When Alexandra Nicoletti, the creative force behind the new UK-based company Lil’ollo, contacted me not long ago, I quickly discovered that she and her team are creating some of the loveliest products available for bilingual children and their families. And not only are the Lil’ollo products well-designed and well-made, but Alex is producing items that are uniquely special, too.
Would you like a beautiful map of the world that can actually be personalized with the names of family members and their locations, to show your children their multicultural heritage?
Lil’ollo will make one for you!
Just through communicating with Alex via email, and eyeing her work in photos and video, I was already impressed and pleased to share Lil’ollo with others. And then, when she also sent us a box of samples so my children and I could see the products first-hand, it became crystal clear that Lil’ollo is creating resources that are both highly appealing for families with bilingual children and as high in quality as any of the best products for children you’ll find in the marketplace.
Ultimately, of course, my recommendations at this blog are not at all swayed by receiving product samples or any other sorts of incentives. I share only my honest opinion, in every case, and my honest opinion is that Alex is doing the world a real service by creating lovely resources that can help promote the bilingual and bicultural development of children everywhere.
For families on a bilingual or multilingual journey—and for schools nurturing multiple languages in their students—these are resources that provide colorful, playful support. I wholeheartedly recommend Lil’ollo and look forward to following Alex’s appealing and meaningful work.
Interview with Lil’ollo Founder Alex Nicoletti
Responding to my questions, via email, Alex shares her personal story, Lil’ollo’s origins and work, and helpful advice for other entrepreneurs. (Be sure to watch the nice videos, too!)
Could you tell us a little about yourself and your family?
My name is Alex and I live in the UK with my husband Gianluca and our children Marco (2) and Ornella (4 months). Marco and Ornella have an interesting family story…
Gianluca was born in Italy and so were his parents. He speaks fluent Italian, English, Spanish and also some French and German. My dad was born in India and so was his Welsh and Telegu speaking father. His mother, my Granny, was born in China. Her family originate from Scotland and her father spoke fluent Mandarin. My mum was born near London and so was her dad, and my maternal grandmother was born in the USA.
What is Lil’ollo and what moved you to create these products for multilingual families?
When we were expecting Marco, we looked for fun, beautiful bilingual products in both English and Italian. It’s important to us that our children can engage with both languages in an enjoyable way and we wanted resources we could share. I have a background in product design and after struggling to find what we were looking for, I decided to make those products for Marco myself. Following feedback and interest from other families, I created Lil’ollo. Since then I’ve been working with language therapists, teachers, filmmakers, artists and designers to develop this exciting business.
Could you tell us more about the Lil’ollo products?
Lil’ollo products and games are for everyone four months and over, whether you are speaking several languages fluently or would just like to introduce the idea of another language. Our range of posters, flash cards, games and wall art is currently available in:
Spanish – English
French – English
Italian – English
Dutch – English
German – English
Welsh – English
Polish – English
We will be adding more languages and combinations soon.
The Lil’ollo product range incorporates simple, open products featuring a family of specially designed characters. We’re also creating a helpful guide, full of games to play with your products alongside other helpful resources that can be found in our learning section.
Our characters, products, and games have been built on some simple science behind how we learn languages. This suggests early learning is at its most enjoyable and effective when it doesn’t “feel” like learning, and is open for everyone to interpret in their own way. Our resident speech and language therapist Ayelet talks us through this in this video.
We develop and design all our products at home with our children and our growing group of tester families, who provide us with such incredible feedback and encouragement. We will be expanding our product range soon and would love to hear from anyone who has any ideas for new languages, combinations, or products that you feel would add to the fun and experience of learning languages. We will share these via our social media channels before they’re released so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to find out more.
What are your plans or hopes for Lil’ollo?
We would really like to help more families around the world enjoy language learning together. The benefits of learning and speaking two or more languages are huge and we’re seeing such incredible discoveries in this field. I am especially interested in the research that points to bilingualism being able to preserve brain health in later life and even slow the onset of dementia.
