Our 4 year Ella old watches her shows on our iPad, as we have no TV. So it comes to no rusprise that this Retro TV iPad dock made me chuckle. #wishlisted
deviantART Muro
Check out this impressive HTML5-based painting tool by DeviantART. Curious to see how our 4 year old will play with this. Impressive.
(via cosentino
GoCrib
I was impressed by the inflatable Guava Family GoCrib. Anyone who has ever traveled with a regular travel crib knows how bulky and heavy they are. GoCrib is lightweight, sturdy and packs down into a small backpack. Ingenious. (Watch the video below to see how sturdy it is. Looking at the pictures alone, I thought it would be flimsy.)
(via dailygrommet)
My Space
Liya Mairson’s cardboard folding play area is designed for children aged 3-6 based around a pop-up technique. ‘My Ppace’ has been developed specifically for small apartments which lack the space for a play room. When closed it uses minimal space and can be stored behind a door or under a single bed. As far as I can tell this is a student project and not yet for sale. Am I right?
More over at designboom.
PlayShapes
PlayShapes is a modular set of 74 geometric wooden shapes which can be endlessly arranged or stacked to produce hundreds of 3D creations.
The set of shapes come in a box along with a printed, unbleached cotton drawstring bag and a set of illustrations.
Amazing? Amazing!
Crib House
Dave Keune designed this crib/changing station/dresser combo called Nina’s House to solve the problem of making room for baby without having to renovate or move into a bigger place. I am not a fan of cribs and changing tables, but this refreshing new approach made me smile.
(via minordetails)
Cereal Box Marble Run
I give Joel Henriques two swissmiss thumbs up for this simple and beautiful rainy weather kids activity idea: Build a marble run out of a cereal box. What I especially love is that he made sketch first, then started building. See the step by step instructions here.
(via minordetails)
Auditorium Toys
Designer Brad Denboer couldn’t quite find the toys he dreamed about so he decided to build them himself. Auditorium Toy Co. was founded with the intention of celebrating the elegance of simple designs fabricated by historical craftsmanship.
Auditorium Toys are of superb quality. They are unique toys that are quiet, timeless, durable and beautiful — the type of toys that your grandchildren’s grandchildren will love. Each design is carefully handcrafted and engineered in extremely limited, numbered editions in their small studio in Tucson, Arizona, using time honored techniques and tools. Auditorium believes that the slower you put things together, the slower they fall apart.
The Boattail Racer is simply stunning. Opening the box here at swissmiss studio was ceremonial to say the least. We all pretty much gathered around it going uuuhhh and aaaahhh!
What I love the most is the nice touch with the booklet the toy comes with implying that we will pass the toy on to other generations. Every previous owner writes their name into the booklet before passing it on. Beautiful.
Congrats Auditorium! We love what you’re doing! And wonderful thinking on the slowness part.
idea of a worm hole
“My father used to read me bedtime stories out of this book called Evolution of Consciousness,” Case says. One night he drew two points on a piece of paper. He asked what the shortest distance was from point A to point B. “A straight line,” she said. “There’s an even shorter distance,” he responded. And he folded the paper over so the two points touched — “which is the idea of a worm hole. Compressed time and space,” Case says. “He told me this when I was 4 or 5, and I would think about it every single night.” – Amber Case
Amber Case, Digital Philosopher
MotherChildBag
This Mother Child Bag is ingenious. Parents of little ones know that sometimes they just don’t want to hold your hand, but they might be totally into holding on to their very own special pink (!) handle on your tote. Thumbs up! Excellent idea!
(via minordetails)
Tube
I am currently researching USB-Stick-Keychains and discovered this swiss product called USB-tube. (I wrote about the iTube a while back). Tube uses pre-used bicycle tubes for their products. (Belts,iPhone Cases, Keychain, USB sticks) Cool idea, no?
What’s your Keychain-USB-stick of choice?
Doorstopper
This doorstopper made me laugh. Fun for a kid’s room, no?
(Oddly enough the product is only visible on the german version of the site.)
Fluffy McCloud
First there was a ‘birds’ trend, then came the ‘mustaches’ and now we arrived ‘clouds’. But hey, how charming is Fluffy McCloud? Seriously!
(via campsite / kitsunenoir)
The LEGO® Store
New York City just got a little bit more colorful and playful: LEGO opened it’s first retail store in NYC and I can not wait to take our little Ella there. It’s open for business already but its grand opening is on June 29-July 1st!
Mommy Poppins has a thorough post on all the happenings during the opening.
Rainbow Jell-o
Rainbow Jell-o. Yes, I just went to rainbow heaven.
(Jessi, Liz, it has happened, I started a Rainbow Category)
Cow-Trekking
Ok, so are you ready for this? There’s a farm in Hemishofen Switzerland that let’s you ride on cows. Yep. For real. We are talking about the beautiful swiss-brown-fluffy-ear-haired cows.
Trekking tours last half a day, so you have enough time to really bond with your cow. If 4h seems too much, there’s also a short-bonding version of 1.5h.
I can’t stop smiling and looking at my calendar, trying to find a date to schedule one of these in july when this family will be spending some time in good old Switzerland!
(via HowdyHeidi)
Modern Play House
How ridiculously awesome is this Modern Play House?
(thank you keren)
Letter Stool
These stools in shapes of abstract letters make me rejoice. How fantastic for a pre-school or modern childrens room? They are a brainchild of German Sascha Grewe and go by the label “artcanbreakyourheart.de”. They are available in 147(!!!) different colors. And how funny is their slogan: Kitsch can make you ritsch but art can break your heart.
Seen on Stilsucht.
iPhoneBook
Mobile Art Lab in Japan created a picture book using the iPhone.
(via minordetails)
Slipper Socks
Ok, so how stinking cute are these Knitted slipper-socks with soft PVC sole? Now that’s a houseshoe I would wear. Yay!
(thank you cynthia)
Wine Barrel Swing
Oh, I wish I would have come across this Retired Wine Barrel Swing two weeks ago when I was researching swings for our little Ella. It is handmade from retired wine staves in Texas.
ABC Paper Cups
ABC Paper Cups puts an end to the boring design of disposable paper cups. (I know, I know, we shouldn’t go with disposable cups but use reusable plastic cups instead!)
Barbapapa Kitchen Apron
WAH! I nearly fell off my chair seeing this Barbapapa Kitchen Apron! I must have! (I know, I know you are probably thinking “that is so not swissmiss”. You have to understand I am under a Barbapapa spell!)
