Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

Children's Books by Mark Rosenthal

Illustrator Marc Rosenthal stopped by our studio recently. Dave and I had a few moments to visit with him and his wife, designer Eileen Rosenthal, before they headed back home to Massachusetts. Marc is an editorial illustrator who has added children's book illustration to his repertoire. Marc's work is beautiful, with a retro feel, but very distinctively his own.

A few weeks later, a package arrived in the mail: a signed print, and three of his amazing children's books. Our son has adopted the books as his new favorites, and that's just fine with me. I am happy to look at the illustrations all day long. Our daughter had memorized Archie and the Pirates by about day three. Now she "reads" it to me. I love the opening pirate scene.

© Marc Rosenthal

Some other books Marc Rosenthal has illustrated are: Dig!, Phooey! and First, Second.

Tape-o-rama at AVAM

When: Saturday, January 30, 10 am–noon

Tape is a hot commodity at our house. My son is obsessed with it, so much so that I am guilty of hiding tape dispensers from his greedy little paws. Hey, I need tape too. His general belief that tape can fix anything means we go through a lot of rolls of the stuff. Needless to say, I think this event sounds like a great way to work out some of those pent-up frustrations he probably has from trying to figure out where I hid my last roll.

Here are the details:

Join Nana Projects (of Great Halloween Lantern Parade fame) for an adhesively fun workshop. Learn to use packing tape in a way you never knew you could! In this two-hour workshop, Nana Projects artists will lead you through designing and building a magnificent one-of-a-kind hat, headdress or costume piece made entirely out of packing tape! You will complete a lightweight and easy to decorate hat ready to wear anywhere! Children should "stick" with an adult who can help them. Please call AVAM at 410.244.1900 to pre-register. Cost: $10 members/ $15 non-members.

Winter, I Am Ignoring You...

I'm not a winter person. I am good for about one heavy snowfall, and then I'm done. I know I should try and embrace it, but winter always seems to last about three months too long.

So, Winter, I am ignoring you.

But in order to properly ignore Winter, I needed a plan. First, I bought a lemon tree from Four Winds Growers. It arrived about a month ago in a brown cardboard box labeled "live plant". I opened it to find the happiest little lemon tree you can imagine. It even had small blooms, which were followed by more blooms, and then little tiny lemons. Way too many lemons for those little branches to support, so I'm sure I'll have to thin them, but I can't quite bring myself to do it just yet.

 

Forced bulbs are practically a requirement to make it through the season. The paperwhites are in full bloom, and since my daughter has inherited the same winter problem, she is forcing both paperwhites and an amaryllis.

And the latest addition is an AeroGrow Garden (a gift from my parents to my most passionate gardener). The first crop of cherry tomatoes is growing nicely, and while I think these hydroponic gardens are a little pricey, they are a lot of fun, and practically guarantee success.

 

So spring is what, a million months away? We'll wait... and in the meantime, we will be memorizing the seed catalogs... and planning our gardens... and ignoring Winter.

Kid Knitting

I cast on. I knit. I purl. I increase. I decrease. That is the extent of my knitting ability. I believe rectangles are king in knitting and any other shape, or intricate pattern, is not to be attempted without a full understanding of the consequences. My biggest knitting embarrassment is the sweater I started when my oldest daughter was 2. She is almost 11 now. Fashions have come and gone, and the sweater is still not finished.

But still, there is a meditative quality about knitting that I can't pass up, especially in the depths of winter. I usually have a scarf somewhere in the works. Yes, a rectangle, but a rectangle made of irresistible fuzzy yarn and stitched with love. For my kids, it seems doubly important that they have a moment to sit...quietly...and just knit. It requires focus, and patience, and care — all things I like to encourage.

For kids learning to knit, I think instant success is key. There are few things more frustrating than a tangle of yarn. We have used knitting looms for a few years now. My oldest started that way, and now my younger kids (at age 5) have adopted the practice. Needless to say, we are up to our eyebrows in hats, but you can also make other things with the looms, like scarves, and blankets. There are quite a few books on the subject. Two nice ones that I've been looking at are Loom Knitting Primer by Isela Phelps, and Learn New Stitches on Circle Looms by Anne Bipes.

The next step, is switching to needles. My oldest has made the switch and has plans to start a sweater. Maybe it's time for me to haul out my old sweater project so I can finish it before she finishes hers. I've had a nearly nine year head start, but I have a feeling she'll be closing the gap soon. The race is on.