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It’s uncanny how much your parents change as you grow up. Can I get an “amen”? -via Breakfast Links
If you’ve been looking for some paper dolls to play with that are actually designed for adults instead of kiddos, then BuzzFeed has a great collection of them for your paper-playing pleasure. Time to get printing!
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I know school’s about to start (if it hasn’t already), but just in case you want to provide them with a few last educational activities at home, this geode egg project is a good way to get them interested in the science of crystallization.
I’m sure we can all agree that it’s important to keep kids safe from the big dangers of this world, but there is certainly a line between safety and stupidity and many schools these days have jumped right over that border. Cracked ha a great list of the most idiotic things schools are doing in the name of safety, including making them wear electric tracking bracelets, banning all photography and preventing all physical contact. Read about the rest over at the link.
I know a lot of our readers were born a lot earlier than I was, but for those of you raised in the nineties, this BuzzFeed article has a lot of funny ways to prove it that you will find yourself nodding your head to in agreement.
This Tron Light Cycle scooter just might be the ultimate kid’s toy for those aspiring to raise their children with proper reverence for all things geek. I don’t know about you guys, but I wish I had one when I was a youngster. Unfortunately, it’s only a concept at this point, but let’s hope it moves in to production soon.
Link Via Geeks Are Sexy
(Edit by Alex 8/25/11) See also: PlasmaBike over at the NeatoShop
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If you’ve been to Disneyland in the last twenty years, then you’re almost certainly familiar with Splash Mountain. Even if you refuse to ride the massive log ride, you probably at least rode the train through the tunnel that shows the happy ending of the ride. But did you know the ride is based on a movie that has never been released on home video because it’s considered too offensive? Or that the reason there are so many familiar faces inside is because the imagineers salvaged the characters for another attraction? There’s plenty more fun trivia like this inside this edition of our Neatorama Facts series.
Image Via OpenThreads [Flickr]
The Zip-a-Dee River Run was originally conceived of as a way to start attracting more people over to the often empty Bear Country area of the park, which was renamed Critter Country after Splash Mountain was opened. Unfortunately, the project quickly ballooned over budget, becoming one of the most expensive projects the Imagineering team had worked on up until that point. To help reduce the cost as much as possible, the team decided to use previously existing animatronic animals from the recently closed America Sings attraction. Even then, the ride still ended up costing $75 million to complete.
Although CEO Michael Eisner kept pushing for the ride to be based on the film Splash, imagineers had long planned to base the ride on the live action/animation film Song of the South and they refused to be moved on that point. In honor of Eisner’s ignored contributions, they did decide to change the name of the ride from the Zip-a-Dee River Run to Splash Mountain.
Strangely, despite the fact that one of the most popular Disney rides was based on Song of the South, the company has still refused to release the title to American home video or DVD because their executives believe the content is offensive to black people. While Uncle Remus is the character believed to be the most offensive and was left out of the ride as well, his presence can be felt in the queue area; a variety of his quotes can be found throughout the barn-themed line area, all the way up to the loading area.
Images Via Express Monorail and PrincessAshley [Flickr]
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If your kiddos are getting tired of boring old regular playdough colors, then try adding some sparkles to the black dough and they can suddenly play with space playdough. If you want to make your own, Fairy Dust Teaching has a great recipe.
If there’s one thing ridiculously rich people are good at, it’s wasting money. And this list of potential gifts for the world’s most spoiled children is equal parts depressing and hilarious. Just check out this $10,000 teddy bear made with black Tahitian pearl eyes, white alpaca fur and a 10k diamond necklace on a gold chain.
If you want to make an attention-grabbing ad, you have to do something really outrageous these days. That being said, these 10 ads on Oddee -all featuring kids- are utterly disturbing.
Pop Up books are largely considered children’s territory, but WebUrbanist has a great selection of 3D books that grown ups can enjoy too. I certainly would enjoy getting my hands on some of these. How about you guys?
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For those of you who like looking at adorable pictures of cuddly things, this BuzzFeed gallery featuring kids with their pets is simply precious. It certainly makes me want to cuddle up with my pup.
Artist Jason Freeny isn’t content with viewing the exterior of some of our favorite toy characters, he wants to know what the insides of Care Bears and My Little Ponies look like. His depictions of the creation’s innards are delightful for biology-loving geeks and terrifying for children.
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Oddee has a great article featuring the World’s Youngest record holders for a variety of titles. While they range from shocking (the world’s youngest grandmother) to fascinating (the world’s youngest CEO). Perhaps the cutest though is the world’s youngest surfer:
Jaylan Amor is only two years old, but is already surfing the waves outside of Brisbane, Australia, and has secured multiple endorsements from surf shops. To catch a wave, his dad paddles him out to sea, then the two year old hops and rides the waves back into shore. Mr Amor isn’t worried if Jaylan falls, as the tike just swims back to his board and waits for daddy to help him back up.
Read about the rest at the link.
Now that I’ve posted up all my Comic Con costume articles here and on Rue The Day, I’ve finally started looking the other photo galleries. While I’ve seen a few good ones here and there , I really didn’t feel like I missed anything major until I saw this adorable Dalek costume. If only it were possible to survey all of the convention at once.
Link Via Geeks Are Sexy
The New York Public Library system is declaring fine immunity to over 140,000 kids who owe more than $15 in fines as long as the kids agree to participate in their summer reading program. The amnesty, known as “Read Down Your Fines,” asks the kids to log in their reading time on the library’s website. For every 15 minutes they read, the library wipes out $1 of fines.
