Charades
Last weekend was Coco’s 5th birthday party, and you would have thought the Queen was coming over for tea. The excitement made the whole house shake. We had a pinata (a huge success), face painting, and a few party games — nothing outrageous but great for this age group.
As usual I racked my brain (and the internet) to find a good assortment of games to play with a dozen 5-6 year olds. The game that was the biggest hit this year was a pre-school form of charades. We drew pictures of different things or animals to act out onto little bits of cardboard and put them all in a hat. Each kid got to pick a piece and act out the object/ animal on their card. Most of the kids were great at coming up with ideas of how to play out their part — they were so imaginative. Sometimes we had to help them out a little bit, but everyone definetely derserved their little prize after their performance. (more…)
Natural Paint Kit from Shak-Shuka
The lovely Joslyn from Shak-Shuka recently sent this Natural Paint Kit for me to test out, and after spending over an hour today with the kids in an eco paint session, I can give it my full approval. The kit comes with everything you need including 6 color packets, 6 compostable jars, and two bamboo paint brushes. And everything is 100% natural and botanical — you can even smell the fruits and flowers in the paints. (You could probably even eat the stuff, which is what kept me from panicking when my daughter literally licked the paint from her fingers!)
My kids loved that they got to mix the paints themselves — and depending on how much water you add, the paints can be thick like finger paints or thin like watercolours. It was a huge hit.
-Courtney
Cyber Cupcakes!
After having come back from a recent vacation with the kids I have developed a new-found love and appreciation for the I-Pad. True — I was skeptical at first… but there are actually a bunch of really great applications you can download to thwart meltdowns, kill time on rainy days or simply to secure time when you just need a few minutes to yourself. As a family, we have all became obsessed with Cupcakes! by Maverick Software. It’s so simple yet so satisfying. You can select your batter, tin liners and all the icing and toppings you can imagine (sprinkles, jelly beans, even bacon!) to build the most elaborately delicious cupcakes you can conjure up. At the end you can even light birthday candles, blow them out, and “cyber eat” them. It’s so oddly fun and engaging you have to check it out for yourself. I am planning to get the rest of their delicious apps — cookies, pizza and even grilling!
-Dina
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• Screech Owl Designs• Kids clothes in France… don’t have to break the bank
Homemade Mobile
During the holidays it is great to have the family together, but it always fun to have a couple of crafty projects up your sleeve, as sometimes it is necessary to entertain the young and restless. I found this post about how to make a mobile on the Famille Summerbelle blog and it is perfect for a craft afternoon. It looks really lovely, and it is a great family project — it could even be fun to let every member of the family design a shape or two and see what everyone comes up with.
I love Julie’s solution for balancing out the pieces of the mobile by using cut-out shapes, craft jewels and beads, as the mobiles I have built previously have always ended up a bit lopsided. I can’t wait to try this one out with my girls!
-Emilie
Favourite Toys: Momoll Wooden Kitchen
I think I might have two budding Gordon Ramseys on my hands. My girls love cooking and playing… so their number one favourite toy must be their Momoll toy kitchen. The amount of cups of coffee, cups of tea, cakes and sandwiches that have been produced out of this kitchen are innumerable. The children’s dolls all have had birthday cakes baked in the kitchen and if I am really lucky, I get served a steak/frites — these girls know what their mother likes…
The thing I love about this particular kitchen is that, apart from the fact that is really cute and really easy to put together, it is so multifunctional. If you turn it around it becomes a puppet theatre, which again is a source of hours of fun and entertainment.
- Emilie
Favourite Toys : Just what the Doctor Ordered!
This classic doctor’s bag has been, I am guessing, our most enduring, regularly used toy. Of course it helps that it is made of wood and not plastic and has withstood the test of time, over-zealous budding anesthetists included (that would be my son I am referring to!) My daughter was gifted her kit when she turned 3 and the role-playing is showing no signs of decline – it is just a little more sophisticated these days! She is now 9. Over time we have added other items like cotton wool and bandaids, a pad and pencil for prescriptions and a real but broken mobile phone/pager… (more…)
Favourite Toys: Paperpod Cardboard Dolls House
I cannot recommend the Paperpod Cardboard Dolls House enough. I like it so much that it is the only toy allowed to live permanently in our living room, and it now has become a work of art. I love the fact that children get to decorate it themselves and let their fantasies go wild. We have had this doll house now for over a year and we have redecorated it several times. I don’t think it is ever going to be featured in “Ideal Homes and Gardens” but it is such a fun family activity and it makes the doll house very personal. Our house is inhabited by anyone and everyone, from toy dinosaurs to a Barbie sporting a mustache, and we now have started crafting furniture for it — the fun never stops.