Some more immediate and welcome advantages of language learning at an early age have been documented such as children exhibiting stronger signs of empathy. This is in addition to an increased understanding of others’ perspectives as well as a familiarity with the plethora of different cultures and languages of the people around us. More people globally engaging with two or more languages can only be a good thing!
What advice would you give to others interested in becoming entrepreneurs in this field?
I’m lucky to be surrounded by some bright and brilliant people who I continue to learn from. Here are some really important lessons they have shared with me. Please also see Una’s excellent insights from her journey starting Love your Lingo, as these were incredibly helpful to me as well.
Understand branding
Your company, brand, logo, and visual identity are all different but interrelated entities. The mistake a lot of new companies make is not spending time really thinking about the brand they are creating. Registering your company, and coming up with a logo and some great products is not enough. An absolute must read is Winning in Your Own Way, The Nine and a Half Golden Rules of Branding by Robert Bean. Also Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler is another great book. Your brand is the heart of your company and without a strong one it won’t fare so well.
Get insight into your customers
Even though Lil’ollo was born from a need we had identified at home, I didn’t assume everyone would need or want the same. Please have a look at Matt Shore’s work on customer insight, specifically the “seven deadly sins of innovation.” Your research and approach to the very foundations of your brand and products are essential. I particularly like sin number 5: “overcomplicating stuff.” Sometimes the best ideas are the most simple.
Work in partnership
Don’t see other entrepreneurs, specifically in the field of bilingualism and language learning, as rivals—see them as friends. After all, different brands’ products can often be complementary in the lives of your shared customers. There is plenty of room for successful businesses, so think about how you can work in partnership and help each other. This could be joint promoting over social media, collaborating on new products, or providing valuable feedback to help grow and develop your businesses. No company will thrive from looking inwards.
Be the face of your brand and company
This is the part I really don’t like! I am outgoing in person but at heart err on the more introverted side. Therefore most of my career to date as been spent working in the background, avoiding cameras, especially video cameras at all costs. Unfortunately, hiding in the background, under my desk, won’t help Lil’ollo.
The brand has grown around our family, myself in particular, so I need to be at the forefront. If you have a genuine story, your customers want to know about it and to engage with you and that story. Without that personal touch you could just become another large company with a fabricated brand story; one which hides behind a faceless logo… I know who I would rather engage with!
Welcome constructive criticism and feedback
Engaging with criticism isn’t about welcoming mean-spirited nitpicking or trolling. I would suggest ignoring that kind of feedback. However, opening yourself up to constructive and positive criticism will help your company grow. You don’t need to follow every piece of advice but be prepared to adapt and change your products and ideas if someone offers some useful insights.
Is there anything else we should know about you or Lil’ollo?
We really want to connect with you all and we would love to hear from you! Would you like to see another language or combination added soon? Would you like to test our products before they’re released? Do you have any incredible language experiences or stories to tell? We’re active on social media and you can reach us at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or you can email us at hello@lilollo.com!
Alex is kindly offering prizes for 3 lucky winners…
**GIVEAWAY RESULTS**
The winners are in! I reached into the big, blue bucket first and I randomly picked the third-prize winner…
Kate in the U.S.
Then Lulu selected the second-prize winner…
Norma in France
And finally Roy drew the first-prize winner…
Kerry in Iceland
Congratulations to the winners! And many thanks to everyone who entered! Even if you didn’t win this time, look below and you’ll find a personal reply from Alex in response to your comments about Lil’ollo. 
First Prize: A Personalized Map of the World
What would you like to share about a map of the world with the children in your life? Perhaps where family members were born, or where friends are from, where you have traveled or where you would like to go? Add messages and locations to special arrows and let us know how many, where they should point, and what you would like them to say. Personalize this beautiful map of the world with one or more names (for example, this map is Arianna’s world) and up to 10 arrows and locations.
NOTE: If you’d like to order one of these special maps as a Christmas present, don’t delay! To ship this product outside of the UK, please order before December 10 to allow us time to make it and ship it to you.
