Beltway Bambinos

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

Mo Willems announces the Yo-Yo Mo Show with Yo-Yo Ma and Thank You Thursdays!

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ first-ever Education Artist-in-Residence, Emmy Award®–winning writer and New York Times best-selling author and illustrator Mo Willems, whose LUNCH DOODLES have received more than 9.5 million views, announces two special projects during the month of May: Thank You Thursdays!, a new series with Disney Publishing Worldwide which will be posted every Thursday during the month of May at 1 p.m. ET, and The Yo-Yo Mo Show: An Evening of Musical Doodling with Grammy Award® winner and Kennedy Center Honors recipient Yo-Yo Ma on Sunday, May 31 at 5 p.m. ET. Both programs, as well as all 15 episodes of LUNCH DOODLES, will be available on the Mo Willems page of the Kennedy Center website.

For the past four years, Willems’s beloved characters—Elephant & Piggie, Knuffle Bunny, and The Pigeon—have traveled the country during the month of May for a “Thank-O-Rama” campaign. First launched by Disney Publishing Worldwide in conjunction with the finale in the Elephant & Piggie series, The Thank You Book, the “Thank-O-Rama” campaign has engaged book lovers across the country, making stops at bookstores, schools, and libraries. This year, Disney Publishing Worldwide is joining the Kennedy Center for a special series of weekly online events, Thank You Thursdays! Each Thursday, Willems will be encouraging kids and their grown-up pals to create special doodles thanking groups of people who have inspired the world over in the past few months.

During The Yo-Yo Mo Show: An Evening of Musical Doodling, learners of all ages are invited to grab some paper and doodling implements and join Mo Willems and Yo-Yo Ma to explore ways in which different art forms can inspire each other.

Highlights of the first year of Willems’s two-year residency at the Kennedy Center included the five–time Helen Hayes Award–nominated Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Musical!) and this past summer’s Mo Willems & the Storytime All-Stars Present: Don’t Let the Pigeon Do Storytime!, a comedic celebration of reading. Willems also participated in the multidisciplinary 16-day Opening Festival of the REACH, the first expansion of the Kennedy Center in its 48-year history.

Due to COVID-19, all ticketed performances at the Kennedy Center have been canceled through August 9. Until further notice, the Kennedy Center campus and its facilities, including the restaurant, café, and other food service, will be closed.

Flex Academies ONE online enrichment programs + GIVEAWAY

You may be familiar with Flex Academies as some local schools partnered with Flex Academies to hold enrichment classes. As we find ourselves not being able to go to school, Flex Academies has pivoted and adjusted their offerings to continue to reach your child at home!

Flex Academies ONE are classes taught LIVE by Flex Academy’s instructors. The classes are taught via a password protected Zoom room and an extensive list of classes are offered for kids in grades PreK-6. You are sure to find a class right for your child. Classes are categorized into arts, fitness, life skills and language classes. The great part is you can pay as you go or purchase a pack of classes. Visit the FAQ for answers to common questions and head to their YouTube channel to see classes in action.

GIVEAWAY: Enter to win a 10 pack of classes from Flex Academies ONE by commenting on our Facebook post with which class(es) you’d sign your Bambino(s) up for. A winner will be announced on May 8, 2020.

Adventure Theatre MTC announces a digital presentation of Make Way for Ducklings this Sunday + virtual classes

Adventure Theatre MTC, previews one of its 2020-2021 season productions online with a digital presentation of the script, Make Way for Ducklings adapted by Sandra Eskin and Michael J. Bobbitt (Blueberries for Sal) with music and lyrics by William Yanesh (Caps for Sale, Blueberries for Sal), April 26, 2020 at 2pm. Directed by Raymond Caldwell, this presentation is free and will be streaming live on Facebook. 

To tune in on April 26, 2020 2pm ET or follow the production online, visit their Facebook Event. For additional information or questions, please e-mail. 

Executive Director Leon Seemann, Education Director Margo Brenner Collins, and Artistic Director Chil Kong are excited about this digital presentation that follows the Mallard family in search of what a place they belong. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are exhausted from their search for a starter home when they land on an island near the Public Garden for a temporary rest. Shortly thereafter, the Mallards molt, and are are unable to continue their search until their baby ducklings are born. When the ducklings begin to explore the world around them, the local Police officer looks out for the young family by stopping traffic, feeding them peanuts, and welcoming them to the neighborhood. A classic story for all ages, this world premiere musical celebrates the people make an unfamiliar place a home. 

