New App for Kids 2017: Toca Life Vacation

Holiday time equals downtime for everyone and that means the kids might be using their devices more.

I much prefer my kids to be creating not consuming while the use their iPads, it's way too easy for them to just sit and watch rubbish that other people have uploaded.

Toca Life is the latest in the Toca Boca line of apps. I've been a fan of their stuff for awhile now. They are well known for making things gender and cultural neutral without resorting to animals.

With Toca Life Vacation kids can 'play' by moving things around and being the owner of their own vacation creation. Dress your characters, head to the airport, go to the beach or the hotel, check into your room, go to the ATM, head out for a meal. Whatever you end up doing, the child is in charge.

This is not a 'game'. You can't go out for mucking up, and you're not aiming for different levels, you just play.

You can also just reset and start all over again if you want to.

You will need to pay a few dollars for this one, it was AU$3.38 on 1 January, I prefer to pay for the apps and know that there are not going to be any adverts or in-app purchases to worry about. Once you have downloaded this one, you have everything you need.

You can get Toca Life Vacation from the app store.

Review: Museum Alive IMAX 3d

The sunniest day in Melbourne 2016: IMAX

We went to check out the latest at Melbourne IMAX this week and got to see David Attenborough's new feature, Museum Alive 3D.

WOW. It was fabulous.

It's a short film, less than 45 minutes from start to end and every moment is just lovely.

Walking through the British Natural History Museum, you might at first just sit back and admire the architecture of such a building and wish that there were many more like it around the world. So beautiful.

But soon you will be learning about some extinct animals, what we now about them, and what we don't, how they might have lived in millions of years ago, or even just centuries ago, like the Dodo bird. These animals are brought to life in a very talented way, making the animals seem extremely real.

Kids with an interest in anything related to animals, science, history, dinosaurs or cool stuff will really enjoy this one, and all adults will love it. You will certainly be disappointed in the short running time and wish that they could have shown you more around the Museum. (I have added it to my places I must visit one day list).

While Museum Alive 3D is something that you could take your kids too, please be aware that while the content is suitable, there are moments of suspense that might scare very small children, the Abominable Snowman does no harm, but the viewer isn't sure if he just might be feral. There are also a couple of loud bangs, children who are sensitive to loud noise may struggle at a couple of moments in this feature, these are not always scary noises, but dinosaurs stomp and creatures break out of glass cabinets, many children will not be fazed by this, but sensitive ears could be.



Museum Alive 3D is playing at IMAX right now in Melbourne, see it if you can.

Letter to the world: 2016

Dear World

I am eight.

Today I learnt to ride a bike. No training wheels.

I’ve had  heaps of bikes in the past but I just never wanted to ride them. Today I decided I would and in just a few spins of the car park I was hooning off on my new wheels.

2016 has been a pretty good year.

I travelled to Jakarta and had a holiday there. It was pretty different to Australia, they have a lot of people and a lot of cars and there is LOTS of sitting in your car. But the people were all really nice wherever we went. We swam heaps, we ate yummy food and I saw my cousins which is also really really good.

I got a new cousin. She is the cutest baby that ever was born and we all love love love her.

I also got glasses to wear at school, they are pretty cool.

I went to Queensland and met some great friends there, the weather wasn’t great so we made really funny music.lys because 2016 has kind of been the year of making music videos for me. They are so easy and fun to do with your friends. We dress up, makeup dances, and film them over and over again. Mum has my account on private and thinks more kids should have their accounts on private too, but my mum still locks down all our devices so we can’t access everything. It can be annoying but at least I don’t see anything scary on YouTube now that I only have YouTube Kids.

I am still asking for a puppy. And I will never stop asking. We go to the pet shop a bit to just hold the puppies but we never ever get to buy one. Parents can be disappointing sometimes.

This year at school I was in grade two. It’s not a bad year. Not too hard. But we did have to do learning the time and I really wasn’t a fan of that. Too many tricky questions. We had our first school camp and it was pretty good, I must admit it was more fun than I expected.

