by Kate Etue | Toys + Playthings
My family loves to play board games. I’m talking, big, involved, takes-three-hours-to-play board games. And what better time to play than when we’re on summer vacation? But, it can be tricky to travel with big boxes full of a zillion pieces. Luckily,...
by Liz Gumbinner | Toys + Playthings
THE DANGER OF FIDGET SPINNERS is appearing all over our newsfeeds and splashing across subject lines flooding our inboxes. Hm, why are we not shocked? It was inevitable that the number of articles about the fidget spinner craze (hey, our kids are fans too), would be...
by Kate Etue | Toys + Playthings
Cool fidget spinners and fidget cubes are absolutely taking over the world these days. In fact we’ve compared notes here on team Cool Mom Picks and yep, kids across the country are collectively losing their ever-loving minds over these fidget spinners. Stores...
by Georgette Gilmore | Toys + Playthings
I dreaded air travel when my girls were little. Between the two of them, I had a seat kicker, a non-napper, and an impatient whiner. Yeah, I was that parent. So I learned what works, and what doesn’t, to keep my little ones happy and occupied on long flights....
by Delilah S. Dawson | Family Travel, School Gear
When we lived in a big city, my kids loved to watch teens skateboarding to school. There was this effortless coolness to gliding along, flipping the board, tossing it over a shoulder, and hopping on a bus. If you think your kids might be a great age for rolling up the...
by Christina Refford | Tips + Tricks, Family Travel
I was one of those parents who insisted that I’d raise the kind of kids who would play fun, screen-free car games on our family road trips, or perhaps watching the world whiz by while asking intelligent questions about all the sites and sounds around them. Sound...
by Liz Gumbinner | Toys + Playthings
This post has been updated with corrections. Fisher-Price is of course the brand behind many of our favorite childhood toys like that now iconic telephone and the little gumball machine looking push-toy. So their big announcement this week that Jonathan Adler —...
by Cool Mom Team | Spawned Podcast, Family Travel
With spring break here or coming up for lots of us, and summer vacations around the corner (whoo!), we know so many families will be hitting the skies — some of you for the very first time with kids in tow. So, as a couple of been-there-done-that moms...
by Liz Gumbinner | Kitchen + Dining
I’ve always been a big advocate of keeping my kids’ games and videos put away at the dinner table. Especially in restaurants, which is why I have a special place in my heart for those that provide crayons to kids — in particular the smaller, more...
by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
We love finding new ways to teach our kids about the big, diverse world that extends far beyond the boundaries of their neighborhood and town. And while nothing can replace actually going to the countries themselves, playsets like this one from Whole Wide World...