Geof's Animations

Last summer, Geof attended an animation class at the Young Artists Studio. He created the scripts of his animations using clay, simple objects, paper and pen and sand. To create an animation of 30 seconds requires about 50 images. Geof creates the animations and his teacher takes the photos. Watch his animations which I produced using Power Director. Enjoy!

Animation of simple objects

Clay Animations

Cut-out and Flip-book Animations

Sand and the Magic Hand Animation

Mouse Clicks: Short Stories by Geof

In 2008 during the summer break, we asked Geof to write short stories as an alternative activity to playing computer games.  Geof was nine years old then and he wrote short stories with a mouse as his main character. He wrote three stories then. And his first story below is my favorite. I named his collections as "Mouse Clicks." 

The Mouse Who Wanted Everything

By Jan Geoffrey S. Oreta

Once upon a time, there lived a mouse who wanted everything. His name is Selfish and he wanted everything in the whole world……..especially cheese and cheese chips so, he went out of his mouse hole to get all of the cheese.

First, he went to the cheese company to get all of the cheese he can find so he asked them where the cheese is. But all the cheese makers screamed because of selfish the mouse. So they ran out the building. Ha! Ha !Ha! laughed Selfish the mouse. Now I can get all the cheese in the company. So he started to get all of the cheese in the factory with a forklift.

He got all of the Swiss cheese then, cheddar chips. After that, Selfish began stealing more cheese and cheese chips. But he wondered how he can bring all of the cheese and cheese chips……….AhA! he cried. I have a brilliant idea! first I will get a truck and put the cheese and cheese chips inside! So that’s what he exactly did. He called all of his friends to the cheese company and drove the truck. When they arrived, one of them asked what to do………finally, he shouted drive the truck you @$$&*%!!!!! So they all ran to the truck to put all the cheese inside the truck. The strongest mouse and then the weakest mouse put the cheese inside the truck. Selfish was pleased with all of the cheese and chips. Faster my dear friends! we have to work faster before the people come here and attack us. So that’s what they did. They worked faster and faster until they heard the car of the chief arriving. They were so scared they hid all around the company. It was Selfish’s turn to hide but he can’t find a place to hide. There where mice everywhere hiding in the machines, tables and chairs. Finally he found a hiding place and it was………….Inside the chief’s car! He hid in the trunk of the chief’s car. Ahhhhhh it felt safe. Inside but not for long………….because the chief is about to get his bag inside the trunk! But Selfish had enough time to escape because the chief had to go to the bathroom to p**p so Selfish opened the zipper of the bag and escaped out of the car. He went back to the cheese company to tell his friends to escape out of the company.

So that’s what he exactly did. He told his friends: let's escape my friends! So all of his friends escaped out of the building before the cheese company’s chief could get out of the bathroom door and scream like a girl. The chief was still p**ping. When Selfish finally made it to his mouse hole, he cannot fit all the cheese in his hole. There was too much cheese wasted. Now he just learned his lesson. Never be “Selfish.”

The Kids' Summer Activities

During summer vacation, we make it a point that our kids will engage in a hobby or sports activity. These activities help them develop their skills, talents and creativity. They also meet new friends and make them socialize.

Geoffrey enrolled at Ateneo's Chess Clinic. I already taught Geof the basics of Chess but here he learned to play with kids of his age and sometimes younger. Geof received the "Sportmanship" award and a gold medal for topping the Chess puzzles for beginners. Geof knows the moves the chess pieces but he still has to learn the strategies of the game, particularly, aiming for the check mate.

Julia, on the otherhand, enrolled at the Ateneo's Swimming Lessons. The first day was a nightmare for Julia because her coach asked her to do the bubbles. Not yet trained on the bubbles, Julia drank some water and cried running to her mommy. Apple then taught Julia how to do the breathing. After that brief trauma, Julia enjoyed her swimming lessons with her new coach (not the day one coach) who is more systematic and patient. She learned quickly and developed her confidence in the water. She practices her swimming skills with Apple at Celebrity Place.

Oh yes, the kids also enjoyed biking at the UP Diliman Oval during Sundays. We tried to teach Geof to bike on two wheels. Geof was struggling in his bicycle without the training wheels. His uncles from Malabon also tried teaching him. He still needs to learn how to balance and stir the handle properly. Julia, on the otherhand, enjoys riding her new bike (our gift on her 5th birthday).

