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“Mom, what constellation is that?” “Um, I think it’s the Big Dipper.” “Oh. And that one?” “Uh, also the Big Dipper?” Admit it, if it’s not the Big (or possibly the Little) Dipper, you don’t know what on earth (get it?) is up there in the sky.

Squinting at a star map is hardly a help with a sky that changes with each season. And it’s hard to see it out there in the dark. So why not let your telescope find the stars for you? iOptron’s Astroboy telescope has a scroll-through electronic list of constellations and planets on its side that works almost exactly like a remote control. Pick your favored viewing point, hit “enter, and the Astroboy swivels around until exactly that point is in its sights.

On the other hand, if you don’t want the Astroboy to do its automatic thing, you can use it in old-school mode. It won’t get its feelings hurt.

iOptron Astroboy, $150

Trading the utilitarian wood or metal knobs on your kids’ furniture is one of the fastest ways to change the look of the room. In a small, subtle way, the knobs give the room personality, a feature to show off. It’s one of those little touches designers often put in, but other people may never think about.

For sheer size and whimsy, few collections of kid-adored knobs can rival the one at Posh Tots. Green, pink, or purple? Looking like a bouquet of flowers, striped with the American flag, painted with elephants or mermaids or your child’s first initial, these are attention-getters with a surprisingly long lifespan. At about $15 - 20 apiece, these knobs aren’t cheap. You can find far cheaper at any hardware store, and maybe that’s enough for you. But for $60 to $100 bucks you can spruce up an old piece of furniture and make it your own.

Posh Tots’ designer knobs, $15 - 40

Outdoor experts call cotton “the death fabric” for a reason. Once it gets wet, it’s worse than useless to keep your warm. In fact, it literally sucks heat right out of your body. Or, if you’re a small child in damp cotton winter socks, right out of your little feet.

Thus wool socks, which keep the wearer warm even when wet, have been the choice of eons of moms. But the old-style ones are so scratchy, and so ugly. They’re no fun to put on and even less fun to wear. Smartwool’s kids line to the rescue!

The Smartwool socks are comfy and soft, not one bit scratchy. And they come in fun colors, like green and pink, instead of old plain black or gray. They sure are an easier sell.

Smartwool for kids socks start at $10 a pair, with sizes for infants and big kids.

Peas of Mind is a San Francisco company started by a mom who despaired of finding healthier snack (read: junk) food for her family. The result? Found in the frozen food aisles of Whole Foods and Targets nationwide. Peas of Mind offers Puffets, hockey-pucks of rice, pasta, and vegetables, Veggie Wedges, French fries made out of things other than potatoes, and new Peas of Pie, with broccoli and carrots kneaded into the crust.

The vegetable content is not that dazzling really: 1.5 vegetable servings for pies that supposedly serve 3. Considering that most moms think of “sauce” as the vegetable in a pizza, a tiny bit more vegetable content isn’t that thrilling. However, after buying a Peas of Pie cheese pizza at a local Whole Foods store and giving it a try, I’d have to say, it’s pretty good. If you didn’t know to look for them, you’d never see the veg-flecks, and the crust is tender and well-flavored, the sauce tangy but not spicy. I’ll buy it again.

We’ve seen robot matryoshkas. We’ve seen punk rock matryoshkas. We’ve seen monster matryoshkas, Rolling Stones matryoshkas, and male matryoshkas. But no one’s ever seen the best matryoshkas of all: the ones featuring your family.

Chalkboard Matryoshkas come blank, with blackboard coating on the outside, and several sticks of chalk to draw yourself (or whatever you like). If you’re a family of 6, draw all the kids inside mommy and daddy, or use the extra to draw pets, friends, or whatever you think would go nicely inside the family pod.

Chalkboard Matroshkas, $15.50

Tori Spelling is not exactly known as an icon of taste and style. Which is why I was so surprised to love the pieces of her Little Maven line. Apparently, Tori goes in for silkscreened fool-the-eye patterns. They’re all over Little Maven, including ones with scarves, purses, and very cool old-fashioned suspenders.

