Candepop

Launched back in August 2012 (I know, I’ve meant to post about this for ages, thank you to Babyccino Kids for reminding me), Little Bird is Jools Oliver’s clothing range created exclusively for Mothercare. A seventies child like myself and wife of food revolutionary Jamie Oliver, Jools Oliver’s range takes inspiration from her childhood, her family life and a winceyette gown originally bought by her own mother in Mothercare and worn by her kids today. For me, it fits my main requirement for favourite style of clothes for my kids, does it look like it could have been worn by The Red Hand Gang, yes! 

Born in Dublin but currently living in New York, illustrator Kevin Waldron’s follow up to his 2009 Bologna Ragazzi Opera Prima award winning picture book, Mr Peek and the Misunderstanding at the Zoo, again features Mr Peek and some Pandamonium at Peek Zoo. I am a big fan of his illustration style and the kiddos do love a good animal story so this is definitely one for our wish list. Books available through amazon and prints available here.

One for the older kiddos who have discovered the world of J K Rowling. Graphic designers Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima spent ten years creating every book cover, newspaper, product package and magical map for the Harry Potter movies and now have a limited edition collection of reproduction prints available to purchase online at The Printorium. Check out the full collection here.

From the Amy Ng, the creator of Pikaland, a blog about “living the illustrated life”, comes 1000 Things to Draw. A gift for those of us imaginatively challenged people who when faced with a blank page and a child’s request of ‘draw something!’ have no idea what to do. With inspirational items like ‘a mosquito tracking a ship’ and ‘a farmer morphing into a star’, your doodlers block is a thing of the past.  

Purveyor of all things sweet, Sweet Paul magazine’s kids issue is out now. Featuring a plethora of cute and pretty things for kids from toys and room decor to mini meals they’ll love to eat and crafty crafts to keep them busy. Check it out online here. 

With a comittment to bring you beautifully designed, cherishable, wonder filled books for children, Flying Eye Books is a very welcome addition to the Nobrow Press publishing platform. Their first book, Viviane Scwarz’ Welcome to Your Awesome Robot, shows you how to create your own robot from everyday bits and bobs. Including, of course, the classic cardboard box. Future releases include the beautifully illustrated Atak’s Topsy Turvy World and Emily Hughes’ Wild. Find out more and sign up for their newsletter updates here.

Flying Eye illustration by Emily Hughes

This is a beautiful collaboration between one of our favourite writers Julia Donaldson and illustrator Rebecca Cobb. It is a story of mothers and daughters and of the importance of memory and imagination. It tells of a mother making a set of paper dolls for her daughter, the rhythmically named Ticky and Tacky and Jackie the Backie, Jim with two noses and Jo with the bow. The little girl brings them on lots of imaginative adventures where they survive tigers and crocodiles. Their final adventure doesn’t end so well but we learn how everything lives on in our memories. It is a wonderful story which works as a fun adventure tale while subtly telling us about imagination and loss. It is perfectly illustrated with Rebecca Cobb’s childlike drawings which Edie really related to. Our copy had a set of paper dolls at the back so we could interact with the story too. Highly recommended.

Only one more day until World Book Day and your chance to take part in a free online festival featuring Charlie and Lola author Lauren Child, My Naughty Little Sister illustrator Shirley Hughes and many more. Get details of the full program and register here and find out about local events from World Book Day Ireland here.

Guest  post from dad to be, James Kelleher.

Cat Doorman is Julianna Bright, and vice versa. She’s an Oregonian artist/mom/musician who’s collaborated with a bunch of American northwest indie rock heroes (including members of The Decemberists, Golden Bears, Black Prairie and Built to Spill) to make Songbook, a very charming folksy, old-timey album for children. Little Red Wagon is the first companion app to launch alongside the album, it’s developed by top toddler-catnip producers Night & Day Studios, and it’s very lovely indeed.

On launching the app, you’re dropped straight into Bright’s instantly appealing hand-painted world, where you choose whether you’d like a guitar, piano, or full band backing track. Then it’s right into the song adventure, where a girl in an orange dress gathers supplies – all dropped into the red wagon of the title – for a picnic in the forest. The dairy is run by a goat (the chèvre is recommended), the bakery by a cat: my weekly grocery shop now seems sadly mundane by comparison. 

The song itself is great, a blessed relief from the brain-mulching music found in most apps aimed at children, and appears in full notation at the bottom of the screen in case you’d like to play along. All the interaction cues necessary to progress are well signposted, but there are plenty of mischievous hidden surprises for curious tappers too. Trust me when I tell you: those pooping cows are going to be tapped A LOT.

