the house, the girls decided that they were going to take out ALL of their puzzles and “build a bridge to a princess island” across the entire apartment with the pieces. While I didn’t want to interrupt their burst of ill-timed creativity I was not all that excited about who would be cleaning it all up. Anyway – while scanning down the “princess bridge”, I was reminded of one of my favorite on-line haunts for puzzles and crafts. Lakeshore Learning is my go-to source for amazing games, paper products and crafts. The website is first and foremost a resource for school teachers and most of the items that you will find are used in classrooms. A few things that I literally can not live without are the peel and stick boards and the bags of craft materials. The other items that are great are the early learning toys, like the one pictured. All in all, everything that you will find on the site is is high quality, mindful and engaging.
-Dina
Absorba
You cannot get a more classic, sensible French brand than Absorba! I grew up wearing Absorba underwear, T-shirts — the lot! During my childhood Absorba was synonymous with sensible cotton basics. I would have never considered it fashionable… I can even remember begging my mum to upgrade me from Absorba to Petit Bateau (I guess I was a little bit label conscious back then)!
Absorba was started by a French couple in post-world war Europe who had visited the USA and realized the lack of simple, white comfortable cotton clothes for European children. I’m sure my mom grew up wearing this stuff, so no wonder she dressed my brother and me head-to-toe in it.
Absorba is now celebrating its 50th birthday and has brought out a limited collection of its finest retro pieces. And surprise, surprise — now I find it ultra fashionable! Cool, bold prints and cute cuts – I do love the ’70s revival, especially when it comes to kids clothes.
- Emilie
Colourful raincoats for grey weather from Toby Tiger
If you’re familiar with Amsterdam weather you might know that it can rain. A lot! I’m not sure why London is so known for its grey weather when in fact I’m pretty sure it can be even worse in Amsterdam!
Since we Dutchmen tend to cycle everywhere, it’s necessary to be equipped with good raincoats and wellies. My husband takes our daughter to school on the back of his bike every morning, so this raincoat by Toby Tiger is not only very cute but it’s also a very necessary garment. The pink dot flowers brighten up even the darkest day, and the matching wellies look so very cute!
It’s really well made, fully lined with soft cotton for extra warmth and the hood is detachable. Good quality for money!
These raincoats in different patterns with matching wellies can be found at the Toby Tiger website.
xxx Esther
Make your own snowman garland!
We got a touch of snow here in Seattle last week, but sadly not enough to make a snowman… So we stayed inside and made paper snowmen instead! This snowman garland is a wintery version of the bunting idea Emilie wrote about last summer — where everyone in the family decorates their own piece.
Each of us decorated at least one snowman and then we strung them all up on a string. My kids LOVED this project (my 4-year-old made 5 snowmen, giving them each a different facial expression)! It’s a fun way to get the whole family involved and it’s funny to see all the different creations.
To make your own snowman garland you can print a few copies of this snowman template (we used a heavier card stock paper) and then cut them out and decorate as you wish. Punch holes in the sides of the snowmen, and string them up! It’s super cute!
-Courtney
A really cool (and big!) 2010 kid’s calendar
For my son’s first Christmas his Aunt (in Berlin) bought him a beautiful kinderzimmer (Kid’s Room) calendar, illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch — the gentleman who illustrated The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it Was None of His Business
I secretly hoped this would become the annual present from his aunt, but as it wasn’t last year, I have decided to take matters into my own hands and buy him the 2010 calendar this year. It seems they only do it in German — but even if Deutsch is not one of your household languages the illustrations compensate by far.
The topic for 2010 is ‘big and small’ and the illustrations are divine — my favourites are the sausage dog and the fish, and the moose and the owl in the tree (how great is a world where a moose and an owl sit chatting in a tree!). I also love that this calendar comes in A2 size — so it really makes a statement on the wall.
You can buy it from Amazon (UK)
-Mo
Happy Holidays from Babyccino Kids!
Have a very cozy Christmas! And cheers to a happy 2010!
P.S. Thanks to freelance illustrator, Clémence Monot, for designing our holiday card. (Check out her website for other works.)
