Writer Mike Adamick is many things. Nationally lauded dad blogger. Acclaimed nonfiction author of the Dad’s Book of Awesome series. Now he is tackling young adult fiction with The Adventures of Crash Adams.

Adamick talks with us on the latest Modern Dads Podcast about the evolution of Crash Adams, a character he created as a role model for both boys and girls. Crash is already garnering great reviews like this one on GoodReads:

“A solid adventure book that my 10-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter can both enjoy reading on their own!” wrote reviewer Kim Bongiorno. “Crash Adams is a great example of kids taking charge of their lives, and the small moments in them.”

We also ask Adamick about the new Star Wars character Rey and the controversial toy company decision to leave her off store shelves — a topic he blogged about that caught the attention of television producer and writer Shonda Rhimes.

Adamick, a stay-at-home dad, is the author of a bestselling family craft series: Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects, Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments and Dad’s Book of Awesome Recipes. He has written for or been featured in The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle NPR, CBS Morning Show, Science Friday, PBS and more. He has been a keynote speaker for the BlogHer and Dad 2.0 Summit conferences, and he penned the “Daddy Issues” column for the Jezebel website.

Adamick, a San Francisco resident, is an OG dad blogger. His blog, Cry It Out, was once named the “best dad blog in cyberspace” by the Babble parenting website.

The Parents’ Phrase Book author Whit Honea also returns to the podcast this week to suggest parents re-think labeling certain things for boys and other things for girls.

** Listen to ‘Crash Adams’ author Mike Adamick **

It is amazing how much a child can be entertained by a balloon, a piece of string, a straw and some masking tape.

That experiment and 29 others are explained and demonstrated in Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments, the latest book by blogger, author and stay-at-home dad Mike Adamick. These are among the best books for dads looking to do more things at home with their kids.

As I was leafing through the book, my little guy told me he wanted to do an experiment with a rocket. And not having Mentos or Diet Coke on hand, we decided to try the Straw Balloon Rocket Blasters.

You tie a thin cord to one point, run it through a straw, and hold on to the other end. Then blow up a balloon, don’t tie it off, tape it to the straw, do a countdown, let it go, and wait for squeals of delight. What was neat was a few of our runs were not successful and we had to make adjustments (making the line tauter, less or more air in the balloon), which is the scientific method.

So when it worked it was even sweeter.

Asthmatics may want to avoid this one since your kids will want you to blow up the balloon over and over again. Thankfully, bedtime stopped me from breaking out my inhaler.

This tome is a winning follow-up to Adamick’s first book, the how-to crafting and backyard building extravaganza called Dad’s Awesome Book of Projects. Each experiment it contains a brief introduction, an explanation of why it works, a list of supplies, step-by-step instructions and then a quick fact on how you can take it further. Most of the supplies are things found around the house or things that can be easily found in a grocery store.

All the experiments in Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments are fun and relatively easy to do with kids of various ages. Obviously, dads with young kids will be doing most of the work, but even tiny tykes will have some hands-on participation in each experiment. Some of the experiments are instant gratification types, like the rocket blasters, but others take much longer and you will need to check back on them after a few hours or days.

The experiments in Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments are sorted by discipline: chemistry, biology, physics, planet Earth and the human body. Not only is this a great book to keep around for a rainy day, but it’s a nice reference to make an easy project for a science fair. I think we are going to try to make Ivory soap clouds next, but more likely we are going to do further testing with the Rocket Blasters.

(DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of “Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects” to review it. My review is not based on the free-ness of the book.)

My son is 4.5 now, and he goes to preschool. After school and during vacations, weekends, and even during the regular week we are always looking for cool adventures and projects to embark on.  We’ve gone to museums, eaten donuts, baked muffins, gone shopping, played baseball, walked on stilts, gone to movies, been superheroes, and lots of other things. Some of them are educational, some of them are fun, and the best ones are both.  And I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting ideas.

So when I heard that Mike Adamick, dad blogger par excellence, had written a book about cool projects to work on with your kids, I jumped at the chance to review it.  

In case you don’t know Adamick, he writes for the San Francisco Chronicle parenting blog, Jezebel.com, and a host of other places.  His blog, Cry It Out, was touted by Disney’s Babble.com in 2011 as “The best daddy blog in cyberspace.”

Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects is really great– it features over 30 do-it-yourself, build- it-with-your-kids projects of all stripes, sizes, and levels of difficulty. From making goo slime in your kitchen to popsicle stick bridges in the kids’ room to a rope swing or a fruit crate scooter for outdoors – this book really does have a variety of projects to try.

The projects are divided into how long it will take to do something. Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects has three basic categories — afternoon crafts, weekend Projects, and school break projects.

Some of them seem a little bit beyond my technical abilities or interest or my kid’s (at 4.5, we are not going to build a bike jump ramp anytime soon). And while he has a backyard swingset on the list, since we have four parks within walking distance, and live in a pretty urban environment, I think we will probably pass. But there’s still plenty for us to do. One of the great things about the book is that the projects are well-designed and well-explained. Each project has a materials list, a step-by-step, some intermittent check-in photos to reference when you are afraid you did something wrong, and even some extra tips.

With most of these projects, the fun is in doing it with your kids, and Adamick has embodied this in his text.  As long as you are doing it with your kid(s), there’s not too much you can actually screw up.  (And if your birdhouse is not quite level, so be it!)

My son and I can’t wait to try some of these projects!