If my 3rd grader attaches another object to her backpack, I swear she’s going to keel over. She makes a personal statement while bringing her belongings to school, simply by switching out what’s dangling off the zippers: a flipflop keychain, a translucent dolphin, a Beanie Boo…you name it. Attachable collectibles is definitely trending with tweens, and that’s why I knew when I got my hands on the Radz Gone Wild line, it would be a big hit. These aren’t your everyday collectibles, mind you; Radz offer a sweet surprise, doubling as a candy dispenser that comes with a Radz Plus code for access to free gaming apps. Making up the new line are four animal friends, each with a distinct persona: Scratch the Tiger, Bandit
Wired Walnuts Archive
When my husband and I tied the knot 16 years ago this coming September, we chose bubbles as our wedding favor….but they weren’t meant to be taken home. Instead of throwing rice or birdseed, we wanted to bring out the playful side of our relationship and commemorate our special day with family and friends sending us down the aisle into a sea of popping bubbles. What a vision it was! With wedding season right around the corner, you may find yourself at a nuptials celebration sometime this season, and if you do, we hope you’ll have a sweet time. Had MyRingPop.com been in existence when I was getting married, well, let’s just say those bubbles might have had some serious competition. The old dime-store candy
Ever imagine what you might look like if you were animated? What if you could sing, too? Well, if you happened to be Laurie Berkner, you’d soon get your chance. Beginning this Monday, March 25, the well-known children’s indie musician will celebrate her latest incarnation as the star of Sing It, Laurie!, her own very own animated TV show on the Sprout network. No stranger to performing for TV audiences, Laurie gained a strong following on Nick Jr. and can now add a new network to her growing fan base. In this new series, Laurie’s unmistakable voice will be adopted by a little girl who uses her music and songs to better understand the world around her. Episode themes will include dressing up, having a
My 4-year-old has taken a renewed interest in Sesame Street–and with good reason. Today marked the beginning of the beloved children’s TV show’s 43rd season, kicking off with a tongue-in-cheek episode that moms and dads were bound to enjoy. In “Upside Downton Abbey,” everything keeps falling to the ceiling. How to fix things? By changing the name to Right Side Upton Abbey, of course. If you didn’t get a chance to catch the spoof earlier today, you can check it out on YouTube. And that’s not the only fun in store for the Sesame gang this season; upcoming guest stars include Jon Hamm, Gordon Joseph Levitt, Melissa McCarthy, Paula Patton and Kareem Abdul Jabar. Sounds like a good time to us walnuts. In a Nutshell:
As a kid, my potty seat was as low tech as it gets: a wooden seat with a smiling bunny on the back and a pull-out plastic pot for easy clean-up. Exciting, eh? Innovation in the toilet-training area continues to make leaps and bounds that I can hardly keep up with, like the potty seat that works with your iPad. What could possibly be next? Well, if you’re pulling your hair out over your training-resistant toddler, consider yet another electronic gadget your partner in crime on the war against wet bums. Huggies has created the Pull-ups Big Kid App, a free, downloadable app that celebrates those moments when peeing and pooping are your child’s greatest achievement (don’t laugh; you know how god-awful frustrating it can
Come the weekend, my daughters love to fight over who gets to use my husband’s iPad (you know, your average Saturday struggle). So like most families with different aged kids, we’re always on the lookout for apps that will suit everyone’s interests–easier said than done. Fortunately, my 8-year-old loves playing school and you can only guess who has been recruited as her one-and only student. When my girls got their hands on Educational Insights’ Hot Dots Jr. app, it was all they could do not to contain their excitement. The game play is relatively straightforward: four categories (ABCs, numbers, colors and shapes) with 12 questions in each. A friendly girl prompts young players to answer questions and with each correct answer, a talking dog rewards
Ah, Mother’s Day…the early morning wake-up call of kisses and hugs, homemade cards and gifts fashioned from tissue paper and other recycled goods and coupons for “being good all day long”–or as long as they can live to their promises (10 minutes, tops?). While some moms may not admit it, this one will: What I’d really like most for Mother’s Day is…to be left alone. And if that won’t work, then dinner for two would be just lovely (notice how I said “two”?”). While I’m only half-kidding, it’s nice that dads have it easy this year when it comes to making reservations. Thanks to the new app from Savored.com, they don’t even have to talk to a real person if they don’t one to, and
If your preschooler is forever calling dibs on your iPad, and you’re in search of a satisfying game that doesn’t give you mommy guilt, check out the latest reading app for the 5 and under crowd. Elmo’s Big Birthday Bash from Random House is packed with plenty of learning-based activities to keep your little party-goer in gaming heaven. With 30 pages of interactive entertainment, kids can celebrate Elmo’s special day as they play guessing games, expand their vocabularies and, best of all, have fun while doing it. There are plenty of surprises along the way, and not just for the birthday boy. Our favorite part? No after-party sugar shock to contend with. We like to think of it as a screen-time reward for anyone who
What would a road trip with the kids be without playing the license plate game? For as long as I can remember, my sister, brother and I passed the time seeing how many different state plates we could spot on those long treks down I-95. The game always seemed to start off slow–how many times could we spot New York and New Jersey before getting out of the tri-state area?–but before long, it got a lot more interesting as we headed south. If you’ve tried unsuccessfully to engage your tech-savvy kid in this classic game, it’s time to kick things up a notch, smartphone-style. Introducing pl8s, a kid-friendly travel app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that gives a virtual shout-out to U.S. geography.
Digital photos of my kids haunt me like a bad dream sometimes. While I dutifully snap away those milestone moments and (most times) remember to download them to my laptop, they often wind up taking permanent residence on my hard drive, never again to see the light of day–or the inside of a photo album. Now, busy parents don’t have to plagued by such guilt (forget to post your daughter’s first bath on Facebook? How dare you!). Thanks to the Safety 1st Baby Book App, you can have every precious moment chronicled and cataloged, right at your fingertips. Call it your personal scrapbooker, this amazing app lets you take new photos (or import existing ones) on your iPhone or iPod Touch and organize them all