Educational Insights, a leader in manufacturing toys that ignite passions and inspire imaginations, offers two innovative new baby dolls.
Beyond being crafted from the highest-quality European standards, Baby Bijoux and Baby Doux foster nurturing-care and imaginative play while exposing children to the realities of their world. The dolls come in a wide variety of just-like-me skin-tones and ethnicities, and Baby Bijoux features anatomically correct body designs.
Both dolls were awarded the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award and are already catching the attention of influential moms like @kcstauffer, with over 3.2 million followers, who has shown her daughters playing with the new dolls twice on her Instagram channel.
Baby Bijoux is a beautifully crafted, anatomically correct 15.75” (40 cm) doll which encourages self-discovery, nurturing and empathy.
Available in both boy and girl in just-like-me skin tones and hair types of African American, Asian, Caucasian and Hispanic. This baby will be sure to encourage curiosity and answer kids’ natural questions about the human body while helping to develop language and vocabulary skills and encouraging social and emotional development.
Age range: 3-6 years
MSRP:$64.99usd
Baby Doux is a 12” (30.5 cm) soft bodied baby doll available in multicultural skin tones including Hispanic, African American, Asian and Caucasian. With movable arms and legs and realistic baby details, the just-like-me skin tones promote real world connections. Encouraging your little ones to care for their baby helps teach empathy, social and emotional skills as well as promoting imaginative play.
Aleya Dao was a successful alternative health practitioner undergoing a sound healing session herself when she had one of those extraordinary ascents into an entirely expanded level of cosmic consciousness. And what she discovered in those few minutes and the days and years afterward, was how ready her Higher Self, her Body Deva and an array of personal multidimensional Team members were to help her overcome her own perceived shortcomings, destructive habits and life’s speedbumps. She decided on change. The woman she is today is not the woman she was then–and she gives full credit to the Higher Realms for helping her evolve to the happy and fulfilled trailblazing spiritual teacher, healer and author that she has become.
In her astonishing and powerful book, Seven Cups of Consciousness: Change Your Life by Connecting to the Higher Realms (New World Library), Aleya offers a direct manual on how to engage with the higher dimensions to advance your own evolution–to create a life filled with happiness and purpose, always connected with a divine and perfect aspect of yourself, protected and guided by a loving angelic presence. She shows how this kind of life becomes possible when we learn to consciously connect at the spiritual level with higher dimensions.
“When you explore your inner realms, along with the higher dimensions, your life will change in amazing ways,” writes Aleya, a sound healer, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, acupuncturist and spiritual guide for 20 years in the Southwest. She practiced in Telluride, CO, before moving to Santa Barbara, CA where she currently serves an international clientele. “The basic idea is that all your work is done at a level higher than your physical reality. There are aspects of you that exist in higher dimensions, at the spiritual level. I call these parts of you your energy self or your Higher Self.”
Seven Cups of Consciousness offers step-by-step practical guidance for reaching beyond one’s limited physical experience and energetically opening to the guidance and support of multidimensional resources.
Her book outlines specific processes built around “cups of consciousness” that are designed to give readers access to the energetic realm and the innumerable resources it contains. “The physical realm is only one of many. You are a multidimensional being expressing yourself in multiple dimensions,” writes Aleya. “You are never alone. Using your angelic resources can assist you in enormous ways.”
Just as a cup of coffee or tea helps you wake up in the morning, Aleya promises readers that sipping from the “cups of consciousness” she offers will help them awaken to higher levels of consciousness and energetic support:
First Cup – You Live in a Multidimensional Reality
Second Cup – You Are Never Alone
Third Cup – You Can Change Your Inner World
Fourth Cup – Your Challenges Can Help You Grow
Fifth Cup – Your Body Is a Nature Spirit
Sixth Cup – You Have Soul’s Wisdom
Seventh Cup – You Are Perfect
Aleya has created energetic practices designed to help readers release old patterns and gain access to a higher consciousness for each of the seven cups. Links to eleven powerful downloadable audio meditations that guide readers through these processes are also included.
