My 6-year-old is really into playing games at the moment… so we’ve been playing a lot of Swap, Mancala and Dobble in the afternoons after school. I must say, my favourite games are the most simple ones. There are so many games these days which have instruction booklets the length of a novel, and loads of little, plastic game pieces which end up getting lost or broken. I definitely prefer the simple, straight-forward (if not old-fashioned) games.

This 3-D Tic Tac Toe is a game I played as a child, and a game I still enjoy as an adult (even my husband and I play each other!). It’s a good game for teaching kids to count, strategise, play defensively, and try to line up all your pieces. My 6-year-old is really enjoying it, and it’s fun to have an addition to our game rotation.

x Courtney

This month’s give-aways are all really big and exciting!! Here’s what’s up for grabs:

• A $200 gift certificate to spend at 41 Orchard on a large range of charming wall stickers.
• A £100 gift voucher from Little Label to scoop up a whole set of luxuriously soft cotton basics.
• An enormous and colourful wooden conical building set from The Egg Box to build all sorts of brilliant towers.
• A scrumptiously soft lambswool blanket and matching stripy pillow from Mini McGhee.

Wow, wow, wow!! Don’t you want to win them all? Enter to win here!

x Courtney

We discovered these brilliant Hase Weiss creations at Playtime last weekend and fell instantly in love! Aren’t they so beautiful? The modular doll’s house (above) comes in one big box, but you can fit the rooms together in many different ways to create the perfect doll’s house. And the farm (below) opens and closes with magnetic hinges and offers quite the home for all your farm animals. My kids would go crazy for this!

It doesn’t look like these products are available to purchase from the Hase Weiss site, but they do have a shop in Berlin and it looks like they take orders over the phone if you contact them here.

xx Courtney

How fun is this Potato Stamp Stars bedding? Stars are such a great and versatile design, perfect for both modern or traditional decor styles, and I love how the potato stamp effect gives the star print a retro feeling. The bedding is certified organic cotton, printed to Oeko Tex standards… and is as cosy as can be. This duvet cover has the star print in cotton percale on one side and a blue, snuggly t-shirt material on the other side. It’s available from Quick Brown Fox of Dulwich along with other great bedding designs.

-Courtney

Wow! Two trade shows in one weekend! We have seen so many great children’s brands, our heads are spinning! Here are some highlights from yesterday at Bubble London:

• The new designs at Poppy feature a little girl riding around on a giraffe through a beautifully illustrated London town, and we can’t get enough. Absolutely fabulous designs and colours in the A/W collection. Much to look forward to!
• Olive Loves Alfie is launching a new range of interiors paint and their display was awesome! So many great colours.
• We were ultra impressed with the fantastic, happy collection at Tootsa Macginty. And apparently we weren’t the only ones — her stand was buzzing the entire day long! (And we loved the new haircut of Kate!)
• As always, the Hucklebones collection was stunning. And the creators, Dan and Zoe, couldn’t be more lovely.
• Seeing the hand-crafted pillows from Lettie Belle in person made us love them even more!
• Really like the sweet prints and fresh colours in the Old Rectory collection. And excited about their new baby pyjamas.
• The ilovegorgeous stand rocked our world. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!
• Loved meeting Joanna from Babatude and seeing her luxuriously soft cashmere creations.
• The Spotty Otter outerwear collection is both functional and fun, and we think this is a brand on the rise (it’s already hugely popular at our kids’ schools!).
• With beautiful textiles from India, the entire Bouton collection really, really impressed us.
• It was really great to meet Helen from Helen Gordon and to see all her pieces in one place. We are big fans of her scrumptiously soft pyjamas and love her new circus print!
• The Aden & Anais collection is, as always, super impressive. So cool to see all their swaddle blankets hanging in one big row!

