Monday Reviews - Chattahoochee Nature Center

The Chattahoochee Nature Center is a lovely nature preserve in Roswell, easily accessible from GA 400 at exit 6. They have great trails around ponds, through woods, and along the Chattahoochee River boardwalk. You'll enounter turtles, a beaver, and bird of prey like hawks, owls, and even a bald eagle. The Center recently built a visitor's center with some hands-on exhibits and displays, as well as a gift shop (of course!). I love that they have preserved its natural beauty while offering many possibilities for fun and education.

If you visit on your own, you will find plenty to do. Ask for a scavenger hunt list at the front desk, and meet the animals when the handlers feed them or give talks about them. You can bring a picnic lunch to eat outside.

But don't miss the scheduled events. Each year there are festivals: Earth Day, Butterfly, and Halloween. Get out on the Chattahoochee with naturalist-led canoe trips. Little kids can sign up for preschool adventures, storytimes, animal breakfasts or infant walks. Older children can visit Starlab, a portable planetarium, or experience nocturnal animals on night hikes. CNC is also a popular place for birthday parties, and their summer day camp, Camp Kingfisher, is immensely popular.

Good to know: Chattahoochee Nature Center is open from 9:00-5:00 M-Sa and 12:00-5:00 Su, except for Christmas, New Year's Day, and Thanksgiving. The cost is $8.00 for adults; $5.00 for ages 3-12; and free for ages 2 and under. A family membership costs $75, which includes 10 guest passes. If you plan to attend many scheduled events or live close by, membership would be well worth it.

Kids Consignment Sales

Fall and spring are the times of year for consignment sales! If you are new to Atlanta, you may not know how huge consignment sales are. But with the economy being what it is, you should certainly check them out.

Atlanta Parent magazine has a good listing of consignment sales by county. It's too late to sell clothes at most sales for fall, but head out to get some deals and think about selling in the spring.

Tips for Buying

1. Bring cash or checks - most sales do not accept credit or debit cards.

2. Bring something to carry clothes in, like a laundry basket.

3. Many shows will not permit strollers or only permit them at scheduled times.

4. It may be impossible, but don't bring children if you can avoid it - those sales get crowded!

5. Be careful about buying items like cribs - they may have been recalled.

6. Avoid t-shirts. You'll usually pay a couple of dollars, and you can get clean, unfaded, non-pilly new t-shirts at Wal Mart or Target for a dollar more.

7. I like to buy church clothes or nicer items at the sales: usually they've been worn less. You can find boutique brands and good quality name brands at good prices.

8. Look over your kids' clothes before you go so you won't come home with more of the same.

9. Ask around for the "best" sales. In Forsyth County, my favorite is the Cumming First United Methodist Church.

Do you have any more tips or opinions about the best sales? Leave them in the comments!

Pigs and Peaches Festival

The city of Kennesaw has a great BBQ festival this weekend. Live music and barbecue are the highlights, but you can also enjoy inflatables for the kids, prizes, parachuting daredevils, bowling, games, and prizes.

The festival runs from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. today (8/16) and is free, except for food and some activities.

What To Do With Your Preschooler - Part Two

Here are some more ideas for preschooler/parent fun while older siblings are in school!

Cultural

The Atlanta History Center has Magic Mondays one Monday per month. The program is for kids ages 18 months - 5 years from 10:30 -11:30. Click the link for dates and themes. The cost is $5.00 for children and $6.00 for adults.

The Center for Puppetry Arts is showing The Adventures of Little Noodle on Fridays from August 14 - September 11 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. If you can make it today (Thursday, August 13) the preview performance is half price: $8.00. Regular price is $16.00, which includes the museum and puppet-making following the performance (highly recommended!). Besides, you are right down the street from the Varsity for lunch!

Imagine It! Children's Museum is recommended for kids 8 and under, so now might be a good time to visit if you have older kids. Through September 13, the main exhibit is Exploring Trees: Inside and Out.

