writing Archives | Cool Mom Picks

This may be the most fun way to help kids improve their reading + writing skills

by Cool Mom Staff | Tech CMP-Style, Toys + Playthings

This is a sponsored message from Night Zookeeper Over the past couple of years, parents have really seen the value of educational apps and websites to help engage our kids in core subjects. If their excitement for reading and writing could use a little nudge, Night...

10 simple writing exercises for kids that don’t even feel like schoolwork

by Kristen Chase | Tips + Tricks

As we all scramble to grapple with the new normal of our kids home from school, I’m thankful for the teachers in my life who have been doing this job for years. I can always count on them for great ideas, like these 10 writing exercises, from a friend and former...

Your kid’s craziest story ideas could win the Roald Dahl’s Imaginormous Challenge. Here’s how.

by Christina Refford | Books for Kids

As a mom of three, I have loved few things as much as hearing the crazy stories my kids have dreamt up, or reading the creative things they choose to write on paper. And so I am super psyched to hear about a contest that rewards kids for their most imaginative story...

Handwriting help for kids of all ages: 11 fun and effective handwriting resources because that note says WHAT?

by Kate Etue | Tips + Tricks

I desperately need handwriting help for kids in my home, and so I’ve been working so hard to find resources, printables, and other tricks to help make handwriting practice more fun (hopefully? maybe?) for them. My requirements: They have to get them excited to...

Wordie alert: 17 of the best new words added to the dictionary this month. Starting with “wordie.”

by Liz Gumbinner | Thinking : Parent

Fellow word nerds, gather round, as we take a moment for one of our top pastimes, checking out the new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary this month. (Other favorite pastimes, by the way, include doing the Sunday Times Crossword, and practicing yoga...

What does being American mean to you? We love these artists’ answers.

by Liz Gumbinner | Thinking : Parent

In honor of the Fourth of July (happy 241, America!) I’m grateful to our friends at Tattly Tattoos who put together this lovely photographic series, in which they asked all different makers, creators, and entrepreneurs to describe what it means to them to be...

10 tips to help you finally write that book, from a published author who did it…while nursing a baby.

by Delilah S. Dawson | Tips + Tricks

I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that you can totally write a book. You don’t need otherworldly talent (though you do need some talent); you don’t need an MFA you promised yourself you’d get but never did; you don’t even...

17 fun pencil cases for writers, book lovers and word nerds. Like us!

by Cool Mom Staff | Storage + Organization

We love pencil cases! They’re where we put all our pencils! And pens, and earbuds, and erasers, and… pretty much anything that’ll fit. As our kids head back to school, we’re getting serious about corralling clutter, and if we can do it with...

Some of our favorite camp stationery for kids: Here’s hoping they write to us.

by Kate Etue | Cards + Stationery

When I was a kid at summer camp, mail time was always one of the best parts of my days. And I’d imagine now, a time when hardly any of us get actual personal snail mail at all, camp mail is an even more exciting ritual. So we’ve got some cool ideas to help...

Fireflies: A writer’s notebook so great for kids, you may never see it again.

by Delilah S. Dawson | Books for Kids

This review almost didn’t happen, because my daughter “lost” this writer’s notebook; she’d written so many hopes, dreams, and ideas in it that she didn’t want anyone, to see it. Ever. It’s that kind of book. It inspires trust...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Picks in 2006 to help make life cooler, more meaningful, and more fun for parents of all kinds.

Trivia: It was called Cool Mom Sh*t for the first two days. (Yeah, we rethought that.)

We had no idea our site would grow to become a major lifestyle network, that we'd end up sharing our finds with the TODAY Show and Martha Stewart, that we'd be able to make a real difference for so many small businesses and women-run companies, or that we'd end up with an incredible community of the coolest readers on the planet. (If we do say so ourselves).

We still love what we do every single day. And we're so glad you're here.