Go outdoors with Crayola

Crayola is challenging kids this summer with their nationwide campaign, The Outdoor Challenge. The challenge is quite easy and goes a little like this: after chores, homework and meals, step away from the computer and electronics and go outside to have fun! Easy enough, right?

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The Outdoor Challenge coincides with National Physical Fitness & Sports Month and encourages outdoor play for kids of all ages. Crayola even enlisted Olympic Gold Medalist Dan O’Brien to help kick off this campaign. O’Brien will attempt to break the current Guinness World Record for the fastest game of hopscotch, which is currently one minute and 23 seconds. The Decathlon champion and Hop Scotch champ hopeful was seen training yesterday at Chelsea Piers.  Stay tuned to find out if he accomplishes this latest endeavor!

Dan O'BrienCrayola is challenging families to achieve the national goal of one million hours of pledged outdoor play time through the end of the summer. Research by Kaiser Family Foundation suggests that kids ages 8-10 spend an average of six hours a day consumed with electronics and in front of computer and tv screens, increasingly overshadowing outdoor play.

From kickball to hopscotch, the options for colorful outdoor play are endless. But in case you need ideas, Crayola has added some new products to their lineup of creative tools for outdoor play.

Crayola takes sidewalk chalk to the next level with their new Sidewalk Crayons. With Sidewalk Crayons, kids can use the outdoors as their own personal coloring book. As opposed to the pastel palette of sidewalk chalk, the Sidewalk Crayons are bright and bold and have a smoother feel. After playtime, just like chalk, Sidewalk Crayons are easily washed off of driveways and sidewalks.

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Crayola has also introduced the Airbrush Painter, which pumps out washable sidewalk paint to create airbrushed designs. Designs can be created freehand or with the included stencils. As always Crayola thinks ahead: the airbrush only sprays when pointed downward, so young artists—or their siblings— won’t become their own canvas.

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We’re definitely taking this challenge. In fact, since the rain if finally letting up, we’re grabbing our bucket of chalk and heading to the park! Whatever your medium for colorful play might be, make sure you get outside as often as possible!

Step2 introduces new outdoor toys

Despite yet another gray day here, I’m loving all the exciting ideas and new toys for outdoor play. Step2, one of my favorite toy brands for durable outdoor gear, has rolled out some fun new outdoor toys including, the Sand & Water Transportation Station, the Nature Station Playhouse, Arctic Splash and Water Rush Quarry.

Arctic Splash

This is water table that features a mountain, complete with ice slide, tunnel and dumping bucket. It also includes some fun toys–a polar bear, walrus and penguin squirt toys.

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Sand & Water Transportation Station

This set combines toddlers’ favorites—the fun of a train table and water table. The table has two compartments for both sand and water and features funnels atop table legs that double as loading stations, and comes with a toy train and rake.

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Water Rush Quarry

This multi-level toy is an extreme sandbox that combines the fun of a construction site–it can even have water flow from top to bottom. It includes one crane, two bridges, a tunnel, a dam, a ramp, a bucket, a shovel and two construction vehicles.

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Nature Sation Playhouse

This nature-themed playhouse features a shelf for examining flowers, bugs or other outdoor treasures. Step2 helps kids become one with nature with the included shovel, bug collector, butterfly net, lantern, microscope with two slides, tweezers, bug trap shovel, binoculars and pivoting periscope.

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BornFree unveils Eco-Friendly recyclable bottles

BornFree products just got a little greener:  the company now offers a new line of Eco-Friendly Recyclable bottles.  Back in December, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel of moms to weigh in on one of the brands that I consider synonymous with eco-friendliness and BPA-free baby products.

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BornFree gained popularity in the mom community just a few short years ago as the research and BPA findings in baby bottles picture-1became more rampant.  As with any tried and true product, I saw moms in my circle of friends and family spread the word about BornFree and soon, many families replaced their existing bottles with BornFree products.

So, what exactly is the Eco-Friendly bottle?  Essentially, the Eco-Friendly Recyclable bottle is the same as the original bottle, but in addition to being Pthalate, PVC and BPA-free, the bottles can be recycled when you no longer have use for them.  When you’re done with the bottles, you can just send them back to BornFree for recycling into their other products lines. Ingenious!

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SafeSippy, how do I love thee? review+giveaway

Have you ever bought a product that you and your kid love so much that you can’t stop telling others about it?  Yeah, me too.  And that’s part of the reason why I felt so compelled to start this blog.  Times have changed; we moms and dads are heavily influenced by each other more than ever.  This sippy cup is my prime example…

In the fall, as Jack transitioned to a cup full time, I was in search of a sippy cup that was durable and an alternative to plastic.  We’d been using a great BPA-free plastic sippy cup, but after several weeks of usage, I noticed the wear and tear.  At the baby store, amidst the wall of plastic cups, I set sight on this gleaming stainless steel sippy cup.  Hello, SafeSippy!  Modern looking, clean design and practical–my first impression was, this sippy cup completely met our needs.

