Matchstick

Category: for 8-year-olds

  • 200-VS Attack – Bump ‘n Eject RC Battle Bumper Cars

    [amazon_link asins=’B01MZEDJCJ’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’05de0e4e-053e-11e8-a819-c1b392dd7c5f’] This was a gift for the birthday boy at a party we attended and we got a chance to play with it. It was a lot of fun. Remote control cars have been around a while (Tesla built an RC boat in the late 1800s!) and whenever I’ve played […]

  • Minecraft: The Island

    [amazon_link asins=’0399181776′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’91f8d4e9-f636-11e7-a944-ff7108981ad3′] We have some Minecraft-obsessed people in our house and when visiting the library we always look for Minecraft-themed books for design ideas. We picked up “The Island” not knowing anything about it and the kids lost interest when they saw that there were no illustrations. But I read the […]

  • Good Eats

    [amazon_link asins=’1584797959′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=”] Watching Good Eats was one of my weekly rituals back in the ’90s, back when the Food Network was an emerging force on television. Unlike the standard TV chef format (cook looks across a counter at the viewer while preparing food), Good Eats’ Alton Brown gets into the science […]

  • Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land

    [amazon_link asins=’B00287Z1F2′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b2bea96f-e66e-11e7-bc7b-35986d9cfc05′] This is one of the great Disney shorts from their “classic” period of the 1950s and ’60s. It has Donald going on an adventure, learning about how math is the foundation for music, architecture, nature, and games. It explains the Golden Ratio phi and how simple ratios explain many […]

  • How to Build a House – Technical Tales Series

    [amazon_link asins=’1633221415′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’2c3fa3ab-daa0-11e7-a59e-71387e274c28′] Quarto is a publisher of art books, children’s books, and science kits, among other things. They have dozens of imprints, including Walter Foster Jr. which focuses on “art, transportation, history, craft, gardening, and more”. It is a welcome alternative to the Disney-dominated world of children’s media. One of their […]

  • LEGO Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Isle

    My kids didn’t even know who Scooby-Doo was before stumbling across this game while looking for Lego-related apps. The game is rated 10+ but we tried it anyway and I haven’t seen anything particularly ‘mature’ about it and our 4-year-old enjoys it without being scared (and this is someone who is sometimes scared of things […]

  • Once a Pawn a Time

    [amazon_link asins=’B000OT2816′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’2b38f149-c643-11e7-be85-93fa2b289994′] I’ve heard of chess prodigies as young as 6 and have played chess against 6- and 7-year-olds who knew what they were doing and were even able to beat me (although I’m not a great player). So I was eager to introduce chess to our oldest at that age. […]

  • Star Trek – The Animated Series

    [amazon_link asins=’B000HEWEJ4′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’3c39339d-b9aa-11e7-98a6-c5b01cd96078′] A lot of cartoons aimed at kids are not very good. They are either insipid, appealing only to toddlers, or have too much adult humor, or are essentially long advertisements. So I sometimes look for older cartoons, hoping that they will transcend, but boy oh boy are they violent. […]

  • Puss in Book

    One of the characters in the movie Shrek was Puss in Boots, a character that dates back to 16th-century Italy. Puss got his own spin-off movie, and then a few more, and now Netflix has launched a novel format of choose-your-own adventure-style storytelling. A clip of the video plays and then the character asks the […]

  • Bad Lip Reading Star Wars Songs

    BLR is a YouTube phenomenon. A guy dubs over news clips and videos with silly nonsense and sometimes songs. The songs are very, very good – well-composed, well-performed and sung, and slickly produced. His re-dubs of music videos are better than the originals. Not all of them are particularly kid-friendly, but most are. In 2016, […]