Gigantic teeter-totters (called 'wippen' in Germany) by DS Landscape Architects

Kindergarten Taku-Tuka Land by Susan Hoffman Architects

A not-so-grown-up conversation with my lovely friend Ashley, reciting recess rhymes and indulging the nostalgia of playtime, led to an amazing discovery - the blog PLAYSCAPES about the unique architecture of non-commercial playgrounds. The image samples above hint at the wonderful, informational curation of playgrounds worldwide new and old. Totally an under rated form of sculptural art, the kinetic experience a playground offers is beautiful and important. Insightful commentary about where each playground exists and why accompanies each image and the author often notes the impact playground design has on a child's learning process. Such as, the fact that seesaws are one of the few playground devices that require cooperation for play to occur (re the giant teeter-totters in Germany). 

Bandai's Luminodot from Long Tran on Vimeo.

Perhaps Christmas was not as successful as endeavor as anticipated. In which case, I highly recommend cashing in the sum of your returns for something wayyyy better - Bandai's Luminodot Lite-Brite HD Board. What is it? It's like, the best thing ever. You and your fam can generate your own artwork as pdf templates, and even use one of the pre-programmed Led animated sequences to light up your creation. Found at audiocubes.com, a site that carries many high tech Japanese gadgets, this high-tech 3500 peg display (whhaat?) is reason enough to look on the bright side.

(left to right) Sarah, Danny, Mike, Nori, Tom

Disclaimer: Listen to The Not-It's! at your own risk of spontaneously busting a move and/or singing along. The Seattle-based band is an eclectic ensemble come together to highlight an underrated genre - indie-rock for kids! They sing songs about helicopters, taking a bath and dressing up  to the tune of 'crunchy, rockin' guitars and lovable pop-infused melodies. Their uniforms include pink tutus (girls) and glittery Chucks (boys).  If you follow the band, you know they've been playing a hard to beat game of tag-and-go with the release of a new album and a jam-packed-with-fun performance schedule. I caught up with them long enough to get some insider, additional hipster-cred, facts about each member:

Mike -  (drummer) Rides a unicycle and wore a bolo tie all thru 8th grade
Nori - (bass) Knows how to play the Philippine nose flute (the tongali)
Danny- (rhythm guitar) Favorite movie is The Sound of Music
Tom- (guitar) Has six tarantulas in his class room (he's an elementary school teacher) and has full sleeve tattoos
Sarah -  (lead singer) Saw Blondie in concert when she was twelve

OH! Another reason to check out their website , um Karaoke!

Atypyk walks the walk and talks the talk. Inspiration for the wooden brand puzzle? "Because it's never too early to learn what's important in life."

($42) Peg puzzle. Wood. 7pieces.
Size: 20x20cm. All Ages.



Photo YBP / Alicia Vega

The 'Official' YBP kid's tee

The Indie Rock Coloring Book ($10) is the newest addition to the Yellow Bird Project (YBP) - a Montreal-based non-profit that collaborates with a TON of different indie musicians to design fun swag (t-shirts are their main gig) to raise awareness and "the prettiest of pretty profits" for charities of the artists' choice. C O O L. The picture pages of the Indie Rock Coloring Book are the handy work of illustrator Andy J. Miller. Hours of entertainment and lessons a-plenty while you color outside the lines of Bon Iver's enchanted water supply and get giddy about the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah carnival. Other page dedications include musicians and YBP pals Iron & Wine, The National, Devendra Banhart and MGMT. >>>GET INTO IT<<<