DIY with dad: top 5 easter egg designs

Here's some inspiration for Easter craft projects with the kids - depending on what you're into and what resources you've got at home you can pick a project from the following:

The ultimate Easter Gadget I guess ... the "Egg-Bot Kit" by Evil Mad Scientists - prints illustrations and patterns on eggs (other other spherical objects). Getting one of those will set you back $195 ... but hey what price tag can you put on being the coolest parent on the block.

Here's an awesome tutorial on how to create marble eggs ...

Make your own LEGO egg - get some felt floor scratch protection pads (usually used on chairs / tables to protect wooden floors) and stick on your egg. Afterwards paint over in typical LEGO colors (yellow, red, blue, etc).

DIY with dad - getting ready for Easter

Here's a great activity for dads and kids when you are preparing for Easter. Many families end up decorating Easter Eggs but to do that you need eggs you can decorate. So you can take the boring route and just buy some eggs in a craft shop. OR you make this task into an adventurous (and perhaps slightly messy ... but in a good kind of way) activity with the kids. Here's a step by step guide for blowing out eggs:

Preparation

1. Get some fresh Chicken or Goose eggs with white egg shells (shouldn't be hard around Easter)
   
2. Find a space that's either easy to clean (e.g. wooden floor / tiled floor) or put some plastic cover / old table cloth / newspaper on the floor. This is just to avoid any stains on carpets etc in case you break an egg or some of the liquid spills on the floor.
   
3. Grab a food bowl to hold the egg white and egg yolk (which you can use later on for cooking or baking)
   
4. Find some 2-inch nails, drawing pins or a high speed drilling tool and have paper towels within reach (just in case).

Blowing out the egg (you can also watch the video below if you're a visual kinda guy)

Check out the brave people below who submitted their Dressify photo to us - good on ya! Download Dressify (free) and try it out yourself. Great fun for the whole family.

Peter and the Wolf

Have you read Peter and the Wolf to your kids yet? If not - why not get a book out from the library (perhaps with a CD) or check out the following links. It's an absolute masterpiece by Prokofiev and a such a fine example of how music and instruments can be used to paint characters, describe moods or even convey what happens in the story!

Recently Se-ma-for Studios (Poland) have done an award winning animation of the story, check this out!

iPhone App helps dads to "get with it"

If you were to catch your teen texting or typing the acronym "PBS" and you're desperately trying to work out in your head what PBS could possibly stand for ... don't worry, you are not alone. These days our children are more likely to use TXTing, tweets and short updates on Facebook than to make an actual phone call. Consequently short codes or Internet speech is used in everyday vernacular. So "PBS" stands for more than just "Public Broadcasting System" ... in this case it's most likely to mean "Parent Behind Shoulder".

Confessions Of a Dropper Offer

One thing about having a two year old or a kid at any age for that matter is that regardless of where you go or what you are doing you always have to bring along a portable toy chest. Now depending on your child and where you are taking it you might be able to get away with something as simple as a couple cars in the bottom of the diaper bag or you may just have to bring a separate "bag 'o' toys".

Just the two of us

Just good listening

Enjoy

- Eric

Dads at work - surprise your kids #2

Here's an idea for suprising your children. Download the attached WORD DOCUMENT, replace "PETER" with your child's name and print out at work. Put it up on the door to your child's room over night and see what they say the next morning when they spot it.

Enjoy

-Stef

ps.: If you haven't seen District 9 - go and see it. It's awesome (definitely not suitable for children under 16 I'd say though)

Daddy, why is it called Halloween?

If you get asked that question over the next few days - here are some ready-made reponses for you:

1. Very short answer:
Because I said so

2. Short answer:
It's complicated - go and ask your mum

3. Long answer:
The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows' Even – e'en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra H?lgena ?fen which is now known as "Eve of" All Saints' Day. (All Saints Day is November 1st). Halloween has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones.

[thank you Wikipedia]

A dad's guide to potty training - part one

"One day ... one glorious day my little champ won't need a nappy". That's what we're all looking forward to after 2 years (or thereabouts) of changing nappies, isn't it? Unfortunately it doesn't quite happen by itself (like very few things with children - apart from tantrums. Why is that ... anyway.) It's actually a bit of a journey to get to "fully toilet trained land" and as we all know, even the longest journeys start with the first (small) step. In this case it starts even earlier than that with working out whether NOW is a good time to start with toilet training.