Category Archives: children

Dec30

the four crows.

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we were a formidable team

my two sisters

one friend

and i

 an ad-hoc agency

fashioning ourselves

the finest of sleuths

solving crimes

righting wrongs

all around

our neighborhood

it was our job

our destiny

the four crows

walked the streets

the fields

the woods

went in old abandoned houses

from another time

looking for clues

to

crack puzzles

solve problems

imagined

and

created

as we

dreamed up

our cases

reading bits of discarded notes and lists

finding an empty pill bottle

 asking a neighbor

where his wife was

as we hadn’t seen her recently

 left a note

for a woman

who yelled at her adopted children

telling her she was too mean

we clearly

way overstepped our bounds

as detectives

sometimes

tend to do

all

in the pursuit of justice

 in an attempt

to right wrongs

to restore balance

to keep peace

protect people

in a community

that didn’t know

they needed us

or that we were on the case

always looking out for them

in the most secret of ways

plainclothes

and

undercover

as a

murder of four crows

all under the age of 8

—

“the case called for plain, old-fashioned police leg work!”
― donald j. sobol, encyclopedia brown, boy detective

Aug25

totally kid.

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 totally kid carousel

A Carousel Of Visions;Artist Brings the Fantasies Of Children to Magical Life

Artistic acclaim came early to Milo Mottola. When he was 8, his drawing of menacing tooth film with the slogan “Plaque is mean, so keep teeth clean” was such a hit it won him a $50 savings bond from a dental group and was made into a poster. Nearly 25 years later, Mr. Mottola, an artist who lives in Long Island City, Queens, NY, decided to try to find a way to give other children that same dizzy excitement and spark of confidence, without all those dentists.

What could be better, he thought, than asking children to draw the animals they would like to ride on a carousel — and then to make that carousel, carving the animals exactly as the children drew them? I wanted it to be as magical as the children who ride it,” said Mr. Mottola, who, in an echo of his own past, gave each child whose animal was chosen a $50 savings bond, and a lifetime of free rides on the carousel.

Above each animal, Mr. Mottola displayed the child’s original drawing, and on the floor beneath each animal, he carved the child’s signature. “I wanted the winners to have something that will last forever, where they can someday take their husbands and wives and say ‘I did this.’ “

The carousel is on permanent display in Riverbank State Park, the 28-acre park built three years ago atop a sewage treatment plant between West 137th and West 145th Streets in Harlem.

“improvisation, writing, painting, invention—all creative acts—are forms of play,

the starting place of creativity in the human growth cycle, one of the great primal life functions.”

— stephen nachmanovitch, Free Play

 

 

 

—

Source Credits: Pam Belluck, Milo Mottola, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Program

Material: steel (alloy), wood, fiberglass

Address:679 Riverside Dr, New York, 10031, USA

 

Aug5

to look forward and not back, to look out and not in, and to lend a hand. -edward e. hale

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wi,

this past weekend i took part in a ‘shop with a cop’ event

sponsored by

mott children’s hospital,

the  county sheriff department, local police departments, state troopers,

u.s. marines, and the university of michigan police department

everyone volunteered their time

to take underserved children and their families

 back to school shopping at a local meijer store.

it was beautifully organized

we all met in the morning at the stadium

set up food, games, drinks, tables

met our law enforcement partners for the day

families arrived

we shared a meal with our family and created our shopping team

loaded up on university busses

accompanied by motorcycle cops with lights flashing

the kids were really excited.

when we arrived

we descended upon the store

 masses of uniformed officers and children

must have caused some shoppers to wonder

but everyone got right to work

helping the kids find the things on their lists

along with lots of  extras

at checkout everything was covered

headed back to the stadium

for kona ice, more food, build-a-bear projects, face-painting

checking out the team locker room and playing on the field

by the end of the day

we had shared our stories with each other

learned so much

everyone had bonded

no matter their age, rank, or status.

people were tired and smiling

as they walked out the door

ready for school

headed for home

happy to know

people in the community support them

as a volunteer

this day

was also a gift to me from my community.

“there isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story.”

-mary lou kownacki

 

 

 

 

Jun2

babies holding babies.

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quotthe kinder hold the baby chicks with gentle hands

—

‘teach children

by word, and by example,

to be kind to animals

not just for the animals sake,

but for the sake of all who are weaker than they are.’

