The Mother Company Helping Parents Address Safety Needs

Keeping our children safe is a concern of all parents.  The Mother Company is helping parents address these concerns with books and videos that are both entertaining and educational. Creators Abbie Schiller and Samantha Kurtzman-Counter of The Mother Company have created a new video, The Safety Show.  According to Daily Candy, "The 40-minute show mixes live action, music, quirky stop-motion, and lovely French animation to teach smart habits (if you need help, find a mom with kids; pay attention to that “uh-oh” feeling) and give parents conversation starters."  Available via DVD ($15) or download ($12) at rubysstudio.com.

Their video above, The Boss of My Body featuring Marlee Hightower empowers young people with music and a catchy tune. The Mother Show also has live events.





Return to Children's Focus website.

 

Tour MOMA with Their Latest Children's Book, Young Frank, Architect

Until the Museum of Modern Art start their fall programs, families may enjoy reading their latest children's book,  Young Frank, Architect.  Later they can use this new book as a reference for their next tour of the museum to discover the works of architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry. The book also give ideas to try at home.  

Here is MOMA's description of Young Frank, Architect.

"This whimsical children’s book by award-winning author and illustrator Frank Viva explores MoMA's collection through the adventures of Young Frank, an aspiring architect, who lives in New York City with his grandfather, Old Frank, also an architect. Young Frank likes to use anything he finds—macaroni, pillows, toilet paper, shoes—to make buildings that twist, chairs with zigzag legs, and even entire cities. But Old Frank disapproves, saying architects only create buildings.

One day they visit The Museum of Modern Art, where they see work by architects Frank Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright, and many others, and Old Frank learns that architects can do more than he thought. The Franks go home and create structures of every shape and size, using whatever they can get their hands on, even cookies. At the end of the day, Young Frank feels a little older, and Old Frank feels a little younger—and a little wiser." 

To preorder a copy visit MOMA.

Return to Children's Focus website.

How to Dance Salsa

How to Dance Salsa with Baila Society from Alvin Ailey on Vimeo.

It's summer time, and are you ready to move! Alvin Ailey tries to help you get your Latin grove on with a little help from Baila Society.

The New York Public Library Presents New Free Exhibition: ‘The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter’

For centuries, children’s books have introduced young people to the art of storytelling and sparked their imaginations. Now a new exhibition, The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter at The New York Public Library explores children’s literature and its crucial role in educating and entertaining readers of all ages while shaping and chronicling society and culture. The exhibition reminds us not only that each generation has their own favorite books that speaks to them but also the story of children’s books has a fascinating history.  

More than 250 items from the Library’s collections will help explore the history and impact of children’s literature, and for some this will be a trip down memory lane. The curator, Leonard S. Marcus tries to connect the dotes between the different ideologies that have coexisted in the realm of children's literature from the romantic vision of allowing children to explore their imagination to the more practical view of providing a message to encourage children to be better citizens of the planet. Many of the New York Public Library’s treasures will be showcased: the copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that belonged to Alice Liddell, the child for whom Lewis Carroll wrote it; a rare 1666 illustrated children’s edition of Aesop’s fables that survived the Great Fire of London; Nathaniel Hawthorne’s family copy of Mother Goose, with annotations stating some passages were too scary to read to their children; the manuscript of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden; Mary Poppins author P. L. Travers’s parrot-head umbrella; recordings of E.B. White reading excerpts of Charlotte’s Web;  the original Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals; comics; copies of The Little Golden Book series (remember The Poky Little Puppy) and an array of other children's favorites.

Find out why children's books matter and other important questions in this new exhibition which, will run from June 21, 2013 until March 23, 2014 at the Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.  for more information visit their website.

How to Make A Play Street

Summer is here, and play streets are a special part of summer fun for children and everyone. If your favorite neighborhood block has never enjoyed a play street, Jules and Martha tell you how to get started. Thanks to ioby. Return to Children's Focus

My Mom, Style Icon

While we are celebrating Mother's Day here is a different look at moms from
Piper Weiss.  Her book was published a couple years ago but can still inspire you to think about Mom in a new way. Maybe, you will discover that your mom is also a fashionable icon.

"Moms are people, too...fashionable people! Before we came along to yank on their skirts, they showed leg, sported killer bangs, and flaunted bikinis. Some even wore feathers and halter tops and drove around on motorcycles. Was their style shocking? Yes. Covetable? Absolutely. Based on Piper Weiss's hugely popular blog of the same name, this book features 200 color photographs from decades past of moms showing us how it’s done. A perfect gift for mothers, daughters, and style mavens, My Mom, Style Icon is an entertaining celebration of the very first—and most important—style icon in a young woman's life."

Piper Weiss is a humor and culture writer, as well as an editor. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

The Mom Song for Mother's Day

So this is the way we sound. That is why we need a good sense of humor.