The Circus!

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to town and last weekend we took Paul to experience his first real circus.  He loved it, and honestly I did too.

I can’t say where my childhood memories of the circus come from.  I can’t remember if my parents ever took me to one, but I think they did.  If not an actual circus, they must have taken me to a carnival or something similar.  Regardless, what I remembered wasn’t pleasant.  I didn’t like it at all: the sights, the smells, everything about it, and I was fairly reluctant to take my son to “enjoy” the same thing.

This was different: it was very well done and it was fun!  The theme was dragons, which added a little something unique to the usual things found at the circus.  The usuals were there though, acrobats, lions and tigers (but no bears), elephants, trick dogs and cats, many motorcycles driving around inside a small, spherical steel cage, but everything had the mystery of dragons running through it, drawing from various cultures from around the globe.  Very cool.

Before the show the actors/athletes were on the floor, rings assembled, rehearsing various aspects of the main performance and we were allowed onto to floor to see them up close, meet the actors, and even have them sign our program.  This was a nice touch.  Paul even ended up getting picked to participate in one of the rings!

We made our way to our seats, the show began and everything about it was fantastic.  Multiple acts, multiple rings, and a build up to the emergence of a very well done, full sized dragon at the end.  My only criticism is over the length of the show.  Even with an intermission, it was long.  The performance began at 11:30 a.m. and didn’t end until almost 2:00 p.m.  Paul started getting fidgety about the time time intermission came, and even with the break, he was a little restless for the rest of the show.  That said, we got what we paid for and didn’t feel short changed at all.  There is no way anyone can see this show and complain about the quality or quantity of the experience.

Would I go again?  Absolutely yes, and so would my son.  Well done, Ringling Brothers!

It’s great to be a dad!

Some Favorite iOS Apps for Kids

I haven’t conducted a survey or assessment of the significant mass of iOS apps out there for our kids, but there are a few that have passed muster and find a home on my iOS devices: most on my iPad and a few on my iPhone.  I’ll talk about them and tell you why I’ve liked them.  More importantly, these are the ones that are not just “parent approved” but also approved by my son.  I lump all of these into one of two categories:  educational and games.  In several cases, the games also have some developmental or educational value.  Here we go:

Educational:

abc PocketPhonics + First Words (by Apps in My Pocket).  This is a great little app that teaches letter recognition, writing and sounds.  It also progresses toward reading, writing and speaking first words.  Kids learn by seeing and hearing, then the app guides them through writing the same letters they see and hear.

Osmos for iPad (by Hemisphere Games).  Technically a game.  If your child likes this, they’ll also learn a little physics as they play.  The game is visually stunning and the music is soothing.

The Elements (by Element Collection).  This is a high-end periodic table of the elements.  Your kids will love its interactive nature and the superior photos that accompany each element.  Everything else will be over their heads, but I’m pretty sure they’ll fall in love with with the table and set the stage for the future when they actually learn about the elements.

Star Walk for iPad (by Vito Technology)  An interactive astronomy guide.  This app is amazing.  Making use of your mobile device’s location awareness and accelerometer, you simply point the device at the sky and it shows you in real time what you’re looking at.  It also shows you stellar objects you can’t see with the naked eye.  The database includes stars, planets, constellations, and many of the satellites in Earth’s orbit, to include the International Space Station.  You can even see what’s below the horizon so you know what’s coming into view soon.  Want to know more?  Just touch the object you’re interested in and additional information appears.  My son loves this app and we spend quite a bit of time with it when we’re outside at night.

Super Why! (by PBS Kids)

Games:

Gears (by Crescent Moon Games).  Use your finger to guide a ball through a series levels of spinning gears.  Fun to look at and challenging enough to hold attention.

Star Wars Pit Droids (by LucasArts).  I downloaded this because my son wanted “a Star Wars game.”  Frankly it looked too hard for a five year old, but I grabbed it anyway.  Based on the pit droids from Star Wars: Episode 1, the object is to place directional guides to direct the droids around obstacles and into a hatch.  The levels run from a single stream of droids and a single destination up through multiple streams of different colored droids needing to negotiate around obstacles and each other to their own similarly colored hatches.  While he struggles with several of the levels, I was surprised how quickly he learned how to win.

Angry Birds (by Chillingo).  There are four versions of this game out there; get them all.  They’re addictive and will also teach your child a little about physics when it comes to aiming the various birds.  They’ll also learn how different birds have different effects depending on what they strike.  Be ready to regularly lose control of your mobile device.

