a craft-y morning making music + 4 books we love: the beauty of music translated to words

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a craft-y morning making music + 4 books we love: the beauty of music translated to words

ages 2 to 6 years, up to pre-teen for the books
Ivy and Angus love making music and even though it can get loud—overwhelmingly loud—I love it too, because I know it makes them happy. They do have some simple percussion toys, but they prefer to pull out all the pots and pans or make random objects into drums.

On a recent rainy day, we decided to use some of our unlimited collection of cardboard tubes to make music shakers. If you're looking for an activity that's interesting, fun and 

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2 beautiful books to grow creativity, expand art appreciation and increase confidence

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2 beautiful books to grow creativity, expand art appreciation and increase confidence

ages 4 to 12 years + parents!
Art is about more than reproduction—it’s about interpretation, vision, and creation—and it’s easy to assume that license to create comes only after mastery of artistic skills.

Henri Matisse famously wrote that "Creativity takes courage" and, for many of us, finding that courage happens most easily with a bit of help

We need some structure, some guidance, and an assurance that our art will be good enough. These two books take exactly those approaches.

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come inside the world of QAGOMA’s collection artists and learn some great new ways to make art

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come inside the world of QAGOMA’s collection artists and learn some great new ways to make art

ages 4 to infinity
Everything leading up to our moving was, as it always is, hectic and messy. We didn’t get to do everything we'd have liked before we left, but we did get to visit GOMA’s 10 year anniversary exhibit.  

GOMA is one of Ivy’s and my favourite places, we miss it. On our last (final) visit, we bought this fantastic book, 10 Ways to Make Art, from the shop:

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a graphic, cheerful and modern book with a neat twist on diversity

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a graphic, cheerful and modern book with a neat twist on diversity

ages 2 to 8 years
Sometimes a book with joyful pictures that takes just a few minutes to read can take on extra meaning when read in light of world events. The Fantastic Recipe Machine is like that. It’s about little robots in a factory, turning out unexpected results from funny mixes of ingredients....

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a tote, a thought about reality and some mind-blowing books

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a tote, a thought about reality and some mind-blowing books

the mind-blowing books in this post are great for ages 6 years and all the way up!
All the girls in the family are currently ‘toting’ these totes—the slogan spoke to us so we ordered four at once to save on postage. (We have to co-ordinate when we go out or risk looking like a gang.) Our group-buy was completely about the slogan; we didn't even look at size or shape....

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a bit of brain gym tied up in provocative story-based art

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a bit of brain gym tied up in provocative story-based art

ages 6 years to adult
Is there a more universal and constant battle for western parents than the fight to limit technology? We so want all the benefits of technological immersion but also feel instinctively that lives need a bit of analogue in them too. Labyrinth is like a book bridge—it crosses the chasm between story and interactive play...

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an exploration of the foibles of rules and ownership

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an exploration of the foibles of rules and ownership

ages 2 to 8 years
Ownership is a slippery concept, especially where pets are concerned. Is it really possible to own another living thing—and how does the pet view your relationship anyway! It gets even more complex if your ‘pet’ is actually a wild animal. Wilfred is pretty sure he owns a moose! He calls the moose Marcel and gives him a list of rules, some of which the moose follows really well, others not so well. But Wilfred is happy

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