Village Parkdays 12:00 pm – 4pm (or sundown)

Upcoming Events
Aug 13 - Venia's Vacation: Belarusse, Vienna, and..

Aug - 6 Topanga Beach Day (boogie boards and sandcastles)

July 30 - Summer Parkday

July 23 - Leather Stamping

July 16 - Ancient Rome

July 9 - Japan Past & Present

July 2 - Independence & H2O

June 25 Beach Day

June 18 Tenzi Frenzi

June 11 - Juggling Craft and Fun

June 4 - Stokes Theater & Plays

May 28 - Christina's Family Yogatime

May 21 - Bring your crafty projects & Potluck

May 14- Career Day

May 7 - Mother's Day Tea

April 30 - Art Show & Painting

Apr 23 - Earthday Show & Tell and Planting

Apr16 - 19 Joshua Tree Annual Family Campout

Apr 9 - HexiFlexigons - rescheduled

Apr 2 - Magic Tricks & Juggling Sticks

Mar 26 - HexiFlexigons - Geometry Gone Wild

Mar 19 - Potluck & Nat Amer Kid Presentations

Mar 12 - Nat Amer 2: Plains & Tipi's

Mar 5 - Native American 1: Inuit & Carving

Feb 28 - The Art of Debate

Feb 19 - Potluck & Chinese New Year & Korean, Vietnamese

Feb 12 - Valentyne's Day exchange

Feb 5 - Favorite Books

Jan 29 - Build an African Kalimba

Jan 22 - Patents and Inventors

Jan 15 Potluck, Patents and Inventors

Jan 8 - Boardgames and Beginnings

Jan 1st New Year's Playday

Dec 25 Merry Christmas No Parkday

Dec 18 Kwanza; Hannukah; Xmas; Solstice Celebration & Lunch Potluck

Dec 15 Caroling at Retirement Homes

Dec 11 Holiday Craft Day

Dec 4 Idioms by Maria Wheee!

Nov 27 Happy Thanksgiving No Parkday

Nov 20 Venezuela by Enrique & Potluck

Nov 13 Science Bloopers

Nov 6 Inside a Courtroom

Nov 4 Take your Kid to Vote

Oct 30 Costume Halloween Party

Oct 23 Bring a Poem

Oct 19 Campfire Potluck &Talent Show

Oct 16 Poetry Play Day & Potluck

Oct 9 Save Big Cats & Habitats

Oct 2 Making & Launching Rockets

Sept 28 Watts Tower Drumming Festival 10-4pm

Sept 25 Basket Weaving with NewsPaper

Sept 18 M&B Family Campout @ Sequoia Nat'l Park (No parkday)

Sept 11 OuterSpace Aeronautics or
Sustainable Farming & Husbandry (if cool enough for goats to visit)

Sep 10 M&B Free @ LA County Fair

Sep 2 Amazing Aeronautics

Aug 28 Beach Day

Aug 21 Pioneer Day

Aug 14 Five Year M&B Anniversary

Aug 7 Solar Ovens Part III

Jul 31 Solar Ovens Part II

Jul 24 Solar Ovens Part I @ Beach

Jul 17 Balloon Fun/Physics

Jul 10 Blind as a Bat (Braille & Sonar)

Jul 3rd (No Parkday Independence)

Jun 26 Tal Family

Jun 19 Kinetic Ball Run & Squirt bottle motion & Potluck

Jun 12 Summer Festival & Games

Jun 11 Full Moon Hike

Jun 5 Let's Get Tiny - Cells (Animal & Plant)

May 29 Lets get tiny - Cells (Animal & Plant)

May 22 Famous People

May 15 Beach Day & Potluck

May 8 Celebrating Mothers

May 1 Secrets of Water

Apr 24 Earthday & Planting

Apr 17 Games & Crafts Bring Your OWN

Apr 10 Nat'l Poetry Month

Apr 3 Cotton Magic

Mar 27 Bacteria Fun

Mar 20 Potluck & Organ Day!

