Finding low-clutter toys is a great way to reduce the overwhelming stuff in the house. But any parent will tell you… one thing that can get out of control quickly (but I can’t just toss out) is children’s art. It’s beautiful and important — but it’s everywhere! Art that’s not displayed isn’t being enjoyed, so...
Continue reading How to Preserve and Display Kids’ Art...
Click here to read Super Cute DIY Bag Clip Monsters for Preschoolers on Hands On As We Grow
Cute little critters make fine motor skills practice super easy! DIY your own bag clip monsters that are perfect for preschoolers.
What do you do when you have a newborn to care for and a busy two-year-old who loves hands-on activities? If you’re Melissa Timmins, our Member of the Month, you join The Activity Room!
Before her younger daughter was born, Melissa was able to spend hours researching and curating hands-on activities and crafts for her big girl. After adding to her family, not so much.
Luckily, The Activity Room was just being launched and Melissa jumped at the chance to join the test group. She’s one of our original Room Members!
And she’s been loving the hands-on activities in The Activity Room ever since.
“Before The Activity Room, I was not getting enough sleep because doing activities with my kids was important to me,” Melissa shared. “I spent hours researching, finding activities that were in my child’s range of proximal development, that I felt I could find the supplies for, and that I felt I had time to prep.”
Melissa was stressed out and overwhelmed! Then she joined The Activity Room and all that changed.
“With the activity room I no longer lose sleep researching,” she explained “Instead I spend that time simply prepping a little because all that work is done for me. I can spend some time with my hubby and get some sleep so I can be the best mom I can be!”
Since joining The Activity Room, Melissa has noticed that’s it’s easier for her to seize little moments with her daughters.
“Once you are in The Activity Room a little while you begin to see more opportunities to grab moments, to throw in an activity, to improve an activity they are already doing, or interact with your kids in a new meaningful way,” said Melissa.
It’s even easy for her to make the same activity with her four-year-old and her two-year-old.
“I never knew how easy it could be to do activities with my kids,” Melissa commented.
Over the last two years, Melissa has learned how to let her children guide the activities.
“My 4-year-old was playing with snow in her outdoor house with all the toy kitchen stuff and I just thought ‘why not add food coloring!’ That was Activity Room growth.”
Now instead of giving into requests for TV time, Melissa is confident in throwing together a simple sensory activity for her girls!
“The Activity Room has opened my eyes to being more connected in very simple ways,” Melissa shared. “It has given me the power to be a little messy, it has given me the tools to be a hands-on mom.”
Let’s Meet Melissa
How many kids do you have and how old are they?
2 girls, ages 2 and 4
How long have you been in The Activity Room?
2 years in June 2018
What is your favorite activity you’ve done in The Activity Room?
Mud target practice and ice excavation are favorites!
Discover more fun hands-on activities for preschoolers!
What’s your favorite thing to do with your kids when you get a few moments?
Read to them!
What’s your best tip for doing activities with your kids?
Gather a lot of supplies ahead of time. When the moment strikes you will be ready!
If you were to tell a friend about The Activity Room, what would you say to them?
The Activity Room is my support, my guide, my extra motivation! It takes away many of the excuses one might have and replaces it with the power to do something.
Share your favorite quote
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is a little extra. ~ Unknown
All kids love monsters! Make super easy DIY bag clip monsters for fine motor practice with your preschooler.
Take those big clips that you get from balloons, or bag clips, add some googly eyes and a sticker nose.
Then have the kids pick up pom poms, cut up pieces of pipe cleaners, and other small objects. Your child can pretend the monsters are eating them.
After the monster “eats” the item, have them drop it into a small cup.
Add books to the DIY bag clip monsters activity for extra fun! You could try:
I’ve only read Monster Manners, but the other ones sound good, too.
While the demographics are shifting slowly, the golf equipment marketplace is still dominated by the adult male, and while that guarantees that information about $500 drivers and $1200 iron sets is readily available, when new women’s club or a compelling new offering for juniors hits the market, you don’t often hear about it because we don’t hear about it.
In close to 8 years at MyGolfSpy, I can count the number of press releases I’ve received about golf clubs for juniors on one hand – and if memory serves, they all came from Cobra. Incidentally, the count is roughly the same for women’s clubs – and again, most of those came from Cobra.
