The links in this best STEM gifts for kids post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link. Some items below were provided for review purposes. STEM is a field with more jobs than people to fill them so toys that foster curiosity are always popular. As a former middle school computer science and engineering teacher and parent of sophomore in college who is pursuing engineering as a career, I’m pretty discriminating when it comes to STEM gifts. When my kids were growing up, I always looked for products that would provide high qualit ..read more

The links in this best gifts for college students post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link.  This year my daughter is a second-year college student. Before she started her first year, we did a great job anticipating needs and shopping before she left for school, but there were additional purchases made as she settled into her classes and dorm living. She’s figured out exactly how late she can sleep now that she’s mastered mobile ordering breakfast and coffee from the on-campus café before skateboarding to class. Apple A ..read more

The links in this best gifts for teens post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link.  Parenting high schoolers and teaching middle schoolers provided an interesting perspective on ages 13+. We tend to think that teens are closed off and moody but they’re always trying to tell us things­— we just need to listen.   The things I heard from my own teens and saw my students looking at between (and during!) classwork was always fascinating. You may think all teens want is gift cards and money but the best gifts for teens alw ..read more

The links in this best gifts for tweens post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link.  Being a middle school teacher meant I spent a lot of time with tweens. This age group wants to leave childhood far behind in favor of being grown up. They feel stuck between the cute stuff from the kid years they’re longing to leave behind and things their parents think is too old for them. I’ve seen tweens in my classroom go from acting 3 years older to 3 years younger in the span of about 5 seconds!   Even if they think they know e ..read more

The links in this best gifts for early elementary ages post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link.  Years before I was a middle school teacher, my first teaching job was as a first grade teacher. As challenging as it was to capture the attention of my energetic 5 and 6  year olds, it was thrilling to watch their eyes light up with new learning every minute we were in the classroom together. Teaching this age group and witnessing their development was incredibly rewarding. My students always had a wide range of knowle ..read more

The links in this best gifts for toddlers and preschoolers post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link.  Even though I have a high school senior and a sophomore in college, my Best Gifts for Toddlers & Preschoolers will always have a special place in my heart because I was inspired to start writing gift guides when my kids were this age. Every year my Best Gifts for Toddlers & Preschoolers list reflects the innocence and curiosity of this age group. Toddlers and preschoolers have a pure view of the world yet are co ..read more

It’s Gift Guide time! For those of you who have been loyal blog readers, you know this is my 16th year of providing age appropriate gift selections through my holiday gift guides. If you’re relatively new to the blog, welcome! I’m here to make your holiday shopping easier. My 2023 Holiday Gift Guides are full of items I’d love for my teens (now a high school senior and sophomore in college!) to receive or are gifts that I plan to give nieces, nephews, other family members, loved ones, and special people in our lives, like teachers. They’re designed to help you find the right gift th ..read more

When I was little, it was a family tradition to always have advent calendars to start the month of December. Each day my brother and I would open a little door that revealed a piece of chocolate, with the final one being opened on Christmas Eve. The tradition of advent calendars continues in our house, even with teens. We still enjoy the chocolate ones of my youth but have also branched out. The Best Age-Appropriate Advent Calendars for Kids This new guide features some of the best advent calendars that are of the non-chocolate variety. Below you’ll find age-appropriate ones for preschoolers ..read more

This week is Red Ribbon Week, a week focused on prevention education activities that support a healthy lifestyle. It’s likely that Red Ribbon Week will be highlighted at your child’s school but it’s important to continue the underage drinking prevention conversations at home, especially since risky behaviors run together.  What is Prevention Education? The goal of prevention education is to increase knowledge on the harm related to alcohol and to change attitudes about underage drinking. According to National Institutes of Health (NIH), schools are an important setting for interventions a ..read more

When feeding my family, providing nutritious and high-quality food is a must. We love having a backyard garden where we tend to fruits, vegetables, and herbs and have a community supported agriculture (CSA) membership from a local farm that provides us with a box of organic produce each week. I try to cook more sustainable meats like chicken and fish over other proteins but have often wondered how to know if seafood products are truly responsibly produced.  I recently learned about the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification label on seafood products. And with October being Nation ..read more