Happy Birthday Papá @RJ_C

Daniela's Spice and Grain Gift

This is Daniela’s second Birthday with her dad Raúl @rj_c. Last year she was only four months old and we decided to hack his personal blog to say Happy Birthday .

Last year she could barely hold a card and this year she made him a gift with my help. The relationship those two have is a special one and when I am at my witt’s end as a parent, he steps in to really save the day.

Mr. Multi-Tasker

Since we run a small business in Puerto Rico, Raul juggles many tasks at the same time. If I need to step away from Daniela to make our lunch, he will multi-task with Daniela on his lap. I have tried to type as fast as he does with her on his lap and it just doesn’t work.

Daniela’s name for Raúl evolves

One of Daniela’s first words that we could distinguish was calling her dad by his first name (thanks to me) besides the ma, pa, da, ga we would hear. She then said “dada” which to some is again just baby talk. But we went on to teach her the word for dad in Spanish which is “Papá” and she will run to her papá when mom is chasing her down. When we realized she was saying “Raúl” she would say “au” like a cat. But it did not click with me until one day she sat at the bottom of the stairs and yelled up to him just like I do for breakfast.

Love Daniela!

So on this day we just want to say Happy Birthday to our Papá who does everything possible to help our home function when I breakdown. We love you very much and wish you a great day. (Insert Sappy Tears here.)

We like the project so much we did it twice

If you would like to see where the idea came from for his gift, you can go here.

It does get messy but Daniela had fun

 

 

 

Earth Day everyday in Puerto Rico

My immediate and extended family has always been known to plant and grow flowers, vegetable, and fruits. I remember my mom nurtured a banana tree in our home and went it got too big, she donated the tree to the school she worked at where they made it a science project.

Earth Day in Puerto Rico

I have never been a plant person or cared for them really. I think I sabotaged many of my mom’s growing efforts as a kid by breaking some leaves and  was never committed to watering anything. I never liked when guys attempted to give me flowers. Yes I am weird that way.

Putting a joke into Practice

My cousin Elena lives in New Jersey and she grows plants in and outdoors. She posted pictures of her plants one day and I told her I had a brown thumb. She was a bit surprised to know that the Martinez Green Thumb had passed me by but encouraged me to start growing plants.

Elena's outdoor garden from a previous year.

I remember telling her in January when I got our first plants of coriander, chives, and a collard green plant that I was going to start growing. I also decided to grow, from seeds, collard greens and basil. She encouraged me to turn my brown thumb into a green one. Many of the seeds and plants in our garden have been purchased at the Organic Farmer’s Market in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Planting with Daniela

Since January I have been committed to watering my plants everyday. I added a Moringa plant to the bunch and had some other plants that look like cactus and grow flowers on the top. I also had another plant that my godmother gave me about a year ago that miraculously survived our move and no water.

Planting coriander seeds at our home.

We planted some Coriander seeds with Daniela so she could continue to learn how to plant and grow her own herbs. I took the seeds right from our plant.

Coriander seeds waiting to be planted

 

Coconut Husk Cup

We also visited the Organic Market in San Juan, Puerto Rico where the farmers and customers were celebrating Earth Day. There was Kirtan music, dancing, and poems read thanking the Earth for all of the bountiful fruits and vegetables the farmer’s have grown throughout the year. As one gentleman put it, for him everyday is Earth Day.

Cutting coconuts at the Organic Farmer's Market

 

There was an activity for the children organized by one of the parents whose husband sells all sorts of natural juices and fresh coconuts. You get to buy a coconut, drink the water, and then eat the pulp. The mom gave a brief explanation of the activity and asked who wanted to use the coconut husk as a planter or cup. I chose a cup for Daniela and we decided to take it home to paint.

 

Children at the Farmer's Market painting coconut husks

 

I had her fingerpaint some of the coconut husk and I finished the rest for her since she was more interested in playing with the rocks outside. Since we did this morning I am going to let it dry and she can use it later on to drink or even eat snacks out of it.

In our house we always say we celebrate everday in Puerto Rico and Earth Day should be everyday.