This is another great app from Night & Day, with lashings of their customary attention to detail, plenty of charm and a lot of heart. 

To find out more of James Kelleher’s views on apps and the rest of the world follow him on twitter here.

Chris Judge has teamed up with Damn Fine Print to create a limited edition set of prints to launch his new picture book, The Brave Beast. Beastly fans can catch up with Chris and the Beast at the book launch in The Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin on Saturday 9th March between 11 and 3. But if you can’t wait till then you can buy the prints online here and download Beast freebies here. 

When I read of the publication of Chu’s Day I was pretty sure we’d like it, after all it has a goggle wearing baby panda, sneezing (always hilarious in our house) and the wonderful Neil Gaiman. We went out and bought it on the day of release and we were not disappointed. As soon as it was out of the bag it was read three times in succession in a cafe to a snorting five year nephew and hysterical two a half year old daughter and we have read it every night since. As the book says, when Chu sneezes bad things happen, and it takes us through various nose tickling scenarios wondering which one will induce the dreaded giant sneeze. It is simply but perfectly worded and stunningly illustrated by Adam Rex whose work I had not encountered before but will definitely seek out again. We loved it and hope we might see some more of Chu and his weary parents in future!

Irish Design Shop in collaboration RHA are hosting a weekend of events this St Patrick’s weekend celebrating Irish children’s books and illustration. The weekend will include demonstrations on book binding, cartooning, presentations on vintage Irish book covers, the debut of Kevin Waldron’s picture book Mr Peek and the Misunderstanding at the Zoo and more. All events are free and full details are here.

Designed in Holland, made in Portugal, a percentage of the cost donated to homeless children and even without all these good things I would still want Snurk astronaut duvet covers for the boys. There are princess ones too if you really must but seriously, wouldn’t you prefer to be an astronaut when you dream. See the full range of Snurk bedding here. 

Some time back we featured the very lovely Bold & Noble type maps as a learning edition to your newbie’s nursery. And although it doesn’t have the same soap opera familiarity as the London map the new Dublin print is a very welcome local edition. Available unframed in sea green or sheer slate here.

With the not fun-ness of moving house and at late notice requiring a rental house for three weeks weighing upon us, husband very kindly decided a lunch out for all was required to cheer up the cranky family. With the rain pouring down Jamie’s Italian in Dundrum Town Centre was a very welcome sight and did not disappoint. With the kids menu in view finder format, deliciously fun food for the kids and really excellent and friendly service we will definitely be back again. See the full menu here.

These have been around a while but if you are starting to plan out any city vacations for the year they might be a nice travel treat to invest in for the kiddos (and also for adults like myself who cannot fold maps). Like they sound, Crumpled City Maps are maps that can be mashed into a ball, shoved in the bottom of your bag and survive. 100% waterproof and designed to be light, the junior editions feature a bright design and “not to be missed junior locations”. Available for New York, Paris, London, Amsterdam and Berlin from Palomar.

If you are still looking for the perfect Sunday best coat for your little one then look no further than Si+Lu’s absolutely beautiful Donegal Tweed Coat. Inspired by early twentieth century designs and with large practical hoods they are just stunning. Combined with their Alpaca scarf and mitten set they should see any child safely through even the draughtiest Christmas day mass. Check out their full collection here.

As poor old Cal has his birthday so near Christmas (and even I find myself tempted to get him joint birthday and Christmas presents) we decided to throw his birthday party a little early this year to allow for more full on toddler carnage without the worry of a Christmas tree to knock over. With some serious encouragement from the fully costumed Dread Pirate Daddy we had a lot of rowdy pirate fun (and pirate dancing to the handy tunes of the Pirate Tavern from World of Warcraft) with many toddler pirates, mustachioed baby and even a pirate princess. In addition I completely cheated and got some serious party baking assistance from Edie’s mum with pirate buns, Cal’s dad who made the brilliant jelly boats and professional help from Amy’s Cakes who very kindly helped me out short notice with some scrumptious cup cakes and a super tasty chocolate cake. All of which combined made for a very fun birthday party and very happy toddler indeed. Many thanks to all who attended and for all the generous pressies! 

Night & Day Studios have created many of our favourite apps and this time they have combined their classic Peekaboo format with one of our favourite illustrators, Richard Scarry, for Peekaboo People.

As with Peekaboo Barn and others it’s the usual simple but good format of a hidden character with a tap to peek and hear the new word. This time its the Busy Town people in the lift on their way to work. The benefit of Scarry’s wonderfully illustrated characters is familiarity from the books but also the extra detail allows for more conversation about the image; ok so he’s a doctor but he’s also a lion, and what’s he wearing? A lot more room for external interaction with parent and child as well as child and screen.

