After having delivered several hundred babies as a midwife in Chicago and New York City, Christine put away the scrubs and moved back home to the Golden State to focus on her own young family. She loves exploring the great outdoors and is happiest any time she is outdoors, preferably on or near water. Christine is thrilled to join the Red Tricycle/Tinybeans team as Bay Area editor and looks forward to combining two of her greatest loves—exploring and writing.
Favorite place to play outdoors: Rockaway Beach in Pacifica. During migration season, whales frolic and play close by so it’s a front-row seat to one of nature’s greatest shows.
Favorite thing to do on a rainy day: Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose
Favorite restaurant to take the kids: After a day of sailing or windsurfing, we love relaxing at The Bistro at Shoreline Lake
Can’t-live-without mom product: Do coffee and wine count? No? Baby wipes.
Favorite thing about raising kids in the Bay Area: I love that the weather is fantastic year-round which allows for even more time to spend outdoors. Drizzling rain (when it happens!), you have nothing on two feet of snow!
Most unique thing you’ve done with kids locally: Hiked to Alamere Falls in Bonita near Point Reyes. It is unique in that it empties directly into the ocean and is one of only two waterfalls of its kind on the West coast—the other being McWay Falls in Big Sur.
IKEA recently announced the winners of the brand’s latest Soft Toy Drawing Competition. Eleven-year-old Nick from St. Louis is the first American since 2017 to win one of the top honors in this creative contest!
The SAGOSKATT collection from Swedish retailer IKEA is a limited-edition collection of soft toys made for kids, by kids. Each year children from around the world are invited to submit their designs, featuring drawings of a would-be imaginatively awesome plush.
This year’s competition brought in more than 66,000 entries—with five chosen as the top winners. Each winner will have their drawing turned into an IRL IKEA toy! One hundred percent of the proceeds from the SAGOSKATT line are donated to local children’s right to play initiatives.
Along with 11-year-old Nick (who won for his “Bird” design), the other global winners were “Sandwich friends” designed by nine-year-old Audrey from Canada, “Cat” designed by eight-year-old Liepa from Lithuania, “Fried egg” designed by seven-year-old Zosia from Poland and “Mermaid dog” designed by nine-year-old Savva from Russia.
Jorge Omar Santoyo Henaine, Product Design Developer for Children’s IKEA, IKEA of Sweden, said in a press release, “I feel very lucky and grateful to be part of the team involved in the SAGOSKATT project. The whole concept of ’for children by children to help children’ is something that makes me extremely proud.”
Santoyo Henaine continued, “The endless creativity in kids is amazing. Each year we are impressed by the amount of unique, cool and fun creations we receive. We wish we could make all of them! When selecting the winners, we consider a lot of important criteria, for instance, how unique, colorful and expressive the drawing is, if it can be transformed into a soft toy for mass production and if we can secure the safety requirements for the future toy.”
Find the SAGOSKATT toy line in stores and on IKEA’s website.
Nutella fans rejoice! World Nutella Day (Feb. 5), is around the corner and Nutella is giving its biggest fans goodies to celebrate.
First up, one super fan will get a chance to win a live remote cooking tutorial from Hilary Duff! To enter the giveaway, you can enter by sharing how much you love Nutella on social media and including #WorldNutellaDaySweeps and #WorldNutellaDay in the caption.
Five lucky winners will be chosen and will get a cooking tutorial sharing Hilary’s favorite Nutella recipe. You’ll also also receive $1,000 to spend at Williams Sonoma and a Nutella meal kit to prepare you for the experience.
But don’t worry if you aren’t chosen! Five hundred winners will also have a chance win a custom Nutella name jar, plus awesome recipes on nutelladay.com.
Humans are usually the big fans when it comes to Disney classics, but our furry friends often take main stage in our fave films. And with the new Reigning Cats and Dogs Collection, everyone can get in on the action!
On Dec. 28, get ready to shop the new lineup that’s coming soon to shopDisney.com, at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. Created to celebrate the famed Disney four-legged friends, Reigning Cats and Dogs is the first-ever collection from Disney Parks for pet owners with apparel, accessories and more.
