Great Dads agree: the Timeline is way cool

I love dads. Dads in general and specific dads. And of course, my particular dad (Hi, Dad!)

Well, it turns out dads love us back.

The Giant Evolution Timeline has been named a "Recommended Product" by GreatDad.com, hooray!

Are you a dad? Then you qualify to go vote on GreatDad.com and let them know that, yes, you would also recommend the Giant Evolution Timeline to other dads. Give as many stars as you can!

Thanks, dads. And Dad. Love you.

Holiday sale starts Monday!

We here at Charlie's Playhouse embrace crass holiday commercialism. In fact we consider it a clever adaptation to our environment. Survival of the most heavily discounted, right?

Announcing our 3-week holiday sale
November 30th through December 21st

Giant Evolution Timeline Play Mat 25% off!



Giant Evolution Timeline Poster 25% off!



Ancient Creature Cards 25% off!



Evolution Flip Books 20% off!



Hope to see you Monday...

Providence College waters down its teaching staff

Much to the chagrin of tuition-paying students at Providence College, I took over a marketing class last week and prattled on for a while about the business end of Charlie's Playhouse and evolution for kids.

I had a terrific time. What a pleasure to have a group of smart people think about Charlie's Playhouse for a while!

The man and woman to my left in the second photo here were simultaneously signing my talk for the students. Wow, I loved that part. Sign language is so lyrical, just beautiful.

Thanks so much to all the students in the class (below) for lending me their time, and especially to Tiffany Hogan (at left below) for inviting me.

Kids in the UK get an evolutionary treat

How magnificent is the UK? First, the entire nation drinks tea incessantly, much as I do. Second, my splendid dad was born and raised there. Third, it produced our big man Darwin.

Well, it gets better, folks.

Earlier this month, the UK government announced that evolution will be included in their new national science curriculum starting at the elementary level. Yes, that's right, the elementary level, as in kindergarten. And then first grade. And second. And third, fourth, fifth, until everybody is just as comfortable as can be with the history of life on earth.

Oh my. I am nerdy enough that this gives me goosebumps (which, by the way, have an evolutionary history that would captivate any kindergartener.) Any kids out there want to move to London with me?

Don't listen to me, listen to the professor

Colin Purrington is both an associate professor of biology at Swarthmore College and a one-man force for revealing the fun, wacky, irresistible side of evolution. He's a national treasure.

I love his blog, Axis of Evo (subtitled "Silly projects that might increase acceptance of evolution"), and while I know this is bad form for bloggers, I just have to re-post here something he wrote yesterday. It's just so exactly right:

"I view creation stories as a critical part of how religions transmit themselves to the next generation. Creation myths that appealed only to adults wouldn’t last long, I think. ... This underscores the need to teach science to really young kids, since that is the age when kids are actually interested in where rocks, plants, and humans come from. Even if the details are a tad too complex for the youngins, teaching kids that the scientific process can help us find real answers is a good goal for elementary science lesson plans. Waiting to inject kids with a love of science in middle school is fine, but it’s a bit too late."

Hear, hear! Thanks, Colin.

Kids just *get* natural selection

Ah, the bird feeder, everyday model of natural selection. It's right there out the window as we chew our Cheerios in the morning.

Yesterday Caleb (5) said, "Look at them fight, Mommy! The birds are fighting over who gets to sit on the perch and eat the food." Dozens of little brown birds are fluttering around the feeder, all the same species. Then Caleb jumps up and does his best full-body imitation of the battle, which I must say is pretty impressive.

"Why do you think one bird wins and another bird loses?" I ask him. He thinks it over.

"Maybe the bird who is on the perch knows that the next bird wants some food, so he just moves away," he says. We peer out to see if that fits. Soon he says, "No, that's not right, look. The losers aren't moving away nicely, they're fighting with their wings. They just lose the battle."

"Hmm," I say, "so I wonder which birds usually win?"

"The ones with the stronger wings, to beat up the other guys!" He yelps and repeats his truly moving battle recreation.

"Wow, so that means the ones with the stronger wings get more food?" I ask.

At this point, Izzy (8) can't stand it anymore and says, "Of course they do! And because they get more food, they can have more babies. And those babies have strong wings like them. Get it, Caleb? It's so easy."

An unusually well-expressed email

I get emails. Wonderful, enthusiastic emails filled with questions or product ideas. I love them.

Yesterday I got one that perfectly describes an experience that many have written to me about. So I decided to post it here. Jodi wrote:


"Part of my panic with teaching my son about evolution, I've found, is because I was never taught evolution myself in a way I could really explain it to anyone - my son doesn't take simple answers! Then I realized the whole subject was glossed over in school for me. I brought this up to one of my son's teachers, he attends a Montessori school, and she said that a lot of parents have to teach evolution at home because it's "controversial." I was actually shocked to hear that. That's just not right - it's science!



Anyway, so since it looks like I can't leave it to the schools to teach this, I've been doing my homework and now know more about Darwin than I ever thought I would! I truly do appreciate having a great kid-friendly tool to be able to help explain things to my very inquisitive kid. And I combed through your book reviews and found a few of those recommended at our library so we've been reading those as well and I very much appreciate the time you put into that."

See why I love my inbox? Thanks so much, Jodi.

I had just the same experience trying to find resources on evolution for kids, which is exactly why I launched Charlie's Playhouse. Anyone have the same experience?