Tis the Season - Give Love and Learning

Ti's the Season- Give Love and Learning

Against the backdrop of and endless supply of electronic, plastic, endlessly commercial gadgets destined for the land-fill, we would like to suggest a different path.

There is no question that children are bombarded by an endless array of media and product and that children are an enormous marketing demographic. For a parent, this is one of the most challenging situations. As much as we want to protect and educate our children, we have to maintain a dialogue (for better or worse) with what they see, hear and do, which we can't control or at least supervise.

anthony's giraffe's

http://www.lillunia.com/-FOCUS-SERIES-ART/Anthony-s-Giraffes-p64.html

At Lillunia, we do believe, in fact we are certain that there are ways to prepare your children (and the other children in your life that you love) for the cacophony of commercial product, while instilling in them a fundamental understanding of what holds real value in life.

Regardless of our many different political, religious, ethnic and even ethical identities, we are all human and are all trying to raise smart, caring, responsible and loving people-- who will do the same for the next generation.

The achievement of these goals start at home; in how we love and how we treat other people and the world of animals with whom we share this magnificent planet.

liam's lions
http://www.lillunia.com/-FOCUS-SERIES-ART/Liam-s-Lions-p66.html

We encourage parents to be strong and smart this holiday season. Open a new world to your children; teach them about charity, about sharing and about embracing the challenges of their future.

Help them learn about the environment, about the animals we share the environment with, about children who might not have the same advantages. This is what the holidays are for. Sharing the wonderful gifts we have all been given with each other and with the people and animals in the world that have less.

At Lillunia, we have so much to be thankful for.

www.lillunia.com

Room for Art - Room for Animals

Room for Art - Room for Animals ashley's bears
http://www.lillunia.com/-FOCUS-SERIES-ART/Ashley-s-Bears-p69.html


Children respond in amazing ways to art. Besides all of the research conducted on the effects of art on children's intellectual and emotional development, its just cool to see the range of responses that young children have when exposed to art.


I remember once going with my, then 3-year-old niece Charlotte, to MOMA here in NY and watching her interact with neon rich Richard Serra sculpture. She walked back and forth in front of the piece several times then laid down flat on the floor in front of it-- as if to say-- well obviously I need to experience this from another point of view (perhaps her cat's).


Then we went on to look at the MOMAs amazing collection of Jackson Pollack's work. I believe the first thing she said is response to his art, was "I made that". I was not sure if she meant that she had made something that looked very close to that (quite possible) or what? At any rate, it was a beautiful afternoon looking at and watching her interact with so much amazing work.

The same interaction with art happens in the home. I grew up in a house filled with art-- art which I always engaged with, asked questions about and never tired of exploring again and again.



Art in the home (as in the museum or gallery) is a constant source of information and instruction. Whether the child's curiosity begins with the abstraction of color and form, with size, scale and frame and then moves to subject matter and all that the subject illicit from their ever curious minds-- there is nothing so rich- and certainly nothing so rich in value to be found in digital toys and gadgets; all those insipid plastic toys which occupy a child for about an hour and then make there way to the ever growing land fill. emily's elephants
http://www.lillunia.com/-ART/Emily-s-Elephants-p54.html

Lillunia Art is a timeless way to bring art into children's lives and to instruct them about the wonders of the natural world. They say that respect for others and for animals starts at home. We agree. In the relationships we foster with the art on our walls and the living animals in our lives - our children learn from us and what we do- Thank goodness!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving from all of us at Lillunia!

Love your families- love your animals!

WE LOVE BEARS!!!

We Love Bears!

In America, we live with Black Bears, Brown or Grizzly Bears and in the farthest parts of the north, the magical white Polar Bear.

Children are also fascinated with Bears. I have never known a child who did not snuggle and love and plush little stuffed teddy bear.

Because there are so many myths about bears and yet so

Alexandra's Bears (www.lillunia.com, not currently posted)

much fascination, it is important that we introduce our children early to this extraordinary group of mammals. A nice introduction for children is:

Bears For Kids (2007) by Jeff Fair was updated and republished in 2007 and is perhaps the most authoritative children's book on black bears. Photos and text emphasize northeastern Minnesota.

In America's collective imagination, we have the lovable Teddy Bear, named for President Theodore Roosevelt, as well as the cherished Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, Yogi Bear & Boo Boo, Care bears, Smokey the Bear, Fozzie Bear (from The Muppet Show), The three Bears (friends of Goldilocks), Gummi bears, Rupert, Corduroy, Little John (from Disney’s Robin Hood cartoon) and the Berenstain Bears. Baloo, from the Jungle Book is a Sloth bear.

With so much cultural love for the bear, we owe it to ourselves and our children to try to understand them and educate our children early about what bears are, how they live and raise their cubs and to show them the importance of our collective effort to preserve the world we all share so we...and bears can thrive.

