This is slightly off-topic, but it’s important for us all to be discussing. As a parent I find it particularly alarming. The first video is from a great TED talk by Jamie Oliver and the second is from the Oscar-nominated documentary called Food, Inc..

This awesome video from the band OK Go is buzzing around the internet right now.
It reminded of a post that I’ve been wanting to do about attempting a similar Rube Goldberg-style chain reaction with your kids. You can find a whole slew of similar of other attempts on YouTube.

A good friend put together a smaller scale contraption with his son, Asher. He was kind enough to let me share it with you (Thanks, Jeff!). As is the case with any video I’ve shot with my daughter, it ends with “and now can I watch it?”. Have a look:

Oh, and remember this? This was Pee Wee Herman’s morning routine, which includes an elaborate breakfast making machine:

And here are several other OK Go videos that are pretty ridiculously great… Also potentially great sources of inspiration.

Thud. Another great click-tivity created by Rafaël Rozendaal.

Here’s a fun (and perhaps educational?) way to spend a thirty minutes with your kids. Save some toilet paper rolls, make yourself some binoculars, download the iPhone app called Chirp! (available from iTunes), and go pretend bird watching! Or, if you can go REAL bird watching maybe you should do that. In a pinch, however, this works.

Many of you have probably already seen this, but now it’s accompanied by a soundtrack by Sigur Ros. Your kids will love this story.

Here’s something fun (and pretty) to click on with the kids. By Rafaël Rozendaal.

This is by far the best interactive website I’ve come across. Packed full of interesting and playful things to do and hardly any fluff or annoying loading screens. I was really amazed at how many different ideas they managed to squeeze into this. They’re trying to keep it free of advertising, so if you like it, make a donation!

If you’re looking for some great books to add to your collection, I highly recommend any of these by Laurie Keller. They’re exceptional on every level; well thought out and amazingly clever. I love flipping through them as much as my daughter loves having them read to her. Each time through you’ll find something new to look at and discuss. And no surprise either, her website is very cute. Available from Amazon.

This year, the members of The Polyphonic Spree, along with two other bands (TBD), will join the Invisible Children crew and La Blogotheque on a journey to Gulu, Uganda. While there, the bands will learn about the many affects the 24-year-long war has had on the area and its inhabitants, and they will learn about what’s being done to stop it. During their stay, each of the bands will play a show – in La Blogotheque’s Take Away Show fashion – interacting with the locals and using the surroundings and the scenery to enhance the experience for all.

The result will be a documentary film – a series of three Take Away Shows interspersed with band member interviews and local events. The film will be sold by Invisible Children in an effort to raise funds to further promote awareness of the 23-year-long war and to support the Invisible Children programs.

Invisible Children and La Blogotheque want YOU to be involved. Your support will not only help get production for this project under way, but it will ultimately help us in proving to the world that ‘musical notes can be more powerful than bullets, and songs more powerful than bombs’. Click HERE to donate to this great cause or learn more.

INVISIBLE CHILDREN: In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more when these boys from Southern California discovered a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims. After returning to the States, they created the documentary “Invisible Children: Rough Cut,” a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda’s night commuters and child soldiers. See this film and you will be forever changed.
Get it HERE for only $10. Watch it, then pass it on to a friend.