Baltimore Museum of Art

For older kids, I would say Kindergarten and up, the Baltimore Museum of Art is offering FREE Family Sundays! Every Sunday, beginning at 2pm, the BMA is featuring a variety of interactive activities for your artsy kids, including sketching tours, hands-on art workshops, tours and more. The museum currently has a list of activities through the month of April posted, this Sunday is "Sensational Still Life Paintings" where your children build their own still life model from everyday "found" objects and then paint it. Fun, educational, and FREE!

Like I said before, I think this is for older children, but check back every week to see if there might be something geared towards the younger crowd. If you haven't been to the BMA before it's a great art museum and it's FREE, always and all of the time! It's a very easy drive, under an hour, and located about 3 miles from the Inner Harbor. Place this one on your "To-do" list, it's worth your time!

http://www.artbma.org/index.html click on Calendar and then Family Programs for more on FREE Family Sundays.

The North Museum

This is very last minute, but if you have a 3-5 year old that wants some bonding time with Grandma or Grandpa, tomorrow is Grands are Grand day at The North Museum in Lancaster. It sounds like some very cute activities, with stories, crafts and hands on fun! Check it out :http://www.northmuseum.org/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/Mid/394/ItemID/67/Default.aspx?selecteddate=4/10/2010

Governor's Awards for the Arts in Pennsylvania

Tomorrow is a big day for the art community here in York and chances are you might not even know it, I know I almost missed it. The Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, and his wife will be in York tomorrow to hand out awards to six Pennsylvania natives for their achievements within the art community and philanthropy dedicated towards the arts and three are from York County; just to hype this up one is a Grammy winner and another has his work currently displayed at the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art)! This is a big deal for York and a well deserved pat on the back goes to The Cultural Alliance of York County who is doing great work sustaining art and artists within the county.

Now, how this all applies to our kids (I was getting there). They are shutting down George Street tomorrow from the Square north to the new courthouse to have all sorts of live music, art projects, dress ups and an instrument "petting zoo" for the kids. Fun,fun,fun and FREE! All of this fun starts at 3pm and runs until 7pm at which point the focus turns to the actual award ceremony taking place at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center.

This looks to be a great afternoon of fun for the whole family and the support for local artist and artisans is always a HUGE plus! To learn more about tomorrows events visit the official blog for the event: http://2009pagaa.blogspot.com/ or check out this article from the York Dispatch: http://www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_14822591.

Oh and did I mention that ELMO is going to be there.................

Roll R' Way Toddler Time

Every Tuesday between 12pm-2pm Roll R'Way opens it's doors to the toddler set and for $2.50 it's a heck of a deal. You can bring bikes, scooters, ride-on toys, I've even seen little girls pushing baby doll strollers and let the kids loose on a nice flat surface. We got Katie one of those plasma cars, that's her on it in the picture above, and it's super cool but in our hilly neighborhood it was virtually unusable, but not at Roll'R'Way! It's great, she rode that thing for almost an hour and then came home and took an awesome 2 hour nap, a benefit I had to add.

Also if you have older kids that might not want to ride or scoot around, they can use the roller skates for FREE! I saw a bunch of kids trying skating for the first time, some took to it, others (like my daughter) bailed on it almost instantly, but for FREE it was worth the try. I didn't see adult skate so if you plan on skating with your kids you might have to rent them, but your admission is free, so it's still not a bad deal. They also had the concession stand and game room open and a bouncy house in the corner which was a great distraction when the kids got frustrated, hungry or bored.

The last thing that caught my attention was that they played kids music, mostly Nickelodeon theme songs, and the kids were all singing while rolling along. It was pretty cute even if I had already heard most of those songs earlier in the morning! Around 1pm, about half-way through the skating session, they dimmed the lights and turned on the disco ball and the little ones got a taste of what it was like when we were young. (Think couples skate to the theme of Spongebob Squarepants).

For more information on the Toddler Skate visit http://rollrway.net/web/index.php and click on "session times". It really is a great deal and a lot of fun for the kids, not to mention a great form of exercise for them and us! See you there!