Second Prize: A Set of Number and Shape Flash Cards and Animal Pairs Cards
This prize will be in your choice of language combination: either English and Spanish, English and French, English and Italian, English and German, English and Welsh, English and Dutch, or English and Polish. These beautiful, colorful cards are made from specially coated card stock and can be used to play lots of different games. Have a look at our games guide for ideas.
Third Prize: A Large Animal Numbers Coloring Poster
Coloring is always great fun, and brilliant for fine motor development, concentration, color recognition, and hand-eye coordination. Even better when there are languages involved, too! There are lots of different animals hiding in this large A2 Numbers Coloring Poster. It is made from specially backed paper, perfect for pens, crayons, paint, or pencils. This prize will be in your choice of language combination: either English and Spanish, English and French, English and Italian, English and German, English and Welsh, English and Dutch, or English and Polish.
To enter the giveaway, just follow these three simple steps…
1. Share this post with others via social media. Help spread the word on Lil’ollo and the appealing resources made by Alex and her team. Use the sharing buttons below or simply copy and paste this link…
https://bilingualmonkeys.com/lovely-bilingual-products-from-lilollo
2. Leave a comment below with the following information. (And please proofread your comment, before submission, to check that the information is complete.)
1. Your first name and where you live (Example: Adam in Japan)
2. Your children and their ages (Example: Girl, 12 and Boy, 9)
3. Your two (or more) languages (Example: Japanese, English, and Spanish)
4. What are your first impressions of Lil’ollo? (Example: I really like the cute illustrations and the thoughtful design. The products are beautiful and the world map that can be personalized for your own family is a truly inspired idea! How cool is that?!
3. All entries must be submitted by the morning of Sunday, December 11 (Japan time). On that day, the comments will be printed out and cut apart to serve as entry slips for the drawing. The slips will be placed in a big, blue bucket and the winners chosen randomly in this way: I will pick the third prize winner; then Lulu will pick the second prize winner; and finally Roy will pick the first prize winner. After that, I’ll contact these people by email and update this post with the results.
Thank you for entering the giveaway, and for sharing this information about Lil’ollo with others! Alex and I look forward to seeing your comments!
85 Responses
Thanks for the giveaway!
1. Elodie in Germany
2. Boy, 3 and baby girl or boy on its way for end of March 2017
3. minority languages: French and English, majority language: German
4. Thanks for this cute discovery! I had not heard yet about Lil’ollo and I went straight onto the website. The world map is amazing! And I really like all the ideas you can use the flash cards, especially the drawing games! I look forward to the Rabbit Wall Art for Baby Number 2! 🙂 Thanks again!
Hi Elodie,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway – I’m really glad you like the products and games. Congratulations for your impending arrival! The wall art will be available as soon as possible next year. I hope in time for your little one. If you sign up to our newsletter on the website we can let you know when.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Liz in Germany
2. girl 13, boy 12, girl 8
3. German, English, and Spanish
4. The map is really amazing! But also the other products have a really appealing design. The animal pairs are a great idea.
Hi Liz,
I’m really glad you like the map and other products! Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the competition. We hope to add more language combinations soon and German, English and Spanish is on my multilingual list. Have a look on our website and sign up to our newsletter. We can let you know when it becomes available.
All the best,
Alex
1. Noemi in Spain
2. Boy, 1
3. Spanish and English
4. I really like the design, not only for children! Great combination of colors. The idea of the world map is amazing and it would be a great gift, but the flash cards and the coloring poster look like so much fun! And very useful for us parents of bilingual children. Thanks!
Hi Noemi,
We took a long time on the design and colour combinations so I’m really glad you like them and think they will be useful. Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway! We have more products and games in the pipeline so please sign up to our newsletter on our website if you’d like to keep in touch.
All the best,
Alex
1. Pia in Italy
2. Girl, 6 years old
3. Italian and English
4. I love the bilingual cards. Now that my daughter is learning to read they would be so useful.
Ciao Pia,
I’m so glad you love the cards. We use them to tell stories to Marco and Ornella. Gianluca’s recent story (in Italiano) for Marco before bed involves the elephant driving a tractor…! Thank you for your feedback and for entering the giveaway. We’d love to keep in touch with you via our newsletter or social media so please follow us or sign up on our website.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Kerry in Iceland
2. girl 4, girl 3
3. Icelandic, English
4. Clever, clever Alex 🙂
Hi Kerry,
Thank you so much! Your comment made me smile. 🙂 I’m really glad you like the products. We’d love to keep in touch with you so please keep an eye on our social media pages or sign up to our newsletter.
