Put a smile on the faces of animal lovers tall and small with these hand-painted wall plaques by National Badger. With every critter from the koala to the aardvark (in every shade from teal to magenta), artist Christine Heinitz can customize the wall hangings to your specific preferences. Watch while they seamlessly transform your playroom into a virtual petting zoo.
For more decorating ideas for kids, click here.
For a fragrance as fresh and sweet as your new baby, try this Lavender Nursery spray by Sweet Grass Farms. It is perfect for liberally spritzing on crib bedding, ratty blankies, or diaper genies, and the aroma is adult enough to scent your own boudoir. Trust us, it's far more palatable than Eau De Dirty Diaper.
It was only a matter of time before high design made its way into your kid's lunchbox. Y Water has mixed up the first all-natural, organic "developmental drinks", including BrainWater (with zinc to improve concentration and receptiveness) and ImmuneWater (stocked with vitamins and antioxidants). And if you and your child are so inclined, you can use the 100% recyclable containers to build sculptural, lego-like masterpieces, thanks to the genius of designer Yves Behar's fuseproject.
We love our verbena and basil eye cream as much as the next gal, but those stronger scents aren't going to cut it when moisturizing the kids' chapped lips and sunburnt noses. Thankfully, mother and beauty maven Kristen Bassick has created this line of completely natural lotions in kid-friendly scents like chocolate, lemon, and our favorite, Front Lawn, which smells exactly like freshly cut grass. As the Stuff for Sprouts motto goes, "Nothing weird. Nothing gross. Just good stuff for dry skin." Sounds like a winning recipe.
Click here for more kid-friendly cosmetics.
You've hauled the whole family out to dinner--and instead of crisp linens, the tables are covered in white butcher paper and scattered with crayons. What a lifesaver! Why not bring this tame-the-tots strategy home with the Mealtime Rhymes Placemat Book by Chronicle. It includes 36 pages of tear-off paper placemats, with full color illustrations on one side and black and white versions on the other so they can try their hands at drawing inside the lines, while you try yours at having a peaceful meal.
If you're still rigging your iPod up with a tangle of cords when the tunes need to blare louder than your headphones allow, it is time to look into an easier speaker solution. Pop your device into this Ladybug Ipod Dock from Vesta-Life, which is compatible with all iPod incarnations, from the Video version to the shuffle, and has three speakers so that you can amply blast your beats.
With the endless greening of all household cleaning products, it is about time that someone turned an environmentally friendly eye to the supplies that new parents need most. The people at Dapple have created a line of green, baby-safe household cleaners specifically targeted at stubborn formula and breast milk stains and odors. Every new mother should be able to breathe so easy.
Click here for more green ideas.
Hoping to add a bright, homespun touch to your home decor? These letter pillows from Anthropologie fit the bill. Use them to spell out a name in a nursery, teach the ABC's to a toddler, or inject some extra fun into a playroom. And there's no need to keep them solely for the kids- the ethnic-inspired prints would also look great (and sufficiently adult) propped up in a powder room or hung in your entryway.
For more decorating ideas, click here.
Summer's close on our heels, and the sun will soon be directly overhead and at its strongest. Protect your brood not only from those harmful UVAs, but from the toxins contained in most sunscreens, by using Burt's Bees' new Chemical-Free Sunscreen. The gentle potion uses natural minerals to create a barrier against harmful rays, and comes in SPF 15 or 30. (And for those that forget to apply theirs liberally, Burt's Bees also offers an After Sun Soother.)
For more summer skin tips, click here. Plus, check out more of our natural beauty tips.
It's not always easy to get excited about practical housewares, but leave it to great designers to elevate the mundane to the status of art. The people at Creative Danes are turning our heads with their new take on the trivet. Their version comes in an array of bold colors, snaps together to fit handily into any utensil drawer, and has a fun shape reminiscent of a propeller or a pinwheel. You won't even want to cover them up with that hot casserole dish.
