From our friends at Cool2SChool.com:

Forget about brown bagging it! The Laptop Lunch system has revolutionized packed lunches, making it organized, simple, safe and healthy. These sustainable lunch containers are made without pthalates, BPA, or lead and are recyclable and dishwasher safe.

read more at cool2school.com

Cool2school.com has a concise summary of the safety info for the hugely popular Japanese Erasers by Iwako.

Excerpt:

“

• All erasers meet or exceed strict Japanese and European Union EN-71 safety and environmental regulations.
• Recyclable.
• Non-toxic lead-free safe materials.
• Non-PVC releases no toxic fume.
• Energy saving production.
• Recycled paper packaging.
• 100% Made in Japan in clean environmental friendly factories.
• Meet all international standards in safety and environmental care.
• Take apart educational puzzle designs.
• Small parts, not for children under 3 years of age.

Link to cool2school.com

Blas-Fix

Did you know you can decorate eggs and blow them out by making only one hole? This cool tool from Germany allows you to drill a small hole in the bottom of a raw egg and pump out the innards. No more mouth-to-eggshell action!  Great for Ukrainian Egg decorating (preserves your intricate designs) and for emptying those eggs you want to hang on your tree. Buy Online

link

Q-Ba-Maze

This is a really cool product we started carrying last Christmas, and is now available in a new set of colors. A twist on the old fashioned marble run each set comes with 3 different kinds of stackable cubes that allow the included steel balls to flow through your creation in different directions. The cubes are see through but all look the same from the outside, so you are not sure which way your balls will go until you drop them in. A great gift for that hard to buy for boy (Aged 5 and up) or even a cool desk top gift for dad! Purchase

Henna painting—also known as mehndi— has been practiced in India, Africa, and the Middle East for centuries. Mehndi is traditionally practiced for wedding ceremonies, during important rites of passage, and in times of joyous celebration.

The henna plant is believed to bring love and good fortune, and to protect against evil. A paste made from the crushed leaves of the henna plant is applied to the skin, and when removed several hours later, leaves beautiful markings on the skin that fade naturally over 1 to 3 weeks.

Our Earth Henna kits achieve the traditional look of a tattoo, with the ease of modern convenience: once mixed, the paste lasts four weeks, if refrigerated. This allows you to prolong the life of your design because you can retrace over the original lines. The paste only needs to be left on the skin for a minimum of 6 hours for proper staining to a rich, deep color. And no sticky lemon/sugar setting solution is needed.

Tattoo Colors

Traditional henna produces a warm reddish brown tattoo color. While it is safe to use on the skin, it should not be used on infants or on children who may have a G6PD deficiency (the populations that have this trait are mostly in the Middle East and North Africa).

For those who prefer black tattoos, there is a new, safe version of temporary skin dye.  For years it was smart to stay away from so-called “black henna tattoos” which were actually made with hair dye that contained para-phenylenediamine (PPD) that can cause blistering and other serious health problems.

Jagua Kit

Our new Earth Jagua Black Temporary Tattoo Kit is made from an edible, orange-size,tropical fruit with a thick rind found in the Amazon. Earth Jagua dyes the skin blue-black, just like the color of a permanent tattoo and remains on the skin for up to 15 days. Earth Jagua is 100% safe for everyone, including women who are pregnant or nursing. It does not contain PPD or any other toxic chemicals. With Earth Jagua, it takes 12-24 hours for the color to appear and fully develop, just like natural henna (although it is not henna, nor does it contain henna). After 10 – 15 days it will completely disappear. Earth Jagua shows up perfectly on dark skin.

In this age of video games with a set of pre-made outcomes, you’ll find games and toys at ARTBEAT that offer children just that – imagination with no plugs or strings attached. Available here

Need face paint? Our kits, make-up tubes and crayons offer skin-safe decorating fun, learn more. Choose spooky or artsy temporary tattoos to complement a costume. For more elaborate skin art, our henna body art kits offer a way to have the look of a tattoo with none of the pain or permanence. Our NEW! Black Jagua Henna is a totally non-toxic but very realistic henna made from a tropical fruit.

Groucho Glasses

Don’t forget your fake moustaches, eye patches, googly eyeballs and Groucho glasses.

At bathtime, let the kids soak clean while playing with our  Frogmen vs. the Radioactive Octopus toy, complete with 12 different battle-trained divers.

ALL AVAILABle at Artbeatgifts.com

brain mold

Kids acting up? Feed the little rascals a lime green jello brain (easy to make with our Zombie Brain Mold) that’s crawling with gummy worms (buy them or try our Make Your Own Gummies Kit).

Tease your kitty with our Terrifying Finger Monsters (in eight styles – collect ‘em all). Grow a Giant Spider to decorate a pumpkin or play with Scary Skeletons and Wicked Witches that expand in water and shrink again when dry.

Ants and flies and frogs?  We’ve got ‘em. Make Your Own Monster kits? Got ‘em. Dancing Skeletons and Mexican Day of the Dead ornaments? Yup.
ALL AVAILABle at Artbeatgifts.com

Picasso (wanted freedom from the brush, To create with out the need to mix,tint or prepare. He went to Gustave Sennelier who owned an art shop across from the Louvre in Paris(as opposed to the Louvre in Cincinnati). Sennelier’s Store was well known in those days for high quality paint and soft pastel, supplying such artists as Cezanne and Degas. The Oil Pastel was created by Sennelier to Picasso’s specifications. These pastels can be used over oil, Acrylic, Pastel and Watercolor. It is loaded with pigment for maximum color reflection. They are also suitable for almost any surface.They are also non toxic,lightfast and acid free.

These wonderful materials are still available today. Imported by Savoire Fair, and carried in many fine arts retailers including Artbeat. We have samples in our store to try and offer demos and classes from time to time

Purchase

Pros.

If you can’t stand the smell of Turpentine or mineral spirits, water soluble oils are a wonderful alternative.  Clean up is easy, just use soap and water and you can thin the paints with water while painting.  The paints themselves have a mildly soapy smell, they dry faster than regular oils and you can mix them with regular oil paints, though it does take away some of the “water soluble” quality.  WS oils also seem to dry a little brighter than regular oils.

Cons.

They dry fast.  Think of them as very slow drying acrylics; you won’t have the same luxury of time to work your painting surface.  You also have to buy specialized water soluble painting mediums.  Without thinning the paints or using a medium the WS oils feel gummier than standard oils which makes mixing them a little harder as well.