Youth Center Design Inspiration

Whether you are considering a full-on renovation project or just want to update your youth center, you will not want to miss Flavorwire's "10 of the World’s Most Eye-Catching Offices". Featuring the coolest office spaces in the world, including those at Google, LEGO and Cartoon Network, this feature highlights some of the most innovative and magical interior designs, and work environments. All though some of these layouts won't necessarily be teen friendly, or meet your exact needs, there are a ton of awesome design elements to inspire you. Enjoy!

Perfect World by yuumei

What do young people think about when they daydream? Xbox? Facebook? Taco Bell? Hot vampires? 'Perfect World' by deviantART master artist yuumei/ Wenqing Yan is a wonderful little window, into the (still) very magical minds of youth. Created for a walk cycle assignment for a animation class, yummei's work features a young gal's fantastical daydream, and music infused walk, through a 'perfect' world of llamas, pokemon, dinosaurs, cats and polar bears. Very sweet and not to be missed. Click here to view the entire animation

DIY Fleece Animal Hat Tutorial

Image by OZinOH via Flickr

If you look around you this winter you may see something quite funny on the heads of teens. Fleece and hand-knit animal hats are this winter's hottest and most hilarious teen fashion trend. Featuring cute animal faces and floppy ears, these hats are not only huge with the otaku and the hip-geek set, even fashionistas are rocking these ironically cute hats. 

Animal hats can be easily recreated and make for a great winter DIY and anime cosplay teen program. All you need are fleece fabric, needles and thread, pins, markers and paper for making patterns. While this craft may not be for first time hand-sewers, those with a few simple sewing projects under their belt will do just fine.  Thanks to some crafty and devoted deviantART members, you can learn how to make your own fleece animal and anime cosplay hats with these easy-to-follow tutorials. 

Tutorials:
Fleece hat tutorial by pollywriggle
Basic fleece hat tutorial (no ears) by clearkid
Pikachu hat tutorial by nikkiswimmer
Ear-flap tutorial by clearkid
Animal ear tutorial by clearkid
Check out deviantART for ideas and inspiration

Get Your Teen Dance Party Going with Dance Central

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Rock Band fans rejoice! Harmonix, has just released the mega anticipated Dance Central for the XBOX 360 Kinect. Cracking the mold in the dance/ music/ party game genre, Dance Central, is the first of it's kind to offer an immersive dance game experience that features controller free game play that tracks player's full-body dance moves. Like most Kinect games, players will be able to jump right in and join the fun, with various levels for beginners and pro-poppers-and-lockers. This game also features a wicked soundtrack packed with today's best hip hop, dance and r&b tracks.  If you are looking to purchase a Kinect for your youth center, Dance Central is going to be a must buy.  Check out Joystiq for the full review and track listing.

Kokeshi Doll Tutorial for Teens

One of the hottest trends in the DIY teen crafting world right now is Kokeshi Dolls. These wooden hand-painted dolls originate from northern Japan, and feature little gals in traditional kimonos. Handmade from wood, they have a simple peg like trunk an over-sized head, and no arms. Although the original Kokeshi dolls featured kimono designs, a lot of of artists like the urban toy company Momoji,  are giving their own spin to this craft and coming up with some really cool contemporary designs.

Kokeshi dolls make a great craft program for your DIY teen set, and would be the perfect project for your Anime club, DIY crafters, holiday events (they make for great ornaments) or cultural programs. They are also quite easy to make, requiring only wooden pegs, acrylic paint, glue and clear coat. Although simple understated features are common in the kokeshi style,  the design of your own kokeshi, is only limited by your imagination. There are plenty of resources and image references on the web of kokeshi doll designs to inspire you and your teens, so have a little fun and think outside of the kimono box! Kokeshi dolls are perfect for zombie, manga and celebrity designs too!


If you would like to make your own Kokeshi dolls check out these resources for tutorials, supplies, and inspiration.

From little wooden bits...

to cute little kokeshi!

Images from Swell Shop Goods check them out for supplies!

Supplies:
Forster doll pins
Forster doll-pin stands
Forster doll head beads
Acrylic paint
Clear varnish
Assorted paintbrushes, at least one of them fine-tipped
Glue

Tutorials:
Traditional Kokeshi doll tutorial by Phu-ong
Make Kokeshi Dolls out of recycled materials

Inspiration:
7E on Etsy for non-kimono, and guy friendly inspiration
More Kokeshi designs by Pegged on Etsy
Movie characters by Randomly generated

Christmas Mashups

Tired of the same old Christmas music? Mash it up! Mixing Christmas classics with pop and rap faves, these mashup videos will make the perfect soundtrack to for your teen holiday events. Enjoy and happy holidays!