For pups, you’ll be able to shop raincoats, hoodies, collars, leashes, bow ties, bananas, and pet dishes. Some of the designs feature Pongo and Perdita from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Dug from Up!, Max from The Little Mermaid and more.
For your fave kitty cat, you can shop toys, bandanas and bows and plenty of human apparel with prints featuring Thomas O’Malley and Marie from The Aristocats, Dinah and Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland and Lucifer from Cinderella.
Humans, fear not––this collection comes with plenty for you, too. You can shop backpacks, headbands, leggings, dresses, spirit jerseys, hats, home goods and jewelry.
You can start shopping when the lineup launches on Dec. 28.
Everyone loves a festive advent calendar, but this year you can’t forget your fur babies! Fancy Feast is getting ready to release Feastivities, a 24-day advent calendar packed with treats for your kitty.
Perfect for cat lovers, the calendar retails for $22.99 and is now available at Chewy, Amazon and other major retailers. Each door will contain a variety of tasty wet food your cat won’t be able to turn down.
Fancy Feast is also releasing a limited edition ornament. One hundred percent of all proceeds will go to Purina’s Purple Leash Project, a program that raises awareness about the resource gap for domestic abuse survivors with pets.
Fires have been in the news—a combination of climate change and human activities has sparked raging fires in various parts of the world. Even though fires today might not be the same as decades ago, firefighting sure has changed, and that’s a good thing. Here, Xyza: News for Kids is taking a look at how firefighting has evolved over the decades.
1. Pumps: Fire-extinguishing pumps were probably one of the first tools made to help deal with a fire. How long ago was that? Oh, about five hundred years ago, in 1540.
2. Fire Hose: Jan Van der Heyden, an engineer who also happened to be a painter, and his brother Nicolaes, also an engineer, worked to build something we still use today. The brothers improved upon the standard fire hose in 1673, using leather for the hose and wires for the ‘suction’ effect.
3. Fire Trucks: The first fire truck was a wheeled cart, created by British inventor Richard Newsham in 1721. The modern fire truck did not come along until 1905 in Massachusetts, United States.
4. Firefighters: A volunteer fire brigade created by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia in 1736 is probably the earliest version of firefighters. The Union Fire Company (also fondly called the Bucket Brigade) inspired many such brigades worldwide. Fun fact: the members paid for the equipment themselves! They splurged on a fire bell, which was installed in a central location to notify residents of fires.
5. Fire Hydrants: As fires grew bigger in cities with dense populations so did the need for continuous water supply. Enter the fire hydrant, created by Frederick Graff in 1801, a model that continues to be used today.
Today, firefighters use drones, robots, and aluminized suits that can withstand high temperatures. But people still play a significant role in both dealing with fires and preparing for disasters. Even with fire-tracking technology, residents in wildfire-prone regions should be prepared to leave their homes with short notice.
We're two perfectly imperfect moms who have five very different kids between the two of us. We believe that topics in news are a fantastic way to spark conversations in families. That's why we started the Dinner Table Conversation series here at Xyza: News for Kids. Won't you join us in the conversation?
Just in time for National Breastfeeding Month this August, Walmart and Mamava have partnered together to support mothers across the country. They plan to install Mamava lactation suites into more than 100 Walmart stores this year for the benefit of associates and customers. Walmart is the first retailer to install Mamava pods in a store setting, offering moms another breastfeeding option.
Mamava lactation suites, or pods, are freestanding spaces that provide a clean, comfortable, and private option to breastfeed or pump. The pods are accessed through the Mamava app, which guides mom to a pod’s location, opens the pod with the touch of a button and allows mom to customize lighting and airflow, leave digital notes of encouragement for other moms and listen to soothing sounds. The pods are free to use. See which Walmart stores have a Mamava pod.
“We started Mamava to ensure that every breastfeeding mother could choose whether or not to breastfeed, so we set out to remove all barriers to making that choice,” says Sascha Mayer, Mamava’s CEO and co-founder. “Walmart’s commitment to supporting breastfeeding associates and community members with Mamava pods is a huge leap forward for inclusivity and normalizing breastfeeding culture.”
