family friendly events Archives - Page 7 of 9

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie Review

October 13, 2013 by Mama Carmody 7 Comments

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie Review

Disclaimer: I was given 2 tickets to attend the Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie, as well as a backpack with some goodies. However, I was not influenced by the promotional materials or any of the Conner Prairie staff. All opinions and insights are my own.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Hot Air Balloon

Even before we reached Conner Prairie, we could see the hot air balloon, from the 1859 Balloon Voyage, floating high in the sky. My husband was quite interested in the balloon ride but with the cost of a ride being $15 a piece ($12 for members) it was way out of our price range. If they would lower that price to somewhere between $5 and $7 they would quite possibly have waiting lines for that ride all the time. At the lower prices, we would probably take a ride every time we went to Conner Prairie but at the current prices I don’t know that we will ever participate in the 1859 Balloon Voyage.

The first activity we participated in was the Headless Horseman hayride. If you missed my post from yesterday here is the link to that: Review: The Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie.

If your children are young and you aren’t interested in the hayride don’t write off the idea of making a trip to Conner Prairie. There was still a lot of spooky fun happening even without the hayride.

I love the idea behind their theme this year. Conner Prairie has been renamed Conner Scairie for this holiday season. The former mayor, Lord Moldywart, had a problem with a spell he was trying to cast and turned himself into a bunny rabbit.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Mayor Moldywart

He is cute but he can no longer fulfill the role of mayor so a new mayor must be elected. There are six citizens that are vying for the new position. It is our job to go around and meet each of them and then vote for the one that we want to become Mayor of Conner Scairie.

The first candidate we ran into was Harry Howler. He was standing outside a tent encouraging passersby to join him at the microphone for some scary-o-ke. There were some kids doing a great job with The Monster Mash when we stopped in. Harry also had a couple of craft tables as well as some fun activities outside his tent.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Fun at Harry Howler's — Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Fun at Harry Howler’s

The next candidate we ran into was Beautisha, the cosmetics-loving witch. She also had a craft area and she was more than happy to hand out beauty tips.

We didn’t get to catch her show but we got to peek in at the stage and costumes. Looks like it would be a blast to strut up and down the runway.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Beautisha's Costume Runway — Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Beautisha’s Costume Runway

Our next candidate to meet was little Miss Holly Ween. She was adorable. She reads spooky stories to the kids. She told us that this was her favorite story.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Holly Ween Collage

There was a large play area, associated with her section, for children 8 years old and younger. You can wind through bales of hay and then zoom down a slide on a burlap sack. There was a lot of action going on in the area. Several children were enjoying the play equipment.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Holly Ween's Play Area — Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Holly Ween’s Play Area

Next we ran into Ed, the mad scientist, and his assistant, Esmeralda. They were having fun with electricity. It played havoc with my camera but it still looked pretty neat. They cooked a hotdog with an electrical arc. It was fascinating to watch but I think I will stick with my microwave.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Ed's Electrical Spectacle — Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Ed’s Electrical Spectacle

We missed Dr. Acula but we did get to look around his monster museum. My favorite pieces were Little Red Riding Hood’s cape and a hairball from Big Foot. He had a craft area for the kids, too.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Monster Museum Collage

I forgot to mention that the Headless Horseman is also a candidate. I’m not sure what I think of electing a mayor with no head but I suspect he is using fear to intimidate the voters.

There were plenty of other activities going on that I don’t believe were associated with the candidates. We enjoyed watching the Flying Monkeys. They used a large slingshot type contraption to send the monkeys flying through the air.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Flying Monkeys

If you have been following my posts for very long, you know I love introducing children to music so of course one of my favorite spots was Rhythm Fun with Bill Bailey. Look at the kids having fun with all of those instruments.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Rhythm Collage

Another fun spot was the face painting. This family was kind enough to let me take pictures of the process.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: face painting

They sure are a cute bunch of kids.

Spooky Fun at Conner Prairie: Face Painting Fun

As I look over the program from the evening, I realize that we missed a few things such as the Marionette Show and the Crane Bros. Superstition Emporium. We passed by the Mystic and the Magic Show with C.R. Ryan Demier but didn’t get a chance to stop in for the activities.

As you can tell, there is a lot of spooky fun happening at Conner Prairie to keep you busy for quite a while. Even if your children are younger, and you don’t want to do the hayride, there are still plenty of activities to enjoy. You may even want to come back more than once to experience all the spooky fun.

The Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie Review

October 12, 2013 by Mama Carmody 3 Comments

The Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie Review

Disclaimer: I was given 2 tickets to attend The Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie, as well as a backpack with some goodies. However, I was not influenced by the promotional materials or any of the Conner Prairie staff. All opinions and insights are my own.

It has been approximately ten years since we last attended The Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie. Our daughter was somewhere between 10 and 13 years old. At that time we chose to take the hayride after dark. We thought it would be a little scarier and I guess we were right. When talking to my (now adult) daughter about that night, I said, “Remember how much fun we had?” Her response was, “No! I’m still scarred!” I guess we were right; that going after dark was scary.

Headless Horseman hayride, at Conner Prairie

Since, currently, my blog posts mainly center around activities for younger children we opted to go on the Hayride before it got dark. First of all, let me tell you that the lines are extremely long. Once our turn came up a guide
walked us back to where we climbed into the hay wagons and waited to start our adventure. We were asked not to take pictures during the hayride because it could spook the horses and we definitely wouldn’t want to do that. But I was told that I could take a picture before we pulled out.

I’m not going to give out all the details because I don’t want to spoil the fun for future adventurers but I will share my general thoughts. It is a nice hayride with spooky sights and sounds around every turn. There was a 3 year old little girl in the wagon with us and her older brother who seemed like he was between 5 and 7 years old. The 3 year old cried on and off through the ride. She was visibly shaken and nervous even when she wasn’t crying. Her older brother just seemed to enjoy the whole thing. As for me, I loved it, but I must be honest, when the Headless Horseman rode right up to our wagon and hit the outside of it with his sword it made me laugh nervously, lean forward a little and watch him out of the corner of my eye.

My advice would be to take the hayride during the daylight for younger children. It was still plenty spooky without scaring you out of your wits. I personally wouldn’t take a child 3 years old or younger on this hayride at all but if you have a tough little one that loves monsters and being scared then they may be just fine. For the real adventure, wait until after dark to go. It is pretty scary when the Headless Horseman comes riding out of the dark after you.

Even if you aren’t interested in the hayride there are plenty of other activities to do with the kids so don’t write the adventure off yet. Tomorrow, I will post about all the other fun things that were going on during this special evening.

Rhythm! Discovery Center Review

October 9, 2013 by Mama Carmody 15 Comments

Rhythm! Discovery Center Review

On Saturday, September 28th, we took advantage of the free admission offer by Smithsonian Magazine and headed to the Rhythm! Discovery Center. I would describe Rhythm! Discovery Center as an interactive percussion museum. There are several “hands-off” displays of different percussion instruments but I must admit that I didn’t really pay much attention to them. We were all about the hands-on pieces; and since we brought a 2 year old with us there was plenty of “hands-on” everywhere we went.

Here are a couple of the “hands-off” displays:

Rhythm! Discovery Center: "Hands-off" Displays — Rhythm! Discovery Center: “Hands-off” Displays

Let me warn you, if you or any of your children are sensitive to noise then this is not the place to go but if you don’t mind some good old fashion racket then you will have a blast.

One of the very first things we encountered was this huge drum. No, that it not just a large display, it’s a drum.

There are so many opportunities for learning at the Rhythm! Discovery Center. You could experiment with rhythms or the way different instruments made from different materials sound. For instance, how does a drum with an animal skin head sound different from a drum with a plastic head? Listen to how the drum sounds different from the cymbals.

Rhythm! Discovery Center: Different Mallets

You can experiment with how the drum sounds different if you hit it with your fingertips, the palm of your hand or your fist. There were also different things to play the instruments with so you can listen to the differences of playing with a hard mallet, a soft mallet or a brush (the musical kind, not the hair kind). You could also learn the names of the different instruments and from what country they originated.

The lessons we came to learn this day were simple (since we brought a 2 year old). We were simply experiencing the joy of sound and music. And there were secondary lessons like sharing and learning to wait your turn (which actually, he does very well).

Below are some of the pictures from our day:

The Cymbal

The Chimes
Children of all ages enjoy Rhythm! Discovery Center.

Wooden Instruments

The Percussion Wall

Rhythm! Discovery Center: Percussion Wall

Crash Cymbals
The cymbals were actually way too big but Jeremiah listened very closely to Uncle Pat’s instructions. I love the joy on his little face once he was able to crash them together.

So Much Fun
We truly enjoyed our time at Rhythm! Discovery Center and look forward to going back many more times.

Review – Hoosier Outdoor Experience at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park

September 30, 2013 by Mama Carmody 14 Comments

Hoosier Outdoor Experience at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park, Review

Saturday and Sunday, September 20 & 21, was the 5th Hoosier Outdoor Experience at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park. This was my first year to attend and I really regret that I hadn’t gone before. Of course, I hadn’t heard of it before but I had such a blast that I wish I HAD known and gone before.

