Shopping: World Octopus Day

October 8, 2015 is World Octopus Day (get it? October 8)! Show your appreciation for one of the Earth’s oldest and most distinctive creatures with our super-fun picks for babies, kids, and parents alike!

AMNH Leonardo the Octopus
Leo is the perfect cuddly buddy: He is super soft, plus his eyes and tentacles glow in the dark! It has small parts, so it is best suited for kids three and older. Available locally at the American Museum of Natural History's shop as part of their "Life at the Limits" exhibit collection. $39.99, amnh.org
Cloud B Twinkles To Go Octo
Do you have a young child who stresses out in unfamiliar places or a baby who just can't seem to fall asleep? The adorable Twinkles will make traveling and bedtimes much easier. It decorates any scary, new place with patterns of fish blowing bubbles and stars to help promote sleep. $18.95, cloudb.com
French Octopus Card from the Pink Olive
What’s cuter than an octopus? An octopus with a mustache and beret! Pink Olive’s French Octopus Card features just that--and it's available locally at Pink Olive's stores in Brooklyn. $5.75, pinkolive.com
Tracey Walker Animal Wall Art (Octopus) from Land of Nod
Add a beautiful touch of nature to any room with this framed octopus garden wall art by Tracey Walker. The colors should compliment any nursery or playroom decor. $69.97, landofnod.com
Skip Hop Octopus Ring Toss
This bath time toy, by beloved local company Skip Hop, will keep your baby entertained for the entirety of bath time. If you pour water in the top of its head, it sprinkles down from the arms. And older babies can play a fun game of ring toss. $13, skiphop.com
Mini Boden Creatures of the Deep T-shirt
Featuring a striking blue print and a relaxed fit, this t-shirt will please kids of a wide age range. It is 100 percent cotton and machine washable, so it's suitable for a variety of activities. $26, bodenusa.com
Octopus Mixed Personalized Notepads from the Paper Source
Do you want a fun, personalized stationery set? The Paper Source’s Octopus Mix Set comes with two note pads, two mini note pads, and one list pad. You can add your own name of monogram online. $35, papersource.com
Baby Einstein Activity Arms Octopus
The eight activity arms on this cute octopus toy are sure to keep children three years and up engaged while encouraging discovery and multi-sensory stimulation. Some of the fun activities are a ring rattle, a starfish bead chaser, a flashcard with real-world imagery and a baby-safe mirror. $9.99, kidsii.com
Catimini Blue Octopus Tee from Alex & Alexa
This cute and quirky t-shirt by Catimini features an octopus and its friends of the deep. The popper fastening at the back makes changing easier for those independent kids who want to do everything themselves. $33, alexandalexa.com
tokidoki x Hello Kitty Blind Box
As the name suggests, you have no idea what you will get from this box - the surprise is part of the fun. Of the 12 collectible Hello Kitty items, the special octopus option is the rarest of all (a "chase" at one in every 100 boxes only). $10, shop.tokidoki.it
Coral & Tusk Thank You Octopus
The octopus wants to thank you for giving it its own special day! Thank you octopus is a laser cut graphic on silver metallic paper folded card--made by Brooklyn-based Coral & Tusk. $2, coralandtusk.com
Honest Company Swim Diapers
These swim diapers, from former NYF cover-mom Jessica Alba's Honest Company, are light and fight well, so they will keep messes in check. They are perfect for a fun day at the pool, beach, or backyard water play. $13.95, honest.com
Octopus Garden Shower Curtain from Anthropologie
Hey stylish moms: Bring the whimsical element of the ocean to your bathroom decor! This shower curtain by Thomas Paul, and available at home decor and style haven Anthropologie, is made of cotton and linen and is machine washable. $148, anthropologie.com
Jan Leslie Octopus Cuff Links from Nordstrom
Who says business clothes can't be fun? Add a bright of color to any stylish dad's suit with these silver and blue octopus cuff links, available at Nordstrom. $395, nordstrom.com

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;

BAMkids

BAMkids presents adventurous art and ideas for young audiences, igniting the imaginations of creative kids ages 3&mdash;11 with a fun and engaging lineup of workshops, movie matinees, and live performances from around the world. BAM Education connects learning with creativity, engaging imagination by encouraging self-expression through programs for students, teachers, and audiences of all ages. Explore the programs on their website to learn more about their opportunities for creative online engagement!

Yuletide Factory

Fill your hearts with circus cheer&mdash;the merry daredevils of Cirque Mechanics (Zephyr, 2023) are back with an industrial-strength spectacular for you and your kin. Sparkling with holiday spirit, the ever energetic ensemble of acrobats transforms a drab assembly plant into a holly jolly Yuletide Factory! From the wonder of the German wheel to festive flips from the trampoline wall, they dash and dance through a pageant of powerhouse stunts with grins and goodwill. It&rsquo;s high-flying fun, comfort and joy for the whole family!