Become acquainted with your own River of Light, adjacent to the front of your spinal cord
Dialogue with your Team to resolve old “stuff” that keeps you mired in lack, limitation, real world problems and broken romances
Communicate with your Body Deva, the nature spirit that is embodied as your physical self
Begin living a multidimensional life, so that you solve problems from a vantage point that you cannot by living a 2D existence
Enable your Higher Self, Team and Body Deva to support you in living a life that is fully expressed with joy, fulfillment, purpose, self-love and even romance!
“The key lies in your ability to focus on your inner world, using your imagination and intent as a way to connect to other dimensions,” writes Aleya. “You will learn that your real power comes from within and from beyond. As you develop these tools, your consciousness will evolve, your challenges will transform, and a deep inner peace and empowerment will bloom.”
TV content used to be delivered from a long distance transmitter and received by a roof antenna on your house. The antenna had to be manually or automatically positioned whenever you wanted to watch distant channels. Work was involved. Mystery was involved. Finding something to watch was satisfying.
I’m often asked what I think about the original Star Wars series versus the “new stuff”. A debate that continues to rear its ugly head again ever since Episode VII was released back in December 2015 . I think, for me, I’ve determined what the problem is and why those of us who grew up with Darth, Luke, Han and Leia have a hard time with the newer movies when the younger generation just loves them.
The ‘rabbit ears’: two metal rods sticking up from the television set. The rods could be rotated, pulled apart, shortened and lengthened etc. to fine tune a distant channel.
The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980. I was an impressionable nine year-old. Although I had seen the original Star Wars, it didn’t resonate with me as much as Empire did. When May 21 of that year hit, my life it would seem was changed forever. After seeing the film, it was all I could do to stop thinking about it and what I had seen. The cliffhanger ending was killing me and yet I seemed okay with the fact that I was going to have to wait three more years to find out what happened to Han (no spoilers here in case somehow you have somehow missed Return of the Jedi).
That summer I saw the movie 13 times. The world was a different place. I took the bus by myself downtown to the beautiful Capitol Theatre (now the even more beautiful Sanderson Centre in Brantford). There was no internet (at least, not that mere mortals could access). I got excited by the occasional mention of the Star Wars universe on the television and I wouldn’t even get a VCR for four more years so the idea of being able to watch the movie “on demand” was not even a thought in my young mind. Instead, I had to rely on my mind through my memories and imagination.
For me, getting the action figures from the movies and being able to recreate scenes from the film helped bring me back to my happy place inside the Star Wars universe. We couldn’t afford to get all the playsets and ships, so I built a lot of them out of cardboard. I used my creative side to paint them like I remembered them in the movies and as soon as I could I ordered the photo books from the school book service so that I could go back there. When the movie eventually made it onto television, a VCR-less me compromised by recording the audio of the film onto cassette. I could then listen (and listen I did) to the movie with my eyes closed and pictured it all in my mind.
If I told this story to a nine year-old today, I would get strange looks. “Dude, why wouldn’t you just watch it on Netflix or look it up on your iPad?” It just wasn’t possible. I was so desperate for a connection to the universe I even cut out the black and white mini-movie poster that was printed into the newspaper with the local theatre listings and posted it on my bedroom wall. Yes, that’s honestly how it was.
Today, I feel like the instant access we have to everything “on demand” somehow diminishes our connections to content. I am pretty sure good movies have been made after the 80s, but I would be hard pressed to find one that hasn’t held such a close connection with me. Not only is there instant access to so much of the content we get today that there is, in fact, more content out there than I can possibly keep up with. This got me to thinking, how do others deal with content overload?
In my case the biggest problem I have is video games. With over 15,000 to choose from I am rarely bored. However, I have needed to come up with a system to keep track of everything I want to play. In my vast game collection there are surely a ton of stinkers, but there are also some amazing games from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s that I have missed. Heck, I’ve missed a lot of the games that made the most critically acclaimed lists in the past few years. So I had to come up with a system.
How easy is it to have access to thousands of movies? Netflix can be streamed anytime to your I-phone.
