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It's May, dissertation hand-in day is nigh, and we can now find packs of students lurking in their 'natural' habitat - no, not the local pub - but the loathed library. As summer looms 'the dog days are (nearly) over' for our anxious academics. However, this certainly did not ring true yesterday when Kigu popped over to Queen Mary, University of London to de-stress and cuddle a puppy at a Guide Dogs UK puppy therapy session!

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We caught up some of the volunteers that work for Guide Dogs UK to learn a little bit more about what they do.

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Can you tell us briefly what Guide Dogs UK do as a charity?

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Guide Dogs UK is a mobility-focused charity. We train and breed our own guide dogs to help blind and partially sighted people get the kind of mobility that we all take for granted. We have around 4,500-5,000 dogs working in partnership with blind and partially sighted people. Can you believe that one guide dog owner has up to 9-10 guide dogs in their lifetime?

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Every person and dog is unique, so how do you successfully match a dog to its owner?

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It's the most important part of the process. The guide dog mobility instructor who looks after the dog in the final 10 weeks of its training will have a list of people in mind. When we're matching the dogs we look for certain characteristics that will match the owner's personality. Obviously, the breed and the size of the dog is a determining factor, even the speed that it walks is important.

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Final question guys, Kigu wants to know what animal onesies the Guide Dogs UK volunteers will be sporting this summer?

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Dave: Oh goodness, Alison would definitely suit a donkey onesie.

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Alison: I'd definitely be a donkey! Ha!

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Dave: I've never dressed as a Koala so probably that or maybe a panda.

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Adam: Well I dressed as a Reindeer for the guide dog Christmas fair, could I get away with that in June?

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To learn a little more about Guide Dogs UK visit www.guidedogs.org.uk

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Yesterday was a pretty remarkable one - and not just because of the bizzarre fluke that meant the Bank Holiday coincided with an absolute scorcher of a day - but because Kigu Kids had the pleasure of hosting a pop up zoo right in the centre of Dalston!

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The Bank Holiday Monday saw the debut of Land of Kings Festival's kiddie counterpart, Land of Kids.  Kigu, along with an array of other creative and hands on children's brands took to Dalston's Eastern Curve Garden and the streets beyond, to host a menagerie of arts, crafts, music and plain old good fun  for the day.

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Never one to settle for the ordinary, Kigu enlisted the help of Animal Magic to bring a pop up zoo to the East London event.  Amongst the array of animals who graced us with their presence were meerkats,  owls, tarantulas, snakes and mice to name but a few (needless to say we didn't let the snakes get too close to the mice!).

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Appart from one minor incident in which a Velvet bunny mistook one of our young visitors for a litter tray, the whole day was hiccup free and a roaring success! Thanks to all of you who came down to say hello and a massive thanks to Land of Kids and Animal Magic for making the day possible.

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We are happy to announce that three more styles have joined the XL Kigu family!

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After the instant success of the Kangaroo, Giraffe and Dinosaur as the pioneers of this line which is tailored toward the less vertically challenged of the Kigu Crew, we thought it was about time to extend the range.

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The Owl, Penguin and Panda are now available as well,  so there's even more choice in our Kigu XL size, perfect for those over 6ft tall who deem it inappropriate  to show a little ankle.

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As you may have heard, we'll be hosting our very own pop up zoo at Dalston's Land of Kids Festival on Monday 6th May.

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This one day event is an extension of Dalston's musical and creative festival, Land of Kings, and, as the name suggests, it'll be focusing entirely on kids.

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An array of music, arts and crafts will be descending on one of the most creative hubs in London - from Wah Nails to shadow puppet shows, speed party games to Reggae nursery rhymes, it promises to be an unforgettable day for kids and parents alike.

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We caught up with Connie, organiser of both Bank Holiday events, and her daughter Joni at Clapton Pond, and while Joni was pulling some awesome moves in her Tiger Kigu, Connie answered some of our questions about Land of Kids...

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Can you tell us a bit more about LoKings, LoKids and what this year's festival has in store for both kids and adults?

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This will be Land of Kings' 5th year, launched in 2009 to celebrate the area's established, (then) new and undiscovered spaces showing the best of the area's music, performance and art scenes. This year the festival presents a true takeover of Kingsland, cramming the usual two-night schedule into an extended day-night programme. Music highlights include Gaggle, Darkstar, Andrew Weatherall, Rory Phillips and Tayo to name but a few.

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Land of Kids uses the same infrastructure (and even some of the programming) as Land of Kings and presents a huge array of workshops from fabric rosette making to seed bombing. If that's not enough, face paining, balloons, Fairies and Goblins, soft play area for the very little ones and much, much more will take place on the day of the event.

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LoKings is now in its 5th year, but this is the 1st year for LoKids. Why have you decided to dedicate a whole day of this year's festival entirely to children?

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Partly due to one half of Land of Kings (me) having a five year old, but also appreciating the area is changing and to create something accessible to a broader audience. Land of Kings has always been very playful and we were often sad younger people had to be excluded. There are lots of creative individuals and organisations in Hackney to draw on, and loads of people with great ideas for kids. We wanted to pull together a line up with a difference – odd, unseen, curious, magical, inspiring… and right on people's doorstep.

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What aspect of LoKids are you most excited about?

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I like it all, but to choose a few: Reggae nursery rhymes, Punchdrunk Enrichment, Lost and Found's Pirate school, Cockney song with the Pearly King and Queen, Camille Walala UV room featuring Sink The Pink UV face painting party, Speed Birthday Parties, Hackney Children's Theatre's Faeries and Goblins…

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Why did you want Kigu to be involved?

