Parents face difficult decisions at this time of year when it comes to buying children’s toys for the holiday season: do you go along with this year’s ‘cool’ toy on your child’s list for Santa, or do you ignore all the background noise and select toys that have an educational value?

The answer is that it is possible to find toys that meet both your child’s criteria (popular and hot this year) and your goal to promote learning experiences while teaching [...]

It may be pure folly on my part, but I decreed that our family’s holiday celebrations this year would be “old-fashioned”, which means we chop down an honest-to-goodness evergreen tree that does not have snap-on branches and blinking mini-lights already attached.

My two youngest children bought in to the real-tree concept from ‘go’: the lure of a horse-drawn sleigh or wagon ride through a tree farm was too much to resist. My husband heard the magical tool words, like “saw” and [...]

With the cold weather finally settling in, it would appear that winter is just a snowflake away. What better way to get ahead of the Christmas season than by creating a fun and easy Christmas craft with your kids. This Christmas craft for kids may take a little bit of time, but the effort will be well worth it!

Making salt dough Christmas ornaments will get your child measuring, mixing, baking and creating. I love baking with my kids! Your toddler, [...]

Our fall and winter babies sometimes get the raw end of the deal when it comes to birthday parties. Unlike their spring and summer counterparts, we can’t take advantage of the great outdoors by hosting their parties at a park or in the backyard. So while we end up doling out more for an indoor venue to hold all of their friends, we sometimes find ourselves having to scrimp on the other party details.

And while the cake reigns king and [...]

By Angie Continisio
Certified YogaKids Teacher and 200hr RYT
Owner/operator Studio Kids Butterfly Yoga

When I learned that I would have to teach yoga classes to Special Needs children as part of my YogaKids Certification, I was unnerved. Unnerved because I thought I would have to teach my classes “differently”. After pondering my class session, I realized that we all have special needs of one kind or another. I appreciated the fact that this section of my training would allow me [...]

Western US family ski trip? We’ve heard lots of buzz this year about taking the kids to the Western US to ski this year. Family friendly, kids ski activities and great mountains…here are some insider tips to great resort choices and some good advice to help you plan and get organized, from Travelocity’s Senior Editor, Genevieve Brown.

The idea to downhill ski together as a family sounded great – on paper. The plan was that my hubbie and I would take our threesome to ski lessons in the morning, which would give us time to ski together as a couple (remember those days?), and our kids would join us in the afternoon for a few runs “en famille”. Then we would return home with tired, but happy kids and the knowledge that we’d had a [...]

Skiing could be classified as a Canada’s favorite winter pastime with our wide range of ski hills and picturesque resorts. Most children love the sport and everything that goes with it from the mascot characters on the slopes to hot chocolate après-ski.  Determining whether your child will like skiing or snowboarding is the easy part of the sport. The harder part is to make important decisions about equipment and which ski center will provide a safe and fun [...]

Are you and the kids checking out the new movie Puss in Boots? A great craft for kids to get them in the mood!

Puss In Boots written by Charles Perrault is a delightful fairy tale to read to children, and there are so many great activities to go along with the book, like this Puss In Boots coloring page for kids! Coloring helps children strengthen fine motor skills, which makes this a really good activity for preschoolers and kindergarteners. So, [...]

A coupon hunting frenzy has been spurred south of the border, following last year’s premiere of Extreme Couponing.  The second season began  this September and it has us wanting the scoop on Extreme Couponing for Canadians!  We love our kids so much, but they are EXPENSIVE!  Any way we can save money is a bonus!!!

Extreme couponing is much more profitable in the U.S. than it is in Canada.  We just don’t have the abundance of coupons that they have. It [...]