Available from Smallable.
- Emilie
once upon a fold…
If you are a ‘paperphile’ (aka ‘paper – lover’) or even just a paper craft enthusiast you must check out Aussie online boutique upon a fold for its brilliantly curated collection of papery goodness! This gorgeous little shop showcases paper artistry from all around the world, particularly from Japan where ‘paper’ is big business. From beautiful jewellery and pretty stationery to fun paper planes and perfectly engineered pop-ups, they carry pretty much any papery bit that can be folded, scribbled, written, read, created, coloured and displayed! You cannot help but be inspired — even me, the ultimate non-crafty! On a side note, we did try to emulate these cool storage milk cartons to make some money boxes but alas, we failed miserably. (Let me know if you have better luck than we did!)
- Sara
Pigmee
The thing I possibly like the most about Babyccino is that I get to meet some pretty talented people with a lot of passion and a huge amount of energy. The other week I had a coffee with Florence, the lovely designer of these new dolls, which she christened the Pigmées. The idea for the Pigmées came out of a whole creative process: Florence wanted to create a world of children’s designs completely based on her own taste and instincts (and luckily she has great taste and instincts). The Pigmée dolls are very simple as they are neither female nor male, nor necessarily human. They are whatever a child wants them to be.
The dolls come in different ranges –the limited edition dolls are made out of vintage linen, the special edition ones have been designed under the Ketiketa umbrella with the little Ketiketa symbol hand stamped on them, and the simple edition is made out of 100% white cotton. You can pick up the Pigmée dolls at Serendipity, Paris’ best children’s interior decoration store, or contact Florence directly by email.
- Emilie
Coloriages, by Joëlle Jolivet
Joëlle Jolivet, the French graphic designer behind one of my favourite children’s books, Zoo-ology, is really kind of amazing. Just check her website — how wonderful it all looks. It’s exactly like Paris. And that’s only her website!
Joelle has also made the most beautiful colouring book I know: Coloriages
xxx Esther
Talking Fingers
My 5-year-old son was ready to start reading last summer and I didn’t know where to begin. He’s crazy about superheroes and villains and his favorite books are action-packed, and I was thrilled to find an online learn-to-read program that got my beginning reader’s attention the minute he saw the action figures. It’s called Talking Fingers. Admittedly, the site itself could use some aesthetic and navigational improvements, but we clicked on the link for a free kids’ demo of the “Read, Write and Type Learning System” and he was off and running. His job was to defeat a green, snarling villain named ‘Vexor the Virus’ who tries to steal letters from storytellers. I helped him out for a little while and then my 3-year-old started to wail so I left him on his own. Animations called ‘Lefty LaDee’ and ‘Right Way McKay’ showed him where to put his fingers on the keyboard so he could type a letter. From the kitchen I could hear him pronounce sounds like “h” “th” and “sss” – and I heard him whoop when he won a game and watched Vexor blow away in defeat. We signed up for the whole program, very inexpensive at $35, and by the time Kindergarten started my son was in love with letters and the sounds they made. He was proud of his four “certificates” – and eager to get more.
-Kaela
Doctor, doctor!
