There is a lot of history regarding the meaning of May Day and May Day celebrations. But the thing I remember most about May Day from when I was a kid, was when my Mom showed my brothers and I how to create a May Basket for our friends and neighbors.

Mom gave us all the things we would need to create our baskets and then we would carefully construct and decorate them. When our baskets were finished, we filled them with colorful candies, small trinkets, and fresh flowers from Mom’s garden. Then came the really fun part! On May 1st, we would carry our baskets to each of our friend’s houses, walking quietly up to the door, trying not to be seen. We’d set a May Basket on the front step or hang it from the door handle, ring the doorbell, then run and hide. We always hid somewhere close by so we could watch our friends open their doors to find their May Basket surprise! After lots of smiles, and after our friends went back inside, we’d sneak away quietly to the next house.

The simple act of making a May Basket and then giving it to our friends, is a memory I will always cherish. Why not make May Baskets with your children, and spread the joy of Spring!

Click our May Day Baskets activity for detailed instructions, tips, and unique ideas to get you started.

We started using The Private Eye: “5X” Looking / Thinking by Analogy book and The Private Eye Jeweler’s Loupe over a year ago with a group of three children. What amazing results!

This program is absolutely one of the best we’ve found. It offers a way for children of all ages to practice creative, critical thinking skills, as well as artistic and language art skills. And… it’s fun to do!

By looking through the loupe, children are transported to new worlds and new ways of looking at everyday things. Have you ever looked at the back of your hand? I mean, really looked at the back of your hand? The lines and creases appear to be roads for microscopic creatures, or topographic maps to new lands.

When examining objects up close – really up close – you see things you’ve never seen before! This unique view elicits analogies that expand thinking into uncharted realms of creativity.

The kids that tested this product now carry a loupe with them in their pockets. Stopping in a grocery store to examine the frost on the freezer case, or loupe-looking at a pine cone and imagining a spelunking adventure into unknown caves…. only their imaginations will limit their experiences when they follow The Private Eye book with loupe-looking adventures!

Expand your horizons… take a journey into the microscopic world that exists among us. Have fun as you learn new ways of looking at our world – and expand your creative thinking!

We highly recommend this product to everyone – all ages – any profession!

Three dimensional fun!

Simply draw on the stereographic background with a regular pencil, put on the 3D glasses (included) and watch out! You won’t believe your eyes as your drawings appear to jump right off the page. Even the simplest drawings and shapes will appear to float in mid-air!

Use the 3D Drawing Pad to introduce your kids to optical illusions and spark their creativity.

Did you know? Disney Wondertime magazine featured this product (and our store) in their March issue as a favorite product for kids – and we agree!

A unique rainy day activity that will engage children of all ages.

Get creative, go “green” – and help the birds, the environment, and you!

This totally “green” paper birdhouse lets you help birds and your local ecosystem by replacing lost habitat!

This unique eco-friendly birdhouse contains no glues, wires, tapes or other contaminates. It is made from a water-resistant composite of 100% recycled paper, with a 100% cotton hanging strap that is also biodegradable. It’s quick and easy to make with simple folds and a tab-and-slot system.

The GreenBird EarthCraft Bird House also makes a fun craft project! The off-white paper makes a perfect canvas for creativity! Decorate with markers, crayons, or paint!

The bird house is designed to last one nesting season. At the end of the season, it may be composted or left to decompose in the trash. No cleaning needed.

A perfect tool to help children study birds and bird habitat loss; learn about recycling and our ecosystems; and practice good citizenship. Makes a fun art project, too!

Click GreenBird EarthCraft Paper Bird House for more information and to order yours today!

The fantastic Facebook game is now available without a computer!

Winning Moves Games has just released it’s new game: 25 Random Things About Me, based on the Facebook craze.

This game begins shipping in May – click the above link, and pre-order your copy today!

EscapadeDirect.com is on Facebook! Come be our fan!

Celebrate a Tree!

