Why are Pirates called Pirates? Because they AAAAARRR!

 

We don’t really understand what the appeal of Pirates is to young children, but we know that they just love  them!  Out of interest we went around the shop and counted up all the pirate related things we have and it seems to be growing all the time.

Pirate Skittles, Pirate Puppets,

Pirate Dolls, Pirate Mobiles, Pirate Clocks, Pirate Books

Phew – and there’s more but that’ll do for now!  With any luck Johnny Depp will read this blog and drop in dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow – well we can live in hope;-)

Meanwhile, amaze your friends with these jokes – just pretend you made them up – no one will know:-

Why didn’t the pirate get hungry on the desert island?   Because of all the sand which is there!

 

What do pirates use to blow their noses?  Anchor-chiefs!

 

How much did the pirate pay for his peg leg and hook?   An arm and a leg!

Little Grey Rabbit Heads Our Way!

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, a Little Grey Rabbit was born – about 80 years ago to be precise and along with friends such as Fuzzypeg the Hedgehog, Little Grey Rabbit has continued to delight children and adults alike.

Author Alison Uttley created a cosy little world with her wildlife characters and the illustrations by Margaret Tempest really bring the stories to life.

These beautiful little stories are available again now and we have our first batch here at Sprogs.  As well as the little story books there is a gorgeous pop-up book available too.  They arrived just in time for Easter, but they are sure to be a winner with little ones all year round.  To tell the truth adults will secretly buy them for themselves as none of us can resist them!  But hopefully they will let the kids get a look in…

 

 

Do You Know What Your Baby Sees?

When you think of a perfect gift for a new baby, you probably think of something soft, cute or cuddly and probably colourful.  These things are all fine of course, but research shows that new babies are not born with the best eyesight, it develops over time. In fact, for the first six months, they do not have fully developed sight.
The best thing to help to stimulate them is to use bold images in high contrasting colours, such as black,white and  also red.  Black and white works brilliantly and helps the images to really stand out clearly and keep your baby’s attention.

We have had our new range of black and white baby board books for a couple of weeks now and they are proving very popular.  This range is by Picthall and Gunzi who publish all sorts of baby books and the black and white range features titles such as Spots and Dots, Hearts and Stars, Flowers, Baby Animals and lots more.  They are not expensive mainly about £4.99 and £5.99, so you can collect lots in the series.

All Things Woolly

Wool is a very topical subject here at Sprogs at the moment as we are surrounded by springy little lambs in the fields here in Winchcombe and are about to have the first Wool Festival next month. We plan to fill our window with as many wool related items as we can find!  Starting with our children’s “Learn to Knit” kit, perfect for getting little ones starting to create their own woolly things.

 Our Fair Trade knitted snake rattles will be there as well, trying not to be eaten by our enormous green Dinosaur.  We also have a good supply of little Cotswold sheep toys (as above picture) in readiness – we like to think they are Cotswolds – either way they are very cute and woolly!!

Meet Toddy Bear

Sprogs has a story to tell, all about a little Bear called Toddy, who found himself in an unfortunate predicament when he was ill treated by some mean boys and then rescued by a kind man and brought to our shop.  You can read the beginning of his story here http://alittlebearcalledtoddy.blogspot.com/ on his very own blog.  Toddy hopes you will enjoy it and keep coming back for further instalments.

Fairtrade Forever

Daisy Dress

 

Fairtrade Fortnight has been and gone, but here at Sprogs it is Fairtrade all year round.  We continue to look for lovely clothes, toys and gifts that are all ethically made with as little damage to the planet as possible.  We now have good links with suppliers who import goods from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa, all of whom have actually been out to these countries to check on the working conditions and pay that the makers receive. The Bishopston Daisy dress pictured above is a great example of Fairtrade clothing.

What is more heartwarming than to see your child or grandchild wearing a beautifully made item of clothing or playing with a hand made toy and knowing that a less fortunate child is going to benefit.

Pebble Octopus

We also love to find things made in this country and are delighted with  the new Buttonbag craft kits that are in now.  The Lucky Black Cat is sure to be a favourite and the Knitting Kit continues to be a great success – we just love the retro look to the Spotty suitcase that the knitting kit is presented in.

