Toy of the month – May 2017

We have been testing out the most beautiful toy storage trolley from Lulo Kids this month and I am secretly wishing that we had little ones again to push it around and look oh so adorable!

We used to own a little wooden trolley when our boys were toddlers that they used for toy storage and to push around but I can honestly tell you it was not as exquisite as this one (think red and white and yellow – eek!)

Lulo Kids is a Melbourne based small business designing and hand making beautiful wooden kids products.  Known for their teepees, they have recently added these wooden trolleys to go with their gorgeous bespoke wooden blocks.

Again, I am over the moon that such Australian based toy companies now exist and thrive when a few years ago all you could find were overseas based companies whose production was based in fast paced China.

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Colour me happy – Super Petit Placemats

Picasso once said “Every child is an artist.” If he met me as a child, I am pretty sure he would  have thought there are always exceptions to the rules ( oh that monstrous UFO Year 7 pottery creation!) but luckily for my sons they love to draw and create. The trick as Picasso said was how to stay an artist when you grow up, that is more difficult but in the meantime, I will keep their creative spirit active and hope for the best.

Super Petit have created these uber cool, super soft silicone place mats for the mini drawer and budding artist and I do think they may have used Picasso’s quote as a starting point.

Available in four designs, “On Ice”, “Magic Tree”, “Surf Party” and “Into Space” they come with 5 washable, kid safe markers and a silicone wristband with the mask motif. We used the wristbands to hold the silicone mat and markers together but the wristband is a fun idea for kids!

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Ice Treasure Fun

I realised that I never shared on the blog the day we froze our toys!! We had such a HOT summer this year with constant highs of 35 plus and it was just crazy weather ( and they say global warming is a myth…) As a result it was hard to venture out to the beach or even the pool as the UV was ridiculous and my boys are fair skinned like me. So after seeing some awesome Pinterest ideas for ice block treasure hunts I decided it could be fun to freeze some of the kids toys and let them smash out the toys and find treasure, as a HOT summers day activity!

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Yummy Yoghurt Pops!

I will admit that I do struggle with preparing easy and healthy after school snacks. My kids become bored and tired of the same old food, as all kids do. Cut apple or melon (my kids are super fussy when it comes to fruit!), toast, muffins, rice crackers and hummus, cheese and crackers or banana smoothies, this is our regular afternoon tea snacks and sometimes the kids just want something a bit different. I would also prefer them to eat more fruit!

Munch Cupboard sent us a sample of their ice pops to test out and I thought they would b be perfect to try for a quick and healthy snack after school. Using a recipe in their cookbook, we made some delicious yoghurt pops!

We mixed 1 cup of vanilla yoghurt, a punnet of fresh strawberries and 1 tsp orange juice together in a blender and then poured them into the reusable ice pops. I wasn’t sure whether to pour it to the very top and I would recommend to give about 2cm before the top to allow for expansion and also for the lid to go firmly on. We froze ours overnight however as long as they have 6 hours freeze time, they will be ready for eating!

And so the verdict…

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Why Kids Gifts and Toys?

I first started my blog over 3 years ago when my eldest was 5 years of age and my youngest just 2. Why did I start? Mainly because I wasn’t what kind of gifts were age suitable for my kids and I wanted to research and find out the best ones.

Not just the best ones though, because what is the”Best”? Best means different things to different people. For me “Best” was all about the longevity of the toy, how long a child would play with it and how long it would last with it being played with constantly? Could the toy stand up to the test of being treated sometimes rough and tumble by a toddler or a child?

Also toys are not cheap, or rather you can buy cheap plastic toys but we all know that they don’t last, they break, or need batteries.  I was finding these toys were not cutting it with my boys. Yes we had plastic toys, we had musical bongo drums, we had musical electric guitars, we had Hot Wheels track( we still do!), we had a few plastic ride on cars and bikes. But personally I found anything with batteries, highly annoying, like highly annoying! LOL. I know the kids enjoyed them, however I noticed it was never for long periods, it never engaged them longer than 5 mins and so this is why I started investigating ethical and eco friendly toys.

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