This is such a big event (and free, I might add) that you can’t drive into the park on these two days. You park just a little distance from the State Park and they shuttle you in on buses. When I saw the line waiting on the buses I thought we would be there forever but that wasn’t the case. Four buses pulled up, they counted us off and directed us to the one we were to board and we were on our way. I don’t believe we waited in line anymore than 10 minutes. Here is a picture of where we started at:

Love to Laugh and Learn: Standing in Line at Hoosier Outdoor Experience

The buses dropped us off at the Welcome area. From the Welcome area we could walk to many activities. We could also catch shuttles that would take us to other areas of the park where activities were happening.

We started with the activities around the Welcome area. There were 25 different activities in this area. We didn’t get to all of them but I will share with you the ones that we did participate in.

We headed to the Teepee first. It was huge. I love anything that has to do with Native American Indians.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Teepee at Hoosier Outdoor Experience

On our way to the Teepee we stopped by this huge piece of machinery to find out what it was. We found out it was a piece of equipment to dig wells. At this spot, I learned a new word, along with the 5 year old that was with us. The word was aquifer. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, an aquifer is, “a layer of rock or sand that can absorb and hold water”. Children were able to build their own aquifers with wells at this station. They used a straw as the well and then placed different types of rock and soils around the well. Water was then poured over the soil. Finally a “pump” was placed in the well. The pump was a pump from a bottle of hand soap. The children were then able to pump the water from the well. I found it quite fascinating.

We stopped and watched several children and adults playing games at the Outdoor Craft and Game Exhibit but we didn’t participate. We then went to the Girl Scout Outdoor Fun area where we played with bubbles…even the adults (me included) got our hands soapy.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Blowing Bubbles at Hoosier Outdoor Experience

The 5 year old spotted the the sledding hill. There were children running up the hill and either running back down or rolling down. He said he had never rolled down a hill before so he and his dad went to roll down the hill while we went to get all of us some food. The food was delicious and at surprisingly reasonable prices. My husband got 2 hot dogs and a bag of chips for $4 and I got an ear of roasted corn for $3 (2 for $5).

At this point we headed over to the Shuttle to ride to another section but when we got over there we found a tractor and a wagon taking people on a hayride. We climbed on and got a tour of the west end of the park. It was relaxing and fun.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Hayride at Hoosier Outdoor Experience

After the hayride we climbed onto the Green Shuttle so we could head over to the NRA Shooting Sports Spectrum. Luckily for us, our shuttle driver got a little confused and missed our turn. The reason I say “luckily” is because we ended up running out of time and weren’t able to go to the activities in the “Red” section. At least we were able to get a glance of the activities in that area when we rode through. There were 19 different activities spread out over the “Red” area. Naming just a few of the activities; there was basic fishing, kayaking and critter chat.

Once our driver was back on track, we headed to the “Green” section and were finally dropped off at the NRA Shooting Sports Spectrum. In this area we had the opportunity to participate in archery, air rifle, shotgun and crossbow. Since the lines were a little long we only took the time for the archery. Next year I’m going to find time to try all of them.

We climbed back on the Green Shuttle to go a little further down the road. We found 8 more activities in this area. The activities in this area were very popular and the lines were very long. We wanted to do the off-road rides but the wait was 45 minutes so we decided against that. We also wanted to try the horseback riding but you had to be over 8 years old and we had a 5 year old with us so that was out of the question. We thought we would bring the 5 year old back for the pony rides (the lines weren’t nearly as long for them) but we ran out of time.

The last activity we participated in was the Tiny Tots Mini-Bikes. Although our little guy doesn’t usually like to wait in lines when he saw he was going to be able to ride a motorized bike he decided he could wait. We ended up waiting for about an hour and a half but according to the expression on his face it was worth it. After the ride, he said he was glad we waited. I was glad too when I saw how much he enjoyed it. They did a wonderful job of instructing and supervising the young riders. There was an adult assigned to each rider. They gave the rider clear directions and practice before they were turned loose to drive around the track. It was fun to watch.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Motorized Mini-Bikes at Hoosier Outdoor Experience

After the ride on the Mini-Bikes we caught the shuttle and headed back to the Welcome area where we caught the bus to take us back to our car.

I must say that I absolutely love and recommend the Hoosier Outdoor Experience. I plan to attend again next year. I may even go on both Saturday and Sunday to make sure I get to experience everything they have to offer.

