Love these sculptures by Neritagli. Simple, flat-packed shapes and designs. I actually like the leftover acrylic as much as the sculptures themselves.

DiceForChange is a boxed set of three dice designed to help kids playfully engage the world in a positive way. The WellnessDice encourages you to take better care of yourself, the KindnessDice to be more kind, and the EcoDice to take care of the world.

We received this post submission from Little Studio titled “Nordic happy design”, and I think that’s the perfect name for these pieces. Their works are inspired by children – they are playful, beautiful. and colorful!

Children’s ability to see things for more than what they really are, is a great inspiration to us. For example, a triangle could just be a triangle – but it can also be a mountain. Or a circle, a circular symbol, can with other circles turn into soap bubbles.

When I was a kid, my mom painted Transformer type gauges and buttons on the underside of my brother and my bunkbed. We had a lot of fun playing with them. This Gauges and Buttons Poster by Our Children’s Gorilla could be the centerpiece of a whole lot of games like submarine or nuclear reactor control room.

Last week we wandered over to Brooklyn Bridge Park to attend the opening of Jane’s Carousel, which is now housed in a brand new pavilion designed by Jean Nouvel. The carousel is almost 100 years old, and was originally built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1922.

The Jean Nouvel designed 72 x 72 foot acrylic building is not only a protective shelter for the carousel, but a jewel box that provides framed views of the bridges as well as the Manhattan skyline. The East and West facades are fixed and completely transparent, while the other two facades open via a series of folding steel and acrylic doors. The operable facades each have 18 doors split into two groups of 9, opening from the center outwards. The doors rest on tracks recessed on the floor and programmed to open in four different positions, while the skylight, inspired by the structure of the carousel, is made of insulated glass units.

The pavilion was nice – a glass box that encases the carousel and allows it and the views of the city to be the center of attention. They didn’t do this at the opening, but apparently at sunset the shadows of the three rows of horses will be projected onto four 70′ by 25′ screens. Sounds like fun – we’ll have to go back to check it out!

The carousel lights reflected in the glass and onto the bridge beyond.

A beautiful embedded sign for the carousel.

A rendering of the light projections at night. And finally, a series of photos of the installation process taken by Julienne Schaer.

Just when you thought your kid wasn’t pretentious enough, DWR releases child-size classic chairs. Now you can have a Mies, Bertoia, or Saarinen chair for your little one to 1. draw on, 2. chew on, or 3. poop on.

I like the idea behind Memento Works’ mission: they photograph your favorite objects – your father’s watch, your child’s favorite toy, your grandmother’s passport, the toy car you loved as a kid – and print a large, mounted photo for you. Besides the sentiment behind the photographs, I like the idea of a larger than life photo of your tattered bear staring back at you – it’s both a little creepy and lovely, all at the same time.

Start your kid working on the correct posture for a crotch rocket with this neat molded plywood Bit Bike by Glodos.

I love this fox pillow by Robin & Mould in a big way. V definitely needs it for her bedroom.

I am so into these puzzles by Bongo Design. Besides the gorgeous, graphic designs of the puzzles, I love the unusual use of materials – felt, ceramic, wood. My absolute favorite is the Gold WildCAT puzzle – so beautiful!

The puzzles are meant to be put into a certain configuration, but the pieces are graphic enough that a kid could have fun making new, beautiful configurations. I love these as an alternative to the traditional puzzle and building block.

Also, some fun illustrations by Bongo Design that are in the same vein as the puzzles.