August 2007
12 posts
Little Red Pegs
As if formalized eating wasn’t already hard enough for a kid, designer Wendy Boudewijns and manufacturer RoyalVKB have come out with this Red Dot Design Award winning Puzzle Tray, to add just a bit more anxiety to the process of clearing your plate. I’m gonna practice some self control here, and not spit Haterade all over this little prison inspired torture tray. I’m going to try and find...
“When drawing the sun, try to have on hand colored paper, chalk, felt-tip...”
– Bruno Munari
“When drawing a tree, always remember that every branch is more slender than the...”
– Bruno Munari
Feeling Luckey?
Core 77 says:
“Family-owned business Luckey & Luckey designs and builds Luckey Climbers for children’s museums, malls, zoos, and other kid-centric locations that welcome rambunctious rugrats who like to climb, jump, and hang. The net-and-platform structures spell out adventure with playfully curved surfaces and daredevil heights—how could a kid possibly resist? Each...
Roof Access
My new favorite magazine, Monocle, out of the UK has a photo essay on their site detailing the redesign of a kindergarten in Fuji Japan. “Architects Takaharu and Yui Tezuka joined forces with Kashiwa Sato, one of Toyko’s most respected creative directors to build, and brand, a novel kind of kindergarten in Tachikawa, a suburban area of Tokyo. Monocle’s Asia Bureau Chief Fiona Wilson...
A House Divided
The New York Times reports:
“Nickelodeon is expected to announce today that Noggin, the daytime commercial-free preschool network, and the N, a nighttime advertising-supported network for adolescents and teenagers, will become 24-hour stand-alone networks and no longer share channel space.”
This is huge news. The marriage between Noggin and the N has always been a bit rickety. By...
Funkey Fresh
Computers and computer peripherals for kids are becoming super hot as toy makers come to terms with the fact that parents don’t want their kids icky fingers all over their computers, but still want to provide the crumbsnatchers with a computer and Internet based entertainment. I covered the ClickStart from Leap Frog a while back and now Business Week has an article on some more products that...
Play School
“Soon New York City will be home to a new 6-12th grade public school that will use game design and game-inspired methods to teach critical 21st century skills and literacies. Opening in fall 2009, the school is being created by the Gamelab Institute of Play, a New York City-based not-for-profit organization that leverages games and play as transformative contexts for learning and...
OliGear
Daniel R. Oakley, the architect & toy maker behind the popular Oliblock buidling system, has crafted an engaging, and quite beautiful, magnetized interlocking gear system for kids.
Mr. Oakley has also designed this colorful magnetic puzzle…
… and a whole bunch more stuff that you can check out here.
Disney Acquires Club Penguin
The New York Times reports:
“Racing to solidify its dominant position in children’s entertainment on the Internet, the Walt Disney Company said Wednesday that it had acquired a subscription Web site aimed at preteenagers, Club Penguin, in a deal that could total $700 million.”
read the entire article here and check out what TechCrunch had to say here.