We picked up a copy of this Pictorial Webster’s Pocket Dictionary before a recent road trip, thinking it would be fun for our kids (one a solid reader, one starting to pick out a few words) to flip through. The pictures are amazing–about 200 super detailed antique engravings that once filled the pages of Webster’s ...
Here’s a gift you can stack up, comes with a gift card, is $39, and is made in the USA. We love these kid apron sets from Odette Williams, a mom based in Brooklyn, who is going to also be making them adult sizes soon. Let’s hope in time for this Mother’s and Father’s Day?! ...
Are these the most incredible paper bag puppets you’ve ever seen? I thought so too. Our friends kindly made them for our son, Soren, who was amazed to see his favorite Where the Wild Things Are characters in 3D. Max’s private boat is a reoccurring theme in our sidewalk chalk drawings, and we’ve read the ...
The Tree Book for Kids And Their Grown-Ups is everything you have ever wanted to know about the trees you walk by every day, broken down by buds, leaves, bark, flowers, and seed. A perfect kid birthday gift for that no-Barbie, no-SpongeBob, hard-to-please Brooklyn parent.
As children, when my siblings and I would complain that we were bored, my mom always shooed us back outside with these three words: “Use your imagination.” We would scrunch up our faces, walk back out, twiddle some grass between our fingers, and eventually prove her right. Because who needed toys or television when our ...
I’m pretty much a fan of everything Katherine and Greg Turpan do in and out of their perfectly edited housewares store, Turpan, in East Hampton. Their minimalist wrapping (pictured here) is reason enough to buy every present from Turpan. It made me think that, while I will likely not make canvas sacks to accommodate my ...
One of my boys got this as a birthday present recently and now I want to give it to every kid I know. Papertoy Monsters is a encyclopedia of monsters (a combination that ranges from manga- to traditional fairy tale-inspired) that you pop out along perforated lines and turn into 3-D figures with various folds and ...
My son Will many of his summer days chasing and observing bugs. I bought him this little cage so that he could create mini temporary habitats (before I insist that he set the poor critters free). I find that it comes in very handy—and makes it so I don’t have to poke holes in the ...
A couple of weeks ago I went through our game/toy box area, and decided to move the outdoor-ish games that could be played out front, to a box in our entrance, which we had only been using for umbrellas, dog poop sacks, and newspapers. As soon as the horseshoe game went into that box, we ...
I’ve passed out my fair share of trashy plastic-y junky goody bags over the years. This year, I decided I didn’t want to contribute so recklessly to the landfill problem. First stop: Muji for nice cheap notebooks for $1.75 and great pens. Then my friend Lizzy picked up these great little Japanese mini eraser characters, ...
We seem to be in the high season of kid birthday parties. I’m talking back-to-back double party weekends coming up. I’ve buzzed through my usual go-to list of gifts and I’m thinking of trying something new. A family member gave both of my children magazine subscriptions for their birthdays last year: Ranger Rick (ages 7-14) for ...
My sister- and brother-in-law always have the most clever packaging. Even something as simple as brightly colored tissue with a stamped name tag, Japanese tape, and pastry string makes for a perfect little package.