What I do now is maintain a list on Dropbox.com that I can access anywhere. It’s called “Games I need to play.txt” (notice the “need” and not “want”). It has two sub-sections: “Started and Never Finished” and “Games to Play”. I don’t really like leaving games unfinished and so when I look at this list I am reminded of what I need to finish up (as I am often playing more than one game at a time) and then for my larger list I prioritize it with what should be next “on deck”. The list is dynamic, changing as I remember what I want to play or come across things of influence from my colleagues. I also have to admit sometimes I choose to play shorter games so that I can get through them and feel more “accomplished”. The site www.howlongtobeat.com is an amazing resource for this sort of thing.
When I asked my friends how they deal with content overload I got some interesting feedback. One of them, John, actually has an algorithm for dealing with his backlog of books. John shared it with me and it goes something like this:
1. I always have one serious and one fun book on the go and which I put on top of the night stand along with my reading glasses. Sometime I cheat and have two of each kind on the go.
2. I keep a pile of books I want to read someday in my night stand.
3. If I get bored with a book, I trade it with one in my night stand.
4. When I finish a book, I choose another from inside my night stand.
5. If I get tempted by a new book I buy it. If it will not fit in my night stand, then I discard the book that interests. Same goes for books that I’m given.
6. I do have a book shelf at work and one at home for books that I want to keep for later reference. If they get too full, I discard things of least interest.
7. I discard books by giving them to someone, donation to a charity or yard sale.
That’s pretty organized. It’s a little more efficient than how I deal with movies I have yet to watch. Presently, the ones that are on the shelf (Blu-ray or DVD) get “pulled out” a little bit so I can see them clearly among all of my other movies. Since they are all in alphabetical order I don’t want to just pull them out randomly and create a new pile.
A friend shared with me a good way to deal with television content. Just PVR or DVR all the content and then watch as you can. I tried this, but filled up my hard drive so I had to go out and buy an external drive. That drive is now dangerously full. There was some good advice in there, however. “What I do is record all the episodes of a TV show and then when it’s all done I go on a watching marathon and binge on the content for an entire day or two. If it’s a new series and I find out it has been cancelled before I even watch it, I delete all of the content and that way I’m not investing in a show that will ultimately let me down with no additional content.”
Algorithms, mechanisms, processes and lists all to deal with an over abundant amount of content. It’s a wonder there is any room left in our brains to remember or think about what we consumed last week, let alone last year. Yet I find myself looking forward to more content in an ADHD kind of way, I can’t seem to get enough. This is, ultimately, why there will never be anything better in my life than the original Star Wars and other films of the 80s (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ghostbusters, Stripes, Uncle Buck, Back to the Future). At the end of the day, I’m okay with it because there is always something good and interesting around the corner, even if I have to implement a system to manage it all. There are definitely worse things in life. For the Silo, Syd Bolton.
Vancouver-based maker of play tents for children, Domestic Objects, has made it easier for parents and children to ‘unplug’ from the digital world with their Play Tent Canopy. Designed and manufactured to fit securely over a mattress on the floor, the Play Tent Canopy offer parents a clearly delineated space for family time and imagination-based play, shutting out the digital distractions that can be harmful to early child development and lead to developmental problems such as anxiety.
Launched by Sarah Jagger in 2014, Domestic Objects has built a solid reputation in Canada, the U.S.A. and abroad for handmade, customizable play tents designed to stimulate a child’s natural curiosity and sense of play.
The Play Tent Canopy was initially created at the request of a mother with a very active toddler who was consistently climbing out of their crib. Now Domestic Objects’ best-selling product, it’s now available in four standard mattress sizes in a variety of fabrics, and as a custom order for non-standard mattresses.
“Part of the attraction of the Play Tent Canopy, I think, is practical. You can have a play area that doesn’t take up extra space in a child’s bedroom,” says Jagger. “Plus, being both a restful sleeping space and an imagination-fuelled play space, a canopy helps with the transition from a crib to a “real” bed.”
But, most important to Jagger, is how Domestic Objects play tents can bring parents and children together in play and spark a child’s innate imagination and creativity. A play tent can help a family unplug from the digital world and facilitate more natural and self-driven playtime.
