School’s Out! Here’s Our 2013 Bucket List!: A list of all of the things we’d like to do this Summer!
Yesterday Books, The 2013 Edition: How we created this year’s version of our famous summer journals, the Yesterday Books. DIY.
DIY Skylanders Giants Birthday Party Invitations: How to create Skylanders Giants themed birthday party invitations. DIY.
Postcards from Boston: An account of our trip to visit Great Gram and all of our cousins in Boston.
Summer Books: The Beowulf Notebooks One: The kids draw and take notes while I read Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, featuring Grendel’s attack on the Hall.
Kid-Illustrated Definitions I: Utopia & Dystopia: The kids write simple definitions of “Utopia” and “Dystopia” and illustrate them with images they associate with those definitions. DIY.
Summer Books: The Beowulf Notebooks, Two: More illustrations of Heaney’s Beowulf, featuring Grendel’s mother’s attack on Hrothgar’s Hall.
Kid-Drawn Story Cards & Story Telling Games: The kids draw simple illustrations of words we pulled from this week’s reading. Then, they shuffle the deck of picture cards and play story-telling games. DIY.
Summer Books: The Beowulf Notebooks, Three: Our final day of illustrating Beowulf. Dragons!
Summer Books: Re-Telling Beowulf : The kids improvise their own stories based on the plot and elements of Beowulf but featuring characters and settings of their own.
Ice Paint Two-Ways: We make Ice Paints with both Tempera Paints and Food Colouring/Watercolours and paint away! DIY.
Exploring Toronto’s Neighbourhoods I: Mapping the City and our Beach Hill Neighbourhood: The kids “imagine” maps of Toronto and of the neighbourhood. DIY.
Strawberry [Cognac] Buttermilk Cake: One of the best cakes we’ve ever made! Great for milk or tea or coffee breaks! RECIPE.
Summer Books: Illustrating Bisclavret [The Lais of the Werewolf] and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The kids illustrate the story of a werewolf and the story of the brave knight Gawain.
Summer Books: Re-Producing Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale and a “Classics Comics” DIY: The kids make comic strips after listening to a prose treatment of Chaucer’s tale of Chanticleer, the rooster, Pertelote his wife, and one wily fox. DIY.
Science Wiz: Climate Change in Canning Jars: We Make Rain in a Canning Jar, Fog Rising from a Canning Jar, and a Tornado in a Canning Jar. DIY.
Blueberry Peach Greek Yogurt Popsicles: Easy-to-make yogurt popsicles with blueberries and peach jam, with suggestions for other flavour profiles and combinations. Recipe.
Amazing Pink Lemonade Cream Bars: It’s like the lemon square and the key lime bar collided and had raspberry-tinted angel babies…Recipe.
Pink Lemonade Jelly: Our amazing new recipe for pink lemon jelly! Who doesn’t want to have pink jelly on their toast in the morning?
Exploring Toronto’s Neighbourhoods: Yonge & Englinton and Sorel Etrog: Checking out Papa’s old neighbourhood and investigating Sorel Etrog sculptures around town.
Summer Books: Sketching the Faerie Queene: The Kids work on illustrating the first three cantos of the first book of the Faerie Queene.
Painted Targets for Balls, Beanbags, Rockets, and Water Balloons: Making targets out of recycled cardboard boxes and painting them with tempera!
Colour, Cut & Build this Robot [Free Printable]: Here’s the robot we printed out on cardstock and gave to the kids to colour as T’s bday bash began. Print one out for yourself! After you colour it, you can cut it out and build it, too!
Easy Outdoor Birthday Bash: Here’s a post with all of the DIY for hosting your own Minute-to-Win-It style kids outdoor birthday bash. [Most of the games can be played inside, too!]
Birthday Surprise: Chocolate Milk Piñata Cake: Check out this easy-to-create cake filled with a chocolate candy surprise! Don’t want to follow our tasty recipes? No problem, just follow our guide with your box cake and icing!
Summer Books: Comparing Performances of Macbeth: The kids compare film and live versions of Macbeth and discuss their favourites!
“Ping Pong” and Paper Airplanes: Making Paper Airplanes and throwing them at chalk targets. Using an old baby-safety device to play outdoor “ping pong.”
The Peaches Cookbook, a Love Story [and Caramelized Peach Frozen Yogurt]: How this Savour the South Cookbook brought me back to my childhood…and a recipe for Caramelized Peach Fro-yo!
Summer Books: Paradise Lost, Book 9, and Automatic Villian Poems: I read the famous temptation scene from Paradise Lost as the kids create illustrations. Then, the kids create impromptu poems in the voice of their favourite “villains.”
Summer Books: Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination & Poe-Inspired “Ghost Story Starters”: I take a chance and read “The Black Cat” and “The Purloined Letter” aloud as the kids illustrate the stories. We then share some Poe-Inspired Ghost Story Prompts for writing or improvising by the campfire.
Backyard Campout Weekend: We pitch a tent in the backyard, telling ghost stories and projecting movies inside! S’mores over a tea-light, ghost stories, and a Percy Jackson reading marathon ensue!
Pickle Day 2013: Make it Spicy!: Along with our summer fave pickles and relishes, we create three new fave recipes to share with you! Gochujang [Korean Red Pepper Paste] Pickle Sticks, Summer Hot Pickle Sticks, and, Sweet, Spicy & Tangy Pickle Relish. Enjoy!
Summer Books: Mapping Gulliver’s Travels: We read parts of Gulliver’s Travels, watch several film versions, and draw maps of Gulliver’s travels to real and imagined places.
“Face” Painting: Get out the goggles! The kids are going to paint with their faces!
Summer Books: Imagine Like Bradbury! Story Sketches and Dystopian Novel “Teasers”: We read and illustrate two Bradbury stories: “A Sound of Thunder” and “Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed.” Then, the kids spend some time inventing their own dystopian settings and the heroes who might live within them. They improvise and dictate these “novel teasers” to me as I type!
Summer of Funner Film Festival 2013: Dystopian and Urban Films: A list of this summer’s family movies!
Thanks for a Fabulous Summer! Stay Tuned for The Lunchbox Season! : A thank-you, a review or our 2013 Bucket List, and an invitation to view our sister-site, The Lunchbox Season this September!