Introducing our Toddler and Beyond Range
The inspiration for our Toddler & Beyond range began as we moved through the feeding journey with our eldest daughter. As she grew to be a toddler, we found that we were looking for dinnerware that was suitable to her stage of development, that was safe, practical and suitable for toddler sized portions.
At around 18 months she now understood not to deliberately drop her dinnerware on the floor, but there were still accidents e.g. plates getting knocked off the table and cups getting dropped etc. She was also now wanting to help clean up, by carrying her dishes to the kitchen after mealtime. This meant that for our new range the items had to be soft in case of any slips or trips, flexible so they won’t break when dropped and of course they also needed to be of the highest quality and look gorgeous too.
We weren’t able to find any suitable pieces for our range, so we started designing our own. With the aim being to develop a practical range for toddlers, that is basically similar to what mum & dad would use at mealtime, however they would be toddler sized and with added safety considerations given the little accidents that come with toddlers learning and development.
Silicone was still the perfect material for these new products for a number of reasons:
Food safe – with no nasty chemicals.
Practical – Easy to clean, dishwasher and microwave safe.
Safe – Soft, flexible & won’t break when dropped.
Very durable as well as being odour and stain resistant.
More sustainable & environmentally friendly than plastic alternatives.
The first pieces we have designed for this range are our Dinner Plate and Open Cup. With our Toddler Cutlery in development and expected to arrive later in 2023.
Our Dinner plate was designed to be suitably sized for a toddler with relatively high sides for a plate to help reduce mess and aid the scooping of food. It has a non-slip base, to prevent it easily sliding on a table, but for toddler stage we considered a suction base was no longer necessary. We also focused on making sure the plate was suitably stiff, to ensure it won’t bend easily when being carried from the kitchen to the table with your little one’s meal. A practical choice that is great for little ones learning to self-feed or more advanced eaters using cutlery.
We designed our own Open Cup as we found the cups already available were too small for toddlers or way to flexible, so that they squished easily when being picked up, resulting in spills. Our open cups are generously sized with a capacity of up to 250ml, have a naturally grippy texture and are virtually unbreakable. We have worked closely with the manufacturer to find the most suitable stiffness for the silicone to ensure the perfect balance between being soft for safety reasons yet sturdy to practically function. These are the perfect safe cup, particularly for use on hard floors or outdoors (great for camping or summer BBQ’s).
