stek furniture for children

Stek
STEK is a beautiful new line of solid wood children's furniture created by architectural designers Patricia Hessing & Ifke Brunings with the help of some talented industrial designers and crafts people.

oliver jeffers: children's books

I love Oliver Jeffer's children's book style!

villa carton: life size coloring

Kids love Villa Carton, a company from the Netherlands that creates open ended play with costumes, furniture and castle structures from cardboard and paper. Their products can be decorated like giant coloring books!

lunch skin: reusable bags

What a great way to reduce waste by packing snacks and sandwiches in Lunch Skins.

kids konserve: waste free lunch kit

Kids Konserve offers this fun waste-free lunch kits, each with stainless steel drink bottle, two stainless food containers, a food kozy (replacing plastic bags or saran) and a cloth napkin. The recycled cotton bag has name tag. Kids Konserve is out of Australia, lets do lunch mate. Every item is BPA, lead and Phthalate-free. Available here.

repurposed vespa

Love this idea.

kaiku design: little modern movement

Kaiku {ky-koo} = Japanese / meaning “to grow”
Scot and Amy Herbst, are the designing family of KAIKU, modern design movement for kids. Scot, a graduate of the Art Center College of Design, focused on design simplicity for their new collection for children and families.

With two children as inspiration and product testers, the Herbsts aim to apply good design to beautiful heirloom products for children. They sourced the safest, greenest components and use non-toxic finishes, formaldehyde-free woods and cotton rope.

Kaiku Design's first products are for on the go tykes and parents: the Zen wagon ($319), PushPull ($165) and Strollkart ($149). They also sell two accessories: a rattan Lightship Basket ($40) and Cup Holder ($15).

timbur: eco wooden baby rattle

The Timbur rattle is an gorgeous eco gift for a little tyke. Made from maple walnut and finished with a non-toxic blend oils and wax, this sculptural piece is available from etsy seller, Timbur.

clementine art: giveaway winner!

Congratulations to Sharon for her winning HAIKU entry for this eco childrens art set. Enjoy!

clementine art supplies: holiday giveaway set

Clementine Art removes the mystery and worry about what ingredients are going into children’s toys. Their products contain simple, natural ingredients that are worry free. Using plant and mineral pigments and free from synthetic preservatives, animal byproducts, or petroleum bases; Clementine is the first art product company to list all ingredients on its packages.

Set your budding artist up in style & health by winning this giveaway for the Clementine Art Holiday Eco-Art Gift Set, hosted by fabulous Clementine Art! This charming, re-usable box contains one of each of their all natural products; scented, crumble-free modeling dough, creamy soy crayons and crayon rocks, and multi-purpose glue. The perfect gift for your little artist. Win it by writing a HAIKU about kids or play. Please leave your email to be notified.

If you do not win, Clementine's Holiday Gift Set is available exclusively on their website (website sales launch Nov 15th) Clementine Art

To learn more about the company, watch a video about the Clementine Art here and visit their blog

haute gingerbread ideas: moomin house

There is nothing more quintessentially holiday than gingerbread. Nothing more quintessentially Swedish/Finnish than Moomin, so this year I will give this Moomin lighthouse a go. For those of you unfamiliar with Moomin, they are hippo-like troll creatures from a series of books and a comic strip by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson (born part of the Swedish speaking minority in Finland). originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. The family of trolls are white and roundish, a carefree and adventurous family who live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland. Moomin residences include a lighthouse and a theatre.

Gingerbread has an interesting history as well, originally brought to Europe by the Crusaders. There are written Swedish references showing nuns were baking gingerbread to ease digestion in the year 1444. The first documented trade of ginger bread cookies is dated to 1500's where they were sold in monastery pharmacies and town square farmers markets. Gingerbread became widely available in the 1700s. Originally, the term gingerbread referred to preserved ginger, then to a confection made with honey and spices.
To make your own Moomin Lighthouse follow the PDF tutorial on AOA!

More gingerbread house ideas here & here.

sprig toys: recycled milk jugs

Designers Justin Discoe, David Bowen, David Monahan & Chris Clemmer decided that toys they were creating and sending to manufacture weren't ecological in the least bit, actually harmful to the environment, thus Spring Toys was born. This socially responsible children's toy company works tirelessly to make high-quality toys, directed in their offerings with a simple mission statement: "Active, inspirational, fun toys made safely and sustainably." Made from recycled materials and powered by that seemingly limitless energy source - KIDS! -The world of Sprig is a place where kids power the fun, which fuels their imagination. It's where the batteries stay out of landfills, and kids get off the couch.

Sprig's adventure vehicles and character guides become favorite toys to recipients! The clean design of all the adventure mobiles take imaginary safaris to Africa, to the Arctic, the Amazon, the Outback, or the Himalaya. Sprig Toys are all made of Sprigwood, a kid-friendly, durable, bio-composite material made of recycled wood and reclaimed plastic. I am proud to support Sprig Toys, a local Colorado company based in Fort Collins Colorado. They are perfect presents!!

barley & birch: green clothing manufacturer

Barley & Birch manufactures 100% certified organic cotton childrens clothing with water-based inks. (They don’t pollute the earth, water, or expose farm workers to toxins.) All products from their company are made in the USA and at least 15% of their profits go to several carbon-reducing initiatives in order to fully offset the carbon emissions that result from the production of the garments. At least another 15% goes to organizations that improve people’s lives around the world.
Kyle Smitley, Barley & Birch’s founder is among Inc.'s 2009 listing of "30 Under 30: America's Coolest Entrepreneurs."
30 under 30

