by Matthew | Sep 2, 2015 | Bobbledy Kids, Fun Things to Do, Kids, Life, Projects |
For a long time, the kids had no idea what Robbi and I do for a living. They know we’re “working” because we shut the door to the studio and tell them to amuse themselves in the living room. But for all they know “working” means eating pretzels and watching Netflix. Alden learned Robbi was an illustrator from one of the kids at her school. Once Kato found out that I am a writer, he naturally assumed that I was responsible for the words in all the books in the world.
These complicated concepts seem to have finally distilled into a collective understanding that Robbi and I make books together (some small subset of all the books in the world) and that we sell them in an attempt to make money.
Once all these dimensions clicked into one pleasing package, the kids realized that they had a golden opportunity to walk in our footsteps—and to reap the (imagined) riches that might result.
And so they took out their markers and made a banner.
They took out their scissors and folded single sheets of paper to make small books. (As explained in the tutorial in the back of recent Bobbledy title I Looked Out the Window And).
They took out their pens and wrote stories, to which they added drawings.
Instantly recognizing the shortcomings of their parents’ far-too-focused-on-books-alone strategy, they conned their mother into ordering a big bag of lollipops online, that their store might offer sweet treats to complement the reading process.
They dumped the staples from our staple bin and placed their various titles just so.
They convinced their father to lug their art table down to the corner of Queen Street and High. They set up shop. They beamed enthusiastically at the passers by.
And almost instantly, commerce happened.
People stopped to buy finished books and blank books or to have a hands-on tutorial on how to make their own book.
There were ample opportunities for real-time math lessons as they were forced to make change.
The list of available books contained such winning titles as: That’s Not Cool, Sometimes Dogs Eat Macaroni and Cheese, and Kitty Cat the Acrobat.
About twenty minutes after the shop had opened for business, the inventory was depleted. Kato gladhanded customers while Robbi and Alden raced inside to make more books.
It was a rather successful first day. I’m pretty sure the kids made more than Robbi and I did at our first day selling our wares at a book show.
But then again, we didn’t have the benefit of setting up next to Chestertown’s most popular bakery. Nor are we nearly as blessed with those elusive intangibles that help drive sales—youthful enthusiasm, earnest wonder, and…lollipops.
by Matthew | May 22, 2015 | Fun Things to Do, Reader Submitted |
Last week, Robbi painted a mermaid.
The original is currently on the auction blocks, but the painting above was only a small part of Robbi’s intention when making this drawing. The other plan was to create a coloring sheet that kids could download, print out, and magnificently decorate.
The original, which may be downloaded here, hint, hint, looks like this:
But when placed in the expert hands of Bobbledy Club member Calli R., it looks like this.
We have a gallery of mermaids hanging in the hallway. Because, you see, you may download as many as you like. Why not make a mermaid army. A friendly one, of course. The sort of army that distributes attractive seashells by the shoreline on sunny afternoons.
Robbi messed up her first attempt at making the pen and ink version of the mermaid for the auction, and so she started over, leaving one lucky kid with the ultimate drawing sheet.
Alden decided to take advantage of the opportunity. She is a patient artist, and a careful one.
Which is not to say she doesn’t enjoy herself in the process.
Here is her mermaid. Perhaps not quite as studied and precise as Robbi’s but still not bad, I think. If it were available for auction, I think I’d bid. But apparently, she’s keeping it for her private collection.
If you know a kid who might enjoy coloring a mermaid, here’s the download link again.
But keep in mind that there are other coloring pages and fun stuff to make and do on our ACTIVITIES page.
Download. Draw. And then let us see what you made. Making art is great. But the best part is sharing it with others.
by Robbi | Jan 13, 2015 | Fun Things to Do |
So I told Kato that we could make ice cream for his birthday, and he was very excited (not as excited as I was). I asked people on FB what their favorite flavors of ice cream were, and we got some interesting responses (see the post about it HERE), which I hoped would stir Kato’s imagination.
And guess what flavors he insisted on making…
Chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. *sigh*
And so we set to work on the simplest ice cream recipe ever – whipped cream and condensed milk. First, get out your heavy cream (2 cups of it, preferably dispensed by small and careful hands):
Next, pour your heavy cream into your standard-issue stand mixer. Or just a bowl with a hand mixer.
