We are happy to now carry the complete line of Cuboro marble run sets, from the Cuboro Cugolino and Cugolino Pop sets for younger children, to the building blocks and six-pack sets to add greater functionality to your marble runs.
The six-pack sets are especially useful, either to augment the larger sets that they reflect, or […]

Another decorating idea for eggs, from the wonderful blog KidsHaus: Making Easter Eggs . Shows the results of adding a little (olive) oil to the dye mixture.

Although we painted our eggs this year, we usually dye them for Easter, and last year Oma surprised the boys with a trick I have since discovered on the web: boiling the eggs with onion skins will give them an orange hue, its strength varying with the length of time left boiling. Other plants and […]

“Who wants to weave potholders when you can build a robot instead?” runs the tagline for a NY Times article this week (“Arts and Crafts for the Digital Age”). It is a provocative question, and one that is not really addressed in the article itself, but I find it sad that the natural assumption is […]

I have been wandering all this night
And some time of this day
And now returning home again
I’ve brought you a branch of May
A branch of May I’ve brought you here
And at your door I stand
‘Tis nothing but a sprout, but it’s well budded out
By the work of our Lord’s hand
English May Day Carol
Arbor Day has passed, […]

The first of our new arrivals is online: The marvelous standard marble run by Cuboro of Switzerland. I have loved this marble run since the first time I saw it: the wooden blocks are beautifully cut, and the whole concept is immensely pleasing. You can make elementary runs and then, as you learn the fundamentals, […]

“The New Spinners: Yarn Is the Least of It”
There is (according to Thursday’s New York Times) a revival of spinning going on, much as there was in the ’70s when I was growing up–the difference being that many of today’s spinners do not use the yarn they have produced for knitting, but enjoy the act […]

A customer wrote to ask questions about the Stockmar Modelling Beeswax she had purchased. I was happy to redirect her to the Stockmar site, where along with an overview of the wonderful art materials they produce, they offer manuals to advise and inspire users of their crayons, paints and wax. These instructions may be downloaded […]

We recently came across a papercutting I had made some time ago, of an exotic figure with great hoop earrings, pointy shoes and wide pantaloons—a genie perhaps (I was reading The Arabian Nights when I made it). It was one of the first cuttings I had made, aside from the hearts, snowflakes and paper dolls […]

Somehow, suddenly, our trees have come alive with color. A week ago, they were still green, or maybe a muted brown at best. My wife remarked that perhaps you need such a humdrum year to make you appreciate those times when the leaves truly are ablaze. But now the hills show a patchwork of […]