In connection with Netflix "The Last Kids on Earth" Season 3, my son and I interviewed Garland Whitt, who voices Quint Baker, abou...

In connection with Netflix "The Last Kids on Earth" Season 3, my son and I interviewed Garland Whitt, who voices Quint Baker, about why he likes voicing this character, any changes in LKOE Season 3 and what he'd do as the last kid on earth.

Garland was a fun interview and we really enjoyed talk with hm. Read on to find out what he shared.

What do you like about voicing Quint Baker in "The Last Kids on Earth"?

Garland Whitt: The think that I love about Quinn is that that...I am very much Quinn. As I got older, I got more sophisticated or whatever, but I really relate to him. When I was a kid one of the main things I wanted to be was a scientist. I would always try to invent things, put stuff together to see how they worked and take things apart. So I can really relate to that.

What is your favorite "The Last Kids on Earth" episode and why?

Garland Whitt: There's two. There was one episode where the monster would shoot quills from it's eyelashes and when you get hit, it would make you cry. So me (voicing Quint) and Jack (voiced by Nick Wolfhard) were crying so hard that we can't even see.

I love this episode because it was just fun to do. You know to cry and just keep it going.

Garland Whitt: And Nick, who voices Jack, he had a lot of fun also. The great things about this peculiar job is a lot times when you do voice over, you kinda do your part, you leave and then someone else does their part. So you don't get a chance to see each other.

So when they did this, what they did was a connection so all together, so we got to see each other. And it was really really fun.


Garland Whitt: I have to say my other episode, more solidly so, is with Dirk, Quint and Jack. This while time Jack has been looking for June Del Toro (voiced by Montserrat Hernandez) and we finally find her in the school.

First of all, the whole school sequence, it would never occur to me to get into a mop bucket and try to race my friends down the hallway. So stuff like that.

Garland Whitt: One of my favorite monsters is actually in that episode. You know that big zombie ball? That's like my favorite monster and I think that scariest. Especially when it rolls through that stairs. And we're like "it can't go upstairs" and then it starts walking!

I think I like that episodes because it's one of the first times, you see them all together. But even more so, I like the fact that June could totally take care of herself. And her deciding to join was based on the fact that "I am lonely, you guys are kinda cool". I just like that strength.

So it encompasses a lot things in that episodes. The togetherness, our relationships, the strength. That's why it's another favorite episode.

Is there any changes in your character "Quint" in Season 3 "The Last Kids on Earth"?

Garland Whitt: No but there is like this plot twist, that actually surprised us when we read it. I'm trying to find a way to dance around it. There's an very interesting development. Lets put it that way. But it involves all of us, not just Quint.

We love that the show had diverse characters. How important is it to have minority characters is such a popular series?

Garland Whitt: I think it's absolutely, positively, 100 percent essential important. And I say that first from my personal experience, because I remember growing up watching Tv. I can honestly say I never really saw representations of myself. Overtime I've learned to make the switch, like there's a pilot and he's really cool, I could learn to be a pilot too.

But to actually see? I think an example of that is when I saw Morgan Freeman play the president of the United States.

Garland Whitt: So any time you get a chance to watch entertainment, or listen to music or anything and you see something different out of the norm, it expands your mind and actually who you are.

So I think it's very important in all aspects of watch we watch, entertainment etc, to just reflect society. So if you can see it and believe it, it can happened, no matter what it is.

If you were the last kid on earth, how would you survive ?

Garland Whitt: First of all, I love to cook. So I'd find the biggest, best kitchen and I would move in. I would definitely get a motorcycle. I'd get a really cool motorcycle. Definitely.

I think I would just build stuff. Like really cool stuff. And just travel around. I love to travel. So go to the beach. Maybe get a boat. Learn how to sail it.

You aren't fighting any zombies??

Garland Whitt: Oh the zombies! It's funny because in my perfect world the zombie don't exist. They're over there somewhere. But if I had to guess, zombie hunting would become a way of life. It would be like "Walking Dead", like Michonne she has her sword. And I'd hook that up every now and then.

Thankfully we don't have to fight any zombies (yet) so we can get ready to watch the third season of Emmy-award winning animated series, The Last Kids on Earth on Netflix.


SYNOPSIS

Produced by Vancouver-based Atomic Cartoons for Netflix, Season 3 of Last Kids continues the journey of 13-year-old Jack Sullivan living in a mind-clobberingly cool tree fort with his best friends during a zombie apocalypse.

In Season 3, they discover they may not be the last kids on earth after all. This is great news for everyone …except Jack, who hopes to keep things the way they are and prove that everything is perfect - and crazy fun.

One problem: it’s hard convincing his friends that everything is great when they’re being hunted by a monstrous Nightmare King and an ancient evil who won’t rest until Earth has been devoured.

Season 3 will also see the return of a star-studded cast including Catherine O’Hara, Mark Hamill, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Campbell, and Nick Wolfhard who voices the main character, 13-year-old Jack Sullivan. It will premiere on Netflix on Friday, October 16th.

