Challenge 2026.8 Back to School

When going back to school for a new term, the first day is often used for planning the coming weeks. I decided to write a story about how the new plans affected the Butterglove children.

Back to School

It was the first day of a new school term and traditionally a section of the timetable was set aside for administration - setting up schedules, welcoming returning and additional pupils, and outlining any new subjects to be covered over the coming months. 

Both my school-aged children usually regaled us with their experiences upon their return home. Brendan was first to arrive and he seemed particularly excited.

Continued in: https://mellowdene.blogspot.com/2026/09/back-to-school.html

Challenge 9: Finding Cousin Iris

 Finding Cousin Iris 

An ordinary tidying day for the Bullrush siblings made an extraordinary turn when Lily answered the phone as she tidied the living area...

It was a social worker from another town, getting in touch to see if they could be carers for a young frog called Iris Bullrush who needed a home after losing hers. This was the first the Bullrush siblings knew about a branch of the family tree there (they had spent time tracing relatives and creating a tree). Lily's response was that she needed to check with her brother but she thought it would be OK and would be back in touch once any plan was discussed.

When she arrived upstairs Algernon was studying the drone plane he has but as soon the topic was brought up and Algernon heard about the little one who was alone but they could help he put the toy down and the siblings started to plan...

They phoned the social worker back and checked that a temporary sleeping space while other arrangements are made to generate more space was allowed (yes we can allow that) and made plans to meet Iris and the worker at the hall in a couple of days.

"Thanks for opening your home for Iris here" said the worker Margot Marmalade as the frogs began to get to know one another. At the end of the meeting the newly formed family left with Iris and her belongings. 

Margot wished them well and said she'd keep in touch to see how Iris was doing.

At home Lily explained that while Iris had to sleep in the living room for now, the plan is to create an area in the bedroom but the bunk isn't here yet...

Luckily the space between the sofa and the unit is just the right size!

(A longer story than usual! I wanted to introduce a couple of new characters from my recent acquisitions given by a friend (there are more - 7 in total). I needed to dress Iris and made her outfit, sleeping bag, the bag and contents using ribbon, felt, thread and wool. More new characters will appear as appropriate)

Creative Challenge September 2026: LOST AND FOUND!

Perhaps you’ve been there: you’re looking for something you know for a fact you have – but you just can’t find it. Like my search for the school-themed photos over the last few days, for example.

The new Creative Challenge is designed to highlight exactly this kind of situation: the heartache of losing something, the search itself, and also the joy of finding it again. Have your Sylvanian friends ever found themselves in a situation like this? If so, why not tell us about their adventures searching for and finding things!

Detectives are experts at searching and finding – and will surely have plenty of anecdotes to share.

Friends who’ve lost touch with one another and found each other again will certainly have plenty to share too.

This is a challenge for storytellers – and I’m looking forward to new adventures from all corners of Sylvania. Whatever you decide to do – luckily, there’s no deadline for our Creative Challenge!

But, above all: Have fun! 

Back To School - Impressions from Purrchester

Dear friends,

Of course, this is a belated response to HThistlethorn’s August challenge, ‘Back To School’. I’m sorry about that.

I’ve been searching through my album for pictures that I knew must be somewhere in my ‘Purrchester files’. As a new school year begins in August, lots of photos are taken showing the little ones on their first day as school kittens. Here is a portrait of two kittens called Louis and Louise Carpenter, proudly showing off their school bags and school cones – a tradition in Purrchester. Inside are little gifts for new pupils and – of course – plenty of treats.

In the new school year, there are of course plenty of new things to learn again – for example, in maths, how to calculate the volume of shapes – in this case, the volume of cubes. The pupils listen attentively to the teacher’s explanations…

In geography lessons, Mr Hudson let us sneak into the classroom to find out about West Woodland and the town of Purrchester.

                                                                                 

I was happy that I found these impressions of School Life in Purrchester....

which leads me to the September's Creative Challenge called:

LOST & FOUND

 

2026 New Releases - July/Aug

Hello all,

Let's check out some more new releases!

To start, the Japanese Online Store has added some mashup sets that contain a couple of previously released sets bundled into one. 

Baby Bakery Munching Set (July 24 Release)

This set combines the Baby Bakers Set, Baby Baker Trio, and the Fresh Baked Bread Set (Sheep).  Currently available on the Japan Online Store until Sept 30.

Wisteria Terrace's Lovely House Set (July 24 Release)

This one combines the Wisteria Terrace Gift Set, Kitchen Playset, and (Country) Bathroom Playset. Available on the Japan Online Store until Sept 30.