What You Will Need:

• A Tree in Your Yard
• Notebook (or click here to download our custom Celebrate a Tree Notebook Pages)
• A Pencil

What You Do:

• Go into your backyard and find a tree that really appeals to you – one you really like. Take your time, and find just the “right” tree for you.
• Once you have selected a tree to celebrate, draw a picture of your tree in your notebook. If you’d like, you could also have someone take a picture of you standing next to “your” tree.
• Chart the changes the tree goes through in a year. Record your observations at least weekly in the Spring and Fall, and perhaps just once a month during the other times of the year.
• Watch for buds, bark changes, emerging leaves, leaf changes, flowers or fruits. When did these things appear and what did they look like? Record your observations and include sketches.
• Observe your tree for signs of animals and bugs. Maybe a bird will build a nest in your tree, or other animals may live in the hollows of the tree.
• Feed your tree! Water your tree as needed, making sure to let the water drip slowly for a long period of time to make sure the water seeps deeply to the roots of the tree.
• Measure the diameter of the tree and estimate it’s height. Do you notice any changes to these measurements in a year? Two years?
• Create leaf rubbings from your tree. Place a leaf under a sheet of paper and rub over the surface of the paper with a pencil. Store your leaf rubbing with your notebook. Try this technique with the bark, too! Bark rubbings are interesting to look at and fun to do.
• Press a leaf from your tree between two sheets of paper and a heavy book to preserve the leaf. You could use a flower press kit if you prefer.
• Take a monthly picture of your tree to record it’s seasonal changes throughout the year. Try to take the picture from the same vantage point each time so you can compare the pictures easily. Keep the pictures with your notebook.
• Have a picnic beneath your tree and write a story or poem about your tree.
• Celebrate your tree!

Other Ideas to Celebrate Your Tree:

• Take interesting pictures of your tree. Try close up photography of the leaves and bark. Lay on your back with your head against the trunk of the tree and take a picture looking up the trunk.
• How well do you know your tree? Have a friend blindfold you and lead you around your yard. Touch a variety of trees and see if you can identify “your” tree just by touch.
• Decorate your tree throughout the year for seasonal celebrations or holidays.

Looking for more ways to celebrate Arbor Day? Check out these fun, unique (and educational!) products:

The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown Ups – Information and illustrations of common trees in North America

Tree in a Box, Flowering Catalpa – Give someone special the gift of their own tree!

Tree in a Box, Red Maple – According to the ancients, this is the “The Tree of Calm”

Tree in a Box, Giant Sequoia – The noblest tree!

Tree in a Box, American Elm – One of the grandest of American trees!

Trees of the Natural World Playing Cards – Play your favorite game of cards while learning about the trees around you!

Grow Your Own Ginkgo Tree – Ginkgo trees are highly valued for their medicinal purposes, and they are fun to grow!

Tree Blocks, Without Bark – Kids of all ages enjoy creating fairy houses or super hero treehouses with this unique set of blocks!

Tree Blocks, With Bark – For the rustic look, try this set of blocks! Fun for kids of all ages.

Twig Pencil – A unique pencil that is perfect for all young naturalists!

Earth Day is April 22nd – Recycle a 2-liter bottle and make an Earth Day Terrarium!

This activity allows children to practice recycling and learn more about ecology,
environmental degradation, and the scientific process.

Terrariums are miniature, self-contained eco-systems. Once they are created, these closed environments can go for months unattended without even adding water. Moisture in the Terrarium evaporates from the soil and plant leaves, then condenses on the Terrarium roof and walls. The condensed water then falls down and re-moistens the soil in a continual closed loop process. As long as the top is sealed, this process will continue for months, perhaps even years. A fun project for children to create and observe!

For complete instructions and diagrams, click our 2-Liter Terrarium project and get started today!

(We originally posted this activity as an article on eHow)

Every year, I try to come up with fun, educational, and unconventional experiments or activities that my kids can do during the holidays. I dropped an egg this morning while making breakfast, and while cleaning up the mess, a fun activity for Easter occurred to me! Thought I’d share my idea…

This Easter, I challenged my kids to come up with some kind of “invention” or “gadget” that would prevent an egg from breaking when the egg is dropped from a window of our house onto our patio. We have three levels, so the Egg Drop Challenge was to drop the eggs from the second story windows and then the third story windows.

Whenever I present my kids with a challenge, I typically follow this sequence:

1. I encourage them to brainstorm ideas first. They can use our whiteboard or notepaper to record their brainstorming ideas. All ideas are welcome; no criticism (at this point, there are no bad ideas).
2. I ask them for a “reasonable” list of things they think they would like to use for supplies. Most of the time, we have what we need around the house, but occasionally I need to buy a few supplies – “No, I will not buy that nuclear reactor you need!”
3. After the supplies are gathered, I leave them alone to create and invent, only offering assistance when asked. This allows them to really get creative on their own!
4. When they are ready to test their ideas, I supervise when needed. Since we were throwing things out a third story window this time, supervision was an obvious must.
5. If my kids are successful on the first try, I encourage them to “upgrade”. If they are not successful on the first try, I encourage them to figure out what may have prevented them from being successful, and guide them with open-ended questions to help them figure out what they could do differently for the next round.

