Dragonwings Summer Camp Activities for Kids Fun for Kids at Dragonwings, Waupaca WI

RACING PLANES AND CARS

 Cars and planes will be racing at Dragonwings Summer Camp workshop on Tuesday, July 20th.  Campers will choose and assemble their own balsa wood airplanes and balloon car racers, then construct an obstacle course and start racing!  Camp begins at 3:00PM and ends at 4:00PM.  For ages 8-12 (ages 4-7 with a parent).

To register call 715-256-9186 or e-mail us at dragonwingsbookstore@gmail.com.   Fee:  $7.50 each.  All supplies included.

Camp Dragonwings Summertime Activities for Kids Fun for Kids at Dragonwings Waupaca, WI

Darts and Spinners Challenge - Test Your Skills
Our new summer camp series of workshops starts next week!  At this first session we will give each camper their very own safety dart set and a dueling spinners set.  We will give a demonstration of our amazing skills (yikes!), then everyone gets to practice, and after that, we have a competition.  Registration fee is $7.50.  For ages 5 to 10.  Tuesday July 6th 3:00PM. 

Eco-friendly Grandparenting Workshops
Before Sharon Lovejoy came in May, I sat down and read her new book Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars from cover to cover.  Wow!  I was so inspired, I immediately decided to plan a summer workshop series for grandparents (with or without their grandchildren).  Each of the workshops in this new series will include a long-distance project, an at-home project, and an outdoor project.  We won't just tell you about good ideas; this is a hands-on program with both indoor and outdoor projects.  The first class will include memory nature cards, a mad basket, leaf place cards and more.  Registration fee is $7.50 for grandparents, $2.50 for each grandchild.  Thursday July 8th 9:00AM.

To register for summer camp or our grandparent workshops call Dragonwings Bookstore at  (715)256-9186 or e-mail us.

We have autographed copies of Sharon Lovejoy's books for sale at Dragonwings!

Dragonwings Bookstore Fun for Kids Waupaca, WI Our Dragon Friends Are Missing!

Help!
We have a problem here at Dragonwings. Our dragon friends Stripe, Flame, and Scales are missing! The last time we saw the mischievous threesome they were reading  My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. My Father's Dragon is the story of a young boy named Elmer Elevator who goes on an adventure to save a young dragon, who is being held hostage in a faraway land called Wild Island.  Before we knew it, Stripe, Flame, and Scales were gone. We think they may have gotten lost in the store while on an adventure of their own. Will you stop in and help us find our dragons? A small treasure awaits anyone who helps us locate our wayward group...

Art Class

Take an Art Class with visiting artist Brian Strassburg!

On Saturday, November 7 Brian Strassburg will be in town for a gallery show of his unique art boxes at Originals Gallery. He will also bring some of his pieces to an Art Class at Dragonwings, where he will show us how he constructed them and share some techniques.

Each of Brian's art boxes uses mixed-media, 3-D elements, and collage to illustrate a theme, a story, a famous personality, or even a letter of the alphabet. Unique and quirky, unlike anything we've ever seen before, these boxes are guaranteed to inspire kids to create an amazing box filled with art from their own imagination. Once they know how, they could make art boxes for holiday decorations, for gifts, as a scout project etc.

Art Class with a Visiting Artist
Saturday, November 7
3:00 PM - 4:15 PM
Ages 9 and up
Fee: $7.50 includes all supplies
Registration: 715-256-9186
CLASS SIZE LIMITED!

PUZZLEMANIA GAME

Hands-on Puzzle Activities for All Ages


When you play Puzzlemania at Dragonwings this week, you can try puzzle activities that have sound, magnets, mazes, and even frogs. Puzzle stations are set up for three age groups around the store. When you come in, pick up a game card at the front desk, and get started. If you need help, just ask us. Once you've tried all of the puzzles at your station, report back to the front desk, tell us which were your worst or best puzzles, and get your prize.


At the puzzle station for ages 2-4 we have Vehicle Sound Blocks, Musical Instrument Sound Puzzle, Color Maze, Construction Sound Puzzle, and the Fishing Game.


The puzzle station for ages 5-7 has a Tow Truck Puzzle, Pattern Blocks, Magnetic Match Rings, and I Spy Circus Berzerkus.


