Chicago based designer Alyson Beaton is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to launch a kids product line called Lille Huset. It’s a series of modular doll houses, made out of eco friendly materials. What makes me especially happy is that all manufacturing will be done in the USA.
Totally backing this. My daughter will be psyched.
(Thank you Gary)
Aura Seltzer pointed me her newly launched typographic dating game called TypeConnection that helps you how to pair typefaces.
Ready to fold some origami? Here’s a tutorial by Tavin15 that will teach you the flapping bird. There’s plenty more.
(via the kid should see this)
Brooklyn Robot Foundry is a group of educators and technologists dedicated to helping Brooklyn children optimize their hands-on, technology-based learning experience. In other words: They’ll teach your kids how to build a robot. It doesn’t get much cooler than that.
(thank you Josh)
This Rattle Dumbbell made me laugh.
Puzzlus Puzzle is a perfect gift for the color loving puzzle enthusiast!
InstaMatch turns your Instagram photos into a virtual Memory game on your iPhone and iPad. Fun idea, will give it a try when I get home tonight! (You don’t need an Instagram account to play InstaMatch, you can use other public Instagram photos as well)
A Google Alert has pointed me to a blog called Playgroundology, and I am fascinated. A blog entirely dedicated to the world of playgrounds? Yes, please! Being a parent of small children I spend an awful lot of time on them and often wonder how they could be improved. Whenever I am traveling to other countries I am amazed at the differences in playground planning and thinking.
The Woodland Discovery Playground looks like quite a magical place.
Swings that create music?
And I couldn’t help but laugh while watching the above clip of a an adventure playground scene in the British documentary Seven Up. I would have thought it’s more of a construction site, compared to sterile-cookie-cutter-über-safe NYC playgrounds.
And then of course, there’s the Playground Papa classic. Made me laugh:
So, if you are like me, interested in all things Playgrounds, make sure to check out Playgroundology.
I had the honor to meet Toca Boca co-founder Björn Jeffery yesterday. If you have little children and don’t know about Toca Boca listen up: They make the most amazing, well designed and fun iPhone and iPad games for children. My kids (and myself) are obsessed with them. My favorite is the Toca Hair Salon. My son’s current favorite is the Toca Kitchen and my daughter can’t stop playing with the Toca Store.
During our meeting yesterday Björn gave me a sneak peek of their latest game Toca House which is supposed to be ready at the end of this month. It’s going to get the kids excited about cleaning! YES!
Congrats to the folks over at Toca Boca for having created a brand that I love and don’t think twice about downloading new apps.
I have a few favorite kids toy brands and Green Toys is one of them. My two year old recently got to play with their stacking toy and loved it. Owning a few stackable, nesting toys already I was surprised in how smart this set is. No matter what pieces you put on top of each other they still stack. The colors are lovely and it’s made out of recycled plastic. What’s not to love?
Green Toys My First Stacker,$11.79 on Amazon
Kaleidoism turns your browser into customizable Kaleidoscope! #somuchfun
Little tip, after the image is loaded, click on it and move your mouse around and mouse hover the bottom of the browser window to bring the controls back.
(Thank you Tony)
My kids are completely crazy over this Free Form Magnatab Toy. They draw and write with the magnetic stylus, which raises metal balls to the surface of the sealed Magnatab base. And erase their creation by pushing the magnets back down with the back of the stylus or their fingers.
To me, it feels like taking designing for screen, pixel constraints, to the analog world.
These Clump-O-Lumps made me smile: It’s a family of stuffed animals that can be mixed and matched thanks to the world’s best invention – the zipper. Oh, the fun that can be had. My favorites are Bee-o the Bee and Shark-o the Shark.
(Thank you Jake)
My daughter is completely obsessed with Yummyfun Kooking, a seriously adorable, quirky cooking show made for kids. (I love watching the show myself.) Ella loves the show so much, she asked me to sign her up for actual cooking classes. And I admit, that makes me happy.
So, here’s a brand new episode that Claire Crespo, the chef in the show and mastermind behind it all, *just* launched:
Ah, so apparently I can’t embed it, but you can watch it here.
Check out Claire’s website at yummyfun.com (warning: Flash Site) or buy her DVDs over on Amazon.
And here’s the Series Trailer:
This modular playhouse is all kinds of fantastic. Especially when you live in NYC sized apartments. I am all for kids stuff that folds down. YES!
#superduperwishlisted
(Thank you Natalia)
Wow, I am *so* the mom of a little boy. Look at me posting about toy cars, twice in a row. Love this Green Toys School Bus. Made in the USA from 100% recycled plastic milk containers!
This Vilac Car Garage gets my thumbs up for being beautifully designed, made out of wood and for the fact that you can fold it away. Awesome, right?
I find this Las Escaleras (Ladders) game simply beautiful. #wishlisted
My kids love the beautifully designed counting app by Appracadabra. What makes me happy is that we have it currently set to count in Swiss German.
But they can also learn to count in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovakian, Spanish and Swedish.
Get it from the App Store.
Love this old-school looking metal wind-up ladybird which won’t fall off the table. Little sensors make it turn around when it comes to the edge.
I am tempted to get this miniature backpack for one of my daughter’s dolls. And I am totally adding this to my Svpply! Ha! (How adorable are thes product shots?)
Sure, the world doesn’t need a Remote Control Spaceman but just think of the fun that can be had with this.
This voice recorder made me smile! I would have *loved* one of these as a kid. Hold down the red button to record, press the black button to play back, and dial the knob to adjust the speed/pitch for fun and frivolity. Record time is roughly 30 seconds. Totally wishlisted!
