Mudpies & Butterflies

Upcoming -
June 7- ?

May 31 - Cathartic Collage

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

Piano Kids Part I & II: Homeschoolers not Truants!

"Play me, I'm yours" aptly labeled piano through LA

What fun we had while the Pianos were here. MudPies & Butterflies happily sponsored homeschool kids in 2 outdoor piano concert/recital. One on the Pier in Santa Monica and the second across the street from the LACMA museum .

PianoKids Part One & Two:

Homeschoolers not Truants

Thank you to those who threw their family and friends in the car and came out and supported these Homeschool kids taking their musical passion and fun to the public. In addition to music, we had some truly inspired dancing in the background.

As much as a ingenue composer as a classical performer, Jahan Raymond's homeschooling lifestyle affords him the freedom to follow inspiration as it hits.

One of our M&B home- schoolers, Jahan Raymond, played a composition of his own devising and a few classical pieces. Other children played on the keys or chose their personal favorites.

You may be curious as to why there was a piano on the stairway on Wilshire in the first place. Due to a global initiative to increase intimacy and connection communities – STREET PIANOS hit LA for three weeks. Over 30 pianos have been decorated and embellished by prominent artists and local groups. And were installed in accessible outdoor locations through out LA. Who knew so many could play so well?

Don’t forget to click on images that will connect you to video footage.

Thai NewYear (Songkran) & Potluck 4/19

Let’s Celebrate Thai New Year – Songkran when Thai people wash away the dirt and issues of the previous year – giving EVERYONE a chance to start anew! Such a lovely idea. This weekend our family went to the Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood to partake in the celebration. Buddhists bring their buddhas to the temple to have them washed as well, to be at their optimum for the new year in protecting the family, connecting to ancestors and honoring their prayers. Expect story-telling, games, and we will have a rice picking contest for anyone who wants to join in the fun. Supplies

praying This week I will introduce some Thai words, lifestyles and their neighborhood animals (like Elephants) through stories, books, arts & crafts and more. This includes lessons to tell your Thai Elephant what to do. “De Mak!” (Very Good) and “Geb bone.” (use your trunk to pick it up). And some fun Thai games that kids in Thailand play. And make thai crafts like butterflies with colorful pages of magazines.

And feel free to let the Thai culture inspire your potluck dish. I’m thinking I might attempt an eggplant thai spice and coconut milk curry. The weather should be warm enough for us to have an Evening Potluck (starting at 5pm- until sundown). Parkday potlucks which occur on the 3rd Thursday of every month, allow other family members and friends the opportunity to join in our community and fun which usually occurs during their business hours. buddha

Ensuring there are no hulls left on the rice, rice flipping/sifting is a part of preparing food daily in Thailand

Any dish with Jasmine rice would be considered Thai, as it originated from Thailand. Here’s an article on why not all rice is the same – specific to the best Jasmine rice. Click on rice images below for Thai song and what planting and harvesting rice in Thailand looks like.

Nightcrawlers, Worms & Seeds 4/12

Spring is Here! So let’s get our hands in the Dirt and Plant seeds. We’ll dig a bit around the park and find Worms, & I’ll bring Giant Nightcrawlers for EVERYONE to hold. With Newspapers we can make biodegradable potting containers. If you bring a glass jar you can build a WormFarm & adopt a worm.

To REUSE and eliminate the need for more plastics, here’s the link to fold your pots into circles out of Newspapers (click the image and see the orgigami way to make squares). Cardboard egg cartons also make great temporary homes for seedlings as do empty egg shells. This way you don’t have to waste containers if you are going to plant in the ground. The roots can easily break through newspaper once moistened. FYI – don’t water your newspaper pots until you have them in their new home.

I will be bringing Nightcrawlers (cousins to the Earthworm) so each child can learn the anatomy of worms and understand how they are our planet’s greatest healers (at least that is what Charles Darwin thought, who studied worms for almost 40 years!). If you bring a glass jar, you can make a WormFarm to help feed your garden and witness the habits of these amazing creatures firsthand!

When Earthworms eat dirt, it passes through their digestive system, basically breaking down nutrients into forms that can be used by plants and other organisms. A good analogy is to that of cow manure, farmers use it to provide nutrients back to the soil; same thing for worm manure. It’s not what it eats (it actually eats mostly rotting material), but what it poops. worm

Worms bodies are sooo Cool. First off, their bodies are characterized by a “tube within a tube” construction, with an outer muscular body wall surrounding a digestive tract that begins with the mouth in the first segment. And they have FIVE hearts click to see them pumping.

Mudpies & Butterflies

Village Parkdays 12:00 pm – Sundown

Piano Kids Part I & II: Homeschoolers not Truants!

PianoKids Part One & Two:

Homeschoolers not Truants

Thai NewYear (Songkran) & Potluck 4/19

Nightcrawlers, Worms & Seeds 4/12

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