To learn more, visit - www.netflix.com/title/80219119

Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheLastKidsonEarth
Twitter - www.twitter.com/lastkidsonearth
Instagram - www.instagram.com/thelastkidsonearth

During this school year, families and educators are looking for options to help their child keep up with educational goals. One of the brand...

During this school year, families and educators are looking for options to help their child keep up with educational goals. One of the brands providing resources to help kids learn in a fun way is LEGO® Education.

Note: This post is in partnership with LEGO® Education. However, any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

While LEGO® Education had resources online for a while now, this year they've released new resources and lesson plans to ensure playful, hands-on STEAM learning experiences can easily be adapted.

To learn more, LEGO® Education invited my son and I to a SPIKE™ Prime demo for the new unit, "Training Trackers", which helps teach middle school core science and math concepts.

Our demo was led by LEGO Education’s Dr. Jenny Nash, who walked us through how to code our “Yoga Ring" and use the graphic info in different ways to teach math lessons.

Ironically, an added benefit of the “Yoga Ring" is that my son actually got a stretch workout. HA! While stretching was fun, it also provided a way to track and measure his movements.

For my son, it enhanced the learning lesson since he built the structure beforehand, then coded it and then interacted with it. It wasn't just about reading the lesson online.

It was great to see how the SPIKE Prime Science and Math Units can be used to teach concepts and lessons in a fun way.

Of course now my son wants to build and learn the other SPIKE Prime lesson units.


With personally relevant and engaging lessons, the new unit will support in-person, virtual, and hybrid learning with a focus on core subjects to complete the robust STEAM curriculum designed for SPIKE Prime.

Featuring seven lessons, the unit is focused on physical science and data – complete with new coding blocks to better collect and visualize sensor data. Taking hands-on learning a step further, students will learn about kinetic energy, speed, potential energy, and more as they stretch, walk, and squat jump to collect data in real-time and then analyze and interpret it.

To support hybrid learning, each lesson plan identifies which of the five learning stages can be completed asynchronously or in person.

With these free online resources, teachers and parents can continue STEAM learning in a hands-on way whether in person, online, or a mix of both.

The new SPIKE Prime Training Trackers unit will automatically download to the SPIKE App in a new software update.

To learn more, visit - www.LEGOeducation.com/lessons

Family game night is usually about having fun while rolling dice and flipping cards. But it can also be a chance to sneak in fun and educati...

Family game night is usually about having fun while rolling dice and flipping cards. But it can also be a chance to sneak in fun and educational learning.

Note: I received product samples for review purpose. Any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

To help me do this, I received a few AMIGO Games for review and used them to "play games" with my son and other kids.

The games I received included:

• Eye Sea: The Creative Thinking Game - Players flip over nine cards, then combine any two to create a saying, phrase, movie title, word, song lyric, slogan...any well-recognized combination of words.


• Connect the Thoughts: Matching and Thinking – Starts as a matching game and ends as a thinking game as players collect cards that connect. Each player places one card face up, then races to find other cards with a matching image.


• Fruit Punch: Spot Five and Bop the Banana - Players inspect the cards as they’re flipped to find five of the same fruit, then race to squeak the banana.

I thought the games were a great fit, since they were both interactive and appropriate "thinking" challenges for the kids. The kids loved playing because they had to "think" in different ways to figure out each game.

They would get so excited when they "matched" items on the cards or "link" photos together to make a word or statement.


While gaming can be competitive, with these AMIGO Games the kids ended up helping each other figure things out and were excited to play more then once. So family game night went longer then usual, since the kids didn't want to to stop.

So if your looking for games to add to your family collection, get a few AMIGO Games since they have a fantastic collection of family, kids, and strategy games.

Many of which have 5 Rules or Less. They’re easy to learn and fun for families to play with their kids.

To learn more, visit - www.amigo.games

Tis the season for Halloween. A fact I was reminded of when I received a very spooky #HubieHalloween package from Netflix this week. Not...

Tis the season for Halloween. A fact I was reminded of when I received a very spooky #HubieHalloween package from Netflix this week.

Note: This post is in partnership with Netflix. Any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

My #HubieHalloween package arrived filled with Halloween themed items and an invite for me to be a "good helper" during the release of Hubie Halloween on Netflix.

Clearly I'm failing as a Halloween helper because I don't even have my pumpkin yet! Thankfully besides the carving tools, in my box there's a smartphone projector, a flash light, stencils and activity sheets. So I can use those to have some safe spooky fun at home.

Then it was time to watch Hubie Halloween. So how was it? Well......

At first it started out kinda silly and with potty humor. There's also some "cussing", name calling and bullying. I wasn't sure about it, but my tween son thought it was funny so far, so I kept watching.

I'm glad I did because the storyline did get better. I was soon cheering Hubie along as he started to solve the Halloween mystery happening in his town.

It was great to see so many comedians included in Hubie Halloween. They each brought something hilarious to their character and the twist ending honestly was a surprise to me. I confess I had fun trying to figure out the mystery along with Hubie.