The options as always allows for a child or adult voice narration however our toddler reviewers Mina and Cal did seem to be a little wary of the rather gruff man’s voice so the child voice was definitely the preferred. A future update with the ability to record your own voice would definitely be welcomed.

In addition to Peekaboo People Night & Day have a new Christmas version out, Peekaboo Presents to help you prep toddlers’ enthusiasm for the Christmas season even more, if that was possible. See the full range of Night & Day Studios apps here and download Peekaboo People here.

Having rambled on about Kovet Industries all morning husband finally told me to go away and put up a post about it. Having lost an iPhone to toddler teething despite it being “protected” by a hard case I have a great appreciation for a soft cover so was possibly a little too excited to see Kovet’s range of soft plastic covers. Not only made in Ireland but also illustrated by Irish based illustrators and artists such as Chris Judge, Steve Simpson and Jennifer Farley. Check out the full range here, perfect for a very nice Christmas stocking filler.

Always a lovely range of gifts at Cox & Cox but a few handy items for the boys in your life which are not always as easy to find. From the Turbospoke (an advanced version of the peg and cornflake box spokey) to the knitted T Rex all ages are covered. See the full collection here.

Based in Rotterdam, Isabella’s Art is the etsy shop of the eponymous Isabella and features some of the most beautiful items for imaginative play with your kids. Laser cut shadow puppets portraying characters from stories and folktales will enrich any bedtime story to a most magical event. See the full collection from the Snow Queen to Mephisto here. (via Pinterest)

I have been spotting some of the gorgeous products from the H&M and UNICEF, All For Children collaboration around the internet and have been disappointed not to find them in our local store. The collection of clothes and housewares donates 25% of the profit to the Unicef charity, currently focusing on India and Bangladesh. The good news today however is that we managed to pick a very lovely Elephant nightlight from the collection and spotted a few key items, such as the flamingo head dress in the Dundrum Town Centre branch. Another source of the range is the very excellent Little Fashion Gallery online store but sadly neither the Dundrum branch or LFG have the gorgeous play tent left currently available, clearly a key purchase for the season. Find out all about it here and shop the range at Little Fashion Gallery here.

The kids may love Elmo but I can’t help liking this Cookie Monster tee the best. Brought to you by the letter Tee (yes, I did just do that), see the full range of Threadless Kids Sesame Street t-shirts here.

A friend recently recommended Tara’s Palace & Museum of Childhood so following in Cal’s footsteps we decided to take the opportunity to head up for a visit on Hallowe’en. The museum was running a number of themed events including a fancy dress competition, a Hallowe’en quiz and face painting. Where better to spend Hallowe’en afternoon than scouring haunted dolls houses for hidden ghosts and spiders. The wonderful volunteer workers at the museum put on all sorts of activities and Edie spent her time colouring in spooky pictures and playing shopkeeper and came home with balloons and a homemade necklace. Aside from all the festivities, the collection is fantastic, dolls houses dating from the seventeenth century onwards containing stunning handcrafted furniture, teddy bears and dolls from all ages, a vintage toy car collection and the amazing Tara’s Palace, the dolls house to rival them all. The museum is located in the beautiful Powerscourt House with views over the grounds. Admission is €5 per adult and €3 for children over five (free for under fives), with family tickets available. The house is entirely run and staffed by volunteers so all proceeds go to a number of children’s charities.

For fans of Ghostbusters, The Life Aquatic Alike and crayons comes Thrill Murray a Bill Murray colouring book from Belly Kids. Featuring the work of 24 different illustrators and showing a completed a ready to colour in version of each illustration this should keep those hipster kiddos happy for hours. (via Design Milk)

As the saying goes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Christmas, Hallowe’en, and to celebrate Night & Day have released the newest in their line of Peekaboo apps, Peekaboo Trick or Treat. It is their third collaboration with fabulous illustrator and author Ed Emberley after Shake and Make and Go Away Big Green Monster, so as you would expect it is full of gorgeous Hallowe’en illustrations. The format is the same as the previous Peekaboo apps, you knock on the door of a spooky house and each time a different creature appears. There are fourteen different characters who appear in a different order each time you play varying from Hallowe’en favorites like bats, a witch and a big and quite creepy spider to more unexpected surprises such as a gorilla and some cute dressed up puppies (very popular with dog lover Edie!). You can as before choose looped play or a single play ending in bedtime for all, the latter being a good choice at the end of the day! You can also choose narration by a child or adult who in this case is Ed Emberley himself. I cannot fault this, as with previous Peekaboo apps it provides loads of entertainment, they really have hit a winner with toddlers with this format. And as you’ve probably guessed we love Hallowe’en in this house (well we’re Irish, we invented it!).