All the best,
Alex
Hi Adam, this is a great idea!
1. Giulia in the UK
2. Boy, 3 months
3. Majority language: English; Minority languages: Italian (I’m Italian) and Afrikaans (my husband is from South Africa)
4. Haven’t heard of Lil’ollo before – definitely a useful resource! Love the colourful cards, they would be very useful also for the grandparents (who don’t speak English) so they can learn the language while playing with the baby. 🙂
Ciao Giulia,
I’m so glad Lil’ollo will be useful for you. We’re very new and only launched two weeks ago. Nonno has been using the cards with Marco for over a year now and finds them useful for learning English too! We have more products and games in the pipeline so please sign up to our newsletter on our website if you’d like to keep in touch.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Kaci in the United States
2. Boy, 2
3. English and German
4. I’ve been following Lil’ollo on Instagram for several weeks, and I’ve been blown away by their eye-catching, vibrant designs. These cute and effective products will be a game changer for bilingual education, and I can’t wait to see what new games, flash cards, posters and more will be launched next!
Hi Kaci,
Thank you so much for all your social media support. We really appreciate it! I’m delighted you like the designs and range. I hope your products arrive very soon after their first transatlantic voyage . Our newsletter will also start soon – thank you very much for signing up.
All the best,
Alex
1. Sarah in UK
2. 2 children, 2 & 5
3. English and German
4. I love the world map. Also very interested in the easy tack cards, great idea and lovely designs in general!
1) Melissa in Canada
2) 4 children, ages 12, 9, 6 and 5
3) English and French
4) I love how bright and engaging your products look!
Hi Sarah,
I’m so glad you like the products and designs. Thank you for your feedback and for entering the giveaway! The Easy Tack material is so much fun and I really can’t wait to release it – we’re just fine tuning the manufacturing at the moment. Please sign up to our newsletter on the website and we’ll keep in touch about when you can sign up to pre-order.
All the best,
Alex
Hi Sarah,
I’m so glad you like the products and designs. Thank you for your feedback and for entering the giveaway! The Easy Tack material is so much fun and I really can’t wait to release it – we’re just fine tuning the manufacturing at the moment. Please sign up to our newsletter on the website and we’ll keep in touch about when you can sign up to pre-order.
All the best,
Alex
1. Amy in France
2. One little girl aged 4 and one baby girl aged 8 months
3. French (ML), Spanish (ml1) and English (ml2)
4. It is so comforting to find products designed for bilingual kids and families, bearing in mind our “peculiarities”. The colourful products in our languages are beautiful and a good incentive for the kids to get down to learning their languages; but I must say the world map that can be personalized for your own family really struck a chord. At last a way to explain our rich family history in a very visual way for our little ones.
1. Isabel from Spain
2. Boy 5 and girl almost 4
3. Spanish and English
4. I haven’t heard about Lil’ollo before, will check their website asap. Everything is beautiful but I love the world map! I’d like to give it as a present to sooooo many friends!!
Hi Isabel,
I’m sorry I think some of these replies have gone a bit wonky! I’m so glad you love the products and the map. We’d love to keep in touch – if you would like to sign up to our newsletter please do. You can find it on the contact page of our website.
All the best,
Alex
Hi Amy,
We have a rich family history too and I thought for a long time about how to visually explain it to our children. I’m so glad this product will be helpful for you too. Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway! We’d love to keep in touch with you so please keep an eye on our social media pages or sign up to our newsletter.
All the best,
Alex
Hi Amy,
We have a rich family history too and I thought for a long time about how to visually explain it to our children. I’m so glad this product will be helpful for you too. Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway! We’d love to keep in touch with you so please keep an eye on our social media pages or sign up to our newsletter.