Says Artistic Director, Chil Kong, of the event, “This presentation reunites the team who brought Blueberries for Sal to life in an enchanting and magical way. Now they are together again to stage McCloskey’s most popular work, Make Way for Ducklilngs. The timelessness of the original story is a lovely reminder that kindness is essential in this chaotic time.” 

The cast includes Shayla Lowe , Dylan Fleming, Jared Graham, Tamieka Chavis, Isabel Auerswald, Sophia Bordenick, Victoria Marshall, and Bridget Trebon. 

Adventure Theatre is also offering online classes for children in grades K-5. There are storytelling and acting classes for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5

Virtual birthday parties in Washington, DC and beyond

A few friends of our friends as well as family members have had birthdays during this pandemic. We celebrated the best way we could think of; a drive to our nephews house blaring Stevie Wonders ‘happy birthday’ with handmade posters and cards and we mailed gifts via Amazon to others. While neither are ideal, we still were happy to be able to wish them a happy birthday during this tough time. Another great idea is to organize a birthday parade; I saw it play out on Glennon Doyle’s IG when her daughter’s friends planned a fun surprise parade and it brought tears to my eyes. Now that we are looking at months of this social distancing some of our favorite places have thought about how to continue to make birthdays specials for our kiddos. So prepare to bake a birthday cake, order a birthday banner or themed decor and check out the options below. We introduce to you virtual birthday parties!

Shellebrate, Mermaid theme from Badlands

District Dabble Lab
Virtual Parties: Like they do for Birthday Parties at the DabbleLab, Emily will do a completely customized theme (mermaids, unicorn, rainbow) party for the child. She always personalizes something for each attendee, so if the parent would like to include the birthday child’s friends in a Zoom party, they are welcome to send the names and Emily will make a art kit for each one for the parent to pick-up and deliver to the guests of their virtual party.  If the family is doing something just for the child and his/her siblings, Emily will create completely personalized and custom craft kits for them.  

Dabble On-The-Go Art Kits: These change weekly and include three projects and a personalized art bag.  Orders should be placed the week before and they are ready for delivery or pick-up on Monday of the following week. Emily will deliver within 2 miles at no charge and between 2-10 miles for a $5 fee. Anyone can do contact-free pick-up at the DabbleLab. 

Red Panda Art Studio
Red Panda Art Studio is now offering virtual birthday parties! They will facilitate a 45-minute art activity with you and your guests! Art activity can be customized to any theme using materials most families will already have at home (markers, paper, paint, etc)– or you can arrange for them to create customized art kits to deliver to participants! Red Panda aims to bring some art fun to your Zoom party during this time! Extend the birthday fun by creating together! Email Stephanie for all of the details! 

Virtual Art Classes: Stephanie is also offering virtual art class. Both of my kids are taking art class with their besties once a week and it is perfect. The projects use art supplies you likely have at home and are done over Zoom.

Henry’s Sweet Retreat
At home birthday party package includes decorations, cookie activity, games and cake and is available for curbside service! Included are 16 pre-baked sugar cookies for the family to decorate with 4 colors of icing and 4 kinds of decorations. A bright colored rainbow “Happy Birthday” banner and special hat for birthday kid and a birthday cake. The package includes an 8” cake (perfect for a family) decorated and a special message. This also includes games for 4-6 year olds and games for 7 & up that have instructions. Some choices are: Jelly Belly jelly bean tasting – they’ll give you 6 (fairly simple) flavors to try and figure out! Henry’s Helper – dress a paper doll cut out using frosting as glue. Missing Candy Game – figure out what candy is missing. M&M game – includes cups, m&m’s and straws. Candy Ball Saran Wrap ball (all you need is dice). Soda Tasting – they’ll give you 3 unique sodas to taste blindly to figure out the flavor.

Henry’s Sweet Retreat

ArtJamz
Offering various virtual classes and at-home paint kits. Unleash your inner artist! at home with an ArtJamz at-home paint kit and/or order a few for your kids friends and have your own Zoom party. You could also sign-up the attendees for a jamming live virtual painting experiences taught by a talented artists.