A must for fans of Peekaboo apps, Hallowe’en and dressed up puppies, Peekaboo Trick or Treat is now available to buy in the App Store.

A naturally attractive play space for kids, a table with table cloth additional walls has been made even better by Pani Jurek’s Designer Mama Tablecloth. Featuring an embroidered living interior with Eames storage, Horsten Von Elten antler rack and traditional polish furniture there may be more fun and style below the table than at the grown up dinners above. Buy it here. (via Kickcan & Conkers)

Always a place for a bright and beautifully illustrated ABC print. Illustrated by Jannie Ho of Chicken Girl Design this one certainly is bright and cheery. Available from Society 6 in  multiple sizes here.  (via Jennifer Farley)

For the parent who really wants their tot to grow up loving Star Wars (though no doubt they’ll hate the movies and agree with changing the guns to walkie talkies in ET to spite you), Star Wars nursery prints from Etsy shop My Tiny Tot Creative. In addition to the personalised prints look out for what essentially are Republic starship flashcards. Buy them here.

We are big fans of storybook app creators Ink Robin and luckily they like us too and kindly allowed us to try out their newest iPad storybook, Piccadilly’s Circus.

Illustrated by the very talented Adam Larkum, who also illustrated their original app Will & Kate, and narrated by comedian Trevor Lock (you may know him from guilty pleasures show Star Stories), Piccadilly’s Circus tells the tale of a successful circus troupe who when confronted with a challenge to replace their ringmaster for a night end up swapping all the roles with, of course, hilarious consequences.

As always with Ink Robin apps, the essentials of picture book story telling are prioritised with the quality of the illustration and tale stading up for themselves. On top of this then is layered the iPad interractive elements, with simple but fun rolling bears on balls, fire breathing lions and candy apple throwing monkeys. Add to this the excellent sound effects (Cal’s favourite Mr Piccadilly’s sneezing, mine the old style radio tuner in his caravan) and you have another perfect picture book app. 

Based on the new library shelf fomat that opens with the app it looks like we will be treated to many more wonderful stories from the team at Ink Robin. Find out more and download the app for iPad here. 

New prints from the ever lovely Famille Summerbelle, The Performers. Featuring Maximillien le magicien and Ludo le lapin they are the perfect print for your little one’s circus loving nursery. See the full range here.

New recipes on the go in the household, thanks to the “Happy Heart Course”. This 4-week cholesterol-busting course is offered online by Dave and Steve, Irish twins (no, actual Irish twins not “Irish twins”) from Greystones, who run the locally famous Happy Pear coffee shop and organic grocery.

The course is filled with great vegan recipes for main meals and snacks, right from the off. Pictured are the Indian Dahl, Energy Ball snacks, Mexican Chilli, Noel’s Lovely Curry (that’s the official title), Shepherdless Shepherds Pie and New Mexican Black Bean stew. The energy balls are a smash of cocoa, sunflower seeds, oats, raisins, dates and apple juice, rolled up and ready to rock. A lunchbox favourite!

Other favourites were the super-tasty  and handy sun dried tomato pate and homemade hummus which work equally well as a spread and dips, and keep for about a week if not demolished by play date mommies. We also tried the Mediterranean pasta and Moroccan tagine - excellent meals, but sadly eaten before photographs could be procured. And we shall not speak of what wife may have done to the banana bread.

The course is not just a rack of recipes and videos though. Dave & Steve include plenty of further education in nutrition and eating habits, specifics on cholesterol, myth busting about protein, notes on whole foods and having a plant-based diet. They present it practically and cleverly, providing a course which is designed to create new habits.

We’re very much enjoying integrating these smashing veg recipes and snacks into the family meals and moving to a more plant-based diet. And although the reception from toddler has been mixed, we’re hoping to give him and newbie a good appreciation of all things fruit and veg. 

In short: highly recommended. Truly great food, a little prep in planning ingredients if the recipes are off what you normally eat, but preparation is a doddle with videos and recipe instructions all online. For more see The Happy Heart Course and find out more about The Happy Pear and try out some of their recipes for free here.

