It might be Thanksgiving at your place, Hanukkah dinner at the in-laws or Christmas at your sister’s. No matter the holiday or the location, one thing is for sure: Neither the homemade cranberry sauce nor the bronzed and buttered turkey will keep the kids in their seats!

But with a little creative planning you can keep the children entertained and hanging around the grown-ups for a wonderful intergenerational celebration. Who better to come to the rescue than the creative, playful, quick-thinking nannies and babysitters of Care.com? We used the Care.com Facebook page to find great ideas for keeping kids engaged and behaved at the kiddie table. Here’s what they said:

1. Put on paper faces. Make a paper plate Santa (elf, turkey or silly face). Give each child a paper plate, cotton balls, washable glue and washable paint or markers. They can even try and make portraits or masks of family members at the table then use them to put on a play. – Stephanie H.

2. Sculpt the night away. Stock the table with Play Doh and cookie cutters. If the kids are little — and tend to eat dough instead of dinner — make an organic version (recipe below). Provide cookie cutters and give kids the challenge of making holiday themed shapes and characters. The recipe: 1 cup water with food coloring added if you want, 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup of salt, 2 tsp cream of tarter, 1 Tbl. oil. Cook on the stove in a large pot till it forms a play dough consistency. For a no-cook, table side preparation, leave out the cream of tarter and oil. – Kimberly V.

3. Construction zone. Two words: Gingerbread house. Get a kit or just use graham crackers and marshmallow fluff and let the little ones build a yummy structure. Then create a game: Take a bite of food, add a piece of candy to the house. And repeat – Melinda W.

4. Let them shine. Use colored felt and cut out a variety of shapes that kids can decorate with sparkle glue. Instant ornaments! – Miranda G., Houston, TX

5. Reusable table cloth. Cover the table with long sheets of craft or butcher paper. Put cups of markers, glitter pens and crayons on the tables. And let them get to work on a masterpiece. Bonus: The end result can double as homemade holiday gift wrap. – Michelle B.

6. Set the table. Provide each child with green circular felt (or paper) “placemats.” Place colored tissue paper, glue sticks and other crafty décor on the table. After the kids eat, they can lift up their plates and make their own holiday wreaths. – Katherine M.

7. Serve more bird. Turkey is the highlight of many holiday tables. Ask the children to trace their hand with the crayon on a piece of paper and use varied materials to decorate their personal gobbler. Think feathers, pompom, plastic gems, stickers. – Katherine M.

8. Let it snow. You can never count on the weather forecast so let the kids help make it a holiday winter wonderland with paper snowflakes. Older kids can use scissors to cut into a folded piece of white paper that when opened is a unique flake. Younger kids can add the glitter and extra flair. – Elly S.

9. Feed the “animals.” Good eaters get to feed the reindeers. Prepare Tuperware full of oats, chocolate chips, sprinkles and glitter. Then full belly gets a plastic sandwich bag to fill with their own Reindeer Trail Mix concoction. Once everyone is done with dinner, the kids can lead the way outside and dust the ground for Rudolph and his pals to eat up. And with each turn, a child gets to make a holiday wish. – Cassandra H.

10. Tasty tactic. For kids who have made it through the meal, they get to participate in a “decorate your own cupcake” dessert. Give each child a plain frosted cupcake. Then deliver a tray of clear cups filled with sprinkles, M&Ms, gummy bears, crushed Oreos, etc. and let them go crazy with the decorations before enjoying the sweet ending to a peaceful meal. – Margo B.

Written by: Alonna Friedman, Care.com Contributor

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Breakfast for me is easy: I wake up, pop some bread in the toaster and turn on my cordless kettle to make a cup of tea. I’m happy with the basics, but my little one insists on a little more variety in his daily routine. That’s why I’ve come up with a simple rotating schedule of quick and easy breakfast ideas for toddlers and growing kids.

Pancakes – A Sunday staple; it doesn’t matter if you buy from a box or make homemade (though we prefer the latter) — pancakes are always a winner. We love pancake minis and when you do make a batch from scratch, double it and freeze the rest for a quick and easy breakfast any day of the week. For special occasions, I add in miniature chocolate chips

Waffles – Almost as good as pancakes, waffles are always welcome in our house. There are some adorable waffle makers on the market with Disney characters and other cute designs, giving your children even more reasons to love them. Again, make a double batch and freeze leftovers–you can put them in the toaster to get a nice crunch when ready to serve.

Scrambled eggs – One of the simplest hot meals you can make, scrambled eggs are genuinely loved by most children. Add in a splash of milk or coconut milk and whip to keep eggs nice and fluffy.