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Nature

Cagle's Dairy has dairy tours and harvest garden tours Tuesdays-Fridays 9:30-11:00 a.m. The cost is $7.00 for ages 2-92.

Autrey Mill Nature Preserve has a couple of preschool programs to choose from that you'd need to register for in advance. They have a nature camp for ages 4-5 on September 1-3 from 10:00-1:00. You can attend any or all of the days, and the cost is $35 per day for non-members. They also offer two four-week preschool classes this fall. Running from 11:00-11:45 on Tuesdays, they meet for the first session Sept. 15-Oct. 6 and the second session from October 20 -November 10.

Sawnee Mountain Visitors Center offers Preschool Explorers classes for ages 3-5 that meet for 6 weeks on Wednesdays or Thursdays at either 10:00 or 1:00. The first session runs from early September to mid-October and the second goes from mid-October to late November. The cost for non-Forsyth County residents is $54.00.

What To Do With Your Preschooler

If you have a school-aged child as well as a preschooler or two, this time of year is interesting: the older one is in school, but most likely the preschooler doesn't start until after Labor Day. I like to use the opportunity to do things with my preschooler that he will especially enjoy; the one-on-one time is great. It also helps the younger child adjust to having the older sibling gone all day. Many activities are focused on under five's, so it's a good time to try out a class without the older sibling.

Here are some ideas for making the next few weeks fun.

Library or Bookstore Storytimes

Check your local library for times - most of them have multiple times per week. Here's a list of Atlanta area library website links.

Barnes & Noble, Borders, and independent book stores also have storytimes. Check with your local store for times.

Art Classes

Farmhouse in the City in Alpharetta has Mommy and Me art classes at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The cost is $10 per child.

Purple Hippo Art Studio in Dunwoody has a series of Mommy and Me classes from August 18 - October 6. Classes for ages 2-4 are either on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from 10:00-10:45 and cost $165 for the entire session.

Museums

The Southern Locomotive Museum has Mommy and Me classes at 10:00 a.m. on Thursdays for ages 3-5, free with museum admission.

The High Museum of Art has Toddler Thursdays for ages 2-5 from 11:00-3:00, free with museum admission.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden has storytime in the garden on Wednesdays at 10:00. They also have a free tour for kids in strollers on Fridays at 10:30.

Kids Eat Free at Ikea - until 8/14/09

You may not be in the market for cheap Swedish home goods, but if you are, and you have kids, go this week to get your children a free meal! Monday -Friday, kids can choose three kid-sized items such as meatballs, yogurt, mac and cheese, chocolate milk, PB&J, cookies, and more. Better yet, no adult purchase is required.

After their free meal, let the little ones run around Småland while you browse the $.49 dog bowls, $9.99 sheets, and $129 couches!

The next post will not focus on Ikea!

Ikea Småland

Did you know Ikea has a supervised play area for kids? Potty-trained children, heights 36 - 54 inches, can play in a secure play room while you shop. You check them in, and they can play in a ball pit, watch a movie, color pictures, or play with toys. The check in process is impeccably secure: you'll leave with a pager, an arm band, and a filled-out form that you'll need to retrieve your children. My kids love the chance to play, rather than being dragged through a store!

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This arrangement has one unfortunate downfall: the time limit for children in Småland is 45 minutes. And Ikea is a huge place. The policy used to be 90 minutes, but it has recently changed. Unless you know exactly what you want, it's not enough time. I'd recommend either taking your children with you in the store and going to Småland once they are bored, or checking them in immediately and see how far you get. We hid our cart near the checkout line; retrieved the children; and they only had to wait in line with us.

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Ikea does try to make things easier for parents. Most showrooms have little play kiosks, and they have hand wipes throughout the store. The Ikea restaurant has unbelievably inexpensive kids' meals, as well as $.99 breakfasts and $.50 hotdogs. Right after the check-out line you can get a vanilla frozen yogurt cone for $.99, a nice way to end a shopping day.