Travel Games for your Summer Road Trip

Hitting the road (or air) with your kids this summer? Tired of the backseat bickering? If your sanity is worth a buck ($1) and you own a Kindle from Amazon, download Travel Talk: Sanity Saving Games for Long Distance Fun.

Don't have a Kindle? No worries. You can still maintain your sanity on your next long drive. Download Travel Talk: Sanity Saving Games for Long Distance Fun as an ebook.

Either way, it will make the trip to Grandma's all the more enjoyable.

UPDATE: Minniemom left a comment that I thought I'd pull up to the main post because it's important! Did you know that you can read Kindle books on an ipod touch or an iphone?? You don't need a Kindle--you only need to download the free Kindle app. How cool is that? Now, I don't know that I'd want to read Pride and Prejudice on a tiny screen like that, but these travel tips? It would totally work for that.

Brilliant Peanut Butter Jar

We go through jars and jars of peanut butter each month at my house. It's always a challenge to get that last bit of butter out of the jar (what's with all those rumply bottoms?). This peanut butter jar immediately caught my eye. So incredibly simple and yet until now, unthought of. Creative problem solving at its best: find a need and fill it. No need to reinvent the wheel, or come up with some elaborate plan. Simply make a good idea better. The ability to remove the bottom to access the peanut butter from both ends is a great solution, as are the smooth sides.

Of course THIS jar is meant for folks who grind their own peanut butter; you won't find any manufacturers using this type of jar yet. But just imagine if they did? The customer loyalty that would create!

I've lifted this image straight from the good folks at Apartment Therapy. You should stop by that site and say hello. Lots of clever stuff there!

100 Most Creative

Fast Company names its top 100 Most Creative People in Business.

There are no rules about creativity. Which made constructing our list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business a tricky task. We looked for dazzling new thinkers, rising stars, and boldface names who couldn't be ignored. We avoided people we've profiled in the recent past. We emphasized those whose creativity addresses a larger issue -- from the future of our energy infrastructure to the evolution of philanthropy to next-generation media.

Take a look and see what you think. Who's missing? Who do you think is worthy of a spot on the list?

Get Creative with Legos!

Are you an educator? In the LEGO Smart Creativity Contest, educators are challenged to use LEGOs to develop a hands-on activity for their students. Your challenge is to create an activity using only the bricks included in a special LEGO Smart Kit. The kind folks at LEGO will send you this kit - for free!

Once you have it, develop your activity. This can range from a simple build to a more advanced mathematical problem. You’re the creator, so let your imagination lead you!

Better yet? There are prizes! One Grand Prize Winner and eight (8) monthly winners will be selected. Prizes will consist of LEGO Education products and gift certificates valued up to $100 for monthly winners and $250 for the Grand Prize winner!

To be eligible for the LEGO Smart Creativity Contest you must be a teacher or working in the education field. This includes administrators, coaches, home school educators, and classroom aides!

Student Leadership Conference w/Team Challenges

Awhile back, I had a great message from Cathy Ivins, Emerson Elementary School Student Council Advisor:

I just wanted to thank you for your incredible book Team Challenges. As Student Council Advisor, I am hosting a student leadership conference at my elementary school. We have invited several 4th-6th graders in each of the 8 other elementary schools throughout the district. Building their cooperation, communication and creativity through your activities will certainly sharpen their leadership skills!

The fact that she felt Team Challenges would add value to her conference was wonderful enough. But tonight, I got this follow up message:

I wanted to let you know what a success my student leadership conference was using your Team Challenges! Thanks for your great ideas!

AND she included a link to this great video/slide show of the kids in action at the Student Leadership Conference that doesn't quite fit perfectly, but I'm embedding nonetheless:



Note that I can't take credit for every challenge shown, but just as a for instance, the Skittles challenge at the very beginning? You'll find that on page 159 of Team Challenges.

Cathy, thanks so much. Messages like this make my day!

The Mysterious Disapperance of Time

Between my regular work and heading to the Destination Imagination finals last month, and then the resulting flu crud we managed to bring home from DI, time has been scarce. Hence, the quietness around here.

My team of four middle school kids competed at the Destination Imagination Region ONE tournament, and advance to State Tournament in San Jose. We managed to leave a trail of gorilla fur (black yarn) all the way across the state, I think.

This age, for this group, was hard. They were just concerned enough about their level of "cool" to hold back on some of their ideas, worrying, I think, about what people would think. They ended up with a lot of half-baked ideas and a lot of really funny ones. If you're not familiar with Destination Imagination, the one aspect that I love is the "no interference" rule. Which means that half-baked or not, MY job was to keep my mouth shut and let them be in charge of their solution. And they were. They were happy with what they did, and I also believe that after the fact, they wished they'd done more. Lessons learned, all around. Which leads me to call this year another success, in spite of the rough road the team traveled to get there!

Announcing Cities On The Cheap!

Now, this is *slightly* off-topic for this blog. Only slightly because this is a (brief) story about a group of writers coming together from all across America (and a few from Canada and New Zealand) to create a new project. Long distance teamwork, if you will.

The brainchild of Jennifer Maciejewski who started Atlanta On The Cheap last year and grew the concept into a national network of Cities On The Cheap, the sites bring residents and visitors up-to-the-minute information on free, discount and cheap things to do, and other local deals.

To celebrate the launch of this network, many of the sites are giving away some great prizes! I invite you to check out just a few of these contests - they're EASY to enter. And then do your pocketbook a favor and see if your city is included in the network.

Here are just a few On The Cheap contests that are open to anyone in the US:

• Light up the night with a gorgeous lantern from High Fire Hawai‘i at Big Island On The Cheap.
• Start Exploring Historic Hilo with a book from Leslie Lang at Big Island On The Cheap
• Herb Ohta Jr makes beautiful music on ‘Ukulele Journey. Win a copy of his CD at Honolulu On The Cheap!
• Interested in Hawaiian art? Enter to win Margaret Barnaby’s *gorgeous* wood block print ($250/value) at Big Island On The Cheap.
• Make your ipod sing with Jennifer Perri’s latest CD. Enter to win at Honolulu On The Cheap!
• Win books about money by Florida authors Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen, Suze Orman, CDs by Jimmy Buffett or Spam Allstars and Webkinz at Florida on the Cheap, Miami FL on the Cheap, Fort Lauderdale on the Cheap, Palm Beach on the Cheap or Florida Keys on the Cheap.
• Win 4 movie passes, a Bottle Shock DVD, or a copy of the book Hidden Sonoma at Sonoma on the Cheap.
• Win a Black and Decker portable 100 watt Power Inverter. Just share your favorite road trip tip on DisneyOnTheCheap.
• Your favorite day trip in the Delaware Valley could win you a new Black and Decker portable 100 watt Power Inverter. Check out the details on PhillyOnTheCheap.
• Bone up on Hawaiian history with A Concise History of the Hawaiian Islands from Honolulu On The Cheap.
• Win olive oil from Winterhill Farms from Gold Country On The Cheap.