I really love Patagonia brand gear. It’s rugged and will last through several kids and still be suitable to hand down to your favorite little friend. I like the fact that it’s very lightweight which means it can easily be smashed inside a backpack but is strong enough to withstand the autumn storms.

This great lightweight rain jacket features a water repellant and breathable interior and a waterproof finish. I always look for that difference. A water repellant finish just means…enough water and the whole jacket and child inside eventually gets soaked. A WATERPROOF finish keeps the deluge out and the child inside dry.

It has lots of other weatherproofing features too, including a hood big enough to fit over a cap or hat for colder days and a storm flap to protect the chin. The more features in one piece I believe, means the fewer pieces for my child to lose on the way home from school!

I actually own this jacket, in the adult size, and love the zippered pockets and the deep hood that extends out over my face and the elasticized cuffs that keep my sleeves from getting drenched.

Like many parents, I think I’m over buying cheap clothes and toys to repurchase each year. I’m going for quality from now on. So, this is one of my top picks to invest in for my child this year.

My son has always believed that it’s important to wear a costume as often as possible. I agree. So, we have quite a collection of them – some for dress-up time but quite a few for everyday wear. Mastering pretend play is a key skill that young children need to develop to become creative adults. So, why not extend the time they have to do it? Costumes need not be just for playtime! Anytime a child can wear clothes that transport them to another time or place they gain valuable time to play.

While drab, rugged and serviceable options for inclement weather certainly do the trick; why not let your little one engage in a little fantasy on a rainy day? These Lady Bug Rain Boots are great for the dress up fan at your house. Clomping about in puddles is just a whole lot more fun when you can pretend you’re a ladybug!

Since these boots are pretty sturdy and feature a steel shank to keep toes safe you don’t have to worry when she (or he) feels compelled to jump in every pool of water along the way. The pull up straps I consider a must, especially in group settings where an over burdened teacher…or mom just doesn’t have time to put on multiple pairs of boots.

OK, It’s not not really stuffed with soy beans.

This cute, cuddly stuffed penguin from Aurora Naturally is stuffed with fluffy Kapok fiber made from the pod of the Kapok tree – a sustainably harvested crop from the rain forests of Indonesia. The organic plush exterior of each black and white buddy is made from soy fiber, another ecologically sound crop alternative to traditional fibers.

There have been so many reports and concerns about toxins all over the news, that we parents now tend to gaze suspiciously at every toy brought into the house. So, it is with some relief that I read about these new, organic toys. Kapok fiber is hypoallergenic too, so is great if you’re concerned about your child’s reaction to traditional plush animals.

We have several of these soft, cuddly friends and they make a great addition to the zoo that lives on my son’s bed. The sweet expressions and realistic detailing are such an improvement over the blank stares and painted on faces found on too many stuffed animals today. And the fur is unbelievably soft too!

This cute penguin is a great shower gift. New mothers today are particularly aware of the hazards associated with so many traditional toys. And the price is right for just about any budget.

I’m a sucker for books, games and toys with educational value. It somehow strikes me that there’s no particular reason that educational toys can’t be fun and fun toys can’t be educational.

That’s one if the reasons I like the Insect Lore Bug Life Cycle Fun Book. If you yearn to get your little one interested in science, the science of bugs is one of the best places to start. You’re never more than three feet from a spider (yes, that’s usually true) and bugs of every type can easily be found in most neighborhoods and unfortunately neighborhood homes.

We spend the summer doing insect studies. We checked a number of children’s books out of the library over the last few months – most read-a-loud, a few, stumble through yourself and look at the pictures. We examined bugs with a magnifying glass and photographed them in their homes (and ours).

And we did lots of activities like those found in this book. Cementing learning with fun activities like drawing, dot-to-dot and projects like making puppets and masks is a time tested technique for a positive attitude toward school and schoolwork.

Insect Lore Bug Life Cycle Fun Book comes with 4 crayons and includes information on the butterfly lifecycle too.

Getting the tiniest members of your family ready for back to school often doesn’t mean getting ready to go anywhere. Not ready for big boy or girl school, your littlest one still wants to learn. So, I’m going to be reviewing some of my favorite learning toys from time to time, starting with The Deluxe Adjustable Standing Easel by Melissa and Doug.

Painting or drawing with an easel is something even the smallest toddlers enjoy and is can be used by different children for different reasons. Those tactile ones will just use it as a big finger painting board while your child with the highly developed fine motor skills will whip out a complete drawing.

I particularly like this easel because it comes included with colorful clips that can be used to anchor paper of different sizes to the easel. Other easels feature a roll of paper but personally I find having to cut paper off the roll each time a child has finished a picture a hassle.

It also has a fairly large paint holder, big enough to hold individual pots of paint or a strip of water colors. And it’s deep so the pot of water for brush washing and the requisite rag, for clean-ups of brushes and children, won’t fall out.

Because it’s sturdy, adjustable and fairly plain, you can keep this easel for a long time. Elementary age children love to paint at easel, but rarely have the chance since their toddler toys are too often tossed.