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Apart from its aesthetics, this cup, inside and out, is well-designed.  It features a narrow spout, a contrast to many other sippy cups’ flat drink spouts.  Research has shown that wide, flat drink spouts can cause developmental and speech problems in young mouths.  The cup boasts a removable handle that can be removed once your kid can grasp the cup.  My kid, though old enough to hold a sippy cup without handles, likes this specific cup’s handle, which makes it better to “crank” and chug.  Don’t ask…
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Welcome to the Next Kid Thing!

This week marks the official launch of the Next Kid Thing, a blog that is dedicated to the latest and greatest in kid gear.  As the juvenile products market continues to evolve, the Next Kid Thing will showcase great gear and all the good stuff in between.  As many parents know, as soon as you have a kid, it seems like the next month, brand new gear hits the shelves.  It seems that way probably because the baby and kid market continues to grow at an exponential pace–even in this economic climate.  A report by Kids Today said that infant gear reached $1.62 billion in sales in 2007, while another report forecasts that the baby durables market will increase to $6.9 billion by 2015.  Add big kids to the mix, and that’s a lot of gear and gadgets to be bought.

Many of us have waited to start our families to focus on careers, and in turn, this generation of new parents are willing to spend more on high tech, eco-friendly and safe baby gear, insisting on the best for our kids.  With all that stuff out there, it’s my hope that this website will serve as a resource to sift through the excess to profile the must-haves and find the best deals.  From babies to big kids, the Next Kid Thing will feature reviews, interviews, profiles and awesome giveaways!

logoNKT is most definitely a labor of love.  In addition to chasing around my mischevious toddler all day, with thanks to the most encouraging husband ever, I can finally say (again) that I’m doing what I love.  With a journalism background and 8 years of experience as a mag editor under my belt, I’m happily putting my research and reporting skills back to work.  With all the research I did prior to my son’s arrival in 2007, sharing my finds makes so much sense.  These days, it’s all about maximizing your dollars while observing green habits and smart consumerism.  With an appreciation for great gear, a fervor for research and green-living, the Next Kid Thing was born.

Join me as I share great finds, profile cool companies, unearth great deals and of course, roll out some pretty awesome giveaways.  As a way to celebrate this week-long launch of the Next Kid Thing, I will have giveaways galore all week!  Be sure to comment on this post for an opportunity to win some fabulous door prizes!
For additional entries, tell all your friends and family:  blog, tweet, stumble or share the news of the Next Kid Thing’s official launch on any social media site.   Please comment to add additional entries.

I’ll be back later with the first official giveaway and more!

Read this: Easter basket books

With the Easter Bunny hopping around this weekend, surely he or she might need some last minute alternatives to the 15 lbs. of jelly beans and ultra-glow Peeps.  It’s my thinking that if the Easter Bunny fills up our guy’s basket with cool books, that will only leave enough room for 5 or 6 Mini-Eggs. (The way I see it:  the less chocolate that find their way into the basket means less chocolate to find their way into my mouth.)  There are so many classic books for the Easter Bunny to choose from, but there are also some newer books to check out too!  Here are a few suggestions on some fun treats of the book variety.

Duck! Bunny! By Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
The eye-catching illustrations make Duck! Bunny! one of my new favorites.   With the use of fun optical illusions, this book debates whether the animal in question is indeed a duck or a bunny.  It’s a short and sweet story that kids of all ages would find funny.  Is it a duck or a bunny?  What do you think?
Check out Chronicle Books’ YouTube teaser for the book and you decide!

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Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue By Jon Agee
Orangutan Tongs is a witty book filled with tongue twisters and play on words.  It’s a fun collection of phrases and silly subjects to entertain kids and parents alike.  If you love clever kid reads, how could you not be a fan with text like, you know New York’s unique, but did you know that unique New York’s also pretty chic?

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The Dumb Bunnies’ Easter By Dav Pilkey
The Dumb Bunnies are at it again!  This time, they’ve got their holidays all mixed up!  On December 24th, they’re cutting down their Easter tree–wait a minute!  Check out the Dumb Bunnies’ ridiculous adventures and find out why they’re for the Easter Bunny to drop eggs down their chimney!
Here’s the thing:  the Dumb Bunnies books by the same hysterical author that brought us Captain Underpants has a gift for making kids laugh with his book.  Some parents may not be fond of the “Dumb” descriptor for these silly bunnies, but c’mon, it’s harmless fun.  On his site Pilkey says it best:

The only thing that all human beings have in common is our endless capacity for doing dumb stuff.

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All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant (Author), Nikki McClure (Illustrator)
By the Newbery Medal-winning author, Cynthia Rylant, this book has a simple but very important message–to make the most of each day.   The illustrations, cut-paper art and text are equally appealing to both parents and kids, making it a perfect read for any age.  At times like this, isn’t it all about living life to the fullest while embracing what each day has to offer?

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Where are Baby’s Easter Eggs? By Karen Katz
Karen Katz’s books are a big hit in our house.  So much so, they’ve been read and flipped through so much, the pages have become so tattered from all the page-flipping excitement.  The colorful and sparkly surprises that can be found when flipping the flaps is what keeps these books at the top of our reading regimen.  Where could those Easter eggs be?

