If this gorgeous spring weather has you itching to get outside with your family, we've got the perfect excuse to head out to one of our national parks this weekend: it's free! This year, the National Park Service turns 100 years old, and…
We're big fans of supporting quality journalism, especially in this age of where fake news is running rampant. Because, facts matter. (Not that this is a big stake in the ground, mamas. I mean, is any normal person really like, "Whoo! Fa…
Yesterday, Merriam-Webster announced they had added more than 1000 new words to the dictionary , and wow, word nerds like me could lose ourselves in here for ages. Actually, I kind of did. According to the editors the terms come from eve…
I'm all about supporting our nation's National Park Service in any way we can, especially because of the myriad ways they support us right back. So I'm thrilled to share the brilliant initiative to get even more kids to our National Park…
Children writing to our president and the First Family has always been a wonderful and important tradition. And with the inauguration of a new White House resident today, this is a great time to get kids thinking about their own hopes, t…
We love how the Internet can help us when it comes to raising a generation of more curious kids. There are just so many remarkable free educational online tools and resources that help support a child's natural curiosity, and even help p…
When Kristen and Liz started Cool Mom Picks, their desire was to highlight cool, indie shops that make innovative products with fresh ideas for kids and families. A decade later, that's still our driving passion, and the chic handmade ba…
This is a sponsored message from Brightly Gifts Whether you're shopping for a special gift for your own child, grandchild, niece, nephew or best friend's cool kid, books are at the top of so many wish lists. Which is why you'll want to c…
The election is just over a month away, and what better time to check your voter registration status than on National Voter Registration Day ? If you can't make any of their hundreds of events across the country today, you can easily hop…
My kids believe they are the World's Greatest Fans of Dylan's Candy Bar. Which is hilarious, considering that every single one of the zillions of kids who visit their shops each year also believe that they are the World's Greatest Fans o…
I am finding myself a little choked up today, on the anniversary of the 19th amendment, in a way I can't recall ever feeling before. Maybe it's because this is the first August 18 in which we have a female presidential nominee from a maj…
After following the awful account of indie artist Tuesday Bassen and her legal struggles with Zara , which we shared a couple weeks back, we reaffirm our ongoing, ten-year commitment to supporting small makers and original artists -- esp…
Even though I've got a couple of avid readers in my house, I'm always looking for ways to continue to encourage them to pick up a book. Thankfully, there are no shortage of summer reading challenges that offer kids a little incentive for…
The 2016 National Scripps Spelling Bee finals ended last night and just wow. For the third year running, two amazing kids tied as winners: 13 year old Jairam Pathwar of Upstate NY, and Austin Texas' Nihar Janga who is only 11. Wow. To cl…
If you see cool stuff on Instagram that you need to buy (or, if you're like us, really, really want to buy), now you can, Thanks to LikeToKnow.It. This cool service lets you shop lots of the great stuff you discover right from our Cool M…
A few months ago, I decided I wanted to celebrate my 40th birthday with a big trip, but whoa, family vacations are certainly not cheap! Especially when you're traveling with kids -- or in my case, four of them. Even though I'd been savin…
By this point in the school year, my kids know not to expect the sorts of lunchbox love notes they got from me daily in September. But there are a few days on the calendar that inspire me to scribble something special to surprise them: V…
Is there one kid in the world who isn't fascinated by animals? (Answer: no.) So today, Jane Goodall's birthday, is a perfect opportunity to cozy around your tablet or computer together and dig into her life just a bit. Especially if you …
Have you ever fancied yourself fighting two-dimensional crime alongside Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup? Well get on it! Thanks to the super fun new Powerpuff Yourself website from Cartoon network, you can create your very own Powerpuff G…
If you spend as much time at your desk as each of us do, then you probably understand the challenge of keeping it organized. In fact, you might have incorporated that into one of your New Year's resolutions. (Again?) We so get it. The st…
With the holidays right around the corner and our 2015 Cool Mom Picks Gift Guide almost here (tomorrow!), we're excited to be teaming up with our gift guide sponsor Sudo for a fun Twitter Social to chat about online holiday shopping, one…
I knew the whole sexy Halloween costumes for women thing had jumped the shark (the sexy shark?) when I saw a sexy Freddy Krueger costume in our local costume shop. Not even kidding; we talked about it on a recent episode of Spawned . So …
We started Cool Mom Picks shortly after Etsy launched, and we've been big fans ever since, discovering and happily sharing some of the coolest indie artisans and their handmade goods here on our site for nearly ten years now. So as huge …
Today is the International Day of the Girl. And while we talk so much here about how important it is to empower and educate our girls every day, if they're not even in school, both of those things are nearly impossible. So we thought one…