Mar14-16 Joshua Tree Annual Spring Family Campout

Mar 13 - No Theme due to weekend Campout

Mar 6- Birdwatching & Nesting Day

Feb 27 - Physics of Bowling due to Rain

Feb 20 - The Winter Olympics

Feb 14-17 Backyard Bird Count

Feb 13 - VOLUNTEER PLEASE. Valentines Day

Feb 6 - Taxonomy & the Darwin Challenge

Jan 30 - Lunar New Year of the Horse

Jan 23 - Simple Machines II - Pulleys & Levers

Jan 16 - Habitats & Keystone Species & Noon Potluck

Jan 9 - Cogs & Cams: Simple Machines

Jan 2 - Reconnecting after holidays & New Year's Celebrations

Dec 26 - No Parkday Happy Holidays

Dec 19 - Celebrate Holidays: Winter Solstice, Kwanza, Christmas & Hanukkah

Dec 12 - Solar Fun & Mask Making with Michelle

Dec 5 - Monarch Magic & Eucalyptus

Nov 28 - Happy Thanksgiving - No Parkday

Nov 23 - Fieldtrip to Monarch Groves in Goleta

Nov 21 - Monarchs & Eucalyptus Trees postponed

Nov 14 - Atoms, Protons, Electrons, Oh My!

Nov 7 - Autumn Leaves & Sewing with Heather

Oct 31 - Halloween Festival

Oct 24 - Spooky SeeSaw Algebra

Oct 17 - 3 City Geography & Int'l Potluck & 6:00pm Talent Show

Oct 10 - 2nd M&B Bug Faire

Oct 3 - Abacus Math Magic

Sept 26 - Bark Painting & Spirit Animals

Sep 19-23 Annual Sequoia Family Campout

Sep 14 Fieldtrip to Point Vicente

Sep 12 - Lighthouses & Prisms II

Sep 5 - Build Splash Toys @ Pool

Aug 29 - Lighthouses & Light I

Aug 22 - DeSalination @ Beach PD

Aug 15 - Weaving yarn or old clothes

Aug 8 - Hula Hoop II

Aug 1 - Hula Hoop I @ Beach A

Jul 25 - M&B's 4th Anniversary
All ages Talent Show

Jul 18 - Hawaii Day & Potluck

Jul 11 - Bubble Science Fun

July 4 No Parkday HOLIDAY

Jun 27 No Parkday HOLIDAY

Jun 20 - Crafts Free for All

Jun 13 - Gold Mining & BoomTowns

Jun 6 - Anyone? Or Lemonade Stands

May 31-Jun 2 Family Campout at Montano De Oro

May 30 - MayDay PlayDay II

May 23 - MayDay PlayDay

May 16 - Bats, Owl Pellets & Potluck

May 9 - Primitive Arts & Indian Trading Blanket

May 2 - Painting & Poems

Apr 25- Help Our Wildlife Thrive

Apr 18 - M&B Earthday & Potluck 5pm

Apr 11 - Missouri Day / Bees Part 2
HoneyLove.org

Apr 4 - Bees ($3/kid for candlemaking)
Ula's Birthday

Mar 28 - Feathers, Microscopes & Origami Cranes

Mar 21 - History of Sugar; Plant own sugarcane

Mar 14 - Robots & Circuitry $3/kid

Mar 7 - Rainy Day @ Skirball Free

Feb 28 - Felting & Fiber Arts

Feb 21 - Morocco II
and Islamic Prayer

Feb 14 Valentines & Asian New Year Traditions

Feb 7 - Huichol Yarn Paintings
& Esme's Bday

Jan 31 - Birth of a Nation

Jan 24 - Cancelled
due to RAIN

Jan 17 - Craft parkday

Jan 15 - USA Tour @ Skirball

Jan 10- Morocco Senses & Allah

Jan 3 - Free for All Playday

Dec 27 - Free For All Playday

Dec 20 - Xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Divali & Winter Solstice (Carols & Potluck)

