Flubber

Flubber

 

Flubber is not just a Disney movie.  If you've never made it, give it a try.  It is a fun alternative to play-doh and it fairly easy to make and store.

 

Recipe:

1. In a large container, combine 1.5 cups warm water, 2 cups white glue and food coloring.
2. In a second, smaller container, combine 11/3 cups warm water with 3 tsp. Borax.  (You'll find Borax near the laundry detergent)
3. Mix ingredients in each container thoroughly.
4. Pour contents of small container into the large container.
5. Mixing gets tricky at this point.  You won't be able to stir it and will have to use your hands.  Lift it, turn it, squeeze it.  One part will be solid while the rest is still liquid.  Just keep squeezing it through your fingers. Flubber will be sticky at first, but once most of the liquid is mixed in it is ready.

What to do with flubber?  Just experiment!  We were introduced to it at a science museum, so they gave us various experiments to try...  What happens when you stretch it? Squeeze it? Put a thin piece of it over the top of a jar?  Kids will find their own things to try.  We usually pull out some of the cookie cutters we use with play-doh as well.  One thing that always fascinates me is to leave the cookie cutters (or any other small plastic toys) on top of the flubber when we put it away in the container.   They will slowly sink and the flubber will flow over and completely cover them.  The next time you pull the flubber out the surface will be completely smooth like the cookie cutters were never there.  So if you had a giant vat of flubber and sat in the middle of it... yikes!

 

You can store flubber in an airtight container for about three weeks.  It is non-edible, so if you have little ones that like to experiment by putting things in their mouths, keep an eye on them.  It seems like two cups of elmers glue mixed with anything would simply create a huge mess, but cleanup is pretty easy.  We do use plastic mats or trays to keep things contained.

 

Red Fish

Red Fish

 

Even though I work with technology in schools, I still try to limit the amount of screen time my kids get.  When they are doing something online, I want to make sure it is worthwhile, and Red Fish gets my vote.

http://www.poissonrouge.com/home.php

(www.poissonrouge.com will take to you a donation page)

As you can see from the url, the website is French, but one of the things that I really like about the site is there there is very little text.  The site is full of games, but there are no directions.  This lets kids explore in the same way they would physical toys.  What happens when I push this?  Pull that?  Move this?  Regardless of the game they play, there's value in simply exploring and discovering.

The initial screen presents something that looks like a playroom.  Various items lead to games when clicked on, other items lead to different screens that present more objects to click on...  that lead to more games.  There's tons to do and if I gave my kids unlimited time, they'd explore for hours.

 

Games is not really the right word though.  There's no shooting, no points, and lives, etc.  Again many of the activities are more like electronic versions of toys rather than typical video games.

 

What's the learning potential?  For kids new to computers, this is great mouse practice.  Not only do they need to click and move items, they also learn to recognize when something can be clicked.  Does it move, change color, does my cursor change?  We take that for granted, but kids need experience it to learn it.  Because Red Fish is language neutral, there are no Learn-to-Read activities.  There are some vocabulary activities in a variety of languages - which could be a nice intro to other languages.  Mostly the activities are just good clean fun that promotes exploration, curiosity, and discovery - all good in my book!

Turn Playmobil into a Board Game

Turn Playmobil into a Board Game

 

We are big fans of Playmobil in our house.  I love it, my kids love it, and they will play with it for hours.  But today we added a twist to keep things interesting.  Using a white board and some dry erase markers we created a game board and our Playmobil became the game pieces.  

 

Here's the setup and rules we came up with:

Draw a path of squares on the white board - straight, curvy, long, short - up to you.

Pick a few squares to put some "bad" items on.  We used pirate flags and skulls from our Playmobil pirate ship.  

Pick a few squares to put some "bonus" items on.  We picked some  transportation items - a bike, horse, and camel.  

All the other squares get regular items.  We just used any accessories - hats, magic wands, flowers, little animals, all those fun little pieces that come with Playmobil sets.

Each player picks a Playmobil figure and lines them up at the start of the path.  

We didn't have any dice handy, so we picked five little Playmobil objects, drew a circle in the middle of our board, and tossed the objects in.  Count up the number of objects inside the circle, and that's how many spaces you move.  If you want to use dice, they'll work just as well.

Anytime a player lands on a regular space, he takes the items found there.  The object of the game is to collect as many items as you can before reaching the finish line.

If a player lands on a "bad" space, she has to drop all her collected items in that space and move the "bad" item to any empty space.  If this happens to a player it creates a "really good" space with a whole pile of items.   

If a player lands on a "good" space, he can now move along the path in either direction.  That's why we used transportation type objects for these spaces.  This allows players to go backwards to collect missed items or avoid bad spaces.

The player with the most items when they cross the finish line wins.  

