A Talented Mom Designs An iPad App. Drum Roll Please....

Imani Powell-Razat, a designer/illustrator by trade (see Spye Design Studio) is also a mom who has designed and created an entertaining and informative application for the iPad that is a multicultural celebration of the world's drums.


above: Imani Powell-Razat of Spye Design and her son, Orion, playing with his iPad



Drum Circle Kids is a colorfully animated app that allows your child to engage in and create unique jam sessions by tapping five colorfully animated drummers that represent various types of drums found throughout the world.



The American Trap Set, Caribbean Steel Pan, Chinese Drum, Cuban Conga and the West African Djembe (with more drums to come) can be easily turned on and off with the tap of a finger and combined for dozens of possible musical and sound combinations.



Adding to the fun, is the possibility of discovering ambient sounds hidden in the scenery.



In the learn section, kids can swipe from one drum to the next and touch to play each drum while learning fun drum facts.


Intended for toddlers, age 18 month +
Buy it in the itunes store here

The Ultimate Beds For Budding Space Fighters & Fashionistas.

Got a child who wants to grow up to fight space aliens or walk the runway? Bring their dreams to reality with these amazing exclusive room designs for kids from Posh Tots.

Beds shaped like Galactic Star Fighters and actual Catwalks are accompanied by wall murals and accessories that will have your child transported to their fantasies every time they slumber.

The Deep Space Fighter Bed and Galaxy Mural.





the description from Posh Tots:
Enjoy the nostalgia of intergalactic battle by teleporting your bedroom to the farthest reaches of your imagination and beyond. Your star ship bed can be designed to your unique specifications, and the supporting wall mural can depict anything from an army of elite soldiers marching into battle to a squadron of deep space fighter ships. Your child can become the new hero of the galaxy and cherish their unique bed for generations. A PoshTots exclusive.

This item is custom made especially for you upon order and cannot be returned. Price upon request.


The Fashionista's Runway Bed and Mural



the description from Posh Tots:
Fashionista, how do you look? In this fabulous room you’ll look like the best of Milan! The Fashionista Runway Bed is perfect for your little Fashion Diva. What little star wouldn’t love to have a posh runway attached to her bed? Our newest resident muralist not only fabricates custom bed designs of any style, he can paint a row of admiring models to complete the illusion of the Paris runways, all to your unique specifications and interior dimensions. Present your design inquiry to our Design Consultants today.

Price upon request.

Posh Tots

Nibble Nibble Little Mouse, Who Is Nibbling On My House? $15,000 Gingerbread House.

The Edible Gingerbread Playhouse by Dylan's Candy Bar is one of the more outrageous gifts in this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. The full-sized playhouse stands 6.6 feet tall by 5.25 feet wide and 4.1 feet deep.

It's handcrafted with 381 pounds of gingerbread and 517 pounds of icing and includes giant cookies, lollipops, gummies, mints, gumdrops, and a candy-encrusted roof. There's even a lollipop tree inside.

CEO and self-proclaimed Candy Queen Dylan Lauren (daughter of fashion legend Ralph Lauren) was inspired as a child when she watched the classic movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. With Dylan's Candy Bar locations throughout the nation, she's made all our dreams come true.

Edible Gingerbread Playhouse by Dylan's Candy Bar
Price $15,000.00

For all the delectable details, call 1.877.9NM.GIFT.

Toideloi Stackhouse - Modular Birch Plywood Dollhouses & Buildings.

Designed by Martijn van Tilburg for Toideloi, the Stackhouse is a series of modular building sets that can provide children with hours of play. Castles, Chalet, Villages and Skyscrapers can be easily built and rearranged from the various pieces which are all made from clear lacquered Eastern European Birch plywood. The rooms are large and spacious, measuring 14" x 14" (width and depth) and are 9.5" high. The house works great with 1:12 scale furniture.

Chalet:


Castle:

Village and Skyscraper:


Kids or parents can change the house by arranging and stacking the rooms, balconies and roofs into many unique structures. The Stackhouse is expandable; kids can bring along their rooms on play dates and build a mansion or build up a collection of rooms and roofs over time.







The stackhouses require no screws and have easy assembly. The walls of the rooms simply slide together. No tools required. Once put together the components are very stable. For longer term storage, the rooms can be disassembled in the same way.



Dutch Design. Made in the USA.



Toideloi is a small company specialized in well-crafted original toys. The Toideloi Stackhouse is designed by Dutch designer Martijn van Tilburg. Toideloi follows a philosophy of local manufacturing. The Stackhouse is manufactured in Kirkland, WA.

Build and buy your stackhouse here.

This Little Piggy Cried "Humanitarian" All the Way Home.

above: A philanthropic Piggy Bank set for children

Michigan-based Materious, in an effort to teach future generations about compassion and to help parents raise future humanitarians (Lord knows, we could use more), has designed a great-looking, fun and educational way to save money and turn your little ones into caring citizens.


above: the set shown in glossy pale pink (also available in white)

In an effort to teach their own child about compassion, kindness and caring, Stephanie and Bruce, the talented couple behind the design firm, came up with Piggy, a set of beautifully designed savings banks, in glossy white or pale pink, that nest together.