York County Parks Summer Camps

Summer camps are just around the corner, can you believe it?! I will be posting the local summer camps as they are announced and I'm sure within the next two weeks you will be getting a lot of information. Many of the "big" camps and sleepover camps are already posted, YMCA, YWCA, JCC and Church camps can be found on their websites, but the library, parks and local townships wait until Spring to get everything online. Keep in mind that Vacation Bible Schools will also start popping up soon, if that was a priority for your family you might want to see if your church has already set aside the week they will be running VBS so you don't miss it. Here is the York County Parks and Recreation schedule, space is limited so make sure you register ASAP.

The York County Department of Parks and Recreation has announced its popular summer youth Nature Discovery Programs summer schedule. The specialty weeks combine recreation and education. The following classes are available:

For ages 3-4: Small Wonders Series, 10-11:15 a.m. June 16 and 30, July 14 and 28 and Aug. 18 at Nixon County Park. This series is a time for young learners and their parents to spend time learning about nature together. In this indoor-outdoor class, children will role play, imitate, experiment, question and imagine with the help of an adult. Each class will have a different topic. Cost: $20.

For ages 5-6: Nature Discovery Program 1, 9-11:30 a.m. or 1-3:30 p.m. June 22-25 at Nixon County Park. Program includes hikes, hands-on and project activities and guest presenters. Cost: $60.

For ages 7-8: Nature Discovery Program 2, 9-11:30 a.m. or 1-3:30 p.m. Aug. 3-6 at Nixon County Park. Program includes hikes, hands-on and project activities and guest presenters. Cost: $60.

For ages 9-12: Nature Discovery Program 3, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 20-23 at Nixon and Kain parks, the Rail Trail and Shank's Mare Outfitters. Program includes biking, boating and hiking. Cost: $130.

For ages 9-12: Archaeology Week I, July 5-9, and Archaeology Week II, Aug. 9-13, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Nixon County Park and an archaeological site. Co-sponsored with York County Heritage Trust, students conduct a real archaeological excavation, learn to identify artifacts and interperate the history. Cost: $135

For more information or to register, call the parks department at 840-7440 or visit www.yorkcountyparks.org. Space is limited; early registration is suggested.

A Revolutionary Night at The Museum

If you have a child 8-12 years old, maybe a history buff in the making, this could be a great bonding evening with them. The York County Heritage Trust is sponsoring a family overnight, or Night At The Museum, April 17-18. The theme this year is Revolutionary Era Pennsylvania and you and your child/children will spend the night learning what it was like living in York during the 18th century by visiting and doing hands-on exploration at The Gates House, Plough Tavern, the Colonial Court House and The Bobb Log House. If you know me than you know that this is an event right up my alley, of course my 3 year old won't qualify me, but in 5 years I'm so there!

If this sounds like a fun night for your family be sure and reserve your spot now, this event sells out every year. I couldn't find the information about the overnight on the YCHT website, but you can email education@yorkheritage.org or contact the Coordinator of Educational Programming at 717-845-2951. If you are a YCHT member the cost is $7 for adults and $17 for kids, non-members $10 for adults and $20 for kids. York played a big role in American history wouldn't it be great to share that with your kids? Have Fun!

Downtown York First-Friday's!

I know by Friday most of us Mom's are ready to have a quiet moment to ourselves, collapse in bed and fall asleep by 8pm, this coming from a mom with 1 child! But....if you are feeling adventurous, or maybe you are a more energetic mom than myself, than how about checking out downtown York for First-Fridays? Downtown York has partnered with Bring On Play (BOP) to sponsor all sorts of fun activities for the kids including bounce houses, scavenger hunts, face painting and tomorrow a visit from the Easter Bunny! Events kick off at 4pm on Beaver Street, between Philly and Market, and for those of you that don't know street names it's the block that Central Market is on. Check out this link for more information:http://downtownyorkpa.com/first-fridays/ plus other offers from downtown shops that sponsor First-Friday events! (Sounds like it would be fun without the kids too!)