by Robbi | Dec 17, 2014 | Drawing Prompts, Stuff We Like, Theme of the Month |
Since this month’s theme is “Deserts,” I thought I’d share a book that we love that takes place in the desert.
It’s called “Art & Max” and is not only about creatures in the desert, it’s also about ART and making art and being creative and not always painting inside the lines – the best!
Art (Arthur) is a horned lizard, and Max is a collared lizard. They live in the desert. The desert makes a great backdrop, because there isn’t much happening besides distant mountains and the occasional cactus to distract you from the story.
But even though the desert is just “the setting,” it’s also a very important player in the book. At one point, Art gets covered with paint and it dries up and gets all cracked, just like mud will do in the heat of the desert.
It’s kind of a climactic moment (which basically means it’s one of the most important things that happens in the book, so pay attention!). A moment that couldn’t have happened, say, in a humid rainforest or a dank swamp. And so the desert is actually a crucial part of this story.
Have a look for yourself. The illustrations are wonderfully detailed and there’s lots of fun to be had. My favorite moment is this one, where a lizard looker-on gets tangled up in some linework:
The book is Art & Max, by David Wiesner (whom I met at an illustrator’s event once and got very excited over but then whiffed my introduction because I couldn’t in the moment remember if it was WEE-sner or WHY-sner. He was very gracious and kind and I got it wrong but I still don’t remember which one it is).
And here’s a question for you:
Do you know of any creatures that live in the desert? Draw a picture and email it to us or post it on our Facebook page and we’ll post it here on the blog for everyone else to see. Get drawing!
by Robbi | Dec 12, 2013 | Stuff We Like |
Well, we’re in the full holiday swing here, so I figured it was time for our very own holiday gift guide. So – without further ado:
1. Two of the best things we got this year was our WeeRide Co-Pilot and Kangaroo Carrier.
In fact, we liked the Kangaroo Carrier so much we got two of them, one for August and one for Kato. This allowed for the whole family to be able to bike together.
I particularly like the Kangaroo Carrier because it sits between your legs as you ride, so that your kid is in front of you where you can see him. It also has a sort of padded flat area off the front that was often used as a headrest when the kids fell asleep on longer rides. The Co-Pilot (the wheel that attaches to the back of your bike) is great for older kids who can pedal themselves. Both are easy to mount and unmount when you’re not using them. Five stars.
2. Since we’re on the subject of bikes, I would be remiss not to mention our balance bikes. We got Alden the Prince Lionheart balance bike when she turned three, but it was much too big for her (she’s tiny, though).
I custom painted it for her, so you can’t get that PARTICULAR model. I like it because the tires are actually inflatable and it’s quite sturdy and well-made. It has a decent turning radius, but the handlebars don’t turn TOO tightly, so jackknifing doesn’t happen as often as it does with Kato’s bike. We had to get Kato a different brand of bike because he’s even tinier than Alden. We got the Chicco Red Bullet for him. It has a much lower seat for kids with short legs, but the tires are hard plastic and after a year and a half of hard riding, they’re starting to split. But it’s well worth the not-stellar construction to hear your kid refer to his ride as the Chicco Red Bullet. If you have a tiny one, start with this one. Kids learn to ride without training wheels in about 10 minutes. They are the best.
3. Kato’s all about rockets. So, we bought a little rocket launcher to play with in Alaska, and spent many hours sending rockets up and chasing them down.
I would NOT, however, recommend the one that’s in the picture – the launching balloon wore out pretty quickly and the whole thing was pretty flimsy. We have a new one that is a huge improvement called the Stomp Rocket Jr. It’s much sturdier. The link will link you with the Glow-in-the-Dark version, which I wish I had known about. I would get it to replace the one we have in Alaska, except that it never gets dark up there in the summer.
4. More rockets! These little handheld ones make great stocking stuffers or cheap gifts for distributing to many school friends ($8.97 for 12)
5. A wall-mounted mailbox for your kids’ room for all the mail your kids get. I like this red Post box because it’s red, but the kids like it because you can separate incoming and outgoing using the newspaper compartment at the bottom.