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Etsy find: MiaJoie Elena Organic Baby Shoes

As I was perusing Etsy, I fell in love with Jessica’s shop, MiaJoie. Jessica creates stylish, unique and eco-friendly shoes and accessories, with a penchant for sweet baby girl shoes. Problem is, I don’t have a girl. It’s a good thing that MiaJoie also has unisex shoes, too.

With Spring in the air, nature and newness comes to mind, which makes me love the Elena style so much more. This versatile style is made from two types of organic cotton. The poppy flower is made from reclaimed vintage satin and finished with ruffle toe and a tiny coconut bead. This sweet style comes in sizes 0-4.

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It’s no surprise that MiaJoie’s Peyton Cork Baby Shoes/Booties was recently featured in Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine.

Baseball and Build-A-Bear

In honor of opening day, check out the fun selection of MLB-themed gear Build-A-Bear has to offer.  My fave, of course, is Curly Teddy in Mets gear.*

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Build-A-Bear Workshops has teamed up with MLB once again to offer a families another way to cheer for their favorite baseball teams with Build-A-Bear Workshop Day at various ballparks, in addition to new team-branded merchandise.  On Build-A-Bear Workshop Day at the Ballpark, fans will receive exclusive team-branded stuffed animals while supplies last. Each furry friend comes with a free virtual gift redeemable at buildabearville.com, the Build-A-Bear Workshop virtual world.


Check your favorite team’s website for dates and details, but here are a few scheduled Build-A-Bear Workshop Game Day Giveaways:

Pittsburgh Pirates
Sunday, May 17 at 1:35 p.m.
Sunday, September 20 at 1:35 p.m.
New York Mets
Saturday, August 1 at 7:10 p.m.
Kansas City Royals
Sunday, May 17 at 1:10 p.m.
St. Louis Cardinals
Sunday, August 2 at 1:15 p.m.
Chicago Cubs
Saturday, May 30 at 3:10 p.m.
Friday, July 24 at 1:20 p.m.
Cincinnati Reds
Sunday, August 30 at 1:10 p.m.
San Francisco Giants
Saturday, May 30 at 6:05 p.m.

Goodies:
Score your own Curly Teddy or get one for your little baseball fan with this $5 off coupon.  Expires April 19, 2009

(Fellow Mets fans:  the choking hazard warning to the right of Curly Teddy is referencing small pieces included with the toy–NOT the game 😉  It’s a brand new year, a brand new ballgame…and a brand new stadium!)

aden + anais sale, launch week and a giveaway!

Since I’ve been busy working toward officially launching The Next Kid Thing, I thought I would let everyone know that we’ll be having a launch week! While I continue to figure out the details for launch week, which is tentatively set for April 13-17, I will be doing a lot of cross-promoting on the 2 blogs. So, please forgive me on the occasional duplicate post, but with cross-promoting comes fun goodies!

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aden + anais is having a sale on their Winter Warmth and Dream blankets. I first spotted aden + anais, the makers of the gorgeously soft muslin blankets and wraps, at Buy Buy Baby. Their very cool packaging stands out, as do their beautiful blankets. You really can’t have enough soft, well-made blankets for your babe. Not to mention, how perfect are these for shower gifts! To find out more about muslin wraps and what makes aden + anais products so special, be sure to check them out here. Now, onto the sale…the prices are as follows:

Winter Warmth Swaddles on sale for $29.95 (normally $49.95)
Dream Blankets on sale for $39.95 (normally $59.95)
Visit adenandanais.com and enter promo code “wintersale” to receive the discount.


And lucky for you all, aden + anais is giving away one of their winter warmth blankets!

Want to win it?

Visit aden + anais and tell me what style you love. Click here to add your comment to my blog at Babyrific.


for additional entries:

1. Tweet about this giveaway and mention my this new site, the Next Kid Thing.  You can use the button below (2 extra entries)
2. Blog about the Next Kid Thing (2 extra entries)
3. Stumble this post
4. Sign up to receive my updates via email.

Contest ends April 13th at noon

Please add a comment for each of your entries over at Babyrific. Please note this contest is hosted at my other blog, Babyrific. Comments added here at Next Kid Thing will NOT be counted.

Etsy find: Buttered Toast

il_430xn62816427Speaking of Sunday Best, I’ve been on the lookout for a fun, funky kiddie tie for Jack.  Of course, Etsy always comes through.  This time, I stumbled upon Jessica’s fun shop, Buttered Toast. She makes handmade, unique ties and bowties for the little guys.  With all of her selections, you can choose between pre-tied tie, big boy tie and bowtie.
As hard it was to choose which tie to go with, this was my second choice tie.  I love Michael Miller prints, especially these bold colors, making it perfect for a Spring outing.  For you Anchorman fans, she even has a Ron Burgundy tie–you know, because your little guy is king of a big deal and all.  Be sure to check out all of her fun patterns.

I just ordered mine, barely getting it in to ensure we get it before Easter.  She does all the work herself, so be sure to contact her if you need yours by a certain time.