Avatar the Last Airbender is probably the best animated series ever, so I couldn't wait to introduce my girls to Aang and his team. We only had the finale to go, and I wanted to do something special. Corona leaves us with plenty of time, so we made a day out it: Avatar day.

Needless to say: Evy and Lise loved the idea of Avatar day. The day before I asked them which element they identified with, Evy loves Katara and chose water. Lise is our little rebel and wanted to be a firebender.

Decorations: It was clear that they saw Avatar day as a party (and it was!), so we couldn't do without garlands and balloons. I used the symbols for earth, water, air and fire to make paper garlands. I printed the symbols, cut them out and glued them to colored paper. I also drew the symbols on some balloons.

Gifts/apparel: I found some white shirts, and drew the symbols for water and fire on them with textile markers. I like to make jewelry too, so I printed the symbols and used resin to make pendants for a cute necklace. They LOVED both of them.

​Crafts/coloring pages: My eldest loves making things and drawing, so I really needed to print some coloring pages..
She is 5 years old, so needed help to make the Cubee papercraft figures, but cuting out the parts was good practice :-)
Making one Cubee takes a while, so we completed the whole team in the following week. You can download the Cubees here! 

ctivities/experiments: The four elements are mysterious and amazing to (young) Geeklings. A great way to combine fun with some education. My girls are very young, so I used some very simple experiments.

• Water: We put M&Ms on a plate, introduce water and you get a rainbow of colors..
• Water: rub your hair with a balloon to create static electricity, a small stream of water will now move when you out your hand next to it. You can bend water!
• Fire/air: Light a candle and put a glass over it, the fire will go out. Explain how air fuels water.
• Air: Blow bubbles outside, or make a kite and watch it fly like Aang does with his staff!
• Sight: Toph is blind, and 'sees' with her feet. Blindfold your child and let them find their way by sound, or (when a bit older) by vibrations.
• We also dyed some fabric in the right colors and attached  some sticks to them, so simulate bending. It was lovely to watch them dancing around :-)

Lunch: I wanted to make a fun lunch, so I dyed pudding in the colors of the four elements. Earth was imitated with some chocolate, and I used broccoli as trees. The colors of fire where present in cherry tomatoes, an snacksize bell peppers. Cheese straws represented the staff of Aang.

After lunch we watched the last three episodes. My eldest cried at the reunion of Zuko and uncle Iroh :-) Sometimes she hid her face in pillows when it was too excited. We had a great time and snacked on the cupcakes I made. I didn't have time for difficult decorations, so just used some butter cream in the elements colors.
After watching tv it was time to play outside. I made a plate with the face of firelord Sozin on it. My Geeklings attacted them their water pistols.. it might have been the favorite part of their day :-P

I ordered two bracelet sets for my girls (5 and 3 years old). A lot of the products were already sold out, but I found designs I hoped they'd like. A jungle/Tropical Birds theme for my youngest and Funky Animals theme for my oldest. When they arrived I was a bit disappointed by the packaging, I know the sets are quite cheap, but I just like cardboard better than plastic.

Making your bracelet is very easy, just put the tiles on the bracelet. The bracelet itself is sturdy but flexible and fits on any wrists and closes easily, and the tiles really don't fall off. Even for my youngest it was easy to make the bracelet, despite the size of the tiles. Making the bracelet will keep children busy for some time, especially the perfectionists like my eldest. 
​
My girls and I love Lego Dots, but have one more criticism: Lego supplies more tiles than you need, even if you want to fill the whole bracelet. This is nice, and gives you the opportunity to change it if you like. But.. how to save these tiles from getting lost?? A resealable bag would be nice, but this is not included. I guess storage for Lego Dots will be available in time.. Check out all Lego Dots products here. 

A while ago we visited the Oertijdmuseum (or Dinomuseum) in Boxtel. I can highly recommend it! I didn't even know it existed, but it's a lovely small museum, with a big dinosaur garden.

It looks and feels almost like a private collection. With seemingly not a lot of structure, but that's  part of the charm. There are things to discover everywhere. The museum also has some moving dinosaurs, which also make sounds. A little scary for my youngest (3) but she loved the moving hatching eggs. It's a good museum to visit in autumn too, do the indoor part when it's raining, and venture outside when the weather improves. The shop of the museum is also nice, with stuffed dinosaurs, but also precious metals and fossils you can buy.

The garden is very large, and takes you on a journey, from the oldest dinosaurs to the first humans. You can pose with models of dinosaur jaws, and there is a nice playground too. We a had a great time, thanks to aunt Janneke, she suggested the outing and went with us.  Have a look for yourself!

Are you visiting Elfia Arcen, on the 21th or 22th of September?
​The Kasteeltuinen in Arcen will once again transform into the magical land of Elfia that weekend. Fables & Fairytales is this years theme.

