Yo!

Yo Yo in fact.

Now I can't keep up with what kids are into from one moment to the next, I got lost with Tazos and Tamagotchis and all that hoo hah. But as they say, what goes around comes around. So here is the Yo Yo again!

This kid is good. But the yo-yo is different to the ones we had when I was a kid. The string is actually seperated from the Yo Yo itself. Looks tricky.

Love the look. Love the attitude. Love the tricks.

Double Dutch (whoom ba ba! whoom ba ba!)

For those who don't get my reference in the title of this post, Double Dutch was a minor hit for Malcolm McLaren in the late eighties (I think) and the 'whoom ba ba' was the backing singing going through the song. Awesome song and clip, search it out on YouTube if you get a chance.

But this blog is certainly not about Malcolm McLaren! No it's about cool kids!

So that's why today I am delving into the art of Double Dutch. The basic equation is:

Skipping rope = not an enfant terrible
Double dutch = enfant terrible

Now a lot of the kids in the video (most in fact) aren't very young, but that hardly matters. Show this to your little girl and watch them get inspired!

Peter Rabbit meets the Sphinx

The British Museum has released a book for anyone who wants their child to get a head start in the world of Egyptology. The heiroglyphic version of Peter Rabbit.

How utterly pointless, but equally how splendidly brilliant!

If your child can't read yet, then I guess they would just have a lot more interesting pictures to look at. And what a shame this wasn't out in time for Christmas!

Plate Spinning!

At an age when most kids only interest in plates is whether it can be used to tip stuff over your head, little Ethan Cain is really getting the hang of the mysterious art of plate spinning.

Not even two years old!

Plate spinning is one of those quaint pastimes like playing champagne flutes. I can't imagine it would ever hit the mainstream again, but this kid loves it. And at the end of the day, that's really the only thing that matters isn't it?

Snow shenanigans

I didn't grow up in an area where snow fell in the winter, but if I did I bet I would have done this at least once when I was growing up!

Well done lads, tuck into a well deserved hot choccy!

Boulder Boy!

This kid is a bit of a spider monkey!

I think introducing kids to climbing at a young age is a great thing. Not only does it promote strength, balance and co-ordination, but it also re-inforces the idea that reaching a target requires hard work and a lot of practice.

It's a great little sport.

Rites of Passage

As someone who once was a little boy, I get amazing fond memories from this video. It seems to be a common thread in every man's growth to have gone through certain rites of passage with your friends.

Jumping off the cliff in the river is one of those things. With your stomach churning and your brain dizzy from processing the distance down to the water, you just KNOW that it is important that you do it. Particularly with everyone watching.

So you jump.

You can't believe how fast you are dropping and all too quickly you pierce the blue waters. As quickly as you realise you are ok, the sudden wash of elation wells up in you. Pure exhilaration. And one of the greatest things about being a kid.

Gym fantastics

This is awesome.

It's no so much the great tricks this little girl does - and she does a few, she's quite a contortionist - but it is the amazing little dance bits she does in between! It is purely jaw-droppingly cute, funny and strange.

She is a worthy enfant terrible for the day.

Multi-multi-multi-lingual

This kid in India claims to speak 13 languages!

Now I'm sure his grammer might be a bit off, and he's probably just learnt certain pat-phrases to sell those wierd little peacock feather fans he has there but hats off to him bigtime.

In many ways it's also a sad perspective of this world that a kid with obvious smarts instead has to work selling trinkets to westerners to help his family survive. I hope as the Indian economy continues to boom that the little guys at the bottom like this fella and his family get to share in it, and that he can get off the streets and into a schoolroom instead.

Too young to be this good

You know I have a little theory about skateboarding.

In the same way as soccer is so popular in developing countries because it is cheap and simple to put together a game, and there are many tricks and skills to learn with the ball - I think skating is the same.

True, if you want skating to be expensive there are many companies who will sell you umpteen different t-shirts and different polymer-composite wheels to put your credit card on cryogenics... but at it's essence it is a piece of wood with wheels. If you showed it to someone who had never seen one before, at best they would consider it a clunky mode of transport.

But when you combine this kid with his board and wheels you don't have just a piece of transport. You have a piece of performance art.