Some of our favourite things

Hand-knitted rattles from Bangladesh, art and craft smocks from Australia, pretty party dresses from Ecuador, ruffle skirts and denim shorts inspired by the 70s and 80s – these are a few of our favourite things.

The Gypsy Caravan

It's Casey here... thought I would share with you a few snapshots of the bedroom my two young daughters share – the colourful and eclectic Gypsy Caravan!

Yes there is a lot of Little Gypsies pieces in the girls room, along with an array of collected bits and pieces from vintage markets and travels abroad. I adore their room, it's warm, fun and playful, a sweet little sanctuary. This gives you a good idea of what can be done for an alternative children's bedroom.

The girls love their Little Gypsies tepee, we are lucky enough to have the space in the room to have it set up permanently, but on cool days we fold it up and move it to the backyard for tea parties.

Old-school toys for our kids

Sorry it's been a while since I logged on – juggling a five year old and a 12-month old is very consuming! I have also been doing some research into what kind of toys to feature on my website, Little Gypsies, especially those that have a strong educational component.

You see, I tend to steer away from computer-based toys and instead opt for classic, old-school alternatives for my kids. Aside from the fact that they tend to last longer, I have also found that they stimulate the kind of foundation skills that develop into more complex learning skills.

A friend of mine, Samantha Daley*, who just happens to be a Paediatric Occupational Therapist, believes that an overuse of technological-based toys like Game Boy and Nintendo, can delay a child’s developmental skills and even contribute to conditions such as ADD and ADHD.

“Old-school toys like yoyos and lacing toys help integrate our sensory systems, refine motor skills, and develop eye-hand coordination,” Samantha explains. “These are really important tools that help kids with self-maintenance skills such as tying up their own shoelaces and doing the zippers on their jackets and jeans,” she says.

“For example, Little Gypsies’ lacing games not only help kids develop fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills but also help improve their sequencing skills. These are really important in pre-literacy and pre-numeracy tasks such as seeing patterns in words when learning to spell, copying from blackboards, and understanding the multiplication table.”

In fact, none of the toys or educational games featured on Little Gypsies require batteries and they are all made to last so you can hand them down to younger brother, sisters and cousins. To see the full collection, check out the Play and Learn sections at www.littlegypsies.com


* For more information about Samantha Daley's work, visit www.spot4kids.com.au