What types of activities are you teaching your children about helping maintain a healthy Earth?

Thanks to my cousin Elena Tirado for her photo.

All other photos were taken by Lucy Feliciano and Raul Colon.

 

 

 

Caine’s Arcade The Real Prize is Inside

UPDATE (4-18-2012) Our friends at @8BitDads have a neat video and article of Bryan Ferguson, (one of the founders of @8BitDads) visiting @CainesArcade the day they presented Caine with a check for his scholarship fund in the amount of 152K. From this event and journey, Caines Arcade Foundation was born to encourage and foster other children to create. Read more on here

UpDate (4-12-2012): If your child has created a carboard arcade game, send a picture or video with the name of the game, and how it works to Caine. You can share it with him on his Facebook Page.

The other day Raúl bought a bag of Cracker Jacks and said that when we were kids, there were always better prizes inside the bag of Cracker Jacks. I have to agree because I do remember getting little tinker toys instead of the paper cow tongues we got with this particular bag.

I am at an age where I remember playing in a teepee created by my older friends, playing tag, and being outside as much as possible. I also remember getting our first video gaming console which was an Atari. I remember walking with my older friends who were also neighbors to the mall to play arcade video games. Yes the good old days.

I want to play in that Arcade.

This morning on Google Plus, a video was shared called Caine’s Arcade. I clicked the link thanks to Eric Milliken who circled us on Gplus Papaheroes. I did not see the video because we got sidetracked with baby proofing the home office. So when C.C. Chapman posted the video, I went back to the vimeo video I had opened earlier but had not viewed it.

Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

Supportive Dad and Customer

When I saw the video with Raul, we both cried over the kids determination, creativity, and problem-solving skills. We both talked about how his father George, supported him throughout the process by providing him the space to build his arcade. All it took was one customer, Nirvan to see that Caine had put a lot of thought into his business.

I don’t know how many times I have seen my nephews and even adults say that they are “bored” on Facebook. The lessons and takeaways from @CainesArcade was far better than any Cracker Jack prize you could get these days. You can make a list of all the adult lessons from Caine’s business and use them for yourself.

If your children say they are bored, show them this video and tell them to follow Caine’s example.

You can go to Caine’s Facebook page, Twitter, and homesite.

If you would like to donate to a scholarship fund for Caine, you can go here. As stated on the homepage,

“… imagine what this kid could build with an engineering degree.”

Nice job to @CainesArcade, his father George, and first customer @Nirvan.

 

 

 

Baby Chicks for my little Chicky

Here is a craft I did with our fifteen month old daughter with four sheets of legal sized white paper, @Crayola Washable FingerPaints, scissors, left-over tissue paper from our Tots Art Start kit, and tape. I wanted her to make a little gift for her Great-Grandmother Lydia since she celebrates Easter.

 

The Egg-spiration

I could have opted to do something that did not involve paint, but I just did not have the time to go and get the material for this particular activity which I saw on No Time for Flash Cards‘ site. So I thought that I could still do an egg and remembered that when my mother would do crafts with her students, they would have the students color a cracked egg, cut it in half, and show a baby chick being born.

I drew free hand the shape of an egg with sharp edges to make it looked cracked, I folded the paper, and cut the egg shape out. For the baby chicks head, I used a coaster or anything round. The white paper length I used was legal size we had around the house. If you have older kids they can trace and cut out their own eggs. But with my little one, I did all the cutting and taping together.

This is the egg shaped pattern.

 

Artist at Work

Squirting @Crayola Washable FingerPaint

 

I took off my daughter’s clothes and squirted three different colors on the paper and she began to paint. We have used these paints before and it has come out of her clothing. I did this two times using another set of colors. For the baby chick heads, I used one sheet of paper and just put yellow paint on it. I turned the paper around so she could cover as much white and I could cut out two heads. We don’t have a crafts table for her and I prefer getting down on the floor with her to make it fun.

 

Daniela and I in our office FingerPainting

 

The Waiting Game

Once all three sheets were covered with paint, and the floor, and my daughter, and myself, I cleaned up and left the sheets to dry. I put off assembly till the next day to ensure that the paper was completely dry.

