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The weather and economy got you feeling down? It's time to treat yourself and your family and you can do it close to home this month. Hotel Blake, a luxury hotel at 500 S. Dearborn, in Chicago's Printer's Row, is offering a special spring break rate of $139 per night through April 30. The hotel is ideal for families looking for a little break -- it's close to Navy Pier and Millennium Park and the city's great museums.

For more information about Hotel Blake and to take advantage of the special rate, visit www.hotelblake.com or call (312) 986-1234.

Flash cards get a bad rap—I dare you to find one kid who actually likes using them. You may just change their minds with the adorable Animal Alphabet Pop-Up Flash Cards from School Zone, though. Although these are meant for little kids (ages 3-6), you’d be hard pressed to find a more entertaining set of alphabet flash cards. The front of each card features the typical letter in upper and lowercase form, but inside is a pop-up animal that begins with that same letter. The back of each card shows a “letter scene” where kids are asked to find three things that begin with that card’s letter—a kind of more challenging “Where’s Waldo.” I bet your kids will think they’re playing a game, not using flash cards.

Animal Alphabet Pop-Up Flash Cards retail for $7.99. For more information visit www.schoolzone.com.

Remote-controlled toys can provide hours of entertainment, but sometimes all those buttons and controls can be too much for little fingers to handle. Radio-Controlled Dinos from HearthSong are designed with this in mind, featuring just one large button for operation. Turn the dino on and he immediately starts spinning. Just push and hold the button on the trilobite controller to make him travel in a straight line and let go when you want him to turn again. The head and tail wag whenever it moves, too. Available in Blue Triceratops and Green T-Rex, these toys are so cute you may find it hard to resist playing with them yourself.

Radio-Controlled Dinos are recommended for ages 3 and up and retail for $22.98. For more information, visit www.hearthsong.com.  

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been so busy shopping and cooking for the holidays that when it comes time to prepare a normal meal, you just don’t have the time or energy to make something complicated. That’s where the McCormick 3-Step Cooking with Flavor cookbook comes in handy. Just like the name suggests, each recipe involves only three steps. Although the recipes also feature specific McCormick products, odds are they are items you already have in your kitchen (or something similar) or are easily available. With the time you’ll save, you might actually get your to-do list done by Christmas morning.

McCormick 3-Step Cooking with Flavor retails for $29.95 and is available at most major bookstores.

Todayʼs kids are all about recycling and this easy-to-use paper-making studio makes being green easy. Our 10-year-old tester has made paper before with kitchen blenders and home-made screens, which can be a challenge. This kit contains all the pieces families need to create paper in a way thatʼs simple enough even for younger kids (with some help from an adult). The only thing the kit doesnʼt contain is the pulp to create the paper, but this is easily created with some leftover newspapers tossed into the kitʼs blender. The paper created from this kit really isnʼt suitable for writing, but itʼs a great work of art, suitable for framing and enjoying for years to come. The kit, recommended for kids 8 and older, costs $17.47 at discoverystore.com.

Ball pits are always a big hit with kids, but dealing with the crowds (and possible germs) found at many playplaces is a definite turn-off for parents. With the Plush Dinosaur Ball Pit from the Discovery Channel Store, you can avoid the downsides of playplaces by having a ball pit in your own home. This one is only big enough for kids ages 6-36 months, but it’s adorable and features several different ways to play.

The most obvious use for the dinosaur is as a ball pit, unzipping it to reveal 60 multicolored balls in two different sizes. My 6-month-old loved batting at the balls, but even the smaller size was still a little too big for him to grab with his hands. While they may look like they’re made of hard plastic, the balls are also surprisingly soft so there are no worries about accidental injuries due to balls flying in the air.

Zip up the dinosaur and he can serve as a big stuffed animal, which my son loved even more. He seemed to love that the dinosaur was bigger than him and enjoyed grabbing the dinosaur’s big, stuffed nose. The crinkle spine was also a big hit, with my little guy repeatedly crunching the scales and laughing. As he gets older, I can see the ball pit becoming the main attraction, which gives this toy a decent amount of longevity. And who knows, maybe when he gets too big to use it as a ball pit, the dinosaur will become another beloved stuffed animal.

The Plush Dinosaur Ball Pit retails for $89.95. For more information visit www.discoverystore.com.

When you go to strap your little one into his or her car seat, do you ever wonder if you have the straps adjusted correctly? Everyone stresses the importance of making sure the straps sit snugly enough against your baby, but sometimes it’s hard to tell. The Britax Boulevard CS takes out the guesswork—the Click & Safe indicator clicks when the harness is tight enough.

The seat also features True Side Impact Protection with deep side walls (if you couldn’t tell from the photo) and ample head protection. Although this behemoth isn’t easily portable from car to car, it does have staying power—rear facing it fits infants 5-35 pounds and seats forward-facing kids 1 year and up from 20-65 pounds and 49 inches or less. That’s a pretty wide range for a car seat. Thankfully, it’s also not as heavy as it looks. Plus I love that reassuring little click.

The Britax Boulevard CS retails for $329.99. For more information visit www.britaxusa.com.