All the world’s a stage, and your little people are the stars. Give their props a place to perform, then sit back and watch those wild and imaginative storylines come to life. From incredible DIY’s to a simple cardboard design, flip through the slideshow below to view 10 perfect puppet theaters.
Do your kids put on puppet shows? Share with us in a comment below!
—Gabby Cullen
Summertime means harkening back to the simpler things in life: sleeping in, unplanned afternoons and fun that can be had with as few props as possible. Today’s idea for fresh & simple summer fun is to take products commonly found in your home to reinvent a mini garden.
Today, we are building a mini herb garden with only 4 supplies. Here’s what you’ll need.
Step 1: Add a layer of soil.
Step 2: Add your plant.
Step 3: Add another layer of soil and don’t forget to water!
Step 4: Let it grow!
Watch the video for an easy tutorial. Find more ideas for fresh and simple summer fun here.
A serious case of ants in the pants can make sitting through a play or musical a tough ask for little culture seekers. The solution? Introduce them to the theater scene at an improv show, where they can stand up, sit down and participate in the fun. These unscripted shows rely on audience participation to get the story in motion and are often hilarious. In Chicago, a city famous for cutting edge improv, we’d expect nothing less than awesome shows for kids. Here are three to see.
photo: Storytown / Lindsay Williams
Storytown
What it is: From location, backdrop design and character suggestions, kids are encouraged to take an active role in this interactive improvisational musical — even becoming characters themselves. The kids are the fuel for the show and all ideas are honored and embraced. Needless to say, no show is the same!
Why you’ll love it: Have a heyday with bins of colorful costumes and art supplies. Kids and parents, too, can add to the set and build costumes and props as the show unfolds. Because everyday pieces of clothing and items found around the house are used as costumes and props, kids leave inspired to go home and put on their own performance.
Saturdays; 10:30 a.m.
Cost: $10
Stage 773
1225 W. Belmont Ave.
Lakeview
Online: storytownimprov.com
photo: Hogwash
Hogwash
What it is: Fitting of its name, which means “nonsense”, the lack of structure of this show makes it an absolute riot. To start, kids assist with costume selection and choose a location for the fully improvised story. As the plot thickens, artists make props, build scenery and modify costumes. Musicians let rip an improvised score and actors sing songs created on the spot. Kids are encouraged to throw out twists and turns in the plot, and even becoming characters themselves.
Why you’ll love it: The show is free for adults! If your kids get hooked, they can sign up for summer camp. For the Make a Play! camp, campers create a short play from start to finish, with lessons in storytelling, performance skills and group collaboration. Featured artists will instruct the students in yoga and music, and the camp concludes with a private performance of their original production. Check their website for updates on camp dates.
When: Saturdays, 10:30 a.m.
Cost: $10/kids; free for adults
Bughouse Theater
1910 W. Irving Park Rd.
North Center
Online: hogwashkids.com
photo: ComedySportz Chicago
ComedySportz Chicago
What it is: This hilarious 90-minute improv show has two competing teams creating comedy scenes, songs and games right on the spot based on audience suggestions. The audience chooses the winner and the show never repeats.
Why you’ll love it: Besides the competing teams aspect appealing to sports lovers, it’s clean, smart comedy that entertains all ages — which can be tough to come by.
When: Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 6 p.m., 8 p.m. & 10 p.m.
Cost: $25
CSz Theater Chicago
929 W. Belmont Ave.
Lakeview
Online: cszchicago.com
And one more thing . . .
If your kids get the improv acting bug, you can’t be in a better city. The Second City offers classes and camps for kids as young as age 4. Your kids will experience the improvisational games and exercises that are the foundation of Second City’s signature brand of comedy we’ve all come to know and love. Not only will you (hopefully!) start hearing better jokes around the house, the classes enhance a child’s ability to communicate, instill confidence, teach them to respect the ideas of others and help them to start developing their public speaking mojo. They even have a class designed specifically to help kids with anxiety.
