The Tech Issue October 2015 (Kids VT)
Meet Vermont’s Young “Makers”; Parenting in the Smartphone Age; Inside Rutland’s STEM Academy
One to Watch: Brady MacKay
A 12-Year-Old Solves 3D Puzzles With Lightning Speed Name: Brady MacKay Age: 12 Town: South Burlington Put a Rubik’s cube in Brady MacKay’s hands and everything clicks: his brain, his conversations and, most notably, the cube. The South Burlington 12-year-old twists its layers, lightning fast, until he has solved the classic, multi-colored puzzle. His quickest…
How My Son Kicked His Minecraft Habit
Watching ducks paddle along the edge of Lake Dunmore on a beautiful late May afternoon three years ago, my then-9-year-old son shrugged his shoulders and let out a big sigh. “What is it?” I asked. He looked wistfully across the blue water. “I wish I was playing Minecraft,” he said. That’s the moment I realized…
Steamroller Printmaking
What kind of supplies do you need to create the most fun art workshop ever? Paint, wood blocks and a construction vehicle — or so it seemed in the Sushi Yoshi parking lot in Stowe one Saturday afternoon in September. Robby Schulze, 6, was utterly spellbound as he watched a heavy-duty steamroller slowly press paper…
Coloring Contest Winners
The winners of our three gift certificates to Petra Cliffs are… Ava Booska, 4, South Hero Mariela Swiech, 7, Northfield Jenelle Hardy, 11, Georgia This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
How the Owners of a Richmond Tech Startup Juggle Work and Family
Dad: Ben Kinnaman, robotics engineer, cofounder Greensea Systems Mom: Jo Strong Kinnaman, clinical psychologist, cofounder Greensea Systems Kids: sons Britton, 6, and Graeme, 3 It’s been a wild decade for Ben Kinnaman and Jo Strong Kinnaman: Move to Vermont. Start a robotics company. Have two sons. “We have this awesome history of making two big…
Book-Inspired Contest Winners
Congratulations to these talented young artists who submitted captioned pictures showing their favorite part of the first day of school, inspired by Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate. Each wins a $25 gift certificate to Crow Bookshop in Burlington. Here’s one of the winning drawings. Winner shown: Isabella Broich, 8 St. Albans…
Tech Recs
Do you know the difference between Minecraft and Clash of Clans? Kik and Yik Yak? If not, ask your kids. When it comes to digital media, they’re often schooling their parents on the latest trends. How can parents get up to speed and teach their kids to navigate the vast and rapidly changing online world?…
How Can Parents Reduce Their Kids’ Chances of Tooth Decay?
Many families set limits on their kids’ candy intake. But on Halloween, all bets are off. Should parents worry about what all that sugar will do to their kids’ teeth? Dr. Charles Bookwalter, aka “Dr. Chuck,” a pediatric dentist with Timberlane Dental Group in Burlington, loves the spooky holiday. His advice to parents? Don’t sweat…
Pirate-Themed Ropes Course
What makes Voiles en Voiles, the new pirate-themed ropes course park in Montréal’s Old Port, so awesome? Looks, for starters. Fashioned to resemble two 18th-century pirate ships, its billowing sails, wobbly bridges, suspended logs and hanging nets just scream fun. And once you make it through the long line to get in, the place lives…
Meet Some of Vermont’s Young “Makers”
By now you’ve heard about Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Texas freshman who built a digital clock and brought it to his suburban Dallas high school. Ahmed, who is Muslim, made headlines in September because school officials said they suspected his clock was a bomb — he was handcuffed and fingerprinted by police, and suspended from…
Parent Trap: Has Technology Made the Toughest Job Any Easier?
Last year, while nursing my infant daughter, Joni, in the wee hours, I found solace in the glow of my smartphone. When she wouldn’t go back to sleep, I’d pop in my earbuds and bounce with her on an exercise ball. Instead of despairing in my exhaustion, I’d listen to the wise words and gallows…
Stafford’s STEM Academy Prepares Teens for 21st-Century Careers
Rutland high school senior Karine Bombardier has loved to take things apart since she was a little kid. She says her father encouraged her to seek out educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math — a group of subjects commonly referred to as STEM. “He told me engineering is big in our economy,” she…
Fall Hiking
With its beautiful foliage and crisp, mostly mosquito-free air, fall is a great time to tackle the trails. But choosing the right hike to attempt with kids can be tricky. Matt Krebs, publications coordinator at the Green Mountain Club, says it all depends on how old your children are. For parents with babies, hiking is…
Halloween Decorations
Parents: Jackie and Gerry Stoner Sons: Rowan, 10, and Rory, 8 Ask anyone in the Underhill-Jericho area where to find the best Halloween decorations, and most will send you to the Stoners’ house. Gerry, Jackie and their sons, 10-year-old Rowan and 8-year-old Rory, create a spooky display in their front yard each year, starting in…
Big Picture
Burlington’s Old North End just got a whole lot brighter. Wingspan Studio’s Maggie Standley and a group of teens from the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington spent the summer painting a whimsical mural in vibrant hues on all four walls of the club’s Academic Tutoring Center, in Roosevelt Park. Each wall has a different…
Pachyderm Passion
On the first Sunday in October, Burlington will be one of 130 cities around the world to hold its first-ever global march for elephants and Rhinos — thanks to Vermont Commons School seventh grader Taegen Yardley. The Charlotte kid has been interested in elephants since she helped run a bake sale to raise money for…
Focus on Food
The internet is teeming with photos of food. It seems like everyone who likes to cook — or eat — posts the occasional food pic on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or other social media. Fortunately, these photos won’t just make you hungry — they can also inspire you to try cooking something new. Checking out food-focused…
Relics From the Past
When I was in seventh or eighth grade, I remember my middle school librarian standing in front of our class with a shiny compact disc pinched between her fingers. “This is the future,” she announced. The slim silver circle in her hand held as much information as a whole volume of encyclopedias, she told us.…