Air drying the sheets of paper on a table where baby can't grab them

Our Final Product

I cut the egg patterns and heads out. For the baby chick’s eye and beak, I cut out two orange triangles and two blue circles from tissue paper. I taped two ends of the eggs together, taped the head, beaks, and eyes. I could have used those clips that make the egg open and close, but I did not have those handy, so I opted for tape.

Two Baby Chicks

 

I know my daughter loved doing this project because once we had finished one sheet, she was pointing to the @Crayola paint tubes and saying, lets do it again.

Cruel-Free Easter

We see so many people selling and buying animals such as rabbits and baby chicks to their children on the island for the Easter holiday and they tend to forget that these are not toys. These are animals that need to be taken care of and fed. I know this craft goes in line with our beliefs about not harming or adopting animals and being careless with them.

Hanging up our final product

 

What type of crafts will you be doing with your children over the long weekend?

Thanks to Dad @RJ_C for taking our pictures.

We support #SneakerPals How can we not?

How many people do you meet in a year? Is it possible to keep track? I don’t think anyone remembers them all, but we all can point to certain individuals whom we’ve met throughout the year that have made an impact in our lives. I’d like to talk about a person I met last year. Someone who makes a difference. I’m talking about my friend, Mr. Brian Keith Miller.

Brian created SolePlus as a bridge between cultures. He uses Converse Sneakers to connect kids from different backgrounds, by designing shoes. Yep, you read right. If you’re a regular reader, here on PapáHeroes, you know this. I’ve had the honor to work alongside him several times already, and I have witnessed, first-hand the incredible human being, Brian is. Well it gets better.

Global Vision

Brian has taken upon himself to share the abundance of love and compassion he has and has received, to others. This time, 600 Uganda (African) Orphans. He’s going to be excahnging Converse Chuck Taylor Shoes designed by hand by a group of 600 kids from the Metro Atlanta Boys and Girls Club to a group of 600 Orphans in Uganda. A group of kids will have the opportunity to meet other like them whom lives are full of hardship and pain. This will certainly, move them. I’m sure of it. By participating in SolePlus’ #SneakerPals program kids will have a chance of viewing life from a different perspective. I’m sure it will make them more gracious to what they have. On the other hand, the Uganda kids will see that they are not alone. There are people out there that want to help and be a friend to them. This global vision of help, really touches me. I can see God’s Blessings all over this.

We Can Ship In!

For this project, SolePlus has developed a few ways of us getting the chance to help. We can donate money (there’s no minimum or maximun. Every donation is well accepted), we can buy a t-shirt, a poster or a book from this project. We can offer our help as a Voluntary Worker. We can even submit ourselves to a contest, where the winner, will accompany Brian and the rest of the team over to Uganda this July, 2012 to serve and help those 600 kids. Wow.

Thank You

On the occasions I’ve had the priviledge of talking with Brian, I’ve heard ideas on helping folks. All of them as impressive as this one, but it’s one thing to say them and a whole other to see them happen. I can sure use Brian’s steps as a guide to my own life. This example he’s setting is something to be emulated, To be praised and to be blessed. So here goes:

Brian, I thank you for your inniciative. Helping others in need is something we all have to do, and you do it big! Thank you for that. I will include you and this project of yours in my prayers so that you receive nothing else than blessings. We need people like you and your SolePlus team. People who are willing to lend a hand, with no gratification in mind. The gratification will come back on its own, for you are doing something very positive, and it will return to you and your team in abundance. God Bless.

If you feel touched by what I’ve just narrated, I urge you to head on over to SolePlus.org and show your support. We, at PapáHeroes extend our support as well, and hope there is something we can do on our part to help. Brian, tell us how!

Here’s the Video explaining how this project will go down. Tell me if you can ignore this after you’ve seen Brian explain to you how we can all help.

Sole Plus: Sneaker Pals 2012 Uganda Promo from Sole Plus on Vimeo.

