Spring break is on its way, and I'm making plans. But my spring break plans don't involve beaches, bikinis, or beer. Instead, I'm looking for ways to keep my kids busy . (Besides cleaning the bathroom, my standard fallback response to th…
We'd never recommend you give our forefathers the finger (especially on President's Day!), but in the case of these adorable knit finger puppets from Wee Knits , we'll make an exception. Their Patriotic collection of finger puppets inclu…
Having just observed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day last month, my kids are familiar with this major figure in black history. But I want them to know that history goes well beyond one man (or woman), and the fact that February is also Bla…
I have a soft spot for good quality wooden toys . I like them so much I find myself decorating my daughter's room with them, and these handmade, wood puzzles from Just Hatched are no exception. They're much too pretty to keep in a drawer…
I'm one step closer to becoming a treehugger. My new toy crush is made with organic maple, cherry and walnut wood and tackles balance, problem solving, pattern recognition and fine motor skills . Oh, and it's for babies. The Brainbow Sta…
We have the best time every year seeking out amazing toys and games for babies and kids that we can recommend completely. Our favorites are generally made with love and care by small companies or independent designers. Although we do lov…
If you're sick of the frantic rush of live holiday shopping but still want to take up some real estate under the tree, you need to go check out the cool stuff at Discovery Kids, the exclusive toy section of The Discovery Channel Store. I…
My daughter is obsessed with being a dentist. Yes, just like that Elf on that Rudolph video. Of course, I'm delighted and I want to encourage her, but dentist toys are a little hard to come by. Luckily, I won't have to scour the Internet…
One of my all time favorite holiday shows is the Nutcracker Ballet, but I didn't imagined I would get tickets to see it with my toddler for quite a long time--like, ten years, at least. Performances are expensive in New York! Which is on…
Whenever I go shopping for baby toys, I am dismayed at how many toy developers design their blocks in sherbet-y pastels even though babies prefer the colors high contrast and vivid for the first few months. (I am also wondering who decid…
I'm pretty sure that most mamas will agree that there's nothing--nothing!--like a good children's book. Or a box full of them. Or, if your kids are anything like my 3-year-old, a bedroom that is basically Book Central. But my kiddo is al…
The list of children's books I've loved to read to my kids is l-o-n-g though I've always had a particular fondness for the books of author and illustrator Mo Willems. Unless you live under a rock, or a pile of newborn diapers, you are pr…
As a homeschooling mom, my kids know that I'm often trying to sneak learning moments into our day . Unfortunately, they are now old enough to resist my attempts to shove some factoids down their throats; often they aren't trying to be me…
Here at CMP, we love the thrill of bringing you something new and exciting-- from gummi bear chandeliers to faux fur blackboards and the practical, super-cool stuff in between. And we really, really love it when one of our picks starts o…
Love it or hate it ( and we know the book is a bit polarizing with our readers!), there's a reason Goodnight Moon has been around since the late 1940's and is still a favorite today; there is something calming and beautiful about the rep…
My kids are all puzzle fans, as evidenced by the thousands of cardboard and wooden pieces strewn about my floor at any given time of the day. But we've yet to see anything like the new multiple solution shape puzzles from one of our fave…
I have struggled with how to explain September 11th to my children ever since they were old enough to understand that something big and terrible happened that day nine years ago. I still struggle, but now that this has also become a Nati…
I'm not going to lie to you: When I opened the Morph-O-Scopes Kit box my daughter received for her birthday one year, I was unimpressed. Some crayons. A shiny cup. And a bunch of coloring pages with a hole in the center, the images all s…
CMP loves to turn ABC into ROFL, and we are totally digging on these XYZ Blocks by Fred & Friends. They stack, tumble, and teach letters just as well as more traditional blocks, but they're beautiful, unusual, and entertaining, too. E is…
Right now, I'm looking at the wilted, brown leaves of my dying container garden and ruing the white-hot Atlanta sun. I'm pretty sure we spent $30 on supplies that produced four very small tomatoes and one hideous cucumber. But the joy on…
Thanks to a certain animated show, my daughter now ties her stuffed animals to chairs and then attempts to save them using only teamwork and a pom-pom hat. It's not my cup of tea, but I do like the idea of encouraging kids to help animal…
There's nothing like finally taking that summer vacation and then getting stuck in the hotel while the skies rain down on your plans. To save us from extreme hotel ennui, I make sure we take along a few easy-to-pack games to help us pass…
I admit that I was a little nervous about my 3.5 year old starting preschool this fall because he's the second kid and well, I'm just amazed that he knows how to count to ten. But thanks an ingenious new learning tool, I'm feeling confid…
One of the most all-time hilarious family moments of ours was the time my mom (the awesome elementary educator ) got my kids (the hams) into handmade masks and acted out Little Rabbit Foo Foo for the whole brood. Let's just say a kid's c…