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Although stress toys seem to have taken off during quarantine, their roots predate the pandemic, running back to 2017 and the launch of the unforgettable (and oft-banned by schools) fidget spinner. Since then, we’ve seen all kinds of toys promising to reduce stress, anxiety, and nervous energy in kids, ranging from fidget spinners and stress balls to cubes with pressable buttons, chewable necklaces, and pop button boards. But what are fidget toys? Do they fulfill their promises? And are they healthy for kids? Here’s what we know.

Let’s start with the basics. What is a fidget toy? Fidget toys are handheld manipulatives designed to engage the fingers in… fidgeting. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, including balls, cubes, spinners, flat boards, twisty tubes, etc. An outlet for excess energy, fidget toys promise everything from increasing focus and active listening abilities to reducing stress and anxiety and calming the nerves.

So, do they work? Research indicates that giving your hands something to do (aka providing an outlet for extra energy – whether nervous or otherwise) frees the mind from finding an outlet for that energy (like toe-tapping, knee jiggling, hair twirling, finger chewing, etc.). This freed-up mind can then focus more clearly on the task at hand. This is particularly true for ADHD, sensory difficulties, or autism-related disorders, but anyone feeling anxious, restless, impatient, or nervous may benefit from an energy outlet like a fidget toy. Focusing on a fidget toy can also relieve overstimulating or overwhelming environments by distracting your brain and refocusing stressful feelings into fidgety actions.

The fidget toy trend has hit hard, and some kids who may not be experiencing any signs of stress, anxiety, or over-stimulation have jumped on board. For these kids, fidget toys may BE a distraction. The toys may be diverting their healthy focus to a repetitive action and distracting them from the task at hand versus serving to distract the mind from stressful thoughts and feelings. This doesn’t mean they’re bad – they may soothe stress or allow these kids’ minds to refocus – or maybe they’re just fun! But it does mean that parents should pay close attention to when and where these kids are using fidget toys and how long they engage with them. As with anything else, moderation is key for these kids, so make sure a variety of engaging toys are available. Wondering how many toys to keep out at once? Visit our blog to find out.

Let’s face it. Mornings can be chaotic. Between waking, feeding, and dressing the kids, making breakfasts and lunches, feeding pets, gathering backpacks and work bags, brushing teeth and hair… it’s no wonder we’re feeling frazzled by the time we walk out the front door. But it doesn’t have to be this way! With a bit of planning the night before, you can create a smooth, stress-free morning routine that sets everyone up for a happy day. Starting tonight, why not:

1. Get a Head Start on Lunches (Including Your Own!)

Prepping lunches after nighttime dishes saves so much time and stress in the morning. And your kids can help! Assign each child a food group, gather your goods, and create a countertop assembly line. Put the lunch bags in the fridge, and voila! Are you feeling extra ambitious? Try packing a few days’ worth of lunches at a time, storing them in the refrigerator in a brown paper bag, and transferring them to the lunch cooler each evening.

2. Pick And Prep Tomorrow’s Outfits

Dressing themselves is an important milestone that should be celebrated (read our blog to find out why), so let your kiddos pick their pieces and place them at the end of the bed or on their desk chair, so they’re ready and waiting in the morning. Don’t forget socks and underwear and try piling them in the order they’ll be put on – pants and shirts on the bottom, socks, and undies on top – to make it faster and easier for your kids to get dressed. Leaving shoes in the entryway is a great way to ensure both of them will be there when it’s time to put them back on.

3. Pack Your Bags

There’s nothing worse than scrambling for a missing library book or must-have lovey when rushing out the door. Please take a few minutes to help your kids find what they need for the next day and pack it up the night before. Then place their bags by the front door, ready to go.

4. Tidy Up

Once the kids are in bed, it’s hard to resist the draw of the couch, so we like to set a timer for 15 minutes and tidy up as best we can. Finish the dishes, wipe down the counters, toss dirty clothes in the hamper, hang up wet towels, wrangle toys into the bin and books onto the shelf. It’s worth pushing through for just a few minutes to wake up to a tidy house. Plus, orderly surroundings create a calming environment, setting the stage for a productive day.

5. Relax!

As tempting as it may be to crash once your chores are done, take some time to care for yourself! Read a chapter of your book; meditate in your quiet, clean house; do a short stretching or yoga video, or watch the next episode of a favorite show (beware of binging!).

With a bit of prep and a few extra minutes the night before, you can set the stage for calm, peaceful mornings for your whole family. Give it a go – we know you can do it!

Red pants with a purple shirt… snow boots on the bottom, sun visor on top… sweatpants under a tutu… we've all been there! While our toddler's fashion choices may leave something to be desired, there are lots of reasons to tolerate – and even celebrate – your little one's desire to dress, including:

1. Encouraging Independence

When your child wants to dress themselves, they're asserting their independence. They've watched as you've selected their clothing and helped them put it on, and now they're ready to give it a go on their own. This is something worth supporting – and applauding!

