preschoolers and little kids

If you need help for kids with anxiety, I am so grateful for these terrific mindfulness podcasts for kids. We all know that unfortunately, anxiety is on the rise for lots of children, including my own . Maybe you're trying to help a chil…

We've spent the past several years evaluating the best headphones for students for remote learning, and while kids are back in school, one of the residual effects has been more online learning (and social!) opportunities. Whether kids ar…

Here are some fun Halloween-themed playlists that your kids may enjoy on YouTube. Yes, YouTube. Now that YouTube Kids has upped their parental controls game , I've been feeling more comfortable with them using the app, and hey, sometimes…

My son's just at the age he can start listening to stories on his own, but I'm not in a hurry to hand over my iPhone to keep him entertained. So I was intrigued to read about Toniebox , a cool screen-free content box for little kids. The…

With back to school right around the corner, or as we're calling it "back to schooling," we're trying to help you feel as empowered as you can when it comes to figuring out your child's educational plans this year during this difficult t…

We've been busy rounding up everything from helpful homeschooling resources to online learning apps and websites for the quarantine, but we realize kids can't live on educational materials alone. So we asked our Out Tech Your Kids Facebo…

Wow was I excited to discover Jooki at CES 2018. I mean, I saw a whole lot of new tech for kids, but not a whole lot beyond STEM and coding toys that really made me go wow. So I'll be sharing a few top favorites for kids over the coming …

I've been back several days from CES 2018, the Consumer Electronic Show, and I'm so happy to discover so many innovative new coding toys for kids this year that are giving new meaning to "best coding toys for kids." Wow, how far we've co…

My youngest child loves watching movies on our family iPad, but if your kids are like her, they can't help tapping and touching the screen which then requires you to rewind, fast forward, or turn it back on 400 times. So when I found out…

When the end of Daylight Savings hit a couple weeks ago, I looked at all the well-rested, bright-eyed people around me with scorn. My 3-year-old woke up at the exact same time, except now an hour earlier, making me pine for the days when…

With three kids ranging from preschooler to tween, time management is always an issue for us. Especially when it comes to trying to cajole my youngest to adhere to the demands of the older siblings' hectic schedules. (Sadly, trying to te…

Mis Amigos! One of our favorite early-reading apps, Endless Reader , has gone espagñol with the Endless Spanish app , an adorably playful and educational preschool app for both iOS and Android users. Similar to the awesome Endless Reader…

Leave it to Firefly to come up with a new, high-tech toothbrush that may get even your most reluctant dental hygiene practitioners begging to brush "just one more time." The new Firefly Darth Vader Lightsaber Light-Up Toothbrush is just …

We're huge fans of STEM at Cool Mom Tech (no surprise, there), and in fact we started this site in part to help give parents more resources and opportunities to get their kids excited about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Howe…

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 w…

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 p…

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. …

We recently put together a really fun collection of 11 DIY Valentine's crafts for preschoolers and young kids , and in the process of hunting, Kate tracked down this option that deserves its own space. If your kids need to bring their ow…

Since we first featured the wooden iPhone baby teethers at 3Princesses Store on Etsy a few years ago (has it really been that long?), they've added a whole slew of cool geeky baby gifts that just so happen to be super affordable too. As …

This is a sponsored message from VTech Today's preschoolers are a far more digitally connected and savvy group than we ever were, and now a new system from VTech is channeling that screen time interest and transforming it into an opportu…

We're unapologetically heavy on the Star Wars around here these days ( birthday parties ! halloween costumes ! shower heads !) because well, between Halloween and the Force Awakens movie countdown, we just can't help ourselves. And so, w…

We're all pretty picky when it comes to kids' ebooks around here, but when you're adapting a classic from my own childhood like Dr. Seuss, my standards skyrocket. Even so, I am wildly impressed with the brand new Cat in the Hat Read and …

With school out for the summer, I know that many of us will be letting our kids have a bit more screen time during these long, less-scheduled days. And if you'd like that time to be educational, at least some of the time, definitely chec…

Before I had kids, I mostly visited YouTube to watch random music videos and the occasional hair tutorial. Now, in addition to curling iron how-tos, I find myself searching for family-friendly shows and videos to hold my son's attention …

It's only the beginning of our Easter spring break mash-up weekend, and my kids are already getting antsy. Don't they know that I, er , the Easter Bunny have things to do? So if you're like me and have exhausted the Easter crafts , and E…

