You are Invited to Submit to the 2010-2011 Crayola Children's Art Exhibit for K thru 12th Grade Students

by Janis Brett Elspas

MommyBlogExpert.blogspot.com

Parents & Teachers: Don't forget to post a favorite recollection of crayons from your own childhood in the comment section below this post.  I look forward to walking with you down memory lane!

Crayola, the originators of the crayon that has been enjoyed by generations of creative kids, has announced their annual children's art exhibition. 

Pictured in this post below are Mini Mommy Blog Expert's (my tween daughter's) original water color eco-friendly and Mother's Day illustrations that appear exclusively on this blog. My daughter, BTW, is working on her next guest post right now.

According to Crayola, the 2010-2011 Crayola Dream-Makers Art Exhibition focuses on students' visual expression of what creativity means to them.  Three submissions will be chosen from each grade level and finalists will be honored by having their original artwork framed, donated to, and exhibited at regional and/or national office of the Department of Education.  Each Finalist will receive a plaque with a replica of the original artwork.  A select sample of submitted artwork and "Dream Statements" will also be exhibited at the 2011 NAEA Conference, (Seattle, Washington).

Artwork will be divided by grades K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. There is no maximum number of entrants per grade level. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of judges consisting of employees of Crayola LLC ("Sponsor") or independent judges selected by Sponsor.  The judges will review all submissions and make selections based on the following criteria: 1) Interpretation and use of the theme: "Speak up for Creativity" in the artwork 2) How the written statement describes the artwork and the interpretation of the theme 3) Visual Appeal 4) Originality 5) Age Appropriateness 6) Craftsmanship.

To participate, teachers are invited to submit their students' art work following these guidelines

• Create a “Dream Statement” to accompany each piece
  -50 words or less
  -Consider integrating words or the entire statement into artwork
• Use a variety of 2-dimensional mediums including collage
  -Encourage use of different mediums. Use creative techniques such as blowing paint,
  crosshatching, stamping or tearing.
  -See “Art techniques” on Crayola.com/educator for more ideas.
• Make pieces no larger than 16 x 20 inches
• Create individually expressive works
• Entry deadline is  December 1, 2010

More details on how to enter Crayola's Coloring Exhibition is available here and official rules may be found here.

In addition to the upcoming kids art exhibition, Crayola.com offers a variety of FREE resources for kids to get involved in art.  These include, among other things, downloadable coloring pages, art techniques, craft ideas, a section for parents, and for teachers, art lesson plans for each grade level.

Parents & Teachers:  Please post a favorite recollection of crayons from your own childhood in the comment section.  I look forward to walking with you down memory lane!

FTC Disclosure:  MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post.  See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.   

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Nature Rocks Co-Host Nationwide FREE Event - THIS Saturday, Sept. 25

by Janis Brett Elspas

MommyBlogExpert.blogspot.com

FREE Admission to All U.S. National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks on 9/25/2010

As some of you may know,  I worked in Yellowstone National Park one summer during college.  I've always been a huge fan of National Parks, the environment, and nature in general -- writing letters to the editor about protecting natural resources that have been published several times by the Los Angeles Times.  I've also penned a number of book reviews by authors such as environmentalist Ed Begley and Anna Getty on living greener at home as well reviewed various films for family audiences that celebrate nature such as Furry Vengeance. 
Arches National Park, August 2010

by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.blogspot.com

I am now passing that life-long love of all branches of the National Park system on to my kids and hubbie.  As a result of many family road trips, my kids and hubbie have already been to hundreds of National Parks with me, traveling to quite a few for repeat visits.  In fact, my four teens (triplets plus one more, all born within a year) are still talking about our huckleberry picking adventures in Montana and Idaho during Summer of 2009, as well as the roadtrip all six of us took in August of this year to Arches National Park in Utah.  Pictured above is a scene from that later family vacation.

Nature Rocks, which has really awesome programs, is a national initiative created to inspire and empower parents to enjoy quality time in nature with their families.  Today they just announced a new partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will bring new online resources to parents to get their kids more involved with the great outdoors.  To promote this, these two groups are hosting Nature Rocks Days at Fish and Wildlife Refuges across the country this Saturday, September 25, 2010, National Public Lands Day.  Incidentally, it is also Take a Child Outside Week from September 24 to 30 starting this Friday.