Dec 13 - Morocco, Art & Mint Tea

Dec 6 - Pompeii Part II & Archeology

Nov 29 - Let's BOWL
due to Rain

Nov 22 - Thanksgiving - No Parkday

Nov 15 - Duct Tape Crafts & creations by C & C
and Lunch Potluck

Nov 8 - Ancient Pompeii & Mt Vesuvius

Nov 1 - Election & Voting Debate:
More trees or Waterslide

Oct 25 - Trunk or Treat; Dress-up
Halloween

Oct 18 - Peace Building &
Anger drop

Oct 11 - Superhero Rain

Oct 4 - Inks from Nature

Sep 27 Ireland Fun & Culture

Sep 20 -Sequoia-sized Boardgames

Sep 13 - 3rd Sequoia Campout

Sep 6- Heroes and Heroines - Kids Presentations

Aug 30 - Simile, Metaphors & Figures of Speech

Aug 23- Letterboxing II

Aug 16 - Letterboxing I

Aug 9 - Beach Day

Aug 2 - Modern Olympics II

July 26 - Ancient Olympics I

July 19 - Paper Arts: Bowls, Books & Beads

July 12 - Beach Day

July 5 - Statue of Liberty - 4th July

June 28 - Storytelling & Aussie Rainsticks

June 21 - Fun Games Field day

June 14 - Mystery Math = Algebra Fun

June 7- Silly Summer Day Fun

May 31 - Build Miniature Golf

May 24 - Sewing & Haiku Part II

May 17 - Haikus & Drums & Evening Potluck

May 10 - Rock Hunter Guest Speakers

May 3 - May Day Celebrations

Apr 26 - Fibonacci & Nature

Apr 19 - Thai New Year -Songkran & Potluck

April 12 - Spring Bling & Night Crawlers Planting season

April 5- Easter /Passover Crafts

Mar 29 - Ethics & Fairytales

Mar 22 - Detective Fingerprints & Crafts

Mar 15 - Prep for Joshua Tree

Mar 8 - Marbles & Physics

Mar 1 - Make Real Dream Catchers

Feb 23 - Pirates, Sea Captains &Tall Ships

Feb 16 - Wilderness Survival - guest Speaker

Feb 9 - Anatomy Guts vs Feeling Guts

Feb 2- Gravity Fun Games

Jan 26 - Cement Bridges Part Two

Jan 19 - Kids first Rock & Gem Show

Jan 12 - Global New Years Celebration

Jan 5 - Rockets-Aquarius M&B helped launch

Dec 29 - Cement Construction hand print tile

Dec 22- Kwanza, Hannukah, Bodhi Day stories & games 12/8

Dec 15 - Amy's Anatomy Obstacle Course

Dec 8 - Painting so it POPS! w/ out wind

Dec 1 - Painting so it POPS!

Nov 24 - Happy Thanksgiving - No M&B Parkday

Nov 17 - Fun with Manners & Empowering Etiquette & And 3rd Thurs Potluck (lunchtime)!

Nov 10 - History of Photography - Make Pinhole Cameras

Nov 3 - Butterfly & Bug Faire & Poems & Riddles

Oct 27 - Pumpkin Festival *Dress UP!!

