Beltway Bambinos

(re) discover Washington DC through the eyes of your children

DIY Halloween crafts and experiments from Kiwi Co

You’ve seen us post several times about our love for Kiwi Co and the amazing boxes we have ordered. Recently a new theme was added to their selections; cooking! Kids can unlock the science of cooking to help kids gain confidence in the kitchen with family-friendly recipes and hands-on STEAM activities. You can order just one box and see which line you like best or subscribe to receive one each month. Boxes range from exciting STEM crafts to a doodle crate and everything in between. I love saving our Kiwi boxes for rainy or cold days to keep the Bambinos entertained and learning. A few crates my kids have loved are soap making and creating a paint pendulum as well as the Atlas crate where they learned about other cultures. You can save $10 by using this link to place an order.

Count popula craft from Kiwi Co

Check out these fun 15 at-home ideas for making Halloween crafts & experiments. My kids are eager to make the leaky pumpkin and spider launcher. Extend the at-home crafts with these fall ideas too! There are plenty of Halloween

Related post:
Halloween guide
Subscription boxes for children
Fall foliage

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience in Washington, DC

Washington, DC is one of the lucky cities that get to host the Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, a hot pop-up showing up in select cities and selling out fast! If this is your first “immersive” experience, do not fear, it really is calm and can be enjoyed if you are 2 or 92. Set in a large warehouse space at the Rhode Island Center, you get to witness the magical and beautiful works of Vincent Van Gogh from floor to two-story ceilings and 360-degree. The whole experience takes about an hour and a half, but if you have smaller children with shorter attention spans, you may be running through it faster than you normally would prefer. The first rooms you enter are more of your typical museum setting with some background on the artist and his art, but it’s mixed with some high-tech non-typical eye catching digital displays. You also get to experience a few life size replicas of paintings including Van Gogh’s “The Bedroom,” where you can actually walk into the art and sit on the bed.

The main event though is the largest room with the digital show display covering every inch of the space with beautiful music (though it could be loud for the youngest kids or those with sound sensitivities). There are bean bags, lounge chairs and benches to relax on with no bad seat. Kids are entertained by the art fluttering on the floor and moving on the walls, but the youngest fans probably won’t be able to stay the entire length of the show. It really is magical to be completely surrounded by famous works like “Starry Night” and “Irises” in this new way where the stars are actually twinkling or the flowers are moving as if in the wind.

You then step into a room where adults and kids alike get to test out their Van Gogh skills with coloring pages that can then be scanned and projected on the wall in a frame. For an extra fee, you can enjoy a “virtual reality experience” that puts you into Van Gogh’s world and paintings just by wearing a headset. A gift shop welcomes you at the end with plenty of “Starry Night” printed trinkets to take home.

Details: The exhibit runs from August 2021 to January 2022. 

Tickets for adults start at $39.99 and $19.90 for children (children under 4 are free), with family passes available. More information can be found here.

  • Weekdays: 10am–8pm
  • Weekends & holidays: 9am–9pm

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is all digital, hands free, and perfect for our socially distant world.

Location: Rhode Island Center – 524 Rhode Island Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002.

Step into nature with Growing Gardeners at Dumbarton House

Get out of the house and into nature on Saturday, August 28 with Dumbarton House! During the “Growing Gardeners” program, children will learn about seasonality and the labor of planting seeds, coming to a new appreciation of where their food comes from and recognizing the importance of gardens in the past and the present. Registration includes a tour of the house, a garden activity booklet to help you explore our historic grounds, a coloring book about the history of Dumbarton House, and a seed experiment to take home! There are three one-hour time slots to choose from, so you can pick what works best for your schedule by clicking here. All children are welcome and any Girl Scouts who attend will earn their Gardener Badge (and receive a Dumbarton House patch!). This program is ideal for children ages 8-12. Younger siblings who are not participating are welcome to tag along for free. They have free parking on site as well. Please email the Education department with questions.

Share your love of reading with them!

Horseback riding lessons, camps and trail rides in and around Washington, DC

Rock Creek Park Horse Stables– Washington, DC
Deep in the woods of Rock Creek Park, you can find peace in the company of horses and those who love them. Rock Creek Park Horse Center is one of Washington D.C.’s best-kept secrets and the only public riding facility in the nation’s capital. They offer boarding, camps, trail rides, pony rides, and lessons for first-time riders through well-seasoned equestrians.

Urbana Riding Club– Frederick, MD
A premier full-service equestrian facility located in southern Frederick County near I-270 and Sugarloaf mountain. They offer full care stall boarding and year-round lesson & leasing programs for riders of all ages and skill levels. Come enjoy the beautiful heated indoor, three outdoor riding rings, cross country fields, and over 2.5 miles of private trails!