The puzzle station for ages 8-100 has a Hoppers challenge (told you there would be frogs), a Set challenge with six possible sets, and two challenges from On the Dot - a new game that we love.


Puzzlemania will run through Friday August 7.

By the way, if you are wondering what the answers are to the World Record Quiz Questions from last week: b. Russia, b. beard, c. C-3PO.

World Records Quiz Game

Challenge yourself with this week's summer game at Dragonwings Bookstore - the World Records Quiz Game. This is a stop-in-and-play-anytime all week game. Pick up a game card at the front desk, search for the quiz questions, guess the answers, and report back for prizes. The quiz questions come from one of our favorite books: Book of World Records Ultimate Quiz Challenge. Believe me, the answers will often surprise you.

Try these out, and then come in for more. If you can't wait, write your answers in comments and we'll let you know if your guesses are correct.

What country has the most forest area?
a. Canada
b. Russia
c. Brazil

What is the fastest growing hair on the body?
a. Eyelashes
b. Beard
c. leg hair

Who is the first character to speak in Star Wars?
a. Han Solo
b. R2D2
c. C-3PO

Why did the Wolf cross the road?

Have you been wishing you knew some new chicken jokes? You'll find lots of them in this week's search and find game at Dragonwings. It's another stop in and play anytime game. Get the details at the front desk and start your search for jokes and activities around the store.

Bring in a chicken joke that we haven't heard before and earn 15% off any book in the store. (Offer good until we close the doors at 5:00 on Friday the 17th.)

New this week: Two new games from Melissa&Doug for ages 4 and up. Each has a booklet filled with ten different games and lots of variations for different ages. Ranging from Treasure Hunts to card games, both Puppy Pursuit and Funny Frogs have a lot of play value.

Have you figured out why the Wolf crossed the road?

He wanted to have chicken for dinner.

Dragonwings Summer Games

Tricky Tricks

Dragonwings has five new challenges for you this week. We have the games set up around the store, so you can stop in any time to play. Pick up your game cards at the front desk and start your search. Each time you find one of the Tricky Tricks, stop and try the challenge. Keep going until you've tried (and mastered?) all five. Then return your game cards, tell us how you did, and a choose a prize.

The Tricky Tricks include: Impossitables Optical Illusion, Rubber Band Secret Messages, Pencil Athletics, Shape-by-Shape Pattern Puzzle, and Block-by-Block Building Game. The first three were created by Klutz Press, and the last two by Thinkfun Games.

Good luck and have fun!

Dragonwings Summer Games

Jokes & Riddles Stop in any time this week to play the first Dragongame of the summer. Find the joke cards and Tricky Doodles hidden around the store and guess the answers. Don't forget to write down the secret letters, then unscramble them to find the missing word. Jokes & Riddles runs from June 20-26, followed by Tricky Tricks June 27 to July 3.

No TV Week Photos

Over 50 people showed up to try our Jokes, Pranks, and Magic Tricks for Tuesday's No TV Week after school program. Thanks to the hundreds of inspiring activities in the Encyclopedia of Immaturity, we had a great time setting up funny experiments for everyone to try. Above a young student is attempting pencil athletic feats with her eyes closed.
In these photos a mother and daughter have success with the fake sneeze, while the big brother gets ready to shoot a two foot string out of a squirt bottle.
Another fake sneeze in progress. Ask us how to do this fake-out that gets everyone laughing.
More fun with the squeeze bottle and string - simple, but very effective.
"How to break your neck" was a big hit, and kids loved doing it again and again. All that you need for this gag is an empty water bottle.
On Earth Day kids started a Giant's Garden by planting seeds for two-foot long beans and yard-long cucumbers. Nearly twenty people stopped in to try their hand at gardening.
Ideas for this workshop came from Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy. Mammoth Sunflowers, purple beans that turn green when cooked, colorful Easter Egg radishes and tiny jelly bean tomatoes will also be growing in these unusual gardens this summer. If you have questions about the seeds that you planted for your Giant's Garden, let me know. I also have extra seeds, if you need replacements.

