by Liz Gumbinner | Back to School Shopping, DIY
Finding all of these free sight word printables for kindergarten instantly brings me back to those sweet early days of school, sniff. I have teens now, but I remember how scary it could be to send your kid off to kindergarten, hoping that their reading and writing...
by Liz Gumbinner | Back to School Shopping, School Gear
Each year, in our annual back to school shopping guide, we always love tracking down those cool lunch box accessories, water bottles, bentos, and other fun goodies that help make opening that same old lunch box every day a little more special. Some of of these lunch...
by Liz Gumbinner | Back to School Shopping, School Gear
When we put together our picks for the coolest backpacks for preschool and kindergarten each year, we think about how exciting it is for little ones to pick what may likely be their very first school gear ever. They seriously geek out over all their  school...
by Cool Mom Staff | Tips + Tricks
Call us the handwriting brigade. Seriously. From day one, even with the advent of technology and the slow decline of handwriting instruction (let alone cursive, gah!) in schools, we’ve always made it our mission to encourage kids not to lose the art of...
by Georgette Gilmore | Tips + Tricks
Preschoolers or kindergarten students often feel nervous about their first days and weeks of school. Or their first month of school. Even older kids may feel anxious about a new teacher, new friends, or just getting back into a more rigorous schedule after a long and...
by Liz Gumbinner | Back to School Shopping, Tips + Tricks
With back to school coming up, I’m sharing some of my favorite personalized label ideas to help keep you organized, keep you sane, save you money (whoo!) and even keep the peace if you have more than one kid. (Parents of two or more, you know what I’m...
by Christina Refford | Books for Kids, Health, Fitness + Wellbeing, Tips + Tricks
We were actually surprised to realize that that we hadn’t yet put together a list for parents of children’s books about anxiety. Considering how many other topics that children’s books have helped us with — from books about...
by Cool Mom Staff | Kids, Tips + Tricks
We keep looking for the silver lining in the past Year That Was Like No Other, and as we talk to other parents, one thing comes up over and over: “my kid discovered they really love _____.” Whether it’s manga or chemistry, dystopian fiction or...
by Cool Mom Staff | Books for Kids, Tech CMP-Style, Tips + Tricks
Not every kid comes out of the womb loving reading. (Or, even comes out of preschool loving reading.) No matter how much you read to your kids or encourage reading, sometimes it just doesn’t click right away. And that’s okay! After years of writing about...
We started Cool Mom Picks in 2006 to help make life cooler, more meaningful, and more fun for parents of all kinds. Whether you found us from appearances on the TODAY Show, from a Google search, or from a friend, we're so glad you're here.