Camp Olympia– Rockville, MD
They offer lessons year round at the facility on Muncaster Mill Road, Rockville, Maryland with a very flexible schedule. They have special programs which include horse shows, spring and winter break camp, one day camps for school holidays, birthday parties, Girl Scout badges and CHA Riding Instructor Certification Clinic.

Potomac Horse Center– North Potomac, MD
The heart of the Potomac Horse Center is an extensive teaching program featuring riding classes for 5 to 8 year old children – through adults of all levels. In addition, a strong classical dressage program, combined training, and a hunter/jumper program are available with riders competing under different trainers on both the “A” and local hunter/jumper circuits. They offer a variety of activities with approximately 12 horse shows a year and a busy calendar of clinics featuring internationally recognized clinicians in many disciplines. PHC also offers other recreational activities such as birthday parties, individual pony rides, trail riding classes through wooded parkland, open houses, a summer horse camp program, therapeutic horseback riding, and more.

Calleva Horse Adventure Programs– Dickerson, MD
Private lessons and after school horse programs are very popular at Calleva. Tiny Tots is a program created especially for children ages 3 to 6.  Riding lessons are taught in a fun and age appropriate setting. They also offer horse back riding camp to kids ages 9-15. Have a horse birthday party or a scout field trip.

Reddemeade Equestrian Center– Silver Spring, MD
Private lessons starting at age 3; Group Lessons for ages 7 and up. For smaller children or any student looking to get more in-depth knowledge, we offer one-on-one instruction in 30, 45, or 60 minute interval

Wheaton Park Stables– Silver Spring, MD
WPS is a family-oriented riding stable specializing in group lessons, pony pal lessons, summer camps, birthday parties and trail rides. 

Woodend Horse Center– Silver Spring, MD
They welcome everyone, from beginners and recreational riders to dressage lovers, hunter-jumpers, eventers, Western pleasure riders, and anyone who just loves being around horses! For more than 30 years, they’ve been sharing the art, sport, and joy of riding through lessons, camps, clinics, and more. They offer access to a 25-acre estate with lighted indoor and outdoor rings, paddocks, stables, fields, and riding trails. It’s a perfect place to learn to ride, improve your equestrian skills, expand your horsemanship, or just have fun in the saddle.

Meadowbrook Stables– Chevy Chase, MD
They offer riding and horsemanship lessons in hunters, hunt seat equitation, and jumpers to riders of all levels, ages 6 through adult. They also offer a range of summer camp programs, as well as boarding, leasing and showing opportunities.

Out of the Box Stables– Gaithersburg, MD
They offer a lot of programs here! Including a monthly lead line classes for 5 years old and under. The children take turns being led around the ring on the different horses and ponies they choose. This is a one hour session! Individual lessons, birthday parties and summer camp can be found at Out of the Box.

NFF Stables– Poolesville, MD
NFF Stables began as Nothing Fancy Farm back in 1999 and has grown quite a bit over the years, and today they have a top-notch boarding and riding facility. Though their horses and stables are quite fancy, their attitude is not! If you’re looking for a barn that is professional, yet laid-back and fun – NFF Stables is for you! They offer boarding – both full care and field board; private, semi-private and group riding lessons for all ages from beginners on up; a show team that attends shows throughout the area; and summer programs. 

Little Burgundy Farm Stables– Alexandria, VA
Little Burgundy Farm is a small, private horse farm located near the intersection of I-495 and Telegraph Road, in Alexandria, VA — a little piece of the country tucked away in the dense suburbs of northern Virginia. They offer access to horses and riding facilities through their equestrian riding club program, allowing members to take riding lessons on a recurring basis. They are well suited for experienced riders as well as new riders — both adult and youth riders that are at least 7 years — who are interested in taking weekly riding lessons and improving riding skills or simply enjoying the sport. 

Mulford Riding School– Centreville, VA
Offering lessons, camps and boarding.

JBIT Ranch– Berryville, VA
All are welcome no matter their skill level or their goals as long as you simply seek to have a natural relationship with the horse. They provide a full range of horse services including English and Western Horseback Riding Lessons, Horse Training, Horse Boarding, Quality Horse Sales.  They even offer summer Horseback Riding Camps for young and old alike with a focus on natural horsemanship, responsibility and relationship.

Brentsville Stables– Manassas, VA
Family owned and operated specializing in English riding lessons for ages 4 and up.

Cicadas are emerging in Washington, DC

A mature cicada dries its wings on a tree branch in Great Falls, Virginia, May 29, 2004. Swarms of 17-year cycle cicadas has returned to the U.S. Capital and its suburbs. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang HK

They’re coming!! We have some fun resources for you and your family to educate yourself on the insects.

