Our new kitchen

The time had come. The play kitchen was falling apart and playing "Mommy in the kitchen" is one of Arielle and Linnea's very favorite games. We needed to replace it.

So, the old kitchen went on Craig's List and Mommy priced new kitchens. It was a pretty easy choice. I was in love with the Camden Rose Simple Hearth ($349.99) from Palumba.

Why is this kitchen so great? Let me count the ways.

1. It arrived quickly. Two days after I ordered the kitchen the FedEx man brought three big boxes to the door. The girls were very excited, but I sent them next door for their regularly scheduled play date, anyway. I'm mean.

2. It was easy for a small mommy working alone to set up. Tools needed were a Phillips head screw driver and a box cutter. Seriously, the hardest part was getting it out of the box. Then you attach the handles and the faucet, add the hutch (slides on and the tighten the screws), slide in the shelves and you are done.

I bet you're thinking "Sara, show me pictures already!"

3. It is beautiful. The kitchen is made of solid wood - sustainably harvested cherry, ash and walnut.

4. Look at all this storage space.


I like the cute shelves and that they finally have a separate cabinet for pots and pans. But what I really love is...

5. ...the wire rack in the oven. Don't ask why. It just appeals to me.

6. It has an oven! Our old kitchen did not.



7. The matching refrigerator ($299.99). It is so big. There is room for ALL the play food. Actually, when Linnea first looked inside she said "It's not full. I need to put more stuffs in there."



8. More wire racks...



9. And cool on-the-door shelves for jars and eggs.


How did the girls like it?

First, they danced on the bubble wrap.



Then Linnea went to find more stuff to put in the refrigerator. "How about the toaster?"



Then Linnea discovered cool thing #10.

10. The pull-out shelf that adds space so two kids can cook at once.



11. It came with milk and eggs.



12. It's fun. It's been a few weeks, and the girls play with the kitchen constantly.

A shaky egg.... and other inexpensive Easter treasures

Are you looking for inexpensive natural toys and toys made in the USA to fill your Easter baskets? Check out Down to Earth Toys. They have a great selection of toys under $20.

We love:

Egg Shaker ($7.25)




When Linnea saw the shaker she said "OH!" in that sort of breathless way some of us might save for the perfect pair of eco-friendly shoes. I think the egg spoke to her.

When they were younger, the girls went to music lessons where the favorite activity for toddlers was shaking an egg to a song. We played a game where we sat and sang and passed eggs around the circle. Very relaxing. Or maybe she's thinking of the Laurie Berkner song, I know a chicken. Click the link to see the YouTube video :0)

The egg is made by Jam Town. They support the makers of fair trade musical instruments around the world. The egg helps employ someone in Bali. Check out Down to Earth's extensive selection of musical instruments.

Magic Fairy Wand ($2.95)



Ari preferred the magic wand. She says, "You can do anything with a magic wand because it's magic." All you need is imagination. What a deal! But, don't turn your sister into a toad.



Felt Chocolate Easter Bunny ($8.99)



I haven't seen this in person (in bunny?). But, I love Lilly Bean play food and I'm sure it is the same great quality. How cute it would look in an Easter basket!

Sara's Toy Box readers get free shipping on orders over $10 until 4/30/2010. Just use the code "SARA" at checkout. Happy Spring to all of you!

Lunch at Palumba, a sandwich and pear

Once you've chosen a kitchen, you'll need to stock it with food (good for filling a stocking). The chefs at Palumba offer a whole menu that gives new meaning to natural food.

Arielle and Linnea tried a perfectly knitted cheese sandwich ($12.99) with a pear.

Knitted pear ($5.99)



The knitted foods are made of hand carded-hand dyed wool. They are fair trade from Peru. The sandwich comes with a slice of your favorite cheese, tomato and lettuce on a healthy, whole-wool bread. It goes really well with a cup of good milk ($8.99). Lizzie's favorite lunch!



Check out the whole menu of felt, wool and wooden play food at Palumba.

Everyone likes pizza. The felt pizza ($34.99) comes with removable toppings and a metal pizza pan. Made in the USA. Since the toppings aren't attached, Arielle could make vegan pizza for her daddy, lots of vegetables for me, plain cheese for Linnea, and pepperoni for herself.



Thinking about Thanksgiving? This made me laugh.

Felt turkey with stuffing ($24.99)




and, I don't think I could eat this guy... too cute!

Knitted lobster ($9.99)


Palumba also stocks a whole range of kitchen accessories for little chefs. Many of these can be used for real cooking, too.

