Playful Pancakes on TV News

I have been taking a sortof big break from the blog, and now I am doing it again. But I have not stopped the Playful Pancake business. Now I have helpers in Utah (my cowboy cousins and their friends) making more pancakes, and we just sold out again!

Back in June, Patricia Parker came here from England. She is in charge of Kids for Kids, who buys the goats for the villagers in Darfur. When she was here we were on the news. They did the interview at Soft Star Shoes, where I get the scraps to make the Playful Pancakes. The interviewer and the photographer were really nice.

If you want to see the show that was on the news, click on this link.

The Price Has Gone Up!

Playful Pancakes now cost $30 because that is the cost of a goat for villagers in Darfur. They are more expensive now because things are costing more in Darfur because it is dangerous there now so it is harder to get things.

You might think "hey, there is no way I am paying $30 for a cat toy" but if you go buy a cat toy from the pet store even though it will only cost a few dollars it will not help save lives. And cats really do love Playful Pancakes. You can think of it that if $30 seems like a lot to you, just imagine if you lived in a village in Darfur and you had no money and no way of getting any. Then $30 would seem like $30,000 and you would never be able to get a goat.

Here is where you can buy a Playful Pancake made by me and my friends.

Notes for Goats!

Please come to the big benefit concert this Saturday - Notes for Goats!

It's from 12-2pm on Saturday, June 2nd at 1st Presbyterian in Corvallis (at 8th and Monroe).

There will be African Drummers/Dancers, Jazz musicians, and lots more. We are doing a big big raffle with lots of prizes. My friends and I are doing a play, and Patricia Parker will speak, and so will the Mayor.

It's $8 for adults and $5 for children/students/seniors. You can buy tickets at Grass Roots in Corvallis, or at the door. Come early, doors open at 11:15am, to get your tickets and to do the raffle. ALL the money will go to KIDS FOR KIDS to help villagers in Darfur!

Thank You Glo!

Thank you Glo for giving me the embroidery floss and the basket.

Welcome to Oregon Patricia and Alastair!

This is the welcome to Oregon sign and my dad did something silly - he changed it in photoshop.

There's going to be a big play that I'm putting on called The Millionaire Miser. So far Leo, Meaghan, Morgan, Caelin, me, and Jack are going to be in it. It's going to be in the beginning of June.

The play is going to be part of a bigger thing which is a benefit show for Kids for Kids that is for Patricia Parker being here in Oregon! Some grownups are helping plan the benefit concert, like Julie and Beth and my dad.

Patricia is coming here all the way from England to visit me and my friends and to tell lots of people in the United States about Kids for Kids and the poor children in Sudan. Patricia is in charge of Kids for Kids and she has been to Sudan. Alastair is coming too - he is one of Kids for Kids' big helpers and he has been to Sudan too.

I hope when Patricia comes here she feels welcome and that people don't ignore what she says about the kids in Darfur. She will be here from May 29 - June 3. If you want her to come talk to your school or something you can email me at playfulpancakes@yahoo.com and I will tell her.

She will also be in California going down the coast, so if you live there, and you want her to visit your school or group you can also email about that.

Now I have been making these Playful Pancakes for a year and selling them to buy goats for kids in Sudan. And I have gotten lots of help from other kids to make them because it is too many to make by myself and plus it is fun so kids like to help. They have catnip inside and a furry tail for the cat to grab onto and throw it around.

We have pictures of almost all of them that have ever been made and they are all different and all have their own name. The pictures are in a photo gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/PlayfulPancakes/PlayfulPancakes.

There are 110 of them right now. But there are some that we don't have pictures for, like Big lips, Big nose, coby,jack o lantern, kangaroo, kk, loo croow, one eye, and star. And probably more that I forgot to write down. If you have one that doesn't have a picture, will you please take a picture of it and email it to me. Thank you.

Here are a couple of examples:

More New Helpers!

I used to be backordered on Playful Pancakes - I needed 19. Now I have 19 and extra because of my newest helpers who are a group of 11-year-old girls from the LDS church. They invited me to their Friendship Around the World activity day and I showed them how to make Playful Pancakes and they made a lot. Also I got to make a bracelet and I think it looks quite pretty.

So thank you to the girls who helped me make a lot of Playful Pancakes today. Just remember, each Pancake equals one goat for a kid in Sudan, and that is a big deal because then the kids can live.

Here are the names of the ones we made today:

Mr. Whiskers

Rounder

Sabrina

Howl

Zebra

Princess

Richard

moon-star

Tesoro

your highness

Charlie Brown

Count Cat-u-la

Stella

Cat in a Box

Muffin

Payton

Cuddle Bear

Charles

Some new Playful Pancake makers

This is Jenna and Anya. I taught them how to make Playful Pancakes and they did a good job.

