Beacon Hill artist and designer Rachel Addison's childhood was filled with the stories, songs and recipes of her Latvian heritage. So when Addison had kids of her own, she wanted them to experience the customs and traditions that her mother and grandmother had shared with her.
As Addison began to explore her heritage with her children, she grew frustrated with the lack of online cultural resources. Out of that frustration came the idea for her newly launched Web site, Circletime Kids [1], an incredible free resource for families interested in experiencing their own and other cultures through language, food and crafts.
"Helping our children to understand that all people are beautiful and unique, and learning to appreciate the similarities and differences between us all, is a vital step towards establishing a more tolerant and peaceful world community," says Addison.
Her colorful and easy-to-navigate site offers songs, downloadable coloring books, recipes and crafts from the United States, Mexico, China, France, Germany and Latvia. Addison, who relies on volunteers to help create her library of language videos, song recordings, art projects and recipes for kids up to age 5, hopes to represent every internationally recognized country by 2009.
At Circletime Kids, you and your little one can learn how to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" in Chinese, create a bouquet of Mexican tissue paper flowers for Cinco de Mayo or make one of Addison's mother's Latvian recipes for snack time.
Circletime Kids also features the Circletime Store, an online emporium filled with toys from all over the world. Find adorable French dolls from Corolle ($29.95), nontoxic wooden alphabet blocks in English, Italian, French and German ($29.95-$34.95) and classic American-made toys like the Fisher-Price Chatter Phone ($16.95).
Membership to Circletime Kids is free (but not required) and offers access to a community forum, calendar, newsletter and discounts at the Circletime Store.
If you have a shop, sale, event or great product tip you'd like to share, e-mail seattleshopping@nwsource.com.
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