14 smart ways to get your young kids excited about reading this summer
As big-time book lovers here, we’ve learned that a love of reading is acquired and not something kids are necessarily born with, like the color of their eyes or their uncanny inability to sleep past 6 AM on a Saturday. So we love putting together tips for...
17 very, very cool Father’s Day gifts under $25 | 2015 Father’s Day Gift Guide
We all know, of course, that the amount of money you spend on a Father’s Day gift has no correlation with love whatsoever. Not that there’s anything wrong with splurges. But if you’re on a tight budget, if you’re not a spendy gift kind of a...
A clever, very simple reward system to keep kids reading this summer.
We just finished putting together a ton of great educational activities for kids to keep them sharp over the summer, and now of course I find one more I’d love to add to the list. This free printable paper chain reading log from Eighteen25 is so brilliant! It...
Educational activities for children this summer? Reader Q & A
Hi Cool Mom Picks! Any suggestions for workbooks or activities to help prepare my child–and keep them out of my hair (ha)–for the summer between kindergarten and first grade? -Chaitali Ahhhh, summer! No school lunches to pack, no buses to catch, and...
20 fantastic ideas for DIY Father’s Day gifts, cards, and printables from the kids: Father’s Day Gift Guide 2015
For those of us with young kids, we know that one of the best parts about Father’s Day is letting the kids participate in making DIY Father’s Day gifts for their dads and grandpas. And because we don’t expect them to be hand-stitching an eyeglass...
6 of the coolest printable birthday crowns for the true ruler of the household
We’ve got a lot of summer birthdays for the kids in my family, so party planning is definitely top of mind for me these days. But I realized, as I’ve looked around the web, that while there are lots of gorgeous handmade birthday crowns on Etsy or...
10 fantastic summer party themes for kids, and loads of inspiration to bring them to life.
Oh, the joys of the summer birthday party when the nice weather means celebrating with friends out-of-doors. And whether this means gathering everyone into your backyard, meeting at the local park, or even taking over a quiet piece of sandy beach, we’ve put...
Retro-cool printable gift boxes full of summer fun. And yummy treats.
We’ve been smitten by Claudine Hellmuth’s clever gift boxes that look like ovens and popsicles for a while now. So we just visited her Etsy shop again, and wow, she has so many fun printable gift boxes at her site now that I’m tempted to give away...
10 fun summery crafts for kids that can keep the boredom away.
Oh, summer. The kids wait and wait and wait for it, and then, how many minutes in are they complaining about how hot it is? Or how you won’t take them to the pool (for the second time that day)? Or that they’re simply bored? So we’ve tracked down a...