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Kigu is perfect for us. Local, fun and playful - fits in perfectly with our programming.

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Why do you think Dalston's such a good place to run an event like this?

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Because you wouldn't expect it. Dalston isn't necessarily associated with families and kids. We are creating a haven in an inner city concrete jungle. Go off the main strip and it's residential houses everywhere. It's a minute walk for tons of families. But mainly the area is oozing with people already doing great stuff for kids, so we've just brought it all under one umbrella.

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What would you like kids and parents to take away from the event?

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For kids – inspiration from their experiences… stuff to do and talk about with their friends, parents and teachers. I mean, we have a Pirate school, so there will be a lot of experienced pirates walking round Hackney for instance.

For parents – a tired, happy child.

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Snoop Dogg’s (aka Snoop Lion) video for "La La La" features a bunch of hyped kids dancing around as animals. Which musicians or artists you admire have actively involved kids in their work?

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Kate Bush in her album Aerial. She uses her son, Bertie.

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Which Kigu animal do you think best suits your personality and why?

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I had to ask my other half, and he said "seal". Not sure why…

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We are very excited to announce that Kigu Kids will be teaming up with the first ever Land of Kids festival on 6th May to bring a pop up petting zoo to the heart of East London!

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Every May Bank Holiday Dalston is engulfed by a cultural jamboree of raves, gigs, parties, cinema, games and art that is the Land of Kings, but this year there will be a new addition to the East London festival...

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Monday 6th May will be the debut of Land of Kids, the children's equivalent to its longstanding counterpart.  Like LoKings, the kids' festival will be taking Dalston by storm and filling it  with arts and crafts galore as well as music and fun activities which promise to be as entertaining for the adults as they are for the kids.

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Naturally it was a no brainer for Kigu to get involved, so we'll be installing our very own pop up petting zoo in the East Curve Garden for one day only!  Meerkats, snakes, owls, pygmy hedgehogs and an array of other cute and fluffies will be joining the Kigu Crew for the day, all of whom love to be cuddled and petted.

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As well as the animals, we'll be hosting our own stall where both kids and adult Kigus will be on sale along with some exclusive offers for the LoKids guests.

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LoKids will be taking place across a number of venues from Ashwin Street to Abbot Street, E8 from 12pm-7pm.  Tickets are available to purchase  from the LoKids website and under 2s go free.

We Are FSTVL is a brand new 15,000 capacity festival event taking place in Upminster on Saturday 25th May and we're proud to be hosting a Kigu stage with an absolutely STONKING line up!

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Headlining the stage are Dusky, London based duo Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman who make house music that’s inseparable from the genre’s tradition but comes with both a widescreen ambition and a distinctly UK underground edge, inspired by everything from Detroit techno and bumping UK garage to classical and avant-garde electronica.

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House legend Terry Farley, Max Chapman, Shane Watcha, Lee Brinx, People Get Real, Anna Wall, Ben Hoo, Copy Paste Soul, Pete Berry and the aptly named Panda complete the billing.

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Tickets to the event have already sold out (some VIP tickets are remaining), unsurprising for a UK festival which boasts 3h sets from Sven Vath and Ricardo Villalobos, but we'll be keeping everyone updated via Twitter and Instagram on the day so make sure you stay tuned to check in on what's going on.

We've gone full on pink for this Kigu x Urban Outfitters Dinosaur collaboration. In the run up to festival season we're running pop up shops in several Urban Outfitters stores throughout the UK so come and check us out. This Pink Dino is the cream of the collection and only available in limited numbers so grab one while you can.

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This Easter weekend we'll be launching our first ever Easter Kigu hunt across London.

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We've hidden an array of Kigu treats at different London locations.  To find these concealed treasures you'll need to be following us on Facebook, Twitter and our brand new Instagram as this is where we'll be posting photo clues over the whole weekend.

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Each photo will take you to the exact spot where a golden envelope has been stashed and each envelope will contain some Kigu treasure, ranging from discount codes to free Kigu vouchers and maybe the odd booby prize!

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Envelopes won't be replaced after they've been discovered so time is of the essence - you snooze you lose!  So phones and Kigus at the ready, lets go Kigu hunting!

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To all you non-London Kigu Crew who may feel a bit neglect, this is a promise of bigger, nationwide, things to come so there'll be plenty of Kigu activities coming your way this summer.

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As you probably know, last week we were on the hunt to find a few willing volunteers to become the new faces of Kigu.  Thanks to everyone who sent photos in, we were literally spoilt for choice - who knew the Kigu Crew was such a good looking bunch eh?

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After much debate, we finally managed to whittle it down to our select few and on Saturday 23rd March we all made our way to photographer, David Abraham's studio with The London School of Media Makeup in tow for a day of animal style fun and frolicks, and maybe some photos if we had time.

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Some big news from Kigu HQ... We're currently working on a brand new website! And we need some fresh new faces to go with our fresh new look. We're on the hunt for models, and we wouldn't want anyone but the Kigu Crew to do the honours.

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We're looking for girls under 5ft 8" and boys under 5ft 10" and over 18. You must be free to attend the East London shoot on Saturday 23rd March and to pop by Kigu HQ in London Fields by next Wednesday for a quick casting.  The selected models will receive £100, lunch and a Kigu of their choice!

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We're looking for people who can really capture that Kigu spirit and if it's you and some friends that's even better! If you fit the above criteria, feel totally at home in a Kigu and think you can have a bit of fun in front of the camera, then we would absolutely love to hear from you! Just send a photo with a little self introduction to info@kigu.co.uk