The colander ($4.99) has been a favorite plaything in our house for years. It is also perfect for rinsing just-picked strawberries.



Linnea is using the colander with the cherry kitchen straining spoon ($7.99) and cherry kitchen spatula ($7.99). These utensils are so pretty, I wish they made larger ones for my kitchen.

Mmmm.... acorn and pasta pie - with mushrooms, ladybugs and stars. A future Top Chef for sure :o)



And, I dream about the stainless steel cookware set ($29.99). I think they are on my own Christmas list.



The little metal pots I bought at TJ Maxx already show so much wear. I like that these are made of high quality steel that will last. And, the kids just seem to prefer realistic kitchen toys. They often take stuff out of my kitchen.

Kitchen play is a big deal here. Linnea walks me over to her toy kitchen, practically pushes me into a chair, and says "Ok, Hon. What would you like to eat?" Then my little mommy cooks me a feast. She's so grown-up.

Happy cooking!

A few last minute gifts from Petit Baby

Petit Baby sent us three toys to review this week, and I wanted to make sure to get this out in time for holiday shopping.

First up is the Plan Toys Vegetable Set ($17.99)

We love Plan Toys. They provide a great option for safe, environmentally-friendly Wooden toys available at a price that isn't shockingly more expensive than plastic. However, this was the first time that we tried play food toys from Plan. The foods are similar in size to Haba play food, and while they aren't quite as cute, but the felt accents are nice. These are a nice choice if you've bought a play kitchen for Christmas and are looking to stock it with play food on a budget.


We got to test their durability right away as Linnea decided to see how well the vegetables mixed with her cranberry juice. Yuck! While I don't suggest these for toddlers who want to drop things in their juice cups, they did clean up to be good as new and ready for lots of play.

"Eat your carrots, Mom!"









For Arielle's fourth birthday, she received the Haba Sunlight Jewelry Box ($24.99) and a necklace as a special gift from her Daddy who couldn't be there. It looks adorable in her pink princess room. With two little girls who love being pretty, it seems that I always need space for storing hair bows and necklaces. So, I was happy that Petit Baby sent the larger Haba Mia Jewelry House ($31.99).



This very pink and very girly jewelry box. It comes apart into two roomy sections. The top part has a mirror in the lid.



Since it is made of cloth, the jewelry box is manufactured in China in a factory with on-site Haba supervision. All Haba toys and Haba gifts meet European (EN71) and US (ASTM) standards.



Finally, more Djeco toys.
Djeco Color Animals Domino ($16.99)



I just really enjoy the fun, bright illustrations that Djeco uses. Dominoes are a classic picture recognition and number matching game. I remember playing dominoes as a child, although mine were not nearly this cute.

The game starts with each player being given 6 dominoes. The remainder of the dominoes are left in a stack. The first player places a domino on the table. Each player then takes turns putting down a domino by matching 2 identical pictures or 2 identical numbers. If a player can't make a match, she must draw dominoes from the pile until she can. The first player to have no dominoes left is the winner.

Arielle and I played with both with pictures and number dots.




Learning toys and Educational games like dominoes are a great fun way to help preschool-aged children develop pre-reading and early math skill while having fun with mom and dad. Four-year-old, Arielle easily followed the rules and won most of our games.

Don't forget, our readers save 10% off their orders at PetitBaby with code "Sara10" (not valid on sale items).

Play food from Lilly Bean Market and play food GIVE AWAY!!!

I love this story. Lilly Bean was started by Hilary Seabolt in 2004 when her four year old son asked what his new stuffed animals were supposed to eat. Stuffed food! Perfect!

Hilary started with a cute little egg and pancake. Then came donuts, bacon, fruits and veggies. And in 2006, she officially launched the Lilly Bean business, making it possible for every stuffed animal to be treated to a delicious meal of Play Food.

Lilly Bean foods are made in the USA of wool felt. Hilary works with a small group of Amish women and a machine seamstress that together help to make all of the Lilly Bean play food.

Lucky Arielle and her friend Hedgehog got to try out some of this great felt food.



The Original Brown Bag Lunch ($40.00)includes Perfect Sandwich , pickle, cookie, and a felt lunch bag. Bigger than most wooden food, sandwich is almost "real" size and comes apart into bread, "ham" (or turkey or baloney or whatever), lettuce and tomato.



Market Fresh Carrot ($5.00)



Green Beans ($7.00)



Watermelon ($7.00)

There are many more delicious Lilly Bean foods to choose from including breakfasts, desserts and snacks.



