Category Archives: products

My Homemade Play book is now available!

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I am thrilled to say that Homemade Play: Creative Ways To Be With Your Baby, is now finished! What an accomplishment. All these years of staying up late, scribbling notes, reading and rereading page after page….So much went into this book. I thank everyone who has participated in the process.

coverWhat Homemade Play offers:

~ Creative ways to use things from around the house and neighborhood to engage and have fun with your baby.

~ Over 100 activities for babies 1 month to 1 year old.

~ Helpful photographs to ensure that each activity is carried out effectively and safely.

~ Detailed lists of household and nature sensory objects that you can explore with your baby

~ Tips on how to organize play objects into treasure baskets for easy access and clean up.

~ Testimonials from families who have enjoyed the activities with their own babies.

For more information on the book and to purchase you can go to the www.homemadeplaybook.com website.

For quick and easy activities that you can do with your baby follow me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/HomemadePlay?ref=hl

 

 

5 Things To Think About When Purchasing A Toy

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What do you think about when purchasing toys for your baby? After taking the Tum e Time class and reading my soon-to-be-released, Homemade Play book, I hope families find these types of ideas helpful.

1. Is the toy open ended? Research shows children are more creative when they play with toys that spark their imagination, meaning the object can be played with in a variety of ways.

2. What is the toy made of? Too many of the products are laced with toxins. Check out the website: Healthytoys.org and see if the one you want for your little one is as green as can be. This is especially important if they are in the mouthing stage.

3. Is there a common household object that is just as interesting to play with?

4. Does the toy stimulate the senses? Is there texture, color, patterns, weight, smell…?

5. Is the toy meant to be actively played with or passively played with (looking at lights blinking and listening to sounds)?

 

 

Plastic-Free Life With A Baby

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While at the library the other day, I picked up a copy of Beth Terry’s book Plastic-Free.

The information in it is, well, truthfully, pretty grim about how plastic has invaded our lives and since its not biodegradable, never actually goes away.

Aside from her endless ideas about how to reduce our usage, of course, I was most interested in what she had to say about children’s products. Here are just a few highlights.

While she confirms what I already knew about the enormous amounts of toys that are plastic, I was even happier to find her list of companies that are producing toys from wood and natural fibers. I haven’t looked them all up but I wanted to pass her recommendations along for your consideration.

Stuffed Animals: Aminals, Barefoot, Eco Leeko, Dress Me Up Organic

Dolls: The Earth Friends, Global Green Pals

Wooden Toys:  Maple Landmark, Heirloom Wooden Toys, Plan Toys, Tree Hopper Toys

Natural Wood Teethers:  Little Alouette, Ringley Natural Teethers

Online Children’s Stores:  Bella Luna Toys, Hazelnut Kids, Wild Dill, Mighty Nest

I was also grateful to her for bringing up children’s foodware. Looking back, I made a decision early on to not have plastic cups and dishes for my daughter. She has grown up using glass cups and ceramic dishes. Risky? Not at all. I held bowls to help stabilize when she was just learning to eat and drink and she learned and adapted as she grew. Spoons? Well those little stainless steel sugar spoons from my tea set are still her favorite. And we started using stainless steel straws, but then moved on to….glass straws! (they come with a lifetime guarantee).

Here is Beth Terry’s ideas for Children’s Foodware:

Baby Bottles and Sippy Cups:  The Glass Baby Bottle.

Baby DIshes and Utensils:  Life Without Plastic, Mighty Nest

Stainless Steel Popsicle Molds:  Onyx Containers

My two cents wants to add the line made from bamboo, Bambu and the glass straws are thanks to Glass Dharma, made locally in Fort Bragg, CA. (http://www.glassdharma.com). Check out the Smoothie size and Beautiful Bend!

May you find alternatives to reduce plastic in your life as well.

 

 

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.

alttext

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/