My kids have been greatly enjoying the Yoga Pretzels cards they got from their babysitter for Christmas. It’s so cute to see them bend in all sorts of curves, or trying to keep their balance. There are 50 cards, each of them giving a suggestion for a pose. There are, for instance, balance poses, stretch poses, stand and bend poses, and, most popular with my children, the partner poses (they need each other to perform the pose!). There are also cards that give breathing or relax exercises, or suggestions for games that enhance teamwork and creativity. It’s great fun, and especially 6-year-old Sara has been able to really relax after her yoga. Pim (almost 5) loves it too, his favourite pose, of course, is the ‘Warrior’.
Yoga Pretzels is available through Amazon (UK or US).

xxx Esther

The temperatures over here have dropped into the -0°celsius level, which is a rare occurence. When it does happen, the whole of Paris seems to go off to hiberate in their homes. Which is where you’ll find us, snuggled up in our house! Time for some crafting…

We were recently given the Paper Wonderland book and we are officially obsessed. With some scissors and some tape, you get to put together some of the coolest creatures and little projects I have seen. Some are more complicated than others (great when you have kids of different ages) but the end result is super cute and great to play with, so the enjoyment goes beyond just crafting. I highly recommend it!

- Emilie

Do you remember reading Pippi Longstocking by Astrid  Lindgren when you were a child? It was my absolute favourite. Pippi was our superhero: an orphan with bright red hair and incredible stories to tell, who lives on her own with a horse and a monkey and does not conform to anything.

I had totally forgotten about this book (It made me a bit sad that something that had been so special to me, had slipped out of my memory), until I stumbled over a copy of it today in a bookshop. And the copy I stumbled over is pretty special. The story of Pippi, which must have been written more than 50 years ago, has been given a face lift with illustrations by Lauren Child, famous from the UK TV show, Charlie and Lola. The illustrations are super charming and work beautifully with this story. I cannot wait to read this book to my kids. Coco, who is now 6 will be captivated by the story and 3-year-old Violette will love the pictures!

- Emilie

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

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)

Ava got this little book ‘The Game of Finger Worms‘ by Hervé Tullet for Christmas and she absolutely adores it. The concept is so simple (a hole in the book through which you can stick your finger with a little face drawn on it), but the effect on a 19-month-old is so big! She has a little face drawn on her finger as well, and it’s become her new little friend. Cute!
Available through Amazon UK or US.

xxx Esther

When I first met the lovely ladies who started the e-boutique, Niddle Noddle, we bonded over a shared appreciation for beautiful children’s books. A few months later, a package from them arrived at my doorstep, and in it was a copy of Singing Away the Dark. You know when you find a new and wonderful children’s book and all you want to do is share it with everyone? I think this must have been the way they felt when they discovered this book… and thankfully they shared it with me!

Singing Away the Dark is a beautifully told and illustrated book about a little girl who must trudge a mile through the snowy woods to catch the school bus. As she walks, she sings away the shadows which scare her. It’s a beautiful book, perfect for a wintery afternoon read. And of course, it’s available from Niddle Noddle.

-Courtney

xxx Esther

How cool is this DIY cardboard nativity set? What a fun craft project to do with the kids… and a really sweet way to explain the story of Christmas and the nativity. The kit comes with 20 punch-out figures on thick cardboard sheets, plus all the golden haloes, crowns and pre-cut stars. You and your kids can paint and decorate the figures and then assemble them (easily!) to set up the scene. It also includes the nativity story, in case (like me) you need a little help explaining the story. What a great activity in these cosy months leading up to Christmas. The kit is available from Little Scout (along with loads of other great gifts!).

xx Courtney

This past weekend, while scanning our bookshelves for a new book to read… we stumbled upon a book we weren’t familiar with. I think this book was given to one of my boys as a birthday gift last year, and somehow it ended up on our shelf before we had time to open it. Anyway, finding this book was the best thing that happened to us all weekend — it created hours and hours of crafting fun with stickers and crayons! All Around the World contains 8 large fold-out (and detachable) pages, each containing a different landscape of the world: Sahara dessert, Australian outback, Amazon rainforest, North American forest, the Arctic, the Ocean, etc. Plus, there are hundreds of super cute, reusable stickers to decorate each scene, and on the back of the fold-out pages, there are trace-able animals to colour in. Such, such fun!