Lucky Black Cat Sewing Kit

Learn to Knit Kit

Ooh so many new ideas for presents – the hard bit is choosing between them all!

The Biggest Rag Doll In The World!!!

She's Huge!!

We knew we had been feeding our rag dolls well, but when we arrived at the shop the other day and found this one in the window, we knew we had gone too far!!!!!!!  She is a giant!!! Luckily she is happy to be in the shop window and really doesn’t mind all the people who are outside pointing and staring.  Sadly she is not for sale, but of course we still have lots of smaller ones who are sooo much easier to look after!

There is no way this enormous doll would fit on our brand new range of wooden chairs and stools, so we will be saving them for all the dainty little children who will surely want one.  We have Tractors, Pirates, Cats, Dogs, Princesses….. and lots more to come – all beautifully made to Fair Trade standards in Thailand from a very special wood from the Monkey Pod tree.  This amazing tree grows about 13 feet a year, so there is always a surplus and luckily for us it is made into gorgeous wooden furniture and toys.

Here’s just a few examples

Lion Chair

Rocking Carousel Horse

Pirate Stool

Little Princess Stool

 

 

Aren’t they just fab?? and it’s great to know that no forests were damaged, no wildlife was compromised and no people were exploited in the making of these things – aaah that makes us very happy Sprogs people…;-)

Happy New Sprogs!!

Happy New Year!

So, the silly season is over and now it’s time for all the boring jobs that we didn’t have time for up to Christmas  – boo!!

Aah well at least we have lots of lovely trade fairs to look forward to in January/February, where we can indulge ourselves and check out all the new toys that we want to have in Sprogs for 2011.

Definitely on the list are more big items such as wooden dolls houses, train sets, ride on toys and lots more – we are going to produce a Sprogs catalogue with an advance ordering and deposit option as we know that buying these quality items can be costly and we want to give our customers the option of ordering well in advance and paying a deposit so that they know they have reserved their present for that special Birthday etc.  These are just a few examples

Pink Palace

Wooden Play Garage

Ride On Calfy

Anyway, time to get back to the stocktaking -yawn…….;-)

The Pumpkin Is Nearly Ready!

Don’t you just love Autumn? Everything seems to take on a warm orange glow (and I don’t mean the people desperately trying to hang on to summer by plastering themselves with fake tan)! Leaves on trees are turning orangey red, pumpkins are starting to ripen and shop windows are starting to look distinctly Halloweenish. We are cultivating our own pumpkin ready for Sprogs window (we just grow the one, but rely on quality not quantity) and we are looking forward to our little town of Winchcombe throwing itself into the spirit of the scary season.

We have started the festivities by hanging a very large realistic looking wolf outside the shop (we like people to remember us as the shop that always has something unusual outside)! Trouble is instead of being scary, our wolf is drawing ooh’s and aah’s from everyone who sees him! He is far too cuddly and lovable!

We also have a very large Tiger who is going out next (well at least he is orange ish) these large toys are a whopping 30 inches long! perfect for snuggling up to on cold Autumn evenings, and very cheap to feed;-)

So, it’s time to dig out those warm boots and make the most of lovely Autumn days before the clocks change. We would suggest a pair of our sheepskin bootees would be perfect for the little ones….

Anyway, got to go now before all the conkers are nabbed, plus the pumpkin needs a polish……………enjoy.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring….

Thank goodness Sprogs isn’t one of those silly High Street shops who only sell things in season. Right now, our best sellers are Wellies and Umbrellas!! Luckily we have good stocks of both all year round – you won’t find us letting little ones get wet…

Jungle Animals Umbrella!

Dinosaur Umbrella!

Mermaid Umbrella!

We still love the name of our best wellies “Spotty Otters! Red or Blue suit boys or girls and we just can’t get enough of them! from baby size 3 up to size 12

Spotty Otters!

And we mustn’t forget the only cat that actually enjoys getting wet………….

Pink Cat Wellies

Yes, we are nothing if not well prepared for the good old British weather – new supply of wellies arriving any minute – if that doesn’t trigger a heatwave, nothing will……..;-)