Spelling, or whomever’s designing for her, also has a nice eye for colors. They’re just off-kilter enough to be interesting, but not screaming/jarring like Hannah Andersson’s or the eye-gouging palates at Gymboree. There are a lot of comfortable high-quality knits, and upscale touches, like enclosed seams, piping, dress linings, and very soft fabric tags. Prints are often inspired by vintage designers, like Missoni or Marimekko. There’s a general casual beachiness to the clothing, and it washes and wears very nicely.

Unfortunately, the distributor that dealt with Little Maven, Hartstrings, went out of business last year. Little Maven’s website has been under construction ever since. Plenty of pieces are still out there in stores, however, and online. Best Dressed Tot has a bunch, as does La Bella Flora Children’s Boutique and, as always, eBay. Worth seeking out.

Have you been buying applesauce and other fruit in squeeze-packs for your baby or your kids’ lunches? They sure are convenient! But evil. The squeeze packs are both made from non-sustainable materials (namely, plastic made from petrochemicals) and non-recyclable after use. Kind of a burden on the ol’ landfill just so you can give it to him without a spoon, huh?

But there is a reusable alternative. Beaba Babypote is like a soft silicone version of those packs. You put purees or mashes in the wide-mouthed top of the jar, screw on the top, and baby sucks them out. Yes, you’ll have to collect and wash it at the end. But isn’t two minutes of your time ladling in pre-made applesauce, yogurt, or your own purees easier than that convenient squeeze pack enduring in a landfill for thousands of years?

Beaba Babypote, $15

When an infant has a cold, you’d do just about anything to get his nose clear so you can all sleep. Up to and including jamming one of those mucus-sucking syringes into his nose while he screams. Only, they don’t work. All they do is make baby cry harder.

NoseFrida works, even though the idea is completely gross. It’s basically a tiny gas-siphoning setup. If you’ve ever hung out with delinquents you’ll recognize it. One end goes in baby’s nose, one end goes in the parent’s mouth, a filter in between makes sure you don’t actually get anything gross in your mouth. Two minutes later, baby’s breathing freely again, and there’s no need to spend the rest of the night in a hot, steamy bathroom.

NoseFrida, $15

Released during Disney’s late ’70s doldrums, when material like The Black Hole and Robin Hood was failing to connect with audiences, 1977’s The Rescuers actually didn’t do badly at the box office. The tale of two heroic mice who rescue a plucky orphan girl from a wicked villainess had everything going for it: star power (with voices from Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor), a terrific source novel written by Margery Sharp, and beautiful animation.

Yet over the years, The Rescuers has faded from attention. It’s ready for another look. The old-school animation is stunning; every bit as lovely as that from acclaimed indie art films like The Triplets of Belleville. The story, an adventure yarn about the ultimate underdogs rescuing a hapless human, is exciting without being nightmarish. Characters are vividly drawn, and unique: Miss Bianca, for example (Eva Gabor), one of the titular Rescuers, is high-class and elegant, yet doughty and courageous enough to volunteer to take on the dangerous task of rescuing orphan Penny from Madam Medusa. Medusa is intent on using the girl to find a mysterious diamond for her. Can you stand a spoiler? She doesn’t end up with the diamond.

The Rescuers is available on DVD and will be released on Blu-ray in March.

Getting kids to practice their writing can be a real chore for parents, particularly after a long day of school. Few kids really feel like doing homework, and getting them to pick up the pencil for some more writing probably won’t appeal.

What would: sneakily getting in writing practice through a fun pre-writing game like an old-fashioned Spirograph. Most of us had these Kenner toys growing up. Remember, the round and football-shaped clear plastic gears that fit inside circles? You’d push your pen through and create weird, unearthly shapes and drawings.

It’s still just as fun as it used to be, but the set marketed as a Spirograph these days is simply sad it’s so cheap. Do yourself and your kids a favor and either find a vintage set, or shell out $15 for the Hypotrochoid Art Set. It’s smaller than your old Spirograph, and not quite as exciting. But it’s the closest you’ll get these days.

Hypotrochoid Art Set, $15