Archive for February, 2009

It’s going to rain, again. Stay inside and meet superheroes, make shadow puppets, learn how to skate, or create a giant collage.

Shadow Puppet Workshop

Expose your kids to the mystical and somewhat creepy art of shadow puppetry at this workshop, at which kids will make their own puppets before writing and producing a show performed at the end of the three-hour class. A snack is provided.

When: Sun., 3/1, 1-4pm, Age 6-12; $45-85.

Where: Paxton Gate’s Curiosities for Kids, 766 Valencia Street (between 18th and 19th streets ), San Francisco, 415-824-1872, paxtongate.com.

WonderCon 2009

It’s not just for geeks anymore. The comics festival makes a play for kids with the premiere of the new animated Wonder Woman movie, a children’s film festival of cool shorts running throughout the entire WonderCon, and of course, a ginormous vendors’ hall with comics to check out and costumed folk to gawk at. Superhero costumes are encouraged.

When: Fri., 2/27, noon-7pm, Sat., 2/28, 10am-7pm, Sun., 3/1, 11am-5pm; Age 2+; $5-12 daily (children age 11 and under are free and there are multi-day deals).

Where: Moscone Center South, 747 Howard Street (at Fourth Street), San Francisco, comic-con.org.

Give Hockey a Try Day

The San Francisco Sabrecats sponsor this event twice a year during hockey season to let kids try out their mettle on the rink. Both gear and skates are provided free of charge.

When: Sun., 3/1, 9:30-11:30am; Age 5-14; Free.

Where: Yerba Buena Ice Skating and Bowling Center, 750 Folsom Street (between Third and Fourth streets), San Francisco; 415-820-3523, youthhockey@skatebowl.com, sfsabercats.org.

Berkeley Rep School of Theatre’s Family Series

Each month, parents and children can dip into the art of theater with this workshop series. You may find yourself putting on a play, learning the basics of clowning, or, in this week’s outing, making a giant collage as an alternate form of storytelling.

When: Sun., 3/1 (and each first Sunday of each month), 11am-12:30pm; Age 4+; Free (attending families are asked to bring a children’s book to donate to local libraries).

Where: Berkeley Rep School of Theatre at the Nevo Education Center, 2071 Addison Street (at Shattuck Avenue), Berkeley; 510-647-2973; berkeleyrep.org.

My daughter hates winter fruit. Bananas, pears, oranges, even those little tangerines they sell at Trader Joe’s are all rejected summarily. But I have a little ally when it comes time to convince her to eat yet another apple: The Local Foods Wheel, two cardboard disks that spin to display the Bay Area fruits and vegetables that are ripe each month. When my daughter begs me for stone fruits or berries, I just spin the wheel and show her how many months are left before I’ll be able to fulfill her request.

“See, honey, it’s going to be April when the first strawberries come. And June before we see any peaches. Would you like your apple cut in rounds or wedges?”

The Local Foods Wheel was created by chef Jessica Prentice, artist Sarah Klein, who made the charming little line drawings of the produce on the wheel, and designer Maggie Gosselin. At $12.95 it makes a great little gift for Bay Area kids, or for yourself, to hang on the back of the kitchen door and show your kids what’s ripe right now. And who knows, maybe it’ll convince them to eat kohlrabi or kale (both good eating right now).

Available at various local bookstores and natural food stores, or from localfoodswheel.com. 

It’s not a street fair without a bounce house for kids to exhaust themselves in, and many’s the parent who is happy to walk up and see one, knowing that Junior’s sure to take a nap today. But outside of said street fairs, and the most luxurious kinds of birthday parties, bounce houses are a rare sighting. They’re kind of a pain to keep inflated, and supervised, after all. But the Presidio YMCA seems to manage it, three mornings a week.

At the Y’s Jungle Gym program, kids age 1-5 are set free to tumble across the facility’s big, padded mats, crawl through tunnels, or jump wildly in the Moon Bounce that’s almost always set up. There are balance beams for small daredevils, bikes and space to ride them in, and arts and crafts activities for the kids who get tired. Parents supervise and participate, and there are staff members about to provide advice on equipment and lead activities.

The Jungle Gym is a great way for pre-preschoolers to get their ya ya’s out, particularly on rainy days, and all the equipment might inspire you to play, too. No grownups in the bounce house, though.

Jungle Gym takes place each Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 10:30am-noon at the Letterman Gym at the Presidio YMCA, 1152 Gorgas Avenue (at Marina Boulevard), in the Presidio, San Francisco. Call 415-447-9680 or visit ymcasf.org.