6. And while we’re on the subject, how about getting some subscriptions to fill that mailbox with? Of course, first off, there’s your Bobbledy Books club membership (shh! with coupon code HOLIDAY you can get $5 off!). But our kids also enjoy very much a couple other subscriptions they have – Nat Geo Kids is a great little magazine – small format for little hands and lots of great photos and interesting factoids. They also love their Puzzle Buzz subscription from Highlights – though it says it’s for ages 4-7, I think you can probably go younger depending on your kid. Since Puzzle Buzz was such a hit, we also got the Hidden Pictures Club subscription. Puzzle Buzz offers more variety, but if your kids are really into the hidden pictures (as ours are), this is a good addition.
7. Those old school balsa wood gliders are always a hit. If you happen to have an excellent gift shop like Twigs & Teacups, go to it! Otherwise, you can come to Chestertown for your shopping (btw, they have TONS of cool stuff beyond the gliders if you do). Or, there’s the Amazon route: the Jetfire Twin Pack or the propeller glider.
The Jetfires are even good for playing with inside, but the propeller ones need some space to really go.
8. Our kids somehow aren’t especially good at board games. They aren’t very good at following the rules, so most games we have played end up with missing pieces and highly modified play. Two games that have passed the let’s-follow-the-rules test are The Busy Town mysteries game and Cariboo by Cranium. Oops. I just noticed that Cariboo is selling for just $179! Well, if you’re that desperate, I’ll sell you our (slightly worn) version for $150. So – the BusyTown game has lots of tiny pieces to lose, but the instructions are simple and the best part is that it’s a cooperative game – everyone works together to find clues and move forward on the board. You win by keeping Pig Will and Pig Won’t from eating up your picnic before you arrive. It’s one of the few games that doesn’t bore me, either. It helps that we have lost some of the picnic items, so we substitute our own treats and when you spin the dial and it says lands on “Pigs Eat” we all yell “PIGS EAT PIGS EAT!” and whoever spun the dial gets to eat one of the treats. And thus there is incentive to be even LESS competitive, because you get to eat treats.
9. Our house is considered a top playdate destination, all because of our Ikea Ekorre hanging seat. It’s lots of fun to swing on, and Alden has perfected her rope-climbing skills on it as well.
I would NOT recommend purchasing it as an ESPN-watching-hammock-chair for your husband, because he will no doubt be much too big for it and will resent you for it for at least 3 years (in which time I also notice the price has gone up, so even MORE reason for you not to buy it for your spouse now).
10. A board book for the babies: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. I had this as a kid and was only reminded of it by my brother. It’s a nice book for rhythmic repetition, and I just adore the kooky monkey illustrations.
August likes pointing at his thumb.
11. Q & A a Day for Kids. I love this book and the idea behind it. There are 365 questions in it (one for each day of the year) and then it repeats 2 more times. It should be fun to see how their answers evolve over the years. As it is, we’ve lost Alden’s and we’re not terribly good about doing them, but I have high hopes. High hopes!
12. We have a couple shape-making games, and I can’t really recommend one over the other. One is Magnetic Mighty Mind and the other is Imaginets.
The kids love both of them. The Mighty Mind cards are actual size, so you can put the shapes right on top of the image – this is great for beginners or younger kids. The Imaginets cards are small, and so you have to look at the card and then look at the shape you’re building to try to match them up. I think this probably helps with visual recognition skills but can be frustrating to younger kids. The Imaginets are more attractive, but the box is quite large, so the Mighty Mind set generally travels with us. So, pros and cons for both, but I think they’re both excellent games.
13. This is one I’m kind of eyeing for myself… Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space.
It looks BEAUTIFUL and is full of interesting information about space. I’m waiting until my kids are a little older to buy it so they don’t ruin it before they can appreciate any of it. But you – YOU surely have more careful and/or intelligent children.
14. One of my favoritest bands from way back in the day They Might Be Giants have three albums for kids – Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and Here Comes Science. These have been stand-bys for a long time. I’m a particular fan of The Seven Days of the Week:
in part, I guess, because its subtitle is “I Never Go to Work” and shows the kid eating bon bons on the couch, which, you know, is what I do all day long.
Alden loves The Alphabet of Nations:
And Kato is particularly fond of Meet the Elements.
If you’re torn, definitely get the DVDs. The videos are great and fun and charming and I love them.
Of course, if you haven’t been a Bobbledy Club Member for long enough, also have a look at our CD from year one, I Don’t Wanna Brush My Teeth by our dear friend and awesome songwriter Drew Bunting. The album features the surprise break-out hit “Mothra,” which you can see re-interpreted here by Bobbledy Club members Spencer and Tyler.