Christmas tree ornaments by Maileg
I am so in love with all the lovely ornaments by Maileg this year! They could not be any cuter. Last year I picked up some of the little soldiers, which I loved because they look so British, and this year I discovered the darling birds and mushrooms!
They’re the perfect ornaments for a house full of kids because they won’t break if they fall off the tree — plus they just look so playful and fun.
Maileg is a young Danish company which also makes lovely toys and decorative objects. You can find Maileg pieces in London at Elias & Grace and Petit Aimé, or buy online at Nordinary.
Merry Christmas!
xoxo Courtney
Gift ideas for the Mini Master Chef
My family is in the grip of ‘Masterchef’ fever! My kids are so enthused by this reality television program that I practically have my youngest deriding me for not making the terrine for his school lunch. And while the downside for me is that the bar has been raised (my rather unspectacular cooking now looks even more… unspectacular), the show has reinforced the value of good eating, team-building and the importance of accepting constructive criticism. My daughter particularly has been caught by the cooking bug. This morning she made us a lovely, albeit slightly burnt dish of scrambled eggs, grilled tomato, and baby spinach — we devoured it… every char-grilled morsel!
A friend recently introduced me to a great children’s cooking website called Wholesome Productions which creates a fabulous range of children’s cooking kits. They also sell party cooking kits for those brave enough to host their own kid’s cooking party. (more…)
Christmas Stars
Thankfully my 6-year-old niece and God-daughter, Helene, is into all things crafty. Therefore she is my outlet for all the exciting ‘make & do’ gifts I find and fall in love with, as my own children are a bit too young for most of them. As she is German (and my Deutsche is not too great) I really enjoy sitting down with her to draw, paint or make something. Last week she showed me how to make these colourful Christmas stars — she had made loads in different sizes and colours and they looked fantastic on the window in their kitchen.
They are really easy to make and actually look really stylish cluttered together on a window. To make them you need two (or more) sheets of coloured transparent paper, cut into the same sized squares. And here’s how to make them… (more…)
The Night Before Christmas
We have a few different versions of this Christmas poem, but Gyo Fujikawa’s The Night Before Christmas is our favourite! Her illustrations are so beautiful and in a way that appeals to adults and kids alike. Fujikawa, also known for her version of Mother Goose, creates the most lovely, vintage-like illustrations. We especially love the cheery little Santa… and the sugar-plums!
We’ve been reading the story every night before bed and my kids now know the entire poem by heart. We are so excited for Santa to come!
The book is available from our Bookshop (UK and US) along with many other great holiday books.
-Courtney
15 Rainy Day Activities
The Mother Huddle is a fairly new blog which, in addition to great recipes, craft ideas and other interesting topics, regularly posts fantastic bullet lists from fellow bloggers. Such a great idea!
Molly from My Favorite Things wrote a list of 10 tips + tricks for traveling abroad; Gabrielle (the world-famous Design Mom) wrote about 16 Things she likes about Early December, and I am proud to announce that the latest bullet list is mine: Fifteen original activities to keep your kids entertained in- house on a rainy autumn or winter day, without turning on the computer or the television (I know, that title is insanely long). Check it out!!
xxx Esther
P.S. The super-cute picture is from last-century’s Dutch illustrator Rie Cramer…
Hand-knit wool stockings
Because we always do Christmas with our family in the states, I still haven’t bought my kids their own Christmas stockings! And while I LOVE going home for the holidays, I can totally see the appeal of staying put and celebrating together as a family in our own little home. Maybe one day (I’ve heard London is really cozy and quiet at Christmas time).
Anyway, I’m on the look-out for the perfect Christmas stockings and I just discovered these darling hand-knit wool stockings from Sundance. I love the homemade look of them, and the mix of all the different colors and sizes.
I also love the wool stockings at Sweet William. I think it would be a cute idea to buy them and then embroider your kids’ names on the top white cuff. So cute!
Oh, and it would probably be a good idea to buy the Christmas sacks Mo wrote about earlier… in case Santa were to bring too many gifts to fit inside!
