Best Apps

Impalas deep sea diving, vultures with beehive hairdos, sneezing squirrels--they're all part of a new crazy clever alphabet app with illustrations so quirky and modern that I want to hang them on my kiddo's wall. But even better, this ap…

You haven't lived until you've seen a video of your head superimposed on the body of an elf, dancing in a winter wonderland. Such is the magic of Elf Yourself by the hilarious company JibJab , a.k.a. the Spiridelli brothers. Now that the…

Each week as part of our ongoing 3 Springpad Notebooks that you're going to love series, we're rounding up some of our favorite notebooks--some pretty, some practical--but all cool enough to catch our our attention and hopefully yours. T…

I love sharing old storybooks I've saved from my childhood, though brittle bindings and fragile pages mean it's definitely a "look but don't touch" type of story time. But in the case of this charming one-hundred year old, new-to-me stor…

As a mom of a child with a learning disability in reading, technology has been a huge help. But most of the reading apps out there are geared toward young children who are learning to read, not 9 year olds. I just stumbled across the Whi…

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about many different ways to connect kids with their grandparents . While I covered the big ones like Skype, Facetime, Google+ and others, I just discovered a new one that is solely designed for connecting you…

Whenever I think about dreams and goals for my life--often called a bucket list these days--I always think of my 7th grade math teacher who frequently told us, Whatever the mind can believe, you can achieve. (Thanks, Mrs. Buffingto!) It'…

It's hard to know when kids are old enough for an email account. As soon as my tween opened her own, my youngest son has been begging for one and I've been stalling about it ever since. But now we've found a brand new and very cool iPad …

Last week we introduced you to our 3 Springpad Notebooks You're Going to Love series, which included some of the notebooks I think are inspiring, useful, and just plain cool. This week we're back with three more notebooks that you'll tot…

Kapu Tickle Toy Camera is a new app that is so fun that you just want to laugh out loud. I'm serious. It's weird but watching someone get tickled is funny. Funnier still is when your child has the ability to turn the animated kooky chara…

I love books. I also love lovers of books. And I particularly love book lovers who aren't too "precious" to also enjoy a little modern technology for their books, (all hail Kindles and iPads). Such is the case with this small new company…

I adore my iPad. Almost as much as my children adore my iPad. Luckily, I've managed to keep my hands on it enough to prevent them from downloading apps like crazed little tech-monkeys. And since Mommy is pretty selective, they've only be…

I understand the appeal of websites and apps that bring a child's favorite character to life, whether it's Seuss or Dora or Yo Gabba Gabba. But sometimes it's nice to find a world in which your kid can ascribe her own attributes and stor…

Earlier this year, we discovered Springpad , and have since fallen in love with this amazingly helpful website. Far more functional than Pinterest for me, far more powerful than Evernote, I'm finding more and more that it's packed with h…

I must admit, at first I was a bit confused by the Aliens Abducted app . Is it an alien arcade style game? Is it a geography lesson as promised? Then I watched my boys play around with it, and I realized that it was both--and the kids du…

I have no idea what the Swedish word for "awesome" is, but if I did, Toca Boca would be hearing it from my kids (ok, and me) about every five seconds while playing around with their new digital toy. Released today, the Toca Band app give…

Back in the day, kids used to keep themselves busy with old-fashioned things like wooden abacuses, blocks and felt boards. Now, they basically own our tablets (you know it's true), and can do everything from smash pigs to trace the entir…

Just like you, we rely on trusted sources to pass along tips for great apps. So when a strong reco came in to try out Pixlr-o-matic , we had to check it out. Yes, we know, there are tons of photo editing apps already out there for both A…

With our long drives to and from school every morning, I've been meaning to grab some audiobooks for us to enjoy. Well lucky for me, just yesterday I scored over 20 popular classics as e-books and audio books on both my Kindle and my iPh…

With back-to-school in full swing, I'm sure many of you already have hordes of photos on your phones chronicling those first exciting days. For those friends and family near and far who are anxious to see how Samantha's entry into 2nd gr…

Preschoolers aren't usually very fond of monsters (Elmo not withstanding), what with them hiding under beds and in dark closets. But after your toddler gets a peek at a family of quirky monsters that help them learn numbers, colors and w…

When I was a kid, I loved Reading Rainbow . The show promoted reading, and was right up there on my list of faves with Mister Rogers and Sesame Street. If you're not old enough to recognize two out of those three titles, please don't tel…

Storing kids' artwork is one of the bane of many parents' existence, no matter the size of your home. When my daughter was in daycare, there wasn't a day that would pass when I wouldn't come home with at least two masterpieces (i.e. a bl…

Listening to compelling audio books has been my #1 way to prevent backseat squabbles between the kids as we do everything from a six-hour drive to Maine, to a 15-minute jaunt to gymnastics practice. And one of the best ways to get our ha…