6th Apr
Here’s a pretty cool idea: create a personalised mobile case featuring your baby’s face (or anything else you deem worthy). You’ll be the envy of your ‘mums and tots’ group.
Mobiles are lovely, we need them and we love them, but they are rather ‘samey’ – pretty dull on the eye. What better way to funk up your phone than with a cover that captures a special memory or face!
Giantsparrows.co.uk does personalised mobile phone cases that are super-thin but heard-wearing. In fact, your image is embedded into shatterproof polycarbonate that is scratch and UV resistant – sounds cool, right!
All you have to do is select your favourite baby pic (it’s printed in hi-res so it needs to be good quality), upload it to the site; select your phone type to see how the image will look on the cover – you can place the image as you like it; your personalised mobile phone case is then printed, packaged and posted.
5th Apr
You’re walking with your buggy, at night. It’s winter – translation: dark and cold. Drivers are racing to get back to their heated homes and pedestrians are missioning with heads down, ears covered and hands in pockets.
No one seems to notice you and your pram, facing the wind head-on so as to ensure the safety of your baby.
If only you had a pair of buggy headlights.
If this little story is something with which you are all too familiar, perhaps a set of buglights – buggy headlights – are in order. These nifty little lights clip on to the majority of prams and buggies to ensure maximum visibility.
When switched on, they emit an eye-catching, attention-grabbing light to alert road (and pavement) users to your presence. You can opt for a constant light or, if you’re feeling a party vibe, set them to flash – cyclists and runners are sure never nick the side of your pram ever again!
Written by: Andrea Zanin
3rd Apr
Shopping with a toddler – oy vey! Your back is turned for half a second, and your little monkey is G.O.N.E. Playing ‘hide and seek’, distracted by a cute teddy in the toy aisle, chasing after a potential playmate… OY VEY!
Hiding in between clothing racks is my two-year-old’s favourite game.
It’s tiresome keeping track of where those little legs are going. You can always shove ‘em in a trolley or strap ‘em in a pram – but such methods are often cumbersome (when masses of products and packets are added to the mix) and impractical.
The thought of a lost child in a massive shop with millions of people is a parent’s worst nightmare!
To soothe your angst, have a look at the Teddy Bear Child Locator by Mommy I’m Here. Never lose your child whilst shopping again with this gadget. It’s a cute teddy (to halt any tantrums or objections) that is strapped to your child’s coat, belt, rucksack, belt, shoe, – anywhere – with a mounting strap.
If you lose your child, just press the keyring transmitter and an alarm will go off, alerting you to your child’s whereabouts.
The noise is boisterously brazen (86 decibels of intermittent chirping to be exact) and might frighten fellow shoppers… but rather a few flabbergasted faces than a lost baby!
Written by: Andrea Zanin
2nd Apr
Get your children high on literature with iF Poems; a poetry app for kids and for adults of any age.
iF Poems has 230 classic poems from Lear’s “The Owl And The Pussycat” to Belloc’s “Matilda Who Told Lies And Was Burned To Death” to Yeats’s “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”.
It is a carefully chosen selection of poems by poets including Eliot, W.H. Auden, Siegfried Sassoon, Lewis Carroll, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Rupert Brooke, William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Edgar Allen Poe and Dr Seuss… plus others.
Some of the poems are read by acclaimed actors Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy but there is also the option the app also offers the option for you to record yourself reading the poems – so your toddler can listen to you whenever, wherever.
Other features on the poetry app for kids include the ability to:
* email a poem and email your recording of a poem.
* tap on any word for a dictionary definition.
* save poems to a ‘Favourites’ page.
* search by title, author, first line or by any word.
* get a dictionary definition of any word.
The app can be searched by section – you can look for a ‘Funny poem’, a ‘War poem’ or a ‘poem for Bedtime’ – making it easy and fun to navigate. You can also search by age; poems have been separated the poems into three age groups: age 0-6, 7-12, and 13 and over.
Written by: Andrea Zanin
19th Mar
As a work-from-home mum, I love a gadget that has the potential to keep my two-year-old daughter occupied for long periods of time. And I often find that it’s mums and dads who come up with the best ideas and inventions. TurniTable is one such device….possibly the best play table for kids?
TurniTable is marketed as “The play table with a twist” (don’t we love a good pun) and is aimed at children from 18 months to 5 years. The design boasts a unique twistable top that doubles the size of the table surface revealing a huge magnetic play surface that accommodates a host of activities.
The play table for kids is used in conjunction with accessory packs called MagniFun (brightly coloured magnets designed in collaboration with local illustrator Noriko Sato); currently available in farm, fairytale and race track themes. The sets are sold in conjunction with the table, or separately.
TurniTable comes with two children’s benches (that multitask as a handy storage for toys), and is crafted in solid wood and natural materials. The table and benches all sit on lockable castors making the furniture easy to position or to move from room to room.
What I like about the table is that it can be used as a simple child’s table or coffee table which transforms, in seconds, into a double sized magnetic play table and back again anytime the extra floor space is needed. So it’s a space saver! I am always looking for clever ways to store… stuff.
Written by: Andrea Zanin
Written by: Andrea Zanin