-Courtney
Petite Marie
Here is one of the best holiday presents I have stumbled across. At least, I reckon I would love it if I was almost four and loved magnets and dolls! The Petite Marie magnet doll is the brain child of the great little Danish toy label Sebra.
I personally love the vintage ’50s design, and my daughter will hopefully spend hours deciding what to put on her little doll and taking the clothes on and off. And it all comes in a handy wooden box which stores all the little bits and pieces.
The Petite Marie Magnet Doll is available through Nordinary.
- Emilie
Win! I Love Mae fabric wall stickers
I wrote about the wonderful fabric wall stickers from I love Mae a while ago. Again, they’re just adorable! My daughter has the twitters (pictured) above her bed, and we love them…
Feeling lucky? Great! Peta from ‘I love Mae’ is very kindly offering one set of small fabric wall stickers of choice to one lucky Babyccino Kids reader!
Just leave your comment below by Monday, January 4th and we’ll pick a winner at random.
Good luck!!
xxx Esther
P.S. Check out the super pretty and free dowloadable Christmas wrapping paper from I love Mae — adorable!!!
P.P.S. Congrats to Sarah who won the three dresses from Hucklebones!!!
Re-usable holiday wrapping
If you’re looking for an original AND environmentally friendly way to wrap your Christmas presents, and you’re moderately handy on a sewing machine, maybe these home sewn gift-bags are something for you! I made them for my Godson and his big brother for Hanukkah, filled them with their presents and sent them off to London. They’re really quite simple to make, and I like the fact that they can be re-used as pyjama-bags, toy-bags, sports-bags or the like. I made mine approximately 25 x 35 cm finished (about 10″x14″), and used Bondaweb to iron the letters (remember to cut out mirrored letters!).
xxx Esther
Baileys Home and Garden
I keep trying to work out a trip that might take me in the direction of Hereford (about 2.5 hours west of my house). I haven’t come up with one yet but would one day really like to visit the store of Mark and Sally Bailey, Bailey’s Home & Garden.
In the meantime I will have to continue browsing their lovely website. Mark and Sally describe their interior style as the ‘recycled home’ so they have some great vintage gems alongside some beautiful homewares from small, family run companies.
I love everything they sell but they have some particularly beautiful wooden toys for children. I bought the xylophone for my daughter because I love the simplicity of it, and I’m quite tempted by the Noah’s Ark and these cheeky chappies (pictured). (more…)
11-13 weeks scan at the Fetal Medicine Centre
My first two babies were born in London. Even though I had both of them through the National Health Service system, I went to the Fetal Medicine Centre (FMC), a private clinic on Harley Street in London, for the 11-13 week scans. Reason is, the founder of the FMC is Professor Kypros Nicolaides, the world’s authority on fetal medicine and the person who discovered the relationship between Down Sydrome and the measurement of the nuchal translucency!
Since I was exactly 12 weeks pregnant when we met with the girls in London a few weeks ago, I decided that this little baby also had to receive the test of all tests at the place of all places. And it was fabulous to see that little person happily moving around inside of me!
Everything looked absolutely perfect at the scan, BUT (and here’s the but!) I was told that the nasal bone of this little 12-week-old creature was on the small side. Not non-existent, but small. And, I was told, a non-existent, or very small nasal bone is one of the soft markers for Down syndrome. However, since the rest of the rest of the test was good, and the results of the blood test were fine, the overall chance of a chromosomal disorder was still considered small. (more…)
Clothespin Reindeer
My kids and I are with my family in Seattle for the holidays and we’re busy preparing everything for Christmas (my boys insisted that my parents wait for them to decorate the Christmas tree)! While going through all the old ornaments, we discovered these darling clothespin reindeer ornaments that my siblings and I made when we were little. I think they’re so cute — both on the tree (you just clip them onto a tree branch), and also as a present-topper to add a little bit of festive cheer to gifts.
We decided to make a new ‘generation’ of clothespin reindeer, and it turned out to be a pretty easy project once we got all the necessary craft pieces. (Can I just say that American craft stores are so impressive. I was like a kid in a candy shop in our local Michaels!)
Here’s what you need to make your own reindeer: (more…)
