Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

Maryland's Place in Space

WHERE: Baltimore Convention Center
WHEN: Saturday, May 30, 2009 10-4
HOW MUCH: Free

 
Top - Bean Samples The Ocean of Storms, Apollo 12, 1969 NASA
Bottom - Artist concept showing Pluto system from the surface of a candidate moon. NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScl)

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that if it weren't for a certain 4th grader in my home, I might have completely missed the news that Pluto has been demoted to dwarf planet. I'm more Apollo vintage. Fortunately, I'm still mostly in touch with the greater world and for those of you with your own little astronauts, you might want to check out Maryland's Place in Space – a one day science extravaganza that includes NASA astronauts, robotic competitions, MPT's Sid the Science Kid, and even Wall-E . This is a free event, and will include lots of hands-on activities.

Show and Share...

I've been working on the Kid Baltimore blog for almost 2 years now. My how time flies. When I started this blog, I had a few goals. Some were personal, like getting out of the house more often to save my sanity. And some were not, like building a community where parents can share ideas. I've realized recently, that I haven't really provided a good place to share those ideas. A number of people have taken the initiative to email me suggestions and share experiences and I truly love hearing from you. I keep a running list of places to go from your emails.

Now I'd like to test a new idea, stolen from preschool. Show and share. If it works, we'll have do it on a regular basis. All I need is for you to comment to this post and share what you did this month with your kids that was fun. It can be a place you went, a messy art project, or just a funny moment you had. Feel free to provide links if you have pictures to show too.

Who wants to go first?

Sowebo Arts Festival

 
photo courtesy of Sowebo

WHEN: Sunday, May 24, 2009
WHERE: In the Bullseye of Sowebo, Surrounding Hollins Market [Map it]

Every Memorial Day weekend, artists take to the street and musicians play for the crowd, Bohemian style. Things you might want to explore with your kids (or without) include watching a performance by Black Cherry Theater's puppeteers or joining "a communal painting tsunami" to create some street art. As always, there will be open art galleries to explore and music to hear, just watch out for the Conga line...

CALS Miniature Train Rides

I'm pretty sure the guys over at Leakin Park that run the miniature trains are just over-sized kids that never quite grew up, but they sure look like they are having fun. CALS (Chesapeake and Allegheny Live Steam) is a group of train buffs that builds, maintains, and operates mostly coal burning live steam locomotives. Obsessive, yes, but in a really good way, and they offer free train rides on the second Sunday of each month from April to November. 

We picked a beautiful day to ride, so the line was long, but manageable. Twenty minutes later, we were seated on our train and headed down the track at 6 miles per hour. Everything is "to scale" so in real size, we were zooming along at 48 miles per hour. See how easily I'm fooled. We glided along the track and circled the park. The tracksite covers an impressive 10+ acres and has over 3-miles of track, all of which has been built by members and financed without city, state or federal money. Donations are welcomed.

[Thanks, Tim and Brian!]

410-448-0730

CALS Live Steam Preservation Society at Leakin Park
4921 Windsor Mill Rd.
Baltimore, MD 21207

[Map it]

Happy Mother's Day

Look what was waiting for me this morning - a pretty blue pot decorated with ladybugs and a beautiful heather plant. My 10-year-old daughter orchestrated this project, helping her younger brother and sister add their fingerprints. I love every single bug, even the smudgy ones.

And a homemade book, again by all three. with each child writing and illustrating different pages. I know how much hard work this must have been, because the twins can't read, yet they managed to sit down with big sis to write whole sentences.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Vote for Kid Baltimore!

Nickelodeon has just announced the nominees for this year's Parents' Pick awards. I'm happy to tell you that Kid Baltimore is nominated for Best Local Blog! Voting starts now. You can vote for your favorite blog, as well as other local favorites once a day until July 15th. To help support Kid Baltimore, please vote here.

And remember, you can vote daily, so just click the Parent's Pick badge on the left any time you stop by. Thanks!