Jenny Bristol is an Editor at GeekDad and a founding Director at GeekMom. She is a lifelong geek who spends her time learning, writing, homeschooling her two wickedly smart kids, losing herself in history, and mastering the art of traveling on a shoestring.
Reading Time: 5 minutes I grew up eating the occasional homemade pizza, and we still make it sometimes ourselves. I’ve tried countless recipes, baked in my standard oven, but, while usually tasty, none come out quite like you’d hope, quite like you’d expect from a pizza joint. Well, the likely reason for that is the… Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes Learn about astronomy with your kids! Image used with permission. Now that the nights are starting to get warmer (in some places, at least!), it’s time to start considering some outdoor activities. But after all the hikes, cookouts, and kite flying, what’s a good activity after dark? After you’ve filled up… Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes As they do every year, the folks at American Mensa hold a weekend o’ games, Mensa Mind Games, where Mensa members play, rate, and rank tabletop games submitted for that year’s competition. This year’s was held just last weekend, and the 2019 Mensa Select winners have been announced! The winners are… Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes Did you know that there is enough energy in just your little pinky to power an entire city? That’s how this book of wonder begins, explaining how marvelous our bodies can be. Power Up: Your Incredible, Spectacular, Supercharged Body, written by Seth Fishman and illustrated by Isabel Greenberg, looks at energy… Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes Since The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part will be released in theaters on February 8, 2019, LEGO has released 19 (nineteen!) new LEGO sets based on the new movie. They will all be available starting December 26, 2018. There is something for everyone in this collection, with prices ranging from… Read More
Reading Time: 5 minutes Images: Shrinky Dinks TIL that Shrinky Dinks came out the same year that I did: 1973. October 19th, to be exact. I remember playing with them as a kid. Most kids of my generation will remember coloring and cutting out Shrinky Dinks as a playtime or party activity. My first memories… Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes As the world of Harry Potter expands, so do the offerings for enthusiasts and collectors. These three books are all solid options for adding to your home’s Harry Potter library. Whether you like to sit and gaze, explore and uncover, or get in on the action yourself, there is something for… Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes We all know that kids are curious. Science-oriented kids are often curious in, shall we say, unexpected ways. They may challenge the laws of physics. Or chemistry. And they often do a lot of, “Oh, I just wanted to see what would happen if…” kinds of things. Famous scientists were no… Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes Those of us of a certain age can be a bit nostalgic for the BASIC era, the same way we are for rotary dial phones. BASIC was never flashy (pun intended), but it was fun, straight forward, and accessible to kids with no more than a basic understanding of how computers… Read More
Love escape rooms but not the price tag? A new Kickstarter launches today that will give you hours of puzzle-solving fun without the hefty price tag. Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes Image: Laurence King It’s never too early to introduce your kids (or your neighbor’s kids or your sister’s kids or your grandkids) to the elements that make up our world. A brand new book, The Element in the Room: Investigating the Atomic Ingredients that Make Up Your Home, will help you… Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes Photo: Julia Williams. Used with permission. Do you believe in fairies? No? Well, most fairies don’t believe in you, either. Nor gnomes, pixies, or others in the magical realm. At least according to a new book entitled The Land of Stone Flowers. But don’t worry. A few believe. And they have… Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes Though we’ve been celebrating this event all year long, today is the actual 40th birthday of the LEGO minifigure! Happy birthday, little articulated guys and gals (and monsters and droids and…)! I’ve had LEGO my whole life. My earliest memories of playing with toys include the free-form LEGO sets we had.… Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes Foreground image: LEGO For the rest of this month, LEGO is holding a competition to get viewers excited about The LEGO Movie 2, coming out early next year. Announcing The LEGO Movie 2 Building Buddies Competition! The competition is open to adults, kids, and mixed pairs. Just join with a friend… Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes Images: Scholastic Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Scholastic has released special anniversary editions of the whole series in softcover, with gorgeous all-new covers from Brian Selznick. They are also releasing a box set of the books, with Selznick’s art, which will… Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes Harry Potter is just one of countless fandoms and geeky interests that it’s okay to like or not like. Photo: Public Domain Do you love Pokémon but don’t understand why everyone’s so into Marvel? Adore Harry Potter but video games drive you mad? Love knitting but can’t wrap your head around… Read More
Step one taste bud into the past with modern versions of vintage recipes in ‘The Vintage Baker.’ Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the past week, many of us saw The Great American Read on PBS, hosted by Meredith Viera. Last month, GeekMom Anika Dane covered the announcement of the 100 books that made it onto the list, a list filled with books that are beloved by Americans. The show’s premise is for… Read More
The new Daphne dress from Scottevest allows you to skip the purse yet retain your style with its clever hidden pockets. Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes Image: Chronicle Books A Note of Explanation Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Mary. But she wasn’t any ordinary girl. She would grow up to become a queen. And, as an adult queen in the 1920s, a magnificent Doll’s House was built for her, in a 1:12… Read More
