Calling all Beatle fans! Whether you’re an OG fan or starting out as a baby Beatle lover, this special collection from Magna-Tile is a must for your collection.
The Beatles Collection Magna-Tiles Structure Set comes with everything you need to create a Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, Magical Mystery Tour Bus, a record player, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Kaleidoscope, The Beatles Album Collage, two different bass drums and display the Beatles Song Titles!
The set is an official Magna-Tile product and is compatible with all other sets. Each piece is made with SuperColor® Technology on both sides that equals bright colors and a scratch-resistant coating.
The Beatles Collection Magna-Tiles Structure Set comes with 28 small squares, 10 small rectangles, six quarter rounds, six small triangles, one hexagon and two chassis. You can pre-order the set for $134.99 on CreateOn or Amazon.
There’s nothing like the gift of a good book and what’s better than a book about our beloved city? We checked with our favorite booksellers and gathered up all their recs for the best books for kids about Boston from classic like Make Way for Ducklings to contemporary favorites. Read your way through books about Fenway and the Tea Party, and find inspiration in the story of the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. Which one will be your little one’s new favorite?
Bus Route to Boston
By Maryann Cocca-Leffler
The everyday sights, sounds and smells of a colorful and bustling city come alive in this book - a child's view of Boston. Maryann Cocca-Leffler remembers frequent bus trips she took into the city as a girl with her mother and little sister. Together they shopped for delicious treats in the Italian North End - warm pizza and creamy cannoli - or stopped for ice cream sundaes at Bailey's after a day of bargain hunting at Filene's Basement.
Because Bobbi Gibb is a girl, she's not allowed to run on her school's track team. But after school, no one can stop her--and she's free to run endless miles to her heart's content. She is told no yet again when she tries to enter the Boston Marathon in 1966, because the officials claim that it's a man's race and that women are just not capable of running such a long distance. So what does Bobbi do? She bravely sets out to prove the naysayers wrong and show the world just what a girl can do.
Boston is waiting for your family to explore. Watch as your toddler discovers everything the city of Boston as to offer, such as Fenway Park, Old Ironsides, the Boston Tea Party Ships, and so much more. Show them what makes our nation’s most historic city so iconic.
Good Night, Red Sox follows in the long tradition of good night stories loved by children everywhere. The bedtime story takes children through the day of the big game good morning Boston as everyone wakes up in anticipation, good afternoon Red Sox Nation as everyone heads to Fenway Park, good evening Red Sox as the team take the field and game begins, and of course good night everyone as we say good night to Fenway Park, the players and young fans dreaming of their major league debut.
Follow a parent and child duck as they explore the state capital of Massachusetts and New England's largest city. From Beacon Hill to the Old North Church, they learn about the city's history.
This vivid, enchanting alphabet book for all ages is packed with fascinating information about historic sites in Boston, Cambridge, and environs. Colorful, detailed watercolor paintings from author and illustrator Martha Day Zschock enliven the pages, which include: Brahmins on Beacon Hill, Fans at Fenway, and Tea Taxes!
Join Larry the pup and his owner Pete as they explore Boston, MA. From Fenway Park's Green Monster to the swan boats in Boston Public Garden, locals and visitors learn about Boston's history and cultural landmarks when Larry gets lost chasing after a tasty treat.
Just like the locals and visitors, Larry the pup loves the Freedom Trail, the Public Garden, Fenway Park, Bunker Hill Monument, Faneuil Hall, and many of the other sites and sounds of Boston. Based on the popular children's picture book Larry Gets Lost in Boston, families who love Boston will want this charming board book for their little readers.
It's bedtime in Boston! Say goodnight to all your favorite locations, including the Franklin Park Zoo, Old North Church, Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, Fenway Park and more.
With simple rhymes and colorful, highly detailed painting, the prize-winning Atlantic Online cartoonist creates a "Where's Waldo?"-type hit, setting animals free from Franklin Park Zoo and challenging children to find them in settings from Faneuil Hall to Fenway Park.
Vroom vroom! If your breakfast looks like a car, then it is perfectly acceptable to play with your food. CucinaPro has a waffle maker that turns your batter into edible toy cars.
The Cars & Trucks Waffle Maker Iron has seven unique molds to make everything from a police car to a monster truck and school bus. The non-stick electric waffle make not only makes breakfast a breeze but fun, too!
Simply pour your favorite pancake or waffle batter into the non stick molds and soon you’ll have seven different cars and truck shaped mini waffles. Cover them in powdered sugar or “drive” them through puddles of syrup.