15. The SkyTrix Radical Glider is just what it says it is, most specifically, it’s RADICAL.
We got this to play with in Alaska and had so much fun playing with it that we never took any pictures. You basically swing it around in a circle and let it go, and boy does it go! I would recommend this for older kids (or adults) who have more finely tuned large motor skills than my kids apparently have. That said, they had as much fun chasing as I did tossing.
16. And finally, if you’re looking for some stocking stuffers, how about some fruit? It was a tradition in Matthew’s house to put an orange in the toe of the stocking, but it might be fun to try something more adventurous. Like pomegranate, for example!
Our kids love pomegranates and think they’re kind of an adventure to eat. If you are distressed by the trickiness of getting those seeds out, here’s the best way I’ve found to cut them open. I don’t bother with the deseeding part, but maybe you will.
Another exotic favorite is the star fruit.
And especially appropriate given the starry snowflakey season.
And I suspect if our rinky-dink local supermarket carries these things (our local rinky-dink supermarket is actually named ACME) then yours ought to, too.
AND SO:
For all of you who have stuck with me to the end, here’s the short list:
- 1. WeeRide Co-Pilot and WeeRide Kangaroo Carrier
- 2. Prince Lionheart balance bike or the Chicco Red Bullet
- 3. Stomp Rocket Jr.
- 4. More rockets! These little handheld ones
- 5. red Post box
- 6. Subscriptions: Bobbledy Books club membership (GET $5 OFF WITH COUPON CODE HOLIDAY), Nat Geo Kids, Puzzle Buzz, Hidden Pictures Club
- 7. Balsa wood gliders Jetfire Twin Pack or propeller glider
- 8. Board Games The Busy Town mysteries game and Cariboo by Cranium
- 9. Ikea Ekorre hanging seat
- 10. Board Book for Babies: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
- 11. Q & A a Day for Kids
- 12. Shape Making Games: Magnetic Mighty Mind and Imaginets
- 13. Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space
- 14. They Might Be Giants Albums – Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and Here Comes Science as well as our very own Bobbledy Books album “I Don’t Wanna Brush My Teeth”.
- 15. SkyTrix Radical Glider
- 16. Pomegranates and star fruit.
Happy Holiday Hunting, everyone. Hope this helps!
by Matthew | Sep 2, 2013 | Alden, August, Fun Things to Do, Kato, Kids, Life, Stuff We Like |
Last weekend we packed up the kids and drove north to Wilmington, Delaware. It’s about an hour away from Chestertown, which is about as far as we have to drive to get anywhere. Our destination was the Delaware Children’s Museum and our objective was a full day of hard-hitting fun.
En route to fun, we took a short visit to Costco, which was also fun, but not necessarily hard-hitting. We got some frozen blueberries and a bag of large hemp hearts, among other bulk items. We smiled halfheartedly as we shopped, but all of us were saving our full-on enthusiasm for the main event.
The main event required our full attention. Once we got to the museum, we headed straight for the gym, where the kids braved the obstacle course. Pictured below is Alden’s BFF Mary Jane, who was, apparently, also interested in hard-hitting fun.
Next, the kids ventured into the enormous climbing structure that is the centerpiece of the museum’s entry hall. It’s a remarkable construction of plywood and cables, basically a giant orb that the kids can climb in and around to their hearts’ content.
While Alden and Mary Jane got lost in the funhouse, Kato learned the parts of the human body.
And my mom tested her endurance. Here’s a tip: never question my mother’s endurance. My mother is pure nails.
August, on the other hand, is all show. He sat in the rowing machine, to be sure. But did he row? He did not. He mugged for the camera. Which, one might argue, is entirely my fault. In which case, one would probably be right.
Robbi and the girls got funky in front of the green screen.
Before heading over to the musical climbing wall.
After which, Alden and MJ donned safety gear and built astonishing structures.
While August set up an intricate system of locks in the museum’s elaborate water feature.
Perhaps the favorite part of our day at the museum was the Hurricane Simulator. Robbi and I checked it out first, not wanting to be responsible for wind-based injury to Mary Jane. It would be difficult to explain to her parents if she ended up in Oz.
Once we were convinced of the non-lethal nature of the simulation, Robbi took the kids inside. And fun was had.
Apparently, it’s really fun to have one’s hair blown this way and that.
