{Kids} 16 Amazing Lego Simpsons figurines

VIA Lego gizmodo

I just want them so bad for mother's day! 
The 16 Simpsons Lego minifigurines are expected to be available just in time for the special Lego episode of the Simpsons premiering on May 4th on FOX. In the meantime, the Simpsons Lego house is already available here.

{Kids} Juguetes para la crisis by Natalia Aguado

One for the kiddies! Product design student from Escuela de Diseño de La Rioja in Spain, Natalia Aguado, has designed these really cool "toys for the crisis". Or as she calls them: Juguetes para la crisis.

It’s a simple toy made ​​with a few basic wooden and cork shapes that can be put together simply. You can swap them around to create different shapes: police cars, boats, buses.... Kids can also let their imagination run freely painting the different pieces. There are endless possibilities!

VIA Natalia Aguado

{Kids} House chair by Paloma's nest

Check out this cute kids chair that also works as a doll's house, by Etsy shop owner Paloma's nest. It comes in 3 different designs: colonial, victorian and modern house, but my favourite has to be the colonial style one. Love it!

VIA etsy 

VIA etsy

VIA etsy

{Kids} Easiest DIY dollhouse

My daughter Ines (7) loves playing with her little figurines. So I thought that with her help we could build this easy homemade dollhouse by El hada de papel. 

There I found the easiest DIY tutorial for a homemade dollhouse yet. Use stiff cardboard to cut out 2 pieces as shown and slot together. As decoration, you can paint the cardboard or cover it in paper. Go with the templates provided or create additional cutouts to add detail. I love this idea because you can also adapt it to be the correct size for your dolls.

VIA

{Art} Crayon sculpture by Diem Chau

You don't know what to do with all those crayons lying around? Check out Diem Chau, I am loving her crayon sculptures...

VIA

VIA

VIA

VIA

{kids} playing with cars

My 21 month old baby boy is obsessed with anything with wheels at the moment... Since we are spending time away from home in Morocco, we don't have many toys for him to play with. I took 2 toy cars with me, and the stripy berber blanket in the lush Marrakech garden seemed to do the trick to keep him busy. So I unleashed the camera and started snapping. Here are a few pictures.

{Craft} Made by Joel | Paris Paper city

A couple of months ago, my daughter had an assignment for school and chose to do her presentation on her trip to Paris. So we headed over to a great blog called Made by Joel, where Joel shares gorgeous paper crafts for kids. We printed out the Paris Paper City and after she was done customising, it looked perfect to for her presentation. Later, the paper toys got a lot of use out of them, and I think the Eiffel tower still gets some attention once in a while.

VIA Made by Joel

VIA Made by Joel

VIA Made by Joel

VIA Made by Joel

Amongst his other things, I love Joel's single A4 sheet travel size of Paris in my pocket that you can print ahead to help your kids with travel boredom blues...

Get printing and playing!

{Kids} How to store your lego! Swoop Bag

I am in my eyeballs in Legos and all sorts of small toys! How do you store yours?

My daughter complained to me that the way I was storing her Legos was not appropriate to play. I keep them in a box and according to her the box is too deep and not wide enough. It ends up being tipped every time, small pieces getting lost...

So while researching storage ideas for kids rooms, I came across this great post by Room-to-bloom. Ursula is a dutch interior designer based in London and specialises in kids spaces. She has great tips all around, but my favourite tip was on how to store your Legos.

Let me introduce you to the Swoop bag!

Each Swoop bag is a playmat and toy bag all in one. You can store all your small toys (Legos, Playmobils, building blocks, cars...) in this durable canvas bag, open it very easily with a drawstring and then swoop it all out of sight! 

It comes in 2 sizes and also in all these cool colours. What a great design, so simple and effective. I just love it!

If you missed my previous Legos post, check it out.

{Kids} Wooden Lego blocks by Mokurokku

Lego was pretty much the only toy that lasted all through my childhood, spending precious hours playing with them. The 40s toy is enjoying a revival via the Japanese firm  Mokurokku and their wooden lego blocks. Each box contains 50 bricks (2x4) and I think they might even be compatible with regular Lego blocks. I'd love to see a combination of the colourful ones and the wooden ones together.

I could take this opportunity to have a go at Lego for their gender specific marketing with the Lego Friends range. In my days, Legos for girls were called Legos... Yellow, red, blue! 

I might have in the past, but it is only since we introduced the pink bricks into our home that my daughter has taken a keen interest in building with the little bricks. 

We now have a huge collection, since we have all of Nico's ones from his childhood, as well as many from the new friends range. Her most recent constructions have included a space ship, a pen holder & a 2 storey house for her Moshi Monsters.

VIA Highsnob

{Kids} A happy town of vintage village blocks

I love previously loved toys like these lovely vintage village blocks found on sushipotvintage. Check out this great etsy seller, she has wonderful vintage toys in her shop. For all kiddies from 0 to 99.