Multi-pocket Conran smock

This weekend, we accidentally hit on a great way to keep our daughter happy and amused for almost an hour at a stretch: an art set, complete with pens, crayons and pencils, packed neatly into a carry-box.

It wasn't the pens themselves that she loved; it was putting them in and taking them out of their little compartments. So, right away, I can see the toddler-appeal of this smock from the Conran shop, with its multiple pockets for crayons.

At the same time, the mother in me knows for sure that all twelve crayons will never be in the correct pocket - any pocket - more than five minutes after the thing's first used. Still, that frees up twelve pockets for the important things in life.. like rice cakes, leaves, and ladybirds...