Secret Diary

This fall, PBS will air a special called “Daring Kids, with Miriam Peskowitz.” You’ll see fun activities come to life, as a terrific group of kids help me short-sheet beds, make a pinata from paper mache, weave friendship bracelets, make a campfire, go fishing, and even learn to spiral-toss a football (with directions from a former college football player!)

I had such fun making the show, and I can’t wait to see it.  Best thing about it, the show will be used to help PBS raise money to keep their quality programming on the air.

I’ll post more info on the show’s dates as it becomes available, and after that, I’ll let everyone know when the  DVD of “Daring Kids, with Miriam Peskowitz” is ready. The DVD will have everything we do on the show, plus ten bonus segments.

Are you a fan of an occasional Happy Meal burger–and in this case, apple fries? Well them, head over to Burger King after August 24th. The Daring Book for Girls will be featured in its very own BK Happy Meal, along with three neat toys–a clay pot for making molds, a water-painting set, and a mirror toy for copying pictures and making them your own.

After Squid’s fantastic review of the book the other week, she plunged in and had a kool-aid hair dyeing party with seven girls (Brave woman, and awesome photos!). Kimmy Lou Who also had the kool-aid hair-dye bug, and Meredith O’Brien is taking on the challenge as well, in addition to also making a lava lamp and a decoupage bowl with her kids. Over at Zen Sarcasm, Madame Meow is planning to study the art of the Japanese tea ceremony, and challenges her readers to try something they’ve always wanted to do. Emily at Design Her Mama discovers that hula hooping is hard work, and The Full Mommy wants her daughter to learn to throw a good spiral (eventually!). At Simple Things, Mojavi suggests a “hang a spoon on your nose” challenge (and also challenges her playgroup to dye their kids’ hair red, white, and blue in a July 4th kool-aid hair dye extravaganza). Kate at Mother Words makes some awesome friendship pins, and at Noteworthy, Kyran Pittman writes a thoughtful post about daring things she did as a young daring girl (complete with a picture of her at 10, with her dad, using her very own machete) and asks her readers to share a bit about their own daring pasts.

Inspired by the star-gazing chapter in the Double-Daring Book, ExpatMama takes to the skies and challenges her readers to find (and name) three constellations. Mrs. Squirrel at Hollow Squirrel double-dog-dares her readers to try their hands at furoshiki. Mom and More asks her audience to take a shot at making a snow globe. Parenting Our Children suggests a hula-hoop competition (18 times is the number to beat there). At Chickanuts, the challenge is to name a female Nobel Prize winner from France, and the crew at Weebles Wobblog shares their very own home-made lava lamps and dares everyone else to give it a try.

Over at All Rileyed Up, Riley used the book as the basis for a mom’s night in, trying everything from hula hooping and dream analysis to playing the harmonica and playing charades. Miss O’s Library Land highlights some of her favorite topics from the book. Amy at A Family Story is using the book with her Daisy Girl Scout Troop. At BeliefNet, Their Bad Mother wonders, “If a child pees in the forest, does anybody care?” (Yes, the book explains how to pee in the woods!) At Squidalicious, Squid reviews the book and lavishes it with praise for its “good, hard, enticingly written information,” and Susan at Crunchy Granola invites her readers to reminisce about some of their favorite rainy-day games.

As May draws to a close (can it be this close to summer already?) the double-daring challenges keep rolling in. Gloria at Gloria’s Place invites readers to break out the eco-paints and brushes and paint a room. Colleen Katana, inspired by Dancing With The Stars and a chapter from Double-Daring, challenges her readers to do a waltz. The Casual Perfectionist starts a dream journal for her young daughter and dares commenters to share their own dreams. At Miss O’s Library Land, the challenge (inspired by the chapter on starting your own Mother-Daughter Book Club) is for librarians to share their best Mother-Daughter Book Club moment. And Cursing Mama makes a rock tower and challenges her readers to best her at stacking rocks. Mama Fasha also has a rock-tower-building challenge going on, with great pictures of her kids and their well-balanced rocks. At The Zen of Motherhood, it’s a hula-hooping contest; My Little Patch of Sunshine dares readers to make a decoupage bowl; and at The Spice Choir, Heather tries her hand at the ancient art of furoshiki.