Please visit Lillunia.com and share our bears with your little cubs!

We have:

-patrick's polar bear (Lillunia Mosaic)

-ashley's bears, and

-alexandra's bears- brand new and will be on the site shortly (if you are interested in alexandra's bears- just send us an e-mail at info@lillunia.com)

Teaching Our Children to Love Nature

Teaching Our Children to Love Nature

Below images:

Sophia's Vervet Monkeys - http://www.lillunia.com/-MOSAIC-ART/Sophia-s-Vervet-Monkeys-p73.html

Stella's Robins http://www.lillunia.com/-ART/Stella-s-Robins-p55.html

At Lillunia, we are well aware of the importance of the natural world, both conceptually and materially, to our childrens' development. We encourage you to read a lovely little piece called which discusses this issue called:

Teaching Children to Love Nature - by Chaitanya Prakash at:
http://www.indiaparenting.com/intelligentchild/data/105.shtml

Chaitanya Prakash relates a genuine concern for the absense of nature in so many childrens' lives today. And as more and more families move to cities, nature will become more of a fantasy than a reality for children. Certainly most children in the world will never see Vervet Monkeys in their natural environment:

but sadly, today, more and more children will not even see Robins in thier natural environement.

It is our hope at Lillunia to bring a little bit of the natural world (from afar and from the garden) into our chidlren's environments from earliest childhood.

We believe that images that portray the universality of family nurturing in the wild will foster the kinds of responsible and caring adults we hope our children will become.

Bring the natural world into a child's environment with Lillunia Art and start them on a road of curiosity and exploration- of appreciation for the natural world and all of the creatures surrounding us.

Customize the art with a baby's birthdate and name for a truly memorable and prescious souvenir of a child's birth.

Please see the wonderful animals we portray at www.lillunia.com or ask us for a special animal of your choice!

Lead by Example- Babies are People Too

Patrick's Polar Bears http://www.lillunia.com/-MOSAIC-ART/Patrick-s-Polar-Bears-p75.html

Lead by Example- Babies are People Too!

There is no doubt that all children develop differently and at different rates. However, anyone with children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren or friends with children know that imitation is a fundamental part of how children learn and become socialized as adults.

As adults, we make so many choices for ourselves and for our children, and sometimes the necessities of life overshadow the kinds of subtle decisions we make every day- decisions that our VERY adept children detect even when we do not.

Many families are doing their best to "go green" or to be as ecologically minded as their time and budgets allow. This is a wonderful trend. Whatever we believe politically, religiously or even socially, we all can agree that we would like the natural world to thrive. We would like all of the animals we share the planet with to continue to be able to live and nurture their own families.

At Lillunia, we start with the belief that what we do really effects what are children will become. We know this as we make big and little decisions- for ourselves and for them.

At Lillunia we grow children's environment from ART-- Art based on natural scenes of animal family's in the wild. We want our children-- and your children to know about what is out there and why we do what we do each day to preserve this magical planet for them ... and for us!

Share Lillunia with your child today! www.lillunia.com

Infant Visual Stimulation and Growth

Stimulate Baby Eyes!




An infant's vision may be one of the least developed senses at birth, but visual input during the early months may have the most profound effect on your baby's developing nervous system.

Isabella's Zebras http://www.lillunia.com/-FOCUS-SERIES-ART/Isabella-s-Zebras-p60.html


At birth, a baby's brain cells are disorganized. While the infant grows, the brain receives input from all five senses. This input causes nerve cells to multiply and form myriad connections with other nerve cells. This is why visual stimulation is so crucial.

If a baby was kept blindfolded the visual center in his brain would never develop and the child would never see. On the other hand, if you provide continuous visual input into your baby's eyes, the retina thrives, the optic nerve grows, and the visual part of baby's brain develops in ever more sophisticated ways.

At the earliest stages of your baby's development, black and white and strong contrasting colors are a great way to begin stimulating your baby's vision. Research has shown that black and white contrasts register powerfully on the youngest babies retinas and send the strongest signals to the brain. Stronger signals mean more brain growth.

Lillunia recommends there magical Zebra art to begin the visual journey with your child. Isabella's Zebra's, Alexander's Zebras and our magical full-wall Lillunia Mosaic called Zoe's Zebras (http://www.lillunia.com/-MOSAIC-ART/Zoe-s-Zebras-p76.html).

Once your baby is old enough to understand what the images portray the can begin to learn the beautiful lessons about nurture and nature and the planet that all Lillunia Art strives to teach.

Please visit us at www.lillunia.com or send us an email with any questions or to learn about Customizing our Art for your unique Baby!

LILLUNIA Holiday Cards have Arrived!

