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FAMILY Magazine Winners!
Our 11th annual Summer Camp & Activities Fair in April was a big success with over 50 exhibitors and more than 1200 in attendance! Congratulations to Emma Daw, whose Scavenger Hunt form was randomly selected from nearly 300 completed entries. She will receive the raffle basket featured at the Fair.
Also, congratulations to Wanda Rowland for being randomly selected from all those who signed up to receive the Treasure Valley Family Magazine weekly Weekend e-Newsletter. Wanda will receive a Mom’s Basket filled with goodies.
Sign up anytime for the free Weekend e-Newsletter at treasurevalleyfamily.com. The e-Newsletter comes directly to your computer on a weekly basis, filled with information for you to plan a great weekend with your family!
Got teens?! Another great Family Magazine resource is our Treasure Valley Teen website, treasurevalleyteen.com. You can also sign up for a free monthly Teen News Update that will let you know when the information-packed site has been updated with new articles, news, and opportunities.
Mobile Recreation Summer of Fun
Boise Parks & Recreation’s Mobile Recreation Unit will be visiting a school or park in your neighborhood this summer. Kids in grades 1–6 are invited to drop by for sports, art, fitness and nutrition education activities. The van is outfitted with balls, jump ropes, bases, painting supplies, a sound system, and other supplies. Admission is free; no preregistration is required. The Mobile Recreation Van will operate from Monday, June 7 through Friday, August 27.
Mondays: Phillippi Park, Noon–2pm
Tuesdays: Manitou Park, Noon–2pm
Wednesdays: Veteran’s Memorial Park, Noon–2pm and Jullion Park, 3–5pm
Thursdays: Owyhee Park, Noon–2pm
and Liberty Park, 3–5pm
Fridays: Sunset Park, Noon–2pm
For more information, visit www.cityofboise.org/parks, or call 854-4917.
Backyard Campout
We need to give back to our children what they don’t even know they’ve lost—a connection to the natural world. A great place to start is by having the family participate in the 6th annual Great American Backyard Campout on June 26. The National Wildlife Federation encourages parents and kids alike to trade their website for a campsite and screen time for green time to experience a night with Mother Nature.
The average American child spends just four to seven minutes playing outside each day. In the last two decades, childhood has literally moved indoors with kids spending more than six hours per day in front of electronic media.
Studies show that outdoor time helps children grow lean and strong, enhances creativity and attention spans, decreases aggression, and boosts classroom performance. Bottom line: healthier, happier kids.
A night under the stars will help kids understand why they call it the great outdoors! The National Wildlife Federation is providing everything you need to know to make your experience a positive one. Check out backyard campout.org for lots of great ideas to get your adventure started.
Another great resource to get your family excited about spending time outdoors is Be Outside Idaho (beout sideidaho.org). The website is full of ideas to help you get your children connected with nature, from backyards to mountaintops.
Great for a Road Trip
Bananagrams! For Kids brings Bananagrams to a new format and is the perfect treat for kids who love puzzles and wordplay. There’s no denying that kids love Bananagrams, which was a puzzle craze and Game of the Year winner at the 2009 International Toy Fair. Bananagrams began with a simple idea: “An anagram game that is so fast it will drive you bananas!” The game starts with 144 letter tiles in a banana-shaped bag and captures all the fun of crosswords and word games like Scrabble and Boggle.
This smart, just-for-kids collection of original and unexpected word puzzles captures the quick-on-your-feet spirit of Bananagrams. What’s invisible to children is that behind the silly names and clever formats, these games have a strong educational side. Take this book of puzzles on the road for hours of entertaining and educational play!
Awesome Projects to Do with Dad
Skate ramps, zip lines, go-carts, and more! In this super-fun book, Todd Davis (extreme sports athlete and host of HGTV’s Over Your Head) presents 25 awesome projects for dads to build with their kids. Busy dads can choose projects that range from simple to challenging and take anywhere from five minutes to a full weekend. Readers are given all the directions they need to grab materials that can be found around the house or at the local hardware store. They’ll get to work banging up a sweet BMX ramp or half-pipe, building a tree house or tire swing, or throwing together a slip-and-slide or tie-dye station for an afternoon of fun. With plenty of color photographs, easy-to-follow instructions, and detailed illustrations, Handy Dad is chock-full of creative and inexpensive ways to keep kids (and dads) entertained for hours.
Story Trail
A new Story Trail enables parents and young children to read a book and learn about nature while taking a short hike at the Foothills Learning Center. Each month pages from books about animals, plants, and insects will be posted on 10 child-size reading platforms interspersed along the trail. The reading platforms were built by C.J. Marler of the Ore-Ida Council’s Troop 90 for his Eagle Scout project. Ansley Rawlins, a 2009 Foothills Learning Center summer intern, worked with Boise Public Library staff on the reading list.
The trail, which starts on the west side of the building near the split rail fence, is open seven days a week from sunrise to sunset. There is no admission charge. Highlighted books for the summer months are The Butterfly Hunt by Yoshi for June, Stellaluna by Janell Cannon for July, and Hey, Little Ant by Phillip & Hannah Hoose for August.
To get to the Foothills Learning Center, take 8th Street north through Boise’s North End. From the end of the pavement go 1/3 mile, and the FLC will be on your right. For more information, visit boiseenvironmentaleducation.org or call 493-2530.
Pool Safety
Keep your family safe this summer by following these tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics (aap.org).
• Install a fence at least four feet high around all four sides of the pool. The fence should not have openings or protrusions that a young child could use to get over, under, or through.
• Make sure pool gates open out from the pool, and self-close and self-latch at a height children can’t reach.
• Never leave children alone in or near the pool, even for a moment.
• Keep rescue equipment (a shepherd’s hook—a long pole with a hook on the end—and life preserver) and a portable telephone near the pool. Choose a shepherd’s hook and other rescue equipment made of fiberglass or other materials that do not conduct electricity.
• Avoid inflatable swimming aids such as “floaties.” They are not a substitute for approved life vests and can give children a false sense of security.
• Children may not be developmentally ready for swim lessons until after their fourth birthday. Swim programs for children under 4 should not be seen as a way to decrease the risk of drowning.
• Whenever infants or toddlers are in or around water, an adult should be within arm’s length, providing “touch supervision.”
Musical Space Journey
Celebrated independent children’s recording group Recess Monkey invites families to join them on an intergalactic voyage with the release of their sixth studio CD, The Final Funktier. Fifteen songs of high-energy funk and new wave grooves take listeners on a stratospheric dance party that occasionally touches down on solid ground with moon boots, jet packs, sunglasses, satellites, and booster seats in hand.
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