I've always been partial to kids' apps that play around with words and letters. They just feel like good, clean fun. And after trying out the new Metamorphabet app , I have just three words, ten letters: So. Much. Fun. The idea is simple…

My house is filled with readers. If it's made of paper, we'll probably read it. So it may seem strange that I'm very excited about a brand new interactive book app. But once you see the new City Nights app for iPad from Tidepool Publishi…

When it comes to fun educational apps for kids, the folks behind Cool Mom Tech faves Endless Alphabet and Endless Reader just won't quit. (Guess that's where the whole endless thing comes into play, huh?) The creative development team at…

Not every toy we buy our kids has to have some sort of "educational component" to it, though I love when I find a great toy that so brilliantly combines play with learning. Such is the case with Tiggly whose Tiggly Shapes was a favorite …

The thing about YouTube is, it can go from super fun to totally overwhelming--not to mention disturbing--on a dime. Sometimes when I'm watching my 5-year-old son watch his YouTube videos on my old iPad, all I can do is hope that we don't…

For me, as a kid, mathematics was fun until it wasn't. I would say the party fizzled around the time If a train leaves the station at 10:15... questions became regular players on homework. So that's why I enjoyed giving the Todo Math app…

It's no secret that kids love farms and animals, and at this time of year many families are making trips to experience hayrides, apple picking and pumpkin carving. But if a drive out to the country isn't in the cards, the new kid-focused…

When I saw the brilliance that is Kid Lid , I couldn't help but wish I'd had one of these brilliant laptop keyboard covers when my kids were little. And that I had thought of an idea like this myself. Darn. Like dad Matt Mogol, founder o…

As much as I embrace technology and consider my iPhone another appendage, I still feel nostalgic for the simpler times when tech didn't rule over everything, especially for my kids. Which is why I find the Kickstarter campaign for a new …

Back in September, I discovered a cool board game on Kickstarter with a lofty goal: To teach kids as young as four the basics of programming. And now that I have a final copy of Robot Turtles , I can say that you parents of preschoolers …

Sure, our kids love to play with iPads like uh, all kids these days, but no matter how educational an app may be , it's usually a solitary activity. We've loved collaborative games made for iPad like Duo Plink (though the company is sadl…

Whenever Jim Henson's name is attached to something, I generally know I'm in good hands. Even though he's no longer with us himself. So when I saw that Hulu's first original series developed for Hulu Kids was officially called Jim Henson…

The Sesame Workshop just always gets it right, striking a wonderful balance between education and entertainment while keeping it family-friendly. So I've been eager to check out Sesame Street S’More , the new interactive digital magazine…

If your kid is an avid reader—as in, he finishes his library books before he even gets them home from school—you may want to check out the Epic app , a new ebook subscription for kids in one handy app that that offers all-you-can-read se…

As a parent, one of my favorite discoveries at International CES this year was the sense of volume limiting headphones for kids that seem to be creeping into the market. It's been slow going--we discovered the Aerial 7 headphones close t…

My kids will no longer settle for any old box of Valentine's cards, especially now that they know how easy it is to dig up some cool printable Minecraft Valentine cards to hand out in class. Even for those of us who aren't sure if the Sh…

Bedtime is about to become so much more fun for your kids, should the be Disney fans which at last count is....all of them. Disney, Phillips, and Apple have teamed up to create the incredibly innovative Disney Friends of Hue Storylight .…

If you love giving your kids access to ebooks but hate having to buy them a la carte, check out the new ebook library recently launched by Zuuka, one of the oldest and best resources in the ebook world. Over the last few years, iStoryTim…

Cute? Funky? Funny? That's entirely up to you in this new colorful world from Toca Boca , one of our favorite developers of kids' apps , and it's all created with kids' wild imaginations in mind. Toca Boca just released its latest iOS tr…

Hi Cool Mom Tech! A few months back you recommended an app where parents could save or store specific videos. This was to ensure kids using iPads wouldn't stumble onto questionable material on YouTube. I feel like "Tube" was the last par…

My daughter is quite the artist, and her attention to detail is impressive. I only wish she'd apply the same care when writing her letters and numbers. So I was curious to check out a handwriting app that might help her clean up her act.…

When I took BASIC back in the dark ages of computer programming, I found it to be anything but, a feeling that has remained which is why I'm thrilled that my kids have sites like SCRATCH and code.org to teach them some "basic" programmin…

Creative, quirky, playful, rule free and devoid of in-app pop ups (hooray!)--all reasons why Toca Boca is one of our most favorite app developers for kids. So lets rejoice for the new Toca Cars app! Taking a cue from more complex games l…

