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Camp & Education Fair
Mark your calendar to attend the Camp & Education Fair! The day of family fun is presented by Treasure Valley Family Magazine on Saturday, April 30 from 11am–5pm at Expo Idaho (North Building).
For the past 11 years we have presented our annual Summer Camp & Activities Fair, but this 12th year, we’ve expanded the Fair, making it bigger and better for families.
This one-day Fair will still offer parents and kids the chance to learn about summer enrichment opportunities including local and residential camps, learning programs, classes, and summer fun activities. But now it will also include offerings and choices in education and academics. Expect to see and visit with representatives from public school districts; charter, magnet, and independent schools; preschools, online education, tutors, and much more. You’ll have the chance to meet one-on-one with camp directors and school representatives to help you make informed decisions regarding your child’s interests and needs.
What else is happening at the Fair? It’s our annual Cover Kids Search, the day we choose local kids to represent our magazine covers for the upcoming year. Our 2011 Cover Kids Search beneficiary is the Idaho Foodbank’s “Picnic in the Park” program, helping children of all ages during the summer months who might be missing out on meals that they would receive during the school year through reduced breakfast and lunch programs. Cost to enter the Search is $10 per child. Download your entry form at treasurevalleyfamily.com.
For more information on the Camp & Education Fair, email
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or call 938-2119.
Boise Bicycle Universe
The Boise Bike Brigade, a grassroots coalition for bicycling enthusiasts, has a new website, boisebicycle universe.com. The site is a one-stop-shop for everything bike-related in Boise. It’s a gathering spot that provides links to safety, public agencies, bike shops and services, events and venues, clubs, and teams.
A cool feature of boisebicycleuniverse.com is its “Rule the Universe” interactive game. Players attempt to shoot tire-shredding goatheads and wreck-inducing cosmic sludge, and avoid astrodogs, all while collecting spare tires and laser-juice batteries. The game will track players’ scores each month as they battle for prizes.
As the weather begins to be warmer and the days are growing longer, more children are heading out on their bikes. This website has links to many good resources to make sure that your children are finding safe routes to school, putting on a helmet, enjoying an event, and much more.
Check out www.boisebicycleuniverse.com, visit the Boise Bike Brigade on Facebook, or follow the group on Twitter.
National Bookmobile Day
National Bookmobile Day, Wednesday, April 13, celebrates our nation’s bookmobiles and the dedicated library professionals who provide this valuable and essential service to their communities every day.
The Boise Public Library’s Bookmobile is a mobile library-in-a-bus making six regular stops throughout Boise. Readers can choose from a varying selection of popular literature, request specific titles for pick-up, and borrow movies, music, and recorded books.
The current BPL Bookmobile schedule is shown below. Call 384-4238 or 384-4269 for more information.
Wednesday:
Noon–3pm, Mill Station at Harris Ranch
4–7pm, Eastgate Shopping Center
Thursday:
Noon–3pm, Shoshone Park
4–7pm, Columbia Village Albertsons
Saturday:
10am–noon, Ustick Township Redwood Park
1–4pm, Albertsons at Eagle Road & McMillan
March for Babies
The March of Dimes helps to fund research that focuses on putting an end to premature birth, infant mortality, and birth defects. Its primary goal is for all women to deliver healthy babies. In order to achieve this goal, the March of Dimes reaches out to communities to raise money for much-needed research, education, and community programs.
The largest fundraiser of the year is March for Babies. This 10K walk is an opportunity for individuals, corporations, and families to make a substantial impact in the fight for healthy babies. Each person or team collects pledges before attending the walk. The walk is a day filled with faces of the cause. There will be families walking in memory of babies they lost and families walking in honor of premature babies who have grown into healthy children.
The day of the walk becomes a celebration with music, food, kids’ activities, and of course the walk itself. This year, the Boise March for Babies is Saturday,
April 30. You can join an existing team or create your own team. Simply register online at marchforbabies.org. A Kick-Off Party for family teams will be held April 2 from 11am–1pm at the Boise Public Library, main branch. If you have questions or want more information, please contact
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.