2. Building Motor Skills

Zipping a zipper, buttoning a button, even fastening Velcro shoes requires fine motor dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Your child will need your help at first, but the more opportunities you provide for practice, the better they'll get!

3. Boosting Self Confidence

Getting both legs into a pair of pants, pulling a sweater over their heads, slipping a foot into a boot (the right boot, even!) – these are no easy feats. Mastering the skills needed to dress is a big confidence builder and knowing you believe they can do it is the first step!

4. Supporting Self Expression

All those shapes, colors, patterns, and textures! Choosing their favorite pieces and putting them together in an outfit is a wonderful way for your child to express their style and personality. Encourage this creativity by applauding each selection!

5. Developing Perseverance

Your snappy dresser won't be able to put on that sock the first time and probably not the second or even third. But they'll keep on trying, building the stick-to-it-ness they'll need to overcome difficult challenges down the road.

Getting dressed isn't easy! This developmental milestone requires logic and problem solving, motor skills and balance, perseverance, and confidence – all good things. So as long as your little one's choice is weather appropriate, give their next ensemble a big thumbs up and save your battles for something more important than fashion choices.

Summer is almost here! Time for trips to the shore, backyard campouts, and fun in the sun. And, if you have a preschooler heading off to kindergarten in the fall, summer might also be the time to prep your precious little one for what’s to come. Below is a list of non-academic skills you might work on – in a FUN way – over the summer, and here is a blog about skills your child probably learned in preschool in preparation for kindergarten, in case you want to brush up, but we offer the caveat that kids should learn kindergarten skills in kindergarten! Trying to teach them what they’re going to learn in school has the potential to result in frustration now and in boredom later when their teacher is teaching what you’ve already taught. That said, there are things you can do this summer to make your child comfortable, ready, and excited for kindergarten, including:

Following Directions

Kindergartners have relatively large vocabularies, well-developed listening skills, and solid speaking abilities. This makes understanding instructions much easier than it was even a year ago. Heading into kindergarten, you can expect your little one to be able to understand and follow a three-part direction (put on your shoes, find your jacket, and meet me at the front door). Practice this summer with silly instructions, like “snarf your milk, scrumble your cookies, and take your dish to the sink!”.

Sitting Still

Most five-year-olds can sit still for about 15 minutes at a time before they need a break to move, stretch, and wiggle. You can practice at home by setting a stopwatch to see how long your little one can sit and look at a picture book or play quietly with non-electronic toys. Interestingly, heavy exercise also enables kindergartners to sit still for longer periods, so taking your kiddo outside and letting them run, jump, climb, and carry for as long as they’re willing will make it easier for them to sit still later on.

Using the Bathroom

This is a biggy. Your kindergartner’s teacher will expect your kiddo to a) know when they need to use the bathroom (with ample warning to get there in time) and b) to be able to do that all on their own. This includes undressing, using the potty, redressing, washing and drying their hands, and flushing the toilet. Now is the time to help your little one master this skill – rewards help!

Building Fine Skills

Developing your child’s motor skills makes it possible for them to do things like zipping their zipper (see above bathroom skills!), holding a pencil, cutting with scissors, and eating with a fork. Gross motor skills play into fine motor skill development, so you’ll want to practice both this summer. For a list of things, most kids can do by the time they turn five, visit our blog.

Being a Good Friend

Getting along with their classmates is a crucial piece of kindergarten success. Your child may already have lots of friends from preschool or the park and feel comfortable spending time with them away from you. If not, now is the time to set up some playdates – some at your house and some not – to help your little one learn to get along with their peers. At home, family gameplay is a great way to give your child practice patience, taking turns, sharing materials, and winning and losing gracefully. Puzzles are a great way to practice working together, as a team. 

Most of all, keep things casual and fun! You want your kiddo to be excited about heading off to school, not stressed about whether they can keep up. School is supposed to be fun, after all! If you feel your child needs support or you want to provide extra practice with what they’re learning once they start kindergarten, check out our Skill Builders! Math, Reading, and Writing Activity Sets for Kindergartners. Each set features lessons, manipulatives, and more for engaging, hands-on, grade-level learning.

Although making a mess may go against everything you stand for, there are some excellent reasons to let your infants and toddlers go to town, dig in the mud, paint with their fingers (and toes and noses), shake that glitter… you get the picture. Don’t believe us? Read on for five benefits of letting your littles play messy and a few ideas to get you started (we’re looking at you, Type-A moms).

Benefits of Messy Play

It Broadens Your Child’s World – Babies first explore their worlds through touch (and taste). The more opportunities you give your child to touch, dig, spread, and squeeze, the more they learn about the world around them. 