​As I wrote about in a report of Elfia Haarzuilens, I really hoped for more Geekling activities. Since a lot of children love and visit the event. Well, it seems someone was listening? Well, probably not, but there are two nice additions to the program, especially for Geeklings.

• Firstly, there will be a costume parade for children and families! On sunday the 22th, children and families costumes will be put in the spotlight. The parade will be from 13u until 13.45 on the Utopia Stage. There will be awards for: best costume (0 - 7 yrs), best costume (8 - 14 yrs) and best family (two persons and up). You can register by e-mailing [email protected], or do this at the fair (until 12u sunday).
• There will be an special Disney picnic for children! Cosplay group Royal Tea Time will make it possible for Geeklings to play and take a picture with the lovely Disney princesses. There will be small bites too, for a real picnic experience. Are you a cosplayer, or organization that would like to add something to this event?  Email to: [email protected] or visit their website. 

​
​You can find all activities in the Elfia app, which you can download here. 

This weekend it's Dutch Comic Con again, in my hometown Utrecht. My eldest Geekling Evy loved her visit last time, so naturally I took her with me again. She dressed up as a rainbow fairy, and I decided to go as a the tenth doctor.

One thing we both loved was the house of wax, close to the entrance. It's theme was fairytales and everything looked amazing, from witches to princesses, to the emperor without clothes and sleeping beauty.. it had it all.

For children I can really recommend  the experience hal. I like the set up, with a lot of space to move around and discover everything. Major network Fox was there, but you could also have your picture taken with Dumbo, or as Shazam. At the Powerpuff Girls booth you could design a shirt with a personalized Powerpuff Girl, so we did :-) The smallest size was 116, which was fine (if not a bit big) for my four year old. You can also play card games in this hall, or work a collective painting. Children need supervision under the age of seven, because they take this sh*t seriously!
​
The gaming hall was not for us, but could really be for other boys and girls. In the dealer hal you can find things for everyone. But, it's also one of the most crowded places. I am still amazed that no company specializes in making things for Geeklings. Then again, you can find things like Disney statues, kids shirts and (pluche) toys everywhere.  

But in the end my Geekling had the most fun by looking at all the Cosplayers. She really liked the Disney princesses again, but adores furries too. They always get a hug from her, and she wants to have her picture taken with them.
I am visiting DCC again tomorrow, after that to can expect another report, with pictures of all the sweet, cool and amazing Geeklings I met there!

Some ideas you just can't top.. I was in awe when I first found the website My Nerd Nursery.  

The lady running this site made a lot of cute Geeklings things. She organized a lot of parties in geekstyle. One of them is this amazing Doctor Who Party. She gives suggestions for everything, from the backdrop, to the snacks.

Have a look at it, and also check out her other ideas. From popular fandoms like Harry Potter, to Legend of Zelda and Gravity Falls. So if your Geekling has a birthday coming up sometime soon..

Have a look at the adventures of a young Geekling at the Dutch Comic Con, featuring Cyarine :-)

'We are going to the Comic Con together', I told my three year old daughter. 'It's a very nice place where people go, a lot of them dressed up. And you can dress up too!' She was almost jumping up and down in excitement.. We took her to the very first Dutch Comic Con when she was a few months old, but this felt like the first time.

She chose to dress up as her favorite princess, Rapunzel, and took her toy frying pan with her. I found a dress for myself and used some golden dye to make myself recognizable as queen Arianna, Rapunzels real mother. In preparation to the big day we watched a few cosplay videos and Evy was looking forward to it very much. 'Are we going to the Comic Con today??' 'No, not yet love'...

Finally it was time. We live in Utrecht, so we took the bus and walked the last bit. Evy saw other cosplayers on the way. 'Look, that person has green hair!' She didn't mind that it got busier and busier. In the hall we bumped into a Rapunzel cosplayer, so her day was already made.. At last we got a wristband and could go inside. A lot of music and other sounds came towards us, but it didn't deter her in the least.

A thing I really liked about the Dutch Comic Con is the lay-out. The hall we entered in was filled with the photobooth, catwalk and the quest square. This is comparable to Facts, Belgium, but unlike in Gent there are still other things to see and do in this hall. Green screens from The Simpsons and Aquaman, a Star Wars prop with Storm Troopers, but also some dealers. The other half of the hall was for computergames.
Evy and I got in line for Laura, or Cyarine. She is my husbands cousin, and Evy is one of her biggest fans. The line wasn't very long, and Evy got a big hug :-) Laura give her a signed print, but she really didn't understand the meaning of an autograph. She wanted to write her own name! Laura found this very amusing and they traded autographs..

Another good thing about the Dutch Comic Con, a lot of food stands. This means a lot of different foods, but also enough room to sit down and eat. The bathrooms weren't too busy either. The total lay-out was a bit confusing at times, but I liked the mixed halls best, something to eat, something to do/see and something to buy. The dealer hall can be bit too much of the same thing.