Fun To Go

Have you seen one too many children’s films this holiday season featuring silly plots and inane acting?  This month the Museum of Science is offering Free Film Fridays at its very cool giant  Mugar Omni Theater for all shows on   January 9, 16 and 23^rd.

Roving Mars, The Greatest Places, Wild Ocean and Adrenaline Rush are the scheduled IMAX films. The action sequences in these 45 minute documentary films are real- and manage to sneak in lots of fun, educational content, along with hair-raising thrills.

You can pick up day of performance tickets at the MOS box office, with a limit of two tickets per person.

Today is only Monday and the kids are not going back to school until next week. Yes, with New Year’s Day on aThursday, this year’s December school vacation really is longer than usual!

So what are you going to do with the kids during the upcoming Martin Luther King week-end and the February vacation?

This week my family and I spent a weekend at the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort in North Conway, New Hampshire. North Conway is well-known to parents of young children as “Story Land country”, but it is also a great family ski destination .

Amenities and off-slope activities are an important consideration when booking a family ski vacation. And the Red Jacket Mountainview has lots to keep your kids busy.

The Red Jacket’s newest addition is truly its main attraction- the hotel has its own indoor waterpark- Kahuna Laguna. My kids spent most of their time zooming through the four slides- there are two body slides and two tube slides. For little kids there is a water tower activity area with small slides and lots of sprayers. There is a large activity pool with 2- foot wave action and a water court area too.  There is also a 25 -person hot tub – which is where I (and all the other vacationing Moms) spent most of the time! There are lots of lifeguards and no lines either- Kahuna Laguna is open only to hotel guests so it is never crowded.

The hotel offers lots of  fun for kids- a huge arcade room,  sledding on the hotel’s hill, afternoon family movies and an evening bonfire for roasting marshmallows.

The hotel sells discount lift tickets to nearby Cranmore.  If your kids are reluctant skiers, Cranmore also offers tubing. And for shopping Moms,  North Conway is a huge outlet shopping destination.

The hotel is totally family-friendly and affordable too.  And with lots of room configurations like loft rooms, alcove rooms and town homes, the Red Jacket Mountainview is a particularly good hotel for large families (like mine!) or for vacationing with extended family.

First Night is a wonderful way to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the kids. Check out New Year’s Events For The Family in this month’s P+K  for a list of area First Night events.

 First Night outdoor events are free; indoor events require that you have purchased a First Night Button for each family member over age four. First Night Buttons are a wonderful way to support the cultural programming that makes First Night such a fantastic family event. But did you know that Boston’s First Night Buttons will get you free or reduced admission to lots of great family places during “First Month”? Show your First Night Button at the New England Aquarium and you can get  1 free child’s admission with an adult admission for the month of January. The Franklin Park Zoo is offering a similar deal from December 15-January 15.   

Worcester First Night buttons can also be used for free or discounted admission to local musuems throughout the month of January. For example, your First Night Worcester button will give you free admission to the Higgins Armory, the Ecotarium, or the Tower Hill Botanic Garden.

For many families, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are often packed with fun activities. But be sure to schedule a family outing for after the holidays too.   Without the stress of finding the perfect presents for the kids, thinking about the cards that you need to send, and the cookies that need to be baked -you may even  better enjoy the time with the kids! 

Disney on Ice shows are an entertainment tradition for many Boston-area families.  The music, the ice skating routines, and the staging are always a delight. 

Disney on Ice is coming to the TD Banknorth Garden for ten performances from  December 26-December 30. “Mickey and Minnie’s Magical Journey” features several  favorite Disney movies, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Peter Pan and Lilo and Stitch.

You can even win a Magical Suite of 12 tickets for the December 26^th 5 PM performance and meet one of the skating stars from the show by checking out the local Mom social networking website Bostonmomslikeme and posting (by December 16th) an answer to the question, “What is your child’s favorite Disney character and why?”Five runners-up will win a family four-pack of tickets.

Here’s an idea forplace families with young children who may want to spend some time enjoying a live performance during the holiday season- but may be  a bit overwhelmed by the local holiday show extravaganzas.

The Puppet Showplace in Brookline is a wondrous place to see a puppet show. Their plays are really a delight- just right for toddler and young grade -school audiences.   Upcoming December performances include “The Elves and the Shoemaker” , “Snow White” and “Forest Tales.” Saturday and Sunday shows are  always at 1:00 and 3:00 - but shows often sell out , so it is best to buy in advance.