• Just listening to Yanina from Aravore discuss each piece in her collection makes you appreciate just how much thought and love went into each piece. Such a gem of a brand (and a lady!).
• The bright colours and happy messages in the Boys & Girls collection put a smile on our faces! That’s what childhood is all about!
• The NYC-based brand, Ode, which we first discovered at Playtime NYC last summer, featured a stunning collection and a new knitwear line. Such pretty textiles and loads of details!
• So nice to see the Dutch brand Kidscase both at Bubble and at Playtime. As always, it’s a can’t-go-wrong collection!
• We discovered the new label Beau Loves, and with their Zorro mask prints and playful designs, we think this is going to become a new favourite brand.
• We also discovered the new UK brand, Marmalade & Mash which made their debut at Bubble. This is a brand to watch for sure!
• We met the lovely Amynta from Tulip and Nettle who wowed us with her luxurious collection and beautiful photography.
• And finally, the Spanish brand Nadadelazos is super fun and funky, and we were already fans… but even more so now!

xx Courtney and Esther

]]> http://babyccinokids.com/blog/2012/01/31/bubble-london-recap/feed/ 2 http://babyccinokids.com/blog/2012/01/27/childrens-wallpaper-from-hibou-home/ http://babyccinokids.com/blog/2012/01/27/childrens-wallpaper-from-hibou-home/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:24 +0000 Courtney in London http://babyccinokids.com/blog/?p=27096
Aren’t these wallpaper designs so stunning?! They’re part of the gorgeous collection of children’s wallpaper available at the newly launched Hibou Home. I have to admit that I’ve never been a wallpaper person before… but having seen these in the flesh, I’m seriously tempted to do up a wall in one of the kids’ rooms. The colours are so lovely and dusky, and the designs are playful but still sophisticated and suitable for older children. So… which design to choose?

x Courtney

• Green and white knitted jumper from Broer en Zus
• Green and white knitted doll from Dents de Loup
• Lucky Boy Sunday knitted tree from Thumbeline
• Green knitted teething ring from Unique Boutique

x Courtney

Aren’t these spinning tops so beautiful? I just love all the different colour combinations and the many elegant shapes and sizes. These Mader Tops are handcrafted in Austria from a variety of woods native to Europe. Each top is made from a single piece of wood and is then hand painted in beautiful colour combinations. (You can read more about them here.) They’re so well made that they spin for minutes at a time. Fun! And also pretty just sitting on a shelf.

They’re available from Couverture in the UK and from Pucci Manuli in the US.

x Courtney

This is another art project inspired by an image I saw on Pinterest! I knew the minute I saw it that my kids would love this one. Plus, it’s so easy! All you need are some clothespins, some card stock or thicker paper, some crayons or paint to decorate your fish, and scissors and glue. A fun project for kids of all ages — even our 2-year-old enjoyed making her fish (we drew a fish template and she coloured it in).

Also, if you’re looking for more craft projects, you can take a peek at our Crafts for Kids Pinterest board for ideas!

x Courtney

How cheerful and happy are these train pyjamas? I love the retro pattern, the snug fit and the soft & cosy material. What perfect PJs! They’re part of the vibrant byGraziela collection, a rebirth of Graziela Preiser’s award-winning brand from the 1970s.

Everything in the collection is as happy and innocent as childhood should be — defined by vibrant colours and iconic ’70s designs. (If you like the train print, you can get matching bedding, hooded towels, or this adorable crockery set!)

x Courtney

PS – Find these and other great pyjamas in this week’s Top Ten selection.

I read my boys (ages 6 and 4) their first Tintin book recently, and an obsession ensued. For the past couple months it is the only thing they have requested at bed time; I think we are now on our fifth Tintin book.  I’m actually surprised by how much they like it — there is so much they can’t possibly understand, and so much of the humour goes straight over their heads. But still… they love the adventures of Tintin, his dog Snowy and the very funny Captain Haddock who says things like ‘billions of blue blistering barnacles!’ and makes silly mistakes.

The story behind Tintin is an interesting one. The first Tintin comic appeared in the children’s section of a Belgian newspaper in 1929. The series was so successful it was then published in Belgium’s leading newspaper, Le Soir, and then spun into its own magazine. It became one of Europe’s most popular comics and has been translated into more than 50 different languages (you can read more about the origin of Tintin here).

