I’m always incredibly impressed with people who use whatever skills they have to make life better for children. The New York Times had a great story recently about Australian Oliver Percovich, who is teaching Afghan kids to skateboard as a way to give them something fun to do, and maybe change their lives for the better.

These kids are so desensitized to violence and, especially girls, don’t have much opportunity for games or sports. Percovich is trying to open a skatepark, Skateistan, so the kids have a safe place to practice.

Percovich is also thinking ahead to when the girls he’s teaching reach puberty and, according to local customs, are not allowed to be in a co-ed class. Skateistan will have separate facilities for girls; many families hope times will change, but realize change will not come quickly or easily.

We know sports and other after-school activities help kids grow into more productive and happy adults. In somewhere like Kabul, where barely have school supplies, much less playground equipment, programs like Skateistan could really make a difference.

At KangarooBoo, we support charities that make life better for children. One, City At Peace, provides a safe place for troubled teens to work through problems using the performing arts. Take a look through the charities we support. KangarooBoo donates a portion of your purchase to the charity of your choosing after checkout.

Having a Super Bowl party? If your kids are anything like mine, the build-up excitement is really fun, but once everyone sits down to watch the game, they get really bored really fast.

Melissa & Doug has a couple of cute products for kids too young to throw around a real football (and, if you’re somewhere too cold to play outside, they’re easier on the furniture and knickknacks): Fill and Spill Sports Bag and Sports Balls in a Mesh Bag.

If you’d like the kids gathered round the table, one great activity is decorating cookies or cupcakes in team colors. The Cardinals and the Steelers are playing this year and their colors are red and white (Cardinals), and yellow and black (Steelers). Black’s kind of an icky deal for frosting though, so white and yellow, with cut up black licorice or sprinkle accents is just as good.

Both the team logos are pretty simple this year, so older kids might like trying to put the team logos on cookies. Painting the logos or key game scenes is also a fun activity.

Knowing some fun facts about the teams will also help kids take a more lasting interest. For instance, the Cardinals have been a team for more than 100 years (though not always in Arizona). In my son’s case, that’s older than great-grandma! And they’ve never been to a Super Bowl, but the Steelers have won four.

For more trivia, games and funny mascot videos, the NFL has a kids page.