Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in greater los angeles, CA

Weekend Roundup: Music and Flowers

April 02, 2009

It's officially spring which means we get a few weeks of nice weather before it just gets hot and stays there.  If you have some good family time this weekend, here are suggestions for how to make some memories with your little ones:

• Free concert at Tarzana Community Kids Club - Saturday, 12-4PM.  Several musical acts will play and there will be an opportunity for kids to see musical instruments up close and personal-like.  One of my favorite organizations for family entertainment, TCKC brings you this event for free.
• Photo opportunity:  the poppies and other incredible wildflowers are in bloom at Anza-Borrego state park in the Antelope Valley.  Just say "go!" and as the kids run through the blooms, point and shoot.  Memories to last a lifetime.
• Break out the tent and go camping in the backyard as a dry run for summer trips.
• If you are lucky enough to have extra cash laying around, why not take advantage of spring rates and thinner crowds and take the kids to Catalina Island for the day or weekend?
• Enjoy some kid-themed theater at Granada Hills Library, Saturday at 4pm.

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Best Places to Bring the Little One WITH the Older One

March 03, 2009

Sometimes I am jealous of my friends who have one child.  Okay, more than just sometimes.  Especially when mom and child are playing happily, or better yet, the child is playing happily and mom is enjoying a nice conversation with her friends.  I would be the friend who is chasing one and then the other child.  It is very difficult for me to take the two kids out by myself at this point because as soon as we arrive at our destination, they split up.  It is getting to the point where I can actually depend on the preschooler to stay in one place for over 30 seconds while I chase down the toddler, but these outings are still exhausting for me, and take weeks of storing up energy for me to undertake.  And several cocktails later to help me wind down.  But that's just me.

My kids at Playsource

I am going to share a few of the places/activities that I have deemed safe and fun for our little threesome when we go out.

1.  Parks with fenced in children's play areas.  Warner Center Park, Vanowen Park, and Castle Peak Park are a few of these locations.  Depending on the day and time you go, there are only a few other kids playing so it is easy to keep track of your little ones without going cross-eyed.

2.  Indoor playgrounds.  I have a personal affection for Jumping Genius because it was the first one I visited, but Playsource is good for multiple children too, and they let you eat your snacks right in the play area.  Under the Sea is a nice, well-contained area as well.  Creative Leap is fun but their tube system allows children to get out of your sight.  There is a place called the Coop that I have not checked out yet in North Hollywood.  Swanky, I've heard.

3.  The library.  Depends on the location, as with everything, but you might be able to squeeze out 20 minutes of activity time before the toddler runs screaming through the stacks.

4.  Tarzana Community Center park where the TC Kids Club holds their events.  The space is shady and enclosed even though it is right at Tampa and Van Alden.  Just don't let your toddler get wind of the giant open gate or you will be chasing him back and forth the whole time.  Also, don't let him jump into the koi pond.  Yuck.

5.  Dare I say it?  Someone else's house.  Read more...

Survival tips for visiting the library with children

by Kim Tracy Prince

November 24, 2008

I've been a big fan of the library since I was a little girl. (Perhaps you saw that picture of me as a 5-year-old listening to a book on record through enormous 70's headphones.) I looked forward to the time when I could bring my children to the library, and oh the fun we would have discovering new books and toys and storytimes and wonders galore! The reality is that our library visits are 15  Read more...