Episode 5: Jerome Schoolar (Dusty Biscuit), Biscuit Brothers Fine Arts Farm

You and I know Jerome Schoolar as, well, Jerome Schoolar.  But your kids probably just know him as Dusty Biscuit, one-half of Austin, Texas' awesome Biscuit Brothers, perhaps seen on your local PBS station -- and if they don't know him, they should.  He joins me on this episode to talk about the new Biscuit Brothers Fine Arts Farm in Austin, the value of fine arts in raising and teaching kids, and -- most importantly -- how Tiny Scarecrow fits into all this.  (And by "most importantly," I mean "most importantly to Tiny Scarecrow.")

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Links 

The Biscuit Brothers 

Biscuit Brothers on Facebook 

Biscuit Brothers Fine Arts Farm Kickstarter project

App Camp For Girls: Non-Profit Camp Teaching Girls To Program iOS Apps

Project Title:  App Camp For Girls

Creator : Jean McDonald (App Camp for Girls)

Description:  It's a little sad that there has to be a fundraiser to establish a non-profit camp to encourage girls to get into programming.  Software is such an important part of our lives these days that one might hope that their wouldn't be massive gender disparity in terms of who's coding and that these camps targeted at older tween and early teenaged girls wouldn't be necessary.

But the disparity does  exist, and so here we are.  And while the camp right now is set up for a Portland-area event only, if it goes well (and they raise enough money), they're hoping to expand to other areas of the country in 2014.  Hear, hear.

 

LightUp: Electronic Building Blocks and Augmented Reality App

Project Title : LightUp: Learn by Making (with Augmented Reality)

Creator : Josh Chan (LightUp)

Description : I've been a supporter of this project since day 1, if I recall correctly, and though I wanted to get Josh and the LightUp folks onto the Bake Sale podcast, we just couldn't get our schedules to sync.  No wonder, too, because their project's been a stunning success, raising more than $100,000 compared to their $50,000 goal.

What is LightUp?  It's a little bit like Snap Circuits in its use of kid-safe electronic components (e.g., complete a circuit and turn on a light) except that the LightUp adds to that an augmented reality app via your smartphone that will allow kids to "virtually" see the electricity flowing through the circuit -- or not flowing, if you and your kids have failed to construct the circuit properly.  That's the sort of thing that I think really makes the educational possibilities of this project shine.

There are lots of different types of kits available starting at $39, and the fancier ones will even allow you and your kids to do some Arduino programming.  If you'd like to support the project, though, you'd better hurry as it ends Sunday night, June 30.

Episode 4: Tim Sheridan, Thunder and Lightning Kids Book

Tim Sheridan works as a creative director in Chicago, doing digital marketing and advertising.  Sheridan joined me this week to talk about his Kickstarter illustrated children's book project, getting The Low Anthem to agree to have their music part of the book, writing speeches for Steven Tyler, and the slooooooow gestation process of bringing kids books out into the world.

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Links 

Tim Sheridan 

Thunder and Lightning Kickstarter project

Dee Duncan (illustrator)

The Low Anthem 

Mobius: Animated Series for Families

Description : I love the concept of this project -- it's an animated series developed for smartphones and tablets about Mobius, "an incredibly adventurous 8 year old, who loves nothing more than to escape his hum-drum, fish and chips, tea and toast village in rural England and go on expeditions that almost every kid dreams of."  The rough "animatic" posted on the project page is funny, and does seem to hit the mark for humor for both parent and kid.

Unfortunately, the project doesn't seem to have taken off, and they've only had about 0.5% of the $260,000 British pounds they're seeking collected.  But even with that, a pledge for this project is a vote for good, smart family entertainment.

Johnny & Jason: Be Alive!, Their Second Kids Music Album

Description : I liked the debut album Go, Go... Go, Go, Go from the Portland duo.  In fact, I called it one of 2011's best debut kids music albums.  As a result, I was happy to hear that the duo was working on a follow-up album called Be Alive! and using Kickstarter to master the tracks, duplicate it, and get it out into the world.  There's just a little bit less than 2 days to go, and they've safely cleared their $3,700 project goal.  So you can safely pledge in confidence knowing that the project will reach the finish line (and that you'll like it when it does).