It Builds Self Confidence – Babies are seeking independence from the very start. The more you let them do things independently, without interfering or tidying as they go, the more their confidence in their ability to do things by themselves grows.

It Prevents Sensory Issues – Preventing your kids from exploring new textures with their hands can lead to an over-sensitivity to new tactile experiences, which in turn can lead to a sensory-related diagnosis. 

It Builds Skills – Allowing kids to feel things that are slippery, slimy, mushy, and crunchy provides an opportunity to name those textures out loud, build vocabulary, and talk about them together, building early language skills. And, of course, messy play builds fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

It Promotes Better Eating Habits – Simply put, the more exposure kids have to different textures and substances, the more likely they will be to put things with similar textures in their mouths. While you don’t want your baby to eat mud, you do want them to try oatmeal someday!

Messy Play Ideas

Self-Feeding

It’s tempting (and so much more efficient) to feed your little ones yourself, but as soon as your child shows interest in picking up their food and aiming for their mouths, strip them down and let them! Yes, you may have to put them in the tub after a spaghetti and meatball lunch, but the confidence and fine motor skills they’re building are worth it.

Mud Cakes

You don’t have to wait for a rainy day to dig in the mud. Pick a spot in the grass, bring out a plastic bin, add some clean soil and water and let your kiddo go to town, building tactile skills through this sensory-stimulating substance. Pat, squish, squeeze, and spread, all the while building developmental skills and their immune systems!

Finger Painting

Mix up your batch of baby-safe finger paint using Greek yogurt, rice cereal, and a jar of pureed baby food in a bright color. Drop a dash of the mixture on your baby’s highchair tray or an extra-large sheet of construction paper (place this on a sheet for an extra layer of protection) and encourage your child to spread the colorful mixture around.

There are many fun ways to let your kids get messy and lots of reasons to do it. So go ahead, make a mess! And yes, it’s okay to have wipes on hand. 

This Easter word search will put everyone in the mood to hunt for those eggs! Can you find all the Easter words hidden in this word search? 

It’s hard to believe, but your baby will soon be starting preschool. While preschool is generally a happy place packed with fun, friends, and learning, you and/or your little one might be feeling a bit anxious about this first step toward independence. Preparing them to have the best possible experience can help. Below are five skills you can work on this summer to give your sweetie the best chance at preschool success. Heading into preschool, it will help if your child can:

Play Well with Others

Preschool is one giant group activity. Kids will laugh, play, listen, learn, eat, and nap together. The better your little one takes turns and shares, the better their preschool experience will be. You can practice at home by taking turns with your favorite toys, letting a sibling or friend go first down the slide, or taking the first cookie offered. The more time your child spends with other children, the easier this will be, so hit the park, storytime at the library, or take a class with other kids this summer.

Stay Somewhat Organized

We’re not talking Marie Kondo here, but preschoolers will be expected to find and return things to and from specific places – balls in the basket, blocks in the bin, books on the shelf, etc. So, crank up the “Clean Up” song on your phone and start practicing with your child’s room or playroom. Ask where the stuffies or books go, then see if your child can put them there. A stopwatch can be fun and motivating, too. “How fast can we put the blocks back in the bin? Read, set, go!”

Ask Questions

Getting your kiddo comfortable with asking questions now can head off a lot of discomforts later, when they need to ask to go to the bathroom, to have a snack, where the doll in the red dress is, or what time you’ll be coming to pick them up. The confidence to ask questions also opens the door to curiosity, a key learning component. Practice talking to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and close family friends this summer.

Communicate and Manage Emotions

No one expects your preschooler to suppress their emotions completely, but identifying and communicating their feelings in a simple sense – I feel frustrated, or I’m so mad – is extremely helpful in a preschool setting. Having strategies to move through these feelings is also beneficial. You can build these skills this summer by using words to point out your little one’s feelings, ala “I see you’re feeling unfortunate!” and talking them through those feelings with statements and solutions like “What might make you feel better? Would you like to look at a book or have a snuggle with your bear?”

Practicing these skills over the summer will help your little one assimilate more easily into the preschool setting in the fall. And when that first day comes, your calm, cool, excited attitude will go a long way toward reassuring your little love that preschool is going to be great! Looking to practice some of the academic skills your little one will be learning in preschool? Check out our Skill Builders! Preschool Numbers, Letters, and Back to School Activities Sets.

Tying your shoes is important. Not only does it keep your shoes from falling off your feet, but it also keeps you from stepping on and tripping over untied laces. And the sooner your kids can tie their shoes, the faster everyone will be out the door, right? 

Hang on, just a sec! It takes lots of coordination and fine motor control to make those loops and knots! In fact, most kids won’t completely master tying their shoes until they’re between six and eight years old, with girls generally grasping the skill sooner than boys do. Trying to teach shoe tying too soon can result in frustration and discouragement – not the most motivating feelings. So when, and how, can you start your little one down the long path of tied shoelaces? 

