Can you hear me?

Easter. For me, a time to be with family and friends. A time to communicate. And a time to switch off devices (the new vices) probably. However, a five-year-old and I recently sang into the voice recognition app of a well known tablet device and this caused much merriment during our leisure time together.

‘Twinkle twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are.’

When recognised by the tablet app became:

You didn’t twinkle twinkle you.
How I wonder what you’re up to.
Above the world, so high.
Are you gay, Dengate?
Are you Islanders?
Twinkle twinkle? Hello, are you? Hey Mr B!!

Delighted to see that millions of hours of software programming had resulted in an app capable of wetting the pants of a five-year-old, we continued …

This little piggy went to market.
This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy had roast beef for dinner,
and this little piggy had none.
This little piggy went ‘wee wee wee wee wee all the way home’.

And this became:

Listening to you Intermarket.
This little piggy stayed home.
Are you STMP?
Has Rosengate had dinner?
The bisterd!
Looking at them, and this, is completely where we we we we knew.
All fall. On the way home!

More merriment.

Someone reminded me recently, ‘you have two ears and one mouth. Use them accordingly’. Perhaps the great tablet displayed a virtue and shortcoming in the same beat. It got us laughing while exposing its listening limitations.

Definitely time to switch off devices and to reboot relationships. Time to understand what the people you care about mean when they speak.

Happy Easter. Enjoy your loved ones.

Chatterbox No.9: Rabbiting On

A conversation with a 5-year-old.

Me: What’s going to be the best thing about Easter?
Issy: Ghosts.
Me: Ghosts? What do you mean ghosts?
Issy: Ghosts. Dressing up as a ghost.
Me: Isn’t that for Halloween?
Issy: No, I mean Easter ghosts.
Me: I’ve never heard of them.
Issy: They eat bunnies.

Room of Rainbows

A kinder teacher of three-year-olds saw an art activity I did with some
children aged four and asked if I could do it with her class. Fine motor
skills are not as developed in three-year-olds, so I suggested making a fun
exercise around something that the ‘threes’ were captivated by. ‘What do
they like drawing?’ I asked. ‘Rainbows!’ came the instant response.

This series of concentric circles could be handled by small fingers
(with a little help of course), and were then pasted on top of one another
from large to small. A simple activity, it touched on colours and sequence,
and when folded in half the seven pasted circles transformed into
DIY take home rainbows.

Iceworks

Last November we interviewed Gav Barbey about his new book Little Seed America. Now Gav is busy creating a series of 12 paintings, a commission from a boutique Sydney hotel. The series he is developing are Icework paintings – Slurpee-inspired blasts of colour. Gav struck upon this idea as he watched amazing patterns emerge and disappear when two long-forgotten frozen Slurpees were rediscovered in his freezer, one red and one blue, he laid them on a canvas to melt together. The happy accident led to the series Iceworks  –  a collection of paintings that involves the freezing of paints, dyes and pigments in water. The frozen candy-like ice blocks are then arranged onto canvas, the pigments swirl and run as the ice cubes melt, leaving a burst of colour in their wake. In the example above 64 ice cubes were placed on a one metre square canvas.

Book Champion: Lola

Lola was three years old when she responded to these Book Champion questions. She recently turned four – Happy Birthday Lola! She lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Her book of choice is Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

How many times have you read this book Lola?
Ummm … 6 times.

Why do you like the book?
Because it’s fun!

What is your favourite part?
Cat the dog snap into a cloud, and then the witch heard a roaring and goring and loring growl. They have a big dragon that blows fire out and then a broom and then the witch smashes into roaring cloud and then they snap into a cloud, I like that bit.

Who else would like this book?
Lauren and Charlotte, my cousins.

Have you ever met a witch?
At Kinder I have, with Halloween.

Would you like to ride the witches’ broomstick?
No thanks.

But wouldn’t you like to fly to somewhere?
The beach, yeah! … I mean the park.

The witch nearly gets eaten by the dragon. What do think it looks like inside the dragon’s belly?
Food and yucky and sticky and feathered and furred.

Could you tell us a magic spell?
Yes, magic spell make into a frog and then someone turns into a swan. And then in the princess and the pauper, someone turns into a swan, a magic swan.

How do you do this spell?
I say ‘In my hat!’ And then I get some paper and then I scribble all over it and then I draw a picture!

What do witches like to eat?
Bananas … and apples.
Can I just sing a song now? When I went into the forest I couldn’t even see a broom …