From the category archives:

Preschooler

Tech Tuesday: Geeky apps to get you outside with baby

April 23, 2013

Geeky moms and dads need to leave the house too, right? While I love seeing you here on the blog, I want you to get fresh air and sunshine. If you need someone to give you some points for your effort, try one of these apps to gamify your outings. Geo-location apps turn walks with [...]

Read more →

5 safety tips I learned from my village

April 17, 2013

Most of the safety lessons I carry around instinctively, I learned the hard easy way by watching friends make the mistakes. Thanks to my village, I know that breastfeeding is not sufficient birth control and that I should never fly in flip flops. Here are five family-safety tips from my peeps: Don’t put your car [...]

Read more →

Easy plastic egg snake for every age

April 1, 2013

If you have a pile of plastic eggs in your house (I do) and a bit of wire or plastic cord or even dental floss, you can make a “snake” like this. Our eggs all had holes in them already, and I hope yours do too. Big kids can do the stringing. Babies can do [...]

Read more →

Save money at the Children’s Museum

March 1, 2013

I wanted to name this post “5 ways to save money on your Children’s Museum Membership” but that seemed rather long-winded, yes? Then again, it is descriptive. If you are a toddler owner, local children’s playspaces are a treasure trove because littles can run, jump, explore, paint, drip water, and play without you doing any [...]

Read more →

Activity #158: Get on the dance floor at Baby Loves Disco

February 7, 2013

Last year, Heather and I had the pleasure of teaming up with Baby Loves Disco, the providers of kid-friendly dance parties around the country. They had a 10-day mini-tour in the Bay Area and we hit two of the parties in partnership with our hyperlocal blog, 510families.com for East Bay parents. When our first babes [...]

Read more →

Tech Tuesday: Never forget a toy at Grandma’s

January 29, 2013

My family went on a roadtrip this weekend and brought a small basket of toys and games to entertain ourselves. In fact, this is the set of goodies we picked. In order to not leave a single wind-up monkey or treasured truck behind, I took a photo of our loot with my phone as we [...]

Read more →

Activity #204: Microwave a marshmallow

January 9, 2013

For a quick and questionably tasty science experiment, microwave a marshmallow for about a minute and enjoy the results. Wondering what will happen? The marshmallow will puff up to four times its original size like a poofy souffle. It will be a hot gooey mess before cooling into a crispy pancake. Expect smiles and sticky [...]

Read more →

Save your crib mattress to create a reading nook

December 30, 2012

As my kids have grown, we’ve been lucky to always have someone who was in need of the mattresses and bed frames they were leaving behind. (In fact, just last month, our old toddler beds were picked up by a couple who was adopting FIVE children!)  If that wasn’t the case, however, I think holding [...]

Read more →

Activity #178: Create the best advent calendar

November 28, 2012

Wendy Copley created a clever advent calendar for her children that has two big benefits over all other holiday countdown traditions: It focuses on experiences over stuff. She can change it according to her mood and available time. Allow me to explain. She purchased a wooden advent calendar kinda like this one at Target and [...]

Read more →

Loving these holiday craft crates for preschoolers

November 19, 2012

I totally get that this post is going to come across as an ad for Kiwi Crate, but the fact is I would tell my friends about it. And I have. These craft kits are $20 and come in the mail, containing everything you need for the project. You don’t have to go searching your [...]

Read more →

5 Super easy outings to do with your baby

October 25, 2012

Sometimes you just gotta get out of the house. We say it all the time. You might not really want to, but if its noon and you haven’t showered yet or if it’s 4pm and you’ve been rattling around your cage all day, IT IS TIME. I’m getting stir crazy on your behalf. Armed with [...]

Read more →

What is a parent coach good for?

October 24, 2012

When I read an email from Kassandra, a mom in rural Missouri who does parent coaching via Skype, I challenged her to explain to me what a parenting coach could provide that we don’t get already from our friends or other trusted sources.  I thought she did a darn good job of answering, so I [...]

Read more →