Indoor Activities, the Star Wars Way!

Whether it's an Imperial takeover, First Order occupation, a Blue Shadow virus going around, or just a Kamino-style rainy day, staying indoors will not stop young Star Wars fans from loving their favourite galaxy far, far away!  

Yes of course you could read Star Wars books, play with Star Wars toys and games, dress up in costumes (be careful with those indoor lightsaber battles!) but there are also plenty of Star Wars activity books out there to help kids get creative and enjoy their indoor time!

For Young Artists:

Star Wars Doodles (Disney)  By artist Zack Giallongo!
"Younglings can draw, color, and create with all their favorite characters from the Star Wars films."

 
Star Wars Thumb Doodles (Klutz Press) "With ink art and a few quick lines, you can recreate favorite moments from the movies or from scenes never seen before...Even in a galaxy far, far away."

Draw Star Wars Rebels (Klutz Press) "A complete how-to guide packed with expert tips and easy step-by-step instructions that let kids bring these exciting new Star Wars characters to life."
 
ART2-D2's Guide to Folding and Doodling (An Origami Yoda Activity Book) (Abrams)
One of our favourite authors Tom Angleberger—with the help of the kids from McQuarrie Middle School—presents young Padawans with 75+ activities from the Star Wars universe. This is a tie-in book to the popular Origami Yoda book series.

For Young Scientists & Engineers:

Star Wars Maker Lab (DK) "With 20 amazing projects, Star Wars Maker Lab teaches your budding Padawan how to become a Master of science, in both the real world and the Star Wars galaxy."

Star Wars Science Fair Book (Scholastic) "Gear up for Science Fair season with exciting Star Wars-themed science experiments!"

Star Wars Folded Flyers (Klutz Press) "For the first time ever, you can fold Star Wars flyers that fly with the force. Star Wars Folded Flyers will speed through the living room as well as they do in outer space."

For Young Crafters & Cooks:

Star Wars Mania "Part craft book, part activity book, with over 40 projects to make in each book, the Mania series offers hours of creative fun for boys and girls of all ages!"



The Star Wars Craft Book (Del Rey) "Fans of all ages and skill levels can bring the best of the galaxy far, far away right into their own homes." 

Star Wars Make & Do (Egmont Books Ltd UK) "Plenty for young Star Wars fans to do: things to make, including a Chewbacca hand puppet, a stormtrooper helmet, and the Yoda decoder."
 
The Star Wars Cook Book: BB-ATE (Chronicle) There have been several books in the series. This one is the most recent and focuses on breakfast and brunch items. And as always, a lot of food puns. 
 
Do you have a favourite Star Wars activity book? Let us know in the comments. There's probably enough we missed to make a part 2 to this. Maybe 3!

Review: Star Wars Cookie Decoration Kit

This Halloween I spotted a Star Wars cookie decorating kit from Leese Enterprises for sale among the treats available. It has nothing to do with Halloween but with only black, orange and white colored icing inside (the character cookies are a First Order Stormtrooper helmet and BB-8) presumably it seemed to be just Halloween-y enough to be a part of that display. 

That part didn’t matter to us, but the fact that it was 75% off the day AFTER Halloween was pretty awesome though!

With our very cheap, not-particularly-Halloweeny, cookie decoration kit we were ready to have some Star Warsy fun and enjoy some cookies. Here’s how it went…

 

There were eight shaped sugar cookies inside the box, a white icing pack, two icing tubes for details (black and orange), and for some reason a bag of rainbow candy balls.

Anyway, I haven’t decorated cookies in a long time but I make much of my living as an illustrator. I pride myself and depend on my artistic abilities. How hard could it be to work with icing? I was so naïve…

Another step or two would've been VERY helpful!

The first thing you notice in the box is the cookies have the character details etched right in so you can easily follow the pattern. That’s a really nice touch because without that all hope may be lost.

Next you realize laughably tiny amount of supplied white icing for eight cookies that – to match the box – each take up a lot of white icing. 

Not much left after just 2 cookies!

This kit is marked ages 3+ and even I was having a hard time squeezing the black and orange icing out of the “Icing Writer” in any kind of controlled way. There’s no way my 4 ½ year-old daughter would have the hand strength to make a design, let alone a continuous line. How you’re supposed to fill in the gaps I don’t know.

The white icing is too thick to come out in any fluid way either so making a slick looking BB-8 was not easy. Seriously, toothpaste would be easier to work with!

I think they turned out looking reasonably good. Due to the difficulty of squeezing the icing I did do most of - almost all - the work myself so as far as a “together” activity, this was pretty weak. 

Leese Enterprises made a Millennium Falcon kit at Christmas (akin to a gingerbread house) and that was much easier for us to do together AND it came with more than enough icing to make it look like the box photos.

We skipped the white icing for these ones.

But with any cookie, it really comes down to enjoying eating them. I must admit these cookies were really tasty! My daughter licked her BB-8 almost entirely clean before eating the cookie. When it came to the Stormtrooper she had black icing all over her face and hands. Her hands looked as blackened as a mechanic’s by the time her cookie was gone!

This used to be BB-8

I’m glad we didn’t pay full price for this kit because the frustrations were much more entertaining with only a few dollars spent. She got to enjoy watching me do all the work but we both enjoyed recreating AND eating these characters in cookie form.  

More importantly we found another way to enjoy Star Wars together! 

Troopers can take a few licks too!

Funny 1999 KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell Commercial - Episode One

Kellogg's C-3PO's Cereal: A New Force at Breakfast

Did you know that there once was a Star Wars breakfast cereal? Yep, Kellogg's C-3PO's were "a new Force at breakfast!" back in 1984.

I don't remember loving the taste but it sure was fun to have. They probably tasted something like Alpha-Bits or Honey Combs. Why they are "double O's" I can't explain though. They must have been ok because I think I we had them a few times.

I remember clearly a Luke Skywalker mask you could cut out from the back, if you wanted a flat cardboard painting of Luke on your face.

Much later there were also apparently Episode II and Episode III tie-in cereals for a short time, but I don't remember seeing those. In Canada we get most things but don't always get everything released in the US.

Here's a commercial that ran on Saturday mornings...