Christina Refford, Author at Cool Mom Tech

ChatterPix Kids: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Fun Apps for Kids

I sometimes think I have the sense of humor of a ten-year-old, which comes in handy since I do have a tweenage son who thinks things like talking cupcakes and singing basketballs are pretty hilarious. What’s even more hilarious is when we can record our own...

Yummly Recipes: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Lifestyle Apps

I have fallen into a dinner rut, relying on a few tried-and-true recipes that I can whip up before the kids get too peckish at the end of a busy day. But now that I’ve download the free and gorgeously designed Yummly app, which is available free for iOS,...

$King of Math Junior for kids: Our cool free app of the week$

King of Math Junior for kids: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Educational Apps For Kids

If you’re hoping to get your future mathlete ready for preschool in the fall, or just want to find a new ways to help practice counting, adding, and subtracting with your first grader, download the free version of King of Math Junior. This smart and fun game for...

Yuggler for parents: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Lifestyle Apps

It’s Sunday morning and your kids’ friends just had to cancel their afternoon playdate. Or, you are on vacation with your toddler, and rain has just ruined your plans to visit that cool new park you read about online. What to do? Well, nowadays, there are...

Can you teach coding to preschoolers? Here are three toys that will try

by Christina Refford | Tech Toys and Random Fun

Coding is certainly one of the new buzzwords in education, along with STEM, STEAM, and now, believe it or not, STREAM. And while a lot of learn-to-code apps toys, and games, like Robot School, Dash Robot, and Code Master, are targeted primarily to grade-school kids,...

A new go-kart for kids you control with your phone. Whoa!

by Christina Refford | Tech Toys and Random Fun

If your kids have a need for speed, and you have a need for keeping them safe, you have check out Actev Motors’ new Arrow Smart-Kart, one of the coolest ride-on toys I had the joy of seeing at NYC’s Toy Fair earlier this year. This high-end electric...

Alien Assignment app for preschoolers: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Fun Apps

Though your kids may not be able to find their shoes when you are running out the door, they are sure to love finding the solutions to the problems posed in Alien Assignment, a fun, free app for kids as young as three. Created by the Fred Rogers Center, it...

Brain Pop Featured Movie: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Educational Apps For Kids

In this week’s Spawned podcast, our editor Liz’s Cool Pick of the Week is Brain Pop, a website I have turned to for years with my homeschooled kids to find smart, kid-friendly videos about topics as diverse as William Shakespeare, the Civil War, and DNA....

BrightNest app: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Productivity Apps

The first word that pops into my head after I hear “spring” is “cleaning,” probably because three kids plus one dog equals a lot of cleaning at any time of the year. And with today being the first day of spring (yay!), my free app of the week...

Sago Mini Friends: Cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Fun Apps for Kids

When your preschooler wants to play, but you really need a few uninterrupted minutes to finish some work or get dinner on the table, we’ve found an entire menagerie of adorable friends who will be happy to set up a playdate at any time. And these friends are...

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Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.

We love that it's grown to become the go-to source for millions of parents who want commonsense info about tech delivered with a smile.

We even have the privilege of sharing our tips + tricks with The TODAY Show, CNN, HLN, GMA, Nightline, newspapers and magazines around the country, and our favorite -- regular parents who stop us at PTA meetings and ask us how old kids need to be to get a smartphone, and whether they really need to panic about Snapchat.

(Answer: It's complicated.)

We're so glad you're here! And we hope we can help you too.