meditation Archives - NAPPA Awards

July 11, 2024 by NAPPA Awards Team

ChatterTime On-the-Go

Start conversations that create moments of together time in a lighthearted and playful way. With six question categories, the sky’s the limit for everyone to share memories, dreams for the future, silly moments and much more. To get started, pick a card and read it out loud. Take turns sharing your answer. $9.99, ages 4+, pennycake.com

mediTATE

Build your child’s mental fitness through meditation stories & activities played through a multi-sensory, plush toy. Equipped with a child-friendly, Bluetooth speaker that, when connected to the audio library, delivers a magical experience of meditation, mindfulness and calm. $89.99, ages 4+, miindfully.com

Mix It Up On-the-Go

Turn your on-the-go time into meaningful family time. Pick a card, add a sprinkle of time, and voila! Instant fun for all ages. Whether you’re smiling, playing, creating, learning, or caring, there’s something for everyone. No need to plan ahead – most activities require nothing extra. $9.99, ages 4+, pennycake.com

Mix It Up Activity Box

Create cherished family time effortlessly. Featuring 125 activity cards that transform even a brief bit of time into lasting memories. Whether it’s 10 minutes before soccer practice, an hour before dinner, 30 minutes in transit, or a leisurely weekend afternoon, the versatile cards fit any occasion. Simply gather your loved ones, a spark of inspiration, and let the together time begin. $29.99, ages 4+, pennycake.com

FrameTheFun Family Bucket List

It’s time to go on fun family adventures and capture it all in this keepsake frame. Choose from a selection of 30 adventure cards. Capture your together time with a photo and replace the adventure card with your family in action. $34.99, ages 4+, pennycake.com

Dreamland: Relax & Imagine

The third family album from Boulder, Colorado’s award-winning singer-songwriter Jenn Cleary. Offering nine soothing and enchanting songs to help kids unwind, plus a special guided relaxation exercise. Perfect for bedtime or quiet moments. Makes it easy for kids and adults alike to breathe deeply, smile, imagine, and dream. $15, jenncleary.com

“Back Home”

An album with songs dedicated to self-love and freedom. A follow-up to Wendy and DB’s successful “Into The Little Blue House”. A collection of acoustic performances celebrating traditional blues roots music through originally crafted songs for young souls and anyone who enjoys learning about blues and its traditions. $20, wendyanddb.com

February 11, 2021 by

While every day is a great day to show your love and appreciation for your kids, Valentine’s Day gives all of us a wonderful opportunity to express our feelings — and nothing says love more than kindness. At NAPPA Awards, we are celebrating kindness and positivity all year long by showcasing books, music and other great products that will bring joy and connection to your family and remind us that we need to be kind to ourselves, to each other, to our community and to our world.

Best for Mom

Let’s start with all the moms who always put everyone else first. We know this past year has not been easy, parenting through a pandemic, that’s why we love KindNotes. These beautiful jars of 31 handcrafted messages, enclosed in mini decorative envelopes, combine the charm of handwritten notes with positive affirmations perfect for a little pick-me up. Comes in a variety of designs and themes and can be customized. Starting at $34.95, kindnotes.com

And we think every mom deserves some quiet time to reflect and recharge. MamaZen Mindful Parenting App provides the perfect space to relieve stress, fatigue and anxiety using a combination of meditation, hypnotherapy and mindfulness . The 150 brief audio sessions (5-15 min) cover common topics among moms. 30-day free trial, then $14.99/month, mamazen.com

Spread Kindness Through Music

We know you’re going to love these recent NAPPA Award winners as much as we do. Music is such a wonderful source of well-being and the messages of kindness in these songs are universal and great for all ages.

Make it Happen!

Cheery, charming and energetic songs celebrate the simple joys of life, while also delivering positive messages of empowerment, courage and strength. Packed with lyrical wisdom centering on creating meaningful relationships and experiences. $9.99, staceypeasley.com

Thank You, Mister Rogers – Music & Memories

A heartfelt tribute album featuring classic songs performed by award winning artists. Highlights include the spirited Latin rhythms on Jaci Velasquez’s playful take of “You Can Never Go Down The Drain,” Jon Secada’s Spanish interpretation of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” and actress/singer Rita Wilson, whose husband Tom Hanks wonderfully portrayed Fred Rogers in the movie, provides a tender rendition of “Sometimes People Are Good.” $10.95, thankyoumisterrogers.com

A Mind of Your Own

Featuring Nashville-based songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, a Brooklyn-based, fiddle-playing child psychiatrist and an array of acclaimed Americana performers in a captivating and upbeat debut album filled with songs and skits touching on a variety of topics—making new friends, coping with failure, learning a new language, dealing with emotions and bullying. Invites listeners to think deeply on feelings and emotions that come with growing up, while focusing on resilience. $14.98, folkways.si.edu

Words to Inspire

Find a cozy nook and start reading together. Beautiful illustrations and words will inspire you to be in awe of nature and all the creatures around us. There is so much to be thankful for if we just take a look around and really notice.

