Ridgmar Kids Club

On the 1st Thursday of the Month the Ridgmar Mall in West Forth Worth has a Kids Club activity. What this basically means is that they arrange some sort of kid friendly place (the Fort Worth Zoo, Log Cabin Village, Home Depot, etc) to come and do a presentation. Many vendors also set up booths, and the kids get all sorts of free stuff. Last month, the Fort Worth Police Department was there doing free, laminated ID cards for the kids!

Thursday, April 1st, 2010 - Fort Worth Zoo Wild Wonders Program
Thursday, May 6, 2010 - Come and make something fun for Mother's Day!
Thursday, June 3, 2010 - Father's Day Fun!

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

You can also find other upcoming dates by visiting the Ridgmar Mall Events Page.

Bailey's Berry Patch

Every year, my Mom, my sisters and I get up well before the crack of dawn to drive several hours north to pick blackberries and blueberries. Then we trek home and spend the day making blackberry jelly. It has become a tradition. It's also something that my kids have come to love. Here's the skinny:

Where: Bailey's Berry Patch is located in Sadler, TX - which is north of Denton between Gainsville and Sherman. (About 1 1/2 hours from Fort Worth)

When: They open when they have the first berries - typically June - and are open until about mid-July.

Hours: This varies each season. Last year, they opened at 8 a.m. and were open until the berries were picked out. Be there on time if you actually want berries!

Cost: $12 for a one gallon level bucket. This ends up being much cheaper than buying your berries at the store. They provide everything you need to pick the berries, but you may want to bring a cooler to get the berries home.

Other Stuff: They sell lots of other things - preserves, syrups, salsas, blueberry lemonade (yum!). They have lots of fun activities planned throughout the season. They also have picnic tables you can eat at as well as a fish pond with food for sale for feed the fish.

Website: Bailey's Berry Patch You should go visit the website and sign up for the newsletter. Ann, the "Berry Lady" sends out newsletters to let you know when the berries will be ready for picking. Not only is she just the cutest lady, but she'll also include yummy recipes! If that doesn't work for you, they now have a Facebook page that you can join - click here - that will give you info too.

Butterflies in the Garden

Every year, the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens has an display called "Butterflies in the Garden." It's basically exactly what it sounds like. They have an indoor atrium, and they release butterflies from around the world. Here's the info:

Dates: Typically March. In 2010 the dates are February 27th - April 4th.

Cost:
Adults 13 - 64 = $10.00
Seniors 65+ = $8.00
Children 3 -12 = $6.00

Website: Fort Worth Botanic Gardens - Butterflies in the Garden

Word of Warning: You cannot bring strollers inside! So, if you have a small baby, you should plan accordingly!

My Review: While this was a neat exhibit, I did not think it was worth the price. It cost $16 for me and my 3-year old, and we only spent 15-20 minutes inside. The butterflies were beautiful (and some really large!), but there were not as many as I thought there would be. We actually enjoyed walking around the gardens and eating lunch more than the exhibit!

Heart Attack

One fun idea that we've done for our kids is to heart attack the house before they wake up on Valentines Day. We cut a bunch of hearts out of construction paper, and then write random things on them. Most are typical conversation heart type things - "I love you" and "U R Cute", but we like to include ones with things are kids like at the moment. We've had "I Love Troy" for our daughter who likes High School Musical, or "Yu-Gi-Oh Rocks" for our son. Our kids love waking up and reading all the random messages. They've even heart attacked us back!

Drive-in Movie

As summer wound down, the kids were getting more and more antsy. So, I was looking for a way to keep them entertained. Since the free movies had ended, we decided to have a drive in movie - in our game room.

We made a trip to the store to pick out snacks and a trip to the movie store to pick out a movie. (You could just watch a movie you have and make treats at home to make it cheaper!)

As I got everything ready, I sent the kids upstairs to make a "car" to watch the movie in. You could use large plastic boxes, cardboard boxes, chairs, or whatever is lying around. Let the kids be creative!

We set up a snack/lunch table.


I gave the kids $10 in Monopoly money, and they used it to buy whatever they wanted. (Although I did require that they buy pizza first so they didn't have just candy for lunch!)

And then we watched the movie! The kids had a blast and it was a great time filler for a slow summer day!

Glubble

My husband and I have been concerned over the safety of letting our children play on the internet. They love to play, but we were worried what they could accidentally find. We were even considering buying one of those programs that would block things we didn't want our kids to see. Then, my little brother told me about Glubble.

In many ways, Glubble is kind of like a family-friendly Facebook. Each family member can create a profile page with their picture on it. There is a family wall where individuals can type messages to each other. You can upload photos. There is also a family calendar if you choose to use it.

On the safety side, parents can control what sites their children visit. When my kids click on the internet, it immediately opens the Glubble home page. The kids cannot get out of it without a password - which means they cannot surf the internet. On the kids homepage, it has a ton of different game sites that the kids can play - although not all of them are immediately allowed. There were several sites - like lego.com - that I had to enter the password for my kids to play. You also have the option to add other sites to the kids personalized pages.

And, best of all, it's totally free! Go to the Glubble Website for more information and to sign up!

Cowtown Cattlepen Maze

In the Stockyards in Fort Worth, they have a great maze that my kids love! Billed as a Texas Size Human Maze, it has over 5400 square feet of fun. They change the maze frequently, so it is fun to do over and over.

There is also a 2nd story observation deck where you can view the maze before you go in, or watch family members try to race through and find all the checkpoints.

Cost: $5 for ages 5 and over (4 and under FREE when accompanied by a paying adult)

Website: Cowtown Cattlepen Maze for directions and other info.

Cool Stuff: You can see the Longhorn cattle drive in front of the maze every day at 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.