-adapted by val silver

 

May30

you don’t have to win, just tri.

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we had our first ever

kinder triathlon

what a blast

running,

tricycling,

‘swimming’ in a pool of plastic bubbles with goggles on

everyone did all three events

*no kinder injuries or tears

*(full disclosure: i did fly off of my tricycle at one point

but my boss was kind enough to push

me all the way around the track on it to the finish line)

everyone had so much fun

and that is a win.

—

“pump your arms and your legs will follow”

– *karen parnell

(this method did not work for me.)

—
*Karen Parnell is a Personal Trainer, Triathlon Coach and has a degree in Cancer Prevention & Longevity from the Health Sciences Academy. She has been coaching and motivating people to meet their health and fitness goals for for years. Karen is also a Tutor for the British Triathlon Federation and runs a health and fitness centre in  Spain. Prior to pursuing a career in health and fitness Karen held a number of senior roles in global high technology companies and has a honours degree in electronic engineering and an MBA from Aston Business School.

 

May18

magical capacity.

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where does the tree end and the child begin?

 

—

“as a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth;

to see the land as an animal does;

to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee;

to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us;

to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unselfconsciously to the soughing of the trees.”

~valerie andrews

May14

where we have adventures.

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i so love this card from my student

‘i get up in the morning looking for an adventure.’

-george foreman

May4

deep.

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coolest rainboots ever

show how deep the puddles are

when you’re

standing/jumping/running/splashing

in the rain

on outdoor adventure day.

 

—

“look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

-albert einstein

May2

fairy bread and magic tea.

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on may day

it was fairy tea party day in our classroom

we had dragons, and fairies, and trolls, and  elves,

and everything you can imagine

two of the special party treats

are magic tea and fairy bread.

the magic tea tastes like apple

and changes colors with each new pot poured

and the fairy bread is a sprinkled wonder

what an amazing day we had.

Fairy bread -A rainbow of flavor that harks back to childhood.

(story and recipe)

This mainstay of children’s birthday parties in Australia and New Zealand has but three ingredients: white bread, butter or margarine, and hundreds-and-thousands, which are better known as “sprinkles” in many parts of the world.

To make fairy bread, dump a layer of sprinkles onto a large plate or other flat surface. Take a buttered slice of white bread and place it, buttered side down, onto the sprinkles. Press gently to ensure sprinkles adhere to the butter. Then lift it up, cut the bread diagonally into four triangles, and you have a colorful and child-compatible snack.

Fairy bread can be served with crusts on or off depending on personal preference. Note, however, that the crust provides a handy, butter-and-sprinkle-free spot for your fingers to grip the bread.

The identity of the first person to firmly press sprinkles into white bread is lost to history, but fairy bread was made as far back as at least the 1920s. Unlike simple foods such as toast and cupcakes, though, fairy bread has resisted the modern trend to artisanal-ize. When a food writer suggested using a different kind of sprinkles and “a nice cultured butter,” Australians took a strong, pre-emptive stance against fancier versions of fairy bread.

“That’s the beauty of Fairy Bread,” the editor of a U.K. food section writes of fairy bread’s egalitarian appeal. “Regardless of how much soft focus lighting or Pinterest-friendly table dressing you throw at it, you can’t escape the fact that it’s a piece of soggy bread loaded with strands of refined sugar, designed to be eaten by someone who hasn’t yet mastered chewing with their mouth closed. It’s simple, it’s nostalgic, and the combo of processed carbs, butter, and E numbers is a match made in minimal-effort heaven.”

Need to Know Fairy bread is rarely served in restaurants or cafes. So if you can’t score an invitation to an Australian child’s birthday party, making it yourself is your best bet.

even one of our knight’s dogs dressed up for the big day

 

—

“those who don’t believe in magic will never feel it.”

-roald dahl

 

 

 

 

—

Recipe source credit:Gastro Obscura 

Apr18

small cheer.

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a pop-up restaurant appeared in the cozy corner of our classroom
everyone was welcome and helped in the restaurant after their meal
so many delicious foods
made with care
no one left hungry 
people came and went and shared plates and talked and laughed
it was a feast for the senses.
—
“small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.”
-william shakespeare