“Kids might be afraid or ashamed because they are delinquent with the library,” said NYPL official Jack Martin. “The idea of this program is to bring them back in.
Personally, I could have worked off over $100 worth of fines over one summer when I was a kiddo, but I know most youngsters aren’t as eager as I was.
Link Via Consumerist Image Via Wonderfully Complex [Flickr]
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When I was a kiddo, my favorite playground activities were climbing to the top of the monkey bars and spinning way too fast on the merry-go-round. Since then, playgrounds have become increasingly more safe, and according to the New York Times, less mentally stimulating. The article argues that these changes have resulted in kids being less willing to take risks and more of them developing life-long fears -things that are a lot worse than an occasional broken bone.
Link Image via cryptic_star [Flickr]
Kids selling lemonade on a street corner is a classic American icon, but according to Georgia State Police, it’s actually against the law. Cops recently busted two tweens for selling without a business permit and a food vendor’s license. According to the police chief, the city won’t be backing down soon:
“We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with, so we acted accordingly by city ordinance.”
Who knew lemonade could be so dangerous to the public health?
Link Via Consumerist Image Via ChocoladeHam [Flickr]
When I was a youngster, I thought firefighters were the coolest people alive…not because they were heroes, but because they got to slide down a pole to go to work. These days, while I respect the heck out of firefighters (anyone who lives in Southern California knows just how important they are), I have to say the people who own this house filled with slides might just be the coolest people on earth.
Just in time for the release of the new Harry Potter movie, enjoy artist Brittney Lee’s great artwork made from paper trimmings. She’s made other works based on popular movies out side of the series too, just in case you aren’t a fan of the wizarding school series.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to give birth to a 16 pound baby, even if it was through a caesarian. On top of every thing else, you’d have to worry about trying to find clothes for him. Janet Johnson, who just gave birth to a son that might be the world’s largest said she’s going to have to return all the clothes she already bought for him since he’s already the size of most 3 month olds.
There are plenty of online gaming sites for youngsters, but most parents would rather have their kids get off the computer and use their brains for more creative fronts. Tinkatolli wants to change all that by blending an online realm for children with creativity and real life projects. The result should keep kids entertained, mentally stimulated and improve their tinkering skills. I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait for the site to go public.
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Frugality is an important lesson to learn, but there is certainly a point where it becomes ridiculous. Over at Consumerist, there is a great roundup of the 16 most over-the-top tales of frugal fathers. To be fair, some aren’t nearly as bad as others, but when your dad is the type to have “hooked up the tv to an exercise bike so that we kids had to peddle to watch our cartoons. TV lost its charm quickly and we went outside to play,” you know your pop may have crossed the line -of course, that is a great way to get your kids to exercise.
What happens when you switch a parent and a child’s head in a photograph? Pure creepiness and delightful family photos that won’t soon be forgotten, that’s what. Paul Ripke’s Kindsköpfe (“Grown Ups”) series is certainly worth taking a long look at.
Link Via Laughing Squid
A kitty says meow, a lion says roar and a dog says woof. But what does Admiral Ackbar say? I know that if our daughter could pull this off, my husband would be as delighted as this dad is.
Link via [Geeks are Sexy]
It sounds strange, but it’s true. One of the vulgar humor site’s recent article dives in to five simple ways to make our kids smarter, which involve surprising simple things like starting school later, adding more windows to classrooms and taking kids out for a walk before they take a test. While the article is filled with typical Cracked humorous quips, it is surprisingly free of curse words, making me wonder what the site is up to these days.
You have to wonder about the culture that creates a market for a toy like this. If you are afraid of your children using chemicals, why would you be interested in a chemistry set at all? Link -via The Daily What
All children need toys, but not all toys are created alike. While most bad toys are simply a bit boring, these eleven are the absolute worst of the worst. In fact, you’ll notice a lot of these are so ridiculous that they have actually taken on a cult collector’s item status and now cost quite a pretty penny.
There are toy guns, toy bow and arrow sets, toy swords and more, but somehow a toy tazer still seems to take things a touch too far –particularly considering the “Police Electric Baton Shock” actually gives out real shocks. On the upside, it’s only $3.50, so it’s much cheaper than most kid’s toys.
Russian Roulette is a ton of fun, but it’s unfortunately completely permanent. If you want to practice the game without those deadly consequences, then you’d better go ahead and start out with the Kaba Kick and the more gentle pink hippo kicks that replace bullets.
It’s totally normal for kids to pretend to do grown up jobs, after all, some kids play house, some play doctor, some play superhero and some play with chemistry sets, but who wants to be a janitor? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like a better idea to push your kids towards an intellectual pursuit than a job in the cleaning industry.
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I know the Orlando Star Wars celebration is long past, but when I found this picture of two toddlers dressed up as droids for the convention, I couldn’t help but post it here to share it with all of my fellow Neatogeeks.
Little children say the strangest things! But if you listen closely, what they come up with reveals how differently they see the world. They haven’t learned all the things we know, and they have a completely different perspective on what they observe. In this post at NeatoBambino, Tiffany shares some of the odd nuggets of wisdom that surprised her coming from the NeatoKids. And you are invited to add the strange things your children have said, for a chance to win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop! Link
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