Babble

a magazine and community for the new urban parent

Strollerderby

Browse by Tags

(RSS)
  • Strollerderby Playdate: Hippos and Bleach and Babies, Oh My.

    I just got back from a swing through Southern Cali with Beckey from Hippo Brigade. We dished about cleaning supplies and sunned on the beach. It was awesome. Beckey, however, is on the horns of a dilemma. Maybe you can help her out.

     

    Read More...


  • Crafty: Beach Ponchos with Eco-Flair

    You know how at your parents' or grandparents' house, there's a stack of towels that are like, pink with orange flowers and were probably wedding gifts, and they've been there as long as you can remember and nobody ever uses them? Time to give those undersized psychedelic vintage textiles a new lease on life. Who needs to buy cheesy bathing suit coverups from Target when you can make your own totally unique ones from repurposed fabric?

    The August issue of natural parenting magazine Kiwi includes a sweet and easy craft from Vickie Howell (you may know her from the DIY Network's Knitty Gritty). You don't even need to be able to sew to put together a great, functional poncho to keep the chill off your babies after they've spent all day in the pool. A quality fabric glue (I'm absolutely crazy about E6000, which is cheap and readily available at craft stores) will let you embellish your coverup and withstand whatever abuse your kids dish out.



  • Camp Alternative for Budding Screenwriters

    filmmaking cameraOkay, so you missed it this year, but maybe you can plan ahead. (People do that, right? Plan ahead?) Because this, you'll definitely want to plan for, at least if you've got a writer on board at your house who will be between the ages of 10-14 next year: a FREE camp for screenwriters. FREE! Okay, so it's in California, and maybe you don't live there, but do I smell Family Vacay? After all, it's in Venice, and Venice has a B-E-A-C-H.

    The camp, or workshop really, is sponsored by the non-profit 826LA, dedicated to supporting kids with creative writing skills. Five kids in attendance this year? So maybe the screenwriting biz isn't for everyone, but c'mon, this is FREE! I've got all year to work on my kid about this; he's a pretty good writer, and why shouldn't he support the family with his talents?

    Oh, here's more: the camp lasts three weeks, and in that time the students make an actual film that's screened at the end of the session in Venice. How's that for cool? 


  • Beach Toys From Your Kitchen? Yes!

    beach kidsHeading to the beach soon? Lucky you! If you're a beachgoer, which I'm not despite living only a couple of hours from the Jersey Shore (although my kids of course love the beach; what kids don't except the unusually tidy?), then likely you have a couple of boatloads of beach toys.  But me, for the one-or-at-the-most-twice-a-summer beach trips, I find it silly to store a bunch of toys for the other 364 days of the year. So what to do?

    Why, raid your kitchen, of course! With the added bonus of knowing that you're repurposing things and being a little "greener" to boot.

    Buckets? Yogurt tubs, cottage cheese containers, or old Tupperware work well. Shovels? How about a flour scoop? Sieve? How about a, uh, sieve? Same thing with funnels. See how easy it is? I know I've got stuff right now in my kitchen that's old enough and plastic enough that I wouldn't mind it being set aside for beach purposes. (Just don't let your kids be the ones to raid the kitchen or you may end up missing your, say, corkscrew at a crucial moment.) Ooh, and maybe I'll see what's in the bath toys, too!

    Now we just have to plan a trip to the beach. 



in

GROUP BLOGS

  • Strollerderby

    The smartest, funniest, most exhaustive parenting blog in the blogosphere.
  • drool.icio.us

    The top million must-have baby products.
  • FameCrawler

    Your daily baby celebrity fix.
back to blog homepage