A numbers game in selction from children's film festival
Numbers and letters are some of the earliest characters to show up in our lives, and unlike most childhood attachments, they stay with us the whole way (sure, you may still have that teddy bear or toy truck up on a shelf, but your relationship can never be the same). It's natural to anthropomorphize those crooked and curved lines beyond their utilitarian use, something that, say, Sesame Street gets (as does Google, with its mildly annoying "little g" football Sunday doodles).
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Numbers and letters are some of the earliest characters to show up in our lives, and unlike most childhood attachments, they stay with us the whole way (sure, you may still have that teddy bear or toy truck up on a shelf, but your relationship can never be the same). It's natural to anthropomorphize those crooked and curved lines beyond their utilitarian use, something that, say, Sesame Street gets (as does Google, with its mildly annoying "little g" football Sunday doodles).
In William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg's animated short The Numberlys, a group of digitally designated friends living in a black-and-white world of integers sets out to create letters and let some color into the place, as well as jelly beans (because, well, jelly beans).
The film is part of Fantastic Journey: Animated Shorts From the Children's Film Festival Seattle 2015 at International House. Also on the bill: Daniel Acht's Wombo, about an alien who has trouble visiting Earth because he looks like a potato; Akiko McQuerrey's Papa Cloudy's Restaurant, about a singing octopus; and Maarten Koopman's Trampoline, in which ducks, people, and cows bounce across the screen.
2 p.m. Saturday at International House, 3701 Chestnut St. Tickets: $5. Information: 215-387-5125 or www.ihousephilly.org.
How to chunk a punkin
It's that time of year when thoughts turn to pumpkins - and the mayhem that can be inflicted on them, from carving them up to flinging them through the air to smash them. Don't worry - Science Saturday: Pumpkin Catapults at the Hagley Museum uses orange pom-poms instead of gourds, allowing small fries to safely learn a skill that will serve them well throughout life.
1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, at the Hagley Museum, 200 Hagley Creek Rd. off Route 141, Wilmington. Tickets: $14; $10 students and seniors; $5 ages 6 to 14; ages 5 and under free. Information: 302-658-2400 or www.hagley.org.
'Peanuts' painted
To instill an appreciation for art, it's never too early to get kids into an art gallery. A perfect show to start with is an exhibit of Tom Everhart's sensational paintings of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, and the Peanuts gang at Ocean Galleries. Everhart studied with cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, who approved Everhart's use.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday at Ocean Galleries, 9618 Third Ave., Stone Harbor, N.J. Admission is free. Information: 609-368-7777 or www.oceangalleries.com.