Shadow Puppets

This is a good gloomy-day activity, especially when it's getting dark earlier: shadow puppets. There is a printable template here for these super-lovely polar bear and musk-ox puppets by Orange Moon Toys.

We're going to make them this afternoon, so I'll see if I can do a better image, but for now this is via Martha Stewart vis pinterest. You could do a version of the Donkey in the Lion's Skin (see below) by Aesop — the Muskox in the Polar Bear Skin?

If you prefer to buy some pre made puppets (no shame in that) then you can find some gorgeous ones here.

Also this week: Aesop's Fables as told by Mitsumasa Anno and non-stop nature walks.

Dick Bruna

Happy Birthday,  Dick Bruna: amazing and fantastic since 1927!

All the best kind of people are born in August ^_^

mix mix rice

We took home a book from the library recently that really caught Auggie's imagination, which was Bee Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park. The story is about making bibimbap (which she calls mix mix rice because you mix everything up at the end) for dinner. At the end of the book is Linda's family's recipe, split into tasks for a child and an adult. We copied the steps in the book, going shopping for the ingredients and making the dish together. Auggie was really enthusiatic for all the steps, especially mixing up the ingredients at the end in his dinner plate. He wasn't so interested in really eating much of it. However, that is true of all non-noodle food and he has been more into rice, since. It was fun and maybe another little step towards being a less picky eater (sheesh). I found a simplified vegetarian recipe, Vegetable Bibimbap, via pinterest as well.

ringo atelier

Ringo atelier is a creative studio, and resource, for children and their blog is lovely, too. Lots of their drawing activities have a PDF to print out and do at home. They have loads of pages to colour and develop, like this invent the fruit that goes with this leaf, which we tried yesterday during a rainy day

and this construct a city (this one is meant to be for collage, but we painted and scribbled them)

There are also some really great projects that we haven't yet tried, like the à la manière de section, with projects inspired by the work of artists like David Hockney or Sonia Delaunay. I think the David Hockney one is perfect for July, and I will put in a little translation here (find the original project here). Observe water (in your bath, swimming pool, by the sea or edge of a lake...), in the style of painter David Hockney. Have fun trying to reproduce the waves, the reflections, the colour of the water. To do this, use watered-down paint, sponges, tissues and different papers. Look carefully at this painting of a swimming pool (below, left)

The 1 livre—1 book section has a nice library of books, too.

When I was Small

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2012: the auggie bloggie

One of my resolutions this year (otherwise known as a deadline) is to finish up a new series of books: Auggie in Colourtown, Auggie and the Counting Robot and Auggie's Garage. Every Tuesday I will be posting a new illustration as I work through the books, which are due to be released in September. Here is the Auggie Bloggie.

I will still post Windy-related material here on Saturdays. If we are lucky and find the time, the Little Quick team (Judith and I — we photo-illustrated the Windy books together) will have the chance to photo-illustrate a new series, too. That would be really fun.

Munari's Briefest + a Sack of Snow and Stars for Santa Claus

You might know Bruno Munari from some of his more famous children's books, like his Bruno Munari's ABC or Bruno Munari's Zoo. We talked about his book Drawing the Sun a few months ago.

Bruno Munari was an Italian artist, poet, writer and designer. He originally began making children's books for his son, Alberto. Find out more about his work here at munart.org.

To blog for the fewest of minutes, here’s Bruno Munari’s "Chair For the Briefest of Visits”. It is petite and sloped downwards, for an immediate slip off.

And here is

a Sack
of Stars
and Snow
for
Santa Claus
(from Bruno Munari's ABC)

November: Leaves

From Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins. All the leaves are printed at life size in this great book we found at the library after trying to identify a leaf on our way home.

This doesn't deserve its own post, but we've had a lot of fun making chestnut hedgehogs this week, too.

Our last copy of Windy

UPDATE: We've announced our winner, Royce. Thanks, everyone!

This month we will be giving away the last hardcover copy of Windy from the warehouse. Simply Read will be releasing softcover editions and an app in September 2012.

We do have a special fondness for our first book with its red cover and dustjacket that has instructions on how to make a kite.

To win a copy, please leave a comment below this post. Please be sure to leave an address so that we can contact you. Let us know in the commments below. Contest ends November 28. This is open to anyone worldwide and there is no fee to enter.

Katsumi Komagata

Here is one of many incredible books by Japanese children’s book designer, Katsumi Komagata. It’s called Feuilles (leaves) and is co-published by all of these amazing people: One Stroke (the author’s company), Les Trois Ourses, Les Droigts Qui Rêves and the Centre Pompidou in 2004. Every single one of Komagata’s books is better than the last, but this one is double fantastic as it tells the life of leaves and it’s clever tactility is as captivating for visually impaired children as for colour obsessed designers.

You can start here, click on the orange arrows, and take a tour through Komagata's work.

How to make a real kite, too

One of our most popular posts is How to make a mini kite, but it looks like some of you are looking to make a general sort of kite (the kind you fly in sky).

We have directions for a real kite, too, here. The original directions for making a kite are on the dust jacket of our first book, Windy.

Henri for Henry

Robin is lucky enough to have a son called Henry, and one day, in a very special bookstore, he might find Henri's Walk to Paris, written by Lenore Klein and designed by Saul Bass in 1962. If he doesn't, we will continue to thank grainedit.com for posting many of the pages.

Mr. Salteena's Plan (The Young Visiters)

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Shoe Cake

The summer is slipping by and we have some new posts to come.

In the meantime, look at this amazing shoe cake that our friend Lyndsay made. We mentioned her amazing cakes a few months ago.

This one was for Robin's son Henry. His favourite thing is a good shoe, especially with laces or buckles. This was inspired by Judith and Robin favourite Richard Scarry's shoemobile.

Odeeoh is featuring some of Lyndsay's children's book themed cakes today, too.

The Teachers' Holidays

The Teachers' Holidays(PDF link) was written and photo-illustrated by the children in Division 1 and 2 at Charles Dickens Elementary after reading Foggy.

It begins: One June morning, all the kids in Karen, Jen, and Wendy's classes were looking forward to summer. The kids began to imagine what the teachers might do on their holidays....

Rain

The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.

—Robert Louis Stevenson
A Child's Garden of Verses, Golden Press
Stitchery by Virginia Tiffany

Launch at Kidsbooks

A few weeks ago we launched Foggy at Collage Collage. Now we are preparing for a second launch at Kidsbooks, as part of Simply Read Books' spring book launch. We will be there to present our book, along with some other new books, including Owls See Clearly at Night.

The launch will be from 7–9pm on Wednesday May 5th. You can find more details at Simply Read's blog. We hope to see you there!

Owls See Clearly at Night | Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer

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How to make a kite

It's time to think about an activity for the weekend...how can we not have done kites yet! We have a link to Windy's original instructions for making a real kite below. If you are the type who prefers to play indoors (or it's rainy where you are), we'll add a little set of directions for making a little paper kite for your favourite toy, or for your own diorama, on Sunday morning.

Let's start with a proper kite (PDF). There are 2 pages to this PDF.

The original directions for making a kite are on the dust jacket of our first book, Windy.

Saturday!

An outtake from Sunny with Lolly and Mild.

It's Saturday. We only have two days left before we give away copies of Foggy. All you have to do is tell us what you think Foggy likes to eat for breakfast.