Oct 20 - Empathy & Empowerment

Oct 13 - Braille & Visually Impaired

Oct 6- Atoms & Cool Molecules

Sept 29- Black Bears & Sequoias

Sept 22 - Sequoia Fires & Cones

Sept 15- Clay Creatures & Open-ended ?s

Sept 8- Beat the Heat Beach Day

Sept 1 - Lemonade Stand Commerce

Aug 25 - Back to Homeschool Play

Aug 18 - Saw Safely & make a Jacob's Ladder

Aug 11 - Biomes, Habitats & Soda Bottle Terrarium

Aug 4 - M&B 2Year Anniversary Party

July 28 - Finger Knitting & Natural Fibers

July 21 - Stone Soup Potluck & Storytime

July 14 - CrazyFun ScienceLab Experiments

July 7 - Independence Day Celebration @ Zuma Beach

June 30 - Nocturnal Creatures & Owl Pellets to dissect

June 23 - Book Exchange Circus

June 16 - Lewis & Clark, Quill pens from feathers & Potluck

June 9 ATC- Making Artists' Trading Cards

June 2 Petraglyphs, Pictoglyphs & Rafting the Grand Canyon

May 26 Historical
Figures that changed the World
all Kids Perform

May 19 Pharoahs, Pyramids & Crafts
And Potluck 5pm-sundown

May 12
Mars & Space Travel

May 5
Mother's Day
High Tea

Apr 28
Physics & Imagination=
Future Travel

Apr 21
Mask Making & Storytelling

Apr 14
Sound Waves

Apr 7
Geodesic Dome

Mar 31
Earthquakes & Tectonics

Mar 24
Show & Tell & Games

Mar 17
Family Campout Joshua Tree

Mar 10
Mardi Gras

Mar 3
Africa & Wangari Maathai

Feb 24
Brains: the Inside Story

Feb 3
Chinese New Year

Jan 27
Pioneer Parkday Part 2

Jan 20
Days of Yore

Jan 13
Fun & Safety
with Germs

Jan 6
Chess by Jahan

Dec 31
New Year's FreePlay

Dec 23
Kwanza, Hannukah
& Christmas

Dec 16
Engines & Cars
& Alternative Power

Dec 9
Microscopic World

Dec 2
Cartoon & Collage

Nov 25th
Thanksgiving Holiday

Nov 18th
Nature Crafts & Yoga

Nov 11th
Wind Turbines

Nov 4th
Indian Diwali Celebration

Oct 28th
Spooky Obstacle Course

Oct 21st
How Songs are Born

Oct 14th
Build a
Weather Station

Oct 7th
Prisms, Vision & Zoetropes

Sept 30th
Spanish CultureFest

Sept 23rd
Russian Culture & Potluck

Sept 17
Family Campout @ Sequoia Nat'l Park

Sept 9th
Chemical (molecular) Reactions

Sept 2nd
History of Flight

August 26th
Light, Refraction & Rainbows

Aug 19
Potluck

August 12
Turtles, Tortoises & YOU

August 5th
Honey, Bees & Wasps

July 29th
M&B 1 year anniversary

July 22
Inuit Culture & Games

July 15th
Bastille Day - French Independence

June 17th
Swedish MidSummerFest

June 10th
Catapults & Parachutes
Gravity & Lift

June 3rd
Our BodyGuards
Snot & Scabs

May 27th
Pollination, Fruit & Seeds

May 20th
Hawaii & Potluck Luau!

May 13
Ladybugs, Silkworms & Praying Mantis

May 6th
Knots, Pirates & Explorers

April 29
Earth Day Part 2

April 22
40th anniversary of Earth Day

April 15th
Japanese Girls' & Boy's Day

April 8th
Bridges, Cantilevers & Treehouses

April 1st
Magnetism part II: Physical Force of Nature

March 25
Magnetism part I: I'm attracted!

March 18th
Desert Life

March 11th
Global Timelines

March 4th
Spring Bling:
Worms, Dirt & Seeds

Winter Olympics in LA 2/20

Hopefully your family has enjoyed the Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia: a bit of Ice Dancing, Figure Skating, Skiing, Snowboarding, Bobsledding, and maybe the elusive game of Curling.  Even in 85 degree Los Angeles, we competed!  Click on the images to see footage of the fun and grand sportsmanship.IMG_6528

The Olympics are filled with so many wonderful “family” opportunities IMG_6486to discuss healthy competition, healthy lifestyles, passion, commitment, playing fair, honorable loss and prideful win (which doesn’t always include a medal).

I invite you to discuss these Three Olympic quotes with your family at the dinner table or driving around town.

1. “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.” Olympic Creed

2. The Olympic motto
“Citius, Altius, Fortius.”, which is Latin for “Swifter, Higher, Stronger”

3. Every four years the world celebrates “In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.” And so the games begin.

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Check out our blog from four years ago at M&B Parkday, when the Winter Olympics took place in Vancouver. To emphasize the unity and teamwork aspect of the Olympics, we all joined hands like the Who’s from Whooville.  Without letting go of our hands, we passed a hula hoop completely around the circle forcing us to climb in and out and pull the hands of our neighbors along for the moves.  Sometimes we had to come in tighter to help lend an extra hand or two.  But not as often as I would have  thought.  Pretty agile group of kids and parents!!

With a map in front of the TV at our home, we match flags and outfits to the countries around the globe.  We also discuss the hardships their families overcome and the pride that comes with to competing for their country, their families, and their communities.

IMG_6538The Olympics is about Pride, and not just for a home Country, but the places our Ancestors came from as well. I encourage families to discuss the different levels of Nationalism particular to their family ahead of time.  A great time to make and discuss the elements of your ancestors flags.

We will spend time discussing the “Spirit of the Olympics” and recreating events.   True to my style, Participation is the Goal, not winning.  And Curiosity, Endurance & Ethics!  More Olympic learning!IMG_3845curling1IMG_6490Here is an official curling stone quarried near Scotland compared to our Curling Ice Stone made in my freezer.