The CucinaPro Cars & Trucks Waffle Maker is available on Amazon for $49.95.
Classic play has had a big year and one category that’s been taking off with families spending more time at home is an old favorite: ride-on toys. The 6-volt NCAA College Mascots ride-on assortment from Dynacraft brings famous mascots from the University of Georgia, University of Alabama, Auburn University, University of Arkansas, Louisiana State University, and Clemson University from the sidelines to the sidewalk just in time for the holidays. Kids ages 3 and up can rock the neighborhood at a maximum speed of 2.5 mph activated by an easy-to-operate foot pedal. Each ride-on comes with a special “team bus” where the mascot lives for charging in between playtime.
The Toy Insider is the go-to source for product information and the latest news about children's toys, tech, and entertainment. Its team of toy experts publishes two annual gift guides—one for summer and one for holiday—and reviews toys 365 days a year on thetoyinsider.com, a trusted resource for parents.
While Halloween 2020 might be a little (or a lot) different from past years, we can still get into the Halloween spirit by planning some awesome Halloween costumes for the kids. Scroll down for some great Boston-inspired Halloween costumes for kids and families that will put your DIY skills to good use. Which one can win your neighborhood costume contest?
Deck your Rookie of the Year out in all their Red Sox gear and you've got the perfect (reusable) costume for Halloween. Pair it up with the costume below for the perfect sibling set.
Dig out all those green clothes and deck the kids out from head to toe. This costume plays homage to the 37-foot-2-inch-high green wall in Fenway Park's left field.
There are plenty of famous Bostonians that make for great Halloween costumes and we especially love Abigail Adams as an option. A powerful woman in American history, Abigail Adams was one of the founders of the United States, bearing the designations of second First Lady and first Second Lady. She is well known for her numerous letters to her husband John Adams that are filled with complex, political discussions.
This is another Boston-inspired costume idea that you could totally make out an Amazon box. It pays homage to the iconic sign that has been displayed near Kenmore Square since 1940.
One of the founding fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. A scientist and inventor, Franklin is most known for his discoveries relating to electricity.
These swans that make their home in the Boston Public Garden every summer are the perfect inspiration for a Halloween costume. If your little one is totally obsessed with visiting Romeo and Juliet, this is the DIY costume for you.
Get all the neighborhood ducklings in on this one, it's too adorable to pass up. Get a mama duck for the front and little ducklings to follow along and everyone will know you are the famous bronze ducks created by Nancy Schön located in the Public Garden near the corner of Beacon Street and Charles Street.
@MBTA My 7 year old’s Halloween costume. He’s a map of the MBTA – bus, subway, and commuter rail routes! pic.twitter.com/821wr603vo
How totally cute is this idea for a Boston-inspired #boxtume? We especially love the tandem style as it will force your kids to work together while trick-or-treating. Win-win!
Hockey fans, we haven't forgotten about you. This totally cute costume is perfect for a last-minute option when you get invited to a neighborhood costume party.
Your kids will have fun building with the Sesame Street gang. Elmo and his friends are joining the Magna-Tiles family. Your little one can bring Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and all their friends to life with these buildable magnetic pieces.
The all new Colors With Elmo Magna-Tiles set features all your favorite Sesame Street characters. This new construction toy will help your will help children learn their basic colors and shapes. These colorful double-sided pieces can make a variety of shapes. You can even use them to create a pencil holder,
The building possibilities are as endless as your child’s imagination. This toy will also strengthen their STEAM, fine motor and problem solving skills as they play.
Cookie Monster’s Shapes Magna-Tiles help children learn shape recognition and problem solving. Flip the tiles to create a giant cookie.
Sesame Street School Bus Magna-Tiles lets your little one practice counting numbers. Flip the tiles and build a bus that will take your little learners on a ride to a place “where the air is sweet”! The Sesame Street School Bus set helps build STEAM skills, allows your little ones to identify numbers, practice counting and number order and much more.
Colors with Elmo Magna-Tiles, Counting with Cookie Monster Magna-Tiles and Sesame Street School Bus Magna-Tiles are available at CreateOn.com. Each set retails for $39.99.
Joanna Cole, award-winning author of the bestselling The Magic School Bus series and more than 250 books for children, passed away at the age of 75 on Jul. 12, 2020. Along with illustrator Bruce Degen, she created the groundbreaking science series in 1986. The book series, published by Scholastic, has thirteen core titles and dozens of series tie-ins, with more than 93 million copies in print in 13 countries.
The Magic School Bus series has been recognized with some of the most prestigious children’s awards including: NEA Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education, An American Booksellers Association Choice, IRA/CBC Children’s Choice, School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, A Horn Book Fanfare, and Parents Magazine Best Books of the Year.
