Christina Refford

Sometimes we think of reading apps as being for little kids, but reading apps for kids in high school and middle school can be extremely helpful. Whether your kids are voracious readers or a bit more reluctant to get lost in a book when …

We know many so many families who love online gaming for its temporary escape into cool unique realms and the connection with others who love to play as much as we do. But sometimes real-world problems can follow us into our online games…

Our longtime readers will understand why we're so excited about Libro.fm's sale of audio books for under $5 each , in honor of Independent Bookstore Day on April 30. After all, in our (gulp) 15+ years online, we've shared hundreds of the…

Black History Month lasts through the end of February, but you'll need to act by Friday if you want to grab free downloads of three important audio books by Black authors. Offered as a gift from Cool Mom Tech-recommended audiobook compan…

I know firsthand how hard it is to decide when is the best age for kids to have their own cell phone . On one hand, we want them to be able to reach us if soccer practice gets out early or they want to leave a sleepover at 1am, but expos…

Though I send out inclusive Happy Holidays cards to a lot of people, I think this is an especially good year to also send a specific Happy Hanukkah greeting to our Jewish friends and family. Jewish Americans tend feel a bit overlooked in…

Still looking for cool tech gifts this holiday? The closer we get to Christmas and Hanukkah, the easier it is to let budgets go out the window in an effort to just get gifts to wrap. But, just because time is ticking , you can still grab…

We always have the best time looking for cool tech stocking stuffers that go beyond the usual. And by usual, I mean batteries. Whether you're just kicking off your holiday shopping by going through our gift guides or almost wrapping thin…

You may have seen this hilarious sketch on SNL that has a bunch of adults using the app BeReal during a rather tense situation. (if you haven't seen it yet, go watch now! I'll wait.) This sketch does a great job explaining what BeReal is…

For those of us with college students (already!), we know how stressful it can be for our kids to get adjusted to a totally new schedule and, often, a new living situation. We even included meditation apps among our recommendations of ap…

It's no secret that we are huge fans of Star Wars here at Cool Mom Tech, so when we heard that Headspace just launched new mindfulness and meditation content for kids 5-10 called Find Your Force with Star Wars , I rocketed over to watch …

Recently, Meta announced it would be launching new parental safety controls for teens in the form of tools and resources for both the Instagram social media app and their Meta Quest VR gaming headsets. The goal is to help parents better …

For our annual Father's Day gift guide, we've found 16 of the coolest Father's Day tech gifts under $100 (if we do say so ourselves) -- several of them even under $50! Because June 19th is coming up fast. We always have a great time trac…

Lately, a lot of readers have been asking us to recommend the best Fitbit for their needs -- for themselves as a form of self-care, for gifts for others (ahem Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up), or just an upgrade to an older m…

After creating a group video for my teen's birthday during the height of the pandemic, I realized how many other occasions it would be perfect for: end-of-year teacher appreciation gifts , Mother's Day , Father's Day , graduation , speci…

I love listening to music, audiobooks or podcasts (like Spawned of course!) when I'm outside. But there are so many times it's not really safe for us to completely tune out our surroundings, like when I'm running alone at 6 AM, or should…

I'm excited to kick off the year by finding some easy, effective ways to recycle or donate those old tech gadgets that we all have lying around. Not just for you, but for me too! I know not to chuck my trusty old iPhone into the trash af…

Even in pre-Covid days, I always hated sitting in a doctor's waiting room just thinking about the "bonus" rotovirus we were probably contracting on top of the ear infection we were there to treat. That's a big reason I am so excited abou…

Before the holidays kick into full gear, I recommend you download one super-fun, get-off-the-couch app that also happens to be 100% free: Active Arcade. It's entirely designed to get you moving (and maybe burning off all that pie eating)…

As a former homeschooling parent, I am a huge fan of math apps for middle school -- and for tweens and teens whatever their grade level. I used to say that I was okay teaching math until around 3rd or 4th grade, and then I needed some he…

A few years ago, we asked teachers to name their #1 favorite end-of-year gift and the answer was not "cash and a massage" (ha). In fact, we were heartened to hear again and again a teacher's favorite gift from students is a personal mess…

Who else is thinking about gardening this spring? Along with our own Liz and Kristen who recently hosted the We Time Project and took a food gardening course (yay!), it seems like everyone is ready to put down the sourdough starter and g…

Valentine's Day is the next holiday, after Easter , Halloween , Thanksgiving , and Christmas , that will be affected by our new socially distant lifestyle. No sprinkle-laden, heart-shaped cookies in class. No gaudily decorated shoeboxes …

I've got some good news and some bad news about subscription box gifts this holiday: The good news is that there are tons of subscription boxes out there that you can order in time to gift for Christmas for just about anyone left on your…