Monthly Archives: October 2010
Fun Fall Craft for Kids
Finished Leaf Stained Glass Window
Mother Nature provides some of the most incredible beauty, so why not decorate your home in Autumn fashion with a fun craft for your kids? This leaf stained glass window is fun, easy-to-do and a great Fall decoration!
What you need:
- Leaves (you can go on a leaf hunt outside to find the prettiest leaves)
- Heavy book to press leaves
- Crayons
- Wax paper
- Construction Paper
- Scissors (to be used by adult only)
- Iron (to be used by adult only)
- Thin cloth
Directions:
- Pick your leaves the day before you will do your craft. Carefully put them in-between wax paper in a heavy book so they will be pressed.
- Cut two pieces of wax paper. Place one piece of wax paper waxy side facing up.
- Arrange leaves on wax paper but keep them about 1/2 inch from edge of wax paper.
- Take shavings from crayons & spread them around the leaves (you can use the sharpener on the crayon box or use a small pencil sharpener to create shavings).
- Put the other piece of wax paper on top of your leaf window with the waxy side facing down on the leaves.
- Put a thin cloth over the wax paper & iron over it with an iron set on a medium setting. You want to make sure you don’t iron over it too quickly, but give the crayon shavings a chance to melt & blend.
- Finish off with a border made from construction paper & trim the excess wax paper from the edges.
- Hang in your window & enjoy!
Leaf stained glass window after adding crayon shavings
After adding 2nd wax paper before ironing
See Who’s Buzzing Around Kolcraft
Kolcraft is very excited for you to meet Wally Wonderbug and friends – the characters behind the new Wonderbug Activity Center! Wally will bring lots of fun and discovery to you and your children.
We can’t quite let the bug out of the bag yet, but stay tuned to meet Wally and his friends. They will be hosting fun contests, activities and more! We love Wally & we know you will too!
Kolcraft Receives JPMA Award at KIDS Reception
Andy Newmark, VP of Sales & Marketing and Tom Kolcraft, President accept the JPMA award
Kolcraft was very excited and grateful to have received an award from the JPMA for being a founding member of JPMA in helping to set and maintain safety standards for the baby product industry for the past 59 years.
Kolcraft’s President, Tom Koltun, also spoke about the importance and reward of companies working with KIDS. KIDS is a non-profit organization that helps families in distressed situations. Often when parents think what they want for their children, they think of their child having a healthy, happy future, but for some parents all they can hope for is some help to get their baby the essentials like a bottle or a bassinet. Kolcraft has been very active with KIDS in order to bring them hope for a future.
Janince Weinman from KIDS & Tom Koltun
And no ABC Show is complete without some fun with friends from various parenting media. Last night we were able to enjoy a fun evening at Bodero with members of Parenting Magazine & Baby Talk.
Kolcraft marketing team with Parenting & Baby Talk team
It’s been a fun week here in Vegas & we are so glad you have been following our adventures. Stay tuned for some new Kolcraft Buzz tomorrow that debuted here at the ABC Show!
5 Tips to Reduce SIDS
October is SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) Awareness Month. There are a lot of great sites with info on SIDS, but we wanted to highlight a few here.
Five tips for lowering your child’s risk of SIDS:
- Always place baby on her back to sleep.
- Don’t put toys or loose bedding in baby’s sleep space.
- Give baby his own sleep space such as a bassinet.
- Keep baby warm with a thicker onesie than with blankets.
- Keep baby’s sleep area smoke free.
What tips have your found helpful with your own children?
Statement of Tom Koltun, President of Kolcraft
Good Housekeeping and USA Today Report That Stroller Hinges Can Injure Little Fingers
(Chicago, IL) October 11, 2010 – USA Today has published an article “Stroller hinges can injure little fingers” stating that the new issue of Good Housekeeping magazine contains a study that alleges 10 strollers have “danger spots.” Among the 10 strollers listed from popular baby stroller companies are the Contours Lite and Jeep Cherokee Sport.
The test procedures and the credentials of those who tested the products at Good Housekeeping are unknown. Kolcraft, however, complies with industry standards and testing including the following:
• Kolcraft has a design safety review process that uses risk assessment principles to ensure the safety of our products. These principles exceed requirements found in standard testing.
• The Contours Lite and Jeep Cherokee Sport strollers have been tested by 3rd party independent test labs and have been found to comply with all mandatory and voluntary ASTM standards.
• Kolcraft is a member of JPMA and all of our products comply with the JPMA requirements for testing.
Good Housekeeping never contacted Kolcraft nor did they return our calls to discuss their findings or to share the test they conducted. Until the report is released Kolcraft cannot directly comment on it.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in our comment section and we will be happy to answer your quesitons to the best of our ability.