FREE Nature Rocks Day Events
Will Be Held at Each of These Locations

• Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge – Chincoteague, VA
• Forsythe NWR – Oceanville, NJ
• Big Stone NWR/WMD – Odessa, MN
• Wallkill River NWR – Sussex ,NJ
• Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery – Warm Springs, GA
• Wheeler NWR – Decatur, AL
• Desert National Wildlife Refuge – Las Vegas, NV
• Roma Bluffs World Birding Center – Roma, TX
• San Diego NWRC Sweetwater Marsh – Chula Vista, CA
• Coleman National Fish Hatchery – Anderson, CA
• Hassayampa River Preserve – Wickenberg, AZ
• Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve – Homer, AK
• Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute – Tucson, AZ

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's mission is to work with the public and others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.  This is the fifth national organization to partner with Nature Rocks -- a program developed by the Children & Nature Network and ecoAmerica to inspire families to play and explore in nature for healthier, happier and smarter children.  Current partners are The Nature Conservancy, REI, the American Heart Association, the American Camp Association and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  To learn more about Nature Rocks and its partners, visit their official site; also follow them on Facebook and Twitter .

Nature Rocks is just one of the many eco-friendly ways parents can see nature through your child's eyes.  Look for other good to the Earth blogposts on this blog wherever you see this MommyBlogExpert Eco-Friendly Blogpost icon.

FTC Disclosure:  MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post.  See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.  

Turn Twitter Facebook Time into Influencer Income

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter Tips for Influencers

If I had a dollar for every minute I've spent on Twitter and Facebook since signing up for those social media networks several years ago, I think I'd be a millionaire.   "Same here," you might be chiming in, right about now.  Yes, I have to admit it -- on this point my dear hubbie is right -- you have to manage your involvement on these sites very carefully because if you don't watch out, they can actually be a major time sink.

Managing Time Better

Though I've come to terms with it now, it is still quite terrifying to think about.  In my early days on those two social networks, Linkedin and a few others, promoting this blog and my PR and social media consulting business, I was spending more than 75% of my working time Tweeting and following, posting to Facebook walls, and seeking out former business associates on Linkedin.  The rest of the time on many of those same days, I was wading through an average of 300 emails daily -- which not, coincidentally -- were often related to my social network activities.

Based on a 50-hour work week which has been my norm, that means I was spending an average of 37+ hours a week -- the equivalent of 2000 hours last year alone -- JUST on social and business networking.  That left precious little to no time at all for me to either create substantial content or to follow up on the many business connections I wanted so much to cultivate.  Ironically, these two were the most important things I should have been doing a lot more of back then.

In recent months, I've wised up, though, using more of that formerly wasted "chat" time to focus on writing better content and building on existing business relationships instead.  This has magically "manufactured" time for me to write more quality content not only for my own blog MommyBlogExpert but also to write for others, including as a regular contributing columnist for two exciting consumer blogs, Zulily and Dealpop, which both launched this year.  Even better, it has freed up more energy and hours to engage in more meaningful conversations with all the contacts I've acquired, especially those I met when I was in over my head with social media.

The good news is that if I can convert my excess Twitter, Facebook, and other social network downtime into productivity, you can too.  All it takes is setting limits for yourself on how much time you will spend daily in these other social media neighborhoods.  It will be different for each person and business, obviously, but I think most everyone can reap the rewards of cutting back even just a little. 

 

As for me, I've whittled down my own time on these significantly and am currently only doing social networking a total of just 5 hours per week (about 1 hour/day on all networks combined).  The result is that I'm benefiting not only from all the physical hours I've recaptured for more in-depth blog writing but also from the higher caliber of energy I'm now able to channel into solidifying important new business relationships that will ultimately grow both this blog and my social media consulting business.

LEAVE A COMMENT Below 

How many hours per week do you now spend on all business-related social media combined? And if you think you want to increase your productivity in creating content how many of those social media hours do you think you could cut back?  

FTC Disclosure:  MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post.  See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.