New Modern Play Space Firefly Play Café Opens
Firefly Play Café opened its doors today and it couldn’t have been too soon for many moms and dads out there. Owners Karen Reider and Chrissy Kilroe have brought a community café designed for caregivers and children to Columbus. This is the first of its kind in Central Ohio.
“I was in LA with my kids and went to a modern play space where moms were having conversations with their friends and drinking coffee. Their kids just played! I thought Columbus needs a place like this,” said Karen. [Read More]
What started out as a nursery for infants and children during World War II, today has grown into a licensed, accredited early education and intervention program. The Childhood League Center began in 1945 with its first nursery in the Sullivant Gardens Housing Project. Six years later, in September of 1951, The Childhood League expanded raising funds to purchase land and build a new nursery school for children three to five years of age with development delays. True to the hopes of the League’s founders and with persistent determination, League women accepted the challenge multiple times over the years to raise capital dollars for program expansion. 
Tonight, The Phoenix Theatre for Children will be presenting Titanic: A Concert Version of the Musical for one night only at the Lincoln Theatre with live accompaniment provided by ProMusica.
Local Matters is a Columbus-based non-profit organization designed to help the community learn about food, and not just how to eat it, but how food can impact lives. Their mission is to teach people good practices with food that will in turn help our health, the environment, and the economy. They have an amazing program called Food is Elementary based off of a curriculum designed by Dr. Antonia Demas, which focuses on instruction that teaches children in grades kindergarten through second about good nutrition, where food comes from, and how to prepare it. 
“Now, that’s da bomb!” is the phrase Megan and Rob Green frequently hear about their Stinkybomb Soap products, and it is very fitting - their top selling soap is in the shape of a hand grenade. They also create soaps in the shape of cassette tapes and baby doll heads, but the hand grenade made with aloe and olive oil is their most popular selling item.
Columbus is quickly becoming a hotbed of kids’ self-expression. Perhaps we can attribute that to our city’s spunky art-and-music loving parents who dress individually, think compassionately, and inspire their children to do the same. Red Rover is owned by one such parent, and her name is Wendy Pruden. In 2007 she opened Red Rover as a children’s consignment clothing store in Clintonville next to Wholly Craft. Last summer she decided to transition away from consignment and focus on her dream theme: a little bit retro, a little bit rockabilly, and a whole lot of rock and roll.
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The final week of holiday shopping is upon us! That means that if you still have gifts to buy for friends and loved ones, your time is winding down. In order to assist, we’ve reached out to a wide variety of local shops, stores, and boutiques to find out which of their three most popular “must have” items can still be found on their shelves.
Yesterday, a Dispatch 
Last year over a couple mugs of hot chocolate in their Worthington home, a husband and wife decided to make wooden toys for their two young sons and friends with children. The British master carpenter husband and marketing firecracker wife sourced all-natural local wood, designed kid-friendly shapes, and lovingly finished each piece. The buzz surrounding their charming hand-hewn playthings began to spread and they realized they might be onto something. So Amy Turn Sharp and her husband Joe founded Little Alouette, and now they process orders from around the world. 