All Fired Up
While they are not offering virtual birthday parties, they are delivering take home kits with everything you need. You could browse the choices and order a few for your kids friends and have your own Zoom party!

Badlands
Beginning this weekend, Badlands has launched Badlands Birthdays in a Bag! – providing everything you need to replicate a themed birthday party, Badlands style! There are 4 themes available for purchase:  Born to sparkle (unicorn), Hear Me Roarrr (Dinosaur), Shellebrate (Mermaid) and Calling All Heroes!  (Superhero).  Each kit contains décor, birthday signage, plates, cups and items to deck out your birthday party at home.  Also included are a mindful moment card, activity sheets and virtual activities with accompanying materials like themed bingo to enjoy with friends and family at home or virtually! 

Birthdays in a bag can be ordered via Badlands’ recently launched non contact Pull-in Pantry, a service providing pantry staples, alcohol and STEAM activity kits like Slime, Build a Rocket and Craft Kit (with more kits to come in the weeks ahead).  The Pull-in Pantry not only provides a vital service to the community, but also helps to support Badlands’ staff pay relief during this challenging time.  The pantry operates every Thursday – Sunday from 12pm – 6pm.  Orders can be placed anytime and a pick up window chosen or call 240-599-5108.

The Great Zucchini
The award winning children’s entertainer who needs no introduction is offering 30 minute Zoom parties.

Mad Science
Live, virtual, interactive birthday parties are now available. Let Mad Science host your child and up to 40 of their friends in a secure Zoom ‘party-room’. Mad Science is Washington FAMILY Magazine’s 2019 Winner for Best Kid’s Entertainer. Call for more details at 301-593-4777.

My Gym Bethesda & Potomac
Party On! (Online, that is!) Everyone is at home and social distancing, but don’t let that stop you from throwing a birthday bash your child will always remember. My Gym LIVE brings great birthday parties to your home, living room or backyard! A 30 minute My Gym live birthday party includes LIVE age appropriate interactive entertainment from a My Gym Teacher. Dance, play games, party virtually and make memories together! My Gym birthday shirt for the birthday child is available for pick-up as soon as they re-open and they receive 4 free weeks of live online classes for the birthday child. Each party attendee will receive one free live online class for party attendees.

Marsha Goodman Wood
Virtual Birthday parties! I’m so glad to be able to provide this option for people to make their child’s birthday special even while we stay safe and practice social distancing. It’s nice doing these on Zoom because all the children can see each other and dance together from a distance. Usually the musician mutes everyone else while performing a song so the party participants can make noise without cutting off the performer and interfering with the audio. Then, the performer can unmute the participants to give people an opportunity to talk back or to each other between songs. It’s really a nice way to be able to celebrate while we can’t meet in person. There are some other online options that work for parties, too, such as Google Hangouts (and if a parent had another preferred platform, I’m open to anything that works best for the family).  I try to keep my performance like I would at an in-person party, with songs tailored to the age of the birthday child and partygoers, and lots of opportunities to sing & dance along. I also provide the host & participants with album downloads so all of the families can have some music to enjoy even after the party is over. My goal is to give the birthday child and their family a joyous day and a positive experience making music together at home! The best way for families to schedule is to go to the above link and contact Marsha either by email or phone 202-246-6688.

Zig Zag Zooooom! 
The incomparable magistical laffinator, Zig Zag offers a variety of virtual shows for young and not-so-young kids.  Packed with Puppetry, Music and Kid’s Magic, Zig Zag’s shows will fill your home with joy and laughter.

Busy Bees
For Busy Bees, parties equal happiness and togetherness. They say it’s time for us to bring that back to our families! They have created a way to be “together”, while we are apart. Through designed celebration packages,  your lil’ ones and their friends will join together in the same mission  while at the “same place” (enter same Zoom backdrop created for each of the activities)! Packages are perfect for virtual playdates, or virtual birthday parties.
Order yours now for curbside pickup at our Falls Church store on the specified date.