Really, really fun.
All in all, we succeeded in our mission. The kids all slept on the long drive home in a way that can only be described as profound.
If you’re in the area and are looking for a way to delight and tire your kids, I highly recommend the museum.
Alternately, you can go looking for an actual hurricane, but I cannot guarantee the results will be as satisfying.
by Matthew | Aug 16, 2013 | Alaska, Life, Stuff We Like |
I don’t know about you, but when I was your age (here, I am assuming that you are rather small), I did not know a lot of things. I did not know that fish hatched out of eggs (at the time, I thought only birds did this), and I certainly didn’t know that fish eggs were delicious and that people ate them with seaweed and rice. Although I had heard of rice, I did not even know that people ate seaweed.
Up in Alaska, we catch a lot of salmon. One type of salmon we sometimes catch has really big eggs. When we “clean” the salmon (a nicer word for “cut the salmon open and take out their guts”), we pull out the eggs. They are conveniently contained in a thin, clear membrane, kind of like a plastic baggie.
Have a closer look.
Then we take the eggs and soak them for several days in a mixture of salt, vinegar, and sake (Japanese rice wine). This makes them delicious.
When they are ready, we eat them. My favorite way to eat them is by heaping them on top of a heap of rice that is sitting on a piece of seaweed.
The eggs are like little balls of fluid that pop between your teeth. Robbi doesn’t really like the texture, but I do. I like that they are salty and taste like vinegar.
Here is how we serve our eggs.
And here’s a picture I found online of the eggs in a nicer bowl (thank you, Wikipedia!).
If you want to learn more about fish eggs, which are called Roe in English and Ikura in Japanese, here’s an article.
But perhaps you prefer to be like I was as a child, convinced that hot dogs and macaroni cheese were the only things worth eating.
Personally, I recommend fish eggs.
by Robbi | Aug 1, 2013 | Alden, Kato, Kids, Life, Stuff We Like |
Lately Alden and Kato have been listening to They Might Be Giants “Here Comes Science” on double-triple repeat. There’s a line that has particularly captivated Alden, which goes, “Carbon in its ordinary form is coal/Crush it together and diamonds are born” – and has been asking if she can crush some carbon to make diamonds (with accompanying hand motions). She clearly hasn’t heard my wild-eyed rant about diamonds.
I told her about a week ago that making diamonds takes a really long time and a lot of crushing underground, and that it’s pretty much impossible to do with just your hands. I suggested the alternative of growing crystals and she was immediately on board. Apparently, all that glitters is not diamonds, and it doesn’t really matter. That’s my girl! After dilly-dallying for a week or so about finding the instructions on how to do it online, we happened upon a crystal growing kit at our very favorite best store in all of the USA that happens to be just around the corner, Twigs and Teacups. (BTW, Twigs is for sale – boo hoo! If anyone is looking for a new and rewarding enterprise in some prime real estate in downtown Chestertown, check it out. This place is gold. REAL gold.)
You may have noticed that Alden is moping in the background of this photo. It is not because she has decided she’d rather make diamonds than crystals. No, it is because I told her MooMoo didn’t need to be in the picture, because the picture wasn’t about MooMoo. So, I took it again at her insistence. Say hi to MooMoo.
The kit comes in a lovely translucent yellow box (we chose Topaz Gold as our crystal color, though they come in all colors) full of little pouches of stuff. The directions say age 10+, so please recognize that I am being a totally irresponsible parent here. Kato immediately went for the instruction manual…
…while Alden pored over the tiny mystery pouches.
After a thorough look at the instructions, Kato declared that he wanted to grow the rhombohedral crystals.
As much as I tried to convince him that we didn’t actually have any say in what shapes we got, he’s still convinced.
The first step was to fill the “mixing container” with 70ml of warm water. It seemed completely stupid to me that the ml markings were in barely visible increments of 20. Perhaps 10 year olds have better eyesight and estimating abilities than I do.
So I took a marker and marked off where I guessed 70 might be. Alden got to pour while it was Kato’s job to yell stop when we got to the line.
And then Kato got to pour in the yellow crystal mixture while Alden stirred.
The directions say you need to use “warm water” and that you should stir until all of the crystal mixture has dissolved. Well, we probably could have crushed carbon into a diamond in the amount of time that it took for us to dissolve the crystal mixture. Kato valiantly stirred and stirred and stirred.
