slide

Kids don't need a board to skate.

full-face

If you look closely, you can notice that Nintje always stands facing the young reader, even if the action makes it illogical - see here, here, here.
Another example of Bruna's search of straightforwardness and simplicity.

zappa plays zappa

This is a kid who lives on my street . His name is Sam, he's 13yo and we like to call him the cool guy of the neighbourhood: he's always out walking in tee-shirt or riding around on weird machines.
Today, he was proudly riding on his dad-kick-scooter-that-requires-a-licence.

in the sun

It always feels good to take a ride in the sun, along the canals.

caught with his hand in the bag

taken by a 4yo

Give a camera to a child and you'll be surprised.

frederiksplein, 19-08-2008, 16:56

This photo-montage is the style of photography I really like: it captures the spontaneity of a moment of childhood.
I also like the fact that it's totally unexpected - one wonders what they are doing rolling a giant foam ball with their bike helmets on.
And it brings us back to kids' imagination.

photo by Peter Cleutjens -Amsterdam weekly.

crew girl

I was watching kids playing baseball, when this crew girl turned her back to me.

dag Nintje

We finished our tour of the museum by decorating some muffins, in honour of Dick Bruna who turned 81yo on Saturday (see the same bold colours of the tables?).

Nintje is on tv

their imaginary friend

Imagination in kids is important. Dick Bruna, the creator of Nintje, understood it and made it a worldwide success.
"I hope that the child's imagination is stimulated to see things in their simplest form", he said.

I visited Nintje museum in Bruna's hometown of Utrecht last Saturday and saw a place geared towards children's imagination.
It all started in 1955 with the name Nintje which was called after a toddler pronunciation of the word rabbit in Dutch, konijn.
Since then, Dick Bruna has always been in pursuit of simpler forms & colours (black outlines, no perspective, bold colours - "sometimes brown for the bear") and modest adventures, all contributing to develop the imagination.

The kids had a good time obviously, playing hide-and-seek in the colourful labyrinth, pretending sleeping and eating in Nintje's house, looking inside a giant cylinder or watching the cartoons on TV in Japanese "because I like it" said my 4 yo son when I wanted to set up the English language for him.
Even the shop, with its four coloured chairs, was yet another pretext for playing.


For older visitors, the exhibition also includes a video about a late 40s' trip to Paris, as well as Bruna's other works, like the covers of popular detective books and his designs for the French Inspector Maigret detective series by Georges Simenon.

destination moon

Looks like they're taking part in the journey to the moon with Professor Calculus and co.

about a bra

A big laugh due to an undone bra.

(photo from the sartorialist)

that first day of school

Is the day when you have butterflies in your stomach: new friends, new teacher, new class, new school sometimes...you're stumbling into the unknown.
Who knows what these two kids are thinking.

hungry why wait

This photo looks just like it is when kids get hungry.

(photo by Margarita Dittborn Valle)

lonely bikes

Why do I have the feeling that these two bikes have been abadonned by their little owners?
Maybe because that's what kids do: they leave their belongings just like that without thinking that they might feel a bit lonely.

first photo by Delphine Chanet
second photo by Daniel K. Gebhart via flakphoto

look at me

This cutie was the center of everyone's attention.
With her cap and Vans Checkerboard Classics she surely rocks!

next shift

Have you ever seen a giraffe on an escalator? And a Barbie waiting for the train?
I love this hp ad for it looks almost real. And the soundstrack works perfectly too.

happy face

Three Dutch young kids aged 6 to 8 just rang at my door, asking for empty plastic bottles for recycling. I gave them all the bottles I had, that is about 20 : they were thrilled!
When I asked them how much they thought they would get out of their collection, one of them said "Oh, a hundred!".

(photo: Sarasota, FL_Brandon Stone via flakphoto)

the cat and the mouse

is a kids' clothing shop in Bruxelles, with a selection of the best Belgium designers.
Highly recommended!

here for the details.

on the roof

Kids seem to love standing on a roof. Maybe because they think they're out of reach and know they shouldn't be allowed there.

little Mr Bean

This kid seems to be popular in his neighbourhood as he spends most of his afternoons riding his big wheel dressed up.
Here, he decided to dress like Mr. Bean. His wardrobe also includes a Spider-man suit and if you're lucky he wears his Mr. Bean suit with the Spidey mask!

(via acupofjo)

beach game

Two kids drew my attention in both games.
(I like to still be able to follow the others' reaction)

on top of her game

I like her posture, her jump, her outfit.

passe à 10

The kids were playing a "passe à 10" -the object of the game is to pass the ball 10 times in a row to a member of your team.
They were actually training to prepare for their tennis tournament. As an extra challenge, they had to do push-ups each time they would let the ball fall on the ground.

The storm broke just after I took this serie of photographs.

guignol

Some kids were frightened, others were giggling, all were enthusiastically shouting back at the puppets.

I highly recommend this Guignol Puppet show, on the beach near the port of Pornichet. It is a small theatre owned by an old lady who could be your own grandma. Half an hour before the show starts, she walks down the beach ringing the Guignol bell to draw the crowd to the theatre. And then she goes playing at least 3 different characters, assisted by her grandchildren.

When the show ends, the old lady invits the kids to shake Guignol's hand.


Guignol, Pornichet - everyday at 6.30pm ; 2 euros.

hurry

Kids can't walk. They're always in a hurry.

father and son

Can you see the happy face of the boy?

heads down

You often see kids squatting with their heads down on the beach: some pick up shells, others dig in the sand or build castles and tunnels and circuits. They can spend hours beachcombing.

I like the "man on the hat" of the yellow girl. Does anyone know this brand?

did I say

...I would rest for 15 days at the beach?
My kids surely did.

(the green dress is by Marese and the yellow jumper by Broer & Zus)