Mickey, Linus & Lucy (aka The Charlie Brown Xmas Mash) (DVDJ Biggie Video Mix) from Danny Diggz on Vimeo.

The Best DIY Holiday Handmade Gifts for Teens

image by creativeFlutter AKA MazerDesign via Flickr

Handmade gifts are the best gifts one can receive! Encourage your teens to make their own handmade gifts for friends and loved ones this holiday season by hosting a craftacular. Easy, fun, and a great way to capture the holiday spirit, host a holiday craftacular celebration by bringing out all of your unused craft supplies, popping in some holiday music on your stereo system, and by providing some Swiss Miss and cookies.

Here are some of my favorite DIY handmade gift ideas:

• Cookie Mix in a Jar
• 5-Minute Camera Case
• Funky Teacup
• iPod and DS stylus
• DomoKun iPod Case
• DIY no-sew infinity scarf
• Shrinky Dink charm bracelet
• How to make metal bangles
• Paracord bracelets
• Duct tape wallet
• Space Invader Chocolates
• iPod remote
• Cassette tape wallet
• Fabric bangle bracelets
• Thai String Dolls
• Origami paper decopauge frame
• Felt eyeglass case
• How to make the perfect mix CD

Awesome Outreach: Open Planet Ideas

Do you have a teen tech club hungry for a cool and green project? Open Planet Ideas may just be the perfect project for your dreamers, creators, and tinkers. Open Planet Ideas, in conjunction with Sony and WWF, are looking for young innovators to help them dream up some awesome eco-technology for the future.   By mashing-up existing technologies and products, Open Planet Ideas is seeking out bright new ideas to tackle environmental issues, inspire advancements in alternative energy and greener living. 

I actually spent the evening playing with The Open Planet Ideas site, and had a great time dreaming up my own concept: the PSP goCharge. My eco-design idea is a pedometer like device that recharges your PSP battery by simply hitting the pavement! Users insert the PSP battery into their PSP goCharge wristband and go about their day. The more you walk and play, the more the device will generate green and free energy for you to be used in your PSP later. 

 

The Open Planet Ideas site also has some really cool examples on how technology has been repurpose for eco-projects. As a gamer, and an eco-nerd, I was really surprised and impressed with how the PSP go has been used in non-gaming and scientific research such as, being used to render complex datasets acquired wirelessly, as a portable data acquisition terminal for collecting information on the move via WiFi or Bluetooth and as a portable VOIP  terminal, using the integrated mic and speakers/headset for free mobile voice communications over the web. Pretty neat for a portable gaming device eh? 

 

Generation Green is alive and well, and are full of great and inspiring ideas for their future. Why not make a visit with your teens, put your heads together and join the challenge. The Open Planet Ideas site is a  wonderful, innovative and supportive community where young inventors can network, collaborate, and dream up a greener tomorrow.  Find Out More About Open Planet Ideas.

 

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Youth Culture, Research + Media News for the Week of November 29, 2010

 Youth Research, Health and Adolescent Development:

• For freshmen and parents, a new reality: Home for the holidays isn't what it was- Washington Post
• Cyberbullying: Solutions for Parents- Barking Robot
• Fast Times at Woodside High: Technology in the high school classroom- NYT
• We All Want To Be Young- PSFK
• Millennials: The Book- Milennial Marketing
• The word on Nordic Youth according to Em Wahlstrom- Dan Pankraz

Trends, Youth Culture, and Media:

• Teen Girls: Shopping and Texting, Texting and Shopping- Brand Channel
• Squinkies Maker Savors Demand for Holiday’s Hot Toy- NYT
• Which Consoles Do American Kids Want To Buy?- Kotaku
• After Toy Story, Disney Want To Tell A Video Game Story- Kotaku
• The Newly-Released 'I Am Number Four' Teaser- jsyk
• The Next Pirates Of The Caribbean Game Will Be LEGO-ized- Kotaku
• Green Lantern Movie trailer released- Viral Video Chart
• Catherine Harwick's Red Riding Hood trailer released- Viral Video Chart

Social Media and Technology:

• Houston High School Replaces Library With E-Books and Coffee- JSYK
• With Kinect Controller, Hackers Take Liberties- NYT
• MySpace confirms Facebook Connect deal- Telegraph 
• Generation Content “I share, therefore I am”-  Dan Pankraz
• IAMPLAYR: social gaming first person style- Dan Pankraz
• How Long Before Facebook Just Buys MySpace?- bnet
• OnLive Streaming Gaming the "Future Of Video Games" Goes On Sale Tomorrow- Kotaku

Video: We All Want to Be Young

Produced by the Brazilian research company BOX1824, "We All Want to Be Young" is a compilation of research studies conducted in the past five years, and offers an interesting view into our global fascination with youth culture. (Via DR4WARD)