Category Archives: news articles

Around the world in 15 Playgrounds

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I was excited to see this article because when I travel, I seek out child friendly places and playgrounds are always high on my list. It helps that my daughter is still young and while traveling we always want to hang out and play!

I was personally a little giddy to see that 2 out of the 15 playgrounds are right here in the Bay Area!

My favorite playground by far on this list is the Takino Hillside playground in Japan. Talk about an amazing sensory experience.

If I had one wish for our local playgrounds, it would be sun shades. I mean for goodness sake, the playgrounds near my husband’s family place in England’s South Coast have them…and I know they don’t get as much sunshine as we do here in the Bay Area.

 

Toys For The Holiday

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In my Tum e Time series I talk a lot about using things from around the house to play with, so much so that I wrote a book on it (Homemade Play coming soon!). Although the stores are brimming with choices, so are the rooms in your house and the paths in the local parks.

I feel its a requirement around this time to post this article from GeekDad on the Wired website. It speaks to exactly this….enjoy, laugh, and make this holiday a joyful one with just the basics.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/all/1

Many blessings for the holidays and new year.  May you have many parenting adventures.

Please come out and play in 2014!

Tactile bowls and Musical Spoons

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I am a huge advocate for sensory play, but when the advertising world takes charge and uses it to sell more, um, well, beans, then I wonder if we aren’t going in the wrong direction. Why not just play with dried beans or experience a musical instrument, turn on some music and dance around?

Nope, not Heinz, look what they launched in the UK. (this is taken from Springwise)

“Tactile bowls and musical spoon provide complete sensory food experience

The Heinz Beanz Flavour Experience pairs five different flavors with matching bowls and a musical spoon for a synaesthetic effect.

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Our relationship with food is often related to other senses beyond taste, something that London’s Edible Cinema picked up on with its movie-synchronized menu. Now another UK project has created the Heinz Beanz Flavour Experience, which pairs five different varieties of the food with matching bowls and a musical spoon for a synaesthetic effect.

The brainchild of food experience agency Bompas & Parr, the campaign was designed to launch five new flavors of the popular household product – Garlic & Herb, Cheddar Cheese, Fiery Chilli, Barbecue and Curry. For each flavor, a bowl with characteristics that matched the taste was created to enhance the experience for diners. For example, the Garlic & Herb version was matched with a bulbous bowl that is scratchy to the touch, while the Fiery Chilli has a spiky bowl. The group also made a spoon that when placed inside the mouth, sends sound vibrations through the jaw, allowing the eater to hear relevant noises and music. For example, the barbecue flavour spoon produces blues music combined with sizzling sounds.

The campaign combines visual, tactile and aural senses and adds them to the taste and smell of the food to create a complete sensory experience. Although designed to promote the Heinz Beanz brand, it’s easy to see how this idea could be developed into a business in itself – perhaps as a new product, restaurant or event? Plenty of inspiration here.”

http://www.springwise.com/tactile-bowls-musical-spoon-enhance-flavor/