A recent study by the Canadian Paediatric Society states that “[high] exposure to background TV has been found to negatively affect language use and acquisition, attention, cognitive development and executive function in children under 5 years old. It also reduces the amount and quality of parent-child interaction and distracts from play.”
Dr. Shimi Kang agrees. The award-winning, Harvard-trained doctor, researcher, bestselling author and speaker says research shows that children are less creative now than they were before the advent of the parental “helpers” like iPads and online educational games.
“We are living in an era of paradox,” says Dr. Kang. “Our society is technologically advanced, yet our children are becoming increasingly unhealthy with rising rates of anxiety, depression, and addiction. The Play Tent Canopy provides a space where children will receive the brain-boosting benefits of imaginary play, family bonding and precious downtime.”
Domestic Objects Play Tent Canopy (starting at $238 CAD) and its other products are available and ship worldwide through the Domestic Objects website and the company’s Etsy store.
ABOUT DOMESTIC OBJECTS Domestic Objects offers eight different imaginative play products, including customizable teepees and canopy beds in an array of stylish fabrics, matching floor pillows, whimsical accessories and even and a children’s book, The Play Tent of Imagination, which Jagger wrote in collaboration with illustrator Lenny Wen.
“The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.” ― W.H. Auden
“In a utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected.” (Frauds on the Fairies, 1853)” ― Charles Dickens, Works of Charles Dickens
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein
I was “that child”, the one who wanted fairy tales and magic to be real. As far back as I can remember I dreamed about having supernatural powers (always good of course…well, almost always) having carpets that flew, potions that could transform anyone or anything, the ability to speak to animals. I never understood why Darren and Samantha worked so hard at concealment. Or why Jeannie didn’t dump the Major and go back to live with the Djinn….I mean, LOOK at the decor!!!! Who wouldn’t rather have scarves and pillows and elaborate brass lamps instead of that godawful avocado and mustard vibe?
Music for fairy tales. Click me.
Books fueled this. Small witches, talking mice, flying nannies, rings and boxes and mysterious rooms and islands all combined in a grand and glorious stew. Why couldn’t I have a wizard for a teacher? (maybe I would have learned math) Why couldn’t bullies simply be turned into flowerpots? Alas, eventually the adulting creeps in. And people stop being indulgent about your whimsy. And your imagination….
You stop inviting your friends over to play make believe. Or, at least, they stop accepting. And you are encouraged to put away childish things. To accumulate the right kind of books….improving books. High tone books. Books with Purpose. The wishing frogs and tall towers and magic mirrors are packed away… Book Snobbery. Where Fantasy books in the annoying “Y.A.” category are barely tolerated. Stuff and Nonsense.(keeping it G rated here. I expect points…) Children should be encouraged to read whatever they want and adults should enjoy the same free pass. You should be proud of displaying your book on the bus whether you are reading Kafka or Twilight. There are life lessons to be found in fantasy. Fairy tales teach you that sometimes bad things do happen. (The original version of some of the most beloved and well known can be a bit brutal.
For example, the Ugly Stepsisters in Cinderella actually cut their toes off to fit into the slipper. Kiddiewinkle Disney this ain’t.. ) But good and kind usually triumph. Sometimes help can come from unexpected areas. And there is always a way out of the woods. I do live in the real world. Drive. Work. Pay taxes. Cook, clean, shop. Watch the political situation (although “real” and politics lately….never mind) When I sit at a stop light I do not think a gnome is changing the colors. I rarely look for dragons. But I still yearn for them. Magic is everywhere and everything. It may not have glittery wings, it may not be vanquished with a sword, there might not be a house dropped on it or a incantation spoken…..but it is here.
Writers poets, artists, storytellers; all know this on some level. Even if we disguise it.The human imagination is ancient. The roots of stories are found far back in oral traditions and the tales were only modified later to make them illustrations of good versus evil. We do research, we discuss, we delve and write learned papers. We collect quotes and materials, and most importantly buy the books buy the books buy the books…. Books are the real magic. The tangible, in your hands, in your face, take you wherever you want to go – Magic. Read it. Whatever the cover, whatever the rating.
