Mom Central: Hot Parenting Products

Flattenme Books

Children always love to be the star of the show. They play the hero in their own games and now they can be the hero in their own book!  Books by Flattenme take your child’s imagination and make it come to life with whimsical stories by making personalized storybooks with a picture of your child. The picture you send to FlatteMe is uploaded and imposed into their pre-written and illustrated books.  Your child’s name is also inputted into the story, so they become the main character! 

There are four books to choose from so you can decide with your child which book they want to be the star in. Children and parents can choose from Tuesday Mushroom King, which is about “two wee wood spirits,” Here There Be Pirates, a pirate adventure, The Potty Dance, which helps teach children when to use the potty, and My Little Monster, where a toy monster.  These books are perfect for kids ages 4-7. 

Flattenme books are award winning and have The National Parenting Center 2007 Seal of Approval.  The books are bright, colorful, hardcover, and can be delivered! Parents can write a personalized message to their child in the beginning of the book, which could be the perfect gift for this holiday season.  Books are $33 each and shipping usually takes a week to ten days. Check them out at www.flattenme.com.   

Minusbags

Even though I have jumped on the “go green” band wagon by recycling my paper, cans, and plastics, my family and I still seem to generate a lot of trash. This is why I have seen the importance of  conserving whenever possible, which is why I like the idea of Minusbags.  I know after a big trip to the grocery store there are millions of plastic bags strewn across my kitchen.  Minusbags eliminates all the waste.

Minusbags are hand-stitched and have cute logos of simply drawn fruits and vegetables.  They are really one of a kind since other eco-friendly shopping bags are usually plastered with corporate logos.  The colors of the bag are understated browns, grays, and blues that contrast nicely with the brightly colored fruits.  The bags aren’t just eye catching, they are functional too.  The bag is strongly made and comes in a regular size that holds about two plastic bags worth of food and an extra large for those extensive shopping trips.  The handles come in two sizes, a shorter 13” strap if you prefer to carry it by hand, or a longer 22” strap which fits snuggly round your shoulder without the lose of circulation.  There is lots of room in the inside and I would definitely double the Minusbag as a carry all for my gym clothes or tennis gear. 

Minusbags also makes custom bags for businesses and your special occasions.  For $16, these bags are great to just have around to take to the grocery store or for everyday chores and kids sleepovers.  Check out all the different styles at www.minusbags.com. 

School Zone

With School Zone educational products, your kids will have so much fun they’ll forget they’re learning…and maybe even be lured away from the TV! School Zone produces learning tools for infant age through grade 6, including workbooks, magnetic puzzles, bingo games, and flash cards…sounds like the same activities you grew up with, except these are completely updated. For example, the 3D Think & Blink Alphabet Flashcards are sturdy colorful cards featuring a letter of the alphabet, each with an image that “magically” changes from the letter to an object starting with that letter. After your child masters scribbling and coloring, introduce the Tracing Trails workbook, which encourages pre-writing skills with fun mazes and shapes that your child traces. Your child learns the precision of a pencil/pen and drawing lines with control. The final pages emphasize angled, circular, and curved lines, which ultimately lead to tracing the alphabet. Bright stickers are included to reward your child for his hard (and fun!) work.

An older child graduates to the Wonder Words workbook that teaches word recognition and reading skills through entertaining activities. Each page features a different exercise. He’ll learn to fit the same word in different sentences, and see how changing one letter in a word can produce many different words. Other activities show word comparisons, rhyming, sequencing, etc., all with fun cartoons that help illustrate the meaning. The accompanying CD features superhero friends that further inspire young readers. Visit the School Zone website at www.schoolzone.com or order a catalog to view their large selection of learning products.

FlyingPeas

You’re never too young to be-hip and happening, and, FlyingPeas, a trendy, fun online baby store, will make your little one stand out. The founder, a mom with lots of experience baby shopping describes the site as “a place where fashion meets function and hip meets high quality.” Browsing the site, you can quickly see how true this is. All of the products are either never-before-seen unique (e.g., the Kerchief Bib doubles as a stylish scarf for chilly days, PeePee Teepees help control sprinkling wee-wees during baby boy’s diaper changes), or they’re common baby things with a twist (e.g., camouflage-patterned rubber duckies, boxing socks, cutlery shaped like construction trucks). Given the large selection of items offered, the website is surprisingly easy to navigate, thanks to the tidy menu that divides items into boy/girl/twins/mom/dad; by age; or by product. You can even set up a gift registry. Products are offered from age infant to 4T.

