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Make a mystery note out of cut up letters & stickers and send to a friend anonymously. Include clues or a riddle to help your friend solve the mystery of who sent the mail.

For kids ages 4-12
Supplies and postage will be provided, just bring mailing addresses and 10 bucks (5 for siblings).

Saturday February 25, 2012
11am-12pm
Y at Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
1224 Prospect Avenue at Vanderbilt Street
F/G to Fort Hamilton Parkway*
*Our outbound station is closed til Spring. Take F/G train one more stop to Church Avenue.
Switch to an inbound train to Fort Hamilton Parkway. Exit at the front of the station.

In fact, since academic excellence wasn’t a particular priority on the Finnish to-do list, when Finland’s students scored so high on the first PISA survey in 2001, many Finns thought the results must be a mistake. But subsequent PISA tests confirmed that Finland — unlike, say, very similar countries such as Norway — was producing academic excellence through its particular policy focus on equity.

That this point is almost always ignored or brushed aside in the U.S. seems especially poignant at the moment, after the financial crisis and Occupy Wall Street movement have brought the problems of inequality in America into such sharp focus. The chasm between those who can afford $35,000 in tuition per child per year — or even just the price of a house in a good public school district — and the other “99 percent” is painfully plain to see.”

read the article

In addition to their other work, they produce a line of chocolate called Chocolate Editions which is available through their website and at a few select NYC boutiques. For Abe’s Peanut, they wrote and illustrated a guide to making chocolate, the culmination of which will be a bar of their chocolate sent to your child.

We chose a simple milk chocolate bar and all ingredients will be listed on the bar’s wrapper. We will address the package to “The Parents of (Child’s Name)”.

We understand, due to dietary restrictions and personal preferences, not all children eat chocolate. Please email us if YOU WOULD LIKE to receive the chocolate bar. An email to mail@abespeanut.com with the subject “Chocolate Yes” is enough for us. We will need your responses by December 7th.

October 3, 2011

Eagles and falcons and vultures, oh my! There were birds aplenty at this year’s Raptor Fest in Prospect Park. Anybody know what a raptor is? No, they’re not dinosaurs, they’re actually birds of prey! Every year, the New York City Parks Department brings about a dozen birds of prey to a city park for its annual Raptor Fest, where this year over one thousand people came to admire these amazing birds! This year’s guests of honor were a Bald Eagle, a Harris Hawk, a Barn Owl, a Peregrine Falcon, a Turkey Vulture, a Red-Tailed Hawk, and more raptors from all over the world. The birds were on display for all to see, and twice they were released to fly around their pen and do tricks for the audience. But don’t worry about these captive birds just being circus animals; all the birds have been injured so that they can’t survive in the wild anymore, and spend most of their days happily on a reserve all the way up in Buffalo, NY.

The Urban Park Rangers were there too, playing games, giving out prizes and doing crafts with kids. Next time you’re in a park, see if you can find a Ranger and ask them to tell you more about raptors!

Do you like to put on your own plays? You can use finger puppets like these as characters. To draw your own, draw a small animal or person the way you normally would. Leave enough room on either side of the character to draw two rectangular tabs connected to the character. When you cut the character from the paper, include the two tabs, then tape the tabs together so they stay on your fingers while you perform your play.

On Sunday, September 25th, Abe’s Peanut gathered kids from the neighborhood to make mobiles and hear Jacque Lynn Schiller’s story, Special Deliver, from series 2.2:

We were at Word Up Community Bookshop in Washington Heights. If you haven’t been, go! It’s full of great stuff, including a table set up with art supplies. Kids are welcome to drop in anytime and color or paint.

Share your cards with us, too! Email pictures or scans to tess@abespenny.com. We’ll post them here and on our facebook page!