Don’t stop believin’ in peace and quiet. Win your very own copy of Lullaby Renditions of Journey…we’re giving away five CDs!
How to enter:
Leave a comment on this post telling us why you love Journey. For extra entries, you can do any of the following. Please leave a separate comment on this post for each item you complete:
The 4th of July is nearing once again, and it’s time to show your patriotic spirit. Kids can get into the fun with a ton of craft ideas over at Kaboose.com. Here are some of the best crafts that will let your kids be creative while showing their fondness for the red, white, and blue. For more detailed instructions, including pictures, check out the link to each craft.
Crepe Paper Flag
What you’ll need:
11″ x 14″ piece of white poster board or cardstock
4 24″-long pieces of red crepe paper streamer
3 24″-long pieces of white crepe paper streamer
1 20″-piece of blue crepe paper streamer cut into 4 equal strips
1 extra piece of white crepe paper streamer, approximately 8″ long
6″ x 6″ square of white or blue construction paper
Scissors
Ruler
White craft glue
18″ long piece of white yarn
Shipping tape
How to make it:
Trim the poster board to 9 ¾” x 14″.
At the 9 ¾” end of the poster board, measure out ¾” segments, you should have 13 all together.
Use a pencil to draw a line upward from each measurement to use as a guide for your flag’s stripes.
Cut the four strips of red crepe paper streamers in half (lengthwise) to create a total of 8 24″-long strips.
Cut the three strips of white crepe paper streamers in half (lengthwise) to create a total of 6 24″-long strips.
Apply glue the first section of the poster board using your penciled line as a guide. Take one of your strips of red streamer and position it about a ½” of the streamer so that it hangs over the top of the poster board. (See photo.) Place the streamer over the glue on the poster board, patting it down flat. You will have a considerable amount of streamer left hanging over the edge of the poster board.
Repeat step 6 using a white strip, overlapping the red strip slightly.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 until all strips are in place. You will have one extra red strip left over. Save for another project.
Glue the blue strips of crepe paper onto the 6″x6″ construction paper and trim off excess. (See photo.) Glue the blue covered square to the upper left-hand corner of the flag.
Use white glue to add “star” dots onto the blue square. (See photo.) If you want to be historically accurate, add 50 stars, alternating rows of 6 and rows of 5. There should be 5 rows of 6 stars and 4 rows of 5 stars.
Tear the last piece of white crepe paper into 1″ squares and wrap them around the end of a pencil eraser. Press each one onto the glue dots and allow to dry.
Turn flag over and apply some glue to the top, then bend over the excess crepe paper and glue in place.
Attach yarn hanger by using shipping tape.
Parade-Day Water Bottle Holder
What you’ll need:
2 sheets felt any color
Old T-shirt(s)
Scissors
Hot glue
Needle and thread
How to make it:
Glue the two sheets of felt together.
Place the water bottle on to the felt (see photo) and fold felt up and over the bottom of the bottle. Tack sides together with hot glue. (See photo.)
Fold one side of the felt around the bottle, then fold the other side and tack with glue. (See photo.)
Reinforce seam with needle and thread.
Cut or tear t-shirt material into three separate strips. Braid together to form the handle. (See photo.)
Hot glue the ends of the braids inside the bottle and reinforce with needle and thread.
USA Wreath
Foam wreath
Wood letters (USA)
White craft paint
Paintbrush
3 sheets white felt
2 sheets red felt
1 sheet blue felt
Scissors
Red, white, and blue glitter glue
White craft glue
Patriotic star garland
How to make it:
Paint the letters white and set aside to dry.
Cut white and red felt into strips approximately 2″ wide.
Cover a 3″ section of the wreath with white glue. Begin wrapping the white felt around the wreath, overlapping as you go. You can secure the beginning of your felt with a thumbtack if you like. Continue wrapping and glue until you run out of white felt. Finish wrapping with the red felt.
Now that the letters are dry, paint each one with glitter glue, using a different color for each letter. Set aside to dry.
Insert the beginning of the star garland under a piece of the wrapped felt. Wrap the garland around the wreath, inserting the end of the garland into the felt. Secure both ends with some white glue.
When the letters are dry, glue them to the top of the wreath.
Cut the blue felt into 1″ wide strips and glue them together end to end to create a ribbon. When dry, tie it into a bow then glue to the bottom of the wreath and trim the ends.
Cut some more of the patriotic star garland into 6″ long pieces and glue them under the blue bow. Let everything dry.
Who is the most famous rock and roll baby? The answer is not Stella McCartney or Sean Lennon but Spencer Elden. Spencer who? Spencer Elden was born February 7, 1991 to Renata and Rick Elden who had a photographer friend named Kirk Weddle. Kirk paid the Eldens $200 to photograph their infant son underwater in a pool and they ended up creating what would become one of the greatest rock and roll album covers ever, Nirvana’s Nevermind.
Now a teenager, Spencer has recreated the famous picture twice, once for Rolling Stone in 2001 and once again in 2008 (although this time he wore a swimsuit). The hook, line and dollar bill on the cover were superimposed later so please don’t think they were actually fishing for babies. While Spencer is now slightly embarrassed that everyone has seen him naked, he truly is the most rocking baby of all time since it’s fair to say that Nevermind defined a generation and launched a new musical movement in the nineties. Break out the old CD and play down “Lithium” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” one more time. 19 years later and the tracks have still not lost their edge.
