Last summer, we created Face Paintings by painting with our faces! Today, to celebrate our Summer of Ability, and to knock yet another summer goal off of our Summer 2014 Love-to-do-List, the kids painted with their feet and toes! They came up with a fence full of beautiful abstracts that I’m now hoping to frame and hang in […]
On Friday, the kids had a friend over, and, already outfitted for the water, we did a little “face” painting before we hit the splash pad. What’s “face” painting? Painting with your hands at your sides…using your nose, cheeks, forehead, what have you. Here are the artists at work: The kids were surprisingly tidy with […]
Last night, the kids and Papa created some fun “targets” for T’s birthday party. First, the kids used markers to sketch monsters and aliens on various sized boxes we collected from local shops. Then, Blaise cut out “mouth holes” with an exacto knife. Finally, the kids painted the faces with Tempera paints. We’re planning on […]
“Don’t be led away by those howls about realism. Remember-pine woods are just as real as pigsties and a darn sight pleasanter to be in.” L.M. Montgomery, Emily of New Moon. Each year, the kids keep journals to document all of their Summer of Funner activities. We call these “Yesterday Books.” In the Summer of 2011, […]
Since this edition of the Summer of Funner is coming to a close, we thought we’d use our final post to list the movies that we saw and “reviewed” this summer. The theme of this Summer’s Movies was “Colourful Movies.” This year, we added a few new releases to the mix. And, for the at home movies, we made some […]
August 13, 2012 Last year, we traveled to Riverdale Farm to sketch the farm animals, not knowing if the city and its mayor would pull financial support from the farm or if it would remain open to the public. We called these our Save the Riverdale Farm Sketches. With the farm saved from the chopping […]
Several years ago, decades ago, as the case may be, my husband and his parents painted an outdoor mural on a piece of plywood and installed it at the back left-hand corner of their garden. Whenever I even think of going over to their house, this is the image that comes to mind: a large face or mask, […]
June 30, 2012 Pick yourself up, SUDS yourself off, and start all over again… We’re back! Welcome to Summer of Funner 2012! Over the past few months of our Lunchbox Season, the kids have been forming a list of all of their requests for activities for their Summer of Funner 2012. We’ve got plenty of fun […]
September 5, 2011 Over the past few days, I have been supposing that this last entry for our Summer of Funner 2011 would be something like one of those top-ten lists the media produces over the lazy days of the new year. I thought that I would write an overall assesment of our highs and […]
WE CAN’T BELIEVE IT! OUR SUMMER OF FUNNER 2011 IS NEAR TO A CLOSE! Of course, we’re going out with a bang…Over the last two days, for instance, Blaise has been holding a cartooning workshop with the kids, teaching them about how comics are designed and produced and helping them create their own comic strips. Yes, […]
August 30, 2011 Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea change Into something rich and strange Perhaps you were not expecting such language at the beginning of a post entitled “Jelly and Ice Cream Day.” But, you see, as we come to the end of our Summer of Funner, Ariel’s song from The Tempest becomes more and more applicable […]
August 26, 2011 On Tuesday’s Egg Day, we began a 3-day experiment. We placed a raw egg into a mason jar full of vinegar and sealed the jar, setting the whole thing aside for a few days. At that point, the kids hypothesized that the egg would explode inside of the jar. This morning, we had a look at […]
August 24, 2011 On Monday, we lost Jack Layton. The leader of Canada’s official opposition party, and a former Toronto city councillor, Mr. Layton passed away after a heroic fight against cancer. Even in his last days, he stopped to consider all of us, writing a Letter To Canadians that has struck a chord with […]
August 23, 2011 Egg day couldn’t begin without a little thematic breakfast! No, the kids would NOT eat it, Sam-I-Am, they would not eat Green Eggs and Ham! But, I did! And, after I managed to hard-boil about a dozen more eggs, we got to work. Today, we completed several “Egg-speriments,” including the old egg-through-the-bottle […]
August 16, 2011 Sure, we’ve painted with pineapple skins…We even attempted to grow one from a crown on our windowsill…Still, this year’s “Crazy Fruit Day” took the old “Pineapple Day” up a notch. Today, we played a Name That Fruit Game, we created Still Life pieces with ink and watercolours, and we operated a Blind […]
August 10, 2011 Did he ever return? No he never returned From the library that day He may circulate forever ‘Round those queer old stacks & bookshelves He’s the mayor who never returned Today we made t-shirts to show our love and support of our local public library. Then, in further support of books and […]
August 9, 2011 Last summer, we had Pickle Day. We made Dilly-Dill pickles, and that was all. No. That wasn’t the end of it. Those seven litres of pickles lasted us through the winter. And, after they were gone, our talk about those pickles lasted another season, with plans and plots about what to do for our Summer of Funner 2011. The […]
August 4, 2011 Thanks to @MargaretAtwood for retweeting my “Save the Riverdale Farm” Sketches! A record number of visitors checked out the site yesterday! I hope you come back and visit us again! Please help Toronto save its farms, zoos, libraries and bike lanes! Write to your councillors! Get on the phone and call them, too! This Friday, […]
