A Day at the Boston Children's Musuem

If you are visiting the city of Boston with your young children, a trip to the Boston Children's Museum is a great way to spend your day. The museum is a private, nonprofit educational institution that has been entertaining and teaching children for over 90 years. It is located on Children's Warf, 308 Congress Street, Boston and is open every day from 10-5 (and until 9:00 pm on Fridays). We spent Tuesday of our April vacation exploring all of the interesting exhibits.

There is nothing like having an entire area devoted to making bubbles and the wetter, soapier and messier, the better! The boys tried to make a huge bubble by standing inside a ring, that was dipped in bubble solution, and hoisting up the ring by a pulley. No boy in the bubble here, it was harder than it looked! They had a blast using the large rings to make enormous bubbles. James was proud of his gigantic bubble that I caught in a picture moments before it met its demise.

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A Winter Activity for Kids- The Children's Museum of New Hampshire

Well, we didn't make it to Disney World this February vacation (we haven't gone as a family yet) but our day trip to the Children's Museum of New Hampshire was a lot of fun. The museum was chock-full of kid games and activities and proved to be a great winter activity for kids. New Hampshire schools actually schedule their February vacation next week, so it wasn't very busy, which made our visit really enjoyable.



We stopped by the World Cultures Exhibit and had some fun trying on masks from Mexico, Africa and Indonesia. We learned how wooden masks are constructed and had a chance to beat on a variety of African drums.



The Yellow Submarine is one of the museum's newer exhibits. After James took his shift at the wheel, they both took their nap in the bunk beds. (James is a little too big for his tiny bunk!) In the submarine, the kids could operate the periscope to search the museum above, identify mysterious deep-sea sounds at the listening station, and use sonar to measure the distance from objects.



We visited the project area, which is a great place for crafts and activities. The kids could make a collage, play with magnet exhibits and make snowflakes using patterns provided by the museum. The table with the Lokon pieces was a big hit. We have never seen these before! They are a lot of fun to build with!



The kids had a chance to become paleontologists! At this exhibit, you "climb" into a mountainside dig site and help unearth Triceratops fossils. Next you take part in the scientific process as you compare its jaws, claws and vertebrae to those of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Here the kids (and Dad) are making rubbings of ammonite fossils.

This is just a glmpse of our day. There were so many great exhibits that we enjoyed, like the "Build It Fly It", the "Chocecosystem" and the "First Impressions." The museum will host your child's birthday party and offers programs like science classes and overnights for children ranging from preschool through middle school. It certainly is a great place for kids my age. When I asked the kids if they would like to go back to the museum someday, they both replied, "SURE! Sure, Sure, Sure." I guess that's a yes.

Birthday Party Favor Ideas

My five year old would love this treasure chest party favor for his next birthday party. Each child gets a treasure chest to paint. While the paint is drying, they are off to search for the treasure! This little favor just keeps on giving- giving the kids something to do, giving you something for the kids to do and finally, giving your wallet a break. These are available on Oriental Trading for $19.99 per dozen. The beads, fake gold coins and plastic jewels can't be that expensive! I am sure discount stores like Big Lots, Five Below and the Dollar Store have a big selection.

I have walked out of I-Party horrified having spent well over $50, and for what? - a bunch of junky stuff that all the kids' moms hope is left behind at my house! If the treasure chest and pirate themed party isn't what you had in mind, and you are in the market for some creative kid's party favors, you need to check out Real Simple's 8 Creative Children's Party Favors Article.

Note: One reviewer on Oriental Trader had the kids decorate with wood markers, jewel adhesives and pirate stickers, all from OT. She also suggests using the treasure chests to hold the candy/loot from the pinata.

In the Presence of a Saint at the McDonald's Play Place

I took the boys to McDonald's Play Place today for something fun to do on their day off. It's the same old tunnel and slide, but it never gets boring for them. I still have to say, "5 more minutes guys," to prepare them before we have to leave. So I am enjoying these innocent moments now, because soon enough James will be "too old" for the Play Place both officially (age limit is 11) and mentally (Oh, Mom! That's for little kids!)




Here are James and Ryan enjoying a happy meal. Notice the mom in the red sweater in the background. Not that you can see them, but she is with three children under five (two in high chairs) and her mother (grandma). It was watching this mom that made me realize, Wow! I must be in the presence of a saint!