The larger “Momma” Piggy bank is for a child’s personal savings, and the smaller "Little Piggy" bank is for the child's charitable savings.





PIGGY FEATURES
* Hand-cast ceramic
* Set of banks: one ‘momma’ and one ‘baby’
* Modern, minimal design
* Glazed in pale pink or bright white
* Small pig nests with the large ‘momma’
* Removable bottom plugs on each
* Ships safely in fun “quote box”

The box in which the adorable nesting Piggies are packaged is covered with great quotes about compassion:


Quotes that embellish the box:
•If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - The Dalai Lama
•We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill
•I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. - Maya Angelou
•It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. - Albert Einstein
•Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. - Mahatma Gandhi
•No one has ever become poor by giving. - Anne Frank
•Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival. - Dalai Lama
•A good heart is better than all the heads in the world. - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
•In separateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength. - Buddha
•To care for anyone else enough to make their problems one’s own, is ever the beginning of one’s real ethical development. - Felix Adler
•The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

THE POWER OF PIGGY
This simple product, Piggy, can truly make the world a better and more compassionate place. Piggy helps teach kids about charitable giving, with the hopes of inspiring new generations of caring, sharing, philanthropic citizens. With 12,000 children born each day in the US, imagine the social impact if just a fraction of them learned powerful lessons of gratefulness and kindness to others.

USING PIGGY

Materious suggests that children learn to set aside 10% of their income to charity. Parents can discuss with their kids about who they would want to help most. When the baby bank is filled, a special event can be planned to deliver the money to the charity, or a trip to the bank and post office to mail a check.

The goal is to create positive feelings of doing good will make an indelible mark upon their character and place philanthropy as an important and intrinsic aspect of their life.


Buy the Piggy Nesting banks here (They donate 3% of the profits to charity)

For resources on possible charities, go to the 'Charity' tab of their site.
The designers want to know your own inspiring story, send it to them here.


above: Stephanie of Materious, with her inspiration.

Materious is also the company who brought us the fabulous Samurai Umbrella.

all images and info courtesy of Materious and special thanks to Stilsucht for bringing this to my attention.

Hope Flowers In New York: Garden In Transit

Garden in Transit may be the most ambitious community collaboration and public art project in New York City history.



As part of this groundbreaking motivational art, education, and creative therapy project, thousands of kids in schools, hospitals, and community institutions are painting vibrant flowers -- symbolizing joy, life, beauty, and inspiration -- on adhesive weatherproof panels that will be applied to the hoods, trunks and/or roofs of thousands of New York City taxis. Beginning in September 2007 and until year's end, New York City will be visually transformed, as the ubiquitous yellow icon becomes a mobile artistic canvas or -- "Garden in Transit."



Quick Facts:
23,000+ people have participated in Garden in Transit.

90% of participants are from NYC public schools, hospitals and youth programs.

200+ NYC area schools and hospitals are involved.

Youth in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Georgia, and Ohio have also participated.

750,000 square feet of floral panels have been painted for the taxis, including 80,000 flowers

Using our 1" brushes as a base, the GIT participants have painted the equivalent of a 1" straight line from NYC to Vail, Colorado, a distance of more than 1,700 miles .

Hundreds of schools, hospitals and after-school programs throughout the City and beyond are participating in Garden in Transit. And thousands of adults are volunteering to lend a hand for what Mayor Bloomberg describes as a "mammoth, once-in-a-lifetime effort." When complete, the project will be a tangible lesson in the power of teamwork and collaboration.



Through their participation in Garden in Transit, thousands of kids of all ages participate in educational sessions in which they learn about, discuss, and express themselves about important current affairs, community issues, individual and social responsibilities, goals and achievements, and -- the power of teamwork.

In school sessions, participating kids integrate their writing, oral and visual presentation skills to express themselves about those individual and societal issues most important to them. As a group, the students evaluate the importance of 14 contemporary issues inclusive of: the environment, education, senior care, national security, ethnic relations, healthcare, women's equality, medical research, foreign aid, poverty, and animal rights. The students then design small-scale taxis representing those issues they would choose to be a vehicle for. The larger art collaboration -- painting the taxi panels -- is a group effort intended, in part, to demonstrate what people cooperating together are able to accomplish.



For children in hospitals, the project serves as creative therapy. Children of all ages and medical and physical conditions, have the opportunity to participate with family members, visitors, medical staffs, and hospital and project volunteers. Specialized Portraits of Hope brushes and painting methods have been incorporated including telescope paint brushes for children and adults with IVs or in wheelchairs, shoe brushes for children with injured upper limbs or who cannot manipulate a brush in their hands, and flavored mouth brushes for those who paint with their mouths. Bedside visits are made to make sure that any child who wishes to participate is able to do so.



Ed Massey and Bernie Massey founded Portraits of Hope in 1995, continuing their utilization of art and poignant visual imagery for large-scale projects of social consequence. The idea for Garden in Transit goes back to 2000 when Ed and Bernie began the drive to make Garden in Transit a reality.