We made them at the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center - I love that place. Jenna's little brother Alan played with my little brother Jack in the playroom while we worked.

Here is what we made:

OM

pincky

pointy

eyelashy

PR

moony

The Auction

Last night was a fundraiser for Philomath Montessori School. They had a silent auction and then a live auction. At the live auction I had given them a Playful Pancake to sell and the auctioneer sold it right away. So then he said "who else wants to buy one of these and help kids in sudan and help the philomath Montessori school?" And people kept saying "me, me, me" and so 10 of them were sold. So half of the money will go to buy 5 goats for kids in Sudan and the other half will go to the school.

It is good to help raise money for that school. I really like it - the teachers Doni, Pauline and Leslie are nice. I don't go there any more because I am too old. Now I go to Corvallis Montessori because they have elementary but Philomath Montessor just has primary. Now my little brother Jack goes there.

That school is important to the Kids for Kids project because it's the reason I picked Sudan for a place to help people. I was still going to Philomath Montessori when I learned that people around the world had bad lifes and Sudan was one of the places. I had just done the Africa map at school and when I heard Sudan as a place where I could help people, I said "Hey, I know where Sudan is - it's in Africa." So I chose to help kids in Sudan. And at group time I told everyone about the bad things in Sudan and Doni and Pauline were the first ones to give some money to help. I wanted to send money to help because my mom wouldn't let me fly over there.

Custom-made Pancakes for an Eye Doctor

An eye doctor in California ordered 2 pancakes, so here is what I made!

This is "glassey".

And this is "patch"

What Patricia Parker Said

Patricia Parker gave a speech at the Christmas Concert in London and said some important things.

First she said that instead of just standing here and watching all the terrible things happen in Sudan, you should tell someone in the government to tell the President to use some of our country's power to stop the terrible things.

Also she said tell your friends about Kids for Kids! And try to tell newspaper people to write about it.

Then Patricia told everyone good news. Things Kids for Kids did last year with the about $500,000 raised, and here are some of them.

trained midwives, veterinarians and health care people

vaccinated 5,317 goats to keep them healthy

21 villages have donkey ambulances, 10 donkey ploughs, a rope, spade, pickaxes, hoes, and seeds

two tree nursuries and a boabab project with 300,000 seedlings

putting in 30 water handpumps

blackboards and schoolbooks

573 families have a new donkey

650 billies and 3,610 nanny goats for families

Funny Face Helpers

This is Jenna and Alan. This is from when they were putting up Playful Pancake flyers all around town. They did it before the holidays to try to get some people to buy them as presents. I think it worked because we sold a lot of Playful Pancakes. I used to go to school with Jenna and now she goes to school with my little brother.

It makes me feel proud that they would do this to help kids in Sudan.

Me going to London

My Nana and I with some Beefeaters at the Tower of London

I haven't done a blog entry for awhile because I had been in London. I went to London because of my cat-toy business. Patricia Parker invited me to be a part of the Christmas Concert for Kids for Kids, which is a fundraiser and also a celebration. I went and I got to spend one week there doing fun things.

At the Christmas Concert I was interviewed by Alastair Stewart so people could learn about my cat-toy business. He is a news reporter for the show "London Tonight". He was nice and we got to talk about horses before the interview. Also I got to light the Candle of Peace near the beginning of the concert.

Lighting the Candle of Peace - that's Alastair Stewart behind me and the choirs

At the concert some famous people did readings, like Prunella Scales, Lord Carrington, and Lord Cope (he was super nice). There was music too by 3 choirs and some fanfare trumpeters. Also Patricia Parker did a long speech about Kids for Kids and all the things Kids for Kids has done for children in Sudan. It made me feel good and proud to hear all that. The next time I write in my blog I will tell all about what she said.

Fanfare trumpeters in the balcony

I did a lot of other stuff on my trip, but I spent the most time at the British Museum. They had backpacks with activities that were fun. I got to learn about mummies, Egypt, Southeast Asia, archaeology, and lots of other things.

This activity was to try to sit like the Buddha statue.

If you know what a garderobe is, don't worry - I wasn't really using it!!!

I got to spend the day with Patricia Parker. It was good to spend a day with someone that I'd never really seen before but I knew by emailing back and forth. I liked the pictures of the children in Sudan that she showed me because I like kids and then I could imagine what it would be like in Sudan. When she told the story about how she was kidnapped by rebels and then drew sketches of them and they let her go, it made me feel safe like she could protect herself. Maybe someday Patricia can be in a book about heros like we have at school. I want to be like Patricia when I'm bigger.

Me with Patricia Parker, giving her a check for 33 more goats

A Perfect Gift for Cat Lovers, that Helps Kids in Sudan!

