Balance and Motion show coming up

I'm going to do a Balance and Motion show for my daughter's 2nd grade class. The 2nd grade curriculum includes a unit on Balance and Motion, which is what inspired this show in the first place...my son's teacher asked me to do a piece about this a few years back, and then I took the show to some other schools.

All juggling shows use balance or motion in some fashion, so the props make a fun way to demonstrate some of the principles that the unit covers, like counterbalancing, forces, gravity, spin and roll, and an axis.

Learning to use a devil stick, for example, is all about balance. You allow the stick to fall to one side of the control stick, then tap it above the centerline to throw it to the other stick. You start a propellor trick by catching it below the centerline and following it as it rotates.

Blue & Gold Banquet

I'm juggling for the Pack 90 cub scouts this February 28, at their Blue & Gold Banquet.

Answering questions about juggling, in a classroom

Last week I went to spend the day at my kids' school. I visited several different classes, and mostly did basic school volunteer things, as part of a dad involvement program called Dads of Great Students (D.O.G.S.).

One of the teachers had me bring some juggling equipment and answer questions about juggling. It was a lot of fun. These were second graders. The teacher said she was trying to show the kids that you can grow up and get a job and still do interesting things too. :)

It's hard to remember any of the specific questions they had, but I tried to show them that juggling involves breaking motions down into small, easy-to-master movements.

Oh and there's this thing school-ages kids always seem to do, where they raise a hand to ask a question? But it's not really a question? Because they just want to tell you something? Something that they thought was cool? I think that's hilarious...except when you're in the middle of a question-and-answer session. :)

Quick, easy homemade juggling beanbags

I actually tried this method out for myself this weekend for the first time, in preparation for leading a bunch of cub scouts through this craft. It's really fast and easy, and makes beanbags that are excellent for juggling.

I first saw this via the Texas Juggling Society's booth at the recent Maker Faire here in Austin. I looked for other writeups on the net, but didn't see any that used the bottle trick I'll be describing below. A variant method using a plastic bag is here.

All you need are some balloons (9" or 10" round are good), an empty plastic soda/water bottle, some birdseed, sand or rice for filler, a funnel, and a measuring cup.

I used these specs: 1/3 cup birdseed per beanbag, and 9" balloons.

Steps:

Cut half the neck off one balloon.
Use funnel to put 1/3 cup of your filler in the plastic bottle.
Stretch the balloon's neck over the rim of the bottle.
Invert the bottle to let the filler slide to the bottom.
Squeeze the bottle to force the filler into the balloon.
Pull the balloon off the bottle.
Cut all of the neck off of a second balloon.
Stretch the opening and wrap the 2nd balloon around the first. It's not hard to do. Make sure the opening of the 2nd ballon is away from the opening of the first, so that tension will hold the filler trapped inside.
Repeat with a third balloon for strength and durability.

You can make a set of 3 balls in about 10 to 15 minutes this way.

Benefit show coming

Looks like I'll probably do a benefit show in February, opening for Joe McDermott, who has a musical act for kids and who lives in our neighborhood. Maybe. Nothing confirmed yet. Pretty exciting, though. Joe's audiences are always great.

I don't do a lot of benefit shows. I'd rather be paid, generally speaking. But this one's for my kids' school trip. I also do the school's fall festival every year. And if you've never been to a Joe McDermott show...well, you should go. He's a lot of fun. Everyone in our family sings his songs. He typically mixes a variety of musical styles into his albums, so there's a lot of musical and lyrical interest for adults as well as kids.

Spinning plates at a wedding

Well, things at the wedding weren't quite what I expected. It was outdoors and there was a lot of wind...not ideal conditions for my act, which depends heavily on verbal patter. And most of the time it didn't seem appropriate to start up any juggling. But during a lull in the reception, I did get some items out, especially the spinning plates. My son Ethan actually started us off with some plate spinning; he's getting good at it. I was able to let several kids try it out, and do a few tricks myself, before we all went inside for the toasts.

I expect I'll get a wireless microphone set at some point. It's nice to not worry about speakers and wires and sound systems, but it's limiting in a lot of venues. It's nearly impossible to be heard in a windy outdoor environment without amplification.

Make high-quality homemade juggling clubs

The Texas Juggling Society had a booth at the Maker Faire this past weekend, showing homemade juggling props. Among these were examples of Green Clubs, which are clubs made mostly from recycled materials. Homemade clubs can do a lot to lower the bar to entry for aspiring club jugglers, as you can easily pay $30 per club if you buy professional-style clubs.

The Green Club design has a lot going for it:

• It's freely available
• The design has been refined over time
• It costs only about $2 for the parts you have to buy
• The construction methods have been refined. For example, the process includes cutting a tennis ball in half. I've heard lots of stories about people hurting themselves trying to cut tennis balls. This procedure includes instructions for how to mark and cut the balls accurately.

When you're done, you don't have a crappy-looking homemade club. You have a nice looking club with professional features:

• Padded bell for drops
• An air space in the handle to cushion catches
• Sized to match commercial clubs

If you're interested in juggling clubs, and feel at all crafty, give this article a look.