So in the end, despite how it starts out, families can enjoy Hubie Halloween during this Halloween season.

If Hubie Halloween is your kind of film, then you'll also enjoy these activities.

Hubie Halloween Activites

Virtually explore Salem, Massachusetts by visiting the Hubie Halloween Official Website: www.HubieHalloween.Movie

On the site, you can visit the Salem Drive-In, WTCH Radio Station, Mrs. Dubois' Thrift Shop, Halloween HQ where you can access free printables for an at-home watch party, plus other spooky activities. Keep an eye out for movie-themed Easter Eggs throughout the town!

HUBIE HALLOWEEN – Now on Netflix

Hubie Halloween starring Adam Sandler | Official Trailer | Netflix

SYNOPSIS

Hubie Halloween is a hilarious family film about an unlikely hero. Rated PG-13

Hubie Dubois (Adam Sandler) thanklessly spends every Halloween making sure the residents of his hometown, Salem, celebrate safely and play by the rules. But this year, an escaped criminal and a mysterious new neighbor have Hubie on high alert.

When people start disappearing, it’s up to Hubie to convince the police (Kevin James, Kenan Thompson) and townsfolk that the monsters are real, and only he can stop them.

CAST: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Ray Liotta, Rob Schneider, June Squibb, Kenan Thompson, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Chiklis, Tim Meadows, Karan Brar, George Wallace, Noah Schnapp, Paris Berelc, China Anne McClain, with Steve Buscemi and Maya Rudolph.

Directed by Steven Brill
Written by Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
Produced by Adam Sandler, Kevin Grady, Allen Covert

Earlier this year, we were invited to join a live class during Ailey Extension's Sunday Dance Series. photo credit: Hip-Hop 4 Kids. Ph...

Earlier this year, we were invited to join a live class during Ailey Extension's Sunday Dance Series.

Note: I received free classes for the purpose of the review. Any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

I was scheduled for something else, so I sent a guest writer and her two children in my place. They had such an amazing time.

Anjanette (the mom) took the Lastics® Stretch Technique class, while her daughters Chakori (7) took Hip Hop Moves and Cynara (13) took Beginner Teen Hip Hop.

Anjanette described their experience as

"Both classes were great. They showed them all the choreography first and then put the music on so they can do the whole team together. The instructors were patient and repeated the steps if necessary until they got it right.

I enjoyed the Lastics Stretch Technique class, the instructed talked us through each step and I learned a lot. We would definitely take the classes again."

After hearing about Anjanette and her daughters experience, I was looking forward to going with my son. But then the pandemic happened.

While we can't attend a live dance class now, we can join in online! Would you like to take a Ailey Extension class?

Ailey Extension's Kids & Teens Online Series

Ailey Extension has launched Ailey Extension Online, reinventing the way they reach students.
Open to children of all genders and experience levels, Ailey Extension’s Kids & Teens Online Series is designed to help children keep moving and learn the healthy habit of exercising at an early age.

Session I: September 15- October 25
Session II: November 1 – December 13

This 6-week virtual session offers movement classes for children as young as 3 years old; hip-hop, ballet, and Horton classes for school-age kids; as well as ballet and hip-hop classes for teenagers. No prior dance experience is required.

Instructors help students practice the fundamentals of each technique while developing coordination and having fun!

The Fall/Winter 2020 Kids & Teens Online Series schedule is as follows:

Classes for Kids (Ages 3-9)

• Creative Movement with Jessica Whalen (Ages 3-4) | Sundays, 9am-9:45amEDT 
• Intro to Hip-Hop with Erin Finley (Ages 5-7) | Sundays, 9am-9:45amEDT 
• Intro to Ballet with Therese Wendler (Ages 5-6) |Sundays, 10am-10:45amEDT 
• Hip-Hop 4 Kids with Keith Alexander (Ages 8-9) | Sundays, 10am-10:45amEDT 
• Ballet for Kids with Therese Wendler (Ages 7-9) | Sundays, 11am-11:45amEDT

Junior Classes (Ages 10-12)

• Junior Ballet with Linda Celeste Sims | Saturdays, 12pm-1pmEDT
• Junior Horton Technique with Karen Arceneaux | Saturdays, 1:30pm-2:30pmEDT
• Junior Hip-Hop with Keith Alexander | Sundays, 11am-11:45amEDT
• Extended Junior Ballet with Dawn Hillen | Tuesday & Thursdays, 4:30pm -5:30pmEDT

Classes for Teens (Ages 13-17)

• Teen Ballet with Linda Celeste Sims | Sundays, 12pm-1pmEDT 
• Teen Hip-Hop with Keith Alexander | Sundays, 1pm-2pmEDT

These virtual classes have been enjoyed by over 21,000 people of all ages from over 70 countries, magnifying Ailey Extension’s mission to make dance accessible to all people in a welcoming, non-competitive environment.

For more information and to register, visit www.aileyextension.com