I love researching toys and books for my kids. It’s true when you become a parent, you love buying for your kids much more than for yourself.  Recently I came upon a few cool new finds all from companies that are just starting out that I thought I would share.

Goldie Blox– Goldie Blox has been getting a lot of press recently.  They have a wonderful commercial that’s been going viral, and they’ve been working to try to get their ad to play during the Super Bowl.  The founder is a female engineer from Stanford who realized that there were few women in the engineering field, as well as other science and math careers, and decided to work toward finding a way to encourage girls to stay interested in those disciplines.  Goldie Blox is a girl inventor who invents tools to help solve problems presented within a story book as well as building materials. Juliet is of course too young for this toy, but I couldn’t help marvel at the mission of the company. I absolutely want to invest in this company’s products when Juliet is a little older and can really dive in and experiment with the toy.

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Toymail–  I found the Toymail company through their KickStarter campaign.  Mr Chocolate is a big fan of Kickstarter and has funded several campaigns, so now and then I like to look around to see what new upcoming creations might be coming through.  Goldie Blox actually also started on KickStarter. The company founders are also two women, which I find refreshing to see.  Toymail is a little creature shaped like a mailbox.  Through an app on your phone, you can record messages for your child whether it’s a sweet note, a reminder, etc. and the mailbox will let them know they have a message and play it back for them.  There are different customizations with different voices, as well as five different mailbox options. It’s also a great idea for grandparents and other family who might not be close by; they can leave messages through the app, and the child can respond back through the mailbox and app.

I won’t lie — when I first saw the adorable mailbox, I wanted one for myself!  The company is just starting to ship out their products as their Kickstarter campaign recently fully funded. I really wanted to get one of these for Drake, but right now the app is only available for Apple though they are working on an Android app as well.  Since we are an Android family, I plan on watching the company as they release their first products. Maybe by June when Drake turns 4 the Android app will be up, and maybe this can be his birthday gift.  I think it would be a great way for our family to send him notes and messages when we can’t see them.  There is also an option to have the company send a note daily to your child.

Lost My Name– I stumbled upon Lost My Name on Facebook one day. The illustrations reminded me of Coraline in their style.  The company was started by 3 dads and one uncle, and it’s basically a personalized book. The story talks about a boy or a girl who loses their name and goes on an adventure through the letters (the ones that spell out their name) collecting them to put together their name. I know Drake, who loves letters, would be thrilled to meet all the creatures in the book that spell out his name.  I also think it would be neat for him to read a book based on his name then to read one about Juliet’s and see how they share some letters in their  names.  I wanted to get this for them for Christmas, but it wasn’t in the budget, so I might save this for their birthdays.

Have you come across any cool toys that you’d like to share?