Berkeley children’s museum Habitot is a tiny little place: and that’s not a criticism. Though it has nice facilities, including an art room, a room set up like a supermarket for pretend shopping, a cushioned faux garden for crawlers, a dress up area, and a water-play space, it just can’t compare with bigger museums like the Exploratorium and the Bay Area Discovery Museum. And that’s just fine, because at those places you end up trailing your child like a tick, wearily standing as he zooms from spot to spot, or losing him in the chaos. Habitot is perfect for parents who want a place they can sit down and kibbitz while children amuse themselves with wholesome arty/educational activities, staying within sight no matter where they roam. You can even bring multiple children–more kids than adults? No problem!

What Habitot most resembles is not a children’s museum, but a very well-equipped preschool. You may on first glance think your kid won’t want to go again after checking out the limited offerings, but every activity at Habitot is well-thought-out, deep and mesmerizing; children spend whole afternoons just washing babies at the water table, or navigating through the wiggle wall. In addition, each week there are special activities: a winter fair, say, with cold-weather games and art activities, or a salute to trains, and the staff is so talented and engaging that kids under 7 or so will want to visit, linger, and return.

There’s no cafe on site, but there’s a peanut-free snack room if you want to bring your own food. Parking in the area can be scarce, but there’s a garage right across the street that charges $5 for all-day parking.

Habitot Children’s Discovery Museum is located at 2065 Kittredge Street (at Shattuck Avenue), Berkeley. Call 510-647-1111 or visit habitot.org.

On the half-rainy/half-sunny days we’ve been having, the Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture is a mighty fine place to be. Set just inside the entrance gate of the San Francisco Botanical Garden (a.k.a. the Aboretum), the library is small, sweet, free, and dedicated entirely to books and magazines about plants. For parents and kids, there’s a children’s area with comfy sitting cushions around a low table, a whole heap of nature-themed stuffed animals, and shelf after shelf (after shelf!) of neat nature books. It’s pretty much every classic nature-lover book (Cicely Mary Barker’s flower fairies books, The Giving Tree, The Lorax) plus a whole bunch of stuff you’ve never seen before, but can’t wait to read to your kid.

The best thing about hanging out at the library on days when it threatens to rain is that when the clouds clear you can walk outside, have a picnic on the pretty meadows or the benches just behind the library. When the drops come down again, you can duck into the library and read a few books about seeds or growing vegetables. Repeat as needed.

The Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture is located at Ninth Avenue at Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Admission is free to both the library and the Botanical Garden. Call 415-661-1316, ext. 403, or visit sfbotanicalgarden.org.

If you live in San Francisco and your child hasn’t taken a class at AcroSports yet, it’s probably because you didn’t even realize it was an option. But the circus-arts organization is justifiably one of the most popular recreation spots in the Bay Area, offering year-round classes for students from 18 months up. And what classes! Housed in a building that looks like an antique radio (it used to be a high school gym), AcroSports has an entire floor of child-proofed gymnastics equipment for kids to tumble through, jump up and down on, or climb. Each week, anything that can move is moved, creating a fresh new space to explore. Everything is padded, primary-colored, and deeply mesmerizing for children used to confining their acrobatics to apartment living rooms and dumbed-down playgrounds.

They can swing on a trapeze. They can bounce on a giant trampoline. They can climb up to the top of a wooden ladder and snatch a hankie, or roll back and forth in a foam barrel. Kids aged preschool and up get instruction on how to use equipment and perform advance moves (cartwheels, flips) as parents watch from the bleachers above the soaring second-floor practice space; younger kids are just allowed to roam free through the gymnastic jungle, followed by a song-and-movement circle time with parents.

One caution: once you sign up for an AcroSports series, your child will never want to quit; you’ll be on the hook for $250-ish courses four times a year. But this is the kind of whole-body exercise a parent can feel good about, particularly since it’s exercise you don’t have to provide yourself in the park on foggy days. Classes fill up quickly, particularly late-morning weekend spots and summer camps; register early!

AcroSports is located at 639 Frederick Street (between Stanyan and Arguello streets) in San Francisco. Call 415-665-2276 or visit acrosports.org.

Is it raining? Yes? No? We have you covered either way.

Animal Grossology

Kids like gross stuff. And “Animal Grossology,” a new exhibit at the Lawrence Hall of Science, has it for them, with exhibits on cows and their prodigious output of methane, dung beetles, owl pellets (bones and other offal vomited up by owls), and other icky, yet educational, items.