Book:
A cute book for kids Cecily Cicada, a delightful book, written by a mother/ daughter before the 17-year cicada emergence of 2004. They wrote it to ease the insect anxiety of their 3-year-old granddaughter/daughter when they learned the cicadas were coming. It tells the miraculous life of a special 17-year cicada named Cecily in an endearing way. Beautifully illustrated and fun. Patsy Helmetag has re-illustrated the original edition for a bright new look for the cicada emergence of 2021!

Podcast:
My kids loved this Radiolab podcast: The Septendecennial Sing-Along! While most of us hear a wall of white noise, squeaks, and squawks….David Rothenberg hears a symphony. He’s trained his ear to listen for the music of animals, and he’s always looking for chances to join in, with everything from lonely birds to giant whales to swarming cicadas. David Rothenberg explains his urge to connect and sing along, and helps break down the mysterious life cycle and mating rituals of the periodical cicadas into something we can all relate to.

Join virtually:
WAMU event: Cicada’s What’s the Buzz?
A conversation about cicadas on Thursday, May 13, at 7:00 p.m. ET. WAMU reporter Jacob Fenston and The Bug Guy, Mike Raupp, Ph.D., professor emeritus of entomology and extension specialist at The University of Maryland, will be talking all things cicada — from why they stay underground for 17 years to how, exactly, we should prepare to cohabitate with them all summer. Then, get a taste of the insects — literally — with a cicada cooking class taught by Iulian Fortu, chef and founder of Arcadia Venture!

Map & Tracker:
Cicada App

Articles:
Make cicadas fun for kids
Turn it into a science project
DCist explains what you need to know about the cicadas!
Washington Post: Can you eat cicadas? & Updates

KID Museum launches Maker Girls for 4th-8th grade girls

STEM Women Leaders and AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors Karina Popovich, Danielle Twum, Dr. Corinna Lathan, Sarah Wilson, and Davina Durgana will be connected with 4th-8th grade girls for interactive, hands-on challenges in KID Museum’s MAKER GIRLS Live Event and workshops.

To celebrate the trailblazing contributions to the world by women in STEM fields this month, KID Museum, a pioneering experiential museum and educational makerspace, is launching Maker Girls, a  series of hands-on, invention-based workshops for 4th-8th grade girls.  A live, interactive virtual event on Thursday, March 25 from 4-5 PM ET will kick off the program, in partnership with AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassadors program, with a diverse set of top female STEM leaders — from a statistician featured in the book “Wonder Women of Science” and a biomechanical engineer studying 3D sports movement, to a cancer immunologist and the college-student founder of Makers for COVID-19. The event will feature a “Shark Tank”-style pitch event and a virtual tour of KID Museum’s new online Maker Playground.

“With Women’s History Month celebrating those who have challenged gender stereotypes and left a lasting legacy, Maker Girls is empowering the next generation of female leaders with maker skills, experiences and mindsets to invent the future,” said Cara Lesser, the Founder and Executive Director of KID Museum.  “Lyda Hill Philanthropy and AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors exemplify positive female professional role models in STEM for young girls. Partnering with them brings our commitment to girls to life, and challenges girls to be active makers while they interact with and solve problems with successful women STEM leaders.” 

Hosted by Dr. Corinna Lathan, a neuroscientist, technology pioneer, social advocate, and IF/THEN Ambassador, along with 11-year-old maker Zuri Davis, the live, virtual event will be highly interactive. Girls will hear from IF/THEN Ambassadors who will share examples of “How I Failed” and the lessons they learned; girls will experience new Maker Playground activities; and girls will serve as advisors to KID Museum in helping shape the direction of deeper dive workshops to be offered later this spring.

In a “Shark Tank” style pitch showcasing a range of STEM-based activities, girls will serve as the ultimate decision-makers, investigating topics and voting for those they’d like to see turned into the workshops they can join later in the spring.

Ambassadors include:  

  • Davina Durgana – Award-winning international human rights statistician who has developed leading global models to assess vulnerability to modern slavery. She was a Forbes Top 30 Under 30 in Science (2017), and is featured in the children’s book, “Wonder Women of Science: Twelve Amazing STEM Geniuses Who Are Currently Rocking the World.”
  • Danielle Twum – Cancer immunologist hailing from Ghana who blends scientific knowledge with social media influence to ignite interest in STEM careers for young people, especially minorities. 
  • Sarah Wilson – Mechanical engineer and former professional freeride skier who has made a career of “crashing STEM into her hobbies,” most recently using wearable technologies to measure athlete movements in 3D.
  • Karina Popovich – 21-year-old Head of Education and Policy at Women in 3D Printing, Founder of Makers for COVID-19, Cornell University student, KPMG Future Leader 2019, Amazon Future Engineer 2019 and Technovation Regional Pitch Competition Winner. 