I also got Glandular Fever. Don’t ever add that to the list of things you want because it really isn't very nice. I don’t ever want to have panadol again, I had to take so much of it to keep my fever below 40 that it was like my main food.  I even had to have a blood test, it wasn’t really too bad, but the doctor said when kids are as sick as I was that day, the blood test is the least of their worries. I am not sure if that is true, I am not planning on another one anytime soon. But when you get that sick you do get to watch a lot of movies and that is a good thing if you are a movie buff like me. I really love to watch movies, all types, (not grown up ones with kissing in them) and I think I would like to be in a movie too. I just don't want to do acting and dancing classes where people tell you what to do all the time.

I am now thinking I will be a zoologist when I grow up. At the moment, my favourite colour is yellow and my favourite animal is a giraffe. I love to eat spaghetti bolognaise. I now rate them out of 10 whenever we go out because every place you go uses a different recipe. One meal, but you never know exactly how it's going to taste.

I don’t really have any advice for the world this year. But I think people should be more kind to each other.

Last week at school one of the kids in my class said to me, in her mean voice “You just keep trying to make bad things good”, I told her that was a good thing and she just screamed at me, “You’re doing it again.”  Luckily, her thoughts are not the boss of my thoughts so I could just walk away and talk to someone else.  That’s what mum said was the best thing, to always remember someone else’s thoughts are not mine and so I don’t have to agree with what they say.  You don’t have to either.

I gotta go make yellow cupcakes for my friends who are coming over today, so that’s it from me for 2016.

Immy.

On our Bookshelf: For Teens and Tweens Christmas 2016

Miss 10 and I have been reading like crazy recently. So many great books out there that we decided to share a few of them with you. It can be difficult to find books for reluctant readers, for teens who think nothing relates to them and tweens who are lost trying to get away from fairies and dinosaurs to something more mature, but not to old.


So here you go, here's a list of great stuff to stuff the stockings with this year. Or just to read from the library when you get your hands on them.


Spontaneous
by Aaron Starmer
This is a TEEN book.

Mara is in her senior year when a classmate actually spontaneously combusts. Bam. She's gone. But that's just the first of many students who just up and bust. Why is this happening? Who will be next? What does a community do when fear hits and they can't work out why only the senior kids are blowing up?

Well, if you're one of the teens then it won't take long before sex, drugs and a youtube channel take over.

This book is for teens right now. Or for parents who want to read about life as a teen right now. The characters are using snapchat, making a fortune from their story on social media, they are smart, scared and hopeful.

This book is ideal for a reluctant teen reader who needs something very modern, very now and makes them want to keep reading. The ending was a disappointment to me, but perhaps that's because I am not the audience for this book.

Highly recommended by me, who may have missed some of the references in this book because I am so old.



Soon
by Morris Gleitzman

Soon is the fifth book in this series that follows a boy called Felix.

We have previously read Once, Before, Now and After which share what happens to Felix, a Jewish boy left in a Catholic orphanage before the second world war. With Soon, the war is over, Felix is 13 and stuck in a city that is a shambles, coping with limited supplies and no law and order.

Gleitzman writes each of these books so that kids without prior knowledge only pick up what they can, and adults who know so much more can easily read between the lines and enjoy the books.

In Soon, Felix is older, and it's possibly presumed that his readers have aged with him. Unlike in the previous books, in this one, the concepts are discussed more, and we hear a lot more about medical experimentation and how totally vulgar and cruel such practices are. There is also a storyline about a young girl who has been raped by Russian soldiers and is now pregnant. Miss 10 was not prepared for these concepts to be in the book and I suggest parents of younger tweens read the book first.

Recommendation: 13 and up will enjoy this book as much as all the others, while those who have not started the series can easily read any of the books without reading them in any order. Adults will read it in a day.


Ruby Redfort: Blink and you die.
by Lauren Child


May all the book fairies bless the writing hands of Lauren Child. She gave us Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean and also Ruby Redfort.  This is the last in this series and Miss 10 grabbed it and read it in a week. It's a longer book than some other novels but will keep readers tuned in.

Miss 10 provided the following review:

"There is no need to have read all the other books in the series to enjoy this one. At times the book seemed to be going in all sorts of directions and I couldn't work out why we had to read some bits that kind of made no sense, but it didn't make me want to stop reading it. Towards the end the pieces all started to come together and the parts that seemed so random made perfect sense. This is a really great book, the ending is just the best and totally makes me want to go and read the others in the series that I haven't read yet."