All the best,
Alex
1. Tamar from Israel
2. Boy, 11, and twins (boy and girl), 8.5
3. English and Hebrew
4. I love the clean and colorful design of all her products! True eye candy! 🙂 I could look at the map all day, it’s wonderful!
Hi Tamar,
Thank you so much for your great feedback! Hebrew-English is on our list of languages to add in the near future so please keep in touch and we’ll let you know when. You can sign up to our newsletter on the contact page of our website.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Ivonne in Italy
2. Two girls, 7 and 6
3. English, Spanish and French!
4. Your idea is just wonderful! I struggle most of the time in producing flashcards and other things with different languages. Your drawings look appealing for children of different ages, they are so bright and clear. The animals communicate something like “Hey, would you like to be my friend and play with me?”. I definitely love your products, and I want to thank you for your idea! Best wishes for your project!
Hi Yvonne,
Your comments about the animal characters are so great to hear – that’s exactly what we were going for when we designed them. We use the cards to tell stories with Marco and Ornella. We’d love to keep in touch. Please keep an eye on our social media pages or sign up to our newsletter on our website. You can find it on the contact page.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Beiti in the UK
2. Girl 9, Boy 4, and Girl 2
3. Mandarin, English, and Dutch
4. It would be great to see Mandarin Chinese being added to the bilingual products, as this world No. 1 spoken language deserves a place!
Hi Beiti,
Mandarin Chinese absolutely does deserve a place and we’ll be adding it early next year. It is top of my list. Would you like us to let you know when? Please get in touch on our contact page and we’ll email you as soon as it becomes available. Thank you so for entering the giveaway!
All the best,
Alex
1. Patricia from Argentina
2. Girl 21, Boy 19, Girl 16
3. Spanish, English
4. The products are beautiful. I would love to use them in my classroom as well as with my grandchildren and nieces to help them understand their roots! Thank you!
Hi Patricia,
I’m so happy you would like to use them in your classroom as well as with your grandchildren and nieces. We are adding some special packages for schools early in 2017. Would you like us to let you know when? Please get in touch via our contact page on the Lil’ollo website. We’d love to hear from you.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Caitlin, USA
2. Boy, 6 months (today, in fact!)
3. Spanish and English
4. I’m obsessed with the map idea but all three of the prizes are super cute! It’s always hard to find bilingual resources for raising a bilingual child, and I am particularly picky because I am also a teacher. Definitely bookmarking this company!
Hi Caitlin,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for bookmarking us. I’m delighted you like the designs and feel they will be useful. We have been working with teachers on the product range and guides and will continue to. You are an expert group! We will be starting a regular newsletter soon and would love to keep in touch. Please sign up on the contact page of our website.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Kate in the US
2. Girl 2
3. English, Spanish
4. The colorful displays are so helpful to attract little ones! As a teacher, I am always on the lookout for educational resources that are in both our family languages. Thank you for creating what we need!
Hi Kate,
I’m so glad you like the designs and our use of colour. We spent a long time trying to get it right and make the products as fun and useful as possible. I’m delighted they are what you need! We’re creating some special packages for schools early next year. We’d love to keep in touch so please keep and eye on our social media pages and sign up to our newsletter on the contact page of our website.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Laura, USA
2. Boy 9, boy 6, girl 2
3. German, English, Spanish
4. Very fun products, but they need someone to check their German – nouns are capitalized in German – the animal flashcards are all incorrect. 🙂
Hi Laura,
Thank you so much for your feedback. All our translations go through a professional translator and are also checked by friends. This has been missed so thank you for pointing it out. We would love to keep in touch so if you would like, please sign up for our newsletter or keep an eye on our social media pages.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Laura in Puerto Rico!
2. Boy 6, Girl 4.5
3. English and Spanish
4. Super cute, useful and practical! I especially love the customized map – what a creative way to show how the whole world is connected.
