Bunchland

Okay, admit it. Colouring in colouring books is really flipping boring. I really like drawing with my kids, but colouring books? Mind numbing. Except for the Taro Gomi ones and a couple of other notable exceptions. Well, Molly Lewis, whose hipster dinosaur colouring book hacks are all over the web this week, has figured out a way to make colouring books fun for grownups too. No idea if Molly is a parent, but the next time my son coaxes me into colouring his Transformers colouring book with him for 100 hours, I’m turning Optimus Prime into an Arcade Fire-loving, latte-drinking, retro sneaker-wearing hipster, or possibly a goth. Hipster Dora would be amusing too. So I’ve got both my kids covered.

Link via buzzfeed

No idea what to do this weekend? Bunchland’s got your back

TORONTO

What: Yo Gabba Gabba Live Canadian tour

Where: Molson Amphitheatre

When: Saturday, September 4, 2:00 and 5:00

Price: $39.50-$75.25

The details: The Yo Gabba Gabba Live Canadian tour touches down in Toronto this Saturday. Best part is, Bunchland’s going on tour with them. There’s still time to scoop tickets via their website, or enter to win a family 4-pack via our contest (you don’t wanna sleep on this).

VANCOUVER

What: Family Filmmaking Workshop

Where: Cinérobothéque (1564 St. Denis St)

When: September 5-October 31

Price: $5-$7 (free on September 5)

The details: If your families ever dreamed of being just like the Coppolas, now’s your chance to create a film together.

LOS ANGELES

What: Camp Rock

Where: Kidspace Children’s Museum  Read more...

No idea what to do this weekend? Bunchland’s got your back

TORONTO

What: Buskerfest

Where: St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood

When: August 26-29

Price: free

Details: Bunchland will be at Buskerfest all weekend! Come visit us. And while you’re there you can check out 100’s of street performers including magicians, puppeteers, daredevils and more from around the world. The BuskerPlay area features stuff just for kids, like bubbles, facepainting and karaoke.

MONTREAL

What: Science 26

Where: Montreal Science Center

When: Permanent exhibit

Price: Adults $12, ages 4-12 $9, family (2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children) $38

Details: This exhibition feature 26 islands, one for each letter of the alphabet. Now this is a concept we can get behind.

VANCOUVER

What: Grow Up

Where: Minoru Plaza at Richmond  Read more...

Give summer a proper sendoff with a neighbourhood bike parade

At Camp Bunchland, we believe summer should end with a bang, not with a whimper. Rather than focus on the fact that days are getting shorter and Labour Day is looming, commit to squeezing every last drop out of the season while you still can.

One way to accomplish this is rounding up a ragtag group of kiddie cyclists on your block and having a bike parade! The fun lies in decking your bikes out to the nines and creating a mini-spectacle for your neighbours for an hour or so.

Choose a parade route

Temporarily designate a strip of road as a “no-car zone” using sidewalk chalk, streamers strung between lamp posts and/or balloons. You could even spray paint the road in wild colours using a temporary product like Krylon Marking Chalk. A pair of grownups can be stationed at the start and end points of the route to ensure safe parading.  Read more...

Spaghetti with Eyeballs Photo by Eric Staudenmaier from The Secret Life of Food by Clare Crespo

We’ve all got bins full of markers and drawers full of glue but one of the most fun art supplies is sitting neglected in your kitchen cupboard. Making crazy looking stuff out of food is wickedly fun. Today, we’ve got the world’s foremost expert on wacky food art standing by to inspire you and your crew to make monkey pops or jello aquariums. Clare Crespo is an art school grad who once played in a band with Beck and made experimental animated videos but now she gets her creative expression out by cooking things like spaghetti with eyeballs. Photos of her whimsical food projects are packed into her two books, The Secret Life of Food and Hey There, Cupcake! She’s also filmed three episodes of a completely mental cooking show in her garage, the YummyFun Kooking show (think Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, but with recipes), preparing candy bugs and monster heads and making time for dance breaks with the show’s house band, The Tastebuds.  Read more...

When you guys saw The Royal Tenenbaums, how bad did you want to live in that house? Here’s a family that’s captured the Tenenbaum feel for their daughter’s nursery with a great wall mural. In today’s post, they tell us how they DIY did it and give us a whole bunch of pictures of their house to share with you.

The mural feels Tenenbaum-y because it’s imperfect and hand-drawn,  which makes us optimistic that you could do it too.  Taylor and a friend drew the trees, as well as the banner and lettering, freehand, and the font was inspired directly by the one from the movie. The piano keys were added with a ruler and a Sharpie. Alternately, there are some great birch tree decals and stencils that you can buy and pair with a Tenenbaum poster, or even finger puppets and paper dolls from Etsy.  Read more...

On Sunday, November 29, Toronto kids are invited to rock the mic and shake it on the dance floor with their parents and friends at the latest Bunch Family event. Backed by Montreal’s Urockaoke, kids can sing-a-long with a live rock band, show off their dance moves, and create album cover art and wearable rock band pins. There will also be a rock themed photo booth. Bunch anticipates seeing several well-known Toronto musicians and their offspring taking part in the fun. All activities are included in the price of admission.

Event Details:
Date: Sunday, November 29th
Time: 12pm – 3pm
Location: Revival (783 College Street)
Cost: $10/Adult, $8/Child in advance. $12 at the door. Free for non-walkers.

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