Kids' things

Animal Survival Game

2010-11-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

Avril has been reading the Kids Care! book and a few days ago she asked that we make the Animal Survival Game (page 82 of the book). We made a board game before (the Cheese Game) and we still play it from time to time. This sounded like a good project, so we cut a cardboard box into small cards and too one sheet of paper for the board. I drew the path on the board and blue pictures of water and red pictures of caves. Avril draw the stars ("I'm good at them because I practice at school") and everything else including the rewards at the finish (checkered flags, the crown, "Happy birthday" banner etc). As I was writing cards, she also added rainbows, park ranger cars, and another cave).
I wrote the text on the cards and she drew pictures on them. She decided to draw "bad things on bad cards" (dragons and angry dogs) and "nice things on nice cards" (rainbows). The two cards with pictures I show in this post have pictures drawn jointly by me and her: the first card has a dog and two-headed dragon (I did the dragon and she added six eyes on his body); on the second card, I drew the kite on the right and Avril added everything else. At the end I added a balloon showing that the girl is thinking about a heart.
We played the game twice and really loved it.

Sand castle competitions

2010-07-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

I wrote about this topic in 2008. Here's updated info for 2010 about sand castle competitions in the Bay Area:

September 4 in Capitola: Begonia Festival.
September 5 in Point Reyes: Sand Sculpture Contest.
September TBD in Carmel: Sand Castle Contest.
October 2 in San Francisco: Sand Castle Contest.

Flash games for young kids based on books by Mo Willems

2010-04-26T12:31:00.001-07:00

For Mo Willems fans (like my 4 year-old daughter), these games are great. She especially liked the "Hot Dog Dress Up" but we also spent some time playing "Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed" and "Elephant and Piggie Dance".

in reference to: Pigeon Presents (view on Google Sidewiki)

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed

2010-04-20T01:55:00.001-07:00

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems is one of my 4 year-old daughter's favorite books. I also really like it and I picked it as the book to read to children in her classroom as "community reader" last week. The book is witty and smart and a joy to read both by children and adults.

But I would also like to point out that naked mole rats are fascinating animals. If, like me, you haven't heard of them, check out one of many articles about them on the web (e.g., this one on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole_rat). As a teaser, let me say that this one of only two species of mammals that are eusocial, i.e., their society is organized similar to ants and other social insects.

in reference to: Amazon.com: Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed (9781423114376): Mo Willems: Books (view on Google Sidewiki)

Bill to change California's minimum school age

2010-04-14T10:12:00.001-07:00

This will be a great change for students in California. California's cutoff dates are very late. You can see cutoffs dates for all states do here: http://users.stargate.net/~cokids/kindergarten_cut-off_dates.htm
There is also an interesting paper available here: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=825
This topic is related to issues of Kindergarten readiness but goes well beyond them. I hope that this legislation will pass.

in reference to: California Chronicle | Simitian Introduces Kindergarten Readiness Bill (view on Google Sidewiki)

More research needed about impact of Internet on children

2010-01-13T00:05:00.001-08:00

This article in NY Times is fascinating. I agree that children who grow up with today's technology will have a different understanding of the world and a different set of expectations than their parents and indeed than people just 10 years older then them.
But the exact effects are very hard to predict. And there's enough research to prove contradicting things. For instance I read a Newsweek article (http://www.newsweek.com/id/229843) that cites a neuroscientist, Joshua Greene of Harvard, saying that "The Internet hasn't changed the way we think". I would love to learn more about this topic. For now I'm watching how my 4 year-old daughter grows up in this amazing new world of technology.

in reference to: The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s - NYTimes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Making a board game with kids (part 1)

2009-12-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

Avril likes playing board games, so I thought that it would be fun to design a board game with her. This post describes the process of the design up to the point of creating a pdf file that can be printed. In the future we plan to have a follow-up project to actually build the board, board pieces and cards based on the design. If you have any tips about actually making the game, please leave comments on a web page that tracks the progress of our game making.
Since recently Avril has been interested in cheese, our game is about making cheese. Read my earlier post to learn how to actually make cheese at home with a child (the board game includes the recipe followed by us).
Avril has played a few board games (Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, The Ladybug Game and others), so she was quite familiar with the idea. We started with a simple sheet of paper to sketch the game. After 15 minutes or so, we ended up with this sketch:

We simulated the play a few times (without using any actual board pieces or dice) and Avril laughed a lot as she recalled us making cheese.
Going from the sketch to a somewhat nicer version that can be downloaded here was somewhat tedious (it took me over 4 hours), so I did it myself but next time I will try to involve Avril in that part too. There are a lot of sources of public domain images online (for instance PDClipart and WPClipart). And you shouldn't have problems finding computer software for editing images (you should pick software you're already familiar with).