Recommendation: Great book for kids in upper primary school and above, teens and tweens will both enjoy reading the last of Ruby Redfort. Those who have been reading Ruby for the best few years will be very keen to read this one, even if they are now adults.



My Best Friend is a Goddess
by Tara Eglinton


This is a new novel in the Young Adult arena that is written possibly more with a female market in mind. I really enjoy novels set in Australia to help make them more relatable to Australian kids. In this book, we go through a lot of standard teen issues, school, boys, parents who don't understand and mostly friendship. It's written in a very contemporary way, some of it in diary form, some in Instant Messenger form. This is not going to be loved by most adults, simply because it is not written for you, you're too old, you don't get it, you don't understand. It will be loved by females over 14 and under 21 who may relate to the different conversations that occur.

Recommended: Grab this for the teen girl who you just don't know what to buy for this Christmas. She'll be surprised you picked a book so like her.

How to do Halloween when you don't do Halloween.

Halloween makes some Australians cringe. The concept of a highly commercial sugar filled American custom becoming the norm here can be upsetting, eye rolling, frustrating.

Too bad.

It's arrived and it's growing and it's best that you jump on the scary train with your witches broom in hand and find a way to make it fun for you.

Go on, be a joiner. I promise it won't hurt a bit.

You will get to see kids in your street that you never even knew existed. Our kids are so cooped up inside their picket fences these days that this can be the only night of the year that they get to walk the streets, (even if there are still adults only five steps behind).

You don't need to buy pricey outfits. Turn the dress up box upside down, let the kids use what is in the house and you'll be surprised what's already there. Book day outfits, end of year concerts costumes, face paint, and creativity can go a very long way. Teased hair and an old tee shirt with red paint and rips is really all you need.

We called over some friends, dusted off the camp chairs and a bottle of red wine and while the Dads and kids walked the streets, the mums happily manned the treats to give out to local kids. We meet people from school, people from the next streets, the neighbours and more.

By the time 8.30pm came along we were all packed up and done. All I had left to do was deal with the glitter. So MUCH glitter, because every witch/devil/ghost/ghoul looks better with sparkly faces, yes?

Family Fancy Dress up Night: Inside Out

These days if we get an invite to a party for a Saturday night well the answer is YES!

If the kids are invited and we don't need a baby sitter it's a giant fist pumping YES!

When the party is six days away and you find out that everyone is going in fancy dress and there is no theme to help you decide what you should wear, well, then it's a bit bloody stressful. Until your kids ask if we can all go as characters from their favourite movie, Inside Out.

This is such an easy way to get ready for a fancy dress party and I ended up having so much fun planning our outfits. All day Saturday the kids helped to get the outfits ready.

I went as Joy and found a long blue wig and just cut it short to be more like Joy. I also managed to find a short yellow dress and some great blue shoes. Yes, Joy wears flats, but I decided Joy also loves great shoes. Because Joy is a little orange skin toned I finished my outfit with a fake tan the day before, going for an orange glow!

Mr H went as Anger, which again is really easy to do. You just need a red tie, a red face, arms and hands and some red hair spray.

We found the red hair spray worked best for the face paint too, not soo wet and slimy.

Ms 10 went as Disgust - if you have a tween, Disgust is perfect for them. I had a green dress in my wardrobe so I dusted off the sewing machine and took it in at the seams, then just added a green wig and some easy accessories and you have all the attitude you need.

Miss 7 wanted to go as Riley, the little girl in the movie. Riley is a jeans and hoodie kid who carries around her backpack a lot. Mainly, she wears a yellow hoodie. Miss 7 got some new jeans a new hoodie and she was done.

Everyone brought along a plate of food to share at the party, and I have to admit I cheated by getting some help with the cake - but take a look at that Anger cake at the top, it looks fantastic.


We did fail to get decent photos before we left home, so if you do dress up, remember to get some photos before you hit the party and the disco ball lighting ruins your shots.

A Gatsby Night Out.

On the weekend we got the gig as Professional Seat Fillers at a fundraising ball.

