Thin red line

Found this thin red line hidden at the bottom of a summertime garden.
Accident or design? We had wind and rain this week, so I like to think it was nature doing the yarn bombing this time.

Chatterbox 13: Magic

Cami: I’m going to magic you. Zim!
Me: But nothing has happened.
Cami: It’s just pretend.
Me: Can you do some real magic?
Cami: I’m doing pretend magic. Yes, something needs to happen.
Me: Do some real magic then.
Cami: Magic you. Magic you. Turn Daddy into a little fairy. Zim!
Me: Oh.
Cami: No, that’s not right. Magic you. Magic you. Zim! Turn Daddy into a fairy pirate!
Me: That’s more like it.

A Crafty Day

A cardboard box can hide a fox
and possibly a bear.
A ball of string’s the perfect the thing
to tangle here and there.

Paperclips hung in a strip
can decorate a room.
Rubber bands on hands expand
and twist or flick and zoom.

Paper sheets with folds and pleats
can loop de loop the sun.
And drinking straws can draw for sure
blow ink and see it run.

Chatterbox 12

Conversation with a six-year-old.

Issy: Who are the Beatles?
Me: Four guys who made music together
Issy: What are their names?
Me: John, Paul, George and Ringo 
Issy: Are they still alive?
Me: Two are alive and two are dead
Issy: Is Paul dead?
Me: Everyone thought Paul was dead. It turned out he was just tricking.
John and George are dead
Issy: How did they die?
Me: John got shot and George got sick and couldn’t get better
Issy: The Beatles are GREAT!

Kids + play = happy

This week is Children’s Week in Australia. It’s an annual event established around 17 years ago. I can’t say that I have ever paid much attention to it. Officially designated occasions come and go, often getting lost in a sort of designed by a committee nothingness. In this instance, the idea that the week ‘celebrates the right of children to enjoy childhood’ struck a chord. Isn’t that right a given? The thought that kids would have to fight for the right to a childhood is reason enough for this week to exist. Kids + play = happy = learning = good outcomes for all. It’s not hard to do the maths.

Book Champion: Xavier

Xavier is seven and lives in Canberra. His book of choice is A Walk in New York by Salvatore Rubbino.

Why do you like this book?
I love New York! I love the flag, I love the Empire State, I love the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler, those things that they eat. I really like the bridges, the Williamsburg, well, all of them. And the Guggenheim. I like the piece-of-cake building. I like the New York fire brigade. I also like the baseball symbol for the New York Yankees.

Who else would like this book?
A lot of people from New York: New Yorkers.

If you could walk around New York where would you like to go? Why?
Empire State, Guggenheim, Rockefeller Centre (for Lego), the Chrysler, Greenwich Village for yummy things.

What do you think the city would be like?
Very busy. Lots of noise, lots of buildings towering over you.

What games do children in New York city like playing?
Baseball and basketball

What is your favourite part of the book?
The Empire State building pages because the Empire State is my favourite building in New York City.

In the story it says that you can buy all kind of things at Macy’s. What would you like to buy from there?
Probably a t-shirt with ‘Big Apple’ or something on it. A New York cap… that’s it.

What would you buy for your brother?
Some Lego. Lego Chima, the Eagle’s Castle.

How many New York Hot Dogs could you eat in one pop?
In one minute? Probably about two…

How many taxis do you think are in New York?
2,569.

What sort of noises would you hear?
Honking, sounds of engines, sounds of shouting and talking, dogs woofing, maybe a little bit of music.

What other cities would you like to walk around?
Hawaii: lots of volcanos
Cairo: lots of ancient artefacts
New Zealand: so I can see the squirrels
Rio de Janeiro: for the night lights
Iceland: is there ice there? Does it snow?
Tokyo: great sushi and temples

I’ll think of some more later…

Telling tales

Six-year-olds learn about main characters and recognising problems and solutions in stories today. When I was six I was busy creating problems, not analysing text. Here is our six-year-old muse’s first attempt at a story arc:

One day the monster came.
He came on a sunny day.
He came from a castle.
He was fun.
He was a Dad.
But he was a monster.
It was his birthday.
But he was near road works.
He fell in a hole.
The end.

Messenger

From my hand
to a statue
by a tree
to a nest
on a rooftop
to a wire
then higher
to a peak
past a cloud
to you

The Apple Tree

Once a tree
grew ears (of wood)
and twisted knots for eyes
and two branch arms
with a leaf hairdo
and finger-sprouting twigs
put boots on roots
marched into town
to sell a crop of apples
‘Apples! Come and get them
Juicy, round and red’
it fed the town
then marched back home
to its apple orchard bed

Chatterbox No.3

CONVERSATION WITH A FOUR-YEAR-OLD
Isadora: Do spiders cuddle?
Me: Maybe. They’ve got plenty of legs to wrap around each other.
Isadora: What do crocodiles eat?
Me: What do you think they eat?
Isadora: Blueberries
Me: What about lions, what do they eat?
Isadora: Lions eat lions … what about butterflies?
Me: What about them?
Isadora: Do butterflies have bottoms?
Me: Good question, I guess they do.
Isadora: I want to eat butterfly bottoms.
Me: Umm. What about dogs, what do they eat?
Isadora: Breakfast.