Before hubby fell ill, I booked several activities for the family. And since I was busy at work & I was too tired to blog, you can probably imagine how I itched to blog about them.

Let me start with this.

I first went to the Barbican Gallery to see their Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now. It was supposed to be for hubby & I, but he got stuck at work so I went with a friend instead. It was enlightening and amusing at the same time.

Can you guess what’s in each of the photo?

I liked the atmosphere (unpretentious) in the Gallery so much I subscribed to their newsletter.

When I saw they were doing a week’s worth of activity dedicated to “Animation”, I booked Kelvin for the claymation workshop & booked the entire family for the end of the festivities celebration, which included a puppet making workshop, lunch & film showing.

Kelvin was the youngest trooper in the Claymation, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. We were shown how to mold characters using plasticine and then the process of filming a short, which was very laborious. Then we were given loads of materials to use & then we were to make our own short films (minus sound effects).

At first Kelvin didn’t want me to help him. He’s going to make Power Rangers he says. But if I left him alone he’ll end up with cute blobs that can only roll. So I made him a human shape which he decorated with eyes, mouth & a feather for a wand.

He then made his very own video, assisted by one of the staff. Grabe I was amazed to see Kelvin manage the 15 minutes without losing interest. During the first half, he operated the computer & pressed the buttons for capturing the images. In the latter part, he was made to move his characters: blue “power ranger”, a turtle, and a rock.

We were given a copy of the clip. But Barbican’s already posted a collection of everyone’s work. It’s really interesting & the 15 minute job is just a 2-3 second clip. Kelvin’s magic show is the first on the clip.

lunch by the waters, Gallery cafe

On the final day of the Animate Week, Daddy managed to come with us. He was still frail & would walk very slowly. But he enjoyed the day anyway.

Helping Kelvin cut out “Rodney, the rat”

There was a critter infestation at the Gallery the entire day

After lunch, the biggest surprise of the day for us was the indoor garden. Staff took photos of the kids and their creations. then we were allowed to wander about.

gubat sa siyudad

what are you looking at?

ahh, fishies

opps, mummy naman

kelvin and a friend, nah… she was just passing

The day ended with a film showing of the “Tales from the Riverbank” which featured all the characters that the kids made into puppets. It was sooo boorriiinngg most of the parents were sleeping. I couldn’t because Kelvin insists on pointing things out to me. The kids were engrossed because they can “relate” to the talking animals!

Barbican Gallery deserve a medal for hosting this activity. I’d recommend it to anyone with kids, toddlers to teens. We’re definitely coming back next year.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 8:05 pm and is filed under day-out, my hero. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.