Geof's Food Humor

Our son, Geoffrey loves to read the humor sections like Laughter the Best Medicine, All in a Day's Work, etc. of the Reader's Digest. So Sometimes, he invents his own funny and corny jokes. Here are two of his original jokes which are related to food.

Joke No. 1. Along Katipunan Ave. infront of Ateneo and Mirriam, you will observe vendors selling Japanese corn. Probably Geof was reminded by the Japanese corn being sold near his school, so one day he asked us a witty question.

Geof: Mommy, do you know what the Japanese corn said to the American corn when they met one sunny day?

Mommy: Hmmmm. What?
Geof: Cornichiwa!
Joke No. 2: Geof' and his little sister, Julia love eating Nestle's Koko Krunch. They eat them like chips and sometimes mixed with milk. One morning, during breakfast, Geof suddenly asked a question.

Geof: Mommy, do you know who killed Koko Krunch?
Mommy: Hmmmm.... the hunters? ???
Geof: Nope!
Mommy: Hmmm. Who?
Geof: The CEREAL Killer!

The photo shows Julia in shades. She loves Koko Krunch cereals. I guess she is the Cereal Killer. And the babies? - they looked so cute and innocent. How would you suspect that they killed Koko Krunch? This is a mission for Cerelac Holmes. (This one's mine)

Geof's Lego River & Ferry Boats

In our recent blog post, Geoffrey created his own Lego cruise ship. This time he created his own design of a river boat and a ferry boat. It took him three days to build the river boat. He first started with the paddle wheel and then he built the three story boat afterwards. It was really awesome to see him build his own boat without any sketches. What is amazing is his designs usually have symmetry - in colors and the size of the blocks. Before starting with a Lego project, he derives inspiration from images and videos from the internet usually YouTube. Then he builds his Lego creations from memory or imagination.

Geof also created a Ferry Boat which he named the MS Voyager. You will also see his car creations. Watch the video below.

Geof's Lego Cruise Ship - The R.M.S. Romania

Using the different Lego blocks that were collected through the years, Geoffrey created cruise ships using Lego blocks. We posted earlier his first Lego ship but Geof made some revisions. So here is the revised version of his Lego ship which he named R.M.S. Romania. Geof describes his ship below:

"I had a few attemps to make a Lego cruise ship and I finally made it. I named it the R.M.S. Romania. The ship has 6 rooms, a deck cafe, swimming pool, a tanning station,a bathroom,a shower room and 4 life boats with a total capacity of 14 Lego people. It also has a detailed bridge and a cinema. You can see that this is 2nd class."

You can view the other creations using Lego (and also Megbloks) of Geoffrey and Julia in a earlier blog post. Give your kids Lego or MegaBloks - your kids will develop their patience, creativity and imagination.

Toys for Creative Minds

If you want to develop children's creativity, patience and imagination, give them a Lego or MegaBloks. Lego or MegaBloks consist of colorful interlocking plastic bricks, beams, axles and minifigures which can be assembled and connected in many ways to contstruct various types of objects such as vehicles, buildings and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects. Lego and MegaBloks pieces are compatible.

My two kids especially my son, Geof enjoy creating objects using Lego and MegaBloks bricks. Geof designed his own Lego twin tower almost similar to the Petronas twin towers with perfect symmetry in design and colors. He creates cars, airplanes and buildings. He usually watches Lego creations in You Tube and gets inspiration from these movies. When inspired, he will diligently and painstakingly assemble the structure from his imagination. My daughter, Julia (4 yrs old), also creates her own cars and structures. Watch this slide show showing some of the kids' creations.

Slide Album: Geof & Julia Play LEGO

Ready to (H)EAT Pizza

If you and your kids love pizza, you can instantly prepare the ready-to-heat Jimini pizza. Here is a short review by our our son, Geof:

"Chicago style pizzas are thick crusted medium-sized pizzas with mozzarrella and toppings on it. They come in 3 flavors and they are delicious. My favorite flavor is the one shown in the picture. "

The three flavors are burger joe, superoni (pepperoni) and the dynamic duo (beef & pepperoni). One box has three whole pizzas and costs about P178.00 at Landmark. So each pizza is about p60.00.