Ever wish you were an artist? Me, too. Ever want to take part in something big? Who wouldn’t? Here’s the chance to take part in a global street art project that is both enormous and tiny—or perhaps to plan one of your own. The project is called Mysterabbit. Take a look–and watch carefully for the … Continue reading
Years ago, just as my husband and I were about to head for a Maine vacation, he had a scary encounter with a blood clot that kept us homebound. In the midst of that frightening time, a wonderful group of friends arrived at our doorstep with a large box. It was, they declared, a vacation-in-a-box. … Continue reading
Every summer has some days when it is too rainy, or too hot, to spend all day outside. For days like that, exploring ways to be an inventor can be just the ticket for creative summer fun. 1. Introduce your family to Rube Goldberg inventions. Rube Goldberg’s cartoons of amazing fantasy machines have inspired budding … Continue reading
It is 95 degrees with sweltering humidity, which can mean only one thing in Ann Arbor. It’s Art Fair week! It is time to brave the crowds and the heat, to be rewarded with first-class people watching, over-priced delicious lemonade, and art of every imaginable (and some unimaginable) variety. Last year I had so much … Continue reading
This week’s family fun is a guest post from my friend Kaylynn, all about family activities with clouds . Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green? Do you fish in a stream, or lazily dream on the banks as the clouds go by? Is that what you do? … Continue reading
It is easy to complain about how celebrity culture can be an unhealthy influence on young people. The world is full of “superstars” whose behavior is not what we want our students or our children to emulate—to say nothing of their grammar. But I recently read about a teacher in Brazil who turned bad-celebrity-grammar into … Continue reading
If you live far from the Salt Lake Valley, your first response to this post’s title may have been, “Pioneer what?” While students across the United States study westward expansion in school, only in Utah (as far as I know) do pioneers get their own holiday, July 24. Pioneer Day commemorates the day the Mormon … Continue reading
One of my favorite childhood memories is ice cream for dinner. Nothing else, just ice cream for dinner. One sweltering night during the un-air conditioned summer, my mother declared it was too hot to cook and we’d just have ice cream. I don’t know what got into my nutritionally-minded mother, but the ice cream dinner … Continue reading
I live in a houseful of cats, so when I spotted a small book with a cat on the cover and the title, I Could Pee on This I was more intrigued than appalled. Then I picked it up and started laughing out loud mid-bookstore. The book is all-too-real to cat owners, but also a … Continue reading
When I was a kid, camp entailed tents, backpacks, burnt marshmallows, mosquitoes. Today, it’s not necessarily so. Enter free virtual summer camp for teens–with rockets, animation, and (last year) electric origami! Maker Camp, a collaboration between Maker Media (publisher of Maker magazine) and Google, takes camp in a whole new direction. Instead of swimming and … Continue reading
creativiteach 