Edmonds Kind of Play: At your wit’s end with spring break? Try these ideas

Jen Marx
Jen Marx

As spring break winds down, its effect on our family is becoming more evident. My 4-year-old has informed me that he doesn’t want to live here as I am apparently a buzz kill who sometimes shuts the new mini-van doors without the “help” of little hands and doesn’t condone disrupting every situation we walk into. Harsh, I know. For the 8-year-old, his stories from camp are including more and more words “we don’t use at the table” and I can feel him losing his already strained homework muscle.

The best thing that has happened to any parent this spring break has been the weather. What a relief to be able to take the kids outside or let them out into the back yard. This way the cries of, “all my friends have been to Hawaii” will at least be from a distance. There are a couple of fun events happening Saturday morning, April 12, in Edmonds. While these events are both indoors, they let out as things will be warming up!

This Saturday at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave. N., Recess Monkey will be performing as a part of ECA’s new Family Series. If you haven’t heard of Recess Monkey, they are a trio of Seattle teachers who put on a high-energy show of great music. If you have seen them before you know that their music is fun and the live shows are engaging. There is nothing much cuter than a kid dancing and one of the best parts about a show like this is that you finally get to take your kid to a place with a ticket where they don’t HAVE to sit still. The show starts at 11 a.m. and lasts about an hour. Tickets are $5 and everyone attending needs one, even the littlest music fans. I spoke with ECA Education & Outreach Manager Gillian Jones, and she let me know that the line-up for next season’s Family Series will be announced on May 1. You can get tickets for Recess Monkey HERE or by calling 425-275-9595 and while you are on the ECA website, take a second look at all the amazing camps they have for summer.

Also at 11 a.m. on Saturday, there is another Reading with Rover event at the Edmonds Library, 650 Main St. Reading with Rover is just that, kids can read to real-life dogs right in their own library. Reading with Rover, meant to help any level reader gain confidence with a furry audience, is free and open to kids of all ages.

Both events call for either a walk down to the beach or a lunch outside after as we are expecting a dry weekend with temperatures in the 60s. It is getting to be about that time where the parks, beaches and the Edmonds Museum Summer Market are great options for the weekend. In fact, the Garden Market, held in the public safety lot at 5th and Bell, starts on May 3. This is, of course, assuming you make it out of spring break in one piece.

Last week we talked about two events coming up at Glazed and Amazed, 514 Main St. I confirmed both activities have space left, so now is your chance! Thursday, April 17 is the Preschool Art hour, which includes a story and a project for kids ages 3 to 7. Friday, April 18 is “Kids Night Out” at Glazed and Amazed. From 6-9 p.m., kids ages 6 and up eat pizza, watch “Despicable Me” and get to paint two adorable minion projects. The cost for the night is $30 plus tax, which as I said last week is a “screaming deal.” I mean, having your kid fed and entertained with something to show for it is kind of the trifecta of a kid’s night out, plus none of the paint ends up on your kitchen table! You can sign up for either event by called Glazed and Amazed at 425-673-5474.

Jen Marx, an Edmonds Mom of two young boys, is a traffic reporter by dawn and writer and PBJ maker by day. She is always looking for a fun place to take the kids that makes them tired enough to go to bed on time. You can contact Jen with your local event at play@myedmondsnews.com or find her trying to make sense of begging kids to ” just eat the mac n cheese” at SnackMomSyndrome.com. If you have a kid-friendly event you’d like to share, email her at play@myedmondsnews.com.

 

  1. I think the 4-year old needs to learn that she is the parent and she sometimes has more pressing things on her mind — teach the child tolerance and acceptance that things don’t always go their way. I see this happening all around me with young mothers and young children — the parent wants to be a buddy as opposed to someone who teaches the child manners, that sometimes the answer to a request has to be No, not now…etc. etc. these cute little darling children grow up to be people who still want everything their way….

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