If you’re wondering how to make a child’s birthday special, socially conscious, and STEM-tastic amidst the pandemic, look no further than Rosie Riveters! We’re bringing our immensely popular programming to virtual birthday parties for kids turning 5 to 10 with Rosie Celebrates!  And you’ll be celebrating with a social conscience; all proceeds from Rosie Celebrates parties go directly toward supporting our mission to provide free STEM programming to girls ages 4-14. What does that look like during COVID-19? We’ve been providing STEM kits just like the ones we use for Rosie Celebrates to local children in need free of charge.

Ways for all ages to connect virtually

Everyone’s routines have been disrupted and we all need to stay connected. That looks different for each age group but the commonality is providing a way to connect with those we no longer are able to see in person. We’ve listed some platforms for you to use, games to play while on an app with someone or ideas for those who may not have the attention span to sit in front of a screen.

Some kids aren’t as focused when it comes to connecting virtually so thinking creatively comes in to play. Our kids have been sending a letter in the mail to a friend or family member each day. They love sending them and are excited at the potential to receive a letter also. This is a nice alternative to using a screen for part of the day. Another nice option is to send a video to a friend and ask them to send one back in response. This may be helpful for younger kids. Your child can show a new trick, something they discovered or built, a garden they are growing, a short dance routine….anything!

Virtual ways for most to connect—
Facetime— Using an Apple product you can make a call using audio and/or video.

Caibu— This is PERFECT for the younger crowd. You can connect and play games TOGETHER, read a story together and more!

Google Hangout— This allows you to chat and/or connect via video and also send stickers and photos.

Zoom— Your kids are probably familiar with this one as it is commonly used among classrooms during this pandemic. You are able to meet one on one or join as a group. This option may be good for a child who wants to connect but is a bit shy; having three to five kids would take some pressure off while still socializing. You can set up a private meeting and send the link so everyone can log in.

Houseparty— A fun app we have used with adult friends to video as well as play games like Heads Up, Trivia, Chips and Guac, and Quick Draw!

Messenger Kids— We have not tried this one so we can’t offer much information but what the website says. Messenger Kids is a free video calling and messaging app for smartphones and tablets. Parents control the contact list, and kids control the fun. Keep in touch with close friends and family with fun-filled features like filters and stickers.

Here are some ways to interact when chatting with someone virtually–
Play a Game: Depending on the age of your children you can play a board game by facing the camera toward the game. You can also play a game virtually such as Go Fish or War where each player uses cards. Check out this  virtual dice roller which works best for simple games where you roll a die or draw cards to move around the board, like in CandyLand, Monopoly, Yahtzee, cards, and Sorry! We haven’t looked into Pogo but hear you can play games together on that also. A lower-tech game, Let’s Play Uno allows kids to play this timeless card game with friends for free.

Book Clubs: Simple– read a book separately, meet online or call a group on the phone to talk about it. Adults can do this virtually with their favorite beverage alongside as if they were having a real book club in person.

Pokemon Go: The game allows kids to interact with friends and even track their activity in the game. Pokemon Go creators have also adjusted the game a bit and made Pokemon closer to your home to allow for more involvement.

Netflix Party: A new way to watch Netflix with your friends online. Netflix Party synchronizes video playback and adds group chat to your favorite Netflix shows.

Read Aloud: Our Nana is infamous for bringing a book to FaceTime and reading to our kids! Your kids could read to their caller or vice versa. A great way to practice reading and sharing the pictures. This can be made fun by getting cozy with blankets too. Reading aloud via video chat is a great way to enlist family members who live far away and allow kids to stay connected with them as well as to give you a small break maybe while you make dinner.

Charades: Players take turns thinking of a word/phrase. Then they have to act it out for the other players to guess but are not able to talk. You could use a timer to set a time limit for each round, and try to guess before the time runs out. You can choose a theme for the game also; actions, sports or animals are a few.

Cooking: Our kids love watching Top Chef Junior and fun baking shows. Perhaps they connect with a family member or friend and cook together. They can cook the same recipe or use the same ingredient and see what they choose to create. These are some good places for kids to find kid-friendly recipes, Food Network, Delish who also does an Instagram Live cooking for kids weekdays, and Weelicious.

I Spy: This can be a traveling around the house game with a device. Take your friend who is on the call into various rooms in your home, face the camera toward the room and have them “spy” different items!

