Stop Forced Learning

This should hang in every preschool classroom:

Artist: Maja Lindberg

I was working on a blog post for a company recently, and was researching the Dreamworks logo (you know the boy fishing from the moon?), and I happened upon a children's artist that totally made me look. Maja Lindberg is a Sweden based illustrator and designer who says her work is inspired by fairy tales, dreams and childhood memories. Her art totally struck a chord in me, and I really related to some of her themes and inspirations. (I know that sounds really weird, since it's just childrens art, but since I've been working through so much pain and introspection, I find myself relating strongly to the oddest of things!) Here are some of her pieces:

Up In The Air

Fishing for Stars : Sometimes you feel lonely, even when you are surrounded by friends and family. But tomorrow is a new day…

The Babysitter : Who hasn’t been surrounded by kids and felt like this?

The Balloon : In many of my illustrations the children are up in the sky and flying. The best dreams that I’ve ever had is when you realize that  you are able to fly. It’s so easy and you wonder why you never done it before. I still remember one special dream that I had when I was a kid, I just moved my legs and started to raise up in the sky and I flew over the landscape, looking down on the hills, fields and the ocean.

Night Meeting : Face your worst nightmare, and hopefully you’ll learn that it wasn’t that bad.

You can check out more and buy her prints on her Etsy site.

Cooler Tights for Warmer Legs

As the start to the school year comes a creepin' up, and thoughts of holiday dinners and chilly evening Sukkos meals start cropping up on my radar, I start browsing around for warmer hybrid winter wear. Items that can add a layer of warmth without too much heat. Tights/leggings and hats are always my top go-to accessorize for warming up the kids. In California we can't just transfer to winter wardrobes just yet (nor any time at all for that matter!) because the daytime hours bring with them so much warm sunshine! We need pieces that we can pull on in the morning, whip off a few hours later, and stick on again in the evening... That said, leggings and tights are really imperative to the change of seasons. And these tights by Funky Legs totally caught my eye!! How cute??

Book Report: A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Freida was home sick a few weeks ago, as seems to be our family's summer tradition - an impromptu sick week in the middle of July. Hudi was sniffly and teeth-y, and Freida was coughing and sneezing. So along with amped-up doses of Vitamin C, meticulously hidden shots of liquid Echinacea, and a pocket-full of Ricola throat drops, came the UPS man with our favorite monthly delivery: PJ Library books! And as fate would have it, one of my favorite library books landed with a thump on our doorstep.

I don't quite know why I have long adored A Sick Day for Amos McGee, by Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead. Maybe because I love cute little old men, or because the illustrations are so quirky, or because the writer and illustrator are married (how sweet?). It's a beautiful book, with a really kind and simple message, and apparently I'm not the only one who loves it; this book won the 2011 Caldecott Medal. AND it's the first book Erin Stead has illustrated! Can you imagine? The Caldecott on her very first book?? Nice.

The book tells the story of a friendly zookeeper who spends his day taking care of various animals. He plays chess with the elephant, and runs races with the tortoise. But one morning he wakes with the sniffles and the chills and can't go into work. So his friends decide to come check in on him. They wait for the bus and ride over to Amos' home, and take care of him for a change. It's the simplest story of visiting the sick, and is told in the sweetest most unique way.

I suppose the mitzvah behind it is what made it PJ Library-worthy, but my curiosity on that matter led me to google the Steads... (That's where I learnt about the Caldecott.) If your curious too, read about how she heard about the big win here. One of my longtime dreams has been to write and illustrate a children's book, and I found the interview fascinating! Especially this part:

But winning the award for a collaboration with her husband has made the honor even sweeter. “We work together all day long, every day. We’re each other’s first pass. It would be really different if we didn’t win this as a team.”

If you aren't already part of the PJ Library community, getting signed up is a piece of cake! You can join in here, for a free subscription to monthly Jewish(ish) books for all your kids!

Babyccino In Space!

Just wanted to put it out there. If any of you want to join our mod moms meet on Monday mornings, now's the time! We're already 3 weeks into our Spring series, but there is still an astronomical amount of outer-galactic fun to be had!! Here are the deets:

While creating this space-themed series, I spent lots of time browsing the www in search of any and all creative concepts revolving around space, galaxies, planets, elements, and anything other-worldly. There is such a plethora of creative people and projects out there - doing creative research like that always makes me reflect on what a magical place the internet is!!

There were many many things that caught my eye, but this animated short film by Pixar called La Luna, totally stole my heart - the way a great film should. Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/60381274

P.S. We also had a great time with these simple yet wonderful sensory discoveries: Moonsand, Galaxy Dough, and Space Putty (scroll down a bit)!