Last week our oldest daughter Sara and I visited the Kleine Fabriek, the children's fashion and lifestyle trade fair here in Amsterdam, where we met our lovely Polish shop member Noga Ravin. I've always loved the look of Noga's 'Doggy Bags', but it was nice to discover her original and innovative range of products in person. [video width="480" height="270" m4v="https://babyccinokids.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Shadows-sketch.m4v"][/video]   Her ...

Here in Amsterdam, we have a little shop I love. It is called De Zaailing, and it sells all sorts of beautiful and natural toys, clothes, crafting materials and books. On the counter, they keep a wicker basket full of the most beautiful little felt fairies -- perfect little presents for birthdays, or just because. My ...

I grew up with Tinker Toys, but probably wouldn't have thought to introduce them to my younger children (yet). However, Joseph found them while I was rummaging through a box of items in storage, and I am so happy he did because this has quickly grown into one of our favourite activities! Tinker Toys can ...

Last week we joined our friends on holiday in Cornwall. We rented a cute flat overlooking the sea and spent our days exploring different sections of the coastline and our evenings back at home, cooking dinner, playing games and watching the sun set over the sea. Our six kids played so well together, coming up with ...

The lovely Kaz, toy designer and creative force behind Japanese toy brand Kukkia, came over all the way from Japan to join us at our latest ShopUp event in East London. She's such an amazing woman -- a beautiful ball of positive energy, really! She is so fun and expressive, you just have to love ...

Emilie has written about the clever balance game Suspend before (she also gifted our children one set for Christmas a few years ago) so I'm not at all being original here. Suspend, however, is such a firm favourite family game in our house that I thought it would be worth oversharing in this case :). ...

Norman & Jules is a toy and accessories shop in the old-fashioned kind of way. It's the sort of place where you lose track of time when you're discovering all of the most wonderful toys and imaginative finds. You will find intriguing science kits, amazingly cool musical instruments, a want-able collection of cards, stamps and ...

Germany is in so many respects so much further with responsible and sustainable processing and production methods than many other countries here in Europe. There's such a strong local manufacturing of eco products, with use of honest materials, but the research for new, innovative materials, which allow new product design and at the same time leave ...

Aren't these miniature Waldorf dolls ridiculously sweet? It was my friend Annie from Brimful who pointed them out to me a year and a half ago. I obviously placed a little order -- who can resist those tiny mice, bunny babies and moles? Ava has a little necklace mouse which she very often wears -- ...

I popped into Eenymeeny yesterday to pick up a few craft/activity books for the kids (we have a 9-hour daytime flight on Friday!) and this Tortustick game was out on display. Marlow immediately sat down and started playing with it, and to my amazement she actually sat still for a good 45 seconds. : ) I ended ...

In the run up to Christmas I spotted a Maria doll on Mamma Couture's Instagram feed (a 'Maria' doll meaning Maria from The Sound Of Music, complete with her own guitar!). I just knew Ivy would love this, so we ordered one for her for Christmas and it has been a huge hit. The dolls ...

It's always so great when children's toys are not only great toys (encouraging kids to create, learn and be imaginative), but also when they look so good you'd rather display it on a shelf in the living room than hide it at the bottom of the toy box. The Dream Car, designed by Mike Mak for Huzi, ...