I eventually gave in and microwaved it (twice!) before it was fully dissolved.
The next step was to place the stones upon which the crystals would grow.
Two stones came with the kit, and luckily one had pink flecks in it, which made Alden happy.
I make no guarantees for other versions of this kit, should any of you choose to purchase for your own (potentially pink-minded) kids. Though I believe there is a kit that will grow pink crystals.
Up next was to pour the crystal mixture over the stones. I decided I would do this particular job, though must admit that I had several spills while trying to manage being a photographer and pourer at the same time.
Then we were to put the lid on the little container and let it sit for a whole hour.
We were supposed to put aside some of the crystal mixture for later, which I had left out on the counter while we were working. Being that the mixture probably had some toxic chemicals or something in it (ages 10 and up! ages 10 and up, it said!) I wisely decided that I should probably put it up out of reach until the hour was up, just in case one of the kids decided to climb up on the counter while we were waiting. So, I wrapped it in some tin foil and put it out of reach on top of the refrigerator.
After the hour was up, we returned, and fetched the last bit of crystal mixture down to sprinkle over the rocks.
I even made Alden wash her hands afterwards as a precaution (see what a conscientious irresponsible parent I am?). And then we were to put the mixture (with the lid off) up on a shelf somewhere where no one would bother it. I put it right next to our mortar and pestle, which no one has bothered since the day we got it.
With the amount of liquid that needed to evaporate, I figured it would be months before we saw any crystal action, but this morning when I checked there were already some signs of growth.
Exciting!
So, we will keep you posted on how this whole endeavor works out. For those of you who don’t have an awesome store like Twigs & Teacups around the corner from you, you can purchase the very same crystal growing kit here, though it’s gotten some bad reviews from those people not bold enough to microwave the solution to fully dissolve the mixture.
As an endnote: when we were all finished, Matthew came in and we had the following conversation:
Matthew: “What was in that tin foil on top of the refrigerator?”
Robbi: “The crystal-growing chemical stuff.”
Matthew: “Why was it on top of the refrigerator?”
Robbi: “So that if for some reason the kids decided to do something with it, they couldn’t.”
Matthew: “Do something, like what?”
Robbi: “I don’t know – eat it, or something.”
Matthew: “Oh, well, I ate some of it.”
Robbi: “What?! Why would you eat it?!”
Matthew: “I don’t know. It was in tin foil. And it was on top of the refrigerator.”
Oh man.
by Robbi | May 7, 2013 | Bobbledy Kids, Correspondence, Stuff We Like |
Over the weekend, we set ourselves the task of installing a mailbox outside of the kids’ room. They love getting mail, but they have the unfortunate luck of having lackluster and supremely disorganized parents who constantly forget to give them their mail, and instead leave it at the bottom of a pile of bills, laundry and dirty dishes on the dinner table. If you care to, you can find the details of the installation over on the Idiots’Books blog, over here.
The upshot is, Alden and Kato (and August, too, I guess) now have a mail box. It says “POST” on it, actually.
It’s so dandy and red, I kind of wish I had one outside of my bedroom door. (Though, I don’t actually have a bedroom door, since our studio and bedroom are one room, accessed on one side by a spiral staircase (no door) and a half stairway up to the door to the living room (no wall) – which makes the whole proposition too confusing to even contemplate).
They received their first pieces of mail just minutes after we installed the mailbox (the whole installation was spurred by the fact that I had found a couple pieces of their mail under a pile of bills, laundry and dirty dishes on the dinner table and didn’t know where to put them).
There was an invite to a party included, as well as their very favorite magazine, National Geographic Kids. If you don’t already get this magazine, you should. I think part of the appeal is that it’s small – kid-sized. It’s easy to thumb through, and the puzzles, games and factoids are simple enough to digest without being overwhelmed with information. Our kids love it. If you want to, subscribe to it here. (And in case you’re wondering, I’m not getting paid to say this, we just like the magazine and like supporting it.) Of course, if your kids like getting stuff in the mail, there’s also a Bobbledy Books subscription, which you can subscribe to here. (Okay, okay, I admit, we get kickbacks from this one, but really, the kickbacks come in the form of writing books, drawing pictures, and tending to a helpless newborn business all day).
All this is to say, the kids were occupied for the rest of the afternoon with reading their magazine and checking the mail every five minutes.
Time well spent, I’d say.
