A new hedgehog backpack from Skip Hop. Like that won’t be the most popular thing ever.

by Melissa | School Gear

Skip Hop is inextricable from my memories of my boys in their early years. My older son started preschool with a frog backpack and ended Pre-K with a very well worn monkey on his back. My three-year-old is currently toting the fox around on his tiny shoulders, but the...

If you can’t run away to the circus, run away to camp with the circus in your lunch bag.

by Liz Gumbinner | School Gear

As I start to evaluate my kids’ lunchboxes and decide which will actually hold up through summer camp, and which require a loving send-off, I come across these wonderful new lunch bags for kids and coordinating accessories from our friends at ISAK. There’s...

Easy chalkboard paint DIY projects you can do this spring. Then erase, and do again.

by Kate Etue | DIY

Chalkboard paint is a big trend that we’re seeing everywhere lately. We love that it help you customize all kinds of things with a fun vintage flair. So I’ve been searching for the coolest easy chalkboard paint craft projects that I can DIY with my kids...

Earth Day pick: Your PlanetBox lunch box just got even cooler

by Stacie Billis | School Gear

The wonderful PlanetBox eco-friendly stainless steel lunch boxes are a favorite for my kids — and for me. Now, through an Earth Day partnership with kid-friendly folk musician Jack Johnson, they’re making school environmental education better too, and I...

Sure, I let my toddler drink soda! Just kidding.

by Shari | School Gear

Oh, those shiny, shiny cans of soda pop that your children look at so longingly. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could have the shiny outside without the sugar inside? Well, thanks to the clever design of these Cozy Cans reusable drink cups for kid from the awesome...

Surprise your kids with 6 spooktacular Halloween lunch box ideas

by Stacie Billis | Food + Recipes

I love beautiful bento lunch boxes, but some of them make you feel like you need an MFA in order to make your kid’s lunch. Especially holiday-themed lunch boxes! For Halloween I decided to come up with a few easy, festive lunch ideas. I found tons of excellently...

Best lunch containers for kids (and other goodies that make lunch boxes more fun): Back to School Guide 2013

by Cool Mom Team | Back to School Shopping, School Gear

There’s no shortage of cool lunch containers, bento boxes, water bottles and other fun accessories to help make your kid’s lunch a little more appealing than our own brown-bag days of yore. Here, we’ve pared them down to a few of the very coolest for...

The best lunchboxes and lunch bags: Back to School Guide 2013

by Cool Mom Team | Back to School Shopping, School Gear

Finding the best new lunchboxes and lunch bags for kids is one of our favorite back to school rituals. It’s even more fun that we get to pick more than one, since we’re shopping for you all! This year for our back to school shopping guide, we’ve...

Some of our favorite lunch bags for kids get even cuter

by Liz Gumbinner | School Gear

My kids have loved Milkdot lunch bags since we first found them. And Milkdot’s brand new styles give us one more reason. Or, three. Milkdot insulated lunch totes are the right size to shove in multiple bentos and a small water bottle or juice box, complete with...

FEED plus Target: a collaboration we can get behind.

by Eva Glettner | Doing Good

I’m a big fan of the FEED mission, which sells products to directly feed schoolchildren both at home through Feeding America and abroad via the UN’s World Food Program. Whenever I carry my FEED bag, I’m reminded of the good it did. So I’m...