The wonderful craft pages at the equally wonderful blog Bloesem Kids features instructions how to create your own shadow puppet show. By chance, the post came up on the same day that I received a DVD of the 1926 film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a movie by the German animator Lotte Reiniger, whose style was greatly determined by traditional Chinese shadow puppets.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is taken from The Arabian Nights, and tells the story of the Caliph’s son, who is borne away to adventure by a flying mechanical horse, created by an evil magician. The silhouettes are at once intricate and expressive, beautifully setting forth the framework of the story, while enticing the viewer’s imagination to fill in its details.

Several clips from the movie are viewable on YouTube: I encourage you to be inspired by them, and by Arounna Khounnoraj’s Bloesem project, and see what you and your kids can create yourselves!

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I have liked the look of Lorina Siminovich’s work at Petit Collage for some time now, and was happy to see a DIY découpage project from her at Design Sponge.

If you are feeling crafty and need a fun spring project, why not give it a try? Make some wall art, or add a splash of color to some furniture–I can think of loads of other possibilities as well!

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 just to add a few new twists and turns to your standard Cuboro runs. And the Cugolino sets, as a stand-alone units that later may be used in conjunction with the runs for older children, provide a fun (and eye-pleasing) introduction to the fascination world of kugelbahns.

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 spices can create different natural dyes. For instructions, and for other natural coloring suggestions, have a look at this article in National Geographic’s Green Guide.

This holiday season sees many new additions to our collection of smoking men from the Erzgebirge: the charming smokers by the workshop of Klaus Merten, and a number of cunning miniature smokers from Crottendorf.

The Merten smokers are the typical height of the Erzgebirge smoking man–approximately 8 inches–and feature a wide range of subjects: There are a professor, station master, coachman, gardener, herbseller, cabinetmaker and even a clockseller and guitar player!

The Crottendorfer miniatures are approximately 4 3/4 inches in height, and use a miniature incense cone. Again, there is a gardener (to brighten gloomy winter days!), and also a postman, a forester and my favorite, a skier.

And I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the new smoking man from the Wolfgang Braun workshop: The night watchman with his dog is a handsome second smoker from the craftsmen who make our wonderful shepherd with sheep.

We have the three bears:

This is a spectacular set, smoothly finished and wonderful to hold. They range from a Baby Bear of 1 3/4 inches to a quite substantial Papa Bear, who fills an adult’s hand. In this case, Goldilocks will find that all three are just right.

We’re very excited to be able to offer three new baby toys–new to us, that is. They are the Fish Rattle, disk grasping toy and wooden rattle ball, three designs in the “Spielzeug Allbedeut” series by the German philosopher Hugo Kuekelhaus. They are made by a workshop for the mentally handicapped in Germany, and are all a delight to touch, hold and even hear.

I had another of the Kuekelhaus rattles as a child, a clapper that is no longer made. It has lasted these many years, to be used by my own sons, and I know that these three designs will prove similarly timeless and longlasting.

The photographs submitted by Pinhole Camera enthusiasts are viewable online here.

I did not make a camera or take a photo, but the results of the event are intriguing enough to get me going for next year! It is amazing how diverse the submitted photographs are, some looking a century old, and others quite modern. In all aspects, actually–subject, location, and even age, with photographers as young as 9 years old. (I like number 145 especially, made by a young girl: it almost has the look of a Blossfeldt botanical print, but is an arrangement of magnolia petals and dandelions.)

Stop by and catch the bug!

The New York Times has an article on “redshirting”, or holding a younger child back a year before starting kindergarten. Redshirting is something we never considered for our oldest child, who has a Halloween birthday, until it was too late: in retrospect, it might have been the wise thing to do, both socially and academically. Its usefulness depends of course on the child, and it may soon be a moot point if the states themselves move backward the age cut-off dates. A thought-provoking piece. (And it is nice to see them bring up Froebel and his toys/gifts!)