Tag Archives: Star Wars

October 7, 2013 · 11:07 pm

Star Wars meets William Shakespeare meets Bookymom!

Star Wars - Darth Vader

Star Wars – Darth Vader (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I love, love, love the idea of Star Wars written as a Shakespearian play.

I originally checked the book out of the library. (When you through as many books as we do at The Booky Mom’s house you make a lot of trips to the library!). I started reading the hard copy version to Cinco (2nd grader) and he seemed interested by the idea. (We read a children’s version of mid-summer night’s dream for our mid-summer fairy festival! Fairy Day I, Fairy Day II, Fairy Day III. So he knows who Shakespeare is and he knows the language can sound rather funny). Immediately, Cinco told me he wanted to listen to a dramatized version of the play. We waited until it was available on Audible.com and bought it.

By doing this we missed the drawings in the book, but had the added fun of multiple narrators acting out the parts. It’s a fun concept and it’s an enjoyable listen for a little bit. It’s fun to hear Darth and Han speak in Shakespearian language. The author also does a nice job of using iambic pentameter.

But after about 90 minutes, the novelty of the idea wore-off. The audio version took on a been-there-done-that feeling. Plus with audio, having the stage directions read aloud is distracting, particularly when characters enter and exit frequently!

Finally, the movie is only 2 hours, but the audio story is more than 3. Really? It takes that much more time to tell the same story?

All and all, it’s a silly fun concept and if you love Star Wars or Shakespeare and want to try it out– Go for it. But, I think the book would be better because you get the pictures and you can skim it.

 

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July 11, 2013 · 10:10 pm

Return of the Jedi: Mom Camp Day 16

Let me start by saying, this is my FAVORITE of all the Star Wars movies.  Now, my very first movie at the movie theater was The Empire Strikes Back (I was about 3 years old and my dad took me and had to explain the whole movie to me….) But my favorite Star Wars movies without a doubt is Return of the Jedi.  In fact, I actually recall counting down the days until it opened!  I will admit I am very American in liking this one the best– after all we have to have a happy-ending.  But, I also loved the Ewoks!

IMG_2089For our third Star Wars day we started with Ewoks, seeing as how they are in Return of the Jedi.  Plus, I also really liked them as a kid and even had one of those stuffed Ewok dolls.  Our third mom camp star wars day featured a special guest, a young friend of Cinco’s.  So we had to run to the craft store before he came over to make sure we had enough materials to make the Ewoks.  What did we purchase you ask?

Supplies:IMG_2088

We made a number of Ewoks, including their weapons and even some Ewok babies!

Baby Ewok

Baby Ewok

The Princess loved the Ewok babies.  To be honest, we sorta made the Ewoks for The Princess who felt that there were just too many boy crafts.

Sadly, our invited guest was not really digging the Ewoks.  But Cinco had a great time designing them!

Next up I tried to make the Death Star Popcorn Balls. Umm… so I tried to follow the recipe, but it calls for water and after reading the recipe about a million times I couldn’t find out how much water to put in.  So I found another Popcorn Ball recipe and made them.  I also dyed the sugar mix black with food coloring to make the popcorn ball seem more like the Death Star. None of this really helped and everyone, Cinco, The Princess, the guest and even I thought they were gross.  (You know its bad when two seven-year olds and four-year old will not eat a ball popcorn covered in sugar).  But hey, you cannot win them all, right?

The VERY best part of the night was The Captain “pretending” to use the force.  He blew over the R2-D2 paper craft from yesterday–and claimed it was the Force. And, of course the kids saw him blow it and told him he was not a JEDI.

Then he attached a string to the paper R2-D2 and pulled it toward him.  Of course, the kids figured it out again.  And, The Captain was truly sad that he couldn’t trick the kiddos.  Thank heaven they have a little more common sense than that!  Sorry, Captain!

We also played with this cool book.  Cinco did a great job making the thumb print people and The Princess had fun too.  Although, her thumb prints were a bit more like blobs…


This was our reading for the day. Not academic… but fun. And, whatever, Cinco’s reading!
Then, it was time for movie night and the finally episode: RETURN OF THE JEDI!

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July 10, 2013 · 2:48 pm

Star Wars: The Emperor Strikes Back– Day 15

Today was a real third act kinda day so it fit pretty well with The Empire Strikes Back. I don’t mean to imply anything tragic occurred. It was more like a long day of chores with a little too much TV thrown in…. Give me a break, it happens.

20130709-094832.jpgSo they started off with 6-grain organic pancakes and syrup in the shape of Star Wars figures. These pancake molds were generously given to us last summer by the Captain’s aunt and we have certainly put them to good use!

Post pancakes, the chores started. We needed to get the oil changed so I pack up a bunch of Star Wars worksheets and activities. The word scramble and Wookie Word Search really kept Cinco almost the entire time. And, of course, LEGO Star Wars Mad Libs!!!

Next we had to drive Jillian to the airport… Ah the glamorous life of a single-girl..so she could run off to a wine and kayak trip in the Northwest.  This meant the kiddos had to spend about and 1 hour and 1/2 in the car.  But due to the wonder of Audible.com  We listened to a NPR serialized version of The Empire Strikes Back in the car!

Finally back home, we got a few crafts finished! Cinco designed his own At-At Walker.  I loved the creativity!

Supplies:

IMG_2071

How-To:

  1. Stick one of the wine corks in the water bottle whole (you can glue if needed).
  2. Wrap the water bottle in tin foil– Now you have the At-At body.
  3. Wrap the four left over wine corks in tin foil.IMG_2072
  4. Glue the water bottle cap to the tin foiled wine cork– now you have the At-At legs.IMG_2073
  5. Glue the four “legs” onto the “body”
  6. Wrap the toothpicks in tin foil.
  7. Glue the tin foil toothpicks to the At-At Walker in the position of guns.
  8. You now have an At-At Walker by Cinco!IMG_2074

Next we made a few paper crafts.  Some simple googling turns up all kinds of cray things on the net of which you can take advantage.
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Then The Empire Strikes Back and some Yoda Soda… I doctored the recipe and used lemon sorbet and green food coloring — it’s what I had on hand, but the kids were happy!

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July 10, 2013 · 2:19 am

Star Wars Episode IV: Mom Camp!

Mom Camp Day 14.  It is difficult to believe that Mom Camp has only be going for 14 days.  It feels more like 14 years.  The next few days are all about Star Wars.  Cinco loved Clone Wars and I, being a child of the 70’s, have to stay true to the originals.  (No one in the family is sticking up for Phantom Menace et al.)

Cinco and The Princess in costume for Star Wars Day, Episode I.

Cinco and The Princess in costume for Star Wars Day, Episode I.

Out of the gate we decided to make a Princess Leia headband.  You can find instructions here. IMG_2057Ours was a little different.  We used a styrofoam ball.  Chopped it in two and glued it on the headband.  Next, it was time to glue on the brown yarn. The Princess (Leia) was very excited to get her headband.  And the best part was throughout the entire process she kept calling me Amidala (because you know she’s Leia’s mom and all).

Next, we made our own Death Stars and some space fighters and even drew a sidewalk chalk Jabba the Hut. I think the PINK Death Star is very original! IMG_2087
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We watched the Star Wars: A New Hope!

Then it was time for worksheets.  There is a cute set at Home School Creations.They worked really well for The Princess.

We also took some time to play Mad Libs! I always LOVED Mad Libs as a kid and Cinco and The Princess were laughing like mad… Plus, it’s a great way to work on the parts of speech without the kids realizing that they are learning something!
This was Cinco’s reading for today as well.

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