 

Product Review: Doodle Cake Crayons by @AlexToys

This week, my daughter and I had the opportunity of reviewing one of Alex Toys’ products. They sent us their Doodle Cake Crayons. As soon as I opened the box, I said to myself: “Someone’s going to have fun here”!

I always feel excited when I open anything that comes through regular mail. It’s magical! I love to rip the tape off and slowly open each flap. Makes me feel loved! What can I say? It does. As I opened the box, I called on my daughter. She seemed a little upset! I guess it was because I opened the box without her, but as soon as she saw what was inside, her complexion changed to that of a very happy child. I had opened a box filled with happiness! Very cool indeed!

Inside the box, we found: crumbled wax in several colors, a plastic mold, plastic spoon, doily and, the most important thing of all – the instructions. Even though I wanted to start playing with it right away, I reached for the instructions first. Not my daughter, she grabbed the rest of the things. She wanted to start doing whatever it was that this toy was about. With the Doodle Cake Crayons we were going to make our own coloring crayons… in the shape of muffins!

Allow me to be more specific on how we played with the Doodle Cake Crayons. First, we could use every color included in the box. We could layer them, mix them… go crazy! This was my daughter’s favorite part. I invited my 2.5 year old son, but he kept on playing with his cars and airplanes. Apparently the box nailed it right with their 6+ notification. My daughter was perfect for the job!

Step 1: Open the wax bags.

As if we needed this instruction. Done!

Step2a: Fill each hole on the mold with colored wax.

The excitement was really building up by now.

Step2b: Mix or layer the colors.

Let’s just say that the spoon can be converted into a blender. At least on our hands.

Step3: With the help of an adult, pre-heat the oven to 325*F (163*C). Bake for 8 minutes.

We had a problem here! “With the help of an adult”? Well, Master Yaddle (my wife) wasn’t at home, so I saw no other way than to pretend I was the adult for a few minutes. (I was as excited as a kid with this project!)

Step4: When the wax starts bubbling, turn off the oven.

I don’t know if I was expecting to se bubbles worthy of Hermione Granger‘s mixing cauldron, but I never saw these. So I left the wax in the oven for about 40 minutes; 32 minutes more than what the instructions read. When those 40 minutes went by, I said to my daughter: “I can’t wait any longer! I’m taking it out now!”. She replied by saying: “I was going to tell you just that!”. The tone of her voice leads one to believe that she is more of an adult than her father. Her answers always impress me!

Step5: When the crayons cool off, pop them out of the mold.

After watching them tirelessly for a few minutes, the crayons were cool enough and we scooped them out. We played with them for a while pretending they were real muffins. Then she remembered and said: “Daddy, can we paint using these?” “But wouldn’t that ruin the muffins?”, I replied. After a few awkward looks from my little Princess, I got a sheet of paper and YES!, they can be used for painting!

After using them for a bit, I noticed it was rather hard to paint with our new muffins. Even though I pressed them against the sheet of paper the multi-colored paint would not apply on as easily as a regular crayons do. It was rather difficult to grab the muffin and paint at the same time. And no matter how hard we pressed them, the colors came out “washed”. Not intense like any other crayon. So we went back and pretended we were having a picnic.

To my surprise, my daughter did not care at all. When I asked her, she had not noticed they were hard to paint with. (I guess I had put on my adult clothes again.) My kid would not have seen this “flaw” if the boring adult would have kept his mouth shut. Lesson learned. I guess because I was supposed to write a review afterwards, I looked upon it with critical eyes. Good thing I had my Princess as back-up!

Recap:

The process of prepping the wax, mixing, cooking and waiting was an amazing time spent with my daughter. We had lots of fun imagining how the crayons would turn out. Choosing the colors we were going to use and making a mess in the kitchen without caring was great fun! Getting our muffins out of the oven, waiting for them to cool and popping them out of the mold was time well-spent with my kid. I loved every minute, and so did she. For this, I recommend this product! I look forward to creating even more Doodle Cake Crayons with my Princess. I know she’s going to want to share this experience with her friends, so next time I’ll probably be making a big production number on this new and very cool “toy”! Just keep in mind that coloring with the muffins can be somewhat tricky.

