Our July Newsletter: Celebrate Your Independents + Brio Wood Trains

Two Weeks Left to Celebrate Your Independents!

A Chance to Win $1,250 in Gift Cards from 25 Locally-Owned Independent Businesses

Throughout July, we've teamed up with a bunch of awesome local indie stores, including Bibelot, Micawber's Books, Wet Paint, the Wedge Co-op, the Electric Fetus, and Kitchen Window. With each participating store you visit, you'll score a chance to win $1,250 in gift cards--$50 from each store! Heck, you can pick up 3 entries just in our neighborhood!

Plus, each store is offering specials all month long. At Peapods, simply mention Celebrate Your Independents and receive a free canvas shopping bag with any purchase. For all full list of merchants, click here. (But hurry, this all ends after July 31!)

In other news, wouldn't today be a great day to play in a sprinkler?

We're also celebrating this month the return of Brio Trains. They were unavailable to us for several years, but they're back with the same great design and incredible quality as always. Brio trains encourage open-ended play and are so durable they're usually handed down from one child to another. Brio has always understood why children love toy trains, which is why we've always loved Brio.

You can shop our Brio selection on our website, but it's more fun in the store because we have a brand new train table to play with!

Here's some of our other recent new arrivals:

Wooden Cash Register Made USA	Lollacup Weighted Straw Cup- Made USA	Chewbeads Stanton Silicone Teething Bracelet
Janod Owly Family Wooden Nesting Dolls	Panda Insulated Lunchie by Skip Hop	Wood Baby Toys from Germany by Heimess

A Simple Playground Ball may be the Best Toy Ever

At 12 1/2 months, Ellie's figured out how to kick a ball around. It was a joyful discovery.

Even without considering sports, it's amazing how much a child can learn from a ball. Motion, inertia, tracking, the geometry of bouncing angles. A simple ball invites experimentation and cooperative play. Balls are the most open-ended toy ever invented. 

When Riley was little, one of his favorite activities was to search for forlorn tennis balls at Mattocks Park. He almost always succeeded--then we'd make up games to play with it before tossing it back in the grass for the next kid to find. 

Duncan, on the other hand, has always been partial to the ball crawl, especially the one at the City Museum in St. Louis. 

What would childhood be without a ball to kick around? No downloaded app can beat the simple playground ball for the pleasure of play.