Category: for 11-year-olds

  • Philadelphia Chickens

    This is a unique book. Sandra Boynton (most famous for desktop calendars and coffee mugs with phrases such as “Don’t Let the Turkeys Get You Down”) wrote a musical and got performers (Kevin Bacon, Eric Stoltz, Meryl Streep, etc.) to sing the songs on the included CD. The CD is about 48 minutes long and…

  • Robot Turtles board game

    [amazon_link asins=’B00HN2BXUY’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e6f31b11-3fe2-11e7-ac5f-47259560c847′] This is a clever game that got a lot of media attention when it came out, touting its ability to teach STEM concepts, specifically logical thinking. The box says for ages 4 and up but I don’t think 4-year-olds are able to grasp all the rules of the game,…

  • Wallace and Gromit

    [amazon_link asins=’B003V8II2A,6303521517,B002RZ0V6E,B003V8IH26′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’8d406508-3fd9-11e7-98d4-7d9ab68c2887′] I remember seeing “A Grand Day Out” at an animation festival around 1990, and then seeing “The Wrong Trousers” and “A Close Shave” a few years later. I was so thrilled by them (not least by the incredible chase scenes toward the end of ‘Trousers’ and ‘Shave’) that I…

  • Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

      Calvin and Hobbes ran as a daily newspaper comic strip from November 1985 and November 1995. It was an essential part of my childhood and manages to resonate with children and adults today. Watterson did not have children during the time he was writing the strip, yet showed real insight into the dynamic between…