Category Archives: Young kids

Gentle TV Shows for Kids – Part 3: Stella and Sam

Thanks for tuning in to Part 3 of this series on gentle TV shows for your little ones! These are some of our family’s favorites! Not too busy, scary, negative, or in your face. They’re gentle, fun, and entertaining stories with sweet characters in beautifully whimsical settings.

If you’re just joining in you may want to also check out Part 1 about the show Tumble Leaf and Part 2 on Puffin Rock.

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“Funny how things get so much better whenever we spend a little time together!” – Stella and Sam Theme by Emilie Mover

Stella and Sam is the whimsically animated series, based on the books by Marie-Louise Gay, about a little brother with with fuzzy blonde hair and big sister with curly red hair! The show is sweetly creative, gentle, and full of imaginative adventures in and around their country home.

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Our family enjoys how nonjudgmental the show is. Things aren’t looked at as problems, they’re just things. Stella takes it all in stride and helps her little brother through any difficulties, frustrations, or disappointments. Sweetly, thoughtfully, and creatively!

When Sam is feeling limited by his small size, Stella helps him imagine they’re gaints! Apples are cherries, a caterpillar is a farmer, and you have to be careful not to drop the cow from way up high! To help Sam feel better after subbing his toe, Stella teaches him how to make Laughabet soup, a pot full of things that make Sam laugh!

Stella invents Brother’s Day where she makes a super sweet day full of thoughtfully simple surprises for her little brother, Sam. She even asks the “sky painter” to paint a beautiful sunset for him!

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Stella and Sam play through all seasons, in the rolling hills and woods around their home. Jumping in piles of leaves, playing in the snow, using their imaginations in the spring warmth and the summer heat. They even search for the wind, which the find on top of a hill, there’s plenty of playing outside in nature!

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Stella and Sam also like to play with their neighbor friends, Felix, Ivy, and Owen! On a hot day they imagine they’re on an African safari! Blasting off to an alien planet to find where kiwi’s come from, playing a concert over in the meadow, along with little farm animals! An imagined trip to China, complete with a friendly dragon!

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We adore how simply sweet Stella, Sam, and their friends are! They’re thoughtful and sweet with big imaginations! What shows do you like to watch with your little ones?

Gentle TV Shows for Kids – Part 2: Puffin Rock

Thanks for tuning in! Hopefully this series will help you find good gentle TV shows for your little ones! These are our family’s favorites! Not too busy, scary, negative, or in your face. They’re gentle, fun, and entertaining stories with sweet characters in beautiful settings.

If you’re just joining us you may want to check out Part 1 about the show Tumble Leaf on Amazon Prime Video.

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On the show Puffin Rock a young puffin named Oona and her little brother, Baba, live with their parents and friends on a tiny but gorgeous island off the coast of Ireland. The textured illustrations have amazing light and color! I would love to hang prints from this beautiful show on our walls!

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Nature facts are beautifully blended with the story through narrations by the hilarious Chris O’Dowd, (IT Crowd, Bridesmaids, Pirate Radio). There are plenty of funny comments for parents to enjoy right along with their little ones! Not to mention the lovely Irish accents!

Whether they’re pretending to be grown up puffins, going on a family trip to an underwater cave, or simply in awe of a murmuration of starlings the adorably sweet characters of Puffin Rock are brilliantly funny and super cute!

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Oona and Baba even help tidy up their burrow by finding new soft things from around the island to replace the old bedding, as a surprise for their parents when they return from fishing.

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The little puffin siblings play with and care for each other, their parents, friends, and anyone come across. Their best friends include Mossy, the pygmy shrew who loves to eat, May the bunny rabbit, and Silky the seal.  They also have nocturnal friends, the owls, and Bernie the hermit crab, their friend and mentor, (who they help find a new shell when his cracks)!

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Flynn the fox has a bit of a grumpy exterior but truly a heart of gold. And the seagulls don’t really get along with puffins, but it’s nothing major. My guy is really sensitive and they don’t bother him much.

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The puffins adventures take them all over land, sea, and sky! From traveling through burrows with bunnies and hedgehogs to swimming through glowing phytoplankton with whales, (on Oona’s first night time trip to the sea by herself because she’s a big puffin now)!

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We’re especially found of the episode where Oona goes around telling all her friends about the supermoon so they can stay up late to watch it together!

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Hope you and your little one enjoy the show as much as we do! I’d love to hear what you think or hear about what shows you like to watch with your family! Please leave a comment below so we can share!

Toy Slings

Love my model

One busy afternoon, as I was sewing nursing necklaces for my Etsy shop, Fox was playing with some wrap scrap fabric. Knowing he would soon need more to do, I grabbed a set of sling rings and made him a quick little no-sew ring sling. He was thrilled by the idea of wearing his own little baby. So I put the sling over his head, guided one arm through, and we put a little stuffed frog in his toy sling. He was floored, bounced up and down, and proudly took off down the hall to take his baby for a walk. The look of pure joy on his face was absolutely and adorably precious!

First Toy Sling

The very first toy sling I threw together for Fox!

Seeing how happy walking around with his baby in his little toy sling gave me an idea. If he loved it so much surely other little people would too. So I started gathering cute fabrics and sewing toy ring slings to sell alongside the nursing necklaces in my Etsy shop. I’ve also begun making toy slings with larger sling rings, for bigger kiddos to carry their babies in too!

Toy Slings with Larg and Small rings

We gave a toy ring sling as a birthday present to one of Fox’ friends and it was absolutely adorable how she got her baby in it right away and bounced up and down, shhhing her baby. It makes my heart so happy to know that there are other little kiddos out there experiencing a joy like my little Fox, joyously carrying their little babies in their own toy slings.

All the toy ring slings I’m making now will be available at the upcoming Baby Fair and more will be up in my Etsy shop soon after the the fair!

Fox Enjoying Toy Slings

Fox Enjoying Toy Slings

Fox Enjoying Toy Slings