ONLINE ART CLASSES WITH JARRETT KROSOCZKA

Know a child who enjoys sketching and doodling? Throughout the coronavirus school shutdown author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka will be providing FREE online art classes each day kids are out of class. These live sessions are taking place on YouTube at 2pm ET. My son and daughter participated in Krosoczka's first live presentation today and are looking forward to drawing with him during their break from elementary school.



Jarrett Krosoczka's work includes the popular middle grade reading focused Star Wars: Jedi Academy, Lunch Lady and Punk Farm books. Though his books are aimed at tweens, Krosoczka promise his YouTube live sessions will be all ages friendly. He started off showing kids how to draw two of his most popular characters in his books, Lunch Lady and Yoda.

My kids had their paper and pencils out replicating these characters as Krosoczka sketched them out online. They then snapped pictures of their artwork to share with other students from their school through an online classroom their teachers have set up to keep everyone learning and I contact during this break. They were really excited to show off their pictures!

They also enjoyed a segment where the artist along with his eleven year old daughter (same age as my kids) played a drawing game. One person scribbles a line on a sheet of paper than the other has to transform it into a picture. You take turns going back and forth turning scribbles into art. My children played the game awhile for themselves after the YouTube live video wrapped up. Both had a lot of fun and are looking forward to more of these twenty minute live videos with Jarret Krosoczka.

Miss the live session? You can also watch these videos after the fact on his YouTube channel. If there is an interesting video like this that your kids are enjoying online share it with the rest of us in the comment section or tweet out the info to @Geekdad248 on Twitter and I'll retweet it.

Stay safe and keep learning!

HOW TO ROCK OUT DAYS KIDS ARE OFF FROM SCHOOL

Looking for some ways to keep kids occupied in an entertaining and educational way while they are homebound during coronavirus related school closings? Get them involved in some musical activities that are sure to capture their attention and get them having fun. Here is how parents can let their kids rock out during days their children are off from school.

A number of kindie rock artists are jumping onto social media channels during this national emergency to provide live free musical activities for children to get involved in while they are out of school and forced to stay around the house. Kindie rock is a style of children's music which combines song styles adults can relate to with themes aimed at preschoolers, elementary school students and preschoolers to create music parents and kids can enjoy together as a family. Check out some of the activities that are taking place the week of March 16, 2020:

Coy Bowles (of Zac Brown Band fame) will be doing some live kindie rock sessions and story reading times via Facebook Live and Instagram. He is going to be debuting songs from his upcoming children's album throughout the week. Check in to his social media accounts for updates on specific times.

123 Andres is offering bilingual Spanish/English YouTube Live videos. The Latin Grammy winning duo will be performing at 2 pm Pacific Time/ 5 pm Eastern on Wednesday and Saturday this week.

Story Pirates are launching a daily radio show, Story Pirates Radio, featuring fan-favorite songs, play-at-home games, hilarious bits, and listener call-in kid interviews to keep kids busy in between podcast episodes. They will also post live-streamed creative writing lessons, called Story Sparks, taught by expert Story Pirates teachers.

Aaron Nigel Smith will begin offering free online concerts at 10:30 am each Friday, starting on 3/20 via Facebook Live.

The Lucky Band are posting 10-minute daily family jam sessions most mornings at 10 am PT on Facebook and Instagram Stories.

Justin Roberts launched a "Stuck at Home" activity page , and he will be hosting Facebook Live concerts every morning through March 20th.

Also check out this video from The Okee Dokee Brothers that uses a sad announcement of their having to cancel some concerts to promote a happy PSA encouraging kids not to touch their faces. A simple yet important message for young listeners.


Know some other kindie rock artists providing live performances to entertain kids who are off of school during the COVID-19 outbreak? Share them with this dad blogger in the comments or tweet them to @Geekdad248 on Twitter for a retweet.

Stay healthy everyone!