Mom Monday At the Baby Product Show
Emilie & Marisa are the welcoming faces at our Kolcraft booth
We are in Vegas Baby! No, we really mean it – we are at the annual ABC Show which stands for All Baby and Child. There are thousands of baby product manufacturers here and we have the opportunity to meet with moms, media and buyers from baby product retail stores.
It will be an exciting week and we can’t wait to share fun and exciting news with you because what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas when it comes to baby products! (Make sure you read Thursday’s blog – hint hint)
Easy Halloween Activity for Kids
Ghosts, witches and jack-o-lanterns are popping up around the neighborhood. A great way to decorate your own house with the help of your kids is with these easy-to-make Halloween decorations.
What you need:
- Paper plate
- Crayons, markers, or watercolors
- Construction paper
- Tape or glue
Instructions:
- Paint or color the paper plate orange. Add eyes and mouth to your pumpkin.
- Cut out 4 strips of construction paper.
- Fold strips of construction paper in alternate directions so it gives the paper an accordion effect.
- Cut out a stem for the top of the pumpkin from construction paper.
- Glue or tape the accordion legs, arms and stem to the pumpkin.
- Tah-dah! Your do-it-yourself Halloween decoration is ready for display!
Tip:
- You can make other Halloween decorations with these same supplies. To make a Frankenstein, ghost, witch, etc. just paint accordingly.
One of our co-workers brought his daughter to work. She had fun doing this craft with us and definitely has talent. When she becomes the next big artist, remember you read it first at Baby Matters Blog! 
Zoe's masterpiece made at Kolcraft
Kolcraft Takes A Hike
Ranger Rick Welcomes the Hikers at Basecamp
Last Saturday Kolcraft participated in the National Wildlife Federation’s Hike & Seek event in Chicago. It was a cold day with light showers, but that didn’t keep us away! We met wonderful families who braved the cold to hike & seek. Along the hike they learned about nature, animals and climate as they stopped at the learning stations. At the end of the hike the children received their Junior Explorer badge, refueled on snacks and won prizes.
Besides meeting all these great families who truly saw the value of getting outdoors, we had the opportunity to meet Ranger Rick and visit with Bob the screech owl while learning all about him and his way of life.
If you live in Seattle, your Hike & Seek event is October 16th. There’s still time to sign up, so don’t miss this great opportunity to take a hike!
Bob the Screech Owl Who Stole Our Hearts
Easy Activity To Keep Your Toddler Healthy
Did you know that by the time the average child goes to kindergarten, she/he has watched 5,000 hours of TV? That’s a lot of TV – enough time to have earned a college degree! What’s a parent to do? One activity to get your toddler active is to host your own Olympics. You can even use this theme for a playgroup.
Olympic Activities:
- Make a balance beam by taping a line on the floor with masking tape and letting your child do a “routine” on it.
- Put on your child’s favorite music and let her dance away to her own floor routine.
- Put on music and time how long your child can hula hoop.
- Create your own track event by having your child run, then throw a tennis ball for the shot put, a Frisbee for the discus and end by jumping up into your arms for the pole vault.
Tips for your Olympics:
- Have a medal ceremony at the end of the event. You can find medals at a teacher supply store or make your own with ribbon and foil cut into a medal.
- Dress up your child’s favorite stuffed animal as the mascot for the event.
- Have fun!
Getting Outdoors To Prevent Breast Cancer & Win Baby Gear
There is a lot of pink in stores and across city skylines reminding us that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. With a reported 40,000 women dying from breast cancer every year, we all need these reminders to take steps to prevent breast-cancer, to raise awareness for it and to do what we can to end breast cancer.
One thing that researchers have found helps prevent breast cancer (and many other ailments for that matter!) is to stay active and get plenty of exercise. These last few weeks we have been talking about the importance of our children playing outdoors in order to stay healthy and the best way to keep them healthy is by setting an example. We know it’s not easy to set aside time for exercise and that’s why we love the National Wildlife Federation’s website since it has so many great ideas on how to get outdoors & get moving as a family.
In solidarity with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we want to help jump start your road to getting active with a Jeep Baby Carrier giveaway! This baby carrier is perfect for getting fit while keeping baby close to you.
Jeep 2 in 1 Baby Carrier
It’s easy to win!
- Simply check out the National Wildlife Federation’s website and leave a comment on our blog about what activity you are excited to try with your family.
- For additional entries, ”like” Kolcraft or the National Wildlife Federation on Facebook and make sure to note that in the blog comment about your favorite activity.
Getting outdoors & being active is a simple Tip Tuesday to a healthier you!
Contest ends on Wednesday, October 6th at 12 pm CST