The book is available from Amazon US and from Waterstones in the UK. (I’ve just ordered a large stack of them for birthday gifts!)

x Courtney

Coming into winter does have advantages — I would feel too guilty in the summer spending a Sunday afternoon watching a movie, but when it’s cold outside, I reckon it is completely justified!

- Emilie

Do you recognise this illustration? It was inspired by this photo which I posted a couple weeks ago! Chicago-based illustrator, Denise Holmes, liked the photo and thought it would make a cute drawing… and I know I’m biased (it’s a photo of my daughter after all), but isn’t it indeed SO cute?!

Denise has a paper goods studio called Nisee Made and  sells her products on Etsy. I love all the cute and happy little designs like this panda holding the yellow balloon!

-Courtney

I just got a pack of these funky light switch stickers for my kids and we’ve had so much fun customising all the light switches in our house. Ivy turned her light switch into a bunny rabbit, the boys turned theirs into bear, and then they turned the light switch in the playroom into a funny combination of all the different animals. Such fun! The stickers are available from Hello Bubba and also come in different themes — such a cute little gift (stocking stuffers maybe?).

-Courtney

My daughter is absolutely obsessed with Olivia. She talks about her incessantly, references her all the time, and insists we read Olivia about 200 times a day.  And who can blame her? This little pig is pretty fabulous, and the perfect little storybook ‘hero’ for a 2-year-old girl. And I just love the adorable black charcoal illustrations with all the little touches of red!

There are a few Olivia books, but the original one is our favourite. It’s available from Amazon (US and UK).

-Courtney

An embarrassment of pandas, a galaxy of starfish, a shiver of sharks, a zeal of zebras… all of these are terms to describe the different groups of animals. An embarrassment of pandas? Such a funny one!  A Zeal of Zebras is a new book created by Woop Studios showcasing their A to Z of collective nouns.  The book is not only beautiful, but each page introduces a new animal and offers surprising facts about how the animals live, work and play in groups.

A friend recently gave this book to my children and it has proven to be a hit both with the kids and with adults! It’s available from Amazon (US and UK), and you can get a sneak peek of the designs on the Woop Studios website.

-Courtney

I’m a big fan of the whimsical prints and calendars from The Wild Unknown — I have this calendar hanging in my office and it’s one of my favourite things in my house! So of course I was so excited to receive an email from them announcing their latest project: a series of art prints for children… and a children’s ABC book! I love the touch of watercolour to the ABCD print and the fact that a butterfly lands on B and a mouse creeps across M, etc. So sweet. And from the sneak peeks of the book, it looks to be just as beautiful. It’s available to pre-order now.

-Courtney

A few months ago we stayed in Emilie’s flat for a few days, which is a feast for my kids because they love all the new-to-them toys and secret hide-aways! (Emilie’s daughters also have a ‘real’ mini sized Vespa which my kids go crazy about. I think baby Ava and Pim sat on it every single minute we spent in the apartment!) We also got to discover some new books while we were staying there, and ‘Goldilocks’ was one of them — funnily enough it made a deep impression on them! I know this might sounds strange, but my kids didn’t know the story of Goldilocks — it’s not a common tale here in the Netherlands at all.
So when I saw this pillow from Samantha Morris, I thought I should get it as a little fun joke in our living room (and how cute is the little bear at the end of the zipper?). I also would love to get my kids a good Goldilocks book — I found this one in Dutch that looks nice, but can anyone recommend a good one in English? (Or any other language for our readers in the rest of the world!) Thanks!

xxx Esther

Just like Courtney and her boys, my girls and I have graduated to a new type of bed time story. Longer format books are slowly replacing shorter, illustrated books (although I’m sure a few firm favourites will remain). We are now reading chapter books! One of our recent reads was James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, a classic. It is so fun to read, with just the right amount of illustrations by Quentin Blake to help explain the more difficult ideas and nice, short chapters. Next on the list, Fantastic Mr Fox and then maybe Little House on the Prairie? (Does that still appeal to girls in 2011? I hope so!)

-Emilie

xxx Esther