If your child likes board games, I recommend designing your own. This is a fun activity. We already enjoyed the design part but since Avril (like most kids at this age) loves crafts, we will surely love making the game based on the design.

NASA Exploration Center is worth a visit but web site a little outdated

2009-11-29T21:16:00.001-08:00

The activity with Mars-like surroundings was supposedly very nice but this was 6 years ago according the to the guide who works in the museum. Today the interactive learning area is rather uninteresting but the NASA Exploration Center is still worth a visit. We visited it with a group of families and even kids who haven't turned 4 yet had a great time there.

in reference to:

"Young people from ages 3 to 6 can 'explore' Mars and take part in Mars-related activities in an area with Mars-like surroundings and soil."
- NASA - INFORMATION (Please call to make reservations for large groups) (view on Google Sidewiki)

Making cheese at home

2009-11-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Avril (who will turn 4 later this year) has been recently very interested in cheese. At home she tried different kinds of cheese. Some of them she liked (Brie, Camembert, mozarella) and some she didn't (blue cheese, Swiss cheese) but she was definitely interested in it. And at school the kids have been recently playing the "cheese shop". All this led me to trying to make cheese at home. Avril loved the idea.
As expected there is a lot of online advice on making cheese. Most simple recipes have the same basic idea: heat up milk and add either lemon juice or vinegar and the only special equipment needed is cheese cloth. Easy enough. We settled down on the recipe from the Food Wishes blog because I liked the idea of adding buttermilk and seeing both the ingredients list written down and a how-to video was useful.
We bought the cheese cloth at a nearby Bed, Bath and Beyond but you can buy them easily online. This one got good reviews on Amazon.
We bought the three ingredients: whole milk, buttermilk and lemons in a grocery store and we were all set. Making cheese turned out to be as easy as it sounded and the cheese was very tasty! A few days later, we made cheese following the same recipe at Avril's school. The children took turns at various parts of the process and then they had cheese for lunch. Teachers and parents tried the cheese too. I can recommend this as a great activity for children who are 3 and older.
Here's a picture of Avril scooping curds into the cheese cloth:

Bilirubin levels in infants

2009-11-06T16:17:00.001-08:00

Even hospital staff may misinterpret bilirubin levels in the lab results, so it may be useful to you to read the recommendations in this articls. This article gives excellent graphs (see Figures 2 and Figure 3) for which levels are considered dangerous. Note that how bad the bilirubin level is depends on the age of the infant and on the presence of some risk factors explained next to the charts.
Of course these are only guidelines and your pediatrician should interpret lab results for you but reading this article will let you ask intelligent questions to nurses and doctors.

in reference to:

"All bilirubin levels should be interpreted according to the infant’s age in hours"
- Management of Hyperbilirubinemia in the Newborn Infant 35 or More Weeks of Gestation -- Subcommittee on Hyperbilirubinemia 114 (1): 297 -- AAP Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

Preschool classes at Dance Connection

2009-11-06T16:00:00.001-08:00

My daughter has been attending the "Preschool Combination" class for a few months and she really loves it. The teachers are great and the girls love being in the class.
The class is called "combination" because it part of it teaches tap dance and part of it teaches ballet.
The last class of each month is a "backwards class" that focuses on gymnastics.

in reference to: Dance Connection Palo Alto (view on Google Sidewiki)

"Parent and Tot" classes at the Winter Lodge

2009-11-06T15:17:00.001-08:00

"Serious" classes at the Winter Lodge in Palo Alto are for kids who are 4 and older but even younger kids will have fun at the Friday "Parent and Tot" class (provided that the parent can skate well enough to help the child in the class). My daughter took this class with me when she just turned 3 and she had a lot of fun even though at this age she couldn't learn anything too complicated. Both her happiness about ice skating and the fact that she became somewhat confident skating with my support made this class very worthwhile for us.

