Eco-Kids Sustainable Art Products

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Founded in 2008, Eco-Kids is the brainchild of mother and former nanny Cammie Weeks, who used her mother’s recipe to make eco-dough for her son and his friends. Cammie explains that she and her husband “realized the need for safe and natural art supplies and toys,” so the duo began selling their sustainable dough at farmers markets throughout California and eventually expanded the collection to include a bevvy of environmentally-friendly, all-natural art supplies and toys.

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While I’m holding out on the pencils until my two-year-old can distinguish between wall and paper, she loves her eco-dough and eco-paints. Made with flour and dyed with organic fruit, plant and vegetable extracts (like purple sweet potatoes, paprika and blueberries), the naturally vivid colors please the eye and make clean-up time easier.

The organic-rosemary-scented dough (to keep it fresh) stays malleable without being sticky like other brands, and comes in a gluten-free version for kids with celiac disease or special dietary restrictions.

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Just in time for Easter, Eco-Kids recently introduced an Easter egg coloring kit that includes the same fruit and vegetable colors and two soy crayons for fancy decorations.

Almost any parent will tell you the futility of explaining to a toddler why they shouldn’t put a toy in their mouth—a non-issue with the Eco-Kids line of products. Everything they make is safe to eat, although the pencils could be a bit rough on younger teeth.

The supplies and kit ($10) sell online from the Eco-Kids website.


Swinxs Game Console

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The first device for playing outdoors as well as inside, Swinxs provides hours of recreational use with lights and a built-in voice that explains games, recognizes players and serves as a referee.

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Announced in 2008, launched in Europe last year, and now making its U.S. debut, the portable, screen-free device accommodates up to 10 players and features 26 games broken down into three categories—active, educational and adventurous. It includes classics like charades, hide-and-seek, and tag, along with new options such as Flyswatter, which sharpens fine motor skills, and Swinxsball, a mash-up of dodge ball and critical listening.

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The games themselves encourage good old-fashioned fun and social interaction, while computer connectivity keeps things fresh and makes the accessory relevant to today’s wired youth. Kids can download more games (for free), exchange tips and experiences, and keep track of personal scores. With a pretty robust dev tool set, the brand clearly hopes that others will likewise start making new games. Interactive books (already available in Europe) will also soon come available once the rights get sorted out.

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Designed for ages four and above, Swinxs sells online for $150 and includes the console, four wristbands, a USB cable, an adapter and 10 pre-installed games. Check out the video for a full look at Swinxs’ many capabilities.


Shoot like a Bigshot

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Very cool little camera — it’s digital, has an auxiliary power crank if the battery runs out, has a bunch of cool built-in lenses, and you build it yourself. Find out more about the camera and the project developed by Shree Nayar and graduate students at Columbia University. Check it out.

ReubenMiller’s Got a Brand-Spanking New Look!

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that we’ve got a fresh new look for the blog. After a lot of coding, tweaking and generally making a mess of CSS, I’ve managed to get it to look half-decent (let me know what you think of it!) It still remains a work-in-progress. The goal of this redesign was to make it easier to get around and add some more color. After all, you know we’re suckers for color!

Last but not least, our large header incorporates the work of a featured artist. We’ll be featuring different artists in that space and rotating them over time to keep things interesting. This isn’t a sponsored spot, but rather a testament to our support of great artists. Our first feature is of the brilliant and witty Simon Oxley, one of our all-time favorites.

Enjoy!


Klas Ernflo

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Really wasn’t sure to show these ‘designer-soccer-balls’ on Bloesem or BloesemKids … my little boy would LOVE to play with these and I just love how they look, fantastic! Klas Ernflo made them and if you are interested in buying one of them, you can just send Klas an email, more pictures here … happy I found them via the lovely Malo bloggand I would like to wih you a very nice weekend of course, hope to see you back on Monday!

Kid Onion

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I just added this to my list of must haves. The character was created by Easy Hey, and will available from  February 5th at ARTOYZ.

[via sharesomecandy]

Alexa’s Top 90 Design Weblogs

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Want to know the top design blogs according to Alexa? Well, we’ve compiled all 90 of them. I have no clue how they come up with these rankings, but hey, these are great sites to check out and bookmark! (ReubenMiller ranks 24 – not bad.)

1. Treehugger

2. MoCo Loco

3. Inhabitat

4. Cool Hunting

5. The Cool Hunter

6. NOTCOT

7. Hostess with the Mostess

8. Graphics and Illustrations

9. Designspotter

10. Design You Trust

11. Fuel Your Creativity

12. Swissmiss

13. Cribcandy

14. Josh Spear

15. Design Observer

16. Positive Space

17. Hawksmont

18. Oh Joy!

19. It’s Nice That

20. Functioning Form

21. The Ad Mad

22. Sub-Studio

23. Desire to Inspire

24. Reuben Miller

25. Creative bits ‘n’ bobs

26. Graphic Design Blog

27. Poppytalk

28. Print Pattern

29. 2Modern

30. Design Sojourn

31. Roadside Scholar

32. Idealist

33. Curiobot

34. Design Notes

35. Graphic design for life

36. Land Living

37. Designers Block

38. Decor8

39. Architectradure

40. Design Crack

41. Absolutely Beautiful Things

42. Design Sponge

43. Serial Consign

44. Elit Alice

45. Love Made Visible

46. Twenty1f

47. 30gms

48. Pasta and Vinegar

49. Oh My So Cute

50. Cuteable

51. Rolling Rains

52. Style Court

53. Scoutie Girl

54. Cool Design Ideas

55. Bookmarkd

56. Redsil

57. Push A Pixel

58. Black White Bliss

59. DesignTaleStudio

60. Nordic Design Blog

61. Trend Insights

62. Funfurde

63. 49 Sparks

64. Studio469

65. Neo Nomad

66. ImedaGoze

67. Things of Random Coolness

68. LedLightRay

69. PagePlane

70. A Thing of Beauty

71. Raven’s Nest

72. Design Scout

73. Rebang

74. Reverseorbit

75. Inert Greymatter

76. Trendmatter

77. Design Boston

78. The Zaum of Mr Brown

79. The Terminally Juvenile

80. Designer’s Library

81. Greenwix

82. Old Glutton

83. Blog Sessions

84. Something In The Way

85. Dog Opus

86. Rag and Bone

87. Storm from the East

88. Lena Corwin

89. Obsidian Dawn

90. All the Best