Bunchland

Photographer Justin Hackworth is reviving his 30 days 30 strangers project, finished in June of 2008, with a themed reprise – Mothers and Daughters.

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The Waterloo Regional Children’s Museum in Ontario is currently curating a fabulous Andy Warhol exhibit which aims to give kids a contemporary historical context for today’s art and design.  Read more...

Easter is coming up, which means we’re about to be inundated with advertisements for chocolate eggs, candy eggs, painted eggs, egg painting kits; the list is as endless as the imaginations of the marketing teams. Chris Barnardo of dadcando has an interesting spin on the easter favourite: Dragon’s eggs. Chris posted directions for this really cool craft project on instructables. Smaller kids will need help with the hot glue, but if you’ve got a dragon fan in your bunch, you should definitely check this one out!

In our preparations for our upcoming Bunch Family Salon, where we’ll be building a giant city with kids and parents, we’ve come across some really neat  books for you to share with your bunch.

Ages 0-4

Architecture Shapes by Michael J. Crosbie, Steve Rosenthal

This attractive board book uses architectural elements to teach geometric shapes. Toddlers can relate what they see outside in their own cities and towns with the pictures in this book, and are encouraged to be more observant of the buildings they see every day.  Read more...

Awesome visual artist Anne Karsten helped her child’s school raise money by running a stuffed toy making workshop. Anne led the children through the design process, from studying commercially made stuffed animals through to final design, encouraging them to think about textures, shapes and colour. She then sewed the creations and sold them to the children’s parents.

While Anne is willing to sew your child’s fantasy stuffie for them (for a price), she includes directions on her blog on how to do it with your own child or with your own child’s class. We think this sounds like a really cool way to spend a couple afternoons with our bunch!

When you walk by the White House on E street later this summer, the south garden might look a little different. Advocating fresh, local foods as the primary way to improve the health of the nations’ families, Michelle Obama is busily planning an 1100 square foot vegetable patch. She intends the garden to be a family project, expecting that her husband and daughters will be involved in the maintenance and production of the food they consume.  Read more...

When Otto blows out the candles on his sixth birthday cake, he wishes his baby sister had never been born.  In a strange twist of reality, Otto’s life begins moving backwards, so that soon his sister is returned to the hospital. But things don’t stop there! Otto grows younger and younger until he too is in danger of disappearing altogether. Otto Grows Down, by Michael Sussman, is a charming, fun book that addresses the issue of sibling rivalry in a lighthearted way.