When: Through 9/6/09, Daily 10am-5pm; Age 3+; Free with museum admission (Free-$11).

Where: Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive (at Stadium Rimway) on the University of California, Berkeley campus, 510-642-5132, lawrencehallofscience.org.

Cine/Club

Two Fridays a month, the Randall Museum invites teens age 13-18 for a screening of a classic film, a cartoon, a famous short or scenes from related films, and a group discussion analyzing what they’ve seen. Adult friends can accompany teens, and parents may wish to ensure their children are mature enough for each week’s showing, as films can cover sophisticated, controversial themes. This week: 1979 German film The Tin Drum.

When: Ongoing two Fridays each month, including 2/20; 6:30pm; Age 13-18; Free.

Where: Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, San Francisco, 415-554-9600; randallmuseum.org.

Living Ship Day

Drag the vehicle nuts in your family to this special event at which military aircraft are lifted to launch position on the flight deck, and visitors can sit in the cockpit of a fighter plane.

When: Sun., 2/21, 10am-5pm; Age 3+; Free with paid admission.

Where: USS Hornet Museum, 707 West Hornet Way, Pier 3, Alameda Point (Alameda), 510-521-8448 Extension 282, uss-hornet.org.

Healing Herbs

Teens take a hike through the Hidden Villa grounds, identifying and collecting common herbs with medicinal properties. Naturalists will then teach participants how to use these healthful herbs.

When: Sat., 2/21, 10am-1pm; Age 15-18; $15.

Where: Hidden Villa, 26870 Moody Road (at Moody Court), Los Altos, 650-949-8653, hiddenvilla.org.

Baby sleep sacks are a natural for infants in the oft-chilly Bay Area, but the traditional potholder shape (oh, you know what I mean) can get bunched up around baby’s butt or legs, leading to middle-of-the-night squalling. The sleep sacks from Violet’s Peapod have a different shape, more like a barrel sleeping bag, which keeps tiny toes warm and prevents the dreaded bunching.

Designed by Bay Area mom Lennore Merz, who got the idea for her unique design after her German mother-in-law gave her just a “Baby Schlafsack” when Merz’s son, Nathan, was an infant. When Merz had her second child, Violet, natch, she couldn’t locate a similar one, so she decided to make them…for everyone.

There are plenty of sleep sacks on the market, but what sells Violet’s Peapod is the shape, and the ultra-groovy fabrics, like this little number, Jungle Delight. Cozy for the kid, pretty for you to look at.

Available at violetspeapod.com.

Looks like Burlingame is having some of the same school problems San Francisco parents have dealt with in recent years. As the San Jose Mercury News reported Friday, two of the pricey city’s best-regarded elementary schools, Franklin and Lincoln, are expecting so many new students this fall that they’re forcing parents to enter a lottery for spots at the school.

The Burlingame parents are particularly incensed, because many of them left San Francisco to escape the school lottery process and be guaranteed entrance into one of the area’s top-of-the-line schools. They also feel they’ve been jerked around by school officials. As the Mercury News writes, “Parents of about 75 children were told repeatedly by district and school officials their youths would be admitted to the high-performing but overcrowded Lincoln Elementary School on a first-come, first-serve basis. During the first day of registration on Feb. 2, about 30 to 35 parents showed up before dawn to be first in line, including a few who even camped out overnight. But when Principal Diane Garber arrived at 7 a.m., she told the parents the Burlingame Elementary School District had instituted a random lottery system for admissions.”

Ooh, yeah, that does suck! But it could be worse, Burlingame parents. You could have had your assured spot at Flynn or Alvarado yanked right out from under you.

Most of San Francisco’s branch libraries are kind of small, so the children’s section amounts to a couple of tables with chairs, a few shelves of books, and maybe if you’re lucky a couple of battered stuffed animals. But kids are granted an entire spacious room of their own at the Presidio Branch Library.

The room is behind the librarian’s desk and entirely walled off, giving parents a delightful amount of freedom therein. You needn’t constantly shush your kids for fear they’re bugging the adult library patrons–they’re out in the other room! They can’t hear you! The walls also keep wandering kids in, and potentially creepy adults out.

It’s not quite as secure as as the Main Library’s Fisher Center downtown, which has its own complicated-to-get-to floor. But for a branch library with relatively decent parking and friendly neighborhood cafes (instead of a concrete parking garage and crowds of homeless people), it’s about as good as you can get.

The Presidio Branch Library is located at 3150 Sacramento Street (at Baker Street), San Francisco. Call 415-355-2880 or visit sfpl.org.