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Weekends like this can be among the hardest to keep 'em busy. There's no holiday, and none coming up to prepare for, the outdoors aren't especially inviting—and, thanks to the weather, you probably had a bonus day or two of home time this week and have exhausted a lot of the typical indoor games/DVDs/bribes, etc.
Never fear, Learning to Crawl has some suggestions for cool things to do this weekend and, as always, a list of evergreen ideas at the end. Have fun!
Particularly during these winter months, indoor play areas are a great way to let kids run around and get out some energy (outside of your living room). There's a new one opening in Glen Burnie this weekend, called Just 4 Kids Fun & Fitness. It looks pretty great, with lots of climbing areas and a play fire house, market, and doctor's office. To celebrate their opening this Saturday, there is free admission starting at 1pm, along with face painting, refreshments, door prizes, gift bags, and a raffle. Also, I don't know how much word has gotten out but there's a relatively new ginormous play area in Timonium called Kiddie Crusoe, with 12,000 square feet of climbing areas (including "the ultimate kid climb," pictured here), zip lines, bouncy houses, tube slides, crawling tunnels, Wii lounges—wow. And the best thing—and this is, frankly, revolutionary in my eyes—there's a wifi-enabled cafe where adults can hang out, get a snack, and watch their kids on video monitors. It's $12 per kid for unlimited time, and adults and babies under one are free.
I guess one holiday isn't too far off: Valentine's Day. And a couple local businesses are having kid-centered special events to prepare for the sweetest day. At AC Moore Arts and Crafts in Towson (and at other locations), kids can learn how to make chocolate-covered pretzels. And Caroline's Cupcakery in Locust Point is having a build-your-own-cupcake event from 2 to 4pm on Saturday.
The Baltimore Museum of Art has Free Family Sundays from 2 to 5pm every week and this week the activity is Sculpt Pointy People. One of our favorite Sundays involves brunch at the Papermoon Diner (the boys love their pigs in blankets—or anybody's, to be fair), then a walk over to the BMA, stopping at the little public playground on the way, weather permitting. Maybe we'll see you there!
Of course, there are always the perrenially great-for-kids activities, including the Walters Art Museum, which, besides the great, often kid-friendly exhibits, has a fantastic play area on the lower level with lots of dress up stuff, puppets, puzzles, and an art room where there are facilitators to help you and are kids make great projects (we made an "ice king" last weekend) and bonus: FREE; Also, the Marlyland Science Center ($3 off admission before noon on Saturdays, plus the weekly egg-drop contest), Port Discovery Children's Museum, The Zoo (still open—check out the pic of zebras in the snow (!) on their website), two Storyville locations (we LOVE Storyville), The American Visionary Art Museum (also with kid-friendly exhibits, and the treehouse/sculpture out back if it's not too cold), the various nature centers and conservancies (Oregon Ridge, Irvine, Howard County), and—of course!— the Aquarium.
