Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Keep kids and babies busy on an airplane

StarKids Air Play Tray Table Cover
A few recent flights with screaming kids on them made my imagination run wild thinking about how I'd stay sane if I were the parents of those kids. Some things you can't control, but when it comes to kids that go crazy simply because they're bored, there are some good options out there.

Movies are an old standby, and I imagine we'll get a portable DVD player or an iPad soon after the baby comes. Now there are at least two companies making airplane seat tray cover toy kits, StarKids and Content & Calm.
Content & Calm TrayKit

The StarKids Air Play Tray Table Cover is better for younger kids, while the Content & Calm TrayKit is geared more for toddlers and older.

Via Springwise

Painting the nursery

When we moved into our house, we really didn't like the green in the bedroom or the office (which will eventually become the nursery). The guest bedroom also needed a new look. So, as we started thinking about new color schemes, we quickly realized we weren't redecorating the office, we should be thinking of it as decorating the nursery.

We initially chose a mint green and a yellow from the Benjamin Moore Pottery Barn Fall 2010 collection of colors. We're not sure either color is doing it for us on our test wall, so I think we're headed back to the drawing board.

This prompted us to think about what colors babies like. There's a lot of opinion all over the web, with a lot of people saying that the biggest thing to do is pick a color scheme that is calming and relaxing to us. We will do that, but some research suggests that babies prefer certain hues, too -- mostly blues and purples.

In this research, the size of the white dot indicates the length of time the 3-month-old babies in the experiment looked at a given color.  Looks like the greens and yellows we picked initially are just about the worst choice!

Our friends in LA are having a baby girl but still chose a light blue for their nursery.  We might do the same, possibly with a darker blue as an accent wall.  (And, of course, some wall decals and art to spice things up.)

Surprisingly good art for babies - and stuffed animals to match!

We've got a decent amount of art and design running in our family's blood, so we were also surprised to realize that you can find interesting art that's whimsical and fun for kids but also doesn't look generic. Our friends in LA had gotten this reproduction giraffe painting from the Land of Nod.  We liked it and tracked down the artist, Jennifer Mercede, to her Etsy page.  She's got even more imaginative creations there that you can add to your little one's room.

At the same time, we happened to bring a giraffe stuffed animal that they absolutely loved.  It's a jellycat, which is pretty much the softest stuffed animal you can imagine.  The giraffe is really cool and unique, if I do say so myself.

Nursery wall decal decorations

We visited some friends in LA this weekend and slept on their pull-out couch in what will become their nursery in about a month. They had painted the walls a nice, light blue and were in the process of putting up wall decals. We helped them finish putting up the blossoms blowing in the wind, and thought the final result looked pretty good.

We had thought about getting some ourselves, but didn't know where to go. Turns out, the answer is Etsy.  Check them out for lots of great options.