Submitted by Anna Fader on
I've never been a coffee drinker, but I envy the enjoyment of sipping a steamy, creamy warm cuppa. Warm milk steamers are a great alternative for caffeine-averse grown-ups and kids too. Easy to make and less sugar than hot cocoa, you can even make them with almond or soy milk if you don't do lactose. Dress them up for special treats or make them a calming bedtime treat any night.
Submitted by Linda DiProperzio on
Families everywhere will be watching the Winter Olympics, and the games might just inspire your child to take up one of the winter sports showcased during the games, such as ice skating or hockey. With that in mind, we've rounded up some Long Island rinks that offer ice hockey lessons for kids of all ages. Who knows? There just might be a future New York Islander in your home! There are even several Indoor and Outdoor rinks around the area so your child can practice his new skills.
And for more fun learning opportunities in the area, check out our Long Island Classes Guide.
Submitted by Roberta B on
On a scale of 99¢ Store perforated cartoon cards to Martha Stewart shadow box masterpieces, most of us really just want to help our kids make a few Valentines without using up all of the week's homework time to do it. No doubt some of the Valentine's Day activities on our calendar can offer ideas slightly closer to the Martha Stewart end of the spectrum; here we're volunteering to help with the other end of the scale. And so we present really easy, really fast, really cute Valentine's Day cards that can cover a whole classroom of kids in no time - and still leave time to treat your own little Valentine to a Valentine's Day Breakfast Parfait...
Submitted by Alina Adams on
I'm the mother of a serious board game lover. (To be fair, I'm married to one, too, so it wasn't that much of a surprise.) But here's the thing: I don't particularly like board games. That's why I'm thankful for the brand-new Brooklyn Game Lab, a cozy Park Slope storefront where kids can play challenging, multiplayer card and board games (so I don't have to).
Like the similar The Brooklyn Strategist in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Game Lab doesn't have any video or digital games. That's because owner Bob Hewitt believes analog games can teach kids critical thinking, fair play, diplomacy, collaboration and good sportsmanship in a way no video game can. But it's not all just fun and games; it's educational, too. As my 10-year-old son and I discovered when we dropped in last weekend. Brooklyn Game Lab takes child's play very seriously.
Submitted by Kristen Haas on
A number of northern NJ schools are closed for a long President’s weekend or the full President's Week, but do not fear! Just check out some of these great day camps and activities to keep your kids busy and you sane. And if you don't find what you're looking for here, check out our February GO List for activities this month, along with our post on Valentine's Day Drop-Off Fun in NJ.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
Last week we posted ideas for hosting a kids' Winter Olympics party at home that showed how to use plastic toy figurines to play your own Olympic Games. The post inspired me to think of some more ways to create Olympic play, especially using Lego mini-figs to actually recreate the Olympic sports competitions. We had so much fun with this: first building our Olympic arenas and athletes out of Lego, then competing in our own Olympic games. If you don't have Legos you can do this with other types of toys. Read on to find out how we did it and then add your own ideas.
Submitted by Christi O'Donnell on
Move over, Manhattan. There are hundreds of places in Westchester County that serve hot chocolate, however there are a handful of spots that inspire such fierce loyalty in their customers that entire families are willing to bundle up, brave the cold and make a veritable pilgrimage “over the ground so white” to their favorite cocoa shop.
Last week told you about our favorite coffee shops in the Rivertowns, now we're focusing on our top picks for the best hot cocoa in Westchester County. These are shops where the hot chocolate tastes more like a melted candy bar than that watery powder-based stuff that dribbles out of office vending machines; shops where chocolatiers, baristas and servers routinely go out of their way to create drinkable confections.
Submitted by Anna Fader on
If there is one thing that is universally true about NYC parents, it’s that we care about our children’s education. A lot. Meanwhile, the world is changing fast. Technology and a more global outlook means rethinking the very core of our educational systems. One of the upshots of these changes is a multitude of new learning options. One of the schools that is rocking the educational boat is our sponsor, BASIS Independent School, opening in Red Hook this coming fall.
BASIS was founded by a mother (and educator) and her economist husband in Arizona with the goal of creating U.S. schools that are more on par with the high expectations and substance of the best educational institutions in the world. BASIS.ed now manages 12 schools in Arizona, Texas and Washington D.C., which consistently rank among the best not just in the country, but world over.
BASIS Independent Brooklyn will be a unique offering on the NYC education scene with a STEM-focused curriculum and a model that is somewhere between a charter school and a private school. We interviewed Jill McConnell, the founding Head of School, to find out more about BASIS and STEM education.