If you are looking for a good gift, here’s where you’ll find it: Playful Pancakes – Buy a Cat Toy, Save a Life.

Playful Pancakes are cat toys hand made by kids out of leather scraps that were going to be thrown away. Each one costs $21 which is donated to Kids for Kids to buy one goat for starving kids in Sudan.

I’ve raised enough so far to buy over 100 goats, and now my goal is 3000 so please help.

You can buy a Playful Pancake from here or go to Soft Star Shoes website http://www.softstarshoes.com/ or to their store on 2nd Street in Corvallis to buy them.

Please tell a lot of people about this really good gift idea.

This is a really good idea for someone who you can't figure out what to get them!

Making a Playful Pancake - Cutie

First I go to Soft Star Shoes and look through the leather that is left over from making shoes. I find the ones that are big enough for a circle and sometimes I get littler ones for the faces. I also get pieces of fur scraps to use for the tails.

Then a grown-up uses the leather clicker machine to cut out circles because the machine is dangerous for kids.

Next we choose one leather and one suede circle for each pancake. The one I'm showing has a red leather back and yellowish suede face. Then we put catnip and fluff in the middle. The fluff is from the fur - little bits come off when it is cut for shoe linings.

leather circle with catnip and fluff and glue around the edge

Then we glue the leather and suede circles together with the filling inside, and then we pick a furry tail and glue it on too. We hold it together with clips until the glue dries.

filled with tail attached, drying

After the glue dries, a grown-up punches the holes around the edges of the leather, but not the edges of the tail.

punching the holes - it's too hard for kids

We pick some embroidery floss by what looks good and then we sew the edges of the pancake together. Most of the floss came from my great-grandma, Grammy - my grandma found it in her things after she died and gave it to me. Also Leah from Soft Star Shoes bought me some more at a thrift store.

sewing the edges together

Next comes my favorite part, making the faces! When I get the scraps from Soft Star Shoes, they also give me little leather shapes like moons, stars, hearts. Plus, DeAnn from Soft Star Shoes made me some special little pieces shaped like ovals with stars in the middle, for eyes.

picking the pieces to make the face

I glue the pieces onto the blank pancake and that turns it into a faced pancake.

making the tag

The very last step is making the tag and tying it onto the pancake. None of the names are alike. You pick a name after the Playful Pancake is finished, so the name fits it.

cutie is finished!

Even though it is a lot of work, I choose to do it because I like to help people. It is a lot easier for us here to make Playful Pancakes than it is for a child in Sudan to do most anything. And when we make these we have fun, but the kids in Sudan aren't having a fun time at all, especially the ones who walk all day just to get water.

The exciting news

Me, Angelica, Morgan, Meaghan at our Craft Fair Table

I sold Playful Pancakes at the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo Holiday Craft Fair last Saturday and Sunday with some of my friends - Angelica, Malia, Meaghan, and Morgan. I have known Angelica, Meaghan, and Morgan for a really long time, since I was 3 1/2 years old so they are old friends, and we are still friends even though none of them go to my school anymore. I have known Malia for about 1 year, so she is a medium-new friend, and she is in my class at school.

We sold 9 there, which means 9 more goats for kids in Sudan. All together I've raised enough for 107 goats!

Me and Malia (in front) after this nice lady bought the Pancake that equalled the 100th goat! We were very happy about that!

And I have other super exciting news but it will be a surprise for later.

What do I mean by "Buy a Cat Toy, Save a Life"?

This is two true stories.

Once upon a time there was a family in Oregon who decided to buy a Playful Pancake cat toy instead of going out to dinner. And when they bought the cat toy, they got one goat for a kid in Sudan instead of eating at a restaurant and they made dinner for themselves and that bought one goat.

And another time there was a very sick kid in Darfur (which is in Sudan, in Africa) and her family's only way to save her life was to get her medicine. How in the world would they be able to get the medicine because they were so poor. A goat to the rescue! Luckily they had goats from Kids for Kids, which is the charity I give money to. They took the goat to the market and sold it and got money to buy the medicine. That saved her life.

Goats are so important to people in Sudan because they can save lives in many ways, like getting money for emergencies, and making milk for healthy kids.

And you can help by buying a goat by buying one of my cat toys. That's why I say "Buy a Cat Toy, Save a Life!"

Where is "blue-footed booby"?

"Blue-footed booby" is named after the bird that lives in the Galapagos Islands.

He was bought by Dianne of Thousand Oaks, California.

Here is a picture of Dianne with "blue-footed booby" at her rehearsal - she is a violinist in the Santa Barbara Symphony.

We Made 20 New Pancakes!

Over the weekend some friends came to help me make Playful Pancakes to get ready for a table at the Philomath Frolic & Rodeo Holiday Craft Fair which is November 4th and 5th. Everyone made 5 each, so that's 20 total! We took a lot of breaks to play.

