Children | Page 26 of 54

Colossal Paper Machines is a big, fun, book older kids will love

Colossal Paper Machines is a massive book. It’s two bananas tall, a banana and a half wide, is one of the heaviest books we’ve received and is one that your kids will use, have fun with and spend hours putting together. The book has 10 models that older kids (or you!) can build out of thick quality, almost cardboard paper. It’s an amazing feat of engineering, reverse engineering, creativity and precise glue placement that will boggle your mind.

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MomoCon, a family friendly gathering of anime, comics & more

MomoCon for 2015 is May 28-31rst, we went today with the kids and it was absolutely amazing. First off, it really is family friendly. I understand the hesitancy that some parents have about going to a con because the costumes are too sexy or scary. MomoCon has just enough edge to be cool for the kid while allowing the younger generation to role play, dress up and enjoy the finer things in pop culture.

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A look at Music Lab: We Rock! with 3 tweens

Alternate headline: I’m old and today’s music is rubbish next to what I grew up with. Music Lab: We Rock! is a family guide for exploring rock music. It’s a fascinating book that is much better and informative than you think it is. I worked in radio for a number of years, know lots about most genres and still found the book a great read. It was quite the different story when I shared it with a focus group of three girls, aged 10, 12 and 14.

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How I learned to stop worrying and accept pre-school graduation

I was a kvetching, whiny mess at my first pre-school graduation. Mind you I wasn’t even the child; I was an adult attending the ceremony. I was also in my mid 20’s when my experience with children was limited to teaching them for 25 minutes at a time. At first I thought the other teachers were having a laugh at me, ‘really, a pre-school graduation, you can’t be serious’.

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The Harmonica Pocket gets immediate love from the #Kindie lot

When I first heard The Harmonica Pocket I must have been in a bad mood. Oh joy, another downbeat collection of songs about nature, the sun and rain. Break out the patchouli oil kids. I listened to the entire CD in the car with the kids and thought nothing of it until they chimed in from the back seat that they wanted to hear it again. “You want to hear it again?”, I asked. Yes, yes they did and they continued to love this release, specifically songs 1-9. As Sundrops has 12 songs on it that’s a very good hit ratio for a pair of discriminating children.

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Coming Home, a mostly picture book for military families and more

If you’ve been through any airport you know the scene. Behind the rope are some family members with signs waiting for their friend, spouse or neighbor coming home from armed service. A new picture book takes a look at that scene in a mostly wordless book that will resonate with any parent or person who has served.

Coming Home is a simple book that uses its words sparingly. It does have plenty of images where soldiers are greeting pregnant wives, newborn children and family members. The art in Coming Home is lush, detailed and very effective.

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The main character is a boy who is roaming the crowd looking for his parent. Coming Home is a great example of letting the art in a children’s book breathe. In this case the illustrations have plenty of room to work with given that there are very few words in the book. Coming Home is a children’s book that will work great with military families or those parents that travel often.

What does God stand on in the clouds?

“What does God stand on in the clouds?” he asked from the back seat. It’s been a cavalcade of great questions, sometimes ill-timed mind you, but Jake has been a fountain of curiosity and laughs lately. It was a fabulous spring day with massive white puffy clouds and we were driving past a church, so that could’ve been the visual cue that prompted this.

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Gorillas In Our Midst: big plans, average outcome

The biggest thing you’ll immediately notice about Gorillas In Our Midst is its size. This is one big book. It’s so much larger than other children’s books that you’ll subconsciously assume that it’s that much better. Gorillas In Our Midst is the story of a young boy who is trying to convince people that gorillas are everywhere, hiding in plain sight.

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