Hi Laura,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway. I’m really glad you like the products and they will be useful for you. We’re finding the map really fun and useful at home. We’d love to keep in touch so if you would like, please sign up to our newsletter on the Lil’ollo website via the contact page.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Isabelle in New Zealand
2. Boy, 3
3. Majority language: English; Minority languages: French and Spanish
4. I am very interested in different resources to practise minority languages in a fun way. I didn’t know the lilollo website and I like the way the four skills are included in the activities. It does look very attractive to little ones.
Hi Isabelle,
I’m really glad you like the products and activities. The Lil’ollo website only launched a few weeks ago and your positive feedback is really appreciated. Good luck in the giveaway! If you would like to keep in touch, it would be great to hear from you via the contact page on our website. We have a newsletter and lots going on over social media.
All the best,
Alex
1. Alina in USA
2. 2 girls, 4 and 2.5
3. Romanian, English, and German
4. Just like all the other parents it is refreshing to see products for bilingual children. I’d love to be able to customize some for less common languages like Romanian because there is little availability of products abroad.
Hi Alina,
I owe you an email! Thanks so much for connecting with us and I look forward to catching up over Skype soon. Good luck in the giveaway!
All the best,
Alex
1. Emilia in Italy
2. 2 girls (14 and 5 yo) and two boys (12 and 2 yo)
3. Spanish, Italian and English
4. I love the drawings of the flashcards I see in the pictures!!! They are simply lovely!!! I also like a lot the posters, I’ll certainly have a look at the website!
Hi Emilia,
I’m so glad you like the drawings. They are the work of our very talented illustrator Simon and we worked together with Ayelet our Speech and Language therapist to make sure they are as helpful as possible when it comes to learning languages. I hope you liked the website when you visited. We’d love to keep in touch so if you would like, please sign up for our newsletter via the contact page of our website.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Cristian in Germany
2. Boy, 7
3. Italian, German, English
4. Nice idea! I really like the cute illustrations and the thoughtful design.
Hi Cristian,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway. I’m so glad you like the idea and design – we put a lot of thought into it and I hope the products are useful for you and your family. We’d love to keep in touch so please keep an eye on our social media pages or sign up for our newsletter via the contact page of our website.
Best wishes,
Alex
Chiara in Italy
Boy, 3
Italian and English
Awesome illustrations!
Grazie Chiara!
They are the work of Simon, our very talented illustrator. There are currently 90 different Lil’ollo animals and you will see them on more resources and products we’ll release soon. To find out when please like and follow us on social media or sign up to our newsletter – we’d love to keep in touch. Good luck in the giveaway!
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Nicola in the US
2. Boy, 14 months
3. German and English
4. Cute design and great that you can personalize it! Can’t wait until you make things trilingual and add Mandarin!
Hi Nicola,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway. It’s been really fun personalising orders so far, especially the map. I love seeing where everyone is from and what they would like to share about the world. We’re adding more combinations soon and trilingual products are in the pipeline for next year. Mandarin is set for release very soon! We’d love to keep in touch so please sign up to our newsletter via the contact page of our website.
All the best,
Alex
1. Helen in the UK
2. 4 and 2 year old boys
3. Spanish and English
4. It is always so encouraging to see new companies coming up with more (much needed!) innovative resources to help us on our bilingual journey. I particularly like the focus on games and playing – it is always so much easier to learn a language when you are having fun doing it!
Hi Helen,
I’m so glad you like the focus on games and playing. We find it really helpful at home. I’ll be adding more games to the games guide early next year so please keep an eye on our social media channels or sign up for our newsletter. We’d love to keep in touch and hear about any other games you have found to be helpful. Good luck with the giveaway and thank you very much for your positive feedback.
All the best,
Alex
1. Sussy in Oklahoma City, USA
2. 3 daughters: 8yrs old, 18yrs old and 20yrs old
3. L1: Spanish, L2: English and French
4. Anything bilingual for our children is great education! Thank you for providing amazing resources to bilingual parents.
Hi Sussy,
You are most welcome! Thank you so much for your positive feedback and for entering the giveaway. We’d love to keep in touch so if you would like, please keep an eye on our social media channels or sign up for our newsletter via the contact page of our website.
