A Clever and Colorful Renovation Gives Two Kids Their Own Rooms in a Tiny English Victorian
Sarah and Tom Godfrey rented their small two-bedroom Victorian terrace house in a village in Nottinghamshire, England, for two years when their landlord decided to sell the house. Sarah was expecting her second child at the time, and although they thought the house was too small for a family of four, the couple knew it had potential. “Having lived in the historical village for two years we knew it was a special place to be,” says Sarah.
Apr 28, 2021
7 Organizing Tips I Learned from Parents on TikTok
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. I don’t know about you, but I could look at before-and-after photos all day. Show me a messy pantry and then — snap! — perfectly labeled containers of cereal and I’m giddy. That’s pretty much what it’s like in the land of #MomHacks on TikTok.
Apr 28, 2021
Ask Maxwell: Great Present for a 9-Year-Old Boy?
My Nick is about to turn 9 years old! He’s very artistic and creative. What’s a unique present that only you would know about? NellDear Nell,You’ve come to the right place because, as you may know, I love to find weird and interesting things to give away and delight people (AND it also makes for a very easy column this week :)).
Apr 28, 2021
Slackline Playgrounds Are the Inexpensive Invention That Let Kids Play Anywhere
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Driving around last fall, I kept coming across these interesting-looking multicolored jungle gyms set up in the parkways around our neighborhood. Upon further investigation, I found out they were exactly what they looked like — obstacle courses, or “Ninja Slacklines.
Apr 28, 2021
7 Uncommon Mother’s Day Crafts that Kids (and Moms) Will Love
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. My family is notorious for holding onto sentimental objects, but no one is a more avid, let’s say, collector than my mother. Her sewing room is stacked with bins of my artwork from childhood: cards with sloppy handwriting, a slightly alarming sketch of Pongo from “101 Dalmations.
Apr 28, 2021
9 Easy Mug Cake Recipes for Every Kind of Celebration (Big and Small!)
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. The little milestones in our kids’ lives — like hitting their first baseball, reciting a poem on stage, providing a random act of kindness, or conquering a fear — are moments that deserve to be celebrated.
Apr 28, 2021
Ask Maxwell: Best Tip on Moving with Kids?
We’ll be moving soon and I would love any tips on moving with an 18-month-old. Packing, unpacking, cleaning, everything that goes into moving to another state. I’m all ears. 🙂 EmilyDear Emily,At first I was, like, WOW, I’ve got to do some research and ask my other editors to get more info before answering your question.
Apr 21, 2021
This Alternative to Family Dinner Is Easier and Way More Fun
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. We all know the drill: We should be having dinner with our families. That time together, we’re told, is key to unlocking everything from healthy family relationships to, well, health. As a childfree, busy food-and-spirits writer who made a big family change during the pandemic, I’ve thought a lot about this lately.
Apr 21, 2021
Rest on the Couch While Playing Games With Your Kids — Yes, It’s Possible!
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. I like to think of myself as the queen of what I call “horizontal parenting.” As someone living with chronic kidney disease, I knew I would have days when I couldn’t be as active as other mothers, fathers, and caretakers.
Apr 21, 2021
What is a Buy Nothing Group and How Can I Join One?
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. This winter, when my 6-year-old’s plastic tiara broke into pieces before her virtual ballet recital, she asked if I would put out a call for a replacement to our local Buy Nothing group.
Apr 21, 2021
6 Ideas (and Products!) to Get Your Kids to Love Gardening as Much as You Do
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. We’ve all seen them: those idyllic scenes of children helping with the family garden on social media. Perhaps they are barefoot or wearing an adorably muddy pair of boots. There’s a close up of tiny hands holding colorful fresh laid eggs. A perfectly pastoral scene.
Apr 21, 2021
26 Taco Recipes That Come Together in No Time
The wonderful thing about tacos is that they require more inspiration than actual recipe. Because when it comes down to what to stuff inside tortillas, the sky’s the limit, and you can put as much or little effort in as you like. If you’ve got time, pulled pork, roasted cauliflower, sweet potatoes, or spiced chicken thighs are all good choices for a taco filling.
Apr 19, 2021
Cubby’s Earth Day Coloring Page
To celebrate Earth Day, we created a coloring page just for the littles. Take the crayons outdoors for some extra sunshine.
Apr 19, 2021
This $100 Storage Closet Makeover Comes with Brilliant Organizing Tips
Every parent knows that cleaning up toys is a struggle, but the right organizing system can help make it easier.Leanna Laming, the author of the blog Life by Leanna and a mom of three, acknowledges that her family’s toy closet (above) was better looking than many, but it wasn’t working for her family. Leanne realized there was room for improvement. In particular, while toy types were arranged by bin, those bins were completely opaque and didn’t have labels.