Last week was World Breastfeeding Week when mothers around the planet are urged to nurse their babies rather than formula feed. Now that breastfeeding has become trendy, as well as, highly recommended by medical professionals, more and more moms plan to nurse their newborns.

Contrary to popular opinion, nursing is not always as natural as one might expect to be. Without the benefit of a generation of grandmothers (most of whom formula fed reflecting the popular medical opinions of the time) to coach new moms through the first difficult weeks, we have come to rely on a variety of nursing resources online and in books.

One of my favorite accessories recommended by lactation specialists and moms is the Boppy pillow. Because positioning is so important, especially in those early days, post partum when an exhausted mom and a bemused baby try to fit tab A into Slot B, the Boppy pillow can be a lifesaver or at least keep mom from giving up.

Now available in a variety of cute designs (when I was nursing the choices were only for the truly goo-goo eyed) and with maternal back support, this is an all round favorite for a shower present. This company has put a lot of research into ensuring the pillow design provides support for both mom and baby and puts an infant in the proper position for latching on.

It’s one of the best presents I received at my shower!

Your teen isn’t quite ready for a car…or maybe you’re not ready for to stay up nights worrying. Buying a teen this year is an even bigger challenge. Besides the inevitable nail biting and wincing, spiraling insurance and gas prices make this a monetary challenge as well.

If your teen’s only traveling a short distance to get to school, a Vespa Gas Motor Scooter might just be a better choice. O.K. it doesn’t quite have the cachet of a car and it’s hard to squash 10 of one’s closest buddies on a scooter, this long established mode of transportation, popular in many major cities in Europe and is rapidly becoming the vehicle of choice for hip urbanites.

The easy-to-maintain, 4-stroke engine accelerates to 60 miles per hour, but scooters are restricted to city streets. The range is 100 miles to a tank of gas, making this a great economical choice.

Unlike their cousins, full fledged motorcycles, scooters are lighter and easier to maneuver with smaller wheels and a smaller engine. The rider’s feet rest on the floorboards rather than on foot pegs, and you’ll still need a helmet to ride one.

Your teen will have so much fun, you’ll want to try it too!

Of all the things you need to buy new each year, back-to-school clothes, notebooks, shoes and lunch boxes, a new backpack may be the most unnecessary. Not that every child doesn’t need a backpack these days to cart home the ever growing pile of assignments designated. “homework”.

It’s just this shouldn’t be something you have to buy every year. With the slumping economy and the increased focus on living life a little less materialistic, this is a great time to teach your child to buy quality things that last.

OK, sure, your child is clamoring for the latest commercial character on their backpack and you can pick them up cheap, but a hip color or design and nifty REAL backpack (i.e. the kind made for people who actually go backpacking) features have their own “cool” factor.

The JanSport Super Break Backpack is the number one seller for students around the world and it comes in a variety of stylish design. Sturdy enough to last for years, the Superbreak backpack has a large main compartment and a front pocket big enough to store pens, pencils and an ipod. Both the shoulder straps and the back are padded for extra comfort while carrying those heavy books home.

Though, don’t expect that to be any consolation when your child expects you to explain everything in those heavy books to him or her!

Getting your energetic and active girl ready for back to school can be a challenge, especially if, on top of everything she as a bit of that “Girly-girl” in her. More and more schools are adopting uniforms, so it’s a bit easier to forgo that extended period of time in the morning while she makes up her mind what to wear.

While navy blue shorts and pants are easy to find in a variety of sizes for little girls, your little one may prefer dresses. Though, for running around the playground, a skirt might not be the best choice. I remember vainly trying to hold down my skirt as the wind whipped through our parking lot slash playground and the boys hooted and howled as we girls backed up against the wall out of the wind.

Enter the Girls Uniform Skort. Available in navy, black and khaki, the cute little, kicky skirt and integrated shorts is the perfect solution for active girls. The pleated skirt with decorative buckles hides a stretchy short. Polyester fabric makes this an easy clean option.

The look is really cute so you might want to pick up a few for after school wear paired with a simple top or sweater.

In our peripatetic society, we move, I’ve been told, on average every 5 to 7 years. Though this number may increase or decrease over the next few years, depending on your place in the current housing bubble crisis, it’s almost certain you will not spend all of your children’s formative years in one house.

This of course has led to the demise of the charming habit of tracking children’s heights in pencil on the wall of one’s home. Lacking the tools and often the will to carefully cut out the sentiment laid piece of plaster on which you’ve marked your children’s growth, most of us have started to consider a paper or plastic growth chart instead.

This Alex Toys Watch Me Grow - On My Road Growth chart is 42” tall which will easily cover your child’s first years and features 4 photo pockets. Since I’m always looking for new ways to display photos of my son, this seems like an easy way to take a trip down memory lane.

Easy to hang up on just about any wall and carefully remove and pack in one of the stack of boxes accompanying every move, growth carts are the new “wall”.