When I was a little kid, every time my grandfather would come to visit me he would buy me a balsa wood airplane. I loved everything about them, from putting them together to getting to watch them fly, and eventually breaking them to pieces through a series of intense crash landings. As fond as my memories of those planes are, I can tell you none of them looked as good as these colorwings. These beauties are 20″ long and have a 6.5″ wingspan and under perfect conditions can fly as far as 300 yards. According to A+R “These planes are much, much more fun than anything we experienced growing up!”. We’ll see about that.

Available from A+R for $12.

Automoblox have been around for a couple of years now, and have won plenty of design awards. Our two year old is a huge car fan and we recently picked up our first automoblox for him to play with. I was a little concerned it would be a bit over his head, but besides the one lost wheel it has been a huge success. I’ve been extremely impressed with it as well. Great attention to detail, good quality and an affordable price. They have several new styles with some more aggressive styling and complete with front splitter, side skirts, rear diffusers and BBS styled wheels. All that extra style for the same great price.

Available from Automoblox for $12.

I can understand how you might think I’m developing an obsession (healthy, of course) with wooden toys. I mean, the evidence is there (here and here, to be precise). There is just something sublimely appealing about them - tactilely, aesthetically, and cool-factor-ly. Take these toys by David Weeks, for example. Hardwood limbs, elastic muscles, endless poses - AWESOME. They’re even made from sustainably harvested beech wood so you can feel good about life. Seriously, what’s not to like? I for one am standing strong in my love for wooden toys - join me if you like!

Wooden animals for cool kids and hip adults available from Design Public: $55 - $125.

I am in love with these quirky wooden toys from TARU Design! Choose from 3 designs available in bocotte, cocobolo, wenge, zebrawood, or wild cherry.  

About:
TARU is a small Montreal workshop that designs, conceives and builds wooden art toys. Each toy is unique and hand-made from different wood essences. I am especially attentive to the materials and fabrication of my toys, in order to offer refined and quality objects. The sensual aspect of my figurines is evoked by rounded angles and silky texture. Their aesthetic simplicity and kind faces charm children and adults alike.

After fifteen years of work in the field of illustration and cartooning/graphic novels, I only recently started to create small sculptures/art toys. My love for wood – a living, tactile material - as well as the birth of my first child motivated me to go from drawing to the making of tri-dimensional wooden figurines. Toys have always inspired me; they are precious tools that help us build our imagination.

Handmade wooden art toys from TARU Design: $30 - $45.

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The Madrid-based company Nine to Nine offers a wonderful collection of modern furniture and design for babies and kids. Among the standout items is the Zebra crib, a more playful version of the standard crib with its slightly off-set bars (or stripes). I also love the Caterpillar stool, which is incredibly versatile. Alone it’s a stool, linked together it forms a bench - a great example of form and function! Check out the rest of their collection here.

For purchasing information, contact Nine to Nine directly.

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I love it when I see modern kids stuff, especially the hard to find stuff like doll houses. This labor of love comes from My Modern Mini. Designed and built by an architect who has a love for building models this is the first of hopefully a long series of modern doll houses. The house is 1:12 scale built from MDF and painted with a primer coat ready for customization. Current introductory pricing is $299. If that is too steep for you, hopefully these pictures will inspire you to make your own.

Available for $299 from My Modern Mini

Lots more pictures after the jump.

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As my lovely wife and I have recently welcomed a beautiful second child into our family we have been amazed at how much more modern kids stuff is available now compared to two years ago. Point in case - rocking chairs. When we got our storytime chair from nursery works it was far from affordable, but there wasn’t really a whole lot of choices at the time. Enter 2009 and now Ikea has released a rocking version of their wonderful (and dare I say iconic) POÄNG chair. We saw it Saturday at our local Ikea, and it looks pretty sharp. It’s just as comfortable as the original iteration and starting at $129 just as affordable. Best of all you can use all the regular POÄNG covers to tailor it to your individual tastes.

Available from Ikea starting at $129.

picture via

I love toys, especially mechanical ones that are full of engineering genius like these ones from Chico and Francisco Bicalho. These three toys, the Skidum, Awika and Le Pinch are all part of the MoMA stores “Destination Brazil” series. Each toy winds up and moves in it’s own special way. Some shoot sparks, some glow in the dark, and all of them look just as brilliant sitting there as they do in action.

Available from the MoMA store for $15.

It was recently announced that the classic Frank Lloyd Wright home falling water will now be available as a lego kit. It was designed in conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Brickstructures, Inc. and the LEGO Architecture brand. It’s expected to go on sale this July, pricing is still unknown but should be around $55. What is known is that it looks brilliant and that I want one. A big thanks to Amanda for pointing it out to me.

Available from Brickstructures in July

More from Prairie Mod

With a two year old in the house the need for some melamine dinnerware has become a simple fact of life. I’m normally a big fan of melamine, it’s cheap and can be very attractive. At least I thought it was cheap. Looking around at some of the “modern” examples from Jonathan Adler, French Bull and even Pop Ink show prices upwards of $9 for one plate. I admit they are all really good looking plates, but is it too much to ask for a simple plate for a messy two year old that doesn’t cost over $5? Luckily while I was at Target on Monday we were able to score some decent looking plates. They may not be as hip as some, but the price was right.

Melamine plates from Target, set of 4 for $15.

Anyone know any other cheap but hip melamineware?