The Tech Issue October 2013 (Kids VT)
The Tech Issue: Digital Dos and Donts From Screens to Cellphones; The Vermonters Behind iTunes’ Top Kids Podcast; Mini Moviemakers Let the Good Times Roll
Backyard Castle
Some kids have a backyard fort. The Nop family has a backyard fortress — a giant metal castle measuring 40 feet high at the top of its lookout tower. From the drawbridge to the dungeon, it was all the brainchild of dad Louis Nop, who runs Nop’s Metal Works out of their Middlebury home. Built in…
Talking Tech
Kids VT readers often approach me with story ideas for this magazine. More often than not, the suggested topics relate to parenting and technology. The rapid pace of technological change is something we’re all grappling with. Do we introduce our kids to the latest techie tools? If so, when and how? If not, will they…
Getting the Lead Out
Lead paint has been banned in U.S. homes since 1978 because of the dangers of lead poisoning, but the heavy metal still threatens children’s health. Each year, about half a million children are found to have lead levels at or above five micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (µg/dL), which is the threshold for…
Tiny Dancers
It’s hard to observe a Zumba Kids class without being overtaken by the urge to sway your hips and tap your feet. That’s what I discovered as I sat in the corner of an exercise studio at Shelburne Health & Fitness, watching my 6-year-old daughter, Mira, and four other elementary schoolers shimmy and shake to…
Book Review: Compost, by Gosh! An Adventure With Vermicomposting
Librarian: Kathleen Engstrom, Haston Library, Franklin Book: Compost, by Gosh! An Adventure With Vermicomposting by Michelle Eva Portman Age range: 4-8 Engstrom’s summary: Environmentalist Michelle Eva Portman wrote and illustrated this engaging book about vermicomposting — an amazing process in which worms eat our leftover food waste and make compost. Through rhyming text and vibrant…
The Because Project: Governor Peter Shumlin
“I learned how to read because of a teacher named Claire Ogelsby.”
When is the right time for a child to have a cellphone?
Dwayne Doner, Jericho Cook, Three Tomatoes Trattoria Sons Finn, 14, and Rubin, 6 My oldest son, Finn, grew up kind of old-fashioned. We just weren’t into technology. We read books and we built things. We didn’t have the internet; we didn’t have commercial television. Finn had to learn as we did, when the technology entered…
The Art Of… Filmmaking
The Stinky Baby Trilogy won’t be coming to a theater near you — ever. The trio of short films, made by four elementary school-age girls, follows three babysitters who run away from their dirty-diapered charges. Enthusiastic viewers laughed and applauded during a lunchtime premiere at the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury in August, though. The screening…
Storytellers Who Sparkle
Meet the Vermont family behind one of iTunes’ most popular kids podcasts
Decoupage Lanterns
Lanterns are a welcome way to light up the night. These upcycled glass candleholders are colorful, crafty and a cinch to make. The ones pictured here were created by 3- to 10-year-olds at a neighborhood harvest party. Thanks to the forgiving nature of decoupage, everyone produced a lantern they were proud to take home and…