in reference to: Winter Lodge (view on Google Sidewiki)

T-ball in Palo Alto starting from 5 years of age

2009-10-28T23:30:00.001-07:00

Children who are as young as 5 year-old may participate in this league. See http://pabaseball.org/info/faq_tball.php#ages for details.

in reference to: Welcome to Palo Alto Little League (view on Google Sidewiki)

Amazing Family Game Board Book

2009-08-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Family Game Board Book is one of the best purchases we made. This box full of games was inexpensive, it doesn't take much space and we already played with Avril many games: checkers, backgammon, Chinese checkers, nine men's morris, A-to-Z eye spy, trick track, reversi, mancala, war, go fish, crazy 8s and dominoes. And there are still many games left.
Some of the rules are too hard for a 3 year-old, so I had to simplify them a little and it is very hard at this age to lose but otherwise the games are a lot of fun both for my daughter and for me.

Olema Ranch Campground

2009-07-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

We spent the July 4 weekend at the Olema Campground near Point Reyes. We usually camp in somewhat primitive condition and this was the most upscale experience we have had so far. I really recommend it for families especially for families without much camping experience. The tent sites are pleasant and the resort has many conveniences: hot showers, a little store, laundry. There's even a playground for children. The campground is very close to Point Reyes National Seashore, so many activities are possible there.

Here's a picture of the playground:

Goats and May Fête Parade

2009-05-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

Bay Area weather doesn't look promising this weekend but there are some interesting events going on this weekend.

May Fête Parade on Saturday (May 2, 2009) in Palo Alto should be a lot of fun. This year’s theme is "Dream Green".
Fantasy Faire on Saturday in the Los Gatos Parent Nursery School is a smaller event but if you live close to Los Gatos and don't feel like driving to Palo Alto, it's good option too.
Last but not least: goats! This is not really an event but I saw them today and it's an amazing that one can see so many goats in Mountain View. Read more about it in the Google blog post.

Children movies, TiVo, Netflix and more

2009-03-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

In addition to using our computers to access youtube, we sometimes want to watch children programming on TV. We, the parents, occasionally watch some TV but not much (we watch Lost; rarely also late night shows; news etc). Given this and the the fact that our house had no antenna to receive over the air programming, we had been trying cable (Comcast and U-verse) and satellite (DISH) over the last few years. We wanted a DVR, preferred to have some HD content and not pay too much given that we don't watch too much TV.

Last week, we decided to try a new way. We canceled cable, installed over the air (OTA) antenna and bought TiVo HD. We also connected our TiVo to the Internet. We were lucky to have an Internet connection next to our TV. If you don't have a wired Internet connection next to your TV, you may have to spend a little more money on a wireless network adapter (you can use the TiVo AG0100, or another wireless USB adapter but if you buy a non-TiVo one, make sure that you check the compatibility list).

Since we have a network connection, we connected our Netflix account to the TiVo. Now we can still record and watch Lost, late night shows, children shows on public TV. But in addition, we can now watch instantly an unlimited number of any of the 12,000 Netflix offerings. All this for $12.95 for TiVo and $8.99 for Netflix (so, the total is less than $22 a month). This is not free but much cheaper than cable or satellite and we get many extras included: we can watch youtube videos on our TV; we could order one of Amazon Video On Demand titles; or use any of the other services I haven't tried yet (CinemaNow, or Jaman).

My experience so far has been great: the quality of OTA TV and Netflix movies is great. The convenience is great and I can expect that as more ways to stream video content become available, TiVo may add them to our DVR. We are saving a lot of money every month, so our investment in the TiVo and antenna will repay soon. And the quality of TiVo experience is higher than what experienced from cable and satellite.

Last but not least, I should add that we actually get most of the children movies from our local public library and that in general, we read more than watch which is what we recommend to all parents.

Learning the alphabet from youtube

2009-03-22T00:43:00.000-07:00

Avril learned her alphabet when she was very young. We were reading books to her often but I think another big factor that helped was youtube. There were quite a few youtube videos about letters there that Avril watched over and over. Here are a few of them:

(and a few other ThatsMEonTV.com videos.)