All the best,
Alex
1. Tina, UK
2. Girl 6, Girl 3
3. English and German
4. Interesting concept, cute graphics.
Hi Tina,
Thank you! I’m really glad you like the concept and graphics. Good luck with the competition and please keep an eye on our social media pages for new products, or if you would like, sign up for our newsletter via our website.
All the best,
Alex
1. Gabriela in Argentina
2. Son age 2 1/2
3. Spanish and English
4. I love maps, moreover if they can be custom made.
Hi Gabriela,
Thank you so much for entering the giveaway! I’m glad you love custom made maps- we’ve found this one really fun to use at home. Good luck and please sign up to our newsletter if you’d like to keep in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
Best wishes,
Alex
Name: Roberta from Italy
Children: an 8 year old girl and a 3 year old boy
Languages: Italian and English
Lil’ollo: Smart ideas, perfect for bilingual families like ours. Useful material also for my class (I teach English). Hard to find anything like it in Italy!!!
Grazie Roberta!
My husband Gianluca found the same when we were looking for products in Italy and the UK before our first child was born. I’m really glad you like the products and we ship everything to Italy. Thank you so much for entering the giveaway and for your positive feedback. We’ll be adding more products soon, including special packs for teachers and schools so please keep in touch and sign up for our newsletter via the Lil’ollo website.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Mellissa in California, USA
2. 3 children: Carolina 8yrs, Gunnar 3yrs, Annaleese 1yr
3. English, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish
4. Wonderful program, would love to see continental Portuguese.
Hi Melissa,
Thank you so much for your positive feedback and for entering the giveaway. Portuguese is on our list of languages we would like to release next. We would love to keep in touch and let you know when it will be available. We’ll launch a newsletter soon so please sign up via the contact page of our website.
All the best,
Alex
1. Marta in Spain
2. Boy 4, Girl 1
3. Spanish and English
4. The Lil’ollo products are exactly what I need! The illustrations are beautiful and the ideas really original! And about the giveaway? It’s just the perfect one!!!
Hi Marta,
I’m so glad the products are exactly what you need! That makes me so happy to hear. Thank you very much for your positive feedback and for entering the giveaway. We would love to keep in touch and let you know about new products and languages. If you would like, please sign up to our newsletter via the contact page of our website.
Best wishes and good luck!
Alex
1. Anna in USA
2. Boys 2 and 1
3. English and Russian
4. I love the map; it’s a great idea representing places. I also like how you can play multiple games with your products. I would love to see Russian added to the combination of the languages in your products.
Hi Anna,
We’d love to add Russian very soon. I’m making a note of how many people are requesting different languages and Russian is getting a lot of votes! I’m really glad you like the products and games. We’d love to keep in touch and let you know when we add Russian and new products. Please sign up to our newsletter via the contact page of our website or keep an eye on our social media pages.
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Junia, US
2. Girls, 3 & 5
3. Portuguese, Spanish, and English
4. I love how cute they are, the more bilingual products the better. 😉
Hi Junia,
I’m really glad you love the animals! Simon our illustrator did a great job. There are loads more we are yet to use so please keep in touch – you can keep an eye on our social media pages or sign up to our newsletter. Good luck with the giveaway!
Best wishes,
Alex
1. Adriana in USA
2. Boy 5, girl 4, boy 1
3. English, Spanish, Portuguese
4. The map is awesome and I think the colors and design of your other products are eye catching for kids. So useful to help retain language skills.
REPLY
Hi Adriana,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the giveaway. We spent a long time on the design and colours so I’m really glad you think they are eye catching and useful. We’d love to keep in touch so if you would like, please sign up for our newsletter via the contact page of our website.
Best wishes and good luck!
Alex
1. I’m Eric and I live in Hiroshima, Japan.
2. My daughter just turned two and I tutor a few dozen others.
3. English, Japanese, German; some French and Thai and limited Spanish and Ojibwe. My daughter mostly interacts with the first 3-4.
4. I don’t know much but personalization sounds cool, and they look simple, visually appealing, and useful. I’m curious to try them out with my daughter and my students and see how readily I can adapt them into various games and activities (my speciality!)