Forcing my kids to write thank you notes has always been a battle, but now my own Southern mom can rest easy--we'll be sending out our gratitude on time and in style, thanks to an awesome new app just for kids. The Toonia Cardcreator app…

I have found there tends to be extra excitement around toys for kids that light up or glow- even with simple items like a plain old hardware store flashlight or a glow stick from the auto shop. Something about turning off the lights and …

School season is here, no getting around it, and that means independent reading time, kiddie book clubs and classroom reading groups. We've offered up the best math apps for kids , the best science apps for kids , the best preschool apps…

Back-to-school is in the air and even young preschoolers can benefit from a little extra help at home with the help of fun educational apps, the latest feature in our Back to School Tech Guide . Some little kids' apps are more educationa…

I can't tell you how frustrating it used to be to check in on our family's communal Netflix account and see nothing but conspiracy theory documentaries and adult animation series. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But where were…

My five-year-old son heads to kindergarten in two weeks. (Cue sobbing.) While he talks a blue streak and wields a glue stick like a lightsaber, we're still working on his reading skills. So I was absolutely tickled by how quickly he beca…

At a time that babies are just as likely to learn that I is for iPad as Ice Cream, it makes perfect sense that parents would decorate their kids' rooms to prime them for tech mastery. The techie baby art prints from Niko + Lily are beyon…

Last year, we raved about the quality and design of the nabi 2 Tablet , one that we dubbed as one of the very best for offering high-quality design and content in one. We still stand by this recommendation for a full-fledged kid-to-tween…

Apps are awesome, but you want your kids to get exercise, right? Well, imagine if Angry Birds Star Wars jumped off your screen and the birds were ping-pong balls. Sound better? [don't miss ac hance to win your own after the jump!] We tri…

There are a few app developers who we know will turn out something great, before we really even test it out. Not a lot, but a few. That's the way we feel about developer Nosy Crow , but of course, we had to take a look at this new app re…

During those moments when you let your preschoolers have a little screen time or app time, my favorite word has always been "educational." If they are going to make my iPad sticky with their little fingers, they might as well being learn…

I like bright colors, moving objects and intense battles as much as the next guy, but my favorite incarnation of the virtual world is when it's used for education. Particularly if bright colors and moving objects are part of the learning…

I have shared custody of my phone... with my daughter. Basically it's mine pretty much everywhere but the car. When I am driving on long trips, I know don't need the tempation of checking mail I know is waiting for me, so I am a-okay to …

Free clip art is always one of the hardest things to find online--at least if you're picky about your clip art. But we found a really amazing clip art search engine that you're going to want to bookmark stat. Check out Hippo Paint and yo…

Can you recommend any preschool foreign language apps for Android for my kids? -Kathy Hi Kathy, thanks for your question! You didn't mention if there's a specific language you're interested in, but here are a few picks that offer great a…

Finding nifty little apps of merit for the kids can be a chore all on its own. Every so often though we come across sweet and simple apps that not only entertain them but that also impress us. Color Genius for iOS does just that. It's re…

If you've got an alphabet-hungry kid and are craving some awesome ABC apps for your iPad, I understand completely. When my son little, he was so obsessed with the alphabet that he saw letters in everything: a scotch tape dispenser was a …

Don't pet the strange dog. Don't poke the sleeping cat. Don't touch the dead bug behind the grocery store toilet. I can't imagine how frustrating it is to be a child and have your exploration curtailed due to pesky things like hygiene an…

Preschoolers, listen up! The robotic, cartoony Storybots have joined forces with catchy songwriter (and CMP favorite) Parry Gripp to create 26 little video ditties about the letters of the alphabet. And each one is totally free, so scrol…

If you could see how bananas my grade-school-age kids just went over an "alphabet app," you might think they were watching some ridiculous YouTube video. Surely an eight and ten year old couldn't be hysterically laughing while playing an…

If it has sparkles, hearts, fairies, crowns and cupcakes, my preschool princess is all over it. Me: not so much. Which is why I was really surprised to fall in love with Princess Fairy Tale Maker app from app developer Duck Duck Moose al…

Is there a safe kids' browser that I can put on my iPad or phone for my son? Or do I have to just find a way to block sites on Safari somehow? Thanks! -Ellen K Ellen, we get the need for a safe kids browser for your devices! We also unde…