What a fun thing to do! Being a Professional Seat Filler is not for everyone, but for us, it's a great way to do something you just didn't have planned. You need to be happy to arrive at a function not really knowing who you're going to be sitting with and just enjoy the event.

Fundraising balls come with the addition of live auctions, silent auctions, raffles and requests for cash, but there isn't any pressure to mortgage your house to fund the charity.

The theme for our night out was "With a hint of Gatsby", with only 24 hours to pull our outfits together, organise babysitters, decide on transport and get our names on the table seating list we had to move fast. The key is to accept that you might not have the perfect outfit, but your attitude and enthusiasm to attend will take you the rest of the way.

Event organisers always want you to enjoy their function, they go to great lengths to try and make everything run smoothly, so with the right attitude you should really have a good time.

We met new people, were entertained by some fabulous performers, nearly won some wine in the silent auction, heard about some truly extraordinary research being done by medical types who just do the most superb work and had a really good laugh with the people on our table.

We quite enjoy the excitement of last minute plans, finding yourself at an event you never even knew existed, speaking with people at a table who you might not know at all. It's not for everyone, but it can be really good fun.

I am not sure if there is a career in filling seats for event organisers, but if there is...count me in!

Facts about making wishes

You should never stop making wishes. 

Wish making fairies may reside here.

As you grow up, you may not have as much hope that your wishes might come true, but you should still never waste a chance to make one. 

Not everyone is lucky enough to get the chance to make a wish so never take it for granted. Some people give up on wishing altogether, but wishing is good. Wishing is powerful. Wishing never hurt anybody. 

There are a few standard places and times that people know you should make a wish and a few things you might not know about making wishes. Here're a few tips on getting the best out of your wishes.

1) Blowing out the candles on your birthday cake: 
This is the most popular wish and it should be used yearly. It's your reminder to make a wish for the year ahead. Don't waste it by making wishes for someone else.

2) When throwing money in a wishing well
This is known as good karma wishing. If you throw your coins in a well, chances are high that those coins are going to be doing something that helps other people. Karma is what makes the world go round, so your wish is highly likely to come true. Unless you over wished. Over-wishing can be a good thing, but don't be greedy.

3) Seeing the first star in the sky. 
This one even has its own little rhyme. You get more power in your wish if you are looking out the windows in the car as you drive home from a night out. 
Star Light, Star Bright, 
First star I see tonight, 
Wish I may, wish I might, 
Have this wish I wish tonight...

As stars are magical twinkly giant balls of red-hot fire, they are very powerful. Make your biggest wishes, whisper them to the night sky, close your eyes and think about your life when that wish comes true.

4) Chicken Wishbones
Wishbone wishes are not very powerful. If you are not an only child you have to fight with people in the family to get to have a turn on the wishbone, then you have to fight to be able to pick the side you want and then you know that your sibling is going to cheat and make it hard for you. The wishbone wish is flawed because someone's wish doesn't come true, but what most people don't know is that the parents are making a wish as they watch their children wish on the wishbone and it's the parent's wish that usually comes true.  That wish is usually that their children would stop fighting and that someone will throw that wishbone in the bin before the dog chokes on it.

5) Double Yoke-r
If you crack an egg and it's a double yoker, it is your lucky yokey day. Making a wish before you eat them, you've got double the chance it might come true. 


6) Dandelions
Pick that precious little weed up as you walk along the street and blow those fairy seeds all over the place. Fairies live in dandelions and fairies are who help make dreams and wishes come true, the more of them released to fly around the atmosphere, the better. 

7) Find a penny
This is not a wish, do not get confused between good luck and wishes. Remember the saying, 'Find a penny, pick it up, all day long, you'll have good luck.' So if you see a coin laying on the ground, you might have a lucky day, but don't go getting greedy and having a good day AND expecting wishes to come true too. 

Vital information about wishes: 
Wishes can't hurt you. You can make as many as you like unless you have a genie who is only going to give you three wishes. You can make a wish every day. You can wish for things for other people, for things you hope for today or for things you want to happen in years to come. 

Remember, don't just rely on the universe, karma and fairies, keep trying to make your own wishes come true too.





Disclaimer: This is not scientifically researched information. If you wish for it to be untrue, your wish might be granted. However, should you wish for it to all be true, you might be rewarded.