Lilly Bean recently launched a line of kits, so crafty moms can make their own play food. I made the delicious sandwich that Hedgehog is enjoying.



The kits range from $5.00 to $10.00 and include templates, instructions and all the material needed to make the food. You need a needle, thread and your sewing machine. The templates are printed on heavy cards, so they can be reused. Additional felt is also available from the Lilly Bean web site.

It took me two nap times to make the sandwich. The instructions were easy to follow and Hedgehog's sandwich came out surprisingly well.

We have two great Lilly Bean items to give away - one reader will win a Brown Bag Lunch and another will win a Sandwich Kit. To enter, either post a comment with your email or send me an email by clicking on the "contact us" link. Let us know if there's anything you'd like us to write about in the new year. We'll draw the names out of the princess hat and announce the winners on December 15th - just in time for Christmas.

Great Stuff from Nico and Zoe - Store Review

Nico & Zoe is the creation of two moms, Pamela (Zoe's mom) and Stacy (Nico's mom). Their inspiration is their children. They are always on the lookout for high quality, locally made, funky toys - that don’t cost too much.

They carry toys manufactured by green companies such as Plan Toys, Voila, Sparrowkids, Anne Claire-Petit, Kathe Kruse, Chelona, Wee Gallery, Yellow Label Kids, and US designed and manufactured toys by D and Me, Mossy Creek, Maple Landmark, Lauri, Montgomery Schoolhouse, Camden Rose, and Imagination Box Co. They also have small production, hand made items by Sockadoodle Do, Zoe’s Baby Toys, Sweeter Dolls, Monkey Doodle and more.

We recently placed an order with Nico & Zoe, and we love our new toys.


Zita Zoe Felt Ravioli ($17.00)



Arielle loves eating ravioli. She says they are good because "they look like little fishies". So, Zita Zoe's handmade felt ravioli was a great addition to her toy kitchen. The ravioli is made by Pamela, and they are exclusive to Nico and Zoe's. They come packaged just like real, fresh pasta. The ravioli is made of 70% wool felt, and the packaging is recyclable/compostable. The packaging lasted for a few days of play, but then the ravioli were on their own.



Not a problem. Ravioli make an excellent lunch for bears, and you can cook them over and over again. If the bears decide they'd rather eat honey, then the ravioli make excellent pillows for sleepy Anamalz. They can also be sorted, counted and stacked.



Jungle Wall Graphics ($38.00)




This was the purchase that I was most excited about. Now that the last of our big boys is going to college, we are finally converting our computer room into a play room and I needed a way for it to say kid-space without being too childish as it is adjacent to our living and dining rooms. These Blik wall decals are perfect. What a great way to dress-up the dress-up corner.

I wiped the wall with a damp cloth (knocked down quite a few cobwebs) and the decals stuck very easily and smoothly. Repositioning was no problem. Linnea loves monkeys, so she was very excited to see the happy monkeys swinging on the wall.



I like the graphic simplicity of the black and white images. They'd work well in a nursery, and are far more sophisticated than pink bunnies or dancing sheep. Nico and Zoe's also carries Garden Wall Graphics with a squirrel, bird, bugs and worm. It was a very tough decision.

Gymnic Hop Ball ($29.00)



This was one of those toys that required no explanation. This very sturdy hop ball is made by Gymnic in Italy of non-toxic, latex-free and phthalate-free vinyl (which corresponds to the European norms and are TÜV/GS and CE marked). It inflated quickly and easily using a bicycle pump, and comes with one valve and two plugs. Arielle had no problem staying up and used up lots of energy (always a good thing). If you have the space, it can also be used indoors. It's probably a great solution to the winter blahs.




Gymnic Rody Pony ($48.00)

Linnea is too small for a hop ball (although she thinks throwing such a big ball is great fun), but the Gymnic Rody Pony is a sturdy bouncy toy made of the same Italian vinyl. It is suggested for ages two and up, and Linnea is eighteen months old. The amount it is inflated can be adjusted to fit children of different sizes (so can the hop ball). And it can be used both indoors and out.



I wanted to get a picture of Linnea happily bouncing, but it came out a blur! Again, this is a good way to use up some energy. After a week of rainy days, it is just what she needed.

The moms at Nico & Zoe's are always looking for new toys that are good for the kids, environment and health. They just added Soy Crayons ($8.00) and will soon be carrying safe-plastic sand toys by Wader, a German company.

Nico & Zoe has offered our readers 10% off their purchase with the code "nicozoefun08".