Bunchland

Kids say the most logical things!

A grade one teacher passes out half proverbs and has her students finish them. A collection of her greatest hits over the years was collected over at Berkeley Parents Network. Here are some of our favourites:

• Where There’s Smoke, There’s…….. Pollution.
• A Penny Saved Is…….. Not Much.
• Two’s Company, Three’s……..The Musketeers.
• Strike While The…….. Bug Is Close.
• It’s Always Darkest Before…….. Daylight Savings Time.
• Never Under Estimate The Power Of…….. Termites.
• You Can Lead A Horse To Water But……. How?
• Don’t Bite The Hand That……..Looks Dirty.
• A Miss Is As Good As A…….. Mr.

What sayings have your kids adorably mangled?

Photo by Bobcatnorth via Flickr

Fun ideas for a DIY backyard bigtop!

Boring backyard? Not this spring! Step right up and try your hand at some psychedelic lawn bowling, tin can slits and homemade funky face paint. Commemorate the day the Ringling Brothers Circus opened this Saturday by turning your backyard into the place to be. Here are some fun activities:

1. Sifted flour lawn stars

These easy lawn decals will glam up your grass in minutes. All you need to do is cut a big star out of a pizza or cereal box, set it on the lawn, use a spray bottle to douse the lawn inside the star with (this will make the flour stick). With a flour sifter, shake some white flour liberally over the template. Fill your lawn with stars of every size!

2. Funky face paints

 Read more...

What’s not to like about this dad-ass sitcom?

Some people say dads are the new moms. We reckon engaged parents empower each other, but we do love us some loving dads — from breastfeeding papas to hipster kings who make Tinkerbell pancakes. So naturally, we were excited to hear that Jimmy Fallon produced a sitcom about the trials and tribulations of life as a new dad. Give the pilot clip a watch to see what’s to come this fall:

The show will follow three dads homies (Jesse Bradford – the single guy, Zach Cregger – the working guy and Anthony Anderson – the stay at home guy) as they navigate the murky waters of parenting in the early stages. They juggle work with family life, debate about kids style choices, and fret over what to feed your kid when the bar you’re at only has 2% milk and he’s at the whole milk stage — you know, the tight jams of parenting.  Read more...

I can’t stand it, I know you planned it

OK, everybody should just go home right now because you’re not going to see anything better than this today. Beastie Boys fan and filmmaker James Winters put together this “Sabotage” video with his kids and nephews as a tribute to Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA.

Looking for more Beasties videos so you can do the same with your kids? Check out our guide to the Beastie Boys for Kids.

What the cool parents are reading today:

1. Stuff you kinda already knew: States that are all about “traditional family values” don’t actually care about family values, like why on earth would a new mom need paid time off to care for her newborn??

2. My son looks like a girl. So what?

3. Wes Anderson writes a lot about childhood. Why is that? And how excited are you for Moonrise Kingdom?

4. Jessica Alba says that she feels more confident and secure now that she’s a mom than she ever did in her 20s. Even Jessica Alba says she’ll never get down to her pre-baby weight and can’t wear the same jeans, but she’s more than OK with it. So can the magazines stop with the stories about supermodels who walk the runway two weeks after giving birth and maybe we can leave Bryce Dallas Howard alone?  Read more...

Hanging with dad in The Big Apple

Today’s Postcard from Bunchland comes from nethyb in New York.

These custom toys from Child’s Own Studio rule

We’ve written before about artistic geniuses who take kids drawings and turn them into stuffed toys, but we’re no less amazed by it than we were initially.

Child’s Own Studio started when Vancouver mom Wendy Tsao wanted to make a recognizable soft toy for her 4-year-old. Why introduce  your kid to some new store-bought toy when you can create one inspired by your kid’s own imagination? She’s now made hundreds of toys from kids’ drawings. We think Tsao’s attention to detail is incredible. Just look at the long t-shirt yarn hair on this Rapunzel-type doll!

According to the Child’s Own website, Tsao is currently slogging her way her way through her wait list and isn’t taking any new requests just yet. We’re not surprised that her wait list is rather long. Because she knows how strongly some parents feel about getting custom toys from kids’ drawings, Tsao has helpfully provided links to other companies with similar sewing talents.