(Wife has also asked me to acknowledge that food stylists & photographers need to get more credit; even if she suggested that they wouldn’t normally have a toddler and 6-month old vying for their attention and looking to be fed at the same time…)

What’s more exciting than robots? Squishy robots made from renewable plant based materials that also make a donation to water.org. From the original Ellie Bellie Kids team, Becky, Sara and Jen  (you may know Jennifer Cooper from the excellent Classic Play!) comes the new generation of EBK products, bold and colourful robots, messenger bags and tag along bags. And if you purchase a robot by September 10th, $5 will be donated to water.org, five robots sold = clean water for life for one human. You can’t go wrong with that. Buy ‘em here.

Seeing Little Fox Music Box app reviewed on a number of sites it has been in the back of my mind to download it for Cal and I am so glad I did as this is now definitely one for our top apps for kids list. The basics of the app are three sing along scenes, London Bridge, Old McDonald and Evening Song, and a sound studio to make your own tunes. Simple as this sounds it allows for plenty of play. The interactive scenes are beautifully illustrated and implemented with the songs and lyrics allowing for easy sing along. The sound studio with dancing little fox allows you to turn nearly every item on screen into music and yet some how has been created in a way that makes every random tapping tuneful and pleasant to listen to. It really is quite addictive music making. Both Cal and I love this app and heartily recommend it. Download Little Fox Music Box here.

Its that time of year again with Mountains to Sea Dlr Book Festival already underway. Family events include Super hero illustration workshops, Monster book lunch and our favourite for the youngest readers, the Picture book picnics. There will be story telling and colouring and readings from one of our favourite picture book authors, Chris Judge. Fingers crossed he might give a preview of the newest Beast book which is on it’s way soon. Find out about all the events and pre book a spot for the picnic here. 

Made a trip out to Greystones yesterday to meet up with Mina and her mum at the Zoom Adventure Play Centre. With the big kids back to school it was a quiet day there which meant plenty of room for our toddlers to roam. Zoom has the traditional ball pits, soft play areas and slides but distinguishes itself on price, service and quality. For €5.95 each we had full access to all the play areas, which were clean and bright, free toast and juice or water for the little ones, pizza making for those who want to join in and as a first visit a free mask to take home for the kiddos. We didn’t get a chance to try the hot food but the menu looked good and the fridge stocked with juices and smoothies at the counter would definitely keep Cal happy. All the kids seemed to have a great time, though we shall not speak of momma’s trip down the big slide…not to be repeated. Full details and directions to Zoom here.

Newly founded by Alicia Peyrano, half Argentinian and half Venezuelan and now based in County Down, Little Citizens Boutique brings together an eclectic mix of clothes and toys from designers around the world that all meet the main criteria of a product worthy of keeping to pass on. Featuring products from smaller, independent labels from Paris to Hong Kong, including some of my favourites, the beautiful Janod toys and Coqenpate, there is plenty to choose from for gifts or treats for your own little ones. Check out the full collection online here or call in to them in Holywood, directions here.

Night & Day Studios, creators of the much loved by all toddlers Peekaboo Barn app, are back with their latest installment, Peekaboo Fridge.

If you’ve ever wondered what sound a strawberry makes or what the fruit and veg get up to in the fridge after dark, Peekaboo Fridge is here to show you. Following the classic peekaboo listen then see format, with simple and intuitive screen interactions, toddlers can learn the names of 13 wholesome foods. Our toddler was particularly fond of the mustachioed cheese and the cheery juice box (which also prompted many drink requests). And for existing Peekaboo fans, don’t worry, it still ends with the essential “Shhh, they’re sleeping”.

For those of you new to smart phones or just new to toddlers you can get a free taster of the Peekaboo series with their new and free Peekaboo Friends app. As future Peekaboos are released (an Ed Emberley Halloween and Richard Scarry character based Peekaboos soon to be released) a lite version will be available in Peekaboo Friends to try out before you buy.

Much loved by our toddler and highly recommended for little ones learning new words, Peekaboo Fridge will be released tomorrow, 30th August. Find out more about all the Night & Day Studios apps here.

You might remember Switcheroo’s posters for girls that we featured about a year ago. Well now they have some for the boys. As always, expanding popular expectation for boys with positive phrases such as “i am proud to be nerdy” and “i am nice to nature”. Check out the full range and buy them here.

A grey day today in Dublin but if you are up to braving the weather the Tall Ships Festival (or Pirate festival as it’s known to toddler) in Dublin’s Docklands is worth the visit. In addition to the ships themselves there is live music, puppet shows, BMX and skate competitions, street performers and all free. And if all your toddler wants to do is drink juice then pop around to the shop beside Windmill Lane and enjoy the graffiti for an excellent family photo background. Check out the full programme for the weekend here.