Avril's iPhone favorites for March

2009-03-22T00:23:00.000-07:00

I wrote a month ago about Avril's favorite games for iPhone. She added two new games to her top 5 list. She still likes Rolando, Cute Math, and the built-in Weather app but now there are two new games she really likes:

PopGeo USA Geography. Avril likes to find countries of the world and US states on the map, so she really enjoys find the states in this game even though she can't read all the names of the states and usually asks for help reading the names.
Shape Builder. Avril plays this game all by herself and really usually can complete 5 or so shapes before switching to another game.

Advent calendars and the Children's Theatre

2009-02-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Last December we bought for Avril a chocolate advent calendar at Trader Joe's. In case you've never had one, an advent calendar has a small window for each day in December until Christmas and under each door there may be something hidden – in our case a small chocolate. The calendar was a big hit. Avril loved counting the days and to our surprise she showed a big discipline, never wanting to eat more than one chocolate a day and remembering which day would come next.

The second part to background of yesterday's story is that we live close to the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre and that theatre has a series of shows called Second Saturday Participation Plays. As you can guess from the name, on the second Saturday of every month, there's a children's play in which audience participates in the story with the actors. The idea is great even if, as in our case, your child is a bit shy and usually opts for sitting next to the parent rather than participating.

So, now the story that is the reason for this post: Yesterday, Avril and I went for a stroll and we were walking at some point from the big tree that a few days ago fell down in the storm to the zoo. As we were walking past the Children's Theatre, I asked Avril: "We came here to watch some plays. Do you remember what story we watched?" Avril's response was "No. You tell me!" For a while I tried to get her to tell me the name of the story but eventually I gave up knowing that she either really forgot or had her own reasons for not wanting to tell me the name of the story. So, I said "we watched Jack and the Beanstalk". Avril's response blew me away. She said: "Yes, and on that day I opened the chocolate number 13". As she said this, I didn't remember when exactly we went to see the play but after I got home I checked and Avril's recollection was perfect: we watched Jack and the Beanstalk on December 13. I am still impressed with this. I mean... Avril wasn't even three on December 13 and that performance was over two months ago!

I guess that the moral of the story (other than the fact that people can remember random things) is that tying in new skills like counting days into every day activities that children enjoy can be very effective. So, all those things like counting how many Toyotas there are in the preschool's parking lot may have many unpredictable benefits.

I would like to end with a longer plug for children theatres in general and the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre with its many programs including Second Saturday Participation Plays. You have to make sure that you go the plays appropriate for the age because sitting through a long performance is hard for toddlers but if everything works out, they are great fun. Here's the list of Second Saturday Participation Plays this season:

Cinderella, November 8 – 10:30am and 12:30pm
Jack and the Beanstalk, December 13 – 10:30am and 12:30pm
Beauty and the Beast, January 10 – 10:30am and 12:30pm
Little Red Riding Hood, March 14 – 10:30am and 12:30pm
The Tortoise and the Hare, April 11 – 10:30am and 12:30pm
Snow White, May 9 – 10:30am and; 12:30pm

There's only one downside of the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre I can think of: it is very popular and the shows tend to be sold out weeks in advance. We haven't yet planned any trip there long enough in advance, so we have to show up early to be near the top of the waiting list for returned tickets.

iPhone games for toddlers

2009-02-20T22:51:00.001-08:00

There was recent news about how video games are good for kids. This reminded me that I wanted to write how Avril enjoy playing games on the iPhone. She started playing them before she turned three and by now she has tried a few. Here are a few of those games and the experience of one three year-old girl:

Cute Math
This game is designed for small children and Avril really likes it. Counting and addition of small numbers are easy for her and the cute animation and sounds are a lot of fun. She also likes the game of shaking apples from a tree even though she doesn't really know subtraction yet. Cute Math is better than PopMath for children who are beginning to count since it uses animation to show the result of addition and subtraction.

