Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in portland, OR

What's Happening in PDX 6/20-6/21

June 18, 2009

Summer is upon us! If you're not too busy picking strawberries or lazing about in your backyard enjoying the break from school, Portland is packed full of fun family activities this weekend. The Sunday Parkways event returns and looks to be an amazing community building celebration. Look for two subsequent Sunday Parkways events in Northeast/Southeast Portland later this summer!

Saturday, June 20th

Contact leader for announcement of location and directions.

For more information, contact Jean Rystrom at (503) 282-2905 or rydick@toast.net.

Berry Jam-11:00am-4:00pm

Head to Kruger's this Father's Day weekend to celebrate Papa and Oregon Strawberries! There will be hayrides, music from Trashcan Joe and New Iberians, Jam-making Demonstrations, Farm Animals, and fun. Face Painting, U-Pick berries, Strawberry Shortcake, Food (Fresh Roasted Corn!) & Drink available for fee. 

Kruger's 17100 NW Sauvie Island Road, Portland 503-621-3489

Meet Biscuit the Dog! 11:00am

Bring your camera and tell all your friends! Come meet a familiar pooch from some of your child's favorite stories.  We'll also read Biscuit stories and have fun with Biscuit activities, too. Join us!

Barnes & Noble-Clackamas Center 12000 SE 82nd Avenue, Portland 503-786-3464

Ladybug Nature Walk 10:00am

Bring a snack and enjoy a guided hike! Learn about our local parks and the wild critters that live there!

Walks take place regardless of rain/shine. $3/child, adults free.

Laurelhurst Park- SE 39th Ave & Stark

Sunday, June 21st

Sunday Parkways  9:00am-4:00pm

A 2-way route of city streets open to walk, bike, roll, run, jump & skip - without having to watch out for cars! The 7.5-mile North Portland Sunday Parkways route will have two loops.  A 3.2-mile loop through Kenton and Arbor Lodge neighborhoods. And a 4.5-mile loop connecting Arbor Lodge and Piedmont neighborhoods via the Bryant Pedestrian Bridge and North Ainsworth.  The scenic Willamette Bluff will once again be enjoyed. Featured parks/activity areas: Arbor Lodge, Kenton, and Peninsula Parks.

Peninsula Park

Berry Jam-11:00am-4:00pm

Spend the day with us celebrating the father figures in your life.

Oregon Historical Society: Family Day Celebrating - The Amazing World of Claymation. noon-5:00pm

Meet award winning film maker, Will Vinton and learn more about Claymation at 1pm.  Family activities, include the opportunity to help make a pixelation, or better known as a stop-motion film and creating clay figures offered from, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Free admission for all. 

Oregon Historical Society 1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland 503-238-7433

What's Happening in PDX 6/6-6/7

June 04, 2009

Free Summer Fun!

June 01, 2009

There are seven days of kindergarten left and counting for my daughter! She's already staying up later (it's hard to fall asleep until the sun goes down and the house cools off) and I'm already wondering exactly how I am going to fill our summer days with the delicate formula of fun activities and lounging around. I am dreading hearing the cry of "I am so bored, there's nothing to do.........." so I am arming myself with a binder of free or cheap Portland summer activities to keep us just busy enough, but still allow for the flexibility of doing...nothing (hunting for flying beetles or sending dolls on extremely exotic vacations to the wading pool in the backyard sound good to me). Our family has down-sized to one car and we're going to be striving for a lot of activities close to home or that are Tri-Met accessible. In Portland, that is easy to do.

Here are five activities to keep your kiddos occupied during the next three months--have fun!

1) Free bowling! Did you know that your children can bowl two free games every day this summer? Two local bowling alleys are offering an amazing program to keep kids cool and active:AMF 20th Century Lanes on SE 92nd Ave (3550 SE 92nd Ave), and AMF Pro 300 Lanes, also in Southeast (3031 SE Powell Blvd) Head to Kids Bowl Free and sign the kids in your life up for a special pass that is good for two free games daily all summer long (excludes shoe rental). Parents/relatives can also purchase a special pass for $23.95, which is good for up to four adults to enjoy bowling all summer as well. (two games daily). I am looking forward to having a cool place to hang out and hide from the sun. (an quick picnic or popsicle break afterward at Powell Park might be nice)

2) The Summer Reading Program through Multnomah County Library is a great way to keep your children interested in books and helps them build/maintain their literacy skills. Beginning June 12, kids and teens can visit anyMultnomah County library to sign up for the Summer Reading game. Participation is free! The program runs June 12, 2009 through August 31, 2009 and your child can earn fun prizes (ice cream, swim passes, books, the prizes change throughout the summer). There is even a reading program for adults! Collect stamps as you read and enter to win a family trip to Disneyland!!

3) For older siblings, Barnes and Noble also offers a similar reading program for children in first grade and up. Read any eight books and choose a free book (from list of specified titles). Combine a trip to redeem your Summer Reading Journal with one of B & N's entertaining in-store events and make an afternoon of it! Check out a list of upcoming events here!

4) Portland Parks offers a huge variety of free activities for youth during the summertime. Wading pools and fountains open, many locations offer free arts/crafts as well as a free lunch, and there will be free movies/concerts in many local parks. Visit their website for details regarding swim lessons, classes, and camps at very affordable prices. We are so lucky to have these resources in our neighborhoods for safe and free/low-cost fun!

5) Free gardening classes are available for children (ages six through twelve) through Portland Parks this summer.

