Tom McMahon

Every Grade School PTA Meeting You've Ever Been To

Every Grade School PTA Meeting You've Ever Been To

Piñata Elmo

Piñata Elmo

Because deep down, you've always wanted to beat the crap out of him, haven't you? (via Brian Kane)

10 Unexpected Merit Badges

10 Unexpected Merit Badges

From Neatorama:

There are certain Boy Scout/Girl Scout Merit badges you expect - Archery, Cooking, Camping, Safety, that sort of thing. But the Scouts have a more well-rounded nucleus of merit badge opportunities than you could ever imagine (well, unless you were a Scout). Here are 10 you may not have expected to find on a merit badge sash.

The one shown above:

Fingerprinting. Not surprisingly, this one originated in the ’30s, just as Eliot Ness and the Untouchables were making detective work cool. This one, of course, involves taking prints and identifying all of the unique characteristics of each one - loops and whorls and all of that fun stuff. But they also require Scouts to get into the science of fingerprints and why they form the way the form.

Ask Andy Returns!

Ask Andy Returns!

What is Ask Andy?:

Youaskandy started as Ask Andy, a newspaper column answering children’s questions in 1955. Originally it appeared in a single east coast newspaper. Thirty five years later Ask Andy was a syndicated column appearing in over 75 newspapers in the United States and some in Canada, with a readership of about 18 million readers, which included students, teachers, parents, and grandparents.

Ask Andy received thousands of questions each week. Naturally, it was not possible to answer all inquires submitted. Andy answered two questions a day six days a week. The questions selected were those unique questions coming from inquiring young minds and whose answers were not easily found or possibly did not exist in reference books. The responses were carefully researched by scientists and science educators. The answers were written in a style that was both enjoyable and understandable to a student ranging in age from nine to fifteen.

In responding from children for these many years it was observed that kids ask the same questions as they are growing up. The Internet offers a wonderful resource for information for all ages. This website is a perfect home for the collection of questions asked by kids for a 35 year period. We believe kids with their curious minds will continue to ask the same “evergreen” questions in the future. Many of these questions have already been asked and their answers appear in this website. We hope youaskandy.com will continue to be a learning resource for students as well as for adults with inquiring minds.

Anybody else remember Ask Andy? I read it all the time as a kid. The index of questions is here.

Soup and Cracker Mug

Soup and Cracker Mug

Young kids might get a kick out of this, eh?

Natural Wooden Baby Rattles

Natural Wooden Baby Rattles

Carefully made from select natural hardwoods, these rattles are crafted in Vermont by a small company. Babies will be delighted by the distinctive design, smooth feel and pleasant sound made by the clinking wooden circles. Choose from natural or brightly painted wood. $10

FIKI Sports

FIKI Sports

10 bucks gets you the set shown here, officially licensed by your favorite NFL team or collegiate football factory. FIKI = Flick It & Kick It. If this paper football craze gets any bigger, it might be on Cable TV (paper view, of course!)

Chicken Fat, Also Known As The Youth Fitness Song. Composed for President Kennedy’s Physical Fitness Program

Touch down
Every morning
Ten times!
Not just
Now and then.
Give that chicken fat
Back to the chicken,
And don't be chicken again.
No, don't be chicken again.

Push up
Every morning
Ten times.
Push up
Starting low.
Once more on the rise.
Nuts to the flabby guys!
Go, you chicken fat, go away!
Go, you chicken fat, go!

Chicken Fat, also known as “The Youth Fitness Song.” Composed for President Kennedy’s Physical Fitness Program. Recordings of this song were sent to school districts throughout the United States to accompany the official U.S. Physical Fitness program of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. Composed by Meredith Willson, performed by Robert Preston: Sort of a "Music Man For Kids!" except your gym teacher was making you do push ups and sit ups to the music. Even looking back across a span of almost 50 years, exercising to this song remains as one of the Great Humiliating Moments of my grade school experience.

You can find out more about the whole Presidential program here, or go here for the entire lyrics as well as an MP3 of the song. (via)

Did You Ask A Good Question Today?

Via Leadership Smarts, a little story from Donald Sheff:

Isidor I. Rabi, the Nobel laureate in physics who died Jan. 11, was once asked, ''Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or businessman, like the other immigrant kids in your neighborhood?''

His answer has served as an inspiration for me as an educator, as a credo for my son during his schooling and should be framed on the walls of all the pedagogues, power brokers and politicians who purport to run our society.

The question was posed to Dr. Rabi by his friend and mine, Arthur Sackler, himself a multitalented genius, who, sadly, also passed away recently. Dr. Rabi's answer, as reported by Dr. Sackler, was profound: ''My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: 'So? Did you learn anything today?' But not my mother. She always asked me a different question. 'Izzy,' she would say, 'did you ask a good question today?' That difference - asking good questions -made me become a scientist!''

Red Raven Movie Records

Red Raven Movie Records

 

You put the faceted mirror on top of the spindle while it was playing in order to see the animated effect. More here and here.