Fun4theBrain - This School Year

Quick summary of what is in this Start of the School Year message:
- new games
- old games
- a whole new world (don't you dare close your eyes haha)
 Keep reading for more details....

Ten years ago, I started creating educational games and sharing them on my website. Back then it was called Exuberant Games! Then, on March 12, 2009, I opened Fun4theBrain! After over 24 million visitors and 250 million game plays, Fun4theBrain is still here! The past 8 years have had many ups and downs and brought many drastic changes in technology. With these changes comes the need for Fun4theBrain to alter how it does things. While I would love to keep things the same, technology will not allow me to grow stagnant, and that is a good thing. So, I am off to learn new programming languages so that you will be able to play Fun4theBrain games everywhere.

Old Games - I will be converting my old games into HTML5 compliant formats as quickly as I can. I am still hoping to be able to complete a new game each month, but it may be a month and a half with an updated game in between each.

New Games - I am going to do my best to keep you informed of smaller progress so you all can be as excited about the new games as I am. I have started using a productivity program called Productive Flourishing. It is awesome and basically made for creatives who tend to have a few too many ideas running through their heads at all times. It encourages to stick with a project until there is a sharable. So, I will be attempting this now. Because of this, expect more posts and updates on the games on which I am working. I plan on sharing artwork and game ideas as I work through my normal creative process. I do hope you enjoy hearing about what goes into each of these educational games.

A Whole New World - I know how much we all love Murb; those little monsters are just so cute! With the technology changes, it will be a massive undertaking to re-do that entire town, but it will eventually get done. But, there is something new around the corner! This new world deserves a blog post all its own, so stay tuned for more information next week! (I am really excited and can't wait to share the news with you!!)

So, there you have it. This school year you can expect old math games made new, new educational games with lots of updates along the way, and a whole new world beginning! Tell your friends and enjoy Fun4theBrain!

More Artistic Interruptions of the Mind

Last week I showed you a couple of the distractions that I have been working on recently. Now, here are a couple more. The school at which I volunteer has an fundraising auction every year. Each homeroom class comes up with a project. And I have been also teaching art and have the students there working on projects as well. Last week, I revealed the Hand-carved Minion Soap set and the painted country glass set. This week, the other two projects from my art students!

The first project is an amazing chess set made by three of my students. I went to the hardware store and just grabbed a bunch of random nuts and bolts and told them to create a creative chess set. After working with them for a few class periods, they had figured out what else they needed and exactly what they wanted the chess set to look like. Then, they made all of their pieces, super glued them together and spray painted one set gold.

The chess board took a bit more creativity as they wanted it to be metal to go with the pieces, but they really wanted it to have a drawer to hold the pieces. They settled on a Keurig K-cup drawer, made to go under the Keurig coffee machine. They marked off the squares, spray painted them gold and Ta Da ...  A gorgeous Nuts & Bolts Chess Set!

I can't wait to see how it does at the auction!

I have a group of foreign exchange students from China in my class as well. They had several choices of projects to work on, but decided that they were going to make a traditional Chinese Mahjongg Set. This was a massive undertaking as they had 136 tiles to create. They chose to go with a wooden tile so they could wood burn the intricate designs. We got the wood pieces made from a listing on Etsy and then the kids set to the task. Each piece of wood needed to be sanded to give a softer feel and curved edge. Then the drawings were done and then finally, the wood burning was started. Luckily we were able to find a woodburning stamp for the circles to make the look clean. While it did take a bit longer than expected, the results were nothing short of amazing!

After the tiles were done, we had to figure an easy way for the game to be transported. Off to the craft store!! Currently there is always a large selection of giant empty books at all of the craft stores, and I have always thought they were very cool! So, I bought the biggest one I could find and it actually fit the tiles perfectly!

Absolutely awesome! I am very proud of all of my art class projects! I am looking forward to see how well they do at the auction, but even if they didn't make any money, I couldn't be happier with the hard work of my students!

Artistic Interruptions of the Mind

Recently, there are have been a high number of things distracting me from what I was considering my most important goals. However, I am now looking at all of these distractions and thought that you might just be interested in seeing what I have been up to. So, over the next couple of weeks I will let you all take a glimpse at what is going on in my head!

I volunteer teaching art at a small local high school. The school has a fundraising auction every February. I also am a class parent for the junior class. So, combining all of those, I am going to end up contributing at least 5 projects for the auction. In this article, I will tell you about two of these beautiful projects.

The first project is a beautiful glass set that a group of art students painted. It comes with a carafe and four mason jars with lids and straws. The students created patterns  of dots and lines and swirls to make the glass look festive and ready for summer fun!

 

The next project was done by a group of international students from South Korea. We took a large batch of Ivory soap bars and started sculpting away. At first, it was just for practice and play and fun. But, as we continued on, I encouraged them to find a design they could all agree on so they could make a batch of soap for the auction. 

Their final decision was to make a batch of soap in the shape of Despicable Me Minions. They turned out great! Hopefully they will bring in some money for the fundraiser. I am not sure that I could actually use them because they are so cute!

I think both projects turned out fabulously! In a few days I will show you the other two, larger projects from my art class: a chess set, and a mahjong set!

