Cool Mom Picks - the coolest gifts and gear for parents

Friday 20 November

Eco play dough - is it worth the dough?

We've all got play dough connoisseurs for children at Cool Mom Picks, so I know that a few of the organic versions I've had a chance to try out recently have some tough standards to live up to. Past pick Eco-Dough so far is the benchmark, with great texture, vibrant colors, a new and improved formula, and some really gorgeous packaging.

Another option that I just discovered through the Goddard School and Eco Child's Play, and their new list of top ten rated eco-toys, is Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay (left). These doughs smell amazing. AMAZING. And I don't use all caps a lot. Organic essential oils like cardamom, bergamot and chamomile keep kids' noses in it as much as their hands. The dough itself is gluten-free and has a nice pliable texture, if a little stickier than the big brand stuff you're used to. Two Play Clay-coated thumbs up.

Fairly new on the block is Miss Brittany's Organic Fun Dough (right). Created by a NYC preschool teacher, the deluxe fun dough kit has a real homemade feel to it which is actually kind of charming.

The very cute box is s ready-packaged for gift giving with a kid-sized rolling pin, a sweet organic apron, and some wooden shapes called "stampers" (although they might better suited to their own craft projects than stamping anything). You actually get a ton of dough in here, so ration it out just a little bit at a time unless you like scraping it all off the floor all at a time.

The one thing is that you have to refrigerate the dough first, as directed, or end up with a big gooey mess which is what happened to me. What can I say, I was eager. I still think the consistency could use a little work. But she's got some new products coming down the pike I'm looking forward to seeing. -Liz

Find Eco Dough, Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay, and Miss Brittany's Organic Fun Dough all online through their websites.

Looking for more eco-friendly kids' toys for holiday gifts this year? Find great green gift ideas in Cool Mom Picks' 2009 Holiday Gift Guide!

Find More: Organics, Toys and Other Playthings

Friday 20 November

Shutterfly Photo Books Contest - Keep those entries coming!

We've been blown away by the awesome entries to the Shutterfly contest so far. We love seeing your families and your amazing books - so keep them coming! You have until tomorrow night to share your own book and win a bunch of great prizes - seriously, did you see the goodies they're giving away?

Just load up your pictures into a photobook template on Shutterfly and add it to the Cool Mom Picks sharing site and you'll be entered. We'll announce the randomly drawn winners on our site, plus give a hat's off to a few of our personal faves.

Check out our Shutterfly Photo Book post for specific details on how to enter the contest. And our hat's off to them for supporting us and offering up some awesome prizes for our readers!.

Find More: Helpful Services, Websites

Web Coolness - Thanksgiving crafts, Modern family trees, and the return of Kurt Cobain

Thanksgiving Centerpiece from Design*Sponge

Right now, we're thinking about family, food, fall...and turkey. Here's some stuff we liked reading this week, and maybe you will too.

Design*Sponge - An incredible Thanksgiving centerpiece that you can make out of supermarket finds.

Junior Society - Modern family trees that look more like museum-quality contemporary art than genealogy experiments.

Planet Awesome Kid - Grunge is back. On babies. Better flannel in the fall than the summer?

ASTRA- The specialty toy retailers picked their 10 best toys for kids this year. So glad a lot of them are our favorites too.

[photo: design*sponge]

Find More: Link Roundups

Paper dolls that will blow you away, not the other way around

I've become a strong advocate of paper dolls since realizing that my girls can spend hours entertaining themselves with them. The only issue? That whole paper thing. Let's just say freak decapitations are are not an uncommon occurrence. So when I saw the book of cardboard paper dolls called Totem Figurines from the Dutch company Kidsonroof, I knew they were genius.

The book contains a dozen sweetly illustrated cardboard people and animals, each with their own cardboard stands. So play time is less about dressing them up and more about creating tableaux in which the Dutch girl with the red mittens hangs out with a bear, while her brother makes the chicken dance with the dog. Or let kids color the blank back side of each one and make their own characters.

