Dad Turns His 3-Year-Old Daughter’s Hilarious Sayings Into Art!

Kids say the actual darndest things.

And, apparently, their funny phrases can inspire art. Martin Bruckner, a Nebraska dad, is turning his 3-year-old daughter’s sayings into hilariously beautiful art and cataloging it all on his Tumblr “Spaghetti Toes.”

Spaghetti Toes is his blog dedicated to the delightfully absurd things Bruckner hears from his daughter Harper Grace — plus the equally bizarre things he and his wife find themselves saying while navigating life with a toddler.

Read the full article and view more of this Dad’s super cute creativity here!

Come Party With Us at the Z-PARTY!

Z-pARTy is a celebration of creativity showcasing art by children and youth of the Zimmer Children’s Museum and its youTHink program. There will be plenty of family activities, art, and music from our very own resident rock stars Luis and Ana at 6pm and 7:30pm.

The party takes place on Saturday, December 13th from 5:00pm-9:00pm as part of the NELA Art Walk at the Antigua Coffee House: 3400 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90065.

For more info on the Zimmer Children’s Museum, click here!

For more info on the youTHink program, click here!

SPEAKING OF TALENTED YOUTH

youThink is a program of the Zimmer Children’s Museum that empowers youth to find their voices, think critically and take action for social change. Through school, after school, weekend and community programs, youTHink provides underserved communities with arts and leadership training.

Tonight only, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., 36 students from South L.A., Compton, central city, downtown and the eastside will share their visions of “Where I’m From,” in poems and photographs they created as part of youTHink’s Ambassador program, a year-long arts and leadership program.

“Where I’m From” is the culmination of a photography workshop led by award winning photojournalist Sophia Nahli Allison, with students learning key composition concepts as well as techniques to visually explore their lives through the lens of a camera.

Before the workshop began, students crafted poems on the theme that served as their starting point for inspiration, encouraging them to capture moments, objects and surroundings that define “Where I’m From.” The poems will accompany the photographs.

With Christmas and Chanukah just around the corner, the students’ photographs will be for sale and make great gifts. All proceeds benefit the youTHink program and Zimmer Children’s Museum. The exhibition is free, and takes place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight only at Blue Five Art Space, 2935 S. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. 90064. Find out more at www.youthink.org.

Read more here!

This 12-Year-Old CEO Runs a $150,000 Business

We could all learn a lot about business and life from Moziah Bridges.

In the past three years, while his classmates were doing homework and playing sports, Moziah Bridges built himself a $150,000 business.

That’s right–he started his business when he was 9 years old. Not yet a teenager, Bridges now has five staff members and has received a ton of media attention, from an appearance on the TV show Shark Tank to features in O magazine and Vogue.

“I like to wear bow ties, because they make me look good and feel good,” Bridges writes on his website. “Designing a colorful bow tie is just part of my vision to make the world a fun and happier place.”

Ever the fashionista, he’s reveled in style from a young age. At four years old, Bridges wore a suit and tie whenever possible and insisted on dressing himself.

Want to know more about Moziah Bridges and how this kidpreneur started his business? Click here!

The Overprotected Kid

A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A new kind of playground points to a better solution.

The Land is an “adventure playground,” although that term is maybe a little too reminiscent of theme parks to capture the vibe. In the U.K., such playgrounds arose and became popular in the 1940s, as a result of the efforts of Lady Marjory Allen of Hurtwood, a landscape architect and children’s advocate. Allen was disappointed by what she described in a documentary as “asphalt square” playgrounds with “a few pieces of mechanical equipment.” She wanted to design playgrounds with loose parts that kids could move around and manipulate, to create their own makeshift structures. But more important, she wanted to encourage a “free and permissive atmosphere” with as little adult supervision as possible. The idea was that kids should face what to them seem like “really dangerous risks” and then conquer them alone. That, she said, is what builds self-confidence and courage.

Read more about ‘The Overprotected Kid’ by Hanna Rosin here.

