Dinosaurs on stage and screen

Walking with Dinosaurs live on German Television

Games for the brain

Go ahead, let your teenagers play another few minutes of Tetris, that simple-yet-addictive puzzle game; it may well be good for their brain. Researchers have new evidence that playing Tetris makes a developing brain more efficient and thicker in certain regions. Discover

My cortex must be like a brick between the hours I put into tetris back on the first gameboy and this flash game Bloxorz.

Bonsai Design

I met the author of this book at a collector's show in Honolulu, nice person that sounds like he loves to teach. Gorgeous book, tons of color photos. My 12 year old was into the idea of taking one of his classes this fall.

Traveling article

This is a good article about traveling with kids from SFGate.

Lessons out of school

I never had any doubt there was learning to be gained by taking Julian out of school for this trip. Idealistically, I had hoped it would come from seeing historic buildings and by swimming in the customs of a foreign nation. But, while he picked up some of those elements, I began to realize that learning happens on its own schedule and often without any order or logic I could dictate.

Borders gift card and discounts for kid summer readers

I'll have to check on the reading list, good thing I have a 12 year old! They have a PDF form on their site for the 50% off coupon.

Seasame Street is 40 this year

time flies, I'm glad that youtube has a lot of the classic songs. PBS.org has printable coloring pages of the gang, this one looks like a mug shot of Grover.

Puzzle hunt

I got to go with on a puzzle hunt/adventure that Ravenchase put together. It was like a scavenger hunt but with clues and puzzles and codes that the kids have to solve in order to get to the end. It was a blast - we worked our way through town and ended up digging up a treasure chest at the beach.

Each team of kids got a pack with a UV flashlight, a map, some rope, a mirror, clue sheets and a really cool codex that could only be opened once all the clues have been solved.

cool Easter eggs without the store dyes

This cool blog has lots of ways to creatively decorate your Easter eggs without Dudley's help.
seen on Neatorama

This is a cool way to use old silk patterned ties and other silk garments that your local goodwill has laying around to color eggs. The center image in the bottom row is an example of this technique.

science fair, yay science!

Check out these Science Fair projects, they beat mentos and diet coke fountains. Image Credit: Mahdavi

In the 2006 ISEF fair in Indianapolis, 16-year old Mahdavi Gavini blew everybody away when she managed to achieve a significant medical research breakthrough while searching for a way to help a friend who suffered from cystic fibrosis.

Stuffed Monsters

Anne Karsten's art blog talks about the stuffed-monster project
that she did with 4th and 5th graders, it turned out really cool.

Each stuffed monster became a portrait of the student’s creativity at this stage of childhood, and all have been sold (back to the parents, naturally!) as a fundraiser for their school.