Hi Eric,
Wow what a fantastic mix of languages! I’m really glad you like the look of the products and think they will be useful. I would love to know how you get on with playing different games. Please keep in touch! You can email us via the contact page of our website or message via social media.
All the best,
Alex
1. Deborah, Spain
2. 2 girls, 4 and 18 months
3. English, Spanish, Catalan
4. I love the colors and the motifs. I completely identify with Alex’s story and wish her and the company great success!
Hi Deborah,
Thank you so much for your lovely message and for entering the giveaway. I’m really glad you love the products and identify with my story and why I decided to design them. It would be great to keep in touch, please keep an eye on what we’re up to on social media and if you would like, sign up to our newsletter via our website.
Best wishes and good luck!
Alex
1. Norma in France
2. Girl 2 years old, Boy 5 weeks old
3. Majority Language: French; Minority Languages: English and Spanish
4. As a mother of a 2 year old who loves animals, I find lil’ollo extremely fascinating and fun. I love teaching my daughter our minority languages through play and I am sure that she will not be able to put these flashcards down. The map idea is so wonderful, what a fun way to have a visual representation of where our family comes from! I simply love it! Will the flashcards be available in three languages as well?
Hi Norma,
I’m so glad you like Lil’ollo! Fascinating and fun is just what we’re going for and that’s great you’re learning languages through play at home. The flash cards will be available in three languages next year. I’ll be taking votes soon to find out which combinations are the most popular. We’d love to keep in touch and I will let you know about new products and language combinations. Our newsletter will be starting soon and if you like, you can sign up to it via the contact page of our website.
All the best,
Alex
1. Fiona in Scotland
2. Girl, 3
3. Majority language English, minority language French
4. Love the colours and ideas – as a mummy of a toddler, I recognise the need for games and learning through play. I am truly astounded what my little girl absorbs (even when you think she’s not listening) through songs and pictures and cards. Any bilingual materials such as these can only be a blessing to parents to help support use of all language. It is absolutely delightful that these products are not tablet/app based. Screen time has it’s place of course but wonderful to have a choice of other products too.
Hi Fiona,
Thank you so much for your social media support! Children are amazing aren’t they? I am constantly amazed too and have found more and more that games and multi-sensory learning is so effective and fun. I’m really glad you like that we’re not electronic at the moment. I agree screen time has it’s place and we’ll be making some videos (mainly for parents and carers!) about pronunciation, but my aim is to keep the majority of what we offer away from the digital world.
Best wishes and keep in touch,
Alex
1. Jane in Japan
2. Two boys, 4 and 2
3. English and Japanese; I also speak and/or studied Catalan, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian and German.
4. I love bilingual play/learning tools books activities games!
This map showing international families or information is a fantastic idea! My eldest boy would really love all the stuff shown here.
Keep up the good work, Lil’ollo!
Hi Jane,
Wow your list of languages is amazing! Thank you so much for your positive feedback and for entering the giveaway. I’m really glad your eldest would really love the products. We hope to add English-Japanese soon and will be expanding our range of products. It would be great to keep in touch so if you would like, please sign up to our newsletter via the contact page of our website.
All the best,
Alex
1. Kasia in Spain
2. Boy, 2 and a half
3. Polish, Spanish, English
4. I really like the design and the idea of the personalised map is brilliant!!!
Hi Kasia,
I’m really glad you like the design of the products and the map. We’ve had great fun with ours at home. Thank you so much for your positive feedback and for entering the giveaway. We’ll be adding more products soon so please keep in touch. You can sign up to our newsletter via the Lil’ollo website or keep an eye on our social media pages.
Best wishes and good luck!
Alex
1. Anna, England
2. Two boys, 2 and 4
3. English and Italian
4. I struggle to find nice bilingual resources and these look lovely.
Hi Anna,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for entering the competition. We really struggled to find resources too and I’m really glad you like the look of Lil’ollo. We’ll be adding more soon so please keep in touch and we can let you know when. We have a newsletter you can sign up for on our website or keep an eye on our social media pages.
All the best and good luck!
Alex