Send a little LilluniA to the ones you love!

Holiday Polar Bears and Holiday Penguins (10 for $25)

Adapted from the LilluniA original water color art "Patrick's Polar Bears" and "Penelope's Penguins", LilluniA Holiday Cards are the perfect way to send your warmest holiday wishes and cheer! The message inside Holiday Penguins reads "peace on earth" and the message inside Holiday Polar Bears reads "PEACE HOPE JOY"

Each package of 100% recycled Holiday Cards comes with ten 100% recycled envelopes. A percentage of each holiday card sale will benefit charities that support the welfare of children and animals.

Please visit us at http://www.lillunia.com/ for Holiday Cards and for beautiful, educational and ecologically minded gifts for the nursery this Holiday Season.

Art and Your Child

Art and Your Child

Research has consistently shown that arts in education are fundamental to children's emotional and intellectual growth.

The Visual arts, it has been shown, improve children's content and organization of their writing; promote sophisticated reading skills and interpretation of text, and improves their reasoning about scientific images and reading preparedness.

An all around- education in the arts (dance, drama, visual arts, music etc.) Helps children learn to read, and their verbal and math skills. It has been shown also that arts in education improves children's ability to collaborate and to develop critical thinking skills.

"Notions that the arts are frivolous add-ons to a serious curriculum couldn't be further from the truth," says James Cantrell, education professor at the University of California-Los Angeles.

Schools often complain that arts programs tend to be the first cut in schools facing budget deficits. In the current financial climate, the arts in education will certainly be dealt a blow.

Bring the Arts into The Home

Parents can and should augment their children's exposure to the arts at home.

Please visit us at www.Lillunia.com. We can help parents fill a child's room with inspiring visual magic -- that contains a message of responsibility to the planet and the many wonderful creatures with whom we all share the earth.

Art and Baby Brain Development

http://www.lillunia.com/-ART/Brendan-s-Lions-p43.html brendan's lions

Lillunia - Baby Brain Development

"As few as twenty years ago scientists believed that the genes we were born with wholly determined the structure of our brains. The facts recently discovered by neurologists and psychologists, however, prove that how children develop, learn, and grow depends on the critical and continual interplay between nature (or genetic endowment) and nurture (the surroundings, care, stimulation, and teachings received); ... both of these influences are crucial." (US Dept of Education)

http://www.lillunia.com/-ART/Emily-s-Elephants-p54.html - emily's elephants

Studies have shown that the arts can awaken children's senses and make them more aware of the surrounding world with which they interact.
Exposing children to art from birth nurtures the intellectual process. This has been studied widely with respect to disadvantaged children and the benefits exposure to the arts has on their intellectual and emotional development. Such art exposure helps all children's social and cognitive advancement.

Grow with us!

Lillunia helps parents create stimulating and thought provoking children's environments with art that helps build children's environments where they will grow intellectually and emotionally.

Please visit us at www.lillunia.com

Play time - Bath time - Bed time

Play time - Bath time - Bed time

All babies play- play is an essential part of learning. Little fox cubs jump and run and roll as they learn about being a fox and what will be expected of them as they grow.

detail from Fiona's Foxes http://www.lillunia.com/-ART/Fiona-s-Foxes-p77.html

Every baby needs a bath. Each animal, in its unique and loving way makes sure that their little ones are clean and neat and safe from harm; little lion cubs are no different.

lola's lions http://www.lillunia.com/-FOCUS-SERIES-ART/Lola-s-Lions-p68.html

And when the day is all done and night is approaching, its baby's bed time. Young horses need lots of sleep to grow strong and big. They play and eat and run and jump and at the end of the day they too need their sleep.

detail from Mathew's Spring Horses http://www.lillunia.com/-ART/Mathew-s-Spring-Horses-p59.html

Come visit us at Lillunia, and allow us to show you and your child all of the wonderful things young animals do...and how alike we all are.

LILLUNIA: ILLUSTRATE ILLUMINATE ELEVATE

WWW.LILLUNIA.COM

All too often parents simply do not know all of the small steps they can take to encourage their children's intellectual and emotional development. Reading to children, talking to them and providing them with visual stimulation are all elements that contribute to a baby's health and well being.

In the earliest years of your baby's life, their environment is crucial. A loving and attentive environment is fundamental, but remember that their visual environment is also essential.

At Lillunia, we know that the first few months of a newborn's life are filled with endless new sites and sounds and magical people, places and animals. Studies suggest that by 3 months the content of what babies see starts to matter and they begin to give images meaning. For this reason, Lillunia thinks the road to responsible thinking adults who understand that the planet is a place of shared lives and interwoven communities, starts in the nursery.

Please visit us an www.lillunia.com and bring some of the enchantment of the natural world into your baby's world.