Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

Sketchbook

Kids know how to draw. Why is that? They start life knowing, just knowing how to make something look so right, but over the years, it gets muddled until finally everyone is hunched around Pictionary making poor excuses for their stick figures. Oh, I know grownups can still draw too, they just won't. It's too scary.

One of my many goals this summer is to go out and draw, just draw, with the kids. There are so many places to talk about shapes and colors with my little ones. Or figure out perspective and line quality with my 10-year old. Where to start?

On a recent trip to the beach, when we loaded up our regular sand toys, towels, and beach chairs, I threw in a few sketchbooks, just to see what would happen. No pressure. Drawing should be an easy joy, maybe even a guilty pleasure. I have way too few moments in my life where I just sit and sketch these days. I need to take time for my drawing too. My daughter gathered all the shells and fragments she could find and spent some time just noticing the differences and similarities. Beautiful.

 

Then again, who needs a sketchbook?

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Wings of Fancy at Brookside Gardens

WHEN: May 2 - September 20, 2009

You can actually hear the gasps as people walk through the conservatory doors at Brookside Gardens. Hundreds of butterflies cover every surface and float by the crowd. My kids were amazed and couldn't stop pulling me in different directions to see their favorites. But honestly, I found myself oooing and ahhhing too.

The butterflies and moths on display here are all farm raised, and brought in as chrysalises and cocoons. They are tended in a climate controlled case until they hatch, and then they live out their days sampling the flowers and fruit in the conservatory. Not a bad life. There is a "no touching" rule here, because it can harm the butterflies, but apparently no one told the butterflies. They routinely land on people and will hang out for a while on a lucky shoulder or head. My younger daughter was rather upset that none of them would land on her, but when I picked her up and held her higher, a few kind butterflies obliged.

There is a touch and feel station set up where a volunteer will answer questions and kids can touch a few dead specimens. Thank goodness for patient volunteers because, as usual, my son found about a million things to ask.

Meanwhile, my older two (my daughter brought a friend) were busy naming every last butterfly they saw. You can probably guess, we were there for a long time.

After we are checked for stray butterflies, we headed out the door for a lovely stroll through the gardens. A perfect end to the day.

[Note: Bring some extra water; the greenhouses are warm and humid. This exhibit runs every year during the warm season. It may occasionally close during extreme heat advisories. Please call the butterfly hotline for up-to-date details.

"Butterfly Hotline": 301-962-1453

Brookside Gardens - Wings of Fancy Exhibit
South Conservatory
1500 Glenallan Avenue
Wheaton, MD 20902

[Map it]

Treehouse - Part 1

 

Every kid wants a tree house. It's one of those rites of childhood -- a place to house pirates, or witches, or woodland creatures; a place to perfect secret handshakes and clubhouse rules. We've been wanting to add a tree house for a while, and this year, big projects seem a little more manageable. The twins are old enough to be interested, and maybe even help a little.

Dave's plan (above) was developed after reading Kid's Places to Play, by Jeanne Huber. Dave's idea: keep it simple and base everything on 4' x 8' measurements, so cutting is minimized. The first task was to find the right location. We happened to have a little stand of locust trees that we thought might work well.

Our three trees meant that he needed to plant a post for the fourth leg. The kids helped dig a hole, and Dave used quick setting concrete to stabilize the post.

 

The tree house will rest on cross supports. We have two main concerns about the supports. The first, we want to allow for a little bit of movement from the trees. The second, we don't want to damage the trees and realistically, we know that may happen. To minimize the risk, Dave decided to drill through the trees and install lag bolts, instead of lashing the structure onto the trees. The more the bark remains intact, the better the trees will do.

Then, the deck was built.

 

The next step will be framing the basic structure. We will post an update on that soon, so check back!

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Natural Weed Killer

The poison ivy crop sure is healthy around here. When we moved in to our little house by the edge of the woods, poison ivy was growing up the trees in thick, hairy vines. Dave donned his Tyvec suit (very fashionable), chopped through it with an ax and threw it deep into the woods. Knight in shining armor stuff here, as far as I'm concerned, because I am pretty darn allergic to the stuff.

I have followed up with more chemical weed killer than I would like to admit, but make no apologies. When your kid starts to blister from the stuff, you do what you need to do. I have, however, been experimenting with a more natural weed killer. So far, the results have been really good and I will keep a bottle of my concoction with me in my gardening bag from now on. It seems to kill most anything you spray it on, so spray carefully. But the good news is that I don't worry to much about my "helpers" helping me.

4 c. white vinegar

1/2 c. salt

16 drops liquid dish washing soap

Spray on plants liberally. Repeat every couple of days if needed, or after a rain.

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Summer Happenings from Downtown Partnership of Baltimore

The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore sent over a great list of family activities to keep your little ones entertained this summer. Visit their kids' website for updates, discounts and promotions all summer long! Here's a quick roundup.

Carnival Science- Saturday, June 27
Head to the MD Science Center for carnival activities like beanbag toss, face painting, parachute games, juggling class, jellybean jar, water duckies and more. All activities are free with paid admission.

Baltimore Waterfront Invasion
Jellies Invasion: Oceans Out of Balance at the Aquarium and Chinasaurs: Dinosaur Dynasty at the Maryland Science Center – now open!  Get in on ferocious fun with special Waterfront Invasion events and discounts.