Game Systems: Perhaps you have an X-Box or Play Station. If so your kids can connect with their friends and meet in a game by sharing their user names. Some of these games allow you to put on headphones and chat with your friend you are playing.

Twenty Questions: This can be played with many people or just two. One player thinks of a person, place or a thing {nice opportunity to practice what a noun is}. They tell the other players the category their word falls into. For example, if their word is “pool” they could say “place.” The other player can ask only 20 questions to try to guess and they can only be yes and no answers.

Phone Calls & Walkie Talkies: Now is the time to work on communication skills. Our kids have used walkie talkies with neighbors and I have been writing out some prompts to help get them started as it’s a bit unusual for them to be initiating conversations without looking at them.

Craft Together: Our five year old has FaceTimed with a friend and they sat and drew pictures for each other, showed them and talked about the masterpiece. You can also visit sites offering DIY crafts such as KiwiCo.

Show & Tell: Just like your child is in school- they can share their favorite toy or artwork with friends and family members. They can show it and talk about why they like it, any facts they know about it and even take questions!

Healthy Kids Virtual Running

Healthy Kids Virtual is an adaptation of the usual HKRS Race Day experience! HKRS believes in leading an active healthy lifestyle. During the time of social distancing, it is important that parents encourage children to stay active!

A Virtual Race is a race that can be run (or walked) from any location you choose. You can run, jog or walk on the grass, on the sidewalk, on the trail, on the treadmill or on the track. Your child will run their age appropriate race distance, at their own pace, and parents record the time! Parents then upload the time after each race into the series specific results sheet found on the ‘Results Page’. Families can also choose their own start and finish line, or if available, use an existing one provided by HKRS! Don’t forget to run the Parent Mile on week 5 with your kids.

Healthy Kids Running Series starts next weekend- register here. All kids ages 2-14 are encouraged to participate. The program suggests distances for each age group, but whatever distance, whatever time you can make happen each week is beyond great! Kids can run around your house/in your yard, and around the block. You can complete your weekly run whenever you want, and you’ll just mark in a provided tracker that your kid(s) finished their weekly run. It’s honor-system based, though the organization would LOVE to see photos and/or videos of your kiddos running. This provides a time to support and encourage each other in this crazy time!

Once the pandemic restrictions are eased, they hope to hold a medal and t-shirt pick-up in N Arlington. You can live anywhere in the area to participate, though, of course!

Share your running photos with the virtual community! Find them on Facebook or Instagram.

Washington Nationals free, educational activities for kids

We hope you and your families are staying safe and healthy. While everyone at the Nationals are disappointed we aren’t all celebrating Opening Day today, they have been busy creating fun content for fans. There are many free, online educational activities for kids in grades 1-6 here.

On the Nationals Home and Away page, parents will find a variety of resources, including:

–Jr. Nationals Kids Club Fun Pages – featuring Nat Libs, word scrambles, trivia, and more for our younger fans!

-Nationals fans can also find coloring pages from the 2019 Postseason released each week on our social channels – like this one!

–STEM Education Lessons – the first lesson, taught by Nationals Park PA announcer Jerome Hruska, teaches children how to accurately measure their strike zone.

-Future topics will include Reaction Time, Elasticity, Sports Vision, Aerodynamics, and Angular Momentum.

–Reading Resources – Reading is more important than ever now!

-Fans can find reading activities, featuring Nationals pitchers Sean Doolittle and Aníbal Sánchez, in both English and Spanish.

–Summer Slugger –in partnership with EVERFI, Major League Baseball’s Summer Slugger program, designed for 4th and 5th graders, was developed to combat summer learning loss during vacation months.

-The program offers activities focused on math and literacy skills and is now free for everybody to use!

In addition to these great educational resources, the Nationals have also been putting out some fun, interactive content on their channels for the whole family to enjoy:

-Instructional Baseball Videos – In these videos, Nationals coaches demonstrate great drills that baseball and softball players can do at home to stay in playing shape (while maintaining social distancing).

–The first video features Nationals Third Base Coach Chip Hale teaching young hitters how to increase strength and use all parts of the strike zone.

­-Cooking Demonstrations – Nationals Park Executive Chef Tim Jones will be sharing easy-to-make recipes that use kitchen staples for you and your family to cook together. Better yet, he will also put together a quick video to show you how it’s done!