Turn that sucker to the highest setting and go meditate with your dog in the sun for a little while:
Take a chilled 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and empty it into your mixing bowl:
I said EMPTY IT!!!! Yeah, nearly impossible. The stuff is the definition of “gelatinous goo”:
Fold it in together and then add your flavoring (only the best, Special Dark):
Wonder if Special Dark really is the best after all. This looks more like shoe leather than chocolate. Add some mini chocolate chips to try to bring it back around.
If mini chocolate chips don’t do the trick, try some mini marshmallows.
Taste test.
Give the “chocolate” a rest and chop up some strawberries:
Enlist some comrades-in-arms if you start feeling overwhelmed by said strawberries:
Mash up the strawberries so they’ll mix in better with the ice cream (though leave some big chunks for fun):
Forget to take a picture of the mixing-in-the-strawberries step. Try to do some more taste testing on the sly, and do your best to look innocent when caught.
Throw everything in the freezer for a day and then have at it.
Final outcome: it TASTED like ice cream (delicious) but the texture was pretty dense (it might have been because we beat it so much that all the fluff was gone by the time we got it in the freezer). I would say it’s a great binding base to try out interesting flavors with (fresh chunky berries or cookies) but for straight up chocolate and vanilla we probably should have just lightly mixed it and put it right in the freezer.
That said, it TASTED delicious. And was super easy and a fun project to do with the kids. Check out the video where I got the recipe from HERE and let us know how it goes.
ALSO: A free book to anyone who tries to recreate any one of the 10 extreme ice cream flavors listed HERE (foie gras?! Pizza? Bacon and olive?) and reports back!
by Matthew | Aug 13, 2014 | Fun Things to Do, Reader Submitted |
About a week ago, the most recent Bobbledy book, Benji McBean’s Amazing Machines hit mailboxes all over the place.
Apparently, it has been causing various excitement in various homes.
Here, for example, is Bobbledy club member Sakura, whose dad wrote, “Just got our new book. It’s uh-mazing!”
And here is a photo of Phoebe. We can’t tell whether her mom is happy or upset with our book when she writes, “Phoebe has been making machines all morning and ignoring her breakfast. Her hot chocolate is not hot and her cereal is now soggy. Looks like we found her new favorite book!”
We included a tutorial in the back of the book that walks kids, through the process of making their very own crane from various household objects—including a cereal box, paper towel tube, and a piece of string. We hoped that at least one kid would take the time to actually make one.
And lo! At least one kid did. His name is David. He is four. And here is the wonderful machine he made.
Check out the awesome circuitry. And, while you’re at it, check out the speed-variation dial. David was not content with a machine that just turns “off” and “on.” No indeed. He wanted to be able to go “fast” and “slow” as well. This was not part of our instructions. This is pure innovation on David’s part.
Moving on then, let’s have a side view. Check out the “control panel” lid fastened to the side. Check out the decorative blue pencil/handle for the crane crank.
This angle affords an even better view of the control panel.
David gets my props and admiration for style, ingenuity, and flair. What an incredible machine! Benji McBean would be extremely proud.
Thanks to all you kids who shared your enthusiasm for our brand new book with us. As for hte rest of you, we’d love to see more pictures and hear more stories!
by Robbi | Jun 7, 2014 | Alden, August, Fun Things to Do, Kato, Kids, Projects |
Hello all! Father’s Day is coming up soon, and as usual, we are planning a super-great surprise awesome thanks-for-you-you-are-the-best party for Matthew!
Just kidding. We usually completely forget Father’s Day, because, of course, I am supposed to be the one in charge of remembering. But this year I am ON THE BALL. No, really. I have the perfect Father’s Day craft project for you!
Golf Balls for Dad
So, I thought it would be fun to get a box of golf balls and have the kids decorate them. You know, because golf balls are so plain and white and otherwise not particularly interesting (though I once learned in a heated game of Trivial Pursuit that the average golf ball has 336 dimples. And not Shirley Temple, which was my wrong, albeit much more inspired, answer).