Toast – To liven up your child’s morning toast, cut into fun shapes with cookie cutter and top with butter or jelly. If no nut allergies, Nutella and toast is a fun treat!

Cereal with Milk – Cheerios, Chex, Rice Krispies, Kix, Puffed Rice and Corn Flakes are just a few of our favorites. We try to stay away from sugary cereals, but if we are short on time, almost any will do.

Fruit and yogurt – A toddler breakfast that can double as an anytime snack, fruit and yogurt is both delicious and healthy. Buy berries when they are in season and serve with bananas anytime of year. When you serve your little one fruit at a young age, they are more likely to keep loving it throughout their life.

Cereal Bars – When we are on the go and have to be out of the house early, cereal bars with whole grain and real fruit are our best bet. Nutri Grain and Gerber Gradulates Fruit & Cereal are popular choices, but if you have a little extra time one day, these bars can made at home with little effort.

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Everyone’s favorite furry monster is helping your little one become a “big kid” as Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street and Warner Home Video release Bye Bye, Pacifier! Big Kid Stories with Elmo on DVD on November 1, 2011.

Elmo shows preschoolers how to deal with difficult emotions and encourages them to learn new things in Bye Bye, Pacifier! Big Kid Stories with Elmo – helping kids through important milestones such as giving up a pacifier, learning to ride a tricycle and getting a first haircut.

Bye Bye, Pacifier! Big Kid Stories with Elmo provides young children with encouragement, comfort and laughs on their journey to becoming a “big kid.” Featuring three stories that every child and parent can relate to, including a tale from Elmo on how he gave up his binky, this DVD will help kids feel confident in saying goodbye to their pacifiers too! Additionally, Bye Bye, Pacifier! Big Kid Stories with Elmo, contains all-new animated content and Elmo belts out a brand new tune entitled “Big Kid Too.” DVD extras include a 19-page PDF story and activity book and the classic clip “Proud.”

To join the countdown to “Put Down the Pacifier Day,”  visit www.sesamestreet.org/pacifier.

Parents can create their own Disney magic at home this year with 31 days of Disney-inspired Halloween crafts, decorations, treats, homemade costumes and more, now available on Disney Family.com.  Featured on the site are easy recipes and simple craft instructions, as well as printable crafts and decorations based on dozens of beloved Disney characters including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Tinker Bell, Disney Princesses, Disney Villains, Phineas and Ferb, Jack Skellington, Kermit the Frog, and everyone’s favorite Hitchhiking Ghosts from The Haunted Mansion.

As moms of babies and toddlers, I know sometimes every day life is busy enough and it’s hard to plan for holidays…like Halloween! With Halloween just 10 days away, there’s no need to stress– RealSimple.com has everything you need to gather up costumes, decorations, and party food just in time for the spooky fun holiday.

No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating

You still have time to pick up pumpkins at the grocery store or garden center to decorate your home or front yard – and you don’t even need to make a mess carving! Have clean fun with your kids using ribbon, paint, buttons, and more with these creative designs.

10 Last-Minute Costume Ideas

Never got around to buying that Morticia Addams ensemble? Harness the Halloween spirit with a kooky (but not creepy) look that you can pull together in a snap, snap.

Easy DIY Costumes

Have some more time to play with but still want to save money? Use items you have around the house to make one of these costumes, and your child will be the shining star of the Halloween parade.

Let Makeup Make Your Costume

No costume? No problem! Try a budget-friendly and fun alternative for your October 31st look.

8 Easy Halloween Hairstyles

Draw inspiration from these easy-to-do ‘dos!

PLUS:

Halloween Party Checklist

New Uses for Old HALLOWEEN Things

Sesame Workshop has been creating engaging educational content for children over four decades, but no decade is more important than this one.  In support of the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, is working with partners from around the world to help raise awareness and promote safe road practices.

With funding from the FIA Foundation, three animated Sesame Street public service announcements (PSAs) were created and will debut in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East today.  The PSAs feature Grover in different scenarios shown buckling up or putting on a helmet, and then giving a thumbs up—the universally used symbol by pilots, astronauts, race-car drivers and other highly-skilled professionals to denote readiness, preparedness, and “all-systems go.”  Grover will be wearing the official international road safety symbol—a yellow Road Safety tag to show his support to the road safety cause.

This month, Grover joins world leaders at Road Safety events in the Washington DC, Mexico City, Leipzig and Berlin to launch this long-term commitment to protecting children from accidents and injuries.

