I found a great set of instructions for making homemade juggling balls from balloons and rice. Making them took less than 5 minutes and they kept us all entertained for the afternoon, even if our juggling skills didn’t improve dramatically.

A couple of tips if you decide to make some of your own:

measure out the rice to ensure that each ball will be the same size and weight.
if the juggling balls will be used by (mostly) small hands, use small balloons rather than big ones.

Here is some instructional video for learning to juggle, and some speculation that kids who juggle get better grades.

The Senior Education Officer at the National Gallery of Victoria has written a fun check list for kids to take with them to the gallery. The idea is that this will encourage littlies to explore and think about the collection. While written up for the NGV here in Australia it could be used in any general collection gallery in the world - the only Australianism I found is the use of the word “bush” which you might need to replace with “forest”, “wilderness”, “woods” etc depending on your part of the world.

also: tips for parents visiting with young children

While Élena of French Toast Girl may have been primarily thinking that fellow adult artists may leap at her idea to challenge themselves to paint something Every Day in May, there is no reason why this great idea for a project can’t be undertaken by kids as well. It might be fun to set up your child’s easel and/or paints in an easy to access place like the kitchen for the month and see where it goes from there - messy most likely, but ease of access and the encouragement to try something every day might bring out some inspired artwork or just lots of good fun. Join the flickr group to share images.

A Mother’s Day breakfast in bed menu might traditionally consist of cold, burnt toast, milky tea and a drooping flower in a vase, but if your children are keen and you don’t mind a big Mother’s Day clean-up here are some recipes and menus from around the web which could inspire their inner-chefs (perhaps with a little hinting and a little help).

All Day Mother’s Day Menu (printable version)
A plethora of Mother’s Day breakfast recipes
Breakfast Made by Kids, Eaten by All

Finding art work for a child’s bedroom wall which is relevant and unique while also managing to appeal to both you and the occupant is a tough task. Storyopolis offers some wonderful solutions. I am particularly fond of this Quentin Blake print from Roald Dahl’s Matilda. But there are so many prints and original pieces of work which match all kinds of tastes and budgets. Browse through the extensive list of artist’s portfolios and find something classic or off-beat and amazing (perhaps a little spooky?) and inspiring.