Kid U Really Stacks Up!

This is the second of a series on our Kid U 2008 Celebration Conference. (previous) It’s no secret to Kidology users that I’ve been a huge fan of Speed Stacks since, well, before I even discovered Speed Stacks! I got my first set of generic stacking cups as my mother’s final Christmas gift to me the year she died of cancer. Her hand written note said, “I’m sure you’ll find a way to use these to entertain and teach kids.” Soon, I had developed my rules and was using cup stacking racing in my ministry. It wasn’t until a CPC several years later that I stumbled upon the booth for Speed Stacks, the premier manufacturer of cup stacking cups and the primary promoter of the Sport of “Sport Stacking.” I immediately signed up to be a member of the WSSA. World Sport Stacking Association www.worldsportstackingassociation.org While I have never been able to attend the World Championship Tournament in Denver (which has been covered by ESPN) I hope to make it there someday to see if I can’t go home with a trophy. I have competed against a professional football player and won, as well as world champion and legend Emily…

Continue reading

Kidologist Demonstrates new BATTLESTACK!

As mentioned in my podcast interview with Speed Stack’s Roger Washburn, I was sent one of the very first BattleStack games! And wasted no time in arranging the ultimate battle between boys and girls with my nephew and niece! Here is the video via YouTube: Or you can download a higher resolution QuickTime file. (37.4mb) AND, YES! You can buy a BattleStack Game in the Kidology Store: BE ONE OF THE FIRST TO OWN THIS! I know at many churches I’ve seen Speed Stack cups available to kids, but they often don’t know what to do with them if they’ve not been taught. But with the BattleStack any kids can instantly start to play using the BattleStack cards. What a GREAT GAME to make available for the kids that are early or hanging around afterwards waiting for Mom and Dad to get them! (Hint: you need at least two!)

Continue reading

Towering Speed Stacks!

This isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about a giant stack of Speed Stacks falling down, but sometimes it is the simple things in life that bring the greatest joy. Had some employee kids hangin’ out in the office today. (No, I don’t employ children, I mean children of an employee!) The Kidology Headquarters is filled with a LOT of toys and props, but playing with Speed Stacks is often the favorite pass time of kids doomed to hang out while mom works. Their favorite thing is building giant towers to… uh, knock over, and build again. But this time I got into it when they couldn’t reach the top of their tower, and I couldn’t stand to have seven extra cups unused, so I made a single tower and placed it on top. Here are the proud architects of this Tower of Stacks. Unfortunately, for the cups, they didn’t get to stay stacked for long, as you’ll see in this video: Luckily for me, clean up time is just as fun!

Continue reading

Live from iFest 2007

As I write this I am at One Way Street‘s iFest Conference. (International Festival of Puppetry & Ventriloquism) I’m here for just two days of the week long conference to report on this event for Kidology. I will be publishing a full report on Kidology.org soon in the Kidology Reports Zone, but here are a few teaser pictures and an EXCITING VIDEO at the end! iFest is a great place to meet other people who love puppets! And BUY cool new puppets! (I will be posting my favorites!) And bring your puppet team (these teens are from Texas!) And eat great food! (Chicken Sandwhich and fries, TWO pieces of pizza and TWO cups of Dew…. Oh Yeah, I love this conference!)   The highlight of the evening was getting to see the Black Light Competition in the evening. (There will be highlights via video in the Kidology Report on iFest) But then I got a big surprise! I was invited to compete in the Sport Stacking competition in the dark by Norm Hewitt, and won the first stack meet with four contestants, and then later, there was a second “semi-final” with four more, who all turned out to be kids.…

Continue reading

Speed Stacking – THEY ALL FALL DOWN!

This week I got a fun opportunity to visit an elementary school in a nearby town to teach Sport Stacking to a class of fourth graders. A man in our church volunteers every week in this classroom and brought me in as a special guest. (If you are a student from the class reading this: THANKS for being so fun, it was a fun time for me too! Check out www.toyboxtales.com too, the other site I told you about!) Here are some pictures, and a COOL VIDEO at the end! Pastor Karl teaching the Way of the Cups…The eager padawan learners… Practise makes perfect… Downstack before moving on…. left to right… no fumbles…. Use both hands…. don’t worry about being fast… learn it right, and you will be fast! Cup Master Karl expounding on the Secrets of the Cups… Oh, the great feeling of a good smooth up stack! A few were already for competition! But remember, your greatest opponent is only yourself! You can always go one hundredth of a second faster! After the instruction, practise and some competing… I got to my message. When I started making a long row of cups along the table, the room fell…

Continue reading

Awana Remember 2006!

Last Tuesday evening was our Awana Finale! And what a finale it was! I think it was one of the best we ever did. (and we’ve had some great ones!) But this year we had the clubs enter to some cool music after bursting through a banner with their club name. Sparks ran in to the theme of the Incredibles, Boys Club to the Chicago Bulls anthem, Girls Club to the Summon the Heros Olympic theme, and the JV Krew a funky “Get Ready for This” techno theme. Then we added a bunch of other fun music intros to everything, like theme to Ferris Buler’s Day Off when I came up (Oh Yyyyyeah) and Hail to the Cheif when the Senior Pastor came up to pray. We even had Pirates of the Caribean battle theme when our special speaker came out to give the message after the Pirates Who Don’t Read Anything Toybox tale. (A Pirate known as Long John Underwear, who prefered to go by just Long John!) Anyway, it was a GREAT night! When I sit back and daydream about the year, here are a few of the memories that drift through my mind’s eye…. WATER NIGHT! FUN…

Continue reading