I've tried to encourage my tween's intense love of all things art since she was a wee thing. To fuel her fire, we have loads of art books from "open-ended" coloring books like Rosie Flo's and those by Taro Gomi, to more academic tomes wi…
If you've seen our posts about our favorite subscription box gifts for moms ,, book subscription boxes for kids of all ages , and cool subscription gifts made for men and dads , you'll recognize that monthly subscriptions are all the rag…
We played lots of board games in my house growing up, and with a 4 year age difference, there were few my sister and I could both make it through without quitting. (We in fact have never completed a game of Monopoly to this day.) One of …
When we're running out the door on one of our million weekly errands, it's way too easy to just grab the iPad or a handheld electronic game to occupy the kids. But in my ongoing quest to "unplug" a little more often, I've discovered a ne…
My daughter is turning 3 next month and is starting to outgrow her naps! I am trying to enforce quiet time on the days she won't nap, and someone gave me the idea of letting her listen to audio books as her quiet time activity. I was hop…
As I have mentioned here before, I have a real sweet spot for nursery art prints. While my daughter's room may be the size of your suburban walk in closet, I will always keep an eye out for another something special to squeeze onto her t…
Now that the kids are fully back in school, that means unfortunately, there are a lot of teachers out there thinking about all the out-of-pocket money they're going to have to start spending on their classrooms. Which, if you ask me, is …
After our local Border's bookstore closed, I became a bit "woe is me" about the future of books. I'm one of those people who just can't imagine sitting down my kids for a bedtime story with my iPad in my lap. So, I'm rejoicing over this …
I have a big, big heart for teachers and all they do. Not just because my own mother is one, but because I can directly point to moments that educators shaped my life in profound ways. Like Linda Taylor who helped me fall in love with hi…
Today is a tough day for a lot of us, especially those of us in the New York and DC areas who lived through the horror of 9/11 ten years ago. But we do love how it's been turned into something positive as a National Day of Service. We th…
I take a lot of pictures of my kids. Some of them end up in the digital abyss crying to be turned into scrapbooks and canvases on my wall. But then there are plenty that I look at and think hm. That should have turned out better. Now, th…
My mom was amazing with personal notes--she always produced the loveliest card, written just-so, perfectly on-time, for every occasion. Her mastery of the art form skipped a generation. But the good news is that means my kids have a fair…
As a homeschool mom, I've got plenty of creative ways to teach numbers and counting to my littler ones. But that doesn't mean there aren't more creative options out there, like this one from artist and mom CarrieSue Gustafson who I recen…
On a recent trip to Prague, I fell in love with the town's infamous toy shops. Somehow, I managed to squeeze into my bag a set of 6" marionettes for my kids, along with a small puppet theater. Who would know it would turn out to be the b…
No sooner did Team Umizoomi launch on Nick Jr. last year that my preschooler fell in love. Madly and deeply. Let's say she occasionally insists on being called Geo, her favorite color has gone from purple to blue, and best of all, she's …
It is rare to find a book that all three of my boys can enjoy together. With such varied interests, I long for something captivating (and non-electronic) that has the ability to sustain their attention long enough for me to take a shower…
My handbag is sort of a Mom's Swiss Army Knife. Need a Band-Aid? Got it. Hungry? I've got some mints in here somewhere. But when we get stuck waiting somewhere and the kids are threatening to mutiny out of sheer boredom, it turns out tha…
If you know kidrobot , then you know its team of artists create masterpieces of culture. Lots of words have been used to describe the appeal, and I love all of them: quirky, pop-art, Warholesque, cartoonish, comical....the list goes on. …
As all parents know, kids laugh at the word "butt." There is something very funny about a word that is used constantly as a conjunction, a sometime preposition and also as a word for your behind. What could be funnier than that to a five…
You may have already gotten wind of the world's first Breast Milk Baby Doll , now available in the US. And of course, it's stirring up all sorts of controversy. As hard as my husband and I tried, we could only get my older three breastfe…
When my kids were younger, I used to leave the Closed Captioning up on the television so they could get familiar with the words coming out of the mouths of their favorite cartoon characters. Taking this idea one step further and more eff…
I am a sucker for stuffed animals. I love the fact that they are gender neutral (mostly) and don't have an "on" button, which means you are putting the creative power into your child's hands. If you have a wannabe vet in the family, this…
My daughter is 4, and we would love to get her a piggy bank that has the spend, share, save theory, but we can't find any that fit that bill. We'd also be willing to just get a regular piggy bank, but then we would like one that is a lit…
I consider myself fairly tuned in to my kids' emotional health but I must confess, I don't really know what to say to an angry six-year-old in the heat of the moment other than Stop hitting that ! Which is why I'm glad some other moms ha…