Last week my kids invited friends over for a play-date so I had a busy house with 4 pre-schoolers and a baby! After we had quesadillas for lunch and did some painting, the 4 friends started to fight over the only nurse-hat we have. So I made them all a doctor’s hat of their own (white paper, red marker and some staples) and some prescription notes to go with them. Hours of fun to follow! Simple does it — again.
xxx Esther
Author! Author! Scribble Press
Here in Los Angeles if there’s anything more prized than making movies it’s writing stories that become movies. Maybe that’s why LA was a natural place for Scribble Press, a make-your-own-book store where children can write, illustrate and publish their own books. Created by two mommy friends, this simple and reasonably priced press — a storefront with desks, art materials, and story templates to stimulate ideas — was an instant hit with my five-year-old son. To my amazement he was able to write and illustrate a story in a two-hour visit and watch it turn into a real book. At first I thought the writing process might be too difficult for a kiddo his age, but I was assured that much younger kids had authored before him. (more…)
Crazy pinecone creatures
It’s technically still summer here in Amsterdam but in reality it’s been autumn at its worst these last few weeks. Crazy! The one advantage of autumn (the only one, really) is that there are loads of cool things falling from the trees, like for instance pine cones, which are fun to gather on a forest walk. And from which one can create very cool creatures like these pink hedgehogs. In the past we’ve made acorn men and chestnut chaps too. Fun!
xxx Esther
Bembo’s Zoo
My friend, Al, told me about this wonderful website which has apparently been running for years and years and years but I never knew about it. Bembo’s Zoo actually started life as a book, designed by world renowned graphic designer, Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (I know, fabulous name!). The concept used the letters of the alphabet to create animals (using type font, Bembo). It was turned into a flash-animated website and is utterly mesmerising — you can spend hours just clicking through the alphabet and watching the animals unfold. My children love it and it is a great way to start familiarising them with the letters. Enjoy!
-Mo
Think-ets
I love, love, love this! I keep berating myself for having not conjured it up in one of my brainstorming sessions (honestly I am still hopeful that one day I will invent the next ‘lego’). In the meantime, I just marvel at gems like these… it reminds me that the simplest of ideas are the best — a game powered by imagination rather than a USB cable! Think-ets is so simple in concept — a little pouch of random, very charming ‘trinkets’ from around the world. Along with the pouch comes rules for a few games, such as “I’ll take one away, and you tell me which one is missing”, or “Make a story about the item you’re holding” — educational in so many ways, inspiring story-telling, testing memory and just fun for kids to fiddle with. (more…)
Mucho Moustache Fun!
I can’t resist a bit of silly fun! When some family came to stay recently I decided we should make some silly pictures of the kids pretending to be Grandpas to send to their Oma and Opa in Berlin. I bought these ‘cheap as chips’ stick-on moustaches and away we went with our role-play. What was hilarious is they didn’t behave at all like their Opa (who actually doesn’t have a moustache) but they all pretended to be the stereotypical grumpy Grandpa that you see in films (like the ones who work at the bank in Mary Poppins). Good summer holiday fun!
-Mo
Art Jar from Land of Nod
We are currently in Seattle visiting my family… and having loads of summertime fun in the sun. I think my kids have spent the majority of the time running around naked outside… bliss!! However, thanks to the I’m Not Bored Anymore Art Jar from The Land of Nod, we’ve also been spending some ultra crafty time inside making all sorts of art projects. How cool is this concept? It’s a big jar filled to the brim with arts & craft supplies — things like construction paper, googly eyes, wooden buttons, scissors, glue, pipe cleaners, wooden beads, tissue paper, etc. etc. It’s like a craft store in a jar. And when you’re finished making projects, you just shove everything back into the jar, close the lid and store the jar in a cupboard. Easy peasy!
-Courtney
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• Slow Roasted Tomatoes• Take our survey and receive 15% off at Little Baby Company!
Doodles at Dinner
I just picked up this book of Doodle Placemats
We have a ‘no toys at the table’ policy when we’re eating, but I find this really handy for that pre-dinner phase when my kids are completely crazy. It gets them to the table and quiets them down… and then they have a lovely placemat to use when dinner arrives.
The book is available from our bookshop (both US and UK).
-Courtney
Lark in Dayelsford
One place I always recommend (sometimes even insist!) our visitors to Melbourne see is the picturesque town of Dayelsford. Dayelsford is a village in rural Victoria in the heart of the Wombat Forest; so pretty, so quaint, peaceful & dignified, just as a spar town should be, but with the hippest cafes, shops and restaurants you can imagine! There are several things you must do when visiting this adorable town — have your tarot read, take in the local markets, stroll through the forest, visit the mineral spas (the Shire boasts the highest concentration of mineral springs in the country together with an equally large array of therapists) AND stop by Lark to indulge in some retail therapy! (more…)
