May 2012: Scoop

SERVICE

Stroller TLC

Solve all of your pram problems with Stroller Spa. What
began in 2006 as one mom’s dream to revamp her outdated, rickety stroller is
now a full-fledged tune-up service in several major U.S.
cities including Manhattan. Heading
up Stroller Spa NYC, Brooklyn moms Carolyn Pravda and Allison Leale help local
families achieve the baby gear of their dreams by providing a variety of
services—from fixing faulty brakes and replacing a flat tire to cleaning and
detailing. Plus, they’re opening three new locations on
the Upper East and West Sides, as well as Tribeca
. For more information, visit strollerspa.com.

ART

Arts &
Crafts Everlasting
Plum_Print2.JPG

Every child’s drawing is a masterpiece in the eye of the
parent. But, eventually, there is the dilemma of where to stash the growing
number of collages. This quandary motivated two NYC moms to implement a simple
solution—Plum Print. Instead of stashing items in a drawer or—the
unthinkable—throwing things away, Plum Print Founders Carolyn Lanzetta and Meg
Ragland will eternalize your child’s art. Using top notch techniques, Plum
Print will help you digitize your child’s creations and transform it all into a
stylish photo book. For more
information, visit plumprint.com
.

EATS

A Slice Of The
City

Walking tours can be a tough sell to kids, but not if
they’re about pizza! Local entrepreneur Scott Wiener began
his tour enterprise, Scott’s Pizza Tours, soon after researching the NYC
history of the cheesy choice and obtaining a Sightseeing Guide license. With a
variety of tours available—some even catering to food allergies and
sensitivities—there’s a pizza jaunt for every taste. A ticket will get you a
guided educational tour (think
Italian immigration, dough and oven
science) to three or four of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s best pizzerias, as well as a slice at each eatery! For more information, visit
scottspizzatours.com
.

BOOK

Scary ReadingScary_Mommy_book.JPG

If you haven’t been reading Jill Smokler’s Scary Mommy blog,
you’re missing out
on all sorts of confessional hilarity. The mother of three
hosts an online community where moms can divulge on everything from secretly crying
in the shower to joining a gym for the free daycare. Now, Smoker has compiled
her “best of” in a new book, Confessions
of a Scary Mommy: An Honest and Irreverent Look at Motherhood—the Good, the
Bad, and the Scary
. It’s a quick and relatable read that will have you in
stitches by the end (or right at the beginning). Our favorite admission? “I’m
wearing maternity jeans but I haven’t been pregnant in six years.” Write on,
mommies. For more information, visit
scarymommy.com
.

MUSIC

Angsty Beats

Music is the universal stress reliever for all ages. With
this in mind, we found
KinderAngst_Album_Art.JPG two CDs that give “edgy” a whole new meaning. Releasing
next month, KinderAngst features the
talents of Palmyra Delran and New York
native Rachelle Garniez. The kiddie songs on this alternative punk rock CD take
place in the imaginative world of Alphabet City (a nod to the Lower
East Side) and cover everything from friendship and
self-sufficiency to loneliness and neighby dynamics. Similarly, New Yorkers
Amelia Gewirtz and Harold Stephan are Parents
With Angst
. With tunes that play on the themes of joy and frustration in
parenting, Parents With Angst is folk-indie soft rock with more than a hint of
family. To catch them live, check out Mamapalooza on May 20 in Riverside Park. For more information, visit kinderangstmusic.com and
parentswithangst.com
.

Parents_With_Angst.jpg

Relevant Directory Listings

See More

Collina Italiana, The Italian Language and Cultural Center

<p>Learn Italian the fun way. Children practice and absorb the language through arts & crafts, activities, games, songs and stories!</p>

Penguin Coding School

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; text-align: justify; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Penguin Coding School believes that </span><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anyone can code</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The most compelling motivation for learning to code is that it enables building something kids can call their own. What makes this approach "worth it" for the kids is that at the end of the road, they see that their code actually does things in the real world. Not in some playpen, but in the real Internet where anyone can access it. </span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; text-align: justify; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; text-align: justify; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Programs:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><strong> </strong>Penguin Coding School </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">provides comprehensive coding education to kids ages 5-18. In-person & Online classes are available in Scratch, Minecraft, Roblox, Python, Javascript, Java, Robotics, and Mobile Apps. Their small class size, award winning teachers and age-appropriate curriculum ensure every child will learn coding with a smile. Penguin Coding has in-person classes and summer camps in Cobble Hill and Park Slope, as well as three Massachusetts locations. </span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; text-align: justify; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; text-align: justify; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Free Trial Classes: </span></strong></p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-115c8d0a-7fff-6ffb-9ee2-4fd4aa248c0a"></span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; text-align: justify; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sign up for our award-winning</span><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="https://penguincodingschool.com/freetrial?utm_campaign=FreeTrials&utm_source=NYF&utm_medium=Directory"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #1155cc; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #1155cc; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">free trial classes</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. They offer a 60 minute free trial class in Scratch, Python, Roblox, Java, Robotics and much more! Appropriate for absolute beginners as well as those with some experience (trial classes are used to place students in the right level).</span></p>

The Ailey School – First Steps and Bounding Boys

<blockquote style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; background-color: #ffffff;"> <div dir="ltr"> <div class="m_-3740164643787738207m_4977048992707393770WordSection1"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0070c0;">At The Ailey School, FIRST STEPS offers a structured creative movement curriculum that allows girls (ages 3-6) and boys (age 3), to develop body awareness and control and learn the basics of dance technique. BOUNDING BOYS (ages 4-6) provides a more athletic experience, and an energetic approach to teaching dance skills.</span></p> </div> </div> </blockquote>