PopMath
Another game specifically designed for small children and we had it before Cute Math. PopMath is for kids who already know how to count because it doesn't help you visualize the operations. But once the child doesn't need visualization anymore, PopMath is better than Cute Math because it progresses from simpler math to more complex math and eventually lets you deal with slightly larger numbers and more operations (it lets you use the four basic operations) and it is more addictive because of its competitive aspect.

Drawing applications
There are many of those available on the iPhone and we tried quite a few. Kids love them. My recommendation is to try the free ones first before (if at all) paying for drawing apps. Of the free ones, we liked Colors! Lite and DrawR. You can see a longer list here. We also ended up buying Y.Painter+ which Avril liked most of all the drawing programs.

MazeFinger
This game is great for small children because it starts with very simple mazes and it has appealing graphics. I usually turn off the music though.

Rolando
This is an excellent game for grown-ups too. I am really impressed with how well designed it is. The full game is $9.99 but so far we just got the free Rolando Lite. Avril can only complete the first two levels anyway.

Weather
This is a built-in application on the iPhone and Avril loves to check what the weather will be on the phone.

Clock
Also a built-in application. I have set up a few cities in Asia, Europe and the US. The app shows time for each of those cities and make the city dark or not depending whether it is night or day in that city. Avril often checks this app and says that it is night now in Shenzhen or that it is day now in Poland.

If you know any other games that are good for young children, please let me know.

books we read in Feb

2009-02-14T09:03:00.000-08:00

rating 4

Angelina Ballerina

Avril is a big fan of Angelina Ballerina. She likes all of her books and DVDs.so no surprise,she loves this book.

Arabella Miller's Tiny Caterpillar

3.5 star

It is overall a book, but for some reason, 3-year-old Avril can never concentrate on finishing the book.Maybe to her, that is a little too educational and she could not quite understand yet.

The Birthday Box

5 star

Avril likes this book, it is a simple read.On each page, there is only one line, after reading a few times, Avril can read this book by herself.

3 star!

Bringing in the New Year

To Introduce Chinese New year to Avril,I read her this book about Chinese new year.It is OK to read.

Cool Daddy Rat

4 star

The text is rhythmic--quite challenging for my foreigh tongue to read,the illustration is beautiful and jazzy. very unique book.

Dog and Bear (Neal Porter Books) (Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner-Best Picture Book) (Awards))
5 star!

After the two's company, I tried to find more Dog and Bear series to read.It is perfect for toddlers to read. Simple, loving.After a few readings, Avril can read most of the pages by herself.

Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris [FANCY NANCY & BOY FROM PARIS]

5 star

We like all Fancy Nancy books:)

Fish Who Cried Wolf

4 star

It was enjoyable, the illustration was great.The text was rhythmic and cute.

On Meadowview Street 5 star!

I love this book a lot. This is my second time checking it out.I can not say Avril likes as much as I do,but she certainly enjoys it too. It is a book about nature,garden,grass,birds...very cute.

Valentine Hearts: Holiday Poetry (I Can Read Book 2)

4 star
I picked up this book for Valentine's day was getting closer.I usually do not expect books of this kind to be any interesting.I was surprised by how good,cute and emotional those simple poetries are.I have been thinking to introduce Avril literature and poems,but most of them I found are either too difficult and advanced for a 3 year old, or too silly to call them poems:) This book is perfect, the collections are perfect for this age.Avril likes it a lot for she could understand them very well.

Hug Time
5 star!
I saw this book in Urban Outfitters.I liked it very much.It is a very cute,loving book, the drawings are simple,abstract,smart.The story is simple and touching. I will remember to check out more books by the same writer. It is also a beautiful gift book to give to someone with a warmhearted message.

How I Learned Geography

5 star
This book might be a little advanced for 3-year-old, hopefully one day she will understand to feel same kind sympathy to others and the world

A very unique children book.

10 Minutes to Bedtime

5 star

Avril really liked this book, requested us to read to her over and over.

The Busy Body Book: A Kid's Guide to Fitness (Booklist Editor's Choice. Books for Youth (Awards))
4 star
This is really good book about human body-- a little bit too advanced for 3 year old, but Avril learned a lot about her body from this book. I am considering buying this book, for this one we can read for many years.