Woodlawn Community Garden

What's happening in PDX 5/30-5/31

May 28, 2009

The school year is winding down and the temperature is heating up! It's going to be a warm weekend and there are plenty of activities going on. We're going to be sure to check out the kid's clothing swap at the Central Library for some summer outfits, (we've got a lot of gently used clothes to exchange!) hooray for the library for facilitating this cool event!

Saturday, May 30

Monkey Rolls and Rhyming Time  10:30am-11:30am
Join Heather Pearl as she brings animal stories to life, and involves the audience in acting out the stories. The program also includes classic nursery rhymes, and new ones of her own invention. Seating limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Holgate Library 7905 S.E. Holgate Blvd. Portland 503-988-5389

PDX Kids Swap 1:00pm-3:00pm
Join us at the library for a free kid's clothing swap. Round up unwanted clean children's clothing, accessories, and other wearables your kids don't  use or love anymore and bring them to the swap! Bring clean clothes in reasonable condition, no rips, tears, visible stains, etc. There are no minimum requirements for how many items you have to bring or how many you can take, but please be courteous and generous.

Don't forget to bring a bag to carry your treasures home in. Items that do not get swapped will be donated to low income and high needs families in our Pdx community.

• 1:00pm – 1:30pm Size 7 to 14+ (Kid Sizes)


• 1:30pm – 2:15pm Size 2T to 6x (Child Sizes)


• 2:15pm – 3:00pm Preemie to 24 months and maternity clothing (Baby and Mommy-to-be sizes)

The Starlight Parade begins at NW Burnside and 9th Ave. It then travels through downtown Portland and ends at Lincoln High School. Use public transportation for your convenience!

From OMSI's website: "Join OMSI on May 31 at 11:00 a.m. to view and test drive (or ride) fuel cell vehicles from leading automakers. Meet the members of the California Fuel Cell Partnership and talk to the engineers who work on the vehicles and provide hydrogen fuel. Fuel cell vehicles have the potential to provide the range, high efficiency, rapid refueling and performance consumers expect with zero tailpipe emissions and dramatically reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Come and see how close these vehicles are to commercialization, how to fill a fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen and learn how fuel cells fit into a clear air future." 

OMSI 1945 SE Water Ave. Portland 503-797-4000

It's a box, it's a plane, it's........recycled fun!

May 26, 2009

We've been talking a lot in our house about repurposing items. My daughter's school is in the process of getting "green certified" and they have enacted a very progressive recycling program. They have cut their dumpster usage in half, and compost lunch waste, as well as wash melamine trays. This heightened awareness at school is translating to many discussions at home about buying less, and using what we have in creative and frugal ways. Instead of just recycling items around the house, we have been thinking of ways to take simple objects and create new, useful things. Take a cardboard box (cereal box, soap box, vitamin box, shoe box, pasta box) and make these cool things:

1) If you have a large enough box (cereal box works best, or sturdy box from Horizon individual milks or wine) you can make your own recycled magazine holders/chapter book organizers. We also use these boxes to hold magazine subscriptions (save all those Ranger Ricks to refer to or use for collaging !) Measure a line across (four inches from the bottom of the box) and then draw a diagonal line from the mark to the upper opposite corner of the box. Repeat on other side and cut out with an exacto blade. Your child can cut out pictures and decoupage the box (go with a theme that reflects the contents or go wild with a variety of your child's favorite things!) They can also freehand decorate the box, or you can use patterned contact paper to jazz up your organizers

2) One of my daughter's favorite things to do when she's cooped up on a rainy day, is make a diorama or her very own television set out of a cardboard box. She gets to control her very own little world and Mama gets a little time to read the paper. Your child can decide if they want to make a mini replica of something from their own life, or something from out of this world! Use other recycled goodies to fashion knobs, knights, or kitties in capes!

3) Make a doll house, dog house, or firehouse from a cardboard box. Use fabric scraps to make carpets (you can often get wallpaper books, carpet scraps from flooring stores or check with SCRAP for awesome supplies on the cheap) watercolor the walls, and fashion vehicles out of smaller boxes (you could even make a car wash!) Use shoe boxes to make an entire apartment building or go bigger and make an whole city!

4) Create some kid-friendly "electronics"! Why not make a cardboard camera from a small box and toilet paper roll, a faux iPod, or a rubber band guitar (you can make the accompanying maracas from recycled materials too)

5) If you visit Trader Joe's, you may be able to get your hands on a cardboard box with dividers which would be perfect for an emerging collection (think shells/stones picked up on vacation, bottle caps, marbles, or corks. Your child can decorate the box and keep their special found objects organized (instead of taking over the coffee table like my daughter's "important collections" are prone to do)





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Resolutions and Reflections: Putting More into Portland So We Can Get More Out

by Sarah Gilbert

January 01, 2009

At the very end of 2008, I decided to give a bit to some charities I feel are very much in the spirit of Portland -- and further my beliefs about how Portland could support families better. The more I think about how I'd like to interact with this city, it's to give more so I -- and my kids -- can get more out of Portland in years to come. Here are a few things I'd like to resolve to support more fully:
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Pioneer Square Tree Lighting: The one thing for preschooler parents not to miss this weekend

by Sarah Gilbert

November 28, 2008

What's not to miss this weekend? The annual tradition of lighting the tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square . The festivities start at 5:30 p.m. with a singalong, a short speech by Sam Adams at his first tree lighting as Portland mayor, and appearances by such luminaries as Santa and concert rock violinist Aaron Meyer. If you really want to see the speakers, bundle up, bring cushions for sitting on  Read more...