If you like it, read it. Do not let any house of cards pompous proclamation tell you it’s wrong. Secretly we are looking for the elves. We want there to be fairies in the garden. We never see a shooting star without wishing. And if you are very, very lucky. You will never lose that. For the Silo, Jaye Tomas.
Yoshihito Isogawa believes his books should be like the LEGO brick—minimalist, colorful, and full of possibility.
In his nearly-wordless releases from No Starch Press, such as The LEGO Power Functions Idea Books (No Starch Press, $24.95 USD each, 324 pp./328pp., October 2015), Isogawa shares hundreds of creative ways to build mechanisms with Power Functions, a wildly popular LEGO TECHNIC system of electronic components. In these books, Power Functions gears, lights, motors, and control units are used to make sliding doors, walking robots, steerable tanks, and more, with each project encouraging readers to become inventive LEGO builders.
Isogawa’s previous books have been praised as “invaluable” (BrickJournal), “fantastic” (Boing Boing), “minimalistic but highly informative” (Booklist), and “indispensable” (The NXT STEP Blog), and this two-volume set is a treasure trove of tiny but surprisingly elegant creations that millions of LEGO Power Functions owners will use for design inspiration.
The LEGO Power Functions Idea Books showcase small projects to build with LEGO TECHNIC gears, motors, and other moving elements that are depicted in vibrant, detailed photographs. Each model includes a list of required parts that guides readers through the build while exploring the principles of simple machines, gear systems, and power translation.
Each of these volumes continues No Starch Press’s tradition of publishing high-quality books that inspire readers of all ages to stretch the limits of their imagination and build creatively with LEGO. The LEGO Power Functions Idea Books are available now in fine bookstores everywhere.
Los Angeles, USA – FLY has launched a one-of-a-kind artistic-inspirational campaign on Kickstarter, presenting the world’s first ‘pen & ink’ art book, solely designed to inspire and uplift its readers. Using pen and ink portraits and written narrative, FLY tells the stories of known and unknown human beings who dazzled the world against all odds, such as; Da Vinci, Beethoven, Coco Chanel, Karina Chikitova, Audrey Hepburn, Pelé and more.
Offering FLY’s artistic-inspirational book at a rational price tag of $35USD, Liron & Shira Ben-Arzi , the two sisters/artists behind it, aim to raise more than $11,730 to fund the production and help spread their vision of inspiration, globally. Their pure hope is that as you flick through the pages of FLY, you will be filled with a sense of strength; of light and of love. Meaning, that FLY will become our daily personal coacher, with messages of self-fulfillment and motivation, transferred through quotes, poetry and drawings. Using their personal talent and ambition, the two sisters have crafted this 240 pages book, based on pen & ink portraits and unique written narratives that tell the stories of 49 truly extraordinary people who forever changed the course of humanity.
They have collected the tales of people who have done the impossible into a book; stories of people who transcended the boundaries placed against them. For example; The unbelievable tale of Karina Chikitova – a little girl who survived 11 days in the wilds of Siberia; Sophia Scholl – A young woman who protested against the Nazis by painting murals; While also researched modern heroes, such as; gay-rights activist Brian Skerry, and artist Frida Kahlo who overcame many adversities to rise to success, as well as heroes from times gone by, such as; Leonardo Da Vinci and Ludwig van Beethoven.
“FLY is more than a book, it’s a remedy for remorse and a medicine for melancholy. It’s designed to motivate and inspire anywhere, anytime”, as Liron the painter behind it expressed. “Our vision and dream is that the power of human perseverance and of passion and positivity will flood the reader’s senses and remind him/her of the beauty and goodness in the world”, Shira, the poet in the team, added.
FLY’s Kickstarter campaign is just the beginning for these two, as they hope to take the mission of inspiration forward and much further. The awareness raised through Kickstarter will also help to fund future inspirational FLY projects including; exhibitions, lectures, workshops and other interactive visual media.
Launched by Sarah Jagger in 2014, Domestic Objects has built a solid reputation in Canada, the U.S.A. and abroad for handmade, customizable play tents designed to stimulate a child’s natural curiosity and sense of play.
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want and adults should enjoy the same free pass. You should
