Big G is a very unusual little piggybank with simple round shapes and several well placed and freshly colored spots. This piggybank is made out of china, the money is put into its mouth, and a plastic stopper underneath its belly allows for easy access to the money in the usual way.

I’m not really sure if it’s a cute little piglet or a bloodthirsty monster, but no matter what I think it looks cool.

Big G is designed by Camilla Prada and can be bought at Soma Gallery.

Now, for those who’d like to make some cool, paper models, but would like to start with something a bit easier than the Millennium Falcon, can have a look at what they offer over at Toypaper. There are some pretty cute monsters over there.

Toypaper also offer other models like a sneaker and the “Hand Holder”, which is plain white and allows you to customize it by drawing and painting.

For those who like animated paper toys, you should head over to Flying Pig, which offers lots of animated paper crafts. At Flying Pig there are free downloads but for most of the toys you have to pay a small amount.

Via NOTCOT

I have recently become aware that there are huge amounts of incredibly detailed, and completely free, paper crafts available at different websites. It seems to be common to offer models as PDFs free to download. Especially the Japanese seem love to make all kinds of cool stuff out of paper, and they are pretty good at it too!

Finding crafts that will interest and challenge older kids can be difficult, especially when it comes to boys, but I bet it’s possible to find something interesting and quite challenging for most older boys and girls, amongst all the free models available out there. I’m talking spaceships, trains, planes, cars and robots with amazing details and shapes, some even have movable parts.

Yamaha has an amazing collection of paper models free to download, in different colors or white. They not only have lots of different motorcycles, motors, and other parts for bikes and garage, but they also have a great selection of animals, insects and seasonal paper models.

One of the ultimate paper craft models to make is probably the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, which can be found at SF PaperCrafts. It has exceptional details, and looks amazing when done. SF PaperCrafts also offers other models, like the U.S.S. Enterprise from Star Trek and the Star Wars AT-AT Snow Walker with movable parts! They’re all available for download at SF PaperCraftGallery, ready to cut, glue and assemble.

For the Battlestar Gallactica fans out there you should take a look at the paper models of the Battlestar Gallactica Viper at Papertoy Box. They also offer other planes, a train, cars and a robot, and everything is available for download, ready to cut out, fold, glue and assemble. At the site you’ll find image instructions of how to do the assembling.

A couple of “simpler” paper craft models of the X-fighter and the Millennium Falcon, can be found at CFSL. These are made from Parisian Metro Tickets, or heavy paper in the same dimensions, which can be found in the descriptions. Even though simpler, they are still pretty amazing!

Now there is no lack of characters either. At the Japanese website, Piro model, there are lots of detailed characters from e.g. Star Wars. Some of the characters are formed as Lego figures with movable arms and legs.

If you got as excited about this models as I did, and have the time and urge to make models of your own, there is even a program, Pepakura, available as shareware, (Some features, Saving and Exporting are restricted to the bought version.) that allows you to turn 3D models into paper crafts! Nice! There is really tons of free and educational fun here! Also, remember to check out the Pepakura gallery where people share pictures and links to their own models.

Via Toysrevil

First time I saw Figments I was “cruising” through all the articles that had been piling up in my feed reader. Not so interesting articles usually gets about 1 sec. of attention while interesting ones get around 20 sec. (if they do not have a lot of text to read). The article about Figments had very little text, but it got about 1 min. of my time!

It was like the Figment characters were alive, and of course I was attracted to the high level of detail put into these characters. One can truly tell that these are one of a kind characters made by the hand of an artist who uses his art to express himself. These artists leave a small piece of themselves in every product, and I believe that’s how the characters end up so very alive and full of soul!

Figment was born out of the artists love for shoes, and that’s clearly visible by the major role the tiny baby sneakers serve in the characters. All the characters are made from carefully chosen fabrics and accessories, and through the process of their making their personalities take shape little by little.

It is a truly great “toy” for those of us who love designer plush with a whole lot of soul.

Figments will be available online when they get their web store up and running, and until then the characters can be found at Lower Haters (San Francisco), The Reed Space (NY) and Acycle (Tokyo).

Via Blog Clops

I can imagine many of the little boys out there, who haven’t even seen any of the Star Wars movies, would love to have a robot trashcan like the R2-D2 Trashcan, . Not that it really matters if it can aid them in keeping their rooms tidy.

The big size and the incredible details of the trashcan makes it more of a toy and a cool figure than a simple trashcan.

The Star Wars R2-D2 Trashcan is 24″ tall, has a durable vinyl construction, a removable interior can and a foot pedal for easy opening. It is available at ThinkGeek. Unfortunately the first shipment sold out really fast, but they are getting a new shipment in June or July.

If you are thinking about getting one, I suggest joining the “e-mail me when available” function at their website, because there is no way of knowing how fast they will sell out, and if there will be more after that.

Via: Uncrate

The Character Chess Set from Emma Jefferson is a beautiful detailed board game made out of wood. The chess pieces have fun faces and personalities which, in contrary to regular chess sets, might make it easier for children to comprehend the game and the role of each piece.

It is available in a pink/purple girl’s version and a blue/white boy’s version, and both versions will work just as well as ornamental pieces in the kids room.

The game comes in a calico case with individual pockets for each piece and the board itself. The case provides excellent protection both during travelling and storage.

Besides the chess set Emma Jefferson offers a great selection of wooden toys and accessories for kids. The store offers mirrors, games, shelves, trinket drawers, money boxes, door stops, cupboard knobs and peg boards amongst other things, and everything is made with lots of adorning details and fresh colors.

Rehabilitated Dishware is the brainchild of Sarah Cihat and was a part of her thesis project at Parsons School of Design. By re-designing and re-surfacing used and unwanted dishes she gives them a new and much longer life.

The ceramic plates, which she finds at places like Goodwill, Salvation Army or the reject piles at retail stores, are transformed from their old look to modern, stylish and colorful plates that would make any dinner table look amazing, especially at parties. This way of renewing used and unwanted things is of course also a great way of helping reduce the strain on the environment.

Many of the plates have colors and illustrations which make them great gift ideas for children. Not only would the dishes be great to eat from but they would also work well as decoration in a child’s bedroom. After all, the dishes are valuable and collectible designer pieces.

Sarah Cihats Rehabilitated Dishware has been featured in magazines like Elle, O at Home, Food & Wine, Nylon and Metropolitan Home and you can read more about the dishes at Sarah Cihat.

Trousseliers wooden music boxes are not only fun toys but also very decorative and colorful, which makes them fine decorative pieces for the kid’s room or the nursery. They are made out of wood and painted in lively complementary and contrasting colors making them stimulating to look at for small kids. The simple and clean design is very modern but there is also a feeling of heirloom quality over the Trousselier musical boxes.

The boxes are magnetic and this causes the two figures on top of each box to dance to the rhythm of soft and relaxing music when it is winded up.

Some of Trousseliers wooden musical boxes are available at Decoccinelle.

The Sole pull cloth is a very exclusive silver ball with different colored fabric pieces for the baby to play with. It comes in an exclusive white and natural colored wooden box and was designed in 2005 by the Italian company De Vecchi.

It is a beautiful toy which might be best left to serve as an ornamental piece.

The Sole Pull Cloth is available at Moss, where the Sonaglio rattle and the Carillon musical toy of the same style, and probably collection, are also available.