Is your family going through changes? If your days are filled with tears because baby kept you up until the witching hour, try these soothing versions of Black Sabbath’s metal classics to rock your little one to sleep. You’re going to feel sweet relief as the hauntingly familiar melodies cast an enchanting spell over the whole family.
It’s Saturday night and you want to head to the club, get your groove on, and to quote Gloria Estefan: “Turn the beat around.” The only problem is the kids. Well, why not bring the club to your house and enjoy it with your children?
Check out Crazy Frog: he’s this short helium voiced bluish-gray CGI character who stars in a series of videos featuring techno versions of classic rock songs. The character got his start in Europe around 2001 when he was called Annoying Thing. He quickly became a popular marketing tool for ringtones and was rechristened Crazy Frog in 2004. In his online CGI videos, Crazy Frog dances to booming techno versions of “We Are the Champions” and “Safety Dance.” The videos are loaded with fast music sure to get your kids jumping and inventive CG animation. So forget the club, and start your own little dance party at home with the kids.
Regardless of their gender, all kids like to dance. Some are really good at it and some (like my two year old) just stamp their feet in place. Either way, here are the top three dance videos for your kids. Each one has got great moves that you can copy with your children. I’m leaving out any by Michael Jackson because honestly that guy deserves his own list and the count would be much more than three.
#3) Beyonce – Single Ladies
The video was so good that Kanye West had to interrupt Taylor Swift at last year’s Video Music Awards to tell everyone. The reason the dancing is so good is because the video is so simple. Black and white, with three women dancing. The moves are easy to copy even if you won’t look like Beyonce when you put on your leotard to do them. Bonus points if you get your daughter to sing along with the female empowerment anthem.
#2) Yeah!– Usher
This song was everywhere in 2004 and it launched Usher in to the stratosphere. The green lasers in the video are good for catching the attention of youngsters, but it’s Usher’s precise and graceful moves which you’ll want to replicate. He’s able to change up his tempo ever so slightly in the way he moves his body. Good luck trying to copy that.
#1) U Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer
You knew this one was coming. Take it back to 1990 when this infectious beat was on every radio. You’ll never be able to move as fast as Hammer but have fun trying. If you really want to get your 90s groove on, get a pair of parachute pants and big glasses for both you and your kid while you try to learn these moves.
Kick off your sandals and jump right in; this is one “sandbox” we don’t mind our kids playing in. This rockin’ CD, whose title is a poignant nod to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” is steeped in 70s rock-influenced bands, from Cream to Yes. While the guitar, keyboards and drums behind this Jersey-based band may hail from another generation, the messages of these songs are timeless: from having a time-out to the ever-popular parental response “no.” One of our favorite tracks is just plain fun to listen to: the signature “StarFish Stomp,” a fun shout-out to kids rocking around the world (see if they mention your hometown). Check out StarFish’s east coast summer tour schedule for a concert coming to a city near you:
Saturday, June 19, 11 am – Scholastic Store, NYC
Sunday, July 11, 1 pm – Staten Island JCC www.sijcc.org (private)
As I was scanning the web for cool posts, I came upon the website for Kidsongs and almost fell out of my chair. I had totally forgotten about the hours I spent watching Kidsongs; I’m sure I’d seen every episode by the time I outgrew it.
Kidsongs is/was a Saturday morning musical TV show where kids sing about whatever they happen to be doing. It’s set up like a news show entirely cast by the pre-teen set, with children playing anchors as well as the crew. They head over to some place like a farm or a gym and sing about everything that they encounter there.
Being a huge music fan, I was a bit obsessed with this show. Now after stumbling onto their website, I find I can relive my geeky glory days. They not only stream videos of the original broadcasts, but they also sell old Kidsongs gear and offer free downloads. Though Kidsongs was meant for an audience aged ten years and under, I still have some of the songs stuck in my head. What does that say about me?
Check out the community tab on the site featuring blogs about the show, trivia, contests, and a “Where are they now” feature, which tracks down some former stars of the show. It’s great to see that most of my old favorites are quite successful now, like Tiffany Burton, a choreographer who most recently worked on the hit reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance.
You want a taste? I know you do… Here are some classics:
Have you ever seen the episode of the Simpsons where Homer’s brother (played by Danny DeVito) moves in with the family and using baby Maggie as a his test subject creates a device that tells parents why their babies are crying? The Simpsons is just a cartoon but it seems someone has actually managed to create such a device. Check out whycry.com. Using a microphone, the gadget listens to your baby crying and then translates it into one of five expressions, hungry, bored, annoyed, sleepy and stressed. The site claims they are 98% reliable and through a digital processing of the signal there is a maximum of 20 seconds wait time. What do you think? Can a machine really tell you what’s wrong with your baby?
Another item I thought was pretty clever was the Squirt baby food dispensing spoon from Boon, Inc. The bulb holds three ounces of baby food and when you squeeze it dispenses “just the right amount of food” on to the spoon. What is “just the right amount of food?” Well, for my son it was probably more than this little spoon can hold, but I’m all for anything that will cut down on the mess that is involved with feeding babies and teaching them to eat!