We got our box of golf balls (the kids won a coupon at Olympia Sports for running in the Sneaker Creeper) and our sharpies and set to work.
And immediately ran into problem #1:
Holding onto those suckers! Not ten seconds in, we had already lost two balls under the couch and had to hunt for another that bounced across the room.
August tried his hardest not to be distracted by the sound of retreating golf balls.
I guess we must have gotten those fancy long-distance balls.
Anyway. Once we got ourselves back in order and corralled the balls in a box with our pens, we set to work. Alden is a fan of multi-colored flower and heart creations:
while Kato is a virtuoso of the minimalist, flood-your-canvas-with-color-(preferably orange) variety:
August has yet to fully develop his style, which isn’t to say he hasn’t put some really thoughtful, focused and intense effort into his mark-making:
I am particularly fond of Alden’s “Hands Across the Golf Ball” piece:
That kid is so kumbaya, it slays me.
Soon enough, the balls were done (golf balls make a pretty manageable canvas):
While rooting around looking for wrapping paper (turns out snowmen and santa claus is all we’ve got) I discovered the perfect solution: coffee filters! Seeing as Matthew gave up coffee almost a year ago now, we still have a full pack of those suckers around and don’t have much to do with them.
We decorated them first:
And then added the finishing touches after they were all tied up:
We made a couple of very important discoveries that I will share with you:
1. It’s better if you use two coffee filters. Then you can’t see your golf ball through them, and you can decorate each coffee filter differently and it makes the little crepe flower at the top more interesting.
2. Coffee filters make great hats:
and, of course:
3. Hat shenanigans with your brother is hilarious:
And so, when we finally finished, we had some cute and festive little gifts for Father’s Day.
Of course, I neglected to mention the very important 4th item that we discovered – or should I say, remembered? And that is:
4. Matthew doesn’t play golf.
Alas. Matthew isn’t the manly sort who likes to go out and strike balls with clubs with impunity. Nope. Not even a little bit. So, as great as this little craft project is to do, you likely want to do it for someone who actually plays golf. So, we packed up these balls to send to Matthew’s dad, who is very much the manly sort who likes golf.
As for Matthew, I guess this means we’ll have to get to planning that super-great surprise awesome thanks-for-you-you-are-the-best party after all. Unless, of course, I forget about Father’s Day again before we can do it.
**Wait, what were we talking about?**
by Robbi | May 27, 2014 | Fun Things to Do |
A friend recently called us up and said she had received a patio set in the mail and had a giant box that she was planning on getting rid of unless we thought we could use it (thanks, Christine!!).
Well. There is NO BETTER TOY than a giant cardboard box! So, of course I said, “YES PLEASE!” and she even conscripted her poor husband to deliver the box to us, along with some other large pieces of cardboard (thanks, Greg!!).
Alden and August wanted to use the cardboard to make some cardboard friends. I did my best to trace them. Alden tried her best to keep still:
while August struggled a bit with the concept and kept looking around to see what was going on:
When that was done, they colored themselves in:
Alden was very careful with hers, and when it came time to cut her new friend (named “Alden” out) she insisted on supervising me very closely, making sure I didn’t make any mistakes (“she could lose a finger if you’re not careful, Mama!”):
Alden was delighted with Alden:
and has already made a (rather uncomfortable) bed for her in the no-longer-in-use cat tower.
Actually, given that August sleeps on a dog bed on the floor of the kids’ bedroom, this is pretty much par for the course for accommodations around here.
Alas, August’s friend was so destroyed by his attempts to color him in that I wasn’t even sure where to cut. Thankfully, August himself had already moved on and was no longer interested in creating his doppelgänger.
He had moved on because there was, of course, the giant box to contend with. While we had been making friends, Kato had been busy at work decorating the new fort. After cutting a couple windows and doors in the thing, it was ready for prime-time.
This was the perfect way to spend the afternoon. And perhaps the best thing about the fort is that it’s apparently tons of fun to take all the miscellaneous toys and puzzle pieces that were formerly strung all over the room and put them in your fort instead. Double bonus! Thanks so much, Christine and Greg!!