The recommended age is 3+, presumably because the paper bases are small. But my 2 1/2 year old would be just fine with them.

The book itself is beautifully presented, tied together with strips of cloth so it's all ready for holiday gift giving. If one of our grandparents happened to show up with one over the next month or so we wouldn't complain. Just putting that out there. -Liz

Find cardboard paper dolls from Kidsonroof online at shops like Oompa Toys

Check out more great gift ideas for kids in Cool Mom Picks' 2009 Holiday Gift Guide.

Find More: Toys and Other Playthings

Friday 20 November

Children's games still made with wooden pieces and great design? It's true.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and if you're like my family, that means lots of little kids around. The cousins are all getting to the age where they can entertain themselves (hallelujah!) which means we're stocking up on craft supplies and games.

To be honest, I think of Germany toymaker Haba for their fabulous wooden toys for children, not for their games. But as it turns out, they make quite a few. in fact, there are close to 200 Haba games listed at online toyshop Maukilo, which is like Haba central. Maukilo is not as easily navigable as some other shops, but it easily makes up for it with selection.

There's a great Animal Yatzi mini-game that's a lot like regular Yahtzee, but with animals on the dice and a slightly easier strategy. For just about $10 it's a smart little gift or stocking stuffer for a kindergartener. I love the animal dominos (no plastic!) and some of the strategy card games look promising.

But for me the real winner is the HABA Orchard game, which also gets a thumbs up even from my mom the elementary educator. Orchard is really a game all about cooperation - 2 or more players play with each other, together against the raven who's trying to eat the fruit in the orchard.

Or as my daughter calls it, the craven. The illustrated board is just lovely, as are the small pieces of wooden fruit that you collect in wooden baskets. It's got a 3+ age reco because of the size of the fruit, but my 2 1/2 year old is just fine with it. You know your own kid best.

My bigger fear is that the pieces get left all over the floor and I slip and kill myself. So I guess this game teachers more than colors, shapes and collaboration, it teaches good cleaning up habits. With your help of course. -Liz

Find the widest selection of Haba games and children's toys online at toyshop Maukilo.

Looking for more great wooden toys? Don't miss our Cool Mom Picks 2009 Holiday Gift Guide!

Find More: Toys and Other Playthings

Thursday 19 November

They've Got Mail

It's no secret that mail is cool. I'll bet I'm not the only person who still gets a little flutter of excitement when I come home to see envelopes poking out the top of my mailbox. In fact, I know I'm not the only person because my daughter usually races me to the porch to see what's there.

I can only imagine, then, the fun she would have with the new Letters to Grandma and Grandpa Mail Set which can be found at one of CMP's favorite gift shops, What Every Baby Needs. This adorable wool felt set is an adaptation of the original Let's Play Mail Set. It comes with an old-school mailbox (I guess these days pretty much everything about mail is old-school), letters, stamps and messages that stick to each other with little velcro tabs.

The grandparent theme is such a sweet way for children to feel connected to relatives who may be far away. What a wonderful present for grandparents to give to their grandchildren this holiday season. My son would have the fun of learning to read the little messages and creating special mail for his grandparents. And my daughter would have the fun of... well, mail.

-Stephanie

Find the U.S.-made Letters to Grandma and Grandpa Mail set from I'm Still Me at What Every Baby Needs and save 20% on all orders with code CMPHG through November 30

EXTRA-COOL: What Every Baby Needs is giving away a $100 gift certificate to a Cool Mom Picks reader this month. Details on their site!

For more great gift ideas for kids, be sure to check out the 2009 Cool Mom Picks Holiday Gift Guide.

Find More: Toys and Other Playthings

Make your own holiday ornaments - so awesome

If you're looking to knock off a half-dozen of teacher gifts or cousin gifts or classmate gifts in one fell swoop, I love the idea of the holiday ornament kit from CMP fave, Thomas Claire.

This wonderful mom-run company will hook you up with a dozen unfinished ceramic ornaments, the paints, brushes and everything else your kids need to make their own sunglass-wearing snowmen and purple Christmas trees. Then you send your custom-painted ornaments back, and the company will glaze and fire them for you and return them finished.