The Walmart and Mamava relationship began when Walmart associate and new mom, Tennille Webb, discovered a Mamava pod while traveling and advocated to bring them to Walmartstores.“When I discovered and used the Mamava pod that first time, it was a game-changer for me and I knew it would be a great option that gives my fellow Walmart associates and our customers another choice in their breastfeeding journey, says Webb. “I’m honored to see that my idea has come to reality in our stores, it’s teaching my son how one person can make a big difference.”
The launch follows a successful pilot in three Walmart stores last year. The retailer plans to install a Mamava pod in more than 100 stores across the country by the end of this year, with more planned in the years to come.
“There is nothing else like the Mamava pod. We strongly believe in what Mamava is doing to support moms and the experience the pods help create, said Julie Murphy, Executive Vice President, Walmart U.S. People. “We are very excited to provide this for moms who work and shop at our stores.”
Walmart currently has Mother’s Rooms in several hundred stores for associates and customers to use. The Mamava pods are intended for select stores without a Mother’s Room, offering moms another choice.
A recent survey by Mamava and Medela found that COVID-19 has made moms even more committed to breastfeeding, in part for its immunological benefits. For more information about how Mamava supports breastfeeding moms, visit www.mamava.com.
Walmart’s commitment to helping moms doesn’t stop with Mamava. Through the retailer’s new Breast Pump Program, expectant moms can receive a premium breast pump covered by their insurance, without ever leaving their home. The easy-to-use service, offered in English and Spanish, allows parents to quickly see which pumps are covered under their insurance. A team of mom and baby specialists will take care of filing the insurance paperwork and once approved, the breast pump will be shipped straight to the customer’s door for free.
Wrap your little one up in the honey sweet goodness of Winnie the Pooh and his friends from The Hundred Acre Woods. The Winnie the Pooh collection for Pottery Barn has just launched. Featuring beloved characters Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet, this collection includes everything you need to outfit your nursery.
The Winnie the Pooh x Pottery Barn Kids Collection captures the classic characters and friendship of Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet.
The collection includes bedding, wall art and bath wraps as well as nursery pieces including a detailed quilt and swaddle set.
Surround your little one with the sweetest sayings.
We’ve all been missing the magic of Disney theme parks, but thanks to Shop Disney, we don’t have to go completely without. The online shop has just released hundred of formerly park-exclusive merchandise that you can shop right now! From whimsical home decor and character-themed handbags to must-have wardrobe picks, there’s a little something for everyone to hold us over until the park reopen.
There's plenty of ways to outfit yourself for a day at the theme parks when you Shop Disney! The site is loaded with tons of Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel and Disney apparel items that include kids and adult styles for shirts, sweatpants, socks, tanks, dresses. shorts, sweatshirts and more!
Are you looking to satisfy your sweet tooth? Now you can savor the delicious taste of OREOs without consuming a single cookie. This OREO flavored lip balm will soon become your new favorite.
The lip balm was first seen on Instagram after being shared by Snack Betch.
According to the post, the lip balm was found at It’Sugar, a candy store with more than one hundred locations in the United States. The product is also available online, although it’s already sold out on Amazon.
The product’s description on Amazon states, “At first glance, you’d think this lip balm was an actual cookie! Our design team is happy to bring you this fun cosmetic Oreo cookie lip balm. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love that delicious Oreo flavor?”
The OREO flavored lip balm was developed and marketed by Taste Beauty, a cosmetics company that aims to “bridge the gap between fun and cosmetics!”
This isn’t the first time Taste Beauty has created a lip balm inspired by the sandwich cookie. In March 2019, OREO and Taste Beauty collaborated to create an OREO lip balm that “smells and tastes just like your favorite cookie.”
The first edition did not come in an OREO shaped container, rather it featured a traditional twist-up design imprinted with an OREO pattern. Originally, the “Stuf Lip Balm” was only available through a contest, but now it can be purchased online.
Whichever balm you choose, you will enjoy smooth lips that taste like your favorite treat.