Variations:

The nice thing is you can pretty much make up any rules you want!

• We used Playmobil, obviously you could play with anything... Lego, Barbies,   etc.
• Don't have a big whiteboard - use blocks, sticky notes, or a large piece of cardboard or paper to create a path.
• Maybe transportation pieces allow a player to move double the number they roll?  Or they let a player choose how many spaces to move.  Example: roll a four and you can move one, two, three, or four spaces.
• Add a motivator at the end of the path to give a bonus to the first player to finish - a collection of items that will give their score a boost.  
• What happens if a player lands on an occupied space?  Maybe they have to give that person one of their items.  Or maybe both players are forced to trade their entire collection of items.
• Rather than a single linear path, create a path with multiple branches or simply a grid of spaces so players can choose their own path - adding an element of strategy.
• Change the game as much as you like, as often as you like, and HAVE FUN!

Too Cold to Play Outside

We have been getting some interesting weather in the DC area.  Unfortunately, none of it has been very good for going outside.  It has been cold, windy, wet, or all three.  The cold weather wouldn't be so bad if we had snow like last year, but any snow we've gotten so far has barely been worth a snow day.  Icy, not enough to cover the grass, and gone before you can even sift though the basement looking for your sled.

So what's a Dad to do while the kids are stuck inside on a snow day?  Since I don't think we'll be motivated to head out to any playgrounds in the near future, I will be working on some entries about games and activities to keep us busy while we're all waiting for spring.  

Dutch Wonderland

Dutch Wonderland

 

Location: 2249 Lincoln Highway East Lancaster, PA 17602

Park Website

My Opinion:

Features:

OK, not really a playground, and not in the DC area, but definitely worth the trip if you have kids in the 5-10 range.  This amusement park is designed for kids, prices are reasonable, and lines were minimal.   When we were there the longest wait was only about ten minutes, and we were on most rides in just a couple minutes, sometimes with no waiting at all.  We really liked the fact that everyone in the park was in the same age bracket - parents with young kids.  We didn't have to look for rides that would be OK for our kids, because they were all OK.

Our seven year old was fine riding everything.  Our four year old rode almost everything, but we steered him away from the two roller coasters.  There were some kiddie rides we didn't bother with, and some our four year old was happy to ride while our seven year old was on the coasters.

There's a small water park as well.  Two water slides, and a large water playground with smaller slides, fountains, and lots of other fun ways to get wet.









They also have a number of shows, story telling, singing, etc.  We watched a high dive performance that included a princess and frog prince.  The kids thought it was pretty cool... I did too.

We started our visit with a trip on the Sky Ride which takes you from one side of the park to the other on a small ski lift type seat.  It was a great way to get a sense of what rides were there and to figure out where we wanted to go next.

What's Unique:

The park offers a preview.  Just buy tickets for the following day and you can enter the park for free three hours before closing.  This worked out great.  We spent about two hours in the park Saturday evening and then came back for a full day on Sunday.

Everyone working in the park was pleasant.  People working the rides spoke to the kids, greeting them, telling them to have fun on the ride, and then asking them how their ride was.  The most striking example of this was a young woman that was working the Sky Ride as we were leaving the park toward the end of the day.  It had been a long hot day and as our car approached the unloading area I could see that she was exhausted.  But as we got up to her she gave us a friendly smile and asked if we had a good ride. 

The food in the park was decent.  There were funnel cakes of course, but there were some healthy options as well.

Restrooms: there always seemed to be one nearby and the ones we went in were clean. Some family restrooms as well.

Sun/Shade: Use sunblock and wear hats.   Thankfully, most of the lines for rides were in shady areas.

Nearby:

There are many places to eat on Lincoln Highway if you're looking for something other than what's offered inside.  A right turn out of the park brought us to a Starbucks - iced coffee and chocolate milk were welcome treats during the mid-day heat and getting away from the busy park atmosphere for an hour to relax on a couch in an air conditioned Starbucks totally recharged our batteries.  The big basket of kids books came in handy too.

We hit Sonic Drive-in after leaving the park for the day. Picture a parking lot full of menu screens.  Press the button, someone takes your order, slide your card, and a few minutes later someone walks your food out to your car.  They also have an outdoor area with tables, but no indoor seating.  Cool concept, friendly people, and the food was really good.

Also in the area is the Strasburg Railroad.  Definitely worth doing while you're in the area.  We drove up on a Saturday morning, did the railroad in the afternoon, and previewed Dutch Wonderland in the evening.  The train is amazing, and the ride is a lot of fun. The train stops at a picnic area on it's way back to Strasburg and passengers can get off, have a picnic, and then catch a train back to the station when they're finished.  Plus there's a swing set, merry-go-round, and teeter totters, so maybe this post really is about a playground!

