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Entries Tagged as 'Toys'

Happy Halloween & a giveaway…

October 24, 2012

Are you a Halloween lover or hater? I used to love it as a kid and now I love it because of my kid, who this year is old enough to get it, and is so, so excited about buying a pumpkin. I’m not crazy about the whole spooky and creepy crawly side of it but that doesn’t really matter as there are so many creative ways to celebrate Halloween without a bat in sight! This year I wanted to do something a little special to celebrate Halloween with you and I found the perfect opportunity with Room Cph who have kindly agreed to give away these Lego Halloween storage heads. You’ll find all the details of how to enter at the end of this post.

Room Cph are a Danish design house who work with cool brands like Lego and Pantone Universe by taking their existing products and putting a new, highly creative spin on them. It was Room Cph that designed the Lego storage and lunch boxes (in close collaboration with Lego) that have become quite the Lego design icon. Now they’ve introduced their latest creations which are these two Halloween themed Lego storage heads – a pumpkin head and a skeleton head that I’m giving away. They also sent my daughter one of the brick storage boxes in fuchsia and she’s already filled it to the brim with all her little treasures (read junk). But I’d much rather it in the box than strewn all over the house getting under my feet!

Lego is one of those brands that I think everybody has a soft spot for. It was around long before I was born and I know it will be around when I have grand kids. That’s some going! So if you fancy a bit of Halloween Lego for your kids room, enter my giveaway and you could be the lucky winner. Happy Halloween!

GIVEAWAY ENTRY DETAILS:

One lucky reader picked at random will win both the Lego skeleton storage head and the pumpkin storage head.

For your chance to win these storage heads, just leave a comment below… easy! Say hi or whatever you like but keep it nice! One comment per person. Entry is open to UK residents only for this giveaway. The competition closes at 8am (UK time) on Halloween day (Wednesday 31st October 2012). Any entries after this time will not be counted. The winner will be announced on Friday November 2nd on our facebook page and on this post. Good luck!

P.S. Feel free to share this post by clicking on the ‘facebook like’ or ‘tweet’ buttons.

*Wallpaper image via wall-library

UPDATE 02.11.12 : This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered. The winner is Fiona Morris. Congratulations Fiona!

From Buenos Aires, with love…

October 19, 2012

My country obsession of the moment is Argentina. I’ve wanted to visit for as long as I can remember and I’m finally going to Buenos Aires in January (yaay!). To say I’m excited would be a huge understatement. Of course I’m madly researching places to see, things to do and most importantly where to shop and eat. It’s through this research I’ve discovered that not only does the food promise to be an absolute treat but the shopping too sounds amazing as there is some fabulous design coming out of Argentina for both big and little people. One of my favourite Argentinian discoveries for kids has been these adorable crochet toys. But now I’ve got another favourite… the wonderful Fanny & Alexander.

Fanny & Alexander is born out of the notion of good old fashioned play. They believe that today there are too many battery operated toys, video games and other toys that don’t encourage the child to think for themselves. So Fanny & Alexander wanted to go back to basics, to toys that encourage a child to be creative, to imagine, to make things up. And that’s exactly what they’ve done by creating beautiful wooden toys, cute art and stationery, knitted clothes and leather shoes. Their design is simple, minimal even but with plenty of warmth and lots of beauty. They’ve chosen a very simple colour palette of natural wood, rusts and greys which just adds to the aesthetic appeal and the warmth. Just look at those leather ballet shoes… how gorgeous are they?! And those Llama’s eating their pyjamas… wonderful! Luckily, they ship internationally so you don’t have to go to Argentina to get these goodies but since I am going, I will definitely be knocking on Fanny & Alexander‘s door.

*Via Petit Poulou

Thinking pink…

October 5, 2012

My daughter turns 4 in a couple of months and I asked her what kind of party she would like. Her answer, without a seconds hesitation was ‘I want a pink party’! So, a pink {and white} party it will be. I’ve been searching the web for ideas to create a tasteful pink party and I have found many like these cute bunny cookies. The plan is to have lots of white in there too, to balance out the pink. I’ve started putting together a pink party inspiration board on pinterest and if you’re on there you’ll know just how fun and perfect pinterest is for something like this. So that was the inspiration behind today’s post. I’m seeing pink everywhere and thought I would share a few things I’ve liked in the last few days; some are party related but others are just lovely pink things. I hope you like them too and have a wonderful weekend wherever you are.

1. Adorable bunny cookies with fluffy little tails… 2. A cute owl poster for a kids room… 3. A cool pink wooden tank toy that even I feel like playing with… 4. Neon and wood mini elf decorations for Christmas or any party.