Cut the Rope (by Chillingo).  A “little cutie guy” as my son says, and a piece of candy.  It’s simple:  cut the rope suspending a piece of candy so that it drops into the cutie guy’s mouth.  Throw in some bubbles and a few spiders to frustrate your good intent and you have hours of fun. 

Flight Control (by Firemint Pty).  Levels range from simple to complex.  The goal is to land a variety of aircraft on their appropriate runways or helipads.  As levels progress, the sky gets pretty full.  Different aircraft fly at different speeds.  Direct their flight paths with your finger and don’t let them collide.  Simple, right?

Labyrinth 2 (by Illusion Labs).  Another game with a simple underlying concept:  Move a little metal ball through a maze to a target and avoid falling in holes, and the unwanted effects of fans and magnets along the way.  Add in buttons you need to trigger to open pathways, and things get challenging quickly.  Played on an iPad, your child holds it flat like a table and tilts it to roll the ball.  Great for hand-eye coordination!

Tilt to Live (by One Man Left).  Speaking of games that require tilting to maneuver, this simple game with simple graphics has you maneuvering a ship shaped like a pointer.  Objects come in from the sides and your child will have to move around to keep from letting them touch your ship.  As time and levels progress, it gets harder.  Another great game that entertains and teaches hand-eye coordination.

Feed Me Oil (by Chillingo).  In this one, oil comes out of a spigot and needs to end up in a reservoir.  The player has to place spinning paddle wheels in the right places to make it happen without spilling too much along the way.

Plants vs. Zombies (by PopCap).  Teaches a little person a little strategy.  Cartoon zombies try to make it across the screen to the player’s house.  A variety of plant obstacles are available for placement along the paths to the house to frustrate and eliminate the zombies.  As levels advance, the player ends up not only with a variety of plants but also a variety of zombies, including dancing zombies!

Tiny Wings (by Andreas Illiger).  Harder than it looks: a tiny bird with tiny wings moves across hilly terrain, picking up flowers and suns along the way.  Meanwhile the sun is setting and the game ends once the sun goes below the horizon.  The goal is to pick up enough flowers and suns to speed the bird along.  But there’s more!  The player has to use the hills to launch our little bird friend into the air.  This is done by touching the screen at the right time.  Touching the screen pulls the bird down and needs to be timed with the downward slopes on the hills, then released to let the bird race up the hills and fly.  An awesome hand-eye coordination game!

Cannon Cat (by Loqheart).  A cat saving birds trapped in little bubbles.  That’s right, saving, not eating!  The player launches the cat from cannon to cannon to fly across the trapped birds.  When timed right, the bubbles burst and the birds are free.  To show their thanks they usually rally around the cat when he sits in a cannon.  Sometimes the cannons move and sometimes they change where they’re pointed.  The player has to pay attention and time when to launch the cat.  Each level is finite and ends with the cat soaring through a portal.  Feedback is gentle if all the birds aren’t freed and the player gets another chance to try again.  When there’s success, the next level is available (similar to Angry Birds).

Give some (or all of these) a try and if you’ve found other educational or game apps for your young one, feel free to post them here in the comments.

It’s great to be a dad!

Review: Phineas & Ferb Live!

A while back, after a visit with my son to Disney World, I wrote that Disney hadn’t lost it’s magic. Nothing has happened since to change my stance, but last weekend it was solidly reinforced.  We took Paul to see “Phineas and Ferb: the Best Live Tour Ever”.  He had no idea what he was in for.  We simply told him we had a surprise for him, and off we went.

If you’re not familiar with Phineas and Ferb, take the time to check it out.  Two brothers, both smart in a gifted way, making the most of their 104 days of Summer vacation by applying their intelligence to any number of adventures.  The show doesn’t pander to kids, nor does it talk down to them.  In fact, the writers seem to strive to smartly entertain kids just above their level, and to do it in a way that it encourages them to strive and grow in what they know and do.  The TV show is witty and somehow talks to kids of all ages.  As a parent I appreciate the writers have also taken care to include things that make the program interesting and funny for adults.  The program encourages kids to think and imagine, be creative, play with others, and often times, to do all this outside.  Also, what most likely goes unnoticed but I’m sure influences young viewers, is the brothers are actually step-brothers.  You wouldn’t necessarily know this up front, but it sets a neat tone for the show.  Related, Phineas and Ferb’s circle of friends is diverse:  male and female, multi-national, multi-racial, and spans a wide variety of interests and personality types.  The show clearly emphasizes things in common and diminishes the things we (adults) sadly allow to get in the way of relationships.