Grandma had arrived five minutes before mom with one child. She found a high chair, took off her grandson's jacket and waited. Next, mom in red sweater arrives with two more children, a girl about four and another toddler in need of a high chair. After another few minutes of removing coats and settling in, Mom in red sweater goes back to get the food. A few more minutes pass and mom in red sweater returns with the food. Mom places the tray on the table and happily announces that she will now go and get the drinks. A few more minutes pass and mom returns with drinks. Food is past out and drinks are past out and mom in red sweater finally sits down.

The next thing that happened made me think I was watching a sitcom. It is not kid number one, two, nor three, but grandma who knocks over a rather large soda, which lands on the four-year-old's coat and on the floor right at grandma's feet. Mom gets up and calmly wipes of the jacket, gives grandma some napkins and joyfully announces (are you kidding?) that she will go and get more napkins. As I watch all of this, I realize that probably twenty minutes have past and mom in red sweater has not had one bite of her food. Not even a food fight would have ruined this mom's mood. Amazingly though, the kids ate their food quietly while mom cleaned up the mess.

I'm not sure how many minutes have past now, but mom in red sweater finally sits down to take her first bite. Before she does, she thoughtfully asks, "Jackson, how are your apples?"

"Mom, I have to go to the bathroom!" says Justine. "Of course you do," replies mom. Grandma quickly gets up to take Justine to the bathroom before mom in red sweater has to get up for the fourth or fifth time (Sadly, I've lost count.) At this point, I was about to offer to take Justine to the bathroom!

And then finally, after what seemed like hours to me, mom in red sweater took her first bite. Thank God. I figure this is why she is so skinny- she has the patience of a saint (not a stress eater) and with this group she never gets a chance to eat anyway!

Volunteering in Kindergarten with Apologies to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

When I was asked about volunteering in my son’s kindergarten classroom, I hesitated, and thought, geeze don’t they have enough mom’s that come in? Will Mrs. R. really have enough for me to do, every Tuesday afternoon?

Now that I have a couple of weeks of volunteering under my belt, I have learned that Mrs. R. really does need the help, is so appreciative when I come in, and as far as having enough for me to do? I left that classroom on Tuesday thinking, who is going to volunteer to help me?

I was handed a stack of construction paper, some patterns to trace and a sample “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” for our reference. I sat at the head of the table and one-by one Mrs.R. called the anxious kids over.

I traced the pattern of Rudolph’s body - simple enough -no head, no legs, no tail. Great! I cranked out a few of these and thought, this is going to be easy. Next, was Rudolph's head, I traced a simple round shape, perfect.

“ I need antlers now!” said Nick. “Yeah I need antlers too!” said Travis. “Me too!” Erin yelled.

At that point, I rifled through my patterns for antlers. As I started to trace the intricate antlers, the demands were fired at me for bows, eyes and “What about my nose?” Erin yelled.

Just when I thought I was caught up, my “little angel” Ryan sauntered over. He plopped himself down in the seat directly on my right. Ryan was clearly in one of his silly moods. For his first trick, he took a glue stick and turned it all the way up, so the entire glue portion was exposed. His classmates informed me of this, as I traced my heart out.

“Ryan is the class clown!” Creighton laughed. Erin made the “ok” sign with her hand and showed me how Ryan flicks her over and over at quiet time. Ryan was the center of attention at the table and loved every minute of it.

As he sat and joked with his friends, his patterns remained untouched in front of him. Through clenched teeth, I whispered, “Ryan, do your project……Ryan do your project.” I got so desperate I pulled out the big guns. “You know, Ryan, Mommy won’t come in anymore…..if this is how you are going to behave.”

Perhaps it was this threat that turned Ryan’s attention back to his Rudolph or maybe it was just that his friends lost interest in his shenanigans. I’m not so sure. I was too busy tracing antlers, legs, bows, eyes and of course red noses.

The once neat and organized table was a disheveled disaster of construction paper, patterns, glue sticks, scissors and some odd looking Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

One Rudolph had two antlers, but each was a different color brown paper. One Rudolph had antlers glued at the base of his neck, while one had a leg missing. Ryan’s reindeer ended up with short antlers thrown together out of scrap tracings - ah the perks of having Mom volunteer!

While I was not sure if I did more harm than good that hour, Mrs. R. thanked me for my help, reassured me that all was fine and said, “It’s just organized chaos.”

Be the first to comment on one of your volunteering experiences. Hopefully, it went better than mine!!