B&B offsets any emissions created by production and shipping, and work with manufacturers and suppliers that are largely powered by solar energy. B&B uses certified organic cotton and water-based inks, so they do not pollute the air and water with chemicals. The product line is made in the United States for a lower carbon footprint. Socially, the company donates at least 10% of profits to a variety of organizations working all over the world to improve the lives of others, supporting everything from educating rural farmers on sustainable agriculture to providing shelter to victims of abuse. Barley and Birch stands for the growth of justice and equality throughout the world.

the cake walk: a halloween carnival activity

In many Elementary Schools around the US, a cake walk coinciding with a school carnival is organized for the Halloween holiday. For any elementary schools that do not do this activity I have a word of advice, Start!
This celebration can also be done with the entire neighborhood or other community facility or group. The Cake Walk can be turned into a fundraiser for a worthy cause as well. It is very similar to musical chairs. Each cake comes from parents or group members who volunteer to bake or buy a cake and donate it to the game.

To organize one, put numbers on the floor or carpet with masking tape, forming a circle. Maybe 20 perhaps more if it is a big school. Participants purchase tickets and when they want to play, hand in their tickets, they each choose a number/position, and when all the spots are pretty much filled, you begin. Using a tape recorder or record player, put some fun dance music on, and encourage the walkers to move around the circle, in rhythm to the music. After several rounds of this, the Leader stops the music, and everyone claims the spot nearest his/her feet. The leader pulls a number out of a fishbowl (there is a number in the bowl for every number in the circle). That chosen number wins the cake for that round, choosing from all the cakes available, donated by participating families. The others are given some sort of small door prize, and a "thanks for playing!"...and may, of course, try again with another ticket. Repeat until all cakes have new homes.

Bakers or Buyers of cakes will need advance notification of the event and the need, so you'll be distributing flyers and/or making phone calls. You need a chairperson/Leader to be responsible for set-up, and ideally one or two enthusiastic Helpers to keep it running smoothly. Someone has to be available to Receive the cakes as they are brought in, store them safely, set up, clean up...etc..

For the love of German Chocolate cake, please bring this activity back people!!!

I was completely unaware as to the true history of the Cake Walk, that you can read about here. I guess the cake walk is as good as Jazz baby-it sure tastes like it.
photo source

clementine art supplies: boulder colorado

Sustainably and responsibly minded Clementine Art Studio in Boulder Colorado has a fresh & healthy line of childrens' art supplies. Clementine Art's new art supply line contains simple ingredients from the earth. The products are colored with vegetable, plant, and mineral pigments instead of artificial dyes, providing an innovative solution to chemically laden, artificially colored art supplies. Each offering allows for open ended play and consists of kits for sculpture, collage or singular materials like modeling dough, natural paint, natural markers, soy crayons, soy crayon rocks and natural glue. All of Clementine's natural & safe materials created by the founder Diane Mercer, encourage children to create real art from scratch. The supplies are all natural, certified non toxic and environmentally friendly. Even the packaging for the art supplies is made of 80% post consumer recycled and reusable materials & printed with soy ink. Time for art!

recycled sweater hand puppets: cate & levi

Cate & Levi have added new line of recycled wool hand puppets to their range of recycled wool stuffed animals. I adore the walrus version.

snug organics: GIVEAWAY!

Snug Organics is hosting a wonderful giveaway for HauteNature today. In order to win this 100% organic cotton 3-6 month old snuggly sleeper garment please leave a haiku about organics in the comment section. You could even win it to give as a gift for a friend with a small baby if you have a great haiku. The pumpkin color accents are perfect for October! The founder of Snug Organics, Erin Royer has created an innovative design inspired by the old school blanket sleepers we wore in the 70's, but with an updated organic twist focused on safety and simplicity. The blanket sleepers are free of flame retardant chemicals. See them on her site at Snug Organics. A winner will by chosen by me and announced one week from today-on October 21st. (in case you need reminding--a haiku is a poem with 5 syllables on the first line, 7 syllables on the seccond and 5 syllables on the third)

haute ideas for children's lunches

Keeping kids interested is simple its just like fancy garnishing. Tikes are usually a trendy bunch, their interest will be kept if the food is styled in new and unusual ways. Its hard to stay consistently creative in this department unless you prepare ahead.

Make Sunday your prep day by filling small plastic reusable containers with yogurt for dipping or berries. Put them in the freezer and take one out each day-at lunchtime they will be nice and cool.
Fill enough containers on Sunday to pop into lunches each day.
Try trail mix or organic popcorn a super low calorie snack.
Vegetables should be bite size and have a dunking dip or dressing: hummus, salsa or yogurt.
Make fruit bite size & put on skewers.
Cut sandwiches smaller or use cookie cutter. my fave PB, banana & honey!
Tiny portions of spaghetti with sauce can be placed into cupcake papers and frozen in tupperware for a quick grab.
Don't forget fun items like quesidillas, hard boiled eggs, bagels, cubed watermelon, tube style yogurt or cold mini pancakes (delicious)
Pack crackers with cheese that you shape with cookie cutters: dinos, gnomes, etc..
You really cannot go wrong if you style food in the shape of animals or characters.
More ideas at Flickr Bentos, Kids Eats & Vegetarian Bento

Goodbyn
Bento

recycled fabric bootie roundup

All these baby booties are made from recycled materials and all would be wonderful gifts.

PBM
KP
Wooly Baby
Kaboogie

great owl costumes

owl1
owl2