Workshops:

The live, no-cost, interactive virtual Maker Girls workshops offer 4th through 8th grade girls the chance to join in hands-on, invention-based challenges covering topics such as game design, robotics, space exploration, cybersecurity, and science experiments. 

Each of the three workshops taking place in April and May is capped at 24 students to encourage side-by-side interaction with the Ambassadors, whose backgrounds range from engineering and astrophysics to computer programming and biology. Together, the Ambassadors and students will brainstorm, design, and prototype solutions to real-world, STEM-inspired challenges.  

Maker Playground: 

Maker Playground is designed to engage youth and families in experiences and activities inspired by real-life women inventors, engineers, and scientists; and then use maker skills and concepts to experiment, invent, and create something on their  own. Concepts explore the “art of STEM,” “robot explorers,” “sports and STEM,” “animal allies,” and “games for good,” with activities for kids to prototype a technology that improves athletic performance, create a digital 3D model of a robot that explores the unknown, design a game, and more.

About KID Museum:

KID Museum is the region’s pioneering experiential museum and educational makerspace. They foster the “Mind of a Maker” and empower the next generation with the skills to invent the future. Through hands-on programs, they challenge young people to be active makers, building agency, confidence, and creative problem-solving skills. They design and deliver programs across the full continuum of learning for kids in pre-k through middle school in partnership with educators and schools. Weekend onsite programs, community events, and live, virtual sessions encourage families to learn and explore together. They are part of a growing movement to remake education for every young person, putting them in the driver’s seat of their learning and trusting them to be agents of change.

Dino Safari drive-thru experience invades National Harbor

Dino Safari is a fun and educational drive-thru experience that features 40 full-size animatronic museum-quality dinosaurs you can experience from the comfort and safety of your vehicle and is invading National Harbor!

Dino Safari takes audience members – in their vehicle – to “Pangea National Park,” for an up-close-and-personal journey with the most fascinating prehistoric creatures from the mighty T. rex of North America to the giant amphibious Spinosaurus of Africa. 

Dino Safari was created in consultation with paleontologist Dr. Gregory Erickson and features fact-based, educational content in addition to an exciting storyline. Kids and families are guided through the fictional “Pangea National Park” by an audio tour (available in both English and Spanish) that plays through each car’s audio system, featuring fun and friendly characters. Each vehicle is given a “Survival Pack” containing your passport to Pangea with a scavenger hunt and other fun surprises for a more interactive experience.

On the Dino Safari adventure, audience members will learn through an audio narrator how dinosaurs evolved, where they called home, and the discoveries paleontologists have made about how they ate, moved, and behaved. Beware: along the journey, earthquakes might erupt, dinosaurs could battle, and audience members may have to help save a baby dinosaur’s life! So, buckle up for the adventure of a lifetime in this socially-distanced experience, and the perfect family spring break staycation activity.

DATES:
March 18 – April 11

Tickets are priced per car, beginning at $49.95 per vehicle of up to seven individuals, and are available through Dino Safari. Demand has been unexpectedly high with sellouts anticipated. Advance purchase is strongly recommended. 

LOCATION:
The Plateau at National Harbor
Intersection of National Harbor Blvd. & Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD 20745 

Good Trouble for Kids: build a racially conscious library

The below is a guest post from the creators of Good Trouble for Kids; an arts initiative to promote racially conscious reading.

Good Trouble For Kids is an especially valuable children’s book subscription program in this moment of an expanding consciousness that being antiracist must include intentionally engaging children through reading, art and conversations on racial and social justice. Antiracist work is daily, and must start early. Part of that work is insisting that school curricula and the literary canon become more inclusive of a diversity of authors and histories, and that parents and schools build racially conscious libraries. The market of racially conscious children’s literature has exploded, and Good Trouble For Kids wants to help parents and educators sift through these books. We offer a unique arts-based approach. Our Xtra Good Trouble, the write-ups we do on each book through the lens of literature, visual arts, and culture, is the foundation of our work.

We believe that for racial justice to expand, it needs to be rooted in the hearts, minds and imaginations of young people. Merely studying racism doesn’t cut it; students need to explore these topics through art, literature and culture to deeply engage and metabolize the lessons. Good Trouble For Kids offers parents and educators a unique and necessary lens to promote change.

Art & literature are medicine. Good Trouble For Kids wants to help people learn how to use it. Please subscribe to Xtra Good Trouble for our write-ups, or get the books too. You can subscribe to Xtra Good Trouble as a stand-alone offering, or you can do a full subscription that gets you the book and the write-up! Subscribe to the full service at Good Trouble For Kids!

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