Given all the emphasis on growing the game, it would be a bit surprising if not for the fact that mainstream golf companies habitually play to the middle of the market, which is pretty much the definition of mainstream.
The golf brands you know don’t spend big, or in many cases at all, to raise awareness for anything other than their mainline offerings, but as the industry continues to contract and becomes more reliant on participation from outside golf’s traditional demographics, hopefully, that’s going to change.
While it’s mostly being done quietly, there does seem to be an effort underway by some brands to better integrate women’s and junior products into the mainlines. Case in point, the new Xj line of junior clubs from Callaway Golf.
Truth be told, I only found out about Callaway’s new offerings because my 7-year-old daughter needed new clubs and Callaway’s Jason Finley responded to a tweet I posted looking for recommendations.
Spoiler alert – Jason suggested the Callaway Xj.
While Callaway isn’t throwing much of the weight of its marketing machine behind its new junior line, the company has made some significant changes to its approach to the junior space. The result is a new line of junior clubs that make more sense for the consumer and better aligns with the Callaway identity.
Sizing by height rather than age isn’t revolutionary stuff. US Kids recommends sets based on height. PING does it too. Lots of brands do it. Callaway will admit it lagged behind in this regard, instead sizing by age. With Xj, not only is Callaway leveraging a height-based sizing system, it has expanded the lineup to include three sets that cover kids from 38” to 61” inches. There’s also a new teen set (the Xt) designed to serve as a bridge between junior and adult clubs.
As you can see, the number of clubs increases with age, and that plays to the reality that a typical 5-year-old, probably doesn’t need a full bag of clubs, and a typical 8-year-old, probably doesn’t either.
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In the past, Callaway has gone more or less all-in on what would often be described as boy colors and girl colors. With Xj the took a more neutral approach. "We know that there are a lot of girls that don’t love pink," said Callaway’s Jason Finley. With Xj, both white and blue bags are offered, and while white is considered the more feminine option, neither comes close to being gender-specific. My daughter went with the blue, and she loves it.
Callaway concedes that in the past its treated its junior sets as an afterthought. Things are different this time around. The Xj had plenty of input from what Jason Finley called Callaway’s Varsity Team. The same industrial designers who work on Callaway flagship products like the Rogue driver worked on Xj. The guys who designed the Xj bag are the same guys who work on Callaway’s mainstream offerings, and while the clubs themselves may not feature Callaway signature technology like Jailbreak and 360 Face Cup, the designs leverage Callaway’s past work in the club space – with the necessary adaptations for the size and weight requirements of the junior golfer.
The most appreciable change is that drivers in the Xj and Xt line feature 100% titanium construction. In the past, Callaway has used titanium blends. Finley told me that Titanium provides a bit more ball speed (even for kids), but of equal importance for the target demographic, it’s more durable. I promise you; kids don’t baby their clubs like many of us do.
It’s all part of a larger strategy to create a premium junior product worthy of the Callaway name. Over the past six years or so, Callaway has worked to position itself as a premium brand, and that’s trickling down to its junior sets by way of better materials, better construction, and a level of attention that Callaway hasn’t previously paid to its junior sets.
Given the price point and the fact that kids outgrow things quickly, Callaway knows the Xj won’t be for everyone. That said, the expectation is that golfers who identify with #TeamCallaway will be more inclined to have their kids play what they play. "They [parents] want it to look like what they have,” said Jason Finley, “and they don’t want their kid to be the one with the cheap set.”
And not for anything, it’s not a stretch to think that most kids will want to play what mom or dad plays. The company hopes Xj will better enable golfers to get their kids into a Callaway product.
The younger, the better, right?
You can expect to find Xj at both green grass and big-box locations. The former is particularly interesting because, while it’s likely not going to be a top priority for Callaway’s reps to sell-in, it does offer shops – particularly those run by Callaway staffers – a viable option for juniors that doesn’t require them to bring in additional lines.
Callaway is exploring options for a trade-in/trade-up program which will effectively help the clubs grow with the kid. Given the +/- 2-year viability of junior clubs (they grow-up so fast), helping parents save money while keeping their kids in Callaway is a textbook win-win.