Have you had the opportunity to play with this? Have you done so with a similar toy? Share your experiences with us down on the comments section!

Disclosure: We where given a free box of Alex Toys’ Doodle Cake Crayons to review and write this article. Even though our new toy was given to us for free, we feel this has not influenced our opinion in any way.

www.AlexToys.com
Twitter: @AlexToys
Facebook: facebook.com/ALEXToys

Product Review: Tots Art Start by @AlexToys

Tots Art Start by @Alextoys

We were fortunate enough to catch a tweet by @AlexToys calling for parent bloggers to test out their products geared towards arts and crafts. Since I know art is right up our PapaHeroes co-founder, Rick’s alley, I reached out to the company so we could test out two products. Rick and his children will be testing out the Doodle Cake Crayons with his daughter who is six years old and his son who is two and a half years old.

Our Tots Art Start kit

Tots Art Start

The Tots Art Start kit is good for children ages 18 months and over. Although our daughter is only fourteen months, I did not see an issue using this kit. The kit brings six activity sheets, a tree, a giraffe, stickers, confetti, doilys, and three crayons all neatly packaged. The instructions on the packaging are in four languages; English, French, Spanish, and German.

Daniela handling the crayons

Our daughter was fascinated by the crayons that were in the shape of triangles. I thought she might like to draw but she was interested in the texture of the crayons. The size of the crayons and shape are good for her little fingers because they are not thin and break easily. They also have little grooves in the middle so they don’t easily slip out of the pincer grip. This leads to durability in the crayons as she gets interested in using them more during the coming months.

What Daniela Really liked

Daniela is into shredding paper and feeling different textures lately. She will put her hand in the dogfood, water bowl, dirt, sand, and likes picking up rocks. So I decided to do the collage with four removable sections that have adhesive underneath.

Loving the Confetti Paper

As you can see from the photos she took the shredded paper out of the bag and was entertained with throwing it around. I showed her what to do and then she started putting confetti pieces in each section. I did not remove all the sections at once that way the activity could last a little longer.

Easy Clean Up and Storage

What was great about this particular activity sheet was that I did not have to use glue, I could peel away each section as Daniela was done decorating, and the clean-up was easy. Everything fit back into the plastic pouches and we could put the activity sheets away for another day.

Placing the confetti pieces on the collage activity sheet

We did not use the stickers that were included in the packet just yet as I know Daniela would be interested in sticking something on our dog JuanGa instead of the paper. We did hang up the artwork in our living in our glass bookshelf. I will have her create something else for her room.

Positive Experience with Tots Art Start

Overall our experience with this particular @AlexToy craft was easy, simple, and fun. The use of all types of colors of the rainbow is great. As your child gets older, you can even have them put a specific color on the collage or just supervise them as they decorate the Giraffe or Tree activity sheet on their own.

Daniela's project finished

Since the activity sheets already have a decorated border, you can hang them up as is once your child finishes the activity. There isn’t a need to purchase a frame for the sheet. The sheets can also go into an artbook that you can compile of all activities you have done together. The price of the kit is $16.95 and it is pretty reasonable. If you were to buy stickers, crayons, confetti paper, tissue paper, and different activity sheets or construction paper, it will come out to more than $16.95.

Eventhough the age is 18 months plus on the package, I would recommend to use it with children even younger. The different textures of the paper are great for sensory, the overall use of bright colors on the activity sheets are attractive to the eye, and you can use the sheets to compliment a story you are reading with your child.

(Disclosure: Alex Toys sent the Tots Art Start kit to us for product review. Although the product was complimentary, I don’t feel that has influenced my opinion about the product or writing of this post in any way. )

www.AlexToys.com

Twitter: @AlexToys

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALEXToys

 

 

Learning Primary Colors with OK GO & Sesame Street

Out of the three co-founders of this blog I might be the less artistic of the bunch.

I love appreciating art and I’m always amazed by the great content Rick creates every Sunday with the Daddyknows Comic Strip.

On the other side Lucy also creates a lot of interesting and artistic projects  (take a look over at our Pinterest account) around the house and making sure our daughter gets involved in art.

