YouTube Archives | Cool Mom Picks

What is Labor Day? This book (and its read-aloud video) is a perfect way to explain.

I’m not sure how many kids have ever really asked what is Labor Day? It’s become synonymous with the unofficial end of summer, a three-day weekend, barbecues, and yeah, mattress sales. So much so, we kind of blow past it without the typical tributes and...

7 cool tie-dye pattern tutorials to help you DIY your own trendy tee

by Kate Etue | DIY, Fashion, Kid Fashion

My 15-year-old son recently came home after a camp planning meeting with his friends and announced that they have decided to tie-dye their camp shirts this year. I kind of love this idea, so I wanted to look up some tie-dye pattern tutorials on You Tube to help them...

What was the Tulsa Race Massacre? Resources to help teach kids (and adults) of all ages

by Kate Etue | Doing Good, Kids, Thinking : Parent

May 30, 1921, marks one of the darkest days in America’s history. And yet the Tulsa Race Massacre isn’t an event I ever learned in school — and unfortunately most kids today don’t either. The Burning of Black Wall Street can be a hard day to...

3 excellent educational videos about Juneteenth for kids. Watch and learn.

by Kate Etue | Entertainment + Media, Tips + Tricks

I’m trying to do a better job of raising anti-racist kids, and I believe that starts with learning more about the history of the Black experience in America. An essential part of that education is the understanding of Juneteenth, a holiday that I was certainly...

Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech in its entirety: Where to watch, and what to talk about with your kids

by Liz Gumbinner | Kids

Today we commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s life and legacy, as we have every year since we started this site. Over the years, we’ve shared plenty of excellent books, videos, resources, and websites to help kids understand the reason for MLK Day. And...

20 of the most amazing, must-see Halloween face paint video tutorials on YouTube.

by Liz Gumbinner | DIY

My kids have spent hours in front of the mirror perfecting scars and simpler character makeup based off of YouTube face paint tutorials, but these Halloween themed face paint tutorials should put their growing skills to the test. From your classic Halloween ghouls to...

Why this mannequin head is a seriously cool birthday gift for a tween girl

by Kristen Chase | Beauty + Cosmetics, Toys + Playthings

When my daughter came home from camp this summer, all she wanted to do was braid everyone’s hair. Except… none of us really have long enough hair to braid. That’s when I decided to search Amazon for a hair mannequin head so she could braid whenever...

#Hairgoals: 10 cool hair braiding tutorials for girls with all kinds of hair.

by Kate Etue | Kid Fashion

My daughter’s new obsession: hair braiding videos. She’s all over YouTube, checking out the coolest braid styles she can do herself, do to her friends, do to me, do to her great-grandmother…basically anyone too nice or too tired to say no. Truth is,...

4 great websites and videos that teach kids how to tie knots. Road trip entertainment, check!

by Kate Etue | Tips + Tricks

One of the items on my son’s bucket list this summer is to learn to tie a bowline, a half-hitch, and a square knot…with his eyes closed. They are requirements for his scouting program, but have easily become at-home entertainment for the whole family....

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.