If you are looking for some easy garden ideas that are truly fun for kids, stop in and ask me (Ellen) anytime. My son and I have grown name gardens, sunflower houses, rainbow gardens, mazes, butterfly gardens and many more.

Free Fun for No TV Week

Yikes! No TV for a WEEK? Don't worry - Dragonwings, your public library, and even your teachers are making plans to help you get through this endless week. What will you do without TV? Well, you could spend your extra free time getting ahead on your homework and chores, or you could come to Dragonwings Bookstore on Tuesday and Wednesday for a little fun.

Tuesday April 21 - after school: Jokes, Pranks and Magic Tricks

Here's your chance to learn new ways to amaze and annoy your family and friends. We will crack some jokes and listen to your favorites. We will consult this famous encyclopedia for step-by-step instructions for ingenious, goofy pranks. And we will expose the trickery behind a few magic tricks. If you're interested, call 256-9186 to register.




Wednesday April 22 - after school
Magic Beans for Earth Day

Celebrate Earth Day in a BIG way by growing a Giant's Garden. We have the magic beans, more mammoth seeds and all of the supplies that you need. Once the leaves have sprouted, you can transplant your baby giants into the ground, or a pot, an old boot or pail. Find out what the top twenty plants are for kids, how to hear tomatoes gurgle, and lots more. If you are interested, call 256-9186 to register.

SET Game Challenge 2

The rules of play are in the SET Challenge 1 post. Now that you know how to play, here is the new challenge. It took me 26 seconds to find a set in the arrangement above. It took me another 44 seconds to find a second one. Can you beat that? I couldn't find any more, can you?

Good luck, and by the way, here are the answers to SET Challenge One.
There are six sets (that I could find).
1) Shape - all squiggles, Color - all different, Number - all different, Shading - all solids.
2) Shape - all oval, Color - all purple, Number - all different, Shading - all outlines.
3) Shape - all different, Color - all red, Number - all twos, Shading - all different.
4) Shape - all squiggles, Color - all green, Number - all threes, Shading - all different.
5) Shape - all different, Color - all different, Number - all threes, Shading - all different.
6) Shape - all different, Color - all different, Number - all different, Shading - all different. (Hint for #6 - one card is a single, solid, purple squiggle.)

SET Game Challenge 1

SET is one of our favorite games at Dragonwings. I have a little demo deck that I use to show people how to play. In the summers my young friend Erin and I play a game or two nearly every time she stops in. Don't worry, she lives in St. Louis, so I'm not spending all of my time playing games at work.

If you have never played, here are the basic rules. SET can be played by any number of people or by yourself. Shuffle the deck until someone insists that you stop, then place twelve cards face up in the middle of the table. Everyone plays at once trying to find sets of three cards. When they find one they call out SET and then point to the three cards they think will make a set. If everyone agrees, then that player picks up the cards and keeps them, and the dealer fills in the blank spaces. What makes a set? Each card has four features: color, shape, number, and shading. In a set, each of the four features must be either the same or different on each of the three cards. For instance, the color must be red on all three cards, or red, green and purple - one color on each card. The same with each of the other features.

Look at the SET above. I found six different sets in those twelve cards. Can you? I will list the answers in a later post, and give you a new timed challenge.

Try this game challenge.

Here is a set-up of Labyrinth, one of my favorite games. See if you can create a path for each marker to its chosen "treasure". This isn't an interactive gameboard, so you will have to visualize your moves. This is good practice for the game, because you have to visualize all of your possibilities before you move the tiles. As in most games, once you make a move you can't take it back!

How the game works: the rows of tiles that can be shifted are marked by arrows along the edge of the game board. You shift a row by pushing it with the extra tile from one end until a tile slides off of the other end of the row. You can use the extra tile vertically or horizontally.

To get you started, here is how the red marker can get to the mouse in one move:
Find the second row up from the bottom right-hand corner, using the extra tile in a vertical position, imagine shifting the row from right to left until your tile is all of the way in, and the end tile on the left is pushed off the board. Now trace your path to the mouse.

Once you find the mouse, try each of the other markers. There is a treasure card next to each one. Using the original set-up and the original extra tile, try to make a path from each marker to its treasure in one move. I will post the answers above. Good luck!