As I am getting ready to take off for #SXSW I was able to find this interesting video created by OK Go and Sesame street.


The video teaches in a fun and simple way the primary colors.

If you enjoyed the video you must also visit the game created on the Primary colors. Very interactive and fun with the objective of educating kids and adults alike on the primary colors.

Sesame Street & OK Go Primary Colors Game

I have to admit that it served as a good reminder of what the primary colors are since I had forgotten.

Any other educational games and videos you have found along the way?

 

 

 

Quick Valentine’s Day Child Craft

It is always good to shop in the baby section after Christmas because you might find something on sale that you could use for later in the year. I walked to our local Marshalls in Puerto Rico and looked in the Children’s section and found several boxes of Pearhead BabyPrint Holiday Ornaments for $2.50.

These particular boxes had heart shape mold cut-outs and I thought Valentine’s Day crafts. I had Dad buy the aluminum foil yesterday and we did the handprint this morning. With the left over molding clay, I shaped them into our daughter’s initials that I will later paint and put in her room.

Personalized Project

With paint from a previous Pearhead box, I will be painting the heart and giving as a gift to Dad. With the second box and mold, I can save for another occassion or project. If I make a cake, I could use the un-used heart mold to cut out a heart and eat it with the baby. Oh and Dad will get a piece because I found a vegan recipe for Carrot and Vanilla cake.

Our Final Product

What type of crafts are you doing with your children? 

Updated: Giving the Benefit of the Doubt

Converse Shoes Designed by Brian Keith Miller

Shoe Design by Brian Keith Miller

This past saturday I went, alongside my fellow UNDOers (Artists from UNDOdigital: Puerto Rican Collective of Digital Artists) to an event called Converse Open Gym. There, we helped Brian Keith Miller with his Sole Plus efforts.

Brian gives blank sneaker templates to kids so they can design their hearts out and create a unique Converse Shoe. At the end, the winning child, would be given a new pair of Converse shoes. Brian will contact the winning child so he/she can go ahead an do it for real, painting over a new pair of Converse for a later event he’s planning where he’ll take the child and have him give the pair of shoes he/she designed to a poor / homeless or otherwise person with lots of needs. He works to make sure kids view other sides of reality and less fortunate people get shoes and help from his organization and Converse. Amazing, I know.

Heart Felt Gratitude

At the end of the event, a kid who was designing shoes earlier, came back with something in his hands. Brian was speechless when the kid told him he had found his iPad in a far away table. Someone had left it there.

He remembered the iPad belonged to my friend Brian and brought it back! Getting his vocal chords in order again, Brian told me to ask the kid his shoe size. In gratitude, Brian gave him a brand new pair of Converse shoes. The kid left dancing.

Giving the Benefit of the Doubt

Later, the boy’s Father came dragging hi son right in front of us. He was steaming. They boy managed to get away from his dad and came back to us. He said: “Tell him, it was you who gave me the shoes!” Before we could put all the pieces back together, the Father ran in, grabbed the boy by his arm and pushed him towards the crowd and the exit. I tried following, but it was to late.

A Huge Misunderstanding

Brian went to another Converse table, where his gift to the boy was being held. They told him, the angry father gave it back, believing his son had stolen the shoes.

Our fears were confirmed. The Boy’s Dad, couldn’t believe his son’s story. He jumped to conclusions and acted upon them. Then he took his family and ran out of the coliseum. We felt helpless.

Something to Think About

This whole experience with the boy and the shoes gave me lots to think about.

It made me realize how we jump to conclusions and bark orders to our children more often than not.

Also, how we should first listen to all the sides of a story before imparting any judgement. Even when the history of our child, tell us he can do mischievous things, we should try and listen. Maybe this time, they acted different. Lastly, it made me think that we should never loose hope on our children, if they are accustomed to doing bad things, we have to believe they can change.

How about it, any thoughts on this from you? I’d love to hear it!

 

Update:

Just found a picture of the boy in SolePlus’ Facebook page. So if anyone knows him, please let his parents know about this situation. Here’s the photo (he’s the one on the right, sitting down):