INTRODUCE a new generation of children to Oscar Wilde’s classic tales with this gorgeous collection from Little Island Books.
Printed on high-quality paper, with a linen-effect cover, gold foil details, and a ribbon bookmark, Oscar Wilde’s Stories for Children features six of Wilde’s best-known stories: The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, The Devoted Friend, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Remarkable Rocket, and The Young King.
With a foreword by award-winning writer Colm Tóbín, these are beautifully brought to life with illustrations from Lauren O’Hara.
This book is destined to become an heirloom in many homes and is available for €25.
Dash and dine
The fact that small children eat little but often means parents need to keep a ready supply of snacks on hand at all times.
This food travel set from mummycooks.com is a great way to carry these snacks when you’re out and about.
It includes an insulated cooler bag, a hot-and-cold pack for keeping food cool or warm, and a 300ml flask that comes in a range of colours. Also included is a Travel With Baby e-book full of tips on how to provide healthy food for young children when you’re on the move.
The set costs €39 and is one of a range of products sold by Siobhán Berry, an expert in infant nutrition and Dublin-based mother of two who runs mummycooks.com, a business offering advice, recipes, and feeding-and-weaning products for children.
Cookie ‘monsters’
What better way to while away the hours on a rainy day than baking cookies? Little ones enjoy making them almost as much as they enjoy eating them.
This cookie-box kit, from thebakingbox.ie, consists of a step-by-step guide and all the dry ingredients needed to make 13 large cookies. It costs €19.50 and you can choose whether you want your cookies to be studded with white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, Smarties, or a combination. There are also cupcake and brownie kits.
Come rain or shine
Many children don’t do well cooped up indoors, which can make living in rain-soaked Ireland challenging for their parents.
That’s unless they splash out on a pair of these rain overalls from wearegoose.ie, an Irish children’s clothing brand that specialises in footwear and outdoor apparel.
These overalls are windproof and waterproof, with adjustable braces to accommodate little ones as they grow. They are fleece-lined for warmth, made from wipe-clean fabric for convenience, and have elasticated ankles and foot straps for extra protection.
They cost €39.50, come in a range of colours, and fit children aged one to five years.
Nature workshop
Lough Gur Visitor Centre and Lakeshore Park are hosting biodiversity workshops for children this Friday, February 20. There are two to choose from: One in the morning from 9am to noon, and the other in the afternoon, from 1pm to 4pm.
Both are for children aged seven to 12 and will teach them about the rich, natural life around Lough Gur and the ways to protect and care for it. Activities will include pond dipping, seed planting, and more.
The workshops cost €25 per child and can be booked via eventbrite.ie.
Away with the fairies
Dreams are set to come true at the Fairy School Camp in Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Blarney this mid-term.
Taking place from 9.30am to 1pm on February 19 and 20, this camp is for children aged from four to eight and promises two days of magic, pixie dust, and fairy fun. Children will take part in activities such as dance, drama, and fairy arts and crafts. They will also be granted their own set of fairy wings, a fairy crown, and a magic wand on completion of their training.