There is now a Tintin movie — I haven’t seen it, have you? There’s an online Tintin Shop and an actual Tintin store in Covent Garden where you can buy all sorts of Tintin goodies like posters, toys and, of course, the books. I’m thinking of buying my boys some Tintin posters for their bedroom (don’t you love that image above with the Tintin poster and figurines?).

x Courtney

Image found on Pinterest

I think I have spent the past three months admiring these Bensimon hi-tops at Elias & Grace… and just this week I finally splurged and bought them for my daughter. Don’t you just love the blue suede with the purple laces? So fun! There’s also a low-top version with green laces which are equally cute.

x Courtney

I’ve already mentioned the Warm Sugar dolls here before, but I just had to share them again. I ordered a couple dolls for my nieces for Christmas this year and was so pleased with them. I sent an email to Shannon, the talented creator, and asked for dolls with specific traits: one blue-eyed doll and one brown, one more girlie than the other, both with light brown hair, etc (see photo). Aren’t they so cute? I just love the mix of fabrics and that each doll can be customised for the little recipient. The dolls are available to purchase from the Warm Sugar Etsy shop, and I just think they make lovely gifts.

x Courtney

Aren’t these wooden utensils so fun? They’re perfect for school lunches, birthdays, ice cream parties… you name it. There are loads of cute designs and themes to choose from, and you can even customise your own. There’s even ice cream paddles and chopsticks! All available from the Sucre & Spice Etsy shop.

x Courtney

x Courtney

I get asked all the time if I know of any good, stylish children’s beds for kids who have outgrown their cotbed but who are still young enough to need/want a child’s bed. There is such a hole in the market here because I have literally searched and searched and the pickings are slim. The one bed I love is the Müller stacking bed by Rolf Heide. I just love that the beds stack so that when needed, you always have an extra bed for sleep-overs and other guests in the house. I have several friends who have these beds either for their kids or for guests (I even have a few German friends who grew up with them!), and everyone only has good things to say.

The beds were designed in Germany in 1967, before the age of modern flat-packed furniture, and were highly innovative for the time. Inspired by smaller spatial living in the 1960s, the beds were meant to be a sofa or daybed by day and a bed(s) at night. So brilliant!  For more information, you can download the catalog from here. And, if like me, you’re interested in buying them in the UK, they’re available from The Home Online shop.

And if you know of any other great single beds for kids, please share!

x Courtney

Mo sent me an email last week with a short message: Alice Melvin’s newest book, The High Street, is so beautiful, I must check it out! She finished her email saying ‘I wish all High Streets were like that’.  I immediately purchased the book from Amazon, and waited eagerly for it to arrive.

‘The High Street’ tells the story of a girl named Sally who walks to the high street with a list of ten items she must buy. She visits the pet shop, the tea shop, the grocer, etc., gathering the items on her list. Each page is a lift-the-flap page and reveals an inside look into the shop, and all the lovely things Sally can buy. The charming illustrations are so detailed, each shop a true treasure… and it really does make you wish all high streets were (still) like this.

x Courtney

p.s. If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard from Mo in a while, it’s because she is taking a (hopefully brief) blogging break while she awaits the birth of her third baby (due in February!). xx

(Images found here)

I am wholeheartedly addicted to Pinterest! And it turns out… it’s not only a place to find a million cool products you wish you had (damn that Pinterest!) but I’ve also found loads of great craft projects I’m hoping to try with the kids. Like these little walnut mice. How cute! Originally blogged by the lilla a design blog (which has loads of cute craft ideas), I stumbled upon her images on Pinterest and decided to give it a go with my kids. The only trick, we found, was cracking open the walnuts without breaking the shells. But we managed to keep a few shells in tact and made some charming little mice. Find the full tutorial and materials list here.

-Courtney

Did you play Mancala when you were a child? My siblings and I played all the time! I had forgotten all about it until recently stumbling upon it on Amazon while looking for Christmas gifts. I ended up buying it for my 6-year-old, and I think we’ve played already a bazillion times. Even my 4-year-old loves it.  It’s such a simple game which has been around for generations and played all across the planet (some people say it’s the oldest game in the world).

There are all sorts of boards you can buy, from simple folding ones to nicer bamboo sets. You can even make your own with an empty egg carton (how cool!) and use simple rocks or pebbles just like they did ages ago. Either way, the game is great fun for all ages (probably 4+) and encourages good counting skills.

x Courtney