Amazing Kids

Last Wednesday, Downtown State College was invaded by hoards of kids! They set up tables full of arts, crafts and games along Allen Street and started selling at the Arts Festival Children’s Day. As a kid, I spent hours walking down the three block stretch of crafts, buying cool toys from my peers. I still think Children’s Day is the most fun day of the festival.

This year, according to local kids’ day tradition, there were kids selling headbands with beautiful princess streamers, a few pop guns, and the requisite grass head dolls. It seems that someone in every generation reinvents these Art’s Fest staples.

I bought three exciting pieces of artwork! I couldn’t resist the little girl who had written “Portraits of Dogs 50 cents” on her display poster. She gave me an excellent picture of a sled dog team. But then I found Wild Pig and Monster Ray, two strange creatures drawn by an imaginative young man.

I picked up a copy of “Monster Ray Saves the Day” and a portrait of Wild Pig. Monster Ray is a bat-like, horned and very cool comic book hero who can fight in space. The story follows Monster Ray as his small ship gets sucked into a larger one. Creatures in the large ship come to destroy Ray’s ship, but he busts out of it and destroys them instead. Next Monster Ray saves Snarkle, his nemesis, from the crashing ship. In the last panel, Snarkle asks, “Why did you help me Monster Ray?” And Monster Ray replies “Heroes always help.” A very satisfying story.

The Growing Tree Toys Store Staff was hard at work making visors with kids outside of the store. More than 900 kids showed up to make a visor in a mad visor making dash that took less than three hours! That’s 300 visors an hour!

Despite the extreme heat, it was a successful Children’s Day. I saw some talented kids from the State College Suzuki Program, playing piano on the Allen Street stage. There was a National Marionette Theater performance of Hansel and Gretel and of course the beginnings of the giant sand sculpture in Central Parklet! There were also tons of educational activities from local wildlife organizations and art programs.

But my favorite part of the day has always been the Children and Youth Grand Procession of kids wearing paper mache masks and banners made by local artists. Luckily, I could watch it from my window!

If you missed all the fun, plan to drop by next year on July 13th. We’d love to see you here!

This has been an amazing kids post, celebrating all of our creative Pennsylvania kids! Images from the festival and marionette show are from the Central Pennsylvania Arts Festival Website. Monster Ray, Wild Pig and the Dog Sled Team are scans of the Original artwork from awesome up-and-coming artists (whose names I didn’t get permission to share, but you will know them by their imaginations)!

We just wanted to share a neat promotion sponsored by Farm Rich, makers of tasty mozzarella sticks and other frozen foods.

Kids Who Give was launched by Farm Rich in March of this year to find amazing kids around the U.S. “with a strong understanding of the meaning and purpose behind giving to others.” Right now they have ten outstanding semifinalists that will be narrowed down to five. Please visit kidswhogive.com to read biographies and see pictures of all ten kids. If you can pick a favorite – or just spread your votes around! – vote every day from now till July 20th.

(A neat side note: at the end of each biography is this thoughtful text: “Note: In the hope of capturing the spirit of youth and integrity of the entrant’s personal story, submission content has not been edited for spelling or grammar.”)

See more about Kids Who Give on Twitter and more about Farm Rich on their Facebook.

One of my shining moments to this day is when I was asked to be part of the fifth grade jump rope club as a mere first grader. It wasn’t just any club though; we echoed the era with high energy, choreographed “dances” that we presented while our fellow classmates enjoyed their lunches.

A whole different sense of group jump roping shines in the neat yearly fundraiser, Jump Rope for Heart. Students all over the country jump to raise funds for the American Heart Association, which supports cardiovascular disease research.

On February 1 of this year, 88,000 jumpers in California took part in the CAHPERD Jamba Jump Day™, jump roping simultaneously for 10 minutes. They easily eclipsed the world record held previously by Australia for “Most People Jumping/Skipping Rope at the Same Time”!

Overall, jump roping is great because it can span many age groups and skill levels, and the minimal equipment needed is rather inexpensive!

What if you or your kids want to take part in one of these special events, but need some practice first? Among all our neat toys are two unconventional jump ropes.

One of our fun jump ropes doubles as a craft project! The Make It Yourself Rubber Band Jump Rope Kit is constructed from woven rubber bands and connected to foam handles.

Just like all of Green Toys‘ products, their jump ropes feature recycled plastic, as well as 100% cotton rope! Take your pick of pink or purple.

But what about the jumps? You can learn about all the kinds, from the Backward 180 to the Swing Kick, as well as various partner and Double Dutch skills at the American Heart Association website!

No matter what kind of jump rope you use, it’s a fine activity for getting your heart pumping, and you can even support heart health research in the process. Get inspired with this fun video recapping the CAHPERD Jamba Jump Day™ feat!

Photos courtesy of the Auburn Journal. For more super kids doing great things, check out more Amazing Kids posts!

Smearing paint all-over paper is really fun for expressive toddlers—even if the finished picture looks like the aftermath of a Where the Wild Things Are rumpus. Feeling smooth, cold paint between our fingers is among the great physical sensations that humans experience.

While finger painting is a therapeutic and tactile activity, controlled paintings can be produced with a little patience and technique. Zach, a 3 year-old finger painter and YouTube star, has mastered a pointillist approach to finger painting that is pretty amazing.

In this video, Zach creates a portrait of Leonardo the Ninja Turtle.

Zach is a gifted painter, but his work is a cute reminder that there is more to finger painting than meets the eye. Toddlers can take their own finger paintings further by incorporating some of these easy ideas:

•Folds: Only have kids paint on half the page. While the painting is still wet—fold it in half to create a symmetrical design. Kind of like a colorful Rorschach ink blot test!

•Stencils: Most flat things work as stencils—look for objects with interesting edges or holes. Place these found or purchased stencils onto paper and start painting around the edges, using the stencil to maintain white space on the page.

•Draw First: Sometimes when kids take a few minutes to draw a scene in pencil first, they are happier with their final painting. Drawing a picture before applying finger paint teaches kids to plan ahead. Make sure they draw big shapes so they can fill them in with paint!

•Accessorize: Once a picture is dry, toddlers can use stickers to make a scene! Adults can also help toddlers to glue pressed flowers, sequins, buttons or whatever kids think of onto the dry painting.

This has been a Growing Tree Toys Amazing Kids Post. For other great finger painting ideas check out these Crayola Techniques! The still frame of Zach’s painting was extracted by ManiacWorld.