*Disclosure: I was in no way compensated or asked by anyone to do this review. All opinions are mine. I have done this to help my readers find great family friendly events.

Other Reviews That Might Be Of Interest

Review: PBS Kids in the Park
Review: BounceU of Fishers, IN
Review: Chase 500 Festival Kids’ Day
Review: Christmas on Monument Circle, Indianapolis
Review: Conner Prairie on President’s Day (with a 2 year old)
Review: Conner Prairie with Young Children – update
Review: Radio Disney Event, Indianapolis 2012
Studio Movie Grill Review
Review: Rhythm! Discovery Center
Review: Peanut Butter and Jam Concerts at the Center for the Performing Arts, in Carmel

PBS Kids in the Park Review

June 16, 2013 by Mama Carmody 6 Comments

PBS Kids in the Park Review, 2011

It was a beautiful sunny day to be out with friends and their kids. The parade of characters signals the beginning of PBS Kids in the Park. I arrived at Military Park in time to get a great spot to see all the characters marching in. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a little one in the house so I’m not sure who most of these characters are. I’m going to need my friends and followers, with small children, to leave me comments as to who they are. I will number them as I post them so then you can put the number in the comments and tell me who the character is. I need to learn them anyway since my first grandchild is due the end of July and I’m sure my great-niece and great-nephews are going to know most of these characters soon, if they don’t all ready.

So I will start this post with the parade:

1) I knew this one: Curious George

2. I don’t know this one:

3. & 4. I don’t know this pair either….are they sister and brother?

5. I don’t know who this is but I have loved dinosaurs since I was little and this one is absolutely adorable!

PBS Kids in the Park: Dinosaur Character

6. Isn’t she pretty?…whoever she is. I think she was waving to me!

7. I”m not sure who this is either (I sure hope you guys are leaving comments to help me out).

8. Ok, I have this one…it’s Clifford the Big Red Dog. He always seemed so much bigger in the books.

9. & 10. These two look like they may be related too but I don’t know who they are.

11. This is The Cat in the Hat.

12. I don’t know who this is.

13. I learned this one from Carson because this was his favorite. This is Daniel Tiger. His show is a spin-off of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

14. I missed this character. I had to edit her out of the back of Daniel Tiger’s picture.

15. Not sure of this one either…I sure hope you guys are helping out by letting me know who these guys are.

16. And this would be why I missed character #14, Mr. McFeely! I was most excited to see him because my younger sister and I used to watch Mr.Roger’s Neighborhood when we were little.

Mr. McFeely stopped right next to me because the little boy standing beside me was named Daniel and it was his birthday. I was so excited to see Mr. McFeely that I had to have my picture taken with him.

PBS Kids in the Park: Mr. McFeely & Mama Carmody

Ashley, her sister, Katie, and their kids joined me right at the end of the parade. Ashley had her picture taken with Mr. McFeely too.

PBS Kids in the Park: Ashley & Mr. McFeely

The characters were the big attraction for the day. I’m glad we arrived early and were able to see them standing around after the parade because even though they had special meet and greet times the lines were so long we didn’t even attempt to get in them. I thought about taking a picture of the line waiting to see Daniel Tiger but it was so long there was no way I could even get it in a picture.

Some children are scared of costumed characters but Carson loved them and wanted to give every one of them a hug.

PBS Kids in the Park: Carson & Character Collage

Madison found a character that she liked too.

PBS Kids in the Park: Madison with a character

Cody just wanted them all to keep their distance.

There were several booths with activities for the kids. Some of the activities were educational and some were just for fun.

There was a sandbox to play in….

…and flowers to paint.

Madison learned that bad stuff sticks to your teeth and you have to brush it away. I learned that the first time you should take a child to the dentist is after they turn 1 year old.

Carson enjoyed a PB & J at the PB & J Stage…

…while we enjoyed a puppet show with lots of fun music.

As we were leaving we ran into a couple of police officers on horseback. I believe this was the biggest smile I saw out of Madison all day. I wish I had been able to get a better picture but I just couldn’t get the correct angle.

Everyone stopped to get a drink from the water fountain….

…and a group picture.

Overall it was a great day.

To sum up our day:

+ It was great getting to see all the characters during and right after the parade.

– The characters are the big draw of the day so it was disappointing that the lines are so long that you either have to wait forever or you don’t get to see them.

+ There were lots of other activities to do such as crafts, puppet shows and dancing with one of the many shows going on at the different stages.

I would love to hear from anybody that went to PBS Kids in the Park. Please let me know what you and your child liked or didn’t like about the day.