Throughout whatever activity my kids are doing, they ask questions and try different things to find the answers. I help them with answers when they are really stumped, but I keep it “light-hearted” so it is still fun for them.

Each of my boys are very competitive, yet they can work well together, too. They have such different ideas and methods, and they realize this, so they enjoy working together. When they say “that’s not possible!”, my standard reply is always “NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!” (which I believe completely). My kids are so programmed to this response, that now they just say… “I know, I know – nothing is impossible” – and they don’t give up!

For this activity we went through about a dozen eggs. Now, before you say “Oh, what a waste of food, with so many hungry people in this world!”, I can say we only wasted one. The secret? We placed each egg in a sealable plastic bag! Even when the eggs broke apart on impact (yes, we had a few “failures”), we were able to pour them out of the bags, pick out the shells and cook them up for an Egg Drop Omelette! Oh, and the one egg that broke free of the plastic bag onto the patio will quickly be consumed by night critters – so it won’t go to waste at all.

Our Egg Drop Challenge was a lot of fun! My kids learned a lot, and came up with some very creative contraptions to protect their eggs. Who knows, this newly acquired skill could help them if they decide some day to be the next scientist to land a rover on a distant planet…

If you decide to take the Egg Drop Challenge with your family, we would love to hear about your kids successes! Digital pictures, diagrams, napkin sketches, etc. would be fun to see.

Have fun!
JayDee

P.S. Don’t forget to take pictures, or film the challenge!

April is National Poetry Month… and a perfect time to learn about different kinds of poems.

A “diamonte” is a seven-line poem that gradually changes from one idea to a direct opposite, and does not rhyme. When the poem is complete, it is in the shape of a diamond.

We’ve created a Diamonte Activity that children love! This activity includes a form that you can download and print, and use to write your poem.

Not only are diamonte’s fun to write, they also help children practice working with nouns, verbs, adjectives, synonyms, antonyms and other parts of speech.

When you have a collection of diamonte poems written, take this activity a step further and have a Poetry Party! Invite your friends to gather together their favorite poems, then take turns reading them. Choose a few poems that can be read by a group (choral reading), and give it a try! Serve your favorite cookies, and have fun!

Here are some of our favorite poetry books for children:

A Child’s Introduction to Poetry, Listen While you Learn

Writing Poetry with Children (Reproducible Resource Book)

The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems

Poetry For Young People: Lewis Carroll

For these books, and many more, visit our Poetry Books section.

Many of our books have our “Think Outside the Book” section at the bottom of the page – make sure to check these links out! They provide more information about the book, it’s author, and much more! This feature is exclusive to Escapade Direct!

Marshmallow peeps and chocolate eggs are yummy at Easter, but… are you looking for FUN (and educational) Easter Basket Gits? We have a great selection of items that are perfect for girls and boys (and even for the adults in your life)!

Here is a list of our favorites:

Super String Thing – Remember Cats in the Cradle and all the other fun games we played as kids? Share them with your kids!

Chinese Jump Rope – Get active and have fun with this jump rope! What games can you remember?

Touchable Bubbles in a Test Tube – Who can resist bubbles? Especially bubbles that last and last and last and last and last and last…

Rainbow Silk Streamer – Add to active Spring play with this streamer! Your kids will be dancing in no time!

Classic Pinky Ball – Wall Ball, Four Square, Mimsies – ah…. the games of childhood! Get your kids active and outdoors with our Pinky Ball! We even have a link to our favorite Pinky Ball games – visit our website and print our games!

Marbles – They may not be in the shape of an egg, but they sure are fun! Introduce your kids to the fine art of marbles! We have dozens and dozens of marbles available – a design sure to please everyone on your Easter gift list! When you are looking at the marbles on our website, make sure to check out the link at the bottom of the page for classic marble games!

Rocket Balloons – 3…2…1…blast off! Rocket balloons are a gas! Kids of all ages love the sound of a rocket balloon when it launches! Don’t miss out on the fun!

Made By Me Kits – Add a classic wooden “Made By Me” kit to your childs Easter Basket! See how creative they are when decorating and building their vehicle! Six different vehicles to choose from!

Thinkonium – Our own Thinkonium makes a PERFECT Easter gift for children (and adults)! Get your brain in gear as you ponder all the possibilities of creative play!

Morse Code Flasher – What a fun way to learn Morse Code! An Easter gift that will be remembered…

DIY Strawz – Beverages have never tasted so good!

Want even more ideas???? Visit us online at Escapade Direct Easter Shop – we are sure you will find the perfect Easter gift for your child!