Well now you know a couple of things that have been on my mind and plate, just wait to you see the rest! 

Chubz's day at the Jersey Shore!

It’s been said that due to my lovely orange tan and big tuft of hair that I would fit in nicely at the Jersey Shore.   So I thought…why not give it a try!  Let me just say, they were right!  I loved it there!  I had my favorite food….PIZZA and enjoyed a chocolate covered frozen banana.  Yumm!

Next,  the beach…I mean shore.  I think I could just sit back and relax all day at the shore, feeling the warm sun on my fur and listening to the waves.  Although I should be careful, don’t want to become too orange!  It was a great time.

Where have you gone?  Do you have any stories and pictures?  I’d love to hear about the fun times you have had.

My New York City Adventure! - By Zizi

I had the best time this past Saturday in New York City!!!   I had never been there before and every experience was just as exciting as the one before.  

To get into NYC I took the Staten Island Ferry.  The ferry was a nice way to get into the city and we went right past the Statue of Liberty.  It was amazing!  

Next, I rode an escalator for the first time.  How cool is that?  Steps that move!  

The escalator took me to the Subway.  Now that is an experience!  It took me a few minutes to figure out which train I needed, but learning new things is always fun for me!  

Now for some entertainment.  I headed over to the theatre district and caught a show.  Wicked!  Words cannot describe how amazing that was!!! I LOVED it!!!  I would love to go see it again!  

After the show I headed over to Ellen’s Stardust Diner.  It has a 50’s theme to it and all the wait staff are aspiring actors or actresses hoping to make their big break onto Broadway.  So while you wait for your food they all take turns singing.  I even got my picture taken with Brandon Ellis, my waiter.  Someday we will see his name in light. Wow, entertainment and food, what next?  

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How about Times Square?  Great idea!  So I headed out and guess who I ran into?  Cookie Monster!!!  Well I had to get a picture with him, he’s great, and I do love cookies!  

Just a little further and there I was, right in the middle of Times Square!  It was incredible!!  There was so much to take in.  Tons of people, signs, lights, smells, music, cars….what an adventure!  

This trip was truly an awesome adventure for me, and I can’t wait to do it again or even try something new. Maybe some of my monster friends have been on fun trips too. If you have, send me some pictures. I always love to hear about new adventures!

 - Zizi

How to Draw: Diamondhead

This week's monster is Diamondhead! Diamondhead loves diamonds. He is small, but strong and helps people a lot. His favorite colors are blue and red. He is the richest man in Murb and is always willing to help people out. Thanks to Ty P. from New Jersey for this cool monster!

How to Draw Diamondhead PDF

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Step 1: Draw a slightly curved triangle for Diamondhead's head.

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Step 2: Add more lines for the top of his head.

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Step 3: Draw the sections of the diamond.

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Step 4: Using straight lines, start drawing the braces for his head.

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Step 5: Continue drawing the braces.

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Step 6: Draw in the braces that are behind his head.

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Step 7: With lots of curved lines, draw Diamondhead's nose, smile, and eyebrows.

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Step 8: Add in his eyes.

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Step 9: Straight lines and rectangles make up his glasses.

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Step 10: Draw his shirt with some curved lines.

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Step 11: Using curved lines, draw his belt and the top of his shirt.

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Step 12: Finish drawing Diamondhead's shirt.

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Step 13: Using curved lines, draw in the rest of his jacket.

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Step 14: Add in his pants.

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Step 15: Drawing Diamondhead's arms should be easy with just a few curved lines.

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Step 16: His shoes are created with straight lines at angles to make kite-like shapes.

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Step 17: Add in the extras and color in Diamondhead!

How to Draw: Jelly Bean!

This week, our monster drawing lesson brings us a fun, athletic, candy-eating monster named Jelly Bean! Jelly Bean loves candy and playing football. Want to know a secret? Her mom just got her candy corn shoes and cotton candy. She always has candy for people in Murb. Thanks, Cassidy R. of Texas!

How to Draw Jelly Bean PDF

Step 1: Draw a square with rounded corners for Jelly Bean's body.

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Step 2: Draw three circles for her eyes and nose.

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Step 3: Add in her smile!

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Step 4: While this kinda looks like a hat, it is really ice cream! Draw a half circle with two curves at the bottom to draw the ice cream on Jelly Bean's head.

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Step 5: Draw a cherry on top!

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Step 6: Add all of the extras to finish Jelly Bean's face.

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Step 7: Draw Jelly Bean's legs with some straight and curved lines.

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Step 8: Draw straight lines coming out at angles from the legs to start Jelly Bean's feet.

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Step 9: Draw a straight line down from the top of her foot. Then connect that line to the other side of her foot. Do this step carefully as it really helps to make the feet look 3D.

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Step 10: Make 3 straight lines along the tops of Jelly Bean's shoes.

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Step 11: Now draw lines coming down from the lines in Step 10. This step completes the shoes, and makes them look 3D!

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Step 12: Draw a very bumpy line to start Jelly Bean's jelly bean arm.

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 Step 13: Finish off her bumpy arm.

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Step 14: Draw her other arm which is made of cotton candy. This arm is curvy, but not bumpy. 

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Step 15: Draw in the extras.

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Step 16: Color Jelly Bean!