Summernights with the BSO
Your Seat is Waiting. The BSO invites you to Summernights 2009 packed with the spirit and excitement of summer. Family-friendly shows include The Magical Music of Disney and Bugs Bunny on Broadway.

Train Rides and Reading
Take a 20 minute round trip train ride along the first mile of track laid in America at B&O Railroad Museum; it's what makes the B&O the birthplace of American railroading! Or join the All Aboard Summer Reading Program at the B&O Railroad Museum through August 28.

Mother Goose on the Loose at Enoch Pratt Free Library (Central)
On Fridays and Saturdays listen and play with Mother Goose on the Loose, an interactive nursery rhyme program with music and movement.

His Quilt

Quilt © 2009 Judy Hesselberth and Jacob, photos © 2009 John Hesselberth

Know how sometimes you blink and realize your kid had one of the monumental, brain leaps? Like those little neurons just fused somehow and a whole new world opened up?

My son went from drawing basically nothing a few weeks ago, to drawing whole towns filled with buildings and crazy, happy people, and smiling suns. Just like that. It wasn't that he couldn't draw, he just wouldn't. Stubborn. Part of it may have been that he preferred working three-dimensionally. He routinely leaves "sculptures" all around the house, carefully balanced towers of household clutter. I document all of them, thinking that when he is declared the next Frank Lloyd Wright I will be able to point and say, "See, I knew it all along." So I guess it only made sense that when he figured out that he could plan his 3-D world on 2-D paper, it was one of those aha moments.

His first rows of buildings were drawn with black permanent marker (yep, I'm a risk taker) on white paper and something about the bold simple shapes made me think these drawings needed documenting too. But not by me. It was time to drop a few not-so-subtle hints.

Lucky for me, my mom is an amazing quilter. By the time we showed up in her driveway for our most recent visit, she had a stack of fabric squares and a supply of fabric markers ready to go. She kept the instructions short and sweet. "Leave a little bit of room around the edge, so I can sew it together," and she got out of the way. As she says, kids don't need any art direction. Grown-ups just mess things up. 25 squares of fabric later, Jacob was done and Mom took over.

The best drawings were assembled into a town, with roads between the squares made from scraps of his grandpa's old pants (quilters waste nothing). I love it and I know he will too.

The Little Gym of Hunt Valley

The Little Gym of Hunt Valley constantly impresses me. I think part of it is that everyone who works there is just so darn happy. Or maybe it's that owner Lia Arnold, actually address me (and all the other parents) by name as opposed to other places where I am just referred to as "Mom." I like that. Or, it could be the big gymnastics room with nice new equipment; I might add, it's spotless.

But mostly, it's that my kids just love the classes and I've seen them all make huge strides in their skill levels. The age range that Little Gym accommodates is wide, from 4 months to 12 years. They offer gymnastics, sports skills, Karate, dance and cheerleading, and you can try a class for free. In the summer, check out their summer camp sessions.

And one more thing, which I actually hesitate to mention. Parent Survival Nights. Once a month, on a Friday night, you can sign your kids up for a 3.5 hour play session. The Little Gym provides dinner for your kids, a craft activity, and plenty of supervised time in the gym to get them good and tired. Mom and Dad (insert your real grownup names here) get to head out for a quiet dinner or movie sans kids. Ahhh. Quiet.

There are a limited number of spaces each month so call ahead...and don't you dare take mine.

410-771-3000

The Little Gym of Hunt Valley
11121 York Road
Suite G
Hunt Valley, MD 21030

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Jellies Invasion at the National Aquarium

My sister and I recently headed to the Aquarium with kids in tow, five of them age 10 and under, plus a teenager. Let's just say we had our hands full. We spent most of our time counting heads and shouting directions, but we soon discovered it was as much fun to watch the kids' expressions as the exhibits.

We explored all the regular favorites: rays, sharks, dolphins, rain forest. By the time we got to the Jellies exhibit, I knew our crew was tired and hungry. We had to wait a few minutes to enter, but watching these underwater ballerinas was hypnotic. The first tank was a tangley mess of tentacles. The next, short, stout little squirts. I never knew there was so much variety and every one of them was beautiful.

The exhibit focuses on how jellies are "environmental indicators" that let us know when our world is getting out of balance. The population of these prehistoric blobs ebbs and flows as their environment changes. As predators decline or pollution increases, their numbers give us a marker of their habitat's health.

Now I feel kind of bad. I've been dodging these guys at the beach for years. Okay, I will still do that, but I now, I promise, I'll dodge them with a bit more respect.

410-576-3800

The National Aquarium in Baltimore
501 E. Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

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Homemade Play Dough

The first time I made my own play dough, it was not by choice. It was my daughter's preschool's idea of parent involvement. Each family was handed a recipe and required to bring in a batch of fresh play dough to share with the class. We rotated through the list of families, and finally my turn came. I still don't quite understand what the point was, but I did learn one thing. Gooey, fresh, warm, play dough is really fun to play with. And for that very reason, I still have the original recipe they handed me, eight years later. That's saying something.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tablespoons cream of tarter

1 cup water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

food coloring as needed

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a medium pot. Add water, food coloring and oil. Cook and stir over medium heat 3-5 minutes until the mixture forms a messy ball. Turn out and knead on a lightly floured surface. Store in an air-tight container.