Back to the live show.  We went to see actors playing cartoon characters.  I wasn’t sure how Disney (or anyone) would pull this off, but as long as it worked for my son then as far as I’m concerned, it works.  It worked.  The program began with the cartoon characters on screen, then had them transition to actors in costume by having each character go down a slide.  The cartoon character begins sliding and an actor in costume enters the stage on a real slide.  As an adult, I thought the characters were a bit odd looking, but there was no room for confusion about who each character was.  The program told a story, consistent with the Summer vacation theme of the TV show, and revolved around storytelling through dialog and music.  A week later, we’re all still singing the songs and quoting various parts of the production.

This past week at school my son told his classmates we took him to see “the real Phineas and Ferb.”  He wasn’t distracted by actors in costume and he’s still beaming about the show.  Disney, you’ve done it again.  The Magic Kingdom remains magical; very well done!  If the tour comes near you, take your kids and go.  They’ll enjoy it and so will you.

Details on the live tour are available at: http://disney.go.com/disneylive/phineas-and-ferb-on-tour/

It’s great to be a dad!

Has Disney World Changed?

Recently my wife Stephanie was able to take our son Paul to Disney World for his third birthday.  It was a grand time with her parents and aunt there too.  Expenses were reduced since Steph’s family lives just an hour away from the park and with a four-day pass, my son was able to enjoy Disney saturation.  Although I wasn’t able to make the trip, I enjoyed a stream of photos Steph sent back to me as well as a good bit of video from the trip once the trip was over.  I hated to miss the trip and after seeing the pictures and video, I wished even more I could have been there.

Aside from wishing I could have gone, seeing the video was interesting to me for a number of reasons.  Since long before our son was born, we had heard from a number of friends how Disney World had really changed from when we were kids: how it had become too commercial.  The videos were my first glimpse into that world since my own childhood, or at least an unfiltered view that wasn’t presented to me through the media to accompany marketing or a story (with an agenda) of some sort.  The video Steph brought home was about Paul, not Disney World.

Based on the small volume of memory I have about my own childhood experience at Disney World, the park seemed to be less of a fantasy or dream world, and more of an amusement park.  I don’t know that it appeared any more or less commercial though, just bigger.  Watching Paul, it was absolutely a magic kingdom for him--the Magic Kingdom--and nothing less.  He didn’t see actors in suits, he saw Mickey Mouse, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and any number of other characters who were very real.  Steph and Paul went to the park several times and each time for my son was just as exciting as the first, seeing many of the same, and several new characters each visit.  His birthday is now weeks behind us, we’re all back together again in Germany, and we know without a doubt Paul’s experience remains fresh; we know he even dreams about his time at Disney World and wakes up telling us stories and asking questions about where various characters are or what they’re doing today.

So is Disney, or specifically Disney World, more commercial?  Probably.  The machine that is The Walt Disney Company seems to be much bigger now than ever.  Or more valuable in terms of its financial worth.  I don’t have numbers to back this; it’s my perception.  The scale/scope of the company and all it does just seems huge compared to what it’s been through past decades--theme parks globally, movie/film interests, comic/graphic novel interests, gobs of merchandise, etc.  But I have to ask, so what?

Watching my son, and living a bit of my own youth through his eyes so many years later, I’m not convinced that anything has really changed from the perspective of a child.  He saw nothing commercial; he was in a real, living dream.  When he watches some of Disney’s movies, he sees other glimpses of a magic world and isn’t concerned or distracted by the things that aren’t in the realm of the possible.  It’s all about his young, fresh and very active imagination.  Anything is possible!

I’ve learned that whatever I think of Walt Disney Company today, what I see is through my adult eyes.  My son, with a full three years under his belt, doesn’t see the machine behind the magic in the Kingdom.  His experience now was mine so many decades ago.  If I find I do or don’t like the way Disney conducts the business behind the magic, that’s for me to deal with.  But I am convinced when the fruit of Disney’s efforts bubble up in the world of kids today, at least at Disney World in Florida, they can proudly declare success.  Disney has preserved a world where kids can come and get lost in the magic, with none of the worries or distractions that too often burden us as dads; they don’t see the machine behind the magic.  As a result of not being able to go this time and how much shear fun my Paul had, Stephanie and I are planning to take him back next year for his fourth birthday.  It’ll be a long, expensive, and somewhat complicated trip for us, but that’s how it goes--we’re the adults.  For my son though, it’s simply a return to the Magic Kingdom.  I can’t wait!

It’s great to be a Dad!