None of this should suggest that Callaway is your only option for kids sets. US Kids has a solid reputation, PING has excellent junior offerings, as does Cobra – especially so for kids just a bit older than mine. Nearly everyone who makes golf clubs for adults dabbles in the junior space with varying degrees of commitment.
The larger point is that manufacturers are starting to realize that today’s junior golfer is tomorrow’s loyal customer. As a result, companies are expanding their offerings, and to some degree, even driving innovation in a category that has too often been treated as an afterthought.
How much is too much to spend on a set of junior golf clubs?
Would you like to see more coverage of junior equipment on MyGolfSpy?
I feel very fortunate get to talk to so many doctors who are changing healthcare for the better. I’m here with Dr. Maryann Prewitt, a functional medicine physician and gynecologist based in Dallas, Texas. You can find her at HealthWellnessMD.com. She’s going to introduce us to a lot of really cool anti-aging science and some great...
Continue reading 168: A Proactive Approach to Aging and Sexual Health and Wellness With HealthWellnessMD...
I will be taking a gap year before my freshman year of college at Stanford University in the fall of 2019.
For the next few months, I will be working on a project in collaboration with National Parks Board in Singapore to create an interactive online field guide for the Rail Corridor, traveling around Eastern Europe, spending time with my grandparents, nerding out at wildlife research stations, and pursuing what I love without the limitations of academic requirements.
Why Stanford University? The sheer volume, diversity, and coolness of available resources.
I plan to major in biology with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology and the Hopkins Marine Station at Monterey Bay, the 1,200-acre Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, and the Center of Conservation Biology on campus excite me the most. Plus, the weather isn't half bad.
At SAS I learned never to doubt my own abilities and to take advantage of opportunities. I threw myself wholeheartedly into whatever I did because that's the only way to produce a result I'm proud of.
I vividly remember a physics class with Mr. Crawford and Mr. Evans, spending two hours discussing the space-time continuum, dark matter, dark energy, and black holes. I left the room—way after the bell rang—excited by the universe around me.
I was an officer of Global Issues Network and Students Against Violation of the Environment, and led the rainforest committee. I also participated in the Academic Quiz Club, mentored middle schoolers for National History Day, volunteered for TEDxYouth@SAS, and ran cross-country.
I'm headed to University of Toronto, Canada
University of Toronto is one of the seven schools in Canada that accepted me. I love the country, the people, the culture, and the environment. My preparation started with a two week summer camp last year, focusing on engineering.
I plan on studying Environmental Ethics in the Faculty of Arts and Science. Our actions as individuals, corporations, and government can impact the environment and the lives of generations ahead of us. I am excited to analyze the consequences of human behavior that can help lead us to better ways of preserving the environment, especially in the agricultural and food industries.
I am immensely proud of how much I have achieved at SAS and the number of activities I have participated in. From being a secretary in Wish For Kids to starting an MMA club with the Catalyst program, a member of the SAS varsity rugby and track and field teams, recreational ice skating, and even martial arts, I have explored a variety of activities.
What makes SAS special is the diversity in this school. SAS prepares you for real life by pushing you out of your comfort zone—interacting with new people and different perspectives. The education here encourages confident public speaking—an extremely useful life skill.
As the first day of college gets closer and closer, I look forward to meeting new people and experiencing the independence that is require to be successful in college.
I'm headed to Boston University, USA
At SAS, I learned to teach myself. Classes here are both challenging and independent, it's extremely rewarding to find out what I know and what I don't on my own and then go out and ask those specific, clarifying questions. This skill will serve me well in the self-driven environment of college.
While I am officially undecided, I'd like to pursue a double major in physics or math and history. Of course, I'm also open to completely changing my mind and can't wait to see what opportunities I'll discover in college. College is going to be vastly different. While I will live on campus, that campus
is not as isolated from the outside world as our lives are here. I look forward to more free time and more opportunities, unsettling as this change appears to be.
My teachers have been patient and kind; my counselors have shown me ways to be more in tune with myself and to convey my identity successfully; and my friends have always been there for me through the years.
It's hard to boil down my experiences into one defining achievement, but at the end of the day, I am most proud of having been able to secure my future for the next four years. Applying to and affording college, and generally knowing where I would be in a year's time has been a defining challenge during my senior year.
