KCKidsFun

You’ve probably heard of Flat Stanley, the popular children’s book series authored by Jeff Brown.  And, you’ve maybe even been involved with a Flat Stanley-type game at your child’s school ie) each person gets him for a week and takes pictures of their adventures.

But have you heard of flat KC Nikita?!?  In preparation of the polar bear’s return to Kansas City, flat KC Nikita is being introduced. The Kansas City Zoo is encouraging families to take photos of flat KC Nikita around the metro. You can then enter them into the Nikita Tour Guide Contest!

Create your flat KC Nikita polar bear at the Zoo this Saturday during the Kids Fun Fest from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. or develop your own big white bear at home. Take your flat KC Nikita around the city to your favorite locations or with your favorite celebrities, snap some photographs and mail or email them to the Kansas City Zoo, marketing@fotzkc.org.

Flat KC Nikita Tour Guide Contest pictures will be displayed in the Zoo’s lobby during the month of May for voting by zoo visitors.  The winner of the contest will be invited to the ribbon cutting ceremony opening the new exhibit!  Get creative– this is a great opportunity to visit some of the metro’s best locations and hot spots!  You can have flat Nikita accompany you to your favorite museum, restaurant, sporting event or special event.  Have Fun!!!

All of this is to get everyone excited for the Zoo’s $10 million polar bear exhibit, opening this summer.  The exhibit features a 140,000 gallon pool, surrounded by glaciers, and Nikita, the 800-pound male polar bear.  This will be such an awesome addition to our zoo!  And, if you sign up now for a Friends of the Zoo (FOTZ) membership, you will have the opportunity to get an up-close sneak peak of the polar bears on April 10, 2010.  Better yet?  You’ll also get FREE admission to the zoo through March 31, 2011.  You heard that right!!!  A family FOTZ membership is only $79.  This is an incredible deal! For an extra $30, your family will enjoy unlimited rides on the train, tram and carousel– all year long!  FOTZ members also enjoy FREE or discounted admission to over 150 zoos and aquariums throughout the country.

Have you been able to dig out of the Christmas snow (and the Christmas wrapping/boxes/trash) yet? If your kids are anything like mine, they’ve been clamoring to go sledding since we finished unwrapping the last present yesterday.

So, I thought I’d re-share our list of favorite places to sled in the Kansas City metro. We published this list last year:

Sledding Hills in Kansas City

Feel free to add your favorites in the comments!!

Have fun and stay warm!

I wanted to share a few things before getting to the meat of this post.  Last weekend, we took the kids to see Santa and we had a great time!  We headed out to the Bass Pro Shop in Olathe, KS, near 119th St. and I-35.  It was our first time, and I had a tough time envisioning what all the hoopla was about.  But it was really neat!  The store was over-the-top decked out “woodland Christmas” and there was so much to see and do.  Santa was located near the back of the store and there were lots of elves on hand with games, craft and coloring stations and other things to do to make the wait not seem so long.  We easily spent two hours there, looking at the fish tanks, tents and all the fun stuff!  I’d highly recommend going to this Bass Pro Shop or the one in Independence off I-470 and I-70.

Another fun thing we did was look at Christmas lights–and I have to give a big shout-out (again) to our reader, Keith, who maintains an excellent list.  I planned our evening out using his list/photographs and we weren’t a bit disappointed!  Or a bit lost!

Sooo, it’s Day 1–WINTER BREAK. We’re moms too – so we know that you’re probably feeling excitement tinged with a little bit of dread. What the heck are we going to do with these kids for more than TWO WEEKS?! And how can we keep it fiscally under control after we’ve spent too much on Christmas?

Here are few free, cheap or relatively inexpensive ideas for things to do with the kids over break:

You’ll want to begin your search by heading over to www.visitkc.com.  This site is chock-full of great DEALS–especially the 2-for-1 admission coupons to many of the city’s greatest attractions!

1. Swimming at indoor pools – lots of community centers have open swim during break for a daily fee of $3 to $7 – some of these pools are really neat with a water park feel – some of the less expensive ones include Park Hill Aquatic Center, Blue Springs and the