Accepted into the Winter Olympic Games in 2006 (along with trick Snowboarding made popular by American Ace Shawn White) Curling was a fun sport to exhibit at our parkday.  And Since we didn’t have access to a frozen ice-skating rink or a 44 pound curling stone, I switched the properties and used a homemade curling stone made out of ice on a concrete skating rink.IMG_6455

A sport that has it’s origins in Scotland in the 1500’s, it sure took a long time to get to the Olympics.  With a few brooms, a heavy stone with a handle and alot of yelling and screaming we were up on the game in not time.  A tutorial from Amy sure made it alot more fun!  Thanks Amy!  Here is an online tutorial.

And when the curling was done – the fun was amplified as we took on CROSS COUNTRY SKIING!IMG_6502

For More crafts to do at home or Olympic inspired cooking and crafts.aran

Max

Valentines Day & Darwin Day 2/13

Well it’s time to SHARE the LOVE.  This week is Valentine’s Day.  Kids are invited to craft their Valentine’s Cards and Crafts at the park this week. (Email me ASAP if you can host a craft jessica@jessicaran.com)

IMG_0406valentine

And Wednesday is Charles Darwin’s Birthday, so anyone who has completed up to half of the Challenge,  should let me know. And anyone who completed the ENTIRE challenge, as promised, will receive a personalized, handmade gift from ME.

Here are some Nail ideas for Valentine’s day…Nails

And don’t forget, this weekend is the  Great Backyard Bird Count. All you do, once you register online, is watch for 15 minutes any of the days Friday 14-17 and then enter your results.  That is how YOU and your family make a difference.  There are lots of ways that citizen’s are making a difference in protecting our natural wildlife.  On February 27th, I will host a BirdWatching day and together we will all build a big nest at the park as we learn about birds, eggs and more…

nextIncidentally, February 20th will be Winter Olympics Fun like we did four years ago. And as that will be our 3rd Thursday – Olympics will be Potluck and Internationally-themed.  If it’s cold – potluck will occur during lunch and if it’s surprisingly warm – we will host at dinnertime.

Taxonomy & the Darwin Challenge 2/6

Parkday is ON from NOON – 2:30.

Rain is not Forecasted until after 3pm.

Oooh, I am giddy to bring Taxonomy (the classification of species) to life with the kids.  I have some fun activities that will help explain Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. I will start with scenarios like, “What do you do when you get home on Halloween night?” You CLASSIFY all your Candy!

** Each child should bring a toy or stuffed animal to classify **

Kids Online Game #1.  Kids Online Game #2 .  Kids Online game #3.ula-octo Check out the AMAZING TREE OF LIFE project. Like an Earth genome project, people are attempting to create a database with EVERY LIVING species on this planet.

Darwin-y

And with less than two weeks from Charles Darwin’s birthday, it’s time to see how many items you can complete on the 2014 Darwin Challenge: dress up in a beard, create a Phylum Feast, go to the Gentle Barn, spend 3 hours with out anything invented after Darwin’s death in 1892.stretch

LIVE DEBATE This week Darwin’s well-researched theories of Evolution are being put to the Test AGAIN- on Feb 4th in a live Debate Creation vs Evolution between Bill Nye, the Science guy and Ken Ham.

carlinneaus-birthBEFORE DARWIN, over 200 years ago, Carl Linnaeus was a bit fed up. Bee The plant we call Plantain, or Plantago major, was once called, Plantago foliis ovato-lanceolatis pubescentibus, spica cylindrica, scapo tereti. Now really, that is too much to remember, even if you did know Latin.  Linnaeus thought there had to be a better way.  So he came up with a two word system.  He actually managed to name a few thousand darwin's frogplant species.   He thought there would be no more than 10,000 different plants in the world.  The truth is that there are nearly over 400,000 flowering plants alone.

Over the years scientists have organized these two-name plants and animals into further categories (Plants, Animals, Fungi, etc).  With fun and games we will learn about this Thursday starting around 1:30pm.

NAMING RIGHTS The cool part of finding a new species of plant or animal that no one has yet discovered is that YOU get to create part of the name.  You could name it after yourself, or a friend, or your pet, or something funny.  There is an adorable little frog on the west coast of South America named, Rhinoderma darwinii – commonly called, Darwin’s Frog, because he was the first European to observe it and record it (and bring a specimen back to Europe).

THE BEST FATHER EVER It is a cool frog, because the DAD frog gobbles up all the Mom’s eggs after she lays them and keeps them safe in his throat sac (the part that blows up like a balloon when a frog croaks) until they mature into baby frogs and climb out of his mouth.  Soooooooooo coooooooooool.  I’ll bring the book to parkday.