French Bulldog Family Exciting Camping Set (July 24 Release)

This set combines the French Bulldog Family, French Bulldog Triplets Camping Stroller Set, and the Countryside Camper. Available on the Japanese Online Store until Sept 30.

Raspberry Forest Happy Baby Set (Aug 17 Release)

This set includes the Sweet Raspberry House set with Creme Chocolate and her slide, the Baby Trio (Mascot) set, and the New Arrival set. Available on the Japanese Online Store until Sept 30.

Rainbow Kindergarten Set (Aug 17 Release)

This one has the Coloured Pencil Babies, the Sunshine Nursery Bus, and the Baby Castle Nursery. Available on the Japanese Online Store until Sept 30.

Moving onto some original items.

Grape Cat Keychain (Aug 8 Release)

We've got a new keychain: A Caramel/Macavity Cat standing baby in a grape costume. Exclusive to the Online Store and Official Shops. 

FamilyMart Exclusives

FamilyMart has a Sylvanian Families lottery this year with some exclusive prizes. This follows last year's sweets-themed lottery. This year's theme is Starry Sky Pajama Party.

The prizes are:

Starry Sky Nursery

Dreamy Dress Pair

Dreamy Pajama Pair

Baby Trio

Prams

Beds

Baby Keychains

Baby Blind Bags

The full baby run including the secret prize is:

• crawling seal in purple pjs and nightcap
• infant hamster in yellow floral nightgown and yellow nightcap
• infant grey Persian cat in pink fabric basinet
• biscuit bear in teal floral nightgown and sleepmask
• Marguerite rabbit in blue floral nightgown and sleepmask
• and some little fellow I can't identify in a sleeping bag.
   In-hand photos here.

Lightning Round:

• The Exciting Adventure Mountain that we saw a promotional image of back in June is now on the Japanese website and available for purchase. This appears to be a regular release so hopefully other countries will receive it before long.
  
  
• Puzzle piece acrylic patches with Sylvanian characters on them are available in Japan: Set 1, Set 2
  
  
• The new North American releases we saw teased in toy fair footage earlier this year have been added to the Calico Critters site.
  
  
• Calico Critters has added a three-baby version of the Coloured Pencil baby set to their Online Store. It's got a Persian cat, Tuxedo cat, and Latte cat.
  
  
• The Calico Critters online store has also added some other items that have been released previously in other countries, including the Countryside Friends duo, the Tea Party babies, and the Tea Party Friends.
  
  

There's some sort of freebie campaign happening on the Japanese store. I can't read Japanese unfortunately, so I'm not sure exactly how it works but it looks like the freebies are:

1.  a persian cat ghost baby
2. a polar bear witch baby and a tuxedo cat ghost baby
3. two persian cat babies in adorable wooly bat costumes.

Before we close up, there's some troubling news for US collectors. Due to increasingly particular toy regulations about flocked figures, there are issues surrounding selling smaller Calico Critters figures in the US. Two significant outcomes of this have transpired:

1. US collectors importing sets from overseas have had their packages seized and smaller figures destroyed. As a result, some overseas importers like KobeeJapan have paused selling to the US. See discussion about this here on Reddit (please note there has been a lot of speculation about what the impacts of this will be, so if you see a comment, take note of whether it's speculative or a statement of current evidence)
   
   
2. Calico Critters has changed the new fairy figures to be unflocked, to avoid getting penalized by the aforementioned rule (which only applies to flocked figures below a certain size). Photos here and here.
   
   
3. A new standing baby mold has been introduced with unjointed legs (arms are still jointed) and somewhat taller stature. Comparison with previous baby molds here.

There has been speculation about whether this will affect Canada or other countries surrounding the US, but at this point I don't know of any evidence of unflocked fairies showing up in other countries.

Alright, sorry to close things off on that note, but I'll be back soon as I catch up with September's releases!

Best,

Skylark 😺

Challenge 8: back to school

 Back to School with the Caramel family 

Back to school was very close and Vivian wanted to make sure everything was ready for Carlie as she started. 

"Now Carlie do you have everything?"

"I think so Mum, new bag, pencil case and lots of books!"

Justin arrived with his bag to join the packing... 

"All ready to pack - I brought my bag!"

"Oh dear, Justin! There's no need for you to pack your bag - you're still in Nursery which has different needs. There's time yet before you go to big school..."

J. "Aww"

C. "You can help me by passing the books from the table, Justin"

C. "There all packed! Now I can go to school tomorrow all ready to start."

V. "And the last thing you need is a good night's sleep. Time to get ready for bed."

(This story is a little later than meant but RL interfered... I created the house and Justin's bag before but the books and Carlie's bag were crafted for the challenge.)