Allergy Awareness
April is Allergy Awareness Month and fittingly so. As trees and flowers start to bloom, grasses start to grow, and ground thaws and releases mold spores, many people begin to suffer from allergic reactions to these lovely signs of spring. There are few areas of children’s health that are more important to parents and pediatricians than good respiratory health. To help parents whose children have allergy and asthma issues, pediatricians have updated information and advice in the second edition of Allergies and Asthma: What Every Parent Needs to Know, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Some Asthma Fables and Facts:
Fable: Asthma comes and goes.
Fact: Asthma is often an inflammatory condition that is always in the airways, even when the person is not having trouble breathing. The underlying condition never goes away, although it can be controlled with medication and environmental control measures.
Fable: Asthma is an emotional disorder, it’s “all in the mind.”
Fact: Asthma is a lung disease; it affects the airways, not the brain. Changes in the airways in asthma occur through physiological mechanisms, not emotional ones.
Fable: Children grow out of asthma.
Fact: Most children who have asthma are born with a tendency to keep the condition for life. It is true that many children get much better with age, and their asthma appears to go away completely. However, many have it return as they grow into adulthood.
Excerpted with permission from Allergies and Asthma: What Every Parent Needs to Know, 2nd Ed. (©2011)
Extraordinary Bracelets
Safety Pin Bracelets by Kaitlyn Nichols (Klutz) shows how anyone can craft an entire collection of brilliantly sparking jewelry out of garden-variety safety pins. The book includes 12 unique bracelet designs, from waves that swirl around your wrist to fancy fan shapes and pixelated pictures that look like bead mosaics. All the styles give the humble safety pin unprecedented glamour. The book includes everything you need to make amazing one-of-a-kind bracelets: safety pins, beads, metallic elastic cord, easy-to-follow directions, and design grids.
Music for Aardvarks & Other Mammals
Comprised entirely of new songs, All I Want! is David Weinstone’s 16th Music for Aardvarks recording. In this album, Weinstone continues to push the envelope both musically and lyrically, soaring through an exhilarating range of styles and executing them with superb musical literacy and a richness of instrumentation. Weinstone brings authentic childhood experiences to life with a sophistication and intelligence that is fun and entertaining for all listeners. He is creating music for today’s child that is grounded in tradition, yet culturally hip.
Green Tips for Earth Day
Celebrate Earth Day on April 22 and plan for the future with a few Green Tips provided by the EPA.
• Reduce your carbon footprint! Leaving your car at home twice a week can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 pounds per year. Save up errands and shopping trips so you need to drive fewer times. If you commute to work, ask if you can work from home at least some days, and you’ll reduce air pollution and traffic congestion—and save money.
• Don’t idle! Remind your school system to turn off bus engines when buses are parked. Exhaust from idling school buses can pollute air in and around the bus, and can enter school buildings through air intakes, doors, and open windows. Constant idling also wastes fuel and money, and school bus engines really need only a few minutes to warm up.
• Make it a full load! Run your dishwasher only when it’s full. Don’t pre-rinse dishes—tests show pre-rinsing doesn’t improve dishwasher cleaning, and you’ll save as much as 20 gallons of water per load. When you buy a new dishwasher, look for one that saves water. Water-efficient models use only about 4 gallons per wash.
• Shower power! A full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, but taking a five-minute shower saves water by using 10 to 25 gallons. Put a little timer or clock near your shower so you can see how fast you are. Save even more water, and money on your water bill, by installing a water-efficient showerhead.
• Compost it! Compost helps improve soil so it holds more water and plants grow better. Allow grass clippings to stay on the lawn, instead of bagging them. The cut grass will decompose and return to the soil naturally. Food scraps and kitchen waste also make good compost, and you save money on fertilizers or other additives.
• Don’t let pet waste run off! You can help reduce polluted storm water runoff by just picking up your pet’s poop and disposing of it properly. Leaving pet waste on the ground increases public health risks by allowing harmful bacteria or organic material to wash into the storm drain and eventually into local bodies of water. So remember—always scoop the poop!
• Don’t trash it—reuse it! Be creative as you look for new ways to reduce the amount or kinds of household waste. Give cardboard tubes to pet hamsters or gerbils. Plant seeds in an egg carton. Make a flower pot out of a plastic ice cream tub. By thinking creatively, you will often find new uses for common items and new ways to recycle and reduce waste.
For more tips and information, go to www.epa.gov/earthday. Help protect the environment, Earth Day and every day!
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