Too-beautiful ponchos, tapestry cabbie hats, handmade blankets, glam gold sneakers, organic onesies, leather diaper bags, and sleek strollers that Dad will be proud to push...each page is a delight to browse. If you’re looking for something a cut above the usual toy store chain, but not as fancy-schmancy as those snooty baby boutiques, this is the store for you. The prices are variable to fit every budget and most items are surprisingly affordable. Visit www.flyingpeas.com.

Boogaloo Bath Toys

Bath time can sometimes be a stressful time for parents. Splashing, nagging, finding the right toys, water too hot, water too cold, and just to get them into the tub Boogaloo has a fresh new line of bath toys in attempt to ease the struggle. The innovative toy company is dedicated to making products that are both fun and functional for baby development.  These toys help babies develop motor skills and concepts such as “cause and effect,” memory, and repetition.

One of my favorite products from their line was the Swirly seahorse and the Octobuddy. When you pour water into the top of it trickles through, spins the internal wheel, the critters pop up and blink their eyes.  The book and Mitt set comes in three different characters. The Mitt is made from quick drying, soft terry toweling turning it into a Great Puppet wash mitts.

The Appliques are soft squares of playful jungle animals that stick onto any wet surface. Each of these toys comes in unique designs with vibrant colors. Boogaloo makes several other stylish products for infants and toddlers including developmental doll toys, crawl mats, non-slip eating mats, bottles, diaper bags, cooler bags, and toddler character backpacks. Visit www.boogaloo-toys.com for more info.

Kaboost

Here’s a great new product to salute that transitional age when your baby morphs into a toddler. He starts climbing up the crib rails at night, tries out his new little potty hoping to outgrow his pull-ups, and no longer grabs your hand to steady his walk. All signs of growing independence. Kaboost encourages this newfound confidence by allowing your child to sit in a real grown-up chair at the table…without having to prop himself on his knees to see all the action!

Kaboost is a booster that attaches to the bottom of any four-legged chair. The springloaded arms slide out so you can insert the chair’s legs; then they retract to hug the legs securely. It has four rubberized feet to keep the chair sturdy and your floors scratch-free. Your child is boosted to a choice of two different heights so it matures with him, from 20 months to 6 years old. He’ll feel more grown up without his high chair and can reach for his food more easily. Kaboost is lightweight, compact, and folds so it can be toted to homes of friends and relatives. It’s so easy to assemble, you can even attach it quickly in a restaurant if you don’t prefer the somewhat precarious wooden high chairs that are typically offered.

Before using Kaboost, make sure your child can sit safely in a chair without straps. It may be a new sensation for him to no longer be buckled in! For more info visit www.kaboost.com.

EyeClops Bionic Eye

Remember 5th grade science class when you first used a microscope? The wonder of seeing pre-made slides of various squashed things such as bugs. EyeClops is a cool new educational toy that will bring back the wonder into your own home. It’s a microscope that zooms in 200x, requiring 5 AA batteries and an easy hook-up to the video plug of your television. You just grip the handle and place the big Cyclops-looking eye directly over an object—the smaller the better—which then flashes a super amplified, full color image of it onto your television screen. The handle makes it portable so you can focus the eye on just about anything, but it also makes it slightly harder to control and figure out direction. Kids today are naturally tech-savvy though and your child won’t have any problems getting the hang of it. Soon you’ll both be searching for things to probe and be quite surprised at what you see.

Using EyeClops I found that dimes, which look a shiny silver, actually contain flecks of no less than 4 different colors. Moving onto my wallet, I saw that the signature line of a check was not a plain black line but granular, repeated print of “authorized signature.” A dollar bill showed so many endless patterns and textures, I forgot what I was looking at. EyeClops also comes with a covered cone-like tube to hold small creatures, in which you place the small end onto the eye’s center. There’s an endless list of things to discover. Commonplace items become utterly fascinating because you won’t recognize them, like the carpet, any fabric, your skin, the moles on your skin, even your teeth! It’s completely addictive and 100% fun. Visit www.eyeclops.com for more info.

