10 terrific reading apps for kids in middle school and high school | Back to School Tech
Sometimes we think of reading apps as for little kids, but reading apps for kids in middle school and high school can be extremely helpful. Whether your kids are voracious readers or a bit more reluctant to get lost in a book when there are video games to be played...
10 of the best summer tech posts on Cool Mom Tech right now
As we mentioned on Cool Mom Picks, our team is off on a little break this week. Don’t we all need one these days? (The answer is yes. Yes we do.) But hey, before we took off, we wanted to put together some of our very favorite summer tech posts — which...
This app actually scans your kids’ LEGOs, then lets them know what they can build with them. Whoa.
My son is all about LEGO these days, which is why I was intrigued when I heard about Brikit, a new iPhone app that takes stock of the LEGOs you have and makes suggestions — complete with instructions — on what to build. Turns out, it’s a gamechanger!...
Free download: 30 creative activities for kids that blend off-screen summer fun with just enough tech.
I know, I know, the last thing parents want our kids to do this summer is spend all day watching YouTube videos or playing more Minecraft. I just hope my kids can find a little more balance with screen time this summer, and that whatever screen time they do have can...
6 of my favorite TikTok parenting experts. Yes, TikTok. It’s not just choreographed dances.
Like a lot of elder millennials, I resisted TikTok for a while. After all, why would I want to watch videos of toddlers spilling drinks when I can just look across my kitchen table? Sorry, Yeet Baby. But the more I delved into it, the more I realized TikTok is...
A cool new trick to help kids practice their reading this summer
Do you have a kid who needs some extra reading practice this summer? Then you’ll definitely want to check out Sidekick, a new offering that’s part of the Amazon Kids+ subscription (previously FreeTime) that’s designed to help kids practice their...
These smart tips and apps can help minimize distracted teen driving
We recently got a question in our Out Tech Your Kids group asking about apps that read texts out loud while you drive, which got me started thinking about some tips and apps to help minimize distracted driving for teens. As parents, we need to think bigger than just...
15 new iOS 15 features that parents will get (very!) excited about: FaceTime, ScreenShare, Focus, Health, and more
Each time there’s a live streaming Apple Event to announce the new products and updates, we watch diligently to see what’s new for parents and families, or which advances and improvements will actually make our lives a little easier, more organized or more...
My favorite new iPhone trick to help me fall asleep — and stay asleep
Over the past year, I have been so grateful for the sleep stories on Calm and some of the Apple Music playlists to help me fall asleep. The one issue: I was sometimes waking up in the middle of the night, my AirPods still in my ears…my music still playing. Then,...
How can I prevent a Facebook hack? Reader Q&A
This week in our Out Tech Your Kids Facebook group, we were asked how to prevent a Facebook hack, and specifically, if were any security measures to take that might help. And yes, yes there are! Here, a few really simple tips to help prevent a Facebook hack. They can...
7 of the best news podcasts and programs for kids, from preschool to high school
In our Out Tech Your Kids group on Facebook, a parent recently asked for recommendations for great news podcasts for kids. Our readers replied with some really good suggestions, so we wanted to round them up for you…and add a few more we discovered too. These...Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz
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.
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