Beltway Bambinos

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

Keep Kids Sharp with Music Lessons this Summer ♫

Creative Kids Home for the Summer?

Then, give your kids something to get excited about and start them on Music Lessons (In-Person or Online) with the International School of Music!

From virtual singing classes to in-person piano lessons—the International School of Music offers instruction in all instruments to students of all ages and abilities.

Sign up for lessons HERE and save 50% off registration by 6/30!

Voted best for Music Lessons, International School of Music has a team of nurturing and patient instructors who will customize lessons to students’ goals so each child can progress at their own pace and learn the music they love!

ISM’s fun, engaging and personalized lessons help students bring structure into their lives, confidence, concentration, and self-expression that last beyond the music lessons!

Call 301-365-5888 to schedule YOUR intro lesson today or

CLICK HERE to save 50% Off Registration by 6/30!

DCPS spring break camps {in-person and virtual options}

Don’t have plans for Spring Break? No worries, there are several of our favorites that are adhering to CDC guidelines and are offering an opportunity for your children to dip their toes back into the world of camp! As you have probably experienced the overwhelming demand for summer camps, spring break camp is no different so don’t delay in registering. DCPS spring break is April 12-16, 2021.

DC Department of Parks and Recreation (In-person)
Offering full-day Spring Break Camp programs in recreation centers for children, ages 3–13, during DC Public Schools’ spring break. DPR provides youth with a variety of structured games, sports, character-education exercises, and arts and crafts. Our goal is to plant the seeds of personal development and environmental responsibility in a fun and engaging recreation setting. Camp is from 9:00am-5:00pm, April 12-15 (no camp on Friday). See locations below:

Ages 6-12

  • Jelleff Recreation Center – Ward 2
  • Emery Heights Community Center – Ward 4
  • Edgewood Recreation Center – Ward 5
  • Arthur Capper Recreation Center – Ward 6
  • Hillcrest Recreation Center – Ward 7
  • Therapeutic Recreation Center – Ward 7
  • Barry Farm Recreation Center – Ward 8

Multi-Sport Camp –  ages 5-7 and 8 -13

  • Deanwood Recreation Center – Ward 7

Home Run Baseball (In-person) AU Park, DC
Spring break camp is April 12-16, from 8:30am to 2:30pm at Friendship Recreation Center. Camp is for girls and boys ages 4-11 (half-day option for 4 year olds), players can expect a positive mental attitude environment featuring long round of ground balls, batting practice and two games a day.

Confetti’s Spring Break Camp (In-person) Tenleytown, DC
Confetti fosters creativity, peer interaction, and positive thinking for elementary-aged children. This program encourages children to collaborate with one another through daily crafts, hands-on activities, and engaging games. The session will run from 1:00pm-4:00pm, April 12th through April 16th.

Red Panda Art Studio (Virtual)
Join from 9:30am-11:30am, April 12 to April 14 to celebrate all things Spring! Mini-camp is designed for ages 5 to 10. All supplies included and delivered to you!

Hoop Ed (In-person) Various locations
HoopEd Spring Break Camps offers families an active and exciting child care option during the holiday break. Spring break is a busy time for HoopEd Nation and that is why we offer full or partial week sign ups for kids in grades 1-8! Spring Break Camps are the best way for kids to see their friends, stay active and avoid “break boredom”! See you on the courts and playground!

The Children’s Art Studio (Virtual)
Have your child join us for one hour, April 12 to April 14 from 10am-11am, for Art Camp! They will learn technique, look at examples from art history, and have a blast making beautiful drawings and paintings. Small class size means your child will receive one-on-one attention and support. Your child will receive a prompt at the end of class, and instructions to keep working at home. Camp is best for ages 6-9. A materials list is on the above link.

DC Way Soccer Camp (In-person) Capitol Hill, DC
Spring into soccer with DC Way’s Spring Break Camp on April 12th! DC Way’s camp provides players the opportunity to work on technical soccer skills as well as participate in fun games. The DC Way team leads energetic games that combine learning and fun. Your kid will get the most out of their spring break while developing both soccer and cognitive skills in just a week.

School of Rock (In-person) Cleveland Park, DC
Want to play in a band onstage? Our Rock 101 camp is designed for beginners 7-11 years of age. No experience necessary! Students will explore their instruments through musical games and activities. The nurturing environment makes this the perfect camp for budding musicians. Students will work on songs Monday through Friday and the camp will culminate in a concert at the end of the week for family.

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.

Spy Academy and The Lost Treasures of Atlantis; an immersive online theatre experience

Not too long ago we were going to local performances at our favorite theatres, exposing our children to the arts. We are so happy Imagination Stage has adapted their art into something we can watch from home, for now and in this latest show, they definitely completed the mission!