When you hand your precious iPhone or iPad over to someone who still eats Play-Doh, it's a fair bet that he may delete your favorite game or take 100 photos by accident--unless you give him something he can play with on his own. We all k…

Like most kids, my preschooler likes action. Especially when it comes to apps. Surprisingly, she now counts a mellow octopus among her favorite digital friends, and goes back to his animated storybook time and time again. Less a narrativ…

As parents, I know so many of us keep some kind of record of our funny kid-isms (they do say the darndest things, right?), but a new service called Limetree will now let you record all of them in one place. Limetree is both a website and…

Watching my daughter have to think hard while she is playing with an educational app makes me smile big. And being able to finally take advantage of the booming educational app market is a joy when presented with some of the amazing opti…

It's the home stretch for us Christmas revelers, and if you're anything like me, 'Twas the night before Christmas" is a holiday tradition. And if you're like me, you still have a check list of "to do's" that rivals Santa's tonight. That'…

Calendars, charts, smiley faces, gold stars--every parent has been there, trying just about anything to get our kids to be responsible for their bad behavior. This time of year more than ever, we want our kids to shine as the little ange…

So many of you have been asking us which of the many tablets on the market right now is the best tablet for kids. I get it. With two young kids who get more tech-savvy by the day, I'm always on the lookout for really high-quality devices…

The more parents are realizing that tablets can be an awesome educational resource for our kids, the more companies are jumping on board to make their device more appealing to parents than others. Starting today, Kindle becomes an even b…

Now that my kids have a bit more autonomy on my iPad, I have a greater awareness about what things they're tapping on. While they're still too young to know how to explore the Internet and poke around (thank goodness!), their curious han…

"Once upon a time" gets a modern reboot in the latest digital toy from our favorite Swedish app developer, Toca Boca . It's one of those apps that our kids could hardly wait for, once they caught wind of the previews, and for good reason…

We're often asked, how old should a child be to get her first cell phone? Well in this case, we'd say newborn. What? It's not your iPhone 5. This wooden iPhone 5 baby toy from 3 Princesses Store on Etsy is the perfect holiday gift for th…

Let's face it, most of our children think carrots grow in a refrigerated display case in a grocery store, so any chance to teach them about seeds, soil, sun and watering is a plus. My family and I are urban folk through and through, whic…

When I think of safe cell phones for kids, I think of two things. The first is safety from strangers or other people; the second is safety from cell phone radiation . And now there's a cell phone in the works that's going to solve both i…

Who picks "trick" instead of "treat?" I'm going to go with no one. Which is why I want to share with you four of my favorite iOS apps for Halloween that will keep the kids busy while I sneak another fun-sized snack from their Halloween s…

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…

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…

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 …

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 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…

We're upgrading to the new iPad and thinking about passing along our second-generation iPad to our kids. Do you have any suggestions for kid-friendly cases? -Krissy Hi Krissy, lucky you for getting a new iPad ! Your kids are probably alr…

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…

It's no secret that I'm completely obsessed with the Instagram app , but now my kids can get in the action with this amazing new wooden toy I discovered. Anagram is an Instagram-inspired kids' play camera made from sustainable wood and c…

It's back to school time as you may have heard (ha) so over the next couple of weeks, we'll be serving up a few mini-guides to help get you ready, keep you organized, and get your kids excited. Today's picks: educational apps for the you…

Oh Appy Day! gives you the scoop on the coolest apps from some of the coolest people anywhere. This week, we're happy to welcome Kristin Davis who's sharing a favorite. My daughter isn't old enough for screen time and I haven't started l…

My kids have used their fingers and toes to help them understand numbers and counting from the days of 10 Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed through basic addition. And now there is a new app that uses technology to help reinforce these con…

Remember when a kid's first camera wasn't an accidentally unlocked iPhone? We do, too. And we're glad it's available again, but without all those pesky dangerous bits from the original version. The Fisher-Price Changeable Disk Camera has…

Even though geometry might have been my worst subject in school, that doesn't mean I can't get a kick out of this hilarious onesie that might just be the ultimate gift for your favorite expecting math geek. The I'm Acute Baby onesie from…

My older sons are well-versed in the world of iPhone games -- they're lifesaving when I need them to be quiet in in waiting rooms and during long flights -- but my two and half year old usually gets left behind. It's fine by me, because …

My three-year-old is a newly minted Peter Pan groupie. I assume she's not the only one, which is why this new Peter Pan app has her absolutely, well, hooked, and I have to admit, I'm pretty into this e-book/app hybrid too. The Peter Pan:…