love from the media: Pregnancy & Newborn Mag

We're featured!  Thrilled for our camera imagination toy to be included in Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine's Fall 2013 Buyers Guide.  Yahoo!

 

sneak peek: 2013 personalized ornaments

Our new 2013 personalized holiday ornaments are almost complete!  Here's a sneak peek at what's in store for you this year.  We've got lots of new, one-of-a-kind designs along with some updated best sellers from last season.

+ 23 designs to choose from
+ free shipping to anywhere in the US
+ crafted from solid maple hardwood (sustainably grown)
+ personalized with your name/phrase of choice
+ comes with red ribbon for hanging, bag for gifting/storage, and a free sticker

Ideal for baby's first Christmas, young/old kids alike, newlyweds, hostesses, and teachers. A true heirloom gift for any age!  Want to buy for your employee Christmas party or the family get-together? We offer generous discounts on large orders.  Just email us for more info.

{ VISIT Smiling Tree's website TO SNATCH SOME UP }
Available for purchase very soon.

Want to stay up-to-date on sales, coupon codes, giveaway, and new items?  

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

homemade apple cider

This time of year at our house is all about brilliant orange and yellow squash from the gardens, raking leaf piles for the little ones to lose themselves in, cool evening bonfires, and crisp, juicy apples from the family orchard.

Feast your eyes on this visual recap of our recent apple cider pressing, and then visit your local apple orchard to get some for yourself!

Freshly picked from the family's organic orchard
"...Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees. Please!" - Joni Mitchell

We send the apples through a garbage disposal fashioned just for this purpose
(Maybe it's cheating a bit not to grind by hand, but it's much easier on the
 muscles and the end result is just as good)

Crushed apples go first into a cheesecloth bag and then into our 40+ year-old wooden cider press

And out comes the good stuff

Pasteurizing

Then into quart jars for canning

So pretty

And oh-so good

For a little more fall fun, grab a mug of hot or cold apple cider and head on over to 

our toy shop for some autumn baby finds:

autumn-inspired teethers by Smiling Tree Toys

Smiling Moon Balancer in action

Neptune from Montessori Ici was kind enough to share her recent blog post all about our Smiling Moon balancing toy.  Her two little ones are having a blast with it, and they're learning all about balance, colors, stacking, and sorting while they play.  Read on to hear all about Neptune's experience with this toy, and enjoy her gorgeous photos...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Wednesday, 4 July, 2012

Balancing

For summer, I have tried to find a few toys that I could play with the kids when they either need to get way from the sun, or during a rainy day.  Although these have been scarce lately, we have found ourselves going inside a few times to get away from the heat.

This week, I got this toy out.  It is a balancing moon game by Smiling Tree Toys that I found on Etsy.  I like that it is handmade, with natural material, the quality is outstanding, and it is very inviting to play with.

We have been playing many ways with this toy.  Alone, or together, as a game or just an activity of balancing.  E has even found his way of playing with the parts of this toy: by using the wooden rods to pile them up, and even sort them by colours (and of course, trying to balance them on the moon, with a lot of success I might say!).

X and M have been playing together a lot at this, but I have also seen X trying to make patterns and montage of his own...which are not always successful...but still loads of fun

escaping block on the right

The kit comes in a drawstring bag, and contains the moon and 14 wooden dowels to balance on the moon.

It is simple yet fun, it is open ended enough to be able to make many variation of the game, portable, and playable about anywhere. We are totally happy with this toy, perfect summer game.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

**For more great handmade toys from Smiling Tree, visit our Etsy Shop - you'll find wood teethers, rattles, cars, blocks, personalized toys, and oodles more.  

**NEW** Go behind-the-scenes and get a feel for daily life at our home-based business in our new About Us page.