For its second foray into the world of virtual theatre, Imagination Stage meets this unique moment with Spy Academy & the Lost Treasures of Atlantis, an immersive online experience best for children ages 5+. The show–part escape room, part spy adventure, and part online game–engages children in an interactive performance as meaningful as it is delightful. Our children– excuse me, Cadet Cheese and Cadet Spygirl are ages 6 and 9 and both really enjoyed this performance as it was interactive and suspenseful all while observing the actors in their element which was silly and entertaining. This was a Zoom they were actually engaged in and fit the bill for something they had been missing.

The audience which has no more than 15 households per performance, takes on the role of cadets at a spy academy. They are being taught by Pat, a live facilitator. When Pat gets notification that some of the academy’s adult spies need help evading the villainous Dr. Levinious as they search for the Heart of the Dragon, Pat recruits all of the cadets to help them by solving various puzzles and problems. Enter your household! Pat is played by nimble and comedic improvisational actors Jasmine Jones, Matthew Pauli or Amanda Haddock (at different performances), and directly urges the participation of the cadets in a “create your own adventure”-style exploration of numerous challenges. (Ssshhh: the adults in the household will have received instructions in advance to secretly prepare some key props to have nearby for their cadets.)

We were emailed documents to print out including an introductory letter to the cadets, activities and clues to use during the performance, and a certificate to be awarded to the cadets after the mission is completed. We put these in envelopes or hid them throughout our house. Silly enough, it was something my husband and I actually had fun doing as we knew this was so unique that our kids would be shocked to find these in real time as they watched the show– at one point Pat told viewers to check their front door for a package and to our kids surprise there was a small package waiting there for them to use with the show! Our kids think it was a ‘black bag job’ and didn’t ask if it was up who left the materials for them, which made it fun. However, if you do not have a printer Pat does an amazing job to share everything on screen and reassure those who may not have the items at home to have no fear and presents alternatives.

The artfully filmed segments of the spies getting into and out of jams in far-flung locations were filmed in all the nooks and crannies of Imagination Stage’s Bethesda facility, including against the back wall of the stage, which was transformed into an enormous green screen to allow for exciting special effects. Our cadets were amazed when we told them where it was filmed and how. They are eager to get back to seeing performances in-person but they both agreed that this was an amazing alternative!

Details:
Spy Academy & the Lost Treasures of Atlantis runs through May 23, 2021

Ticket cost: $25 per household

Run time: Roughly 45 minutes

You can even purchase a private performance if you have a cadet’s birthday approaching! Call the Box Office for more details 301-280-1660.

Cast and Creative Team:
Edima Essien- Newscaster
Danielle Gallo-Tank
Amanda Haddock-Facilitator
Jasmine Jones-Facilitator (swing)
Miss Kitty-Specs
Matthew Pauli-Facilitator
Ryan Sellers-Levinious/Locksmith
Strother Gaines-Concept and Co-Director
Doug Robinson-Playwright
Jeffrey Eagle-Co-Director and Producer
Chris Mariles-Director of Photography
Ted Hogeman-Sound Operator
Paige Smith Lee-Editor
Madison Booth-Costume Designer
Katie Moshier-Stage Manager

Also, be sure to check out Imagination Stage Summer Camp!

Kid’s Cocina virtual cooking classes

Kid’s Cocina is a virtual cooking class for kids ages 6-11. Your kids can help prepare dinner for Thursday nights! This next session will be Mexican-inspired meals. All of the meals are simple or have been simplified so that children can join without much adult supervision. 

What’s on the menu?
Learn to make your own tortilla, enchiladas, salad-burrito bowl, and the delicious tres leches dessert!
 
When?
Classes are: Thursday, October 29, November 5, 12, and 19
Time: 4:00-5:30pm
Cost: $100 for all 4 classes or $30/class
Check out
Register here

Testimonial:
“My daughter loved it! Thank you for offering this.  You have a wonderful way the kids!” -parent of a 7 year-old

Celebrate the High Holidays at home with PJ Library

Each fall, Jews around the world celebrate the High Holidays: Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).  It’s a time when one can take a deep breath and think about the ways to make ourselves and the world a better place. Traditionally, many families celebrate the holidays at synagogue and with relatives and friends. This year, to stay safe, many are staying home, so PJ Library has created a FREE, everything-you-need family guide to help celebrate what may be many family’s first High Holidays spent entirely at home. It’s easy to subscribe to PJ Library just click HERE! Be sure to check out and download this beautifully-illustrated “High Holidays at Home: A PJ Library Family Guide” featuring new and familiar rituals, hands-on activities such as shofar making and challah baking, conversation starters, “unpacking” of selected prayers (with tips on talking with children about God), and family-friendly explanations — all aimed at making the ten days the High Holidays are celebrated meaningful, memorable and fun for families, this year and in the future. The guide is also accompanied by an interactive online companion that offers helpful how-to videos, music, and audio versions of blessing and prayers.

Our family used the guide to make homemade challah, using the recipe in the guide. It was so simple and a great way to bond and discuss the holidays.

It’s easy to subscribe to PJ Library just click HERE!

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