“Joanna Cole had the perfect touch for blending science and story,” said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO, Scholastic. “Joanna’s books, packed with equal parts humor and information, made science both easy to understand and fun for the hundreds of millions of children around the world who read her books and watched the award-winning television series. Her Ms Frizzle led a group of eager and curious students on countless adventurous trips on the Magic School Bus¬–into the human body, hurricanes, the solar system, and everywhere imaginable. Joanna and the landmark series she created with illustrator Bruce Degen and editor Craig Walker was produced for television by Scholastic Entertainment, and has been viewed continuously for 25 years. Her spirited work will live on as The Magic School Bus continues to be discovered by new readers and viewers.”
Degen said, “I think for Joanna the excitement was always in the idea. What? Why? How? And with The Magic School Bus it was how to explain it so that it is accurate and in a form that a kid can understand and use. And you can actually joke around while you are learning. She had a rare sense of what could be humorous.
We met in 1984 in the office of the much missed Craig Walker, the brilliant editor who asked us to work together. We did not know each other. In the world of children’s books it is not often necessary for illustrator and writer to actually meet, but there were conundrums with MSB. Every page was so complicated we had to make decisions: how to make it work. Could it work? And we did. Together. And we became friends. What Joanna has meant to the world, what there is in the world because of her, is well known. What she meant to me I can’t describe. Everyone who knew her, worked with her, loved her, knows what a loss it is.”
Prior to her death, Cole and Degen completed The Magic School Bus Explores Human Evolution, scheduled for publication Spring 2021.
To the bus! This week Scholastic Entertainment made an exciting announcement: it’s partnering with Brownstone Productions and Universal Pictures to bring the first live-action hybrid and full-length film of The Magic School Bus to life!
The movie is based on the best-selling Scholastic book series by author Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen, which has never been brought to the big screen it its 26-year history. Elizabeth Banks has already been cast as everyone’s fave teacher, Ms. Frizzle.
“We are delighted to bring to life the iconic Ms. Frizzle and her zest for knowledge and adventure in a fresh new way that inspires the next generation of kids to explore science and supports the dedicated teachers who help make science real and accessible for young learners every day,” said Scholastic Entertainment President and Chief Strategy Officer Iole Lucchese.
The famed series has over 80 million books in print worldwide and spent 18 years on PBS as an animated show featuring Lily Tomlin. No word yet on the release date of the new film, so stay tuned!
Fans of Drag Queen Story Hour know what a blast it is. Lil’ Hot Mess was one of the first queens to host and she has been performing for over a decade while also studying as a PhD student in Media Studies at NYU. Her new book, The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish was was recently released.
The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish came about organically through her singing with kids at Drag Queen Story Hour events, as a way to adapt popular children’s songs to get kids moving and feeling what it was like to embody the spirit and identity of drag queens.
Bright, playful illustrations by Olga de Dios add the perfect touch to this update on the classic “wheels on the bus” song that aims to teach little kids everywhere…there’s nothing wrong with a little swish in your step.
Playing off The Wheels on the Bus, this nursery rhyme book is a fun, freewheeling celebration of being your most fabulous self, illustrating all of the ways to “work it”.
This has been an unprecedented year for high school seniors. School districts are working hard to give the seniors the best and most socially distant send-off they can. Bus drivers from two different school districts came up with a fun way to honor the Class of 2020.
Windsor bus drivers gave a special salute to the senior class May 8 using 22 buses to spell out, “2020” in the Windsor Central High School parking lot.
In addition to spelling out “2020” with buses, the drivers also wrote the names of each Windsor senior between the buses.
“We wanted to show them we care. It’s our way of saying goodbye and letting them know they aren’t forgotten,” said Windsor bus driver Nancy Flanagan. “They grow up with us. They first get on our bus when they’re four years old.”
One of the district’s long-time school bus drivers, Lisa Moorhead, brought the idea to the Chief Information Officer, Susanne Quigley. After reaching out the Jim Barret the high school photography teacher who was able to implement a drone to take the aerial shot.
Moorhead along with a team of drivers moved 22 buses to the high school parking lot. It took two hours to create the formation.
“Some of us have been around long enough to transport these kids since Kindergarten and some of us have only been working with the district for a few years, but the one thing we all have in common is the love for our students. This is a huge accomplishment and anyway we can show them some love, we will do it. So here’s to the Class of 2020. Your bus drivers are proud of all of you,”said Jennifer Bloom Bowman, a bus driver for the district.