There Are Monsters Everywhere (There's Aà)
4 star

Not sure why kids like monsters:)

A Visitor for Bear
4 star
A cute story about friendship and sharing. It is perfect for a 3 year old

books we read this month

2009-02-14T08:55:00.001-08:00

I decide to keep a journal of the books I read to Avril.

Tonight on the way home from daycare, we stopped by the library picking up some books. After dinner, we finished reading the following books. Avril and I enjoyed all of them.

I will give a rating 3.5 out of 5

What Happens on Wednesdays is a good book for preschool kids, we can really relate to the daily routines in the book, as we were reading this line" mommy read me a book, we were laughing to see Michal was unloading the dishwasher.

It might be a little too long for 3-year-old Avril? I will read to her a few more times. I personally like the drawing texture.There are lots of details,Avril and I spend time on each page looking at the shops,dogs on the street ..

5 star !!!

Dog and Bear: Two's Company is consist of 3 short stories. I liked it immediately. It is really appropriate for 2-3 year old. Avril can quickly recognize words she knows. I plan to read this book a few more times this week.
I requested a few more books by the same author.

rating 3

The Chicken of the Family
A cute stories about siblings.The younger one was teased by the old sisters.It is a little complicated for a 3-year-old, maybe when Avril is 4 or 5 year old, we can read it again?

The Day the Babies Crawled Away
4 star
This distinctive feature is its silhouette illustration with a lot of detail.Avril and I enjoyed it.I am not sure how much she really appreciate the drawing.Maybe as she gets older,she will appreciate the artistic aspect of this book.

We read this book twice tonight. once by me, once by Avril with my help. After this book,she remembered 4 to 5 Chinese characters.I shall remember to have her read the same book for the rest of week a few more times.

Bay Area Trains Map

2009-01-09T23:04:00.000-08:00

My coworkers suggested a few more trains in addition to what I wrote about earlier in the blog, so I decided to create a map of all those trains. First, the list of train rides:

Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad
Mini Train in the Central Park in San Mateo
Roaring Camp Railroads
Little Puffer at the San Francisco Zoo.
Gilroy Gardens: Coyote and Redwood Junctions Railroad Train Ride
Sonoma TrainTown
Redwood Valley Railway in Berkeley's Tilden Park.
Niles Canyon Railway in Fremont

And train exhibits:

California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento
Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History in Santa Clara

View Larger Map

Books about multilingualism

2008-12-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

I recently wrote a review of a book about multilingualism (bilingualism to be exact). It's the second book I read about the subject since it's of big personal interest to me. I've also read a few articles and followed at least one online discussion about it. Here's what I believe now about all the information that's available:

Do not read any books about bilingualism unless you have to. The information is unlikely to change much about your attitudes towards multilingualism and reading them can be annoying because they read like propaganda materials.
If you do want to read something, the book I've just read (A Parents' & Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism) is not too bad in spite of the fact that my review contains a few criticisms.

Carol of Lights Festival in Campbell

2008-12-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

We go to the Carol of Lights Festival in Campbell every year and really like it. It's an opportunity to see snow in the Bay Area (the build a snow hill on one of the streets), take a picture with Santa and see many other holiday-related things. The event used to be in the evenings but this year they decided to move it to the afternoon. It will take place on Saturday, December 13, 2008 from 2pm to 5pm. Immediately before the Carol of Lights, there's the Christmas in Campbell event, 11am-2pm featuring music performances.

Here's a picture of us on a pony ride in the 2007 Carol of Lights Festival.

Little Puffer

2008-12-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

In my post about trains, I completely forgot about the Little Puffer at the San Francisco Zoo. Our daughter and other children we know love this train. Here's a picture from one of our visits there.

Trains in the Bay Area

2008-11-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

Since ningning mentioned trains in a comment to my post about the Holiday Train, let me write a little about trains for kids in the Bay Area. I'm sure that I don't know all of them, so if anyone knows more, please let me know. Here are the ones that we know.

Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad

This train in the Vasona Park in Los Gatos is loved by all kids I know. The train ride is great and there are many other attractions in the park: the carousel, playgrounds, and ducks.

Mini Train in the Central Park in San Mateo
I don't like this one too much but if your child is really into trains, it may be worth checking out. The train goes in a small loop. Adults cannot be on the train because it is a very small train. The Japanese Tea Garden in the same park is very nice.