Experts recommend introducing the idea around age five when children gain better control of their fine motor skills. They’ll need to be able to move their fingers independently of each other, move both hands in different ways simultaneously (also called bilateral hand coordination), and have solid hand-eye coordination. Developing and practicing these skills is fun and straightforward – make sure your child has access to small toys, puzzles, manipulatives like counters, molding dough, crayons, pencils, markers, paints, and sensory bins and engages with them regularly. You can also encourage your little one to button, zip, and snap their clothing.

Your first step to shoe tying is a demonstration. Place a shoe on a table or the floor (not on a foot), making sure the laces are even and long enough to be tied easily, then slowly show your child how you tie the shoe Then:

1. With your kiddo in front of you, hold their hands. Pick up one lace with each hand, cross them into an X, tuck one lace underneath the X, and pull. This will make your first knot.

2. Still holding your child’s hands, loop one lace to make a bunny ear and pinch the bottom with your child’s fingers.

3. Use your child’s other hand to place the other lace across the base of the bunny ear, then pull it through the hole beneath the bunny ear to make a second bunny ear loop.

4. Pull both loops to tighten.

There’s a handy rhyme to help your little one remember these steps:

Over, under, around, and through,

Meet Mr. Bunny Rabbit pull and through.

If your little one has tried and is struggling, you might give the two-loop knot (aka Bunny Ears) method a try. With a shoe off in front of you and your child’s hands in yours:

1. Pick up one lace with each hand, cross them into an X, tuck one lace underneath the X, and pull. This will make the first knot.

2. With one lace in each hand, show your child how to slide their index finger up and create tension with their thumbs to form one loop in each hand, pinching each loop at the base with their fingers.

3. Cross the loops, then tuck one through the hole created beneath. 

4. Pull both loops to tighten.

There’s also a rhyme to help your little one remember the steps of the bunny ear method. Once you’ve got your initial knot, it goes:

Bunny ears, bunny ears playing by a tree. (sing as you form the two bunny ear loops)

Criss-crossed the tree, trying to catch me. (sing as you cross one loop over the other)

Bunny ears, bunny ears, jumped into the hole. (sing as you tuck one loop beneath the other)

Popped out the other side, beautiful and bold. (sing as you pull the second loop from beneath the first and pull to tighten)

If your child is still having a tough time, take a break and try again in a few weeks. Remember, everyone learns at their own pace!

We’ve all been there, in line at the library or grocery store, or maybe at home, before naptime or bedtime… you see the telltale signs of a toddler meltdown, and then – WHAM – your kiddo is out of control. Depending on the child, this might look like crying, screaming, hitting, body stiffening, running away, or whatever creative outlet your child’s body instinctually chooses. Although a normal part of child development, toddler tantrums are upsetting for everyone involved. Understanding why they happen, what to do when a tantrum hits, and how to prevent the next one can help both child, and parent navigate these tricky times.

Let’s start with the why. Tantrums usually begin around age one and last through the twos and threes, years coinciding with a lack of verbal communication skills. This means your little one is experiencing big emotions but doesn’t have the cognitive skills to identify exactly what they are and wouldn’t have the communications skills to tell you, anyway. Your child could be feeling overwhelmed by feelings of hunger, fatigue, pain, distress, fear, or overstimulation, with no way to express themselves. How frustrating that must feel! This frustration builds and builds until it bursts out in the form of a tantrum. 

What should you do when your toddler throws a tantrum? Stay calm! Take a deep breath (or three), then intervene with a soft, calm voice and slow, gentle movements. Acknowledge their feelings – you can see that they are angry, sad, frightened, etc. Reassure them that you are there and stay physically close until your child has calmed down. This is not the time to reason with your little one, talk the scenario through, or teach a lesson. Resist getting angry or upset – remember, your child is not in control of their emotions in these moments, and they’re not throwing a tantrum to upset you. As hard as it is, this is one of those times when they need your steady, loving hand most.

Okay, so you made it through the last tantrum. What can you do to prevent the next one? Helping your child identify their feelings and communicate them more appropriately is the foundation for healthy social, emotional behavior. When you see your child become upset, intervene immediately, helping them identify and label their feelings, then offer a few solutions. Don’t discount the power of distraction, either. “I can see you feel angry that your brother is playing with the blocks. Would you like to help me with this special puzzle?” Positive reinforcement is also key – praising and rewarding good behavior each time you see it. “I love the way you shared your blocks with your brother! Can I give you a hug?” 

It takes lots of time and practice for kids to learn to regulate and express their emotions, so tantrums aren’t going to disappear overnight. But with consistent responses, social, emotional growth, and lots of love, you’ll both see better behavior soon!