Apr 14, 2021
Ask Maxwell: How To Build an Easy Treehouse
Spring has sprung here in Denver and my kids are playing outdoors again! They have always wanted a treehouse. Any easy tips? RinaDear Rina, You are in luck (and so am I) because while my daughter is going to high school next year and has announced that she’d also like to live in the city in her own apartment (not going to happen for years), when she about 6 years old I built two simple treehouses for her and her friends AND carefully documented the process. Here you go!
Apr 14, 2021
My Kids Tried 25+ Trader Joe’s Products — Here Are the Winners
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. When I asked my daughters if they would be interested in testing some products from Trader Joe’s, the answer was a resounding yes. After a year of ordering groceries online, the idea of perusing shelves in-person — and picking up something other than the same-old — appealed to us quite a bit.
Apr 14, 2021
5 Tips for Displaying Kids’ Art, According to an Interior Designer
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. As a mom with a whole closet dedicated to fabric, paper, and 14 hot glue guns, few things bring me more joy than watching my boys harnessing their own creative genius. I beam whenever they excitedly hand me their newest “masterpiece.
Apr 14, 2021
My Family’s Favorite Meal Has 2 Ingenious Shortcuts
Feeding a family is no joke. From newborn feedings at midnight, to toddler tantrums over crackers, to the voracious appetites of growing teens, it often seems to come down to the perpetual parent-to-kid question: “What do you want?” So when I find those dishes that everyone loves, I know they’re the real winners. The miracle meals. The unicorn dishes.
Apr 7, 2021
5 Bento Box Lunches My Daughter Finishes Every Time
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Even before having kids, I knew I wanted them to grow up knowing how to speak Japanese. What I underestimated was the sheer difficulty of teaching Japanese at home. As you can imagine, it’s a huge commitment to teach a second language. My husband is Filipino, so we mainly speak English together.
Apr 7, 2021
12 Essential Poetry Books for Kids of All Ages
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Every Tuesday when I was young, my mom hauled me and my siblings to the local library where we filled up our family’s massive L.L Bean canvas tote with dozens upon dozens of books.While my love of reading continued into young adulthood, I was never a big poetry fan.
Apr 7, 2021
13 Brilliant Transformations and Tips from Families Working and Learning at Home
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. When the world shut down last year, parents and kids were faced with all kinds of challenges, and everyone learned (very quickly) that the idyllic place to work, study, and Zoom goes beyond buying the perfect desk. Some families are still fine tuning their spaces to this day.
Apr 7, 2021
A Foolproof (and Free!) Solution to Rainy Day Boredom
This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. April means many things: spring gardening, warmer temperatures, and seemingly endless weeks of rain. After a punishing winter, I’m not going to bemoan the weather too much, but that doesn’t stop my 4-year-old from literally hanging upside down on the couch from soul-crushing ennui. (You think I’m being dramatic?
Apr 7, 2021
Ask Maxwell: How Do I Fix a Squeaky Floor?
I like to get ready before my son wakes up in the morning, but lately, he’s been waking up when I start walking around in the morning! He’s got a sound machine in his room but the floor does creak in the hallway. Any ideas on getting a creaky floor to stop creaking? Or helping a kid sleep past 5:30 like he used to? EmilyDear Emily,Thanks so much for this question, because: a.) a quiet morning with children still asleep is one of the most precious things in life and b.
Apr 7, 2021
Easy One-Pot Mac and Cheese (with an Upgrade Parents Will Love Too!)
When I was growing up, eating out usually meant going to an Asian restaurant or an American fast food joint. Our very rare visits to sit-down, non-Asian restaurant were big deals, and we mostly went to chain restaurants. One favorite was the Macaroni Grill, and I always ordered the exact same dish: salmon with a side of sun-dried tomato orzo pasta. I ordered it not because I loved the salmon, but because that orzo was just so delicious.
Apr 5, 2021
This Airy Country Coach House Has Stunning Windows and a Gorgeous $5 Decorative Centerpiece
Name: Jean Ross, husband, Craig, two boys, Bowie and Rhys, and a Frenchie, Hawkins (aka Toots)Location: Cobourg, OntarioType of home: Coach houseSize: 3,000 square feetYears lived in: 1 month, ownedTell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: We just moved to a small town in Southern Ontario from Toronto a month ago! We had been looking for houses outside the city for years and couldn’t find the right one. We wanted something different and unique.
Apr 5, 2021