Delightfully Simple Animation Shows Kids Why DESIGN MATTERS!

How do you get young people thinking about design? Such a task requires first explaining what design is, exactly, which can be tricky even for adults to grasp. The meaning of design is made delightfully simple in “Shape,” a wordless six-minute animation designed and directed by Johnny Kelly for Pivot Dublin, a Dublin City Council initiative that applies design thinking to city planning.

The film, set to be shown in Irish classrooms as part of the MakeShapeChange campaign, is meant to raise questions: How are things made? Who makes them? “Shape” highlights how design affects our everyday lives–using nothing but stick figures.

Re-blogged from FASTCODESIGN.

Children Helping Children!

Some people devote their lives to causes greater than themselves.  And for many that devotion comes late in life. But Craig Kielburger discovered it early.  He was in 7th grade when the death of a boy changed his life. It was a change so profound that, through Kielburger, it has now saved and transformed other lives all around the globe. In that moment, 19 years ago, Craig Kielburger was struck by a profound truth –something as important as changing the world can’t be left to grown ups.

Craig Kielburger: Kids are looking to get involved. They’re searching for it. And in an era where, you know adults often are looking for meaning and purpose in their lives, kids also want to assert who they are, not just by the videogames they play or the peer groups they belong to, but by the contribution they make. And that’s part of a youth self-identity in the world. And not only is it good for the child, my God, our world needs it.

Read more about Children Helping Children here.

Zimmer Featured in L.A. Parent’s April Issue!

The Zimmer was featured in L.A. PARENT’S April issue! The article talks about the winners from our Random Acts of Kid-ness Award ceremony at ZIMMERPALOOZA 2014!

Our Museum Director, Julee Brooks, says it best: “We wanted to honor these young people who are making such selfless contributions.”

Check out the awesome picture of Actress Holly Robinson Peete with the RAK Award winners Itai Pedowitz, Dylan Siegel and Bella Yadegar! CONGRATS! 😀

Check out the rest of the issue here:
http://laparent-valley.digitalparenthood.com/Vizion5/viewer.aspx?issueID=38&pageID=1

Teen to Government: Change Your Typeface, Save MILLIONS!

An e. You can write it with one fluid swoop of a pen or one tap of the keyboard. The most commonly used letter in the English dictionary. Simple, right?

Now imagine it printed out millions of times on thousands of forms and documents. Then think of how much ink would be needed.

OK, so that may have been a first for you, but it came naturally to 14-year-old Suvir Mirchandani when he was trying to think of ways to cut waste and save money at his Pittsburgh-area middle school.

It all started as a science fair project. As a neophyte sixth-grader at Dorseyville Middle School, Suvir noticed he was getting a lot more handouts than he did in elementary school.

Interested in applying computer science to promote environmental sustainability, Suvir decided he was going to figure out if there was a better way to minimize the constant flurry of paper and ink.

Read more about Suvir’s findings here and also check out his video interview with CNN! 😀

SPRING CAMP DAY 5: Hatching Eggs + THANK YOU!

Hello!

Today we discovered that many animals hatch from eggs, including baby chicks, flying turtles, and even alligators!  We made our own salt-flour dough to create our own creatures to hatch from our crystal eggs.  We found dinosaur eggs that hatch into robots, worm eggs that float in space, golden eggs that hatch into mushrooms and more!  We also shared that some eggs will shake first, then hatch after three or ten seconds, while others hatch after “one thousand seconds!”  Finally, we decorated paper bag animal puppets, made critter stencil art, brought back our favorite wind tunnel and cloud rain and had another balloon party!

Overall, it has been an amazing week exploring SPRING with your little ones!  We THANK YOU and especially your little ones for being so open to meeting new friends and for being so silly with us!

Oh, and don’t forget to register for SUMMER CAMP now to receive 10% off for EARLY BIRD registration!  Early Bird registration ends April 18, and our sessions are filling!  You can register here: http://app.mainstreetsites.com/dmn1746/classes.htm.

Have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you at the museum again soon!

THANK YOU! 😀