Do you know what the secret is to raising a child who loves art? Love it yourself, and have it around, and make it, and talk about it. That's it. Easy. And we've found a really easy way to enter the wide world of art, learn about it, and…
Kids need a little ink too. (No, not tattoos. We may be hip and fashion-forward, but we're not crazy.) I'm talking about the kind of ink that creates together time, yields beautiful artwork, and teaches an interesting lesson . The all-in…
My daughter's first finger paintings brought tears to my eyes. "My God, she's talented!" I told my husband. I knew I was being that stereotypical overly proud parent, but her use of color was so unexpected. Really! There is something so …
We're kind of in love with Joanne Dugan around here. She's an amazingly prolific photographer, with her work in about a zillion ads, the awesome Taxi Driver Wisdom book, and most importantly to us, a magical series of children's books: A…
The joke around here is that a great many of us are devoid of the crafty gene, hence our obsession with the amazing creations by many of the folks we feature here at Cool Mom Picks. But that doesn't mean we don't have crafters envy, espe…
It all began with a bet: somewhere in Norway, Ola bet Jorgen that he could collect one million hand-drawn giraffes in one year. And you know what? He did. The proof is at OneMillionGiraffes.com . And now you can buy a 32-page hardcover b…
When I saw these LEGO Man crayons . I fell in love. I'm not sure what to do with them exactly, but that's never stopped me from loving an item (or some men) before. I'm thinking party favors, a new big brother/sister gift for a toddler ,…
I'm not going to lie to you: When I opened the Morph-O-Scopes Kit box my daughter received for her birthday one year, I was unimpressed. Some crayons. A shiny cup. And a bunch of coloring pages with a hole in the center, the images all s…
As so many of you know by now, in Cool Mom Picks land, Etsy is always the place to look for the nursery decor that won't make you say, "That looks just like that print I saw at the store...." And on Etsy, we're loving Hsin Ping Pan's sho…
I can't tell you how much I admire teachers. My son has had some good ones and some great ones and what separates the two are that great teachers don't just instruct, they inspire. Haring Kids , a website based on the amazing artwork of …
Every few months (okay, every year or so) I take my son into New York City and hit one of the many art museums. After all, who doesn't want their child to have an appreciation of art? Evidently I'm not alone. New Editions believes you sh…
When I first saw pictures of the amazing, whimsical and unbelievably detailed fairy tale houses and furniture by Mike and Debbie Schramer I simply marveled. This brilliant husband and wife team use real flowers, branches, roots, and moss…
I'll be honest -- as an art teacher, I was once opposed to rubber stamps. Then I realized that giving children some handy, thoughtfully designed building blocks for their two-dimensional world can be the perfect springboard into confiden…
We're always on the lookout for cool party favors that do not include small plastic toys that last all of four minutes, or sugar-infested treats that seem to last four hours. So if you've got a party coming up, stuff those goody bags wit…
So, aside from the cluster of dirt smears from his heels, my kid's bedroom wall is a little lackluster. And why, by the way, does he feel the need to kick his dirty little feet against the wall every night while he sleeps, anyway? I'm lo…
I know, I know. When you get down to it, most boys are just drawn to things with wheels and pointy teeth. In a world devoid of gender-specific toys, they would still manage to nibble a piece of cheese into the shape of a gun. But what ab…
I run with a tough crowd of Type Nerds, the kind who can spend an hour discussing the joys of Helvetica, the horrors of Comic Sans, and play an iPhone game called "Cheese or Font" (yes, this really is a game). But even for those of us wh…
I admit that baby mobiles never did much more for my kids than keep them entertained with their robotic songs and spinning cutesy stuffed animals. But moms-to-be hoping to get a modern bit of nursery decor out of the deal should be beggi…
If you're anything like I am, you've probably got a lot of your kids' precious artwork boxed up and you're saving it for, well, who knows what. (Actually, if you're really like me, then your kids' glitter-encrusted volcano drawings and p…
I have always loved pretty much everything at KLT:Works . Kristin Loffer Theiss makes the beautiful artwork, plush, nursery decor and apparel that just makes you smile in every way. And I'm smiling even more since discovering that for St…
If you've been in the cool kids boutiques, on the design blogs, or heck, on our site lately, you'd know that banners are a hot new nursery trend. And the freethinking coolies at Blik agree. We've covered these hip, do-it-awesome-yourself…
I have a cow when my little deers jump on the couch, but I'd be lion if I didn't confess to fawning over the crazy creatures at WildLifePrints , a fun new shop on Etsy. (Ha sorry, couldn't resist.) Award-winning photographer Jeff Friesen…
Question: Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? Answer: 1. Be a puppet. 2. Be Ricky Gervais. 3. Win the 4th Annual Aniboom Awards 4 Sesame Street Competition . It's that easy, animators. We've just learned that Sesame Street has t…
Valentine's Day has come and gone and now, a week later, we just want to say thank you thank you thank you for your absolutely overwhelming support for our artist-created color-your-own Valentine's Day cards we put together with Etsy . T…