And before or after the show you can check out the Puppet Showplace store – puppets make wonderfully imaginative holiday gifts for kids.

Creating gifts for family and friends- is a wonderful way to bring meaning to the holidays for kids.

Artbeat (with locations in Arlington and Franklin) is well known as a walk-in art studio for high quality art projects for kids and adults.   New this year is the “Holiday Studio Pass” for $75 (through December 6^th) which allows kids to visit the store’s studios as often as they wish through December 31^st to make 6 different art projects. There is a choice from among 15 crafts – like  reverse painting a  flower design on a heavy glass paper weight, creating stained glass votives, or making refrigerator magnets. With the Holiday Studio Pass, the average cost of each project is $12.50. Artbeat projects typically cost $15-$20, so this is a very good deal and fun way  for your kids to make unique gifts with their own special touch! 

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving and with the  holidays just around the corner,  you may find that your relatives  are asking you  for present ideas for your kids. 

Since every family needs a go-to place for a rainy afternoon  or for those ”Mom, I’m bored!” days, here’s a ready answer.  Ask for a family gift of a membership to a local children’s or science museum, a  zoo, or the Massachusetts Audubon Society.  

 A family museum  membership offers fun and educational opportunities year round – and  your membership helps support your favorite  museum’s programming throughout the year.  

In this month’s P+K I wrote the Holiday- Fun- To- Go Guide. There are lots of suggestions for free and low -cost holiday fun throughout the area, and several ideas for attending local holiday performances.  

And although with the current economic crisis, some holiday events may seem too expensive for the family budget this year,  you may want to check out the Mayor’s Holiday Special website. Mayor Menino along with ArtsBoston is offering half-price tickets for selected performances of the Boston Holiday Pops (my personal favorite!) the Boston Ballet’s “Nutcracker”, the “Black Nativity”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas- the Musical” and the “Mickey and Minnie Ice Show”.  You can get half-price tickets for other holiday shows throughout the area too- like  the Jose Mateo “Nutcracker” performances at Brandies University or “A Christmas Carol” at the new Hanover Theatre in Worcester.

 Confession. I have lived in Massachusetts for 27 years and have not visited Plimoth Plantation. All four of my kids have visited though- Plimoth Plantation is the field trip highlight of the third grade for every child that attends the Newton public schools.

So as I drove into the Plimoth Plantation parking lot last week, my 17-year-old son said, “Oh good. There are lots of little kids today. Please let the actors pick on them.”

Who says kids don’t remember their elementary school years? Evidently 9 years later,  my son remembered the Plimoth Plantation living museum premise.  Here in the English Village, costumed actors or “interpreters” describe life as it was in Plimoth in 1627- and visitors are part of the action.

As it turned out, the mistress of one of the village homes asked my 16-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to go to the village crossroads and gather firewood to keep her home hearth burning. And they actually did it!

At the Wampanoag Homesite the staff are Native People who help visitors explore the history of the Wampanoag Nation. We watched as a native woman trussed a rabbit to cook on a spit over an open flame. A Wampanoag man burned out the inside of a log boat, or “mishoon”. Inside the three- fire “wetu” we listened as a young Wampanoag man discussed Wampanoag matriarchal society.

Plimoth Plantation is open daily through November 30^th.  For families hosting out-of state visitors during the Thanksgiving holiday, a  visit to Plimoth Plantation would make an excellent excursion!

Sometimes, my parents still need to “parent” me. Today I was on the phone with my father.  “Your brother has Veteran’s Day off. You may want to call and thank him for his military service in Iraq.  And you may want to thank your mother and I, for our military service during the Cold War”.

So thanks Dad for the reminder that Veteran’s Day is not just a day off from work and school, but a opportunity to say thank you to those who have served in the armed forces. (And thanks Dad, Mom, and Michael for your military service.)

Tomorrow, the weather is predicted to be near-perfect for a New England November day. If you are looking for a fun-to-go activity, you may want to consider bringing the kids to one of the area’s Veteran’s Day parades.

Boston, Worcester, Amesbury, Lexington and Plymouth are some of the towns that will be hosting a Veteran’s Day parade. There are sure to be lots of flags, brass bands, and marching units of both veterans and active military personnel.  Everyone loves a parade- and there isn’t a better way to teach your kids the importance of Veteran’s Day.