Preserve Tableware by Recycline

We all like to consider ourselves eco-enlightened. We carefully wash out our used spaghetti jars and rinse out the milk jugs and soda cans to put into our recycle bins. If you’re like me, you’ll even pluck yogurt cups out of the trash that your children have carelessly thrown away and move them to the right bin. Have you ever wondered what happens to all of this careful effort? Preserve Tableware by Recycline is one end result and a great example of what happens to those yogurt cups!

It’s products are made of 100% recycled plastic (including those yogurt cups!) and it’s dishwasher safe so you can reuse it, and it can once again enter the recycle-cycle. Even the canister that holds the cutlery is recyclable. Preserve Tableware isn’t flimsy stuff; each plate and fork are full-sized and can stand up to anything you might cook-up. I know, you’re thinking, “Why would I want to wash plastic ware?”
Unfortunately, we can no longer just toss anything without realizing that there are environmental implications. The ideal situation might be that we only use our everyday washable plates and cutlery, but for outdoor parties or picnics, it’s just not practical to haul out heavy dishes. That is why Preserve Tableware is a great solution.

Recycline makes other stylish-looking recyclable products including flavored toothpicks made from sustainably harvested wood, and razors and toothbrushes made from recycled plastics. Visit www.recycline.com for more info.

Casio’s BG82F

As a busy Mom, running from business meetings to kid’s sports practices, the one thing I am always looking for is the time. Casio’s BG82F actually has succeeded by mixing fun and function.  The name, which sounds like some type of satellite or spaceship, is slightly daunting, but you can definitely wear it anywhere.

Behind its old-fashioned analogue face, lots of technology fills the Baby-G, features include the world time in 30 cities (good for me, since I am often in Boston one day and San Diego the next), a daily alarm, a stopwatch, and a timer. It’s shock resistant and waterproof so I can take it anywhere from a mountain top, to scuba diving, and more likely to the gym and in the shower. It holds up to 30 records for Internet access codes, so you’ll never forget your password. Seriously, this watch does pretty much everything but your laundry (too bad)! 

Although I had to take time to actually read the instruction manual to figure out how to use all the features of the after playing around with it (which is half the fun!), I had the functions down and was out the door. The watch is also available in a variety of colors (orange, green, pink, and brown) to match your style It is also reasonably priced at $89.

Check out The Baby-G BG82F at www.casiousa.com.

GelaSkins

As busy Moms, both professional and stay-at-home, we have come to rely on our cell phones and computers today the same way we used to hold tight to personal planners and address books. We carry our laptops from place to place and are more likely to leave directions, kids’ snacks, and changes of clothes at home before our electronic gadgets. We spend so much time with our computers and cell phones, in fact, that we want them to reflect to the outside world what’s most important to us. The computer desktop territory has been staked out, conquered, and splashed with our favorite photos, art pieces, and nature scenes for years.

Just recently, I’ve discovered a great way to personalize the outside of my laptop. GelaSkins is an incredibly innovative company that has designed artwork for the exterior of laptops, RAZRs, iPhones, and iPods. The designs are cut to fit each device perfectly and uses a strong adhesive designed for automobiles that leaves absolutely no residue. Whether you are into classical artists like Renoir or more contemporary graffiti, GelaSkins offers hundreds of designs that express who you are. GelaSkins make the perfect gift for friends, your kids, or yourself. In fact, I can envision the iPod skin as the perfect stocking stuffer for any teen in the country this holiday season.

I’m a total road warrior, and I love the idea of being able to personalize the electronics we’ve become so dependent on. Even in just the few weeks since I affixed The Great Wave by Hokusai,to my laptop, I’ve had dozens of people stop me in airports all over the country to ask where I got it. And, in an office where four of us have exactly the same laptop, our individual GelaSkins certainly do help to identify which computer is mine! As the digital age spirals on, a gadget with a plain, metal exterior will become as obsolete as the rotary dial phone. Visit www.gelaskins.com to check them out!