Time was that products and materials were either recycled or not. These days, “upcycled” products are becoming increasingly popular. The difference between “upcycling” and “recycling” being that the former involves reusing a material without degrading its quality or composition. So, used beer bottles being turned into jeans or asphalt or new beer bottles are examples of recycling (because the old beer bottles are melted down into cullet before being reused). But used beer bottles being turned into, say, a Thai temple is an example of upcycling.

In the increasingly diverse (and, some would say, nutty) language around eco-friendly concepts, other terms for reusing material emerged. One can not only recycle or upcycle but also downcycle, freecycle, precycle and e-cycle. But there’s only one other -cycle we’re concerned with for this post: Hipcycle.

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Spot Cool Stuff previously reviewed three unusual and creative cereal bowls for kids. The idea in that review was to feature bowls that were affordable, unbreakable and fun. Hidden Animal Bowls fell miserably short of that first criteria and failed to meet the second. But, oh, how they excel at the third. Each bowl has an animal shape that appears when filled with liquid. But if you find that the price tag puts you off—and it will—then check out some alternative Hidden Animal Tea Cups.

More on both, below:

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Toddlers eating cereal is a messy, often wet, affair. Bowls get dropped. Milk gets spilt. Cereal goes flying.

Here are three bowls that won’t break, might help your kids contain the mess and will always look cool:

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At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Sorapot is a piece of elegant apparatus for some scientific experiment.

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