Falls Road Park - Hadley's Playground

Falls Road Park - Hadley's Playground

 

Location: 12600 Falls Road, Potomac, MD 

Park Website

  Metro:

Rockville - 2.6 miles (Red) Looks like the T2 bus will take you form the station to the park

You can also pick up Rockville's Millennium Trail near the Rockville station.  It runs along Norbeck Road and Wooton Parkway, and crosses Falls Road near the park.

My Opinion:

Features:

This place is really cool.  There are three main areas that are designed to look like a pirate ship, a castle, and a fort.  Each area has things to climb, platforms, bridges, slides, etc.  There are also some swings and a monkey bar area.

What's Unique:

Having the equipment themed as a ship, castle, and fort made this playground really fun.  Instead of just climbing around, kids were really using there imaginations.  While we were there, a group of girls all hid in the castle and pretended to be princesses, and a group of boys went the the ship to be pirates.  Then the pirates stormed the castle, captured a princess, and took her back to their ship.  What followed seemed a lot like tag and involved a lot of laughing.

There's a lot of space.  It seemed odd at first when I saw how spread out the equipment is, but after watching my kids play I realized they were doing a lot more running around than they normally do at a playground -   races, tag, hide and seek - simply because they had the space to do it.    Next time we go here (the kids were already planning their next visit on the car ride home) we'll bring the scooters and take advantage of all this flat and cushioned riding space.

Restrooms:Yes

Sun/Shade:Sunny!  There are some covered areas with tables, but the playground is out in the open.  There are some small trees on the east side of the park, so there will be some morning shade.  Go early. 

Surface: rubber mats.

A right turn out of the park, a left on Montrose, and then a right on Seven Locks will get you to a Giant, a McDonald's, and some other options.  A left out of the park, a right on Wooton Parkway, and then a left on Seven Locks will get you to a Starbucks.

Montrose Park

Montrose Park

 

Location: R Street NW (between 28th and 32nd)  Washington,DC   

Park Website

Metro:

Dupont Circle - 1.1 miles (Red )  
Rosslyn - 1.6 miles (Orange/Blue)








My Opinion:

Features:

This is one of our favorite parks... probably our favorite.  We used to live nearby and would come of Montrose a couple times each week.  My kids were really excited to visit it again.  The playground is actually quite small.  Just one slide (plus a half slide for little ones), some fun things to climb on, a sandbox, some swings, and a merry-go-round.  But there's just something about this place.  It's relaxing for adults and kids just seem to love it.

What's Unique:

 This is what keeps my kids begging to go back to this park.  They loved it as toddlers, as we slowly walked it around in circles, and they love it now that they're older and can push it for themselves, or even better push it slowly for a little one.

 This is also pretty cool.  Kids hang under it, crawl over the top, and this big kid likes to see how many times I can back and forth before my arms give out.










The playground was renovated with support from the Georgetown community,  and they put the money to good use.  The playground surface and equipment are well maintained, and the whole playground fits nicely into historic Georgetown, the wrought iron railing and style of the equipment blending in nicely with the gas lights lining the park path and the brick sidewalks on R Street.

Restrooms:Yes, but they're a short walk form the playground.  There is a small building with restrooms if you follow the paved path that cuts diagonally across the grass toward R Street.

Sun/Shade: mostly shade - the park has some beautiful old trees so there will usually be shade somewhere on the playground unless you're there right at noon.

Surface:
Springy rubber surface

Enclosure: the main area is enclosed, but the swings and sandbox are outside the fence.

Nearby:

Georgetown!  A right turn on R Street will take to out to Wisconsin Avenue where you'll find a variety of shops and restaurants.  If you take a right on Wisconsin, you'll get to a brand new Safeway and a Whole Foods a little farther up.  There's also a Starbucks across from the Safeway.  A left turn on Wisconsin will take you into the heart of Georgetown, M Street, the waterfront, and a lot more restaurants.

Two recommendations for great places to eat with kids:
Le Petit Corner Store - tiny little place mostly filled with Turkish groceries, but the paninis are amazing.  The owners are friendly and go out of their way to take care of customers.  This is no fast food joint, so be prepared to wait for you food...  relax, take a look at the groceries, sit outside and people watch... it's worth the wait.

Papa Razi - great place for a fancier meal with kids.  Our kids love the food and feel like it's a treat to go there, we love the food and don't feel like we're making a compromise just because we're dining with kids.  Great atmosphere inside and they also have a second floor deck it you want to eat outside.

 Also near the playground is Dumbarton Oaks where you can tour the historic house and the beautiful gardens surrounding the property.  If you'd prefer a less formal walk in the woods, down the hill to the west of the playground you can explore paths that connect to Rock Creek Park.