There is no question in my three-kid household that one of the favorites in our fleet of ride-on toys is the Mini Kick scooter . From the moment they could balance on the stable footrest, my kids were cruising the driveway and declaring …
Board games have a lot to compete with these days. Ever tried to get your older kid to put down Angry Birds in favor of Monopoly? That's why I'm thrilled to find this interactive (albeit battery-free) board game that's not boring in the …
When I was a kid, my father ran a factory and on the rare special evening he would come home with big cardboard boxes for my sister and I to play with. I have memories of late nights setting up giant playhouses in the basement where we s…
Striped or polka-dotted, these lovable handmade dolls have us mesmerized. Each adorable polkadottydoll is entirely unique, handcrafted in cotton without a pattern in black and white according to Alberta artist Lynda Black's imagination. …
Paper dolls are the perfect emergency boredom-buster to have on hand, at least if you're our family; every fall, a bunch of annoying colds and coughs descend on my children, leaving at least one of them at any given time home on a school…
I've got some folks I'd like you to meet. These pretty custom dollies are hand-sewn, have hand-painted faces, and each cost less than $50. Um...Barbie who ? I'm downright twitterpated over the beautiful handmade dolls at Hen and Chick on…
I have a dollhouse-obsessed five year old...and I'm not complaining a bit. I love the fun creative play and imagination it inspires. (Currently, the little girl who resides in the dollhouse is named "Frodo.") If you're more interested in…
Let me rattle off a few words for you to chew on: heirloom, handmade , safe, affordable . Also: pretty . These Heirloom Baby Rattles from Windfall Boutique on Etsy are everything you could possibly want in a baby toy--but at half the pri…
Before I was a cool mom, I was a cool aunt with very high standards. Lucky for me, being a cool aunt in New York City isn't tough, as fabulous boutiques beckon from just about every other corner. But one in particular really captured thi…
I'll admit it--puzzles don't normally pique my curiosity. But when you combine a beautiful painting with intricate laser-cut wood pieces that are works of art in themselves, you have me grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Artifact Puzzles is p…
There's an avalanche waiting to happen. Somewhere in your house, a pile of drawings and paintings is teetering, just waiting to collapse and terrify the cat. At least, that's what happened to me. Here's a better way to honor your kid's c…
First, the bad news: when you get all these block animals lined up just right, there will be no fireworks over the Kremlin. The good news: they're seriously cute and probably won't obsess you like Tetris. Oh, and your kid can play with t…
If you're a Yahtzee fan, but your kids aren't quite old enough to keep track of it all--or you just have trouble keeping track of those darn pads--you'll probably love this awesome new dice game, Tenzi. Plus, it's from a cool little comp…
Since a shiny new box of crayons is de rigeur for back to school season, I am loving this awesome set of crayons that might make a perfect "You'll do great, honey!" gift for a new preschooler or kindergartener. And of course, her mom can…
While we're all still on this post-Olympic London kick (man, aren't you dying to go right now?) it was great timing that we discovered this brand new children's line straight out of London. [ don't miss a fantastic limited time discount …
For all the complaining I do about the tiny bricks scattered all over the living room floor, I adore LEGO bricks for how much they fully engage my kids even more than the latest video game. So we're delighted to you a very Happy 80th Bir…
Though enjoying the Olympics means that we are all watching about 2000x as much television as we normally would on a nice summer's day, I love how inspired my kids' play has become. Whether they are turning the couch cushions into hurdle…
If you'll be doing some packing before you hit the road this summer, chances are you don't want the kids to help too much, lest you end up with six pairs of socks and no pants in their suitcases. So try channeling their I can help! persi…
Imagination is in no short supply around these parts. One of our toys can have half a dozen alter egos and we love and encourage the unstoppable creative flow. And so when we were introduced to the Clump-O-Lump crew of stuffed animals th…
There's something that seems to be universally fascinating to kiddos, generation after generation, about playing doctor - and by that, I mean the kind with stethoscopes and tongue depressors and a plethora of toilet paper "bandages." My …
I've got four words for you: Steampunk. Lego. Monster. Fighters. I haven't even gotten to the part about the castle. Thank heavens I was alone when I found the new Lego Monster Fighters display at Target this week. Why? Because I blurted…
Poor Bun-Bun. I received the stuffed pink rabbit at my first baby shower for my first baby, and he's been around and loved ever since. Two houses, two kids, and one horrifying overnight stay in the litterbox had turned Bun-Bun from a che…
Between the heatwaves and the crazy downpours, I feel like we've been getting more use out of our creative indoor toys this summer than our scooters. And now here's one more that I'm just smitten with, because it's more than just a build…
I jumped through many hoops to get my son to finally use the potty: candy rewards, sticker charts, pleading. But I never did try a potty-training doll since I found most of them to be kind of unappealing as a doll that you'd want to snug…