by Elizabeth | Toys + Playthings
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 with a variety of...
by Liz Gumbinner | Toys + Playthings
When I first became a mother of two, my own mom introduced me to the concept of collaborative board games. Think less “I did it!” and more “We did it!” In other words, less “I hate you, I’m never playing with you any more ever...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
This past week, I had a dandy time perusing the 600,000* aisles of the NY International Gift Show, scouting out what’s cool in gifts and gear and design for our fair readers. I was also honored to be one of ten judges of the Best New Product Awards in the...
by Barbara | Toys + Playthings
My go-to standard baby shower gift was, for a long time, either a baby bathtub, or infant footie sleepers. Useful, and admittedly a little uninspired. These days, I want to give something unusual, beautiful and creative: both moms and babies deserve them. My latest...
by Delilah S. Dawson | Toys + Playthings
Four is a magical age. And for us, it includes a daily account of closet gremlins and nightmares that involve an epic battle between Scooby Doo and armored Transformer/My Little Pony hybrids. I love the imagination. The fear of bedtime, not so much.That’s why I...
by Mir | Toys + Playthings
LEGO is, in my mind, the quintessential building toy of childhood. I played with it when I was little; both of my kids–their ages in double digits–still love to build with it. The problem, of course, is that no matter what LEGO storage solutions I come up...
by Delilah S. Dawson | Toys + Playthings
We just love it when one of our favorite little mom-run brands makes it big. Not only because that means that quality construction and design reap the rewards they deserve, but because even more people will get to discover a great new star. It’s the same way I...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
Every week at my daughter’s violin lesson, my kids would head straight for the cardboard brick building blocks and play quietly for a solid 30 minutes. That was enough for me to send them as a Christmas gift idea to my mother-in-law, who thankfully heeded my...
by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
When my kids were younger, they received a big bag of plastic play food filled with such gems as skinny hot dogs, rubbery pizza slices, flat burger patties and even a few brown chicken nuggets. Well, this grass-fed beef buying, farmers-market visiting, chicken-coop...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
Yesterday a reader wrote to us about her toy storage woes, and we loaded her up with toy storage solution possibilities. Today we continue the organizational help with some of our favorite boxes, bins, and baskets. While I love putting things away where they...
by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
We have wood crates, with toy fruit and veggies, crafts, blocks, trains, etc., but no way to store or organize them. Do you have a toy storage solution? Do you dump everything by category into bins or baskets, and shelve them that way? Thanks in advance, and while I...
by Delilah S. Dawson | Toys + Playthings
Cardboard cottages are more common than refrigerator boxes these days, and cardboard castles are no longer hard-to-find real estate. But we’ve found a new line of structures that go beyond the typical rose-covered cottage– and that boys will enjoy, too....