Hyde Park’s The Revival also offers PlayProv and Improv classes for ages 4 & up. The young comedians will grow their imaginations using games and songs that encourage creative expression. Watch as their spontaneity is unleashed in a safe and supportive environment.
Have you seen a great kids’ show on stage lately? Shout about it in the Comments!
— Maria Chambers & Kelly Aiglon
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| Daily |
| Today Is New Year’s Day |
| Let’s hope all is quiet. |
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With so many places closed on New Year’s Day, we’ve come up with fabulous activities you can do at home in your PJs. |
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Set the kiddos up with a few games that take 3 props or less (and then take a quick nap on the couch). |
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Today calls for comfort food and it doesn’t get better than a grilled cheese or one of our favorite variations on the classic. |
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{ Today’s ideas brought to you by The Sands of Time } |
Your family garden has finally eeked out a few herbs and veggies this season, hooray! It’s no easy feat to make things grow; we give major props to the folks who go full-fledge farmer and spend their days in the dirt. Take a peek at eight families whose life on the land is a labor of love.
Do you have a favorite family farm? Share with us in the comments below!
—Gabby Cullen
Now that Halloween has passed and a good amount of that leftover candy has been eaten, we’re closing out the holiday with a bang. In honor of Halloween 2016, we bring you the funniest kid costumes on the Internet. Major props to their parents!
If your little caped crusader just can’t get enough of superheroes, there’s a new tour in town that will thrill them as much as an invisible jet. Warner Bros Studios opened their newest attraction, DC Universe: The Exhibit in May and it’s a must-see for die-hard comic fans and casual Super Man fans alike. While you wait for the Wonder Woman movie (as we all are!), take a trip through the history of DC Comics and get up-close with the Super Heroes (and Super Villains) kids love.
photo: Elizabeth Kate
Hit the Back Lot
The Warner Bros. Studio Tour was, and is, a fabulous adventure into the history of Hollywood. The basic tour takes you behind the scenes of this famous motion picture studio’s 110-acre lot and into the actual sound stages where some of Warner Bros. hit shows have been made and where some of your faves are being shot today, including Ellen and The Big Bang Theory. The kids will love The Harry Potter Exhibit and The Picture Car Vault, where they can ride on Harry’s Broomstick in front of a green screen and take a Bat-Pod for a spin. Stage 48: Script to Screen is fully interactive and you and your family can discover how movies and TV shows are created, from start to finish. The magic of Hollywood is unveiled, in a very realistic way for budding moguls. (It’s more nuts and bolts than the tram ride at Universal, which is also a great peek into movie making.)
Then, the tour went and got super. New this summer, there’s a whole additional section; DC Universe: The Exhibit allows visitors to get up close and personal with authentic props and costumes from some of their favorite superhero movies and also take an exciting sneak peek at some of the sets, costumes, and props from the upcoming summer film, The Suicide Squad.
photo: Elizabeth Kate
Squad Goals?
Featuring a movie called The Suicide Squad, how appropriate is this exhibit for little ones? Ages 8 & up will love it and have a wonderful time seeing costumes that include favorites like Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman and the Joker. However, you’ll want to take a pass on this one if you have a younger crew. Some of the displays are too much for the littlest ones.
On that note, feel free to bring visiting grandma and grandpa along for the ride this summer. DC Comics started in 1934 and now for the first time ever, original classic comic books, some dating all the way back to the 30’s, are on display. These are the actual comic books that your grandparents knew and loved and only now have they been released from DC Comic’s vault.
photo: Elizabeth Kate
Hero History
DC Universe: The Exhibit gives you the chance to walk through the development of celebrated Super Heroes and Super Villains from their emergence in comic books to their most recent appearances in major blockbusters. To make it even more fun for kids, in addition to the classic characters, DC Comics has just introduced a whole new line up of Superhero Girls, including Batgirl, Supergirl, and (teenage) Wonder Woman.
