Superheroes Rule.

The first part of summer has been mainly about superheroes. Pictured here are Pice Man, who shoots jelly out of his eyes, and who is apparently battling Captain Planet. The line through the middle is a zip line that Captain Planet uses to get around.

We've also had Doctor Spleen, and heroes based on a squirrel, a hedgehog, and a dragon. I generally help the kids come up with a "recipe" for a superhero -- things like a cool name, a logo, a costume, a sidekick, an arch enemy, and of course powers and weaknesses. Then I work on one along with them. They can do a trading card-like format where they draw their character and list important facts, or a movie poster, or maybe the cover of a comic book.

I had the kids help me create Ultra Kitty, who can shoot hairballs and whose weakness is anything shiny. Her enemy is Dogzilla, a chihuahua with an attitude and a scaly tail. Dogzilla's sidekick is Gadget the Robo Bird.

Oh, and then there are secret identities. Dogzilla spends the days as a celebrity purse-dog. We also had a mild-mannered toaster, and a hippo who lives at the zoo when not fighting crime.

Each kid will focus in on what is most interesting to him or her. Some are really into listing lots of important data. Others are into the relationships among a vast array of characters. Still others just want to show stuff blowing up. It's all good. Again, it's creating a safe place to generate lots and lots of idea and mess with them. And, the sound effects they make while demonstrating their characters' powers are pretty fun, too.