Roaring Camp Railroads
This place close to Santa Cruz has two train: the beach train that goes to Santa Cruz and the steam train that goes in a loop. Both are very nice. There are also some events there, like Day Out With Thomas, and Holiday Lights Train.

Bay Area Holiday Train

2008-11-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

We went to the Caltrain's Holiday Train in the past and we will surely go this year. This year the train event will happen on December 6 and December 7, 2008 (note that different stations are served on each day). You can get all the details on the Caltrain web site for Holiday Train 2008.

This is a very fun activity for small kids. The train stops at the station and you can watch performers on a platform car. Some characters (Santa etc) will get off the train and mingle with the crowds.

If you choose to watch it in Santa Clara, make sure to check out the train museum there. The kids will love it!

The Holiday Train is also about giving. If you can, please bring new toys and books. Your gifts will be donated to U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots Program and the Salvation Army.

Candyland

2008-11-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

Candyland was suggested by Dafna in a comment to my Zingo post. According to the Wikipedia article, this game "has become a cultural icon in the U.S." And according to Board Game Central: "For generations, boys and girls have enjoyed Candyland as their first board game".

I will definitely give it a try. Amazingly, it costs only $5 on Amazon: Candy Land - Milton Bradley Board Games.

Fun Pumpkin Patches in the Bay Area

2008-10-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's this time of year again. Small children love to go with their parents to pick a pumpkin, especially if there are other activities that can go along with getting a pumpkin: hay rides, train rides etc.

My favorite place to visit is Uesugi Farms (on Yelp). They have lots of pumpkins to choose from and many activities to choose from. This is where we went the last two years.

But this is not the only place. Here are a few other places for pumpkins:

Webb Ranch Farm in Portola Valley.
Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch in San Jose.
Art and Pumpkin Festival in Half Moon Bay.
G&M Farms in Livermore.
Joan's Farm in Livermore.

Here's a map of those places:

View Larger Map

You can see a really comprehensive list here.

Zingo

2008-10-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

Recently I was looking for a game for my 2 1/2 year-old daughter. I was initially thinking of a board game but I had no idea what game is appropriate for that age. I went to Cheeky Monkey (our local toy store) and spent some time looking at games. All the games were coded for age. The youngest age I saw was 3 but none of those games looked very simple, so at some point I asked someone who worked in the store for a recommendation. That person recommended to me Zingo by ThinkFun. When I first looked at the box and noticed that it is labeled for ages 4-8, so I was skeptical but after I was told that it should work for a 2 year-old, I looked at the game more carefully and agreed that it looks very age-appropriate.

I bought it and we tried it out right away since we were hungry and went for lunch to the Japanese BBQ restaurant on the same street. The game was an instant hit with my daughter. We played it later at home and we all liked it. The game is inspired by Bingo and its idea is pretty simple: each player gets a card with 9 pictures and when a tile matching one of the pictures is drawn from the deck, you try to claim it before other player who may have the same tile.

Check the game out in your local store or buy it on amazon.

Do you know of any other good games for toddlers? If so, write a comment!

Fern flower tale

2008-08-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

I was browsing DVDs in the children section of the Palo Alto library and noticed a movie based on the Fern Flower Polish folk tale. I got the DVD and really liked it: the animation style is very interesting; the story is told well and some elements of the related customs (like jumping over bonfires, floating wreaths of flowers with candles) are shown. I recommend it!

This DVD is a part of a 32-volume Animated Tales of the World Series published by Schlessinger Media. You can buy it separately or get if you're lucky, get it from a library that bought the whole 32-volume edition. If I understand OCLC correctly only six public libraries in the US have it but luckily for me one of them is the Palo Alto one.

Sand castles

2008-08-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

The sand castle competitions start in the Bay Area next weekend. The first event is the Sand Sculpture Contest at the Capitola Begonia Festival. This will take place 8:30am-12noon on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at Capitola Beach. The following day, there will be the Annual Sand Sculpture Contest in Point Reyes National Seashore.

The third event I know of is the Sandcastle Classic that will take place on October 4, 2008 at the Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

Do you know of any other sand castle events in the Bay Area? Let me know!