Angelica, Meaghan, Malia, and me

Here's the names of what we made:

Cassidy: he he, King Tut, ping, good, Mozart

Mozart

Angelica: squirly, zecoe, alian dood, Queen Star, spify

Angelica with her 5 Playful Pancakes

Meaghan: Goldfacey, king star, smokey, Goldeyed, enormous nose

Malia: crazy, christmas, raccoon, sky, ten eyes

Malia and Meaghan cleaning "crazy"

Where is "Muse"?

Muse was bought by Mrs. Basolo, a teacher at St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, California. She uses Muse as a hall pass. Here is a picture of her with a student, Nathan, and Muse.

Thank You Party

Yesterday I had a party to thank people who helped me with my cat toy business. Not everybody could come, but I saved those people cake.

I designed a game and what you do is you take the tail and you try and tape it onto the cat toy, which is the purple round thing on the tree. (There's another game that isn't in any of the pictures. It's a little-kid game. I made an old man that was very very very old, and he lost his beard, so you need to give him back his beard by pinning it on his chin.) This is my friend Malia with the blindfold on, next to my friend Meaghan. At first Meaghan spun Malia around and Malia headed off into the fence, but then she went figured that she had to be walking into the fence so then she went back and then got it right.








I made the cake look like a Playful Pancake. The top is chocolate and the bottom (tail) is vanilla.







Here I am cutting the cake, with my friend Malia watching.

And here are some of the grown-ups eating - Larkin, Jay (holding Kahlil), Dave (holding Ian), Tricia, Leah (you can only see a little bit of her) and Tim. It was a BBQ.

Almost all the names of the Playful Pancakes that are out there

This is a list of almost all the Playful Pancakes my friends and I have ever made:

Big Lips
Silee Sad
Hapee Sad
snort
teeth
galapagos
starry
woow woow
Muse
tank
hoot
pockets
Foo Foo
marco
thmily
space alien
Lily
slipslide
Haer
googel
cat cat
seal
tortoise
sclis
zooey
sclis2
mocking bird
cinnamon
Blue footed booby
boots
chrystal
myow
gold
hootster
love
vampire
eagle
goo
RJ
poof
wild coyote
big nose
kangaroo
loo croow
zigzag
one eye
nickel
penny
dime
kk
coby
jack o lantern
star

That's all I can remember. From now on we will write all the Playful Pancakes names so that you can see them.

If you have any suggestions on names please send them in because we are running out. I need to make lots more Playful Pancakes.

The process of the cat toys

I drew the first rotation on the back of a Gatorade label when I first got my idea for this project. I drew it because at that time I felt like drawing and I was thinking about my business. I had recently drawn a butterfly life cycle poster at school and so I got the idea from that. This is the final copy of it that I drew on paper.

First on the rotation is the soft star shoes building where I get the leather from for free - I get scraps there.

Then next there's a picture of a cat toy.

I sell the cat toys so that I can use the money, not for myself, but for buying goats for the kids in Sudan.

We're going to make the sad little girl there, after the goat, happy by giving her goats.

I think about what if I I was one of those kids in Sudan, then I would be starving and I wouldn't be happy at all, but when I got goats I would be all happy. So I make that happen for the other kids.

Mailing off $1000

mailingcheck
Originally uploaded by playfulpancakes.

In July I had made enough money to send $1000 to Kids for Kids. My friends Angelica and Meaghan were with me when I wrote the letter to go with the check. Angelica drew that horse picture - she is a really good artist. It was exciting to send that much money.

Plus I raised $348.25 in donations and I already sent $300 from selling Playful Pancakes a few months ago.

So, I have been able to send $1648.25 which is 78 goats. That means that 13 families do not have to starve because people want to have a happy cat and they want to help kids in Sudan.

My goal is to help 100 families though and so now I am trying to find out ways to tell more people about this.

Where is "love"?

Love was bought by Mrs. McNamara, a teacher at St Bonaventure High School in Ventura, California.

Love is used as a hall pass - here is a picture.

busking

In May I did a booth at the Philomath Celebration where people could buy Playful Pancakes. That is me with the violin. I also played songs and people put money in my violin case. My friend Angelica is sitting on the ground and she would help tell people about the playful pancakes when they stopped at the booth to hear me play. My friend Meaghan is at the table and she would give people their thank you papers if they bought one. I had to leave in the middle for my soccer game and then I came back. We sold 7 Playful Pancakes and I made 10 dollars in my violin case.

Where is "hootster"?

hootster
Originally uploaded by playfulpancakes.

Hootster now lives in Santa Paula, California with my great grandma even though she doesn't have any pets. She said she bought it to help kids in Sudan and to show her friends when she plays bridge.