Good Morning, Good Morning

The lyrical wordplay encourages children to explore their surroundings and notice the subtle sensations within their bodies, all while helping them develop their daily mindfulness practice. Written and illustrated by women of color and featuring diverse characters. $12, ages birth-4, bounlesblooms.com

The Mighty River

Celebrates the community we share through nature and the diverse animals and plants that call the river home. Includes beautiful illustrations, a wide array of information, ideas on how to protect our waterways and space to draw and describe river animals and scenes. $15, ages 2-8, years, beautifulworldbooks.com

Kindness Tales

A curated collection of children’s stories celebrating the timeless power of kindness to make the world a gentler, safer and even more loving place by author and highly-respected folklorist, Margaret Read MacDonald. $16.95, ages 6-10, augusthouse.com

The Book of Cultures

A 120-page picture book for young readers to discover the world, embrace its diversity and go on adventures near and far, all from the comfort of their home. Featuring 30 stories with buddies from different countries, followed by a 2-page activity snapshot on each culture. $35, ages 4-9, worldwidebuddies.com

Be Together

To teach our kids about their big feelings is a true gift. Sit together, talk and use these creative and colorful cards to enhance your child’s social emotional learning.

The Little Yogi Deck: Simple Yoga Practices to Help Kids Move Through Big Emotions

A colorful card deck featuring 48 simple yoga and mindfulness practices to help kids work through big emotions on and off the mat. Eight color-coded categories include anger, worry, excitement, sadness, joy, jealousy, shame and peace. Includes a practice booklet. $19.95, ages 5+, Shambhala.com

Mindful Moments: Guided Exercises and Mantras for Kids

Easy-to-follow guided exercises blending mindfulness meditation and empowering affirmations to build emotional intelligence and encourage kids to tap into the present moment and their unique strengths. Includes mindful tips booklet. $30, ages 2+, boundlessblooms.world

Imagine That

It is through play that kids learn about life. Give them a world filled with imagination, kindness, love and generosity.

Poppy the Kindness Unicorn & Pawley Bear

Join Poppy and Pawley on their journey filled with friendship, kindness, and lots of fun as they spread kindness through Sharewood Forest. $34.99, ages 3+, plushible.com

Care Bears: Love-A-Lot Bear

A group of huggable BFFs living that sweet caring life. Perfect for unlimited bear hugs and ready for you to take on your adventures of sharing and caring. Comes with a collectible Care Coin to spark on conversation and action on everyday acts of kindness. $14.99, ages 4+, Walmart.com

Sharewood Forest Friends

Enter a magical world filled with friendship and sharing. Each friend comes with an adorable outfit, pajama set and reusable packaging that unfolds into a unique playscape, where kindness grows as large as the mighty oak and spreads like wildflowers. $34.99, ages 2-4, sharewoodfriends.com

For more product reviews visit nappaawards.com

June 22, 2020 by Elena Epstein

We’re excited to introduce you to Nicole Black, a mom and wellness entrepreneur. Nicole, who lives in Santa Barbara with her daughter, is the creator behind the Spa Girl Life Candles, a 2020 NAPPA Award winner.

While working in the spa industry for many years, Nicole learned about the soothing benefits of aromatherapy and relaxation and the healing powers of crystals. Creating a life of intention to manifest your dreams, wishes and desires is how Spa Girl Life Candles came to be. The candles are hand-poured using soy wax and cotton wicks. Each candle arrives with two stones and a link to a guided meditation as well as a mantra card. These candles are great for moms and moms-to-be. You can read our mom evaluators comments about these candles in here.

Tell us a little about your daily life as a working mom.

If I were to sum it up in one word, it would be busy! Balance has become my middle name because I am regularly working on three projects. The first project is The Spa Girl Life – my luxury candle line, which fulfills my professional needs. My secondary project feeds my soul, working on my second book, The Spiral Staircase: The Path Isn’t Always a Straight Line. My third project is my passion project. This year I am working on getting my late father’s film “Pretty Poison” named to the Library of Congresses National Film Registry. Balancing that with spending time with my daughter, cooking, cleaning, and spending time outdoors every day keeps me pretty busy.

How do you destress and maintain your own well-being?

Ho’oponopono. An ancient Hawaiian method of releasing and restoring oneself to a zero state, using a four-sentence mantra designed to restore peace. Plus, I light a lot of candles. Aromatherapy and a warm bath allow me to put things in perspective.

What do you enjoy doing when not working?

Travel. Exploring new cities and all of the adventures that go along with that is my absolute favorite past time. Being out of my element allows my brain remarkable creative freedom, and some of my best ideas show up when I have been on vacation.

Favorite place to be with your family?

Together! In my world, it doesn’t matter if we are in a tropical paradise or a snow-covered mountain, time spent talking and laughing with my loved ones is my favorite thing.

Best life advice?

Live each day fully and in the present moment. The good news is if it were a great day, you would be able to tell stories about it forever. If it wasn’t a great day, it’s over, no need to reflect on it any longer. Additionally, remember to embrace all five senses: smell, touch, sight, sound, and taste.

Best advice for moms – new moms, moms with teens, mom entrepreneurs.

My advice for all moms is the same – be present and show your children you love them. New moms: you’re going to get a lot of unsolicited advice. Take what you can use and forget the parts that won’t work for your family. Moms with teens: be present with your children, know who their friends are, and ask a lot of questions. Mom with jobs: you are doing incredible work! It isn’t easy to balance work and life. Do the best you can each day and strive to do 5% more the next day.

What was your motivation behind launching Spa Girl Life?

Candles have always instilled a sense of peace inside of me. After leaving the restaurant group I co-founded, I felt as if I was at a crossroad, what should I do next? As a serial entrepreneur, I am always looking at products and thinking of ways to improve them. One of the things I noticed about candles that come with accessories is that you have to be incredibly patient waiting to get the prize inside. I wanted to create a candle that had crystals that could be used with guided meditations while burning the candle. Hence the mini first aid kit for the soul was born. I hope that women will have a moment of peace in their busy days to reflect and breathe.

For more award-winning products visit nappaawards.com