Shiny, shiny, magic beans…

October 1, 2012

Toys that challenge kids always get my vote and if they’ve got beautiful looks to boot, then they become pretty much irresistible to me like these balancing beans. With their high gloss finish and their ever so pretty combination of natural wood and soft colour, I think these beans would be hard to resist for any age. Maybe that’s why the recommended age for them is 3 to 99 years! These balancing beans can be stacked in many different ways so kids can experiment and explore the different stacking options. And once they outgrow this balancing game, well it’s your turn to have these delightful beans to display where you like. Although with their super smooth finish, I think I’d just want to touch them all day long! These Magical Balancing Beans are made by Play Me and you can get them on Amazon.

With love, from Japan…

September 19, 2012

Japan has held a fascination for me for as long as I can remember. Right from the days of my early childhood when my father would travel to Japan on work and bring back all kinds of cute little stationery, toys and even some delicious Japanese snacks. Even at that young age I felt there was something so special about everything my father brought back. I couldn’t understand why I was so drawn to these Japanese things but I always knew they were different. I remember that I would sometimes carefully stash these toys away as they were just too precious to play with in case they broke.

Over the years this fascination never waned and I finally visited Japan in 2007. It was one of my best holidays ever for so many reasons (amazing food, architecture, people, street fashion) and of course shopping. It wasn’t about buying but just seeing beautiful things and exquisite packaging at every turn. Of course I had to indulge in some shopping (cue extra suitcase back!) but I so enjoyed the window shopping too because Japanese design is such a treat for the eyes. The design style is often very simple, very minimal which is what makes it so stunning just like these wooden toys. The toys have been stripped down to basics and then designed from there and the result is quite beautiful. The little train set is just wonderful and perfect for little hands too. I love the use of natural wood that has been enhanced with just a hint of soft colour. Buchi toys don’t have a big range; just 5 toys but each one is a piece that I would happily have on show in my home and I think any little kid would delight in playing with.

*via spoon-tomago

A foxy find…

September 10, 2012

I was recently interviewed on another blog and one of the questions was ‘what’s your daughters favourite toy?’ The answer was easy: dressing up stuff. While not strictly a toy, it really is the one activity that she adores and can spend all day indulging in. It’s great for the imagination and encourages creativity so I’m happy too. We’ve put together a dress up box for her and we keep adding bits as we come across them. My latest finds are these delightful fox masks that I’ve completely fallen for especially the floral liberty print ones. Aren’t they so pretty?! You can pick one of the masks on offer at the Fox Shop or you can even choose your preferred fabric and Lucille, the designer, will make a mask especially for you. Very tempting…

mama & baby…

September 6, 2012

This week’s picks for mama & baby… let mama decorate with this sleek hand woven wicker chair while baby plays with that vintage inspired wicker dolls pram.

A simple zoo…

August 31, 2012

Do you often find your kids go for the simplest toys, toys that allow them to use their own imaginations? I do and I encourage that because after all, given a chance, kids can make a game out of anything at all. That’s why I’m so loving this new toy that is really simple and basic but has bags of play potential. It’s beautifully designed but there is nothing fancy or over the top about it. It’s just a few painted sheets of wood held together by a rubber band, thats really it! Created by a London design duo and called Flat Zoo, these wood sheets can be paired up 2 at a time to create different animals and the rest is up to your kids imagination. I don’t think the toy is for sale yet but head to Yang: Ripol the creators, to find out more.

Via FastCoDesign

mama & baby…

August 9, 2012

This week’s picks for mama & baby… let mama decorate with these candy coloured wooden stools while baby plays with that colour popping wooden toy camera.

Toys to make hospitals a little less scary?

August 1, 2012

Hospitals are a scary place for anybody but especially for kids. So Hiraku Imamura, a Japanese designer decided to create toys that kids can play and interact with before they go in for treatment so they know a little bit more of what to expect. She came up with mini models of hospital machines like CT scanners and x-rays that all work with light and sound and also come with an accompanying picture book. Kids can pretend play doctor-patient while they get a better idea of how these ‘strange’ machines work. There are little buttons to press, monitors that light up and even an ultrasound type probe that kids can try out.

These wooden toys are beautifully designed too using simple shapes and splashes of colour. But that’s no surprise as the Japanese sense of design and aesthetic is second to none. I love that each set comes with a parent bear and a baby bear. The idea of course being to reassure the child that their parents will be with them every step of the way. The fear of the unknown is probably the worst fear so if kids can be treated knowing a bit about the hows and whys of their treatment, this can only help. These toys aren’t yet available but you can read more about them at Hikaru Imamura’s site where she explains her creation.

*Via Core 77

Entries Tagged as 'Toys'

Happy Halloween & a giveaway…

October 24, 2012

From Buenos Aires, with love…

October 19, 2012

Thinking pink…

October 5, 2012

Shiny, shiny, magic beans…

October 1, 2012

With love, from Japan…

September 19, 2012

A foxy find…

September 10, 2012

mama & baby…

September 6, 2012

A simple zoo…

August 31, 2012

mama & baby…

August 9, 2012

Toys to make hospitals a little less scary?

August 1, 2012

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