Baby: 0-12 months

A summer road trip to Bar Harbor used to be the hubby and my annual summer tradition.  It is one of the few places I have been more times than I can count on one hand.  And we keep going back because there is so much to enjoy – from…

The girls had so much fun a few weeks back with our patriotic colored-ice sensory play, this week we decided to do it again.  Only this time, we traded in the red, yellow and blue stars for neon-colored ocean animals!  Ocean-Themed Sensory Play Sensory play with ice is rapidly becoming…

At our house, summer means long hot days spent outdoors as much as humanly possible.  And with two, active kids under 4, there’s no better place for that than our local playgrounds.  After nearly 3 years now of playground adventures under my belt, I have just about perfected the list…

Happy Friday, y’all!  If you’re new here, welcome!  I’m Meghan, the founder of Playground Parkbench.  I write about parenting, household tips, and at-home activities for kids.  Every Friday, I partner with four of my fellow bloggers to bring you We Love Weekends, an open forum for our favorite family-friendly bloggers…

Last week, the Ms and I upheld one of our favorite summer traditions: strawberry picking!  We went with a group of Big M’s friends from preschool.  If you are local to Connecticut, Jones Family Farms has a great, family-friendly set-up, and if you go this week, you’ll just catch the…

Last week, we went strawberry picking with a group of Big M’s preschool friends.  It was a productive outing, and we came home with over 8 pounds of freshly picked strawberries!  Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing over 50 different ways to put all those strawberries to use, but one looked so…

Most of our ‘projects’, as Big M likes to call them, are targeted toward the preschool aged child, and I modify them so that Lil’ M, at almost 2, can participate as well.  This week, however, I set up a fun, July 4th Sensory Play activity just for Lil’ M……

How many of you love Instagram as much as I do?  I will admit to being late to the Instagram game… until I started Playground Parkbench last Fall, I never used it.  And now I am hooked.  Scroll through beautiful images, no ads, easily scan and search by fun hashtags,…

Every parent has had one of these days… from the moment your child wakes up, they are crying about something.  Or maybe you didn’t get enough sleep last night, and you are the one with the short fuse.  Regardless of who the grump is, the day starts off all wrong,…

Nothing provides more entertainment at our house during warm weather than bubbles.  And after three summers of blowing bubbles until I was breathless, Big M has hit an awesome milestone: she can now blow her OWN bubbles!  However, this leads to Lil’ M wanting to as well, and mostly she…

I’m a gift giver… I love everything about it.  I love brainstorming for the perfect idea, going out shopping to find it, and especially love putting it all together in the perfect package (back in my broke college days, I was known to spend more on wrapping than the gift…

We eat out with our kids a lot.  They have been going to restaurants since they were infants, and I can recall maybe twice since Big M was born nearly 4 years ago, where they were so badly behaved we took turns racing through our food while the other shepherded…

Happy Friday!  It’s that time of the week again – where I share all about my weekend and bloggers from around the web link up their best family-friendly content to make you and your family love the weekends too! Last Weekend Here in the US, last weekend was a long,…

Plagiocephaly, more commonly known as Flat Head Syndrome, is estimated to affect as many as 46% of babies each year.  However, it is 100% preventable!  Many parents are unfamiliar with what it is, how to prevent it, detect it and most important of all, how to correct it should your…

Earlier this week, I shared my book reviews for two books from Hands-On-Prints, Around the World from a to z and Nuts for Coconuts.    Be sure to check out the book review for a chance to win a free book for yourself!  Big M has become quite taken with both,…

Today was the big day… we finally got to find out whether M3 is Team Blue or Team Pink! And something you first time moms might not be aware of, there’s also always an off-chance when you go for your 20-week anatomy scan that your little peanut may not cooperate,…

They say we all have a twin out there somewhere… someone unrelated, who looks just like us walking around across the world, while we shuffle our kids back and forth to preschool, dance class and play dates.  A doppelganger.  But what if you have a doppelganger, who is related to…

Two weeks ago, I published my best tips for breastfeeding to get you and your baby off to a great start in your first weeks, leading to long-term breastfeeding success.  Today, I’m going to offer up my best tips for pumping.  While we all would love to be there to…

Last week, I realized both Big M and Lil’ M were about to outgrow their current car seat settings.  The same morning, another mom at preschool drop-off asked me how long our girls had to stay in their 5-point harnesses.  The world of car seat safety has changed dramatically since…