It even comes with six cute little plastic gift bags so the presentation does justice to the hard work your kids put into them. All things told, it ends up costing you about $12 an ornament and the result is actual finished pottery. Just order soon so you've got time to get the process going.

While you're there, poke around the site for a ton of other great DIY holiday gift ideas, from handpainted mugs and teacups to the awesome robot party kit. If that doesn't keep a roomful of underage holiday guests occupied while you bogart the eggnog, I don't know what will. -Liz

Find make your own ornament kits and other holiday gift ideas at Thomas Claire.

For more great gift ideas for Christmas and Hanukkah, don't miss our 2009 Holiday Gift Guide.

Find More: Holiday Picks, Tweens + Big Kids

Holiday plaid for Christmas and beyond

With my family spread out around the country, my husband, kids and I often spend the holidays alone, which means I don't have the greatest excuse to buy my children fancy holiday-best clothes. So instead, I tend to look for festive clothes for the holidays that still work the other 364 days out of the year.

Take the Holiday Plaid Shirt from one of our favorite special occasion boutiques, Velvet and Tweed. The bright red accents in the plaid pattern give a definite holiday-inspired look to this boys' button-down, but the neutral brown and khaki undertones make this 100% cotton shirt stand out in a sea of bright red and green holiday outfits -- and the understated style means my son can continue to wear it throughout the year. Plus, since he's already a frequent khaki pants wearer, his holiday outfit is complete.

Sure, the Holiday Plaid Shirt costs a bit more than I'd usually spend on my son's clothes. But considering I've easily spent that on dresses for my girls that aren't as versatile (shhhhh...), I think it's only fair that he get something extra special for the holidays, too. -Kristen

Visit Velvet and Tweed for a gorgeous selection of special occasion clothes for boys and girls.

Find more great holiday kids' clothes that your kids can actually wear more than once in the 2009 Cool Mom Picks Holiday Gift Guide.

Find More: Baby Clothes, Cool Clothes for Boys, Holiday Picks, Kids Clothing

National Family Volunteer Day - one of the few made-up holidays we're really okay with

Especially this time a year, we love opportunities to get our kids, even the really little ones, into the idea of doing nice things for other people. So we were glad to discover that November 21st is officially National Family Volunteer Day which gives us a good excuse to get on that whole charity thing.

In honor of the day, Volunteer Spot which is an awesome website for those of us who have ever tried to organize a classroom holiday party or a Cub Scout field trip, has put out a free eBook on Family Friendly Volunteering. It's filled with fun, simple ideas literally from A to Z, that you and your kids can do together to give back to the community starting with A for Animal Shelter, B for Book Drive, and C for Children in Need. My son and I spent an afternoon gathering up picture books to donate that he has outgrown. Easy.

And in case I forget to call you Saturday, Happy National Family Volunteer Day! --Betsy

Family Friendly Service--Ideas from A-Z is available to download for free at VoluneteerSpot.

Find More: Causes and General Do-Gooding, Free or close to it, Websites

The Ringley teether family just got bigger and better

Considering my youngest is getting all her molars and eye teeth in at the same time (no kidding), the super smart Ringley teether, a mom-invented natural wood and organic terry cloth teething toy, is in regular rotation around my place. But now the Ringley teether family has expanded, with two very cool new products that are perfect for sore gums and budding teeth.

For a little larger toy, there's the Ringley Junior (left), which is similar to the original untreated Canadian maple teething ring, only with two knots instead of one, plus a larger piece of terry cloth.

Ringley ball teether

The Ringley Ball is also just as great, but gives your kid a bit more entertainment than a couple of knots.

I particularly like that the terry cloth components are attached by velcro to the ring. So you can easily take them off and pop them into the laundry, which is way more than I can say for everything else my daughter has been chewing on. -Kristen

Purchase all the Ringley teethers at Kai Kids.

Get 15% off your purchase with code CoolMom09

Find More: Toys and Other Playthings