I’ve been so inundated lately with press releases and content ideas (which is awesome!), so in an effort to organize future NKT content and have some semblance of a comprehensive calendar of topics to cover, I will slowly but surely introduce daily topics. Today, and hopefully more Wednesdays to follow, will be Wellness Wednesday which will include products and suggestions on promoting wellness for kids.
The “wellness” umbrella is quite large, so even though it’s still a broad topic, it should give us a chance to cover new and innovative products a little more effectively. I’m so excited to announce another great giveaway and review, so stay tuned this afternoon!
Tag: school age
Y Water? Why, of course!
What do you get when you combine a nutritious drink that can be multi-purposed as a toy? Well, besides my kid’s sippy cup.
I’m talking about Y Water.
On first impression, I was so intrigued by the eye-catching packaging. It’s almost like abstract art that contains a kiddie drink. In a similar vein of the wildly popular Vitamin Water, Y Water drinks, which are aimed at kids, are organic, low calorie beverages with vitamins and minerals. Y Water which hit the shelves in 2008 comes from Venice Beach, Ca. Y Water can be bought at various Whole Foods and health food stores on the West Coast, and seems to be making its way here on the East Coast.
Google Doodle: What I Wish for the World
The fun folks at Google have done it again. This time, they’re tugging at my heart strings with their latest Google Doodle competition. This year’s theme, What I Wish for the World, encouraged students in K-12 to mesh their doodled ideas with Google’s logo. As a company that dreams big and thinks big, it’s no surprise that the finalists’ entries are nothing short of amazing—as is the national winner’s prize!
The National Winner will win a $15,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice, a trip to the Google New York Office, a laptop computer, and a t-shirt printed with their doodle. Google will also award the winner’s school a $25,000 technology grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab.
It’s so hard to choose, but I think this is my favorite:
The artist is 5 year old Miriam Elizabeth Lowery from Austin Peay Elementary in TN. She says her wish for the world is that everyone would get along and treat one another in a nice and loving way. We could all be friends!
I second that, Miriam!
You can check out all Google Doodle finalists and vote for your favorite until the end of the week.
Little Allergies Allergen Block
If you’re my pal on Facebook or Twitter, you may have already heard how we spent the entire day and night last Friday. We fulfilled my personal nightmare by spending the day at the pediatrician and later the ER due to a case of hives that spread all over the kid’s body as a result of unexplained allergies. What looked like the Chicken Pox or something similar, our poor kid was miserable and itched every single inch of his body. The doctors suggested that the kid most likely has outdoor allergies, which will need to undergo testing. Now we know!
Had I not been so distracted by said allergies and subsequent visits to the pediatrician and ER, I would have had a chance to sort through the generous swag bag that I received from last week’s Mom’s Nite Out. In it, I received a box of Little Allergies Allergen Block. Little Allergies Allergen Block is a gentle, water-based gel which is applied topically. It’s drug-free, making it safe to use with other medications since there are no side effects.
Ironic or impeccable timing, I’m not sure, but I definitely can’t wait to check it out.
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Michelle Obama visits Sesame Street
In between meeting with diplomats and helping to promote the President’s new foreign policies, the First Lady took some time out last week to visit Elmo and the gang at Sesame Street. Michelle Obama visited Sesame Street to tape a Public Service Announcement with Elmo as part of Sesame Workshop’s Healthy Habits For Life initiative. Mrs. Obama and Elmo discussed eating right, exercising regularly and being a healthy and positive role model for children.
“If you want your child to have healthy habits, practice healthy habits, because you’re your child’s role model,” The First Lady suggests in the PSA.
I thought the news about planting an organic garden at the White House was pretty cool, but Mrs. Obama’s visit to Sesame Street is just as much a highlight for her, as it is for her fans!
(photo credit: Richard Termine)
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?
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!
Crayola 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oscar the Pig app from iKids Play
Pigs have been getting a lot of bad publicity lately, but if the shows on cartoon networks are indicative of kids’ unflappable taste in characters, pigs have and will always be a favorite when it comes to books, shows and now, apps!
Oscar the Pig written by Megan Calhoun, the multi-faceted founder of Twittermoms, is a great book that talks about the transition of mom going back to work and the separation anxiety that often goes hand in hand with it. This cute children’s book is now available as an educational app, thanks to iKids iPlay.
Oscar the Pig can be read with five interactive activities. With the Oscar the Pig app, kids can rub the screen to reveal hidden pages; the book becomes a coloring book with the stroke of a little finger, which can later be sent to grandma via email; storytime can enjoyed with automatic page turns and beginning readers can read, record and replay as they grasp their new reading abilities.
The Oscar the Pig app from iKids iPlay can be downloaded from iTunes for $2.99. Be sure to check out the other cool children’s books they have available, too! The book, Oscar the Pig, is available online.
PeeWee PC debuts tablet laptop for kids
PeeWee PC has launched a new spill and drop-resistant tablet laptop for kids. The small, but rugged 3-pound laptop features a swiveling screen and can alternate between keyboard mode and a tablet mode. The PeeWee PC features kid-friendly, touch-optimized software that’s said to be suitable for 3-10 year olds. Security options allow Parents to limit usage and control how kids use their laptop. The laptop features an Intel Atom Processor, a Disney Windows XP Theme, and a 1.3 megapixel and rings in at about $600. You can heck out the PeeWee PC specs here.
I definitely appreciate PeeWee PC’s rugged, kid-friendly approach; however, the pricetag for a kid purchase—an electronic investment, no less—definitely makes me think twice. PeeWee PC also offers the Power Laptop, another kid-friendly laptop, but $100 cheaper and with different specs. Kid friendly laptops aren’t a new concept. The OLPC XO, tasked to change the lives of children in developing countries, is a lowcost kid-friendly computer, but on a much different scale.
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Young Scientists Club
That Summer weather has simmered and now we’re back to the fun Spring weather that we all love. What better way to welcome Spring “back” and get outside with a few nature-inspired kits. Because Earth Day should be celebrated every day, I think these new eco-themed kits from The Young Scientists Club put a cool spin on the 3 Rs—Reduce, Reuse and Recycle—as well as embrace fun with good ol’ nature, making them a perfect environmentally-friendly gift idea or a great green addition to science classrooms.
Science on a Gardening Adventure
Through hands-on science experiments, kids can learn the ins and outs about gardening, underground habitats, explore plants, grow seeds and study bugs. The kit for kids ages 4+ includes a handy dandy carry-all kit and kids can also create a terrarium and much more.
Magic School Bus Going Green
Through experiments kids ages 5+ can go for a “ride” and learn even more about how to go green, specifically on how to recreate the water cycle, build a compost tube, shrink plastic, magically make packing peanuts disappear, decompose food with fungus, form pulp, create new paper, design recycled paper shapes, and much more. The Going Green is a part of the award winning Magic School Bus series.
Go Green Mini-Kit
With this kit, curious scientists can better understand what it really means to be green by learning more about acids and bases, use pH paper to test rain water, make Styrofoam magically disappear, create pulp from old newspapers, recycle paper, make new paper and recycle leaves in a peat pellet. To better care for our ailing environment, it’s never too early to foster green-living for the next generation with a cool Save the Earth kit like this.
The Young Scientists award-winning science kits were created by a Harvard-trained mom and can be found at various toy and parent/teacher shops.