Linens & Lunch

Aren't these lunch bags just charming? Linen is just so naturally fresh and clean, and these minimalist lunch bags feature a coated linen exterior, i.e. wipedown, ladies! Who ever thought we'd get the breeziness of the fabric with the easiness of the plastic! The designs are so hotly retro, and while there's no guarantee your kid won't feign for some gnarly middle school trend when he's older - you can at least expose the children to some simple design goodness while they're young and impressionable! : )

Linen Lunch Boxes, from So Young Mother $25.00

Remotely Helpful

Freida's still a little young to be channel-surfing (though I'm sure my husband would love that!), but I can't say I don't see this as practical. I remember being a kid and trying to memorize which channels were what number etc. - tough stuff! Never mind the fact that most parents don't exactly willingly condone their little ones flipping through the tube... Landed upon this techy-tot solution: the iMote. This funky and colorful gadget comes with 100+ illustrated stickers (TV networks) for you to choose from, making this nifty clicker completely customizable to your preschooler.

iMote Kids Remote Control $24.49

Playing with Dough

Every once in a while I chuck out our playdough supply (it gets grimy and dirty pretty quickly when used often), and whip up a new batch. (Get the recipe here.) We've been working on Freida's colors (for now she knows blue, yellow, purple, and black... not bad!), so I veered from my usual "neon" coloring and broke out the primaries. And while I did end up staining my favorite board a bit, we had heaps of colorful fun!!!

Wanting to up the anti on this classic activity, I decided to add in another sensory factor; I gave the orange and yellow doughs a nice dash of orange/lemon extract (I though this may probe her to eat it, but she gave up on that months ago). This fun little addition made the simple playtime basic not just a terrific tactile experience, but a fun olfactory exploration as well!

Then we just played around... made some fun little creatures out of all those great colors + a handful of pocket trinkets.

She was really perturbed by the fact that the catterpillar had a penny in his mouth (I should have thought of that one while assembling them with her!)...

When we finally tired out, we retired the dough to their own little disposable Glad® containers for easy long-term storage.

Tot-friendly Superheroes

No matter how much we avoid it, somehow little preschool dudes still manage to get into all the SuperHero stuff... here's Mint Parcel to the rescue! These super-kid-friendly prints will make the lil' guy stop begging for paraphernalia, and the adorable designs will help you give in to the craze.

Super Hero prints $6 from Mint Parcel

A Little (less carbon) Footprint

These sweet soles from Livie & Luca would make lovely back-to-school shoes for your little one's first day in Pre-K. Handmade from high quality leather that would otherwise have been discarded - these toddler kicks were created and designed by three very hip mamas in search of some good lookin' shoes for their cuties growing tootsies. I just love all things mom-made! : )