books Archives | Cool Mom Tech

We found an animated storybook app that’s a great YouTube alternative

by Caroline Siegrist | Educational Apps For Kids

I’m always on the hunt for YouTube alternatives for my son, and I’ve just discovered a good one in Vooks, the app that streams animated children’s books. If you’re wanting your kids to be entertained by something other than toy cars being...

5 simple strategies for making your phone less distracting

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

We’ve been talking a lot about screen addiction and overuse here over the last few weeks (and well, years), including our Curb Your Screen Addiction series. Well, we recently chatted with author Jake Knapp on our Spawned podcast, who has a well of fantastic...

Emoji: A history book about our kids’ favorite way to communicate. Okay, ours too.

by Kate Etue | Art + Decor

Little history lesson for you: did you know that the emojis designs we use today — and communicate almost exclusively with our tweens in — originated way back in 1999? Like, before we even knew what a smartphone was? Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita...

Your Google Home can now read your kids bedtime stories. Not that you would ever have it do that.

by Kristen Chase | Helpful Services

Our Google Home can do all sorts of helpful things, and now it can read to us. That’s because Google launched audiobooks, which you can use on iOS, Android, the web, and yes, your Google Home. Related: This app lets you borrow library books on your tablet. For...

Let’s hear it for Little Miss Inventor: The newest member of the Little Miss family

by Kristen Chase | Tech Toys and Random Fun

Mark your calendars for International Women’s Day next year, because that’s the day when Little Miss Inventor, the newest, coolest Little Miss character from Roger Hargreaves (well, now his son Adam Hargreaves), will be hitting the shelves. Related: 7 cool...

This app lets you check out library books on your tablet. Free. From home. Yes!

by Kate Etue | Educational Apps For Kids

I love the feeling of being surrounded by stacks and stacks of actual old-fashioned books at my local library. But, I also love that they’re embracing all the amazing new technology that has huge benefits for busy parents like me, who are still emphatic that our...

7 smart, cool coding books for kids that have us saying, “Go get on your screens!”

by Kate Etue | Kids

After seeing what Kristen’s kids did with Bitsbox, a cool coding subscription box for kids we featured awhile ago (and who was a sponsor over the holidays), my kids are now obsessed with the idea of creating their own apps. In fact, it’s...

Web Coolness: Star Wars umbrella, The Instant Pot, and rogue Twitter accounts galore.

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of our favorite tech links from around the web. We hope you enjoy them too. Oh you know, just a Star Wars light saber umbrella. We hear it slays at the bus stop! You can now address Alexa (Amazon Echo) as “Computer” because Star Trek is...

The Snow Fox: A cool, free ebook app with an extra special feature kids will love

by Kate Etue | Fun Apps

I will always be a fan of real books I can turn the pages to read while my kids are in my lap, but there are plenty of times when a sweet, entertaining ebook on my phone is a total lifesaver, like the The Snow Fox, which we discovered this week. It’s a simple,...

Web Coolness: Tech holiday gifts, 10 most popular emoji, and the West World soundtrack

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of our favorite links from around the web. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 15 of the coolest custom photo gifts for the holidays. Wait, marshmallows? Amazon is about to revolutionize grocery shopping. A very handy website for book lovers....

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.