Next time I come here, I will reincarnate as a National Geographic photographer.
But until then, can I refer your attentions to the website please - it's packed to busting with fabulous material - and in particular the bits for kids.
Oh and the games, for bigger kids as well. Hey but the photographs, some of which can be downloaded as wallpaper, are just grand.
When I first went into playing this game I thought, "What kind of sick and twisted mind would have children play a game where they see animals trapped in glass jars inside closed lockers?" I was outraged I tell you.
Then I realized the object of the game is actually to set them free.
So Justine Cooper is off the hook and the Queensland Art Gallery isn't made up of monsters in human suits after all.
Cute game for littlies aged around 4 - 7. But hey. I've been playing it for 2 hours.
Skills inspired: memory, auditory, basic reading/word recognition. Knowledge: animals, names and sounds, habitats.
Message: conservation and freedom for wild things.
Pictured: Justine Cooper (artist) at Museum of Natural History, New York
The book, Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky, is for teenagers but this game is just plain fun, in an evil kinda way.
We just created our own JohnFrankenstein! I'm sure I used to go out with someone just like him...
via Read Alert
I've just found a kid's game site that's really very quaint, with cheerful music and colours to match. I find some kids' sites are very dark/edgy with noise effects that do not settle easily on the ears.
Orisinal Morning Sunshine Copyright Ferry Halim is a little different.
My goal is to help grownups and kids spend time together making things.
It is my wish to amuse and delight.
Check out Marilyn Scott-Waters site for a selection of free paper toys to make at home on rainy, sunny or foggy days.
You just pick the ones you want and print them out- perfect and simple. And not too shabby for fine motor skills either.
I'm a sucker for a good stick figure. Ben, my son, has directed me to a very cool stick figure activity, where you can send dancing figures to your friends, with music and sound effects too.
The link is an offshoot of a Disney production High School Musical. My kids really enjoyed this movie whilst I cringed a lot with the sugary-ness of it. That's probably because I'm cynical and jaded, and they simply relate to an innocent story about teenagers.
So here's where to find some groovy stick figures:
http://www.disney.com.au/DisneyChannel/danceoff/
Send it to yourself first, so you can see what you've created.
A great online art game for kids has been launched by the Queensland Art gallery in collaboration with one of Japan's most significant contemporary artists, Yayoi Kusama.
Kusama has suffered since childhood with depersonalisation syndrome, which induces a heighted, dreamlike state of unreality and disconnection from one's self and the world. Kusama's visual art is mostly dominated by vibrant polka dots, which to adults communicate the hallucinations she has endured most of her life; but, being simple, playful and familiar, they conveniently double as a means of engaging children in a hands-on learning environment.
(From State of the Arts magazine).
This is a sweet and fun site for kids. Go to www.qag.qld.gov.au/kids to play the game.
A biography of Yayoi Kusama can be found here.
If stick figures figure largely in your unconscious as the beautifully simple reps. of childhood that they are, I advise that you should look at more of them.
Perhaps you see them as simple but beautiful representations of - um -anything. Let's not be too precious about art - it had humble beginnings. From the dawn of time, sticks have been in.
For many kids, it's their primary artform.
Sticks and maths? Well no, not really. A stick game is found in a link called Arcade Games on www.funbrain.com . There, you can do a great and silly game using stick drawings. You have to progress through a level (maybe 2?) but it's fun and skill levels are built in.
On top of this, if you want your kids to get some cool things happening with maths and other subjects, this is a good site.
My 10yr and "7 turning 8"yr olds' have approved and given the thumbs up. It's for primary/middle school age kids.
Long live the Stick!
