Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Coffee stirrers make good juice box straws

  Published: July 25, 2007, 9:18 am

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Feeding Nursing, Travel Going Out

  make a great straw for kids. From toting juice boxes in my bag, I often lose the straw. Coffee stirrers are just the right size straw for the small juice boxes. We also use them for the drinkable yogurt.

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• Frozen yogurt tubes stand in for ice cream treats

  Published: July 24, 2007, 12:53 pm

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Feeding Nursing

  From Sara: I wouldn't normally buy yogurt in tubes, but I picked some up the other day and noticed a suggestion to freeze them.  Sold!  I now keep "frozen yogurt" tubes in the freezer for a healthier treat than ice cream. Popping a frozen yogurt tube into a lunchbox keeps things cool till the lunch bell rings, and the

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• Socks stop cold water bottles from dripping

  Published: July 23, 2007, 9:59 am

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Feeding Nursing, Travel Going Out

  Try Ana's smart hack on your next summer outing: At the zoo, it was extremely hot and humid so I pulled out the water bottles we brought to keep hydrated.  Within seconds, the cold bottles, of course, started dripping condensation and it was hard for our three-year-old to keep a grip on his.  Having a pre-schooler, I always pack an

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• Special for Parenthackers: Swap stuff at Zwaggle

  Published: July 23, 2007, 9:03 am

  Tags: 0 01yrs Infant, 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Getting Organized, Saving Money

  you to post and get used kids stuff. We've been able to recycle a lot of kid toys and things to get newer items for our son's age. Its a lot easier to use than going to craiglist, etc. This website is by invitation only - so I went ahead and asked Zwaggle if they minded that I posted this on your website. They gave me this invite code to

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• You're reading this? I figured everyone's reading Harry Potter!

  Published: July 21, 2007, 1:26 pm

  Tags: 05 12yrs Kid, 13 18yrs Teen, 18yrs Grownup, Fun Toys, Things We Like

  Deathly Hallows is out, and kids and adults everywhere are holed up in beds, on couches, and in sunny corners reveling in their last few hours at Hogwarts with Harry and company. My son is still a bit too young to read Harry Potter (he's busy devouring the Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine), but I so look forward to sharing those stories with him

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• Geography lessons no one can resist

  Published: July 20, 2007, 9:10 am

  Tags: 05 12yrs Kid, 13 18yrs Teen, 18yrs Grownup, Learning

  a brilliant way to teach her kids about geography. This would be a wonderful way to build excitement for summer travel. To help teach my kids about the world around them I implemented a trick for teaching basic geography. I scrounged around for the maps occasionally included as inserts in National Geographic Magazine and put them up, one at

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• Warm bath lotion in the bathwater

  Published: July 19, 2007, 2:57 pm

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Bathtime

  Marykz's daughter's getting the luxury treatment! My daughter doesn't like to get out of the warm bath and have to have cold lotion spread on her dry skin.  So, I put the (closed) bottle of lotion in the warm bath water for the last few minutes of bathtime to warm up the lotion.  We have a plethora of containers in the bath as toys

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• Easy cooking project: Homemade tortillas

  Published: July 27, 2007, 9:58 am

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Feeding Nursing, Fun Toys, Habitat, Learning

  My kids both have an attraction to anything squishy. They love all of those stretchy, gel-like trinkets flooding the market, and all manner of playdough. When I can muster the patience, I pull out the flour, water, salt, baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring -- my son's favorite ingredients for "experiments," and let the kids have at it. They

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• Can you clean a computer keyboard in the dishwasher? Talk amongst yourselves.

  Published: August 1, 2007, 1:13 pm

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, 13 18yrs Teen, 18yrs Grownup, Habitat

  Sally wonders (as do I): Slashdot had a story about a successful dishwasher santitizing method for keyboards. Apparently, they have more bacteria than a toilet!!??!! But I'm not sending this to fuel the fears of the germ-o-phobic I'm more interested in using this hack to get the GRAPE JELLY OFF THE KEYBOARD! I'm still a little hesitant,

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• Develop a Shutterbug: Time with Kids with Cameras

  Published: August 1, 2007, 4:08 pm

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Fun Toys, Learning, Travel Going Out

  just an on-looker. Take your kids and a durable camera out for a photo safari of somewhere exotic like the backyard, downtown, or a farmer's market. Together you and your child can choose 3 favorite photos to submit. Then you can enjoy seeing everyone else's favorite summer snapshots in the contest's Flickr group. Three lucky kids will win cute

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• An easier way to apply sunscreen to kids' faces

  Published: August 2, 2007, 10:32 am

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Health Development, Travel Going Out

  applying sunscreen to my kiddo's face SO much easier!  I was always finding myself chasing their faces around and telling them to "Look up!"  Finally I had my son lay flat on the floor.  He barely moved his head at all, and I could really see where I was applying it and could make sure that it got where it needed to

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• Pipe your car's navigation system into your kid's portable DVD player

  Published: August 2, 2007, 12:46 pm

  Tags: 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, Fun Toys, Travel Going Out

  Eirik's brilliant road trip entertainment hack for GPS/navigation system users: Our four year old son has been very interested in the navigation system I am running while we're out driving. He leans over to follow it closely and it's actually great entertainment for a little boy that sometimes finds it boring to drive for hours Because

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• Extra shower curtain rod as swimsuit drip-dryer

  Published: August 3, 2007, 9:26 am

  Tags: 0 01yrs Infant, 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, 13 18yrs Teen, 18yrs Grownup, Bathtime, Habitat

  A timely hack from the Hengst family: Put an extra shower curtain rod in your shower to hang wet towels and swimsuits from in the summertime.  The water drips right into the shower and not on the floor. If you happen to be remodeling your bathroom, there's a double shower curtain rod for just this purpose. A small tension curtain rod

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• Setting up family cell phones for emergency contact

  Published: August 3, 2007, 10:38 am

  Tags: 05 12yrs Kid, 13 18yrs Teen, 18yrs Grownup, Getting Organized, Travel Going Out

  While your older kids are out and about this summer, being able to get a hold of each other in case of emergency becomes crucial. For those kids who use mobile phones, Betsy's suggestion makes good sense: *  Make sure your child's cell phone has the parents' numbers programmed in it, and label them Mom and Dad. *  Make sure your

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• Presto Printing Mailbox: Send email and digital photos to offline relatives

  Published: August 3, 2007, 11:56 am

  Tags: 0 01yrs Infant, 01 03yrs Toddler, 03 05yrs Preschooler, 05 12yrs Kid, 13 18yrs Teen, 18yrs Grownup, Getting Organized, Habitat

  updates and photos of the kids but doesn't have (or want) a computer or an Internet connection. How to bridge the generation/technology gap? Presto's solution is delightfully simple: plug a Presto Printing Mailbox in at Grandpa's house, connect it to any phone jack, and then sign up for a Presto account, which creates a simple email address

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