The creators of these super “teen” characters hope the new faces will inspire all girls to become strong and independent young women. The exhibit will keep things fresh and new by rotating in these new characters, as well as different props, costumes, and scenery throughout the year.
photo: Elizabeth Kate
Super Heroes Get Interactive
It’s not all just walking and talking and looking. You’ll have to tear your kids away from the super-duper video games with huge color screens on consoles and iPads featuring all of the DC Comics’ Superhero video games as well as the popular LEGo games. Visit the original Belle Reve jail cell from The Suicide Squad, the Bat Lab from Ben Affleck’s first turn as Batman, and neat set pieces from this year’s Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The most daring kids can even get up close and personal with a glowing piece of radioactive Kryptonite. That’s a photo opportunity you won’t want to miss.
DC Universe: The Exhibit is $62 per person for a three-hour fun-packed tour for kids ages 8 & up. Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood is open daily and closed on Christmas Day. Reservations are recommended and all children eight years or older are welcomed. Tickets are $62 per person and can be purchased online or by phone.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
3400 W. Riverside Drive
Burbank
818-977-8687
Online: wbstudiotour.com
Do you have a favorite studio tour? Let us know your behind the scenes in the movie making world secrets in the comment section.
—Elizabeth Kate
| Daily |
| Today Is National Piña Colada Day |
| Make it a double. |
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From booze-free piña coladas to sangria for sippy cups, these beachy mocktails are your new BFFs. |
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Eat your way through the day with sweet and savory recipes that call for pineapple and coconut. |
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| Props if you actually cracked a coconut! Now upcycle the shell into a planter. |
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{ Today’s ideas brought to you by Palm Trees } |
With blockbuster hits like Frozen and Inside Out, there are few movie genres that enchant and inspire kids more than animated films. Using a steady hand, a bit of patience, and plenty of imagination, junior animaniacs can create stunning moving pictures of their own, thanks to a crop of kid-friendly stop-motion animation apps and studio kits. Click through our animated album to zoom in on some of the coolest products to help your mini-movie moguls shoot their own stop-motion masterpieces!
What are your favorite movie-maker and animation apps? Tell us in the comments below!
—Kipp Jarecke-Cheng
Office boredom has given us all a greater gift: some creative hacks for using and reusing paper clips and binder clips. From decor to art, read on for a few uses you might not have thought of for your lil’ clips.
1. Put it on display. Photos or pithy quotes can be propped up for easy viewing using a basic binder clip.
photo: Heartlover1717 via flickr
2. Give props. Binder clips work wonders for a quick and easy phone stand cool enough to replicate at home or the office.
photo: Rich Sipe via flickr
3. Cute it up. If you want your memos to be memorable (wait, you still use paper?) try adding a vintage button to your paper clips.
photo: heather via flickr
4. Say anything. Just stretch ‘em out and bend ‘em back. This might seem silly but it’s another cool way to get kids to learn letters.
photo: leah1201l via flickr
5. Art around. Use them to form a wire animal or vehicle, like a deer or a ship. Do a little sketch on a piece of paper to follow or just freeform it. You can even have the kids compete to see who can make said object first. (Congrats: you just bought yourself 5 minutes of down time.)
photo: Rakka via flickr
6. Eat over your desk. Use an unbent paperclip to pop off the key to your keyboard so you can clean underneath. This genius technique has been used by bored office workers for years, but it really is handy.
photo: Travis Nep Smith via flickr
7. Accessorize! Use a binder clip as-is to make a perfect Barbie purse(also works for GI Joes). Mini clips can be use for Sylvanian Family or other small creatures.
photo: Simon D via flickr
8. Stash your cash. Aka, the world’s cheapest wallet. You’ll save so much money using a binder clip as a money clip you might need two to hold all your riches.
photo: Eric Jusino via flickr
Know any sweet paper or binder clip hacks? Share in the comments below!
—Amber Guetebier