In addition to the PSAs, Sesame Workshop and the Global Road Safety Partnership are jointly developing a Road Safety Education Framework intended as a practical guide for Road Safety educators, parents and practitioners who are developing content, educational materials and communication strategies to help children better understand the risks associated with travel on or near the roads.

The objectives of the Sesame Street Road Safety Campaign are:

·         To help children understand that vehicles are complex and technical things that need skill, caution and preparation to ride in them and be around them;

·         To build in children an “I can” attitude toward this positive mind-set and behavior;

·         To empower children to take action in communicating this positive and proactive attitude to their family and friends; and

·         To make the safe use of cars and roads a priority and a shared family experience.

“Using the unique lens of Sesame Workshop’s 40-plus years of research-based experience and our partners’ expertise of best practices in road safety education, we hope to make critical changes in how people interact with the road,” said Gary E. Knell, Sesame Workshop President and CEO.  “Today kicks off an important coordinated effort among global organizations to mobilize and reach families to promote safety awareness among all road users.”

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that revolutionized children’s television programming with the landmark Sesame Street.  The Workshop produces local Sesame Street programs, seen in over 140 countries, and other acclaimed shows to help bridge the literacy gap including The Electric Company.  Beyond television, the Workshop produces content for multiple media platforms on a wide range of issues including literacy, health and military deployment. Initiatives meet specific needs to help young children and families develop critical skills, acquire healthy habits and build emotional strength to prepare them for lifelong learning.  Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org.

If you’ve never had a baby with colic, consider yourself lucky. Colicky babies can be a nightmare for parents, and most will try just about anything to calm their baby.  One new clinical study from BornFree shows 80% of mothers of colicky babies using BornFree ActiveFlow bottles reported a significant reduction in colic symptoms within one week! You can check more details of the study {here}.

We all know moms know best when it comes to their babies, that’s why BornFree is giving away a BornFree Eco Classic bottle with ActiveFlow to one lucky Tips for Toddlers (and babies!) reader.

Just leave a comment below with your best tip to relieve colic symptoms (required).

BornFree will choose the winner of the best tip on May 31st.

A sample was provided in exchange for hosting this giveaway. All opinions are our own.

One of our writers at Tips for Toddlers is expecting a new bundle-of-joy, and we just couldn’t wait for the ultrasound in three weeks to determine if she’s having a boy or a girl. We’re secretly hoping for a baby girl, but before we start buying pink and ruffles, we thought we have a little fun with the Intelligender Baby Gender Prediction Test.

We know these tests are just for fun and have about a 50% accuracy rate– however, the box claims it’s more like 90% accurate. We’ll see…

The test is similar to a home pregnancy test, but instead of peeing on a stick, you pee in a little cup. You then take a little syringe and transfer the pee into a little container, swirl, and wait five minutes. Thankfully, it’s not as messy as it sounds.

Orange/yellow means GIRL, while dark green/brown predicts BOY.

Our results…

Looks like we have a baby boy on the way!

The Intelligender Baby Gender Prediction Test costs around $30 and it’s easy and fun. Since we don’t have an ultrasound to confirm the results, there is no way to tell accuracy–yet! There was no denying the color matched for a boy, we’ll update here in three weeks.

The new addition to the Tips for Toddlers family means we will be bringing new reviews and news of all things baby. We know there are a lot of moms out there with toddlers and babies, so we’re making this a one-stop shop. Congratulations Nicole!
UPDATE: It’s a girl!! In defense of Intelligender, we did not follow EXACT instructions and performed the test in the middle of the day. The box states it needs to be tested upon waking.

Amazon has a great deal going on now for Revolution Foods Organic Jammy Sammy Snacks. You can get 5 boxes of 5 bars (25 total) for only $9.80 shipped! That’s only $1.96 a box for organic toddler snacks.

To get the deal, add any flavor of Organic Jammy Sammy to your cart using subscribe and save. This saves you 15% plus free shipping. Then, enter code PLUMOR33 at checkout to save an additional 30%.

I LOVE eBates! I’ve gotten almost $500 back since I joined. As I purchase more and more online, it’s always fun to go though eBates and see if a merchant is participating- more times than not, they are! This means more money back for me!! You’ll also find that with the eBates cash back and other merchant discounts (like coupon codes), it’s often cheaper to buy online than in store.

If you haven’t signed up already, you must try it out. It is completely free and you even get $5 back after you make your first purchase (that’s in addition to what you get back from the merchant).

How much have you gotten back through eBates?