-Videos can be found soon on Curly W Live, the official blog of the Nationals.

They are also excited to announce that they have just launched a fun campaign for our Curly W Live Podcast.

As part of the celebration of the World Series win, the Nationals are asking fans to share their favorite 2019 Postseason memories from the ballpark, official watch parties, or anywhere else you enjoyed the games! They will review all submissions and pick their favorites to be featured on the Curly W Live “From the Stands” podcast. Be creative – record your own memories or interview friends or family members about their memories!  All submissions must be downloaded to THIS LINK, and fans should include their first name and where they are from in their audio file name when they submit their recording.

Fun games and activities to do with friends and family virtually

Now that we are all {well, most of us} keeping our distance from those we usually interact with so often, more and more are connecting by way of computer and phone. Here are some ways you and your Bambinos can connect virtually. The easiest ways to connect are via Skype, FaceTime, Zoom and Google Hangouts with family and friends. We have been doing virtual happy hours on FaceTime with adult friends and recently downloaded the Houseparty app which lets you play a few fun games while on FaceTime together- just like a game night but virtually! Another one to check out is Jackbox Games for the more advanced.

Play a Game: Depending on the age of your children you can play a board game by facing the camera toward the game. You can also play a game virtually such as Go Fish or War where each player uses cards. Check out this  virtual dice roller which works best for simple games where you roll a die or draw cards to move around the board, like in CandyLand, Monopoly, Yahtzee, cards, and Sorry!  We haven’t looked into Pogo but hear you can play games together on that also. A lower-tech game, Let’s Play Uno allows kids to play this timeless card game with friends for free.

Book Clubs: Simple– read a book separately, meet online or call a group on the phone to talk about it. Adults can do this virtually with their favorite beverage alongside as if they were having a real book club in person.

Pokemon Go: The game allows kids to interact with friends and even track their activity in the game. Pokemon Go creators have also adjusted the game a bit and made Pokemon closer to your home to allow for more involvement.

Netflix Party: A new way to watch Netflix with your friends online. Netflix Party synchronizes video playback and adds group chat to your favorite Netflix shows.

Read Aloud: Our Nana is infamous for bringing a book to FaceTime and reading to our kids! Your kids could read to their caller or vice versa. A great way to practice reading and sharing the pictures. This can be made fun by getting cozy with blankets too. Reading aloud via video chat is a great way to enlist family members who live far away and allow kids to stay connected with them as well as to give you a small break maybe while you make dinner.

Charades: Players take turns thinking of a word/phrase. Then they have to act it out for the other players to guess but are not able to talk. You could use a timer to set a time limit for each round, and try to guess before the time runs out. You can choose a theme for the game also; actions, sports or animals are a few.

Cooking: Our kids love watching Top Chef Junior and fun baking shows. Perhaps they connect with a family member or friend and cook together. They can cook the same recipe or use the same ingredient and see what they choose to create. These are some good places for kids to find kid-friendly recipes, Food Network, Delish who also does an Instagram Live cooking for kids weekdays, and Weelicious.

I Spy: This can be a traveling around the house game with a device. Take your friend who is on the call into various rooms in your home, face the camera toward the room and have them “spy” different items!

Game Systems: Perhaps you have an X-Box or Play Station. If so your kids can connect with their friends and meet in a game by sharing their user names. Some of these games allow you to put on headphones and chat with your friend you are playing.

Twenty Questions: This can be played with many people or just two. One player thinks of a person, place or a thing {nice opportunity to practice what a noun is}. They tell the other players the category their word falls into. For example, if their word is “pool” they could say “place.” The other player can ask only 20 questions to try to guess and they can only be yes and no answers.

Phone Calls & Walkie Talkies: Now is the time to work on communication skills. Our kids have used walkie talkies with neighbors and I have been writing out some prompts to help get them started as it’s a bit unusual for them to be initiating conversations without looking at them.

Craft Together: Our five year old has FaceTimed with a friend and they sat and drew pictures for each other, showed them and talked about the masterpiece. You can also visit sites offering DIY crafts such as KiwiCo.

Show & Tell: Just like your child is in school- they can share their favorite toy or artwork with friends and family members. They can show it and talk about why they like it, any facts they know about it and even take questions!

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