Mudpies & Butterflies

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

Simple Machines are FUN 1/9

Simple machines are everywhere. They make our world easier… and can make it more FUN. Legoland is a great example. You can tour Legoland with this guide and see how three simple machines (levers, pulleys and cogs) thrill us. This week we will make a Simple Machine, called an Automata - a toy that with a bit of Park cranking will amaze and entertain. As the engineer and creative mind behind your Automata, YOU will be the one amazing and thrilling everyone. PLEASE BRING A SMALL BOX FOR EACH CHILD IF YOU CAN.

Here are some examples of the 6 simple machines:

Lever

Pulley

Wedge

Wheel/Cam/Gear & Axle

Inclined Plane

Screw

scres

New Years & M&B Reconnect 1/2/2014

New year traditions are about starting fresh (nothing like a New Moon in sync for that). And with that new moon, we can see more of the Quadrantid shooting stars (peaking evening of Jan 3nd) for making wishes and resolutions. But many age-old traditions for New Years Day are linked to increased prosperity: southerners eat Black-eyed peas, long soba noodles in Japan, fish in Poland, American’s bake New Years cookies, in Greece round cake with a coin hidden inside, the Spanish eat 12 grapes at the strike of Midnight, in Peru turmeric potatoes to bring gold, and mini Marzipan pigs in Germany. Centuries ago in Europe the idea of avoiding fowl in lieu of pigs (not for the Jewish) was because birds move backward as they eat and pigs move forward as they forage. I will try to make a batch of marzipan with organic ingredients for everyone to make a Good Luck Piggie treat. Bring whatever dish or delight you care to share for prosperity, health or fortune for 2014. … Or just because it’s yummy.

Here are the upcoming New Years festivals to attend. We are attending at least 2 of these four festivals: Japanese New Year’s Festival (1/5), the Lunar New Year Fest (1/18), and LA’s Chinatown New Year’s Parade (2/1) and Vietnamese Tet (2/7,8&9).

Consider creating your own family tradition (see above).

Lions-dances

To the Japanese, Oshogotsu is the biggest holiday of the year (imagine Thanksgiving, Christmas and Fourth of July combined). They celebrate this Jan1-3rd. daruma 2 I will bring copies of Daruma’s for children to make a wish to come true. You only color in one eye at the time of making the wish and the second only after your wish has been realized.

Jan-New-years And this year in Chinese astrology, it will be the year of the Horse (Lunar New Year isn’t until Friday January 31st). In honor of that we will make dancing horses starting with a pattern to cut out cardstock or thin cardboard and decorate.

I will also bring my collection of New Year’s Books of which the children can pick which ones I read outloud or we choose to act out (My favorite!).

tet New dance Fire

Enjoy your Family & Friends 12/24

Due to the Holidays, there will be no Parkday this week.

Hopefully you will be celebrating and honoring your own traditions (and great food) with those you love. Scroll down for a fun Craft.

But for some, holidays are fraught with more conflict than we prefer to endure.

Did you know that you can reset how you connect with your family this holiday, regardless of the ratios of conflict vs harmony? Consider making a personal commitment to learn more about those you love. It is as simple as observing an animal in the wild. Just pick someone to start with: your child, your partner or one of the family or friends that you are spending time with this holiday season.

My Family (Re)Love Recipe

Take all tasks out of your head, grab a cup of tea, glass of water, or coffee and just sit comfortably in the same room with someone you love. Take your expectations of their behavior out of the equation. Forget about how they should be, what they should be learning, how they should talk, or what you want for them. Instead, find a memory in your mental closet of a time you were filled with great love for them (their birth, a fun outing, a moment when they were there to support you). Try looking at them through the lens of your heart. And then simply sit back and observe. Look for the unique things only they do. Listen to how they talk. How do they hold themselves? What interests them? See who they truly are today. Are they filled with joy or maybe frustration? Are they comfortable with themselves? Do they need anything? Do you love them more or less this year? Can you change how you feel about them today? How could you join in their world, instead of bringing them into yours. Discover how simple it can be to enjoy the presence of another by accepting them just the way they are. Now give yourself permission to be just the way you are too. Enjoy. When you are ready, repeat with another person.

We spread cheer and were touched deeply by Singing Carols at two of my neighborhood retirement homes.

This week, I was asked how I was celebrating the spirit of this season. Here was my quick response… “On Friday, I took the girls (and some homeschoolers) to sing carols and spend time with elderly residents at two retirement homes. That truly got us in the spirit. Going to Back To Bethlehem on Saturday always brings the spirit in. We paid for food bags for families in need at Sprouts, our grocer, which fostered more discussions in my family about charity. For weeks now, we have been making handmade gifts for each person in our family which has gratefully taken so much commercialism out of our holiday. It has instead, put the emphasis on: connection, gratitude and joy. We have avoided malls (1/4 of a mile from our door), Toys ‘r Us, and other stores (except craft and grocery stores). And you know me, in addition to discussing the birth and deeds around Jesus, we have revisited the miracle Chanukah is based (which most agree occurred 125 years before baby Jesus’ birth), created a Ganesha altar for Pancha Ganapati (for making amends and starting new), lit candles for the Solstice, and read stories about St. Lucia and how we too can bring light into darkness. Oh, and I will probably go to midnight mass at the catholic church down the street Tuesday. And I love to watch the Pope’s Christmas mass either before I go to bed or wake up early for it (5:00 am-7:00 am Wed PST on EWTN).”

How are you celebrating the season?

Let their imaginations lead them. Ula used mini-nilla wafers and two red candies to make a wheel chair outside her cottage

How to Make a Faux Gingerbread Village

Want a fun and easy craft for the holiday with out buying a Gingerbread kit with questionable ingredients? Buy a box of organic or gluten-free graham crackers for walls and roofs and use snacks, cereals, mini cookies and more for embellishments. We used the last of our Halloween candy (highly questionable). Prepare a cup of Royal Icing (recipe below) for the glue for the construction and put it in a ziploc bag with a small hole in one corner to give them accuracy. With a little icing for fur, the animal crackers my husband bought, turned this cottage into a farming homestead.

Traditional Royal Icing

3 ounces pasteurized egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Vegan Royal Icing version

1 cup of confectioners sugar

2 teaspoons of rice milk or other milk substitue
2 teaspoons of corn syrup

1 teaspoon of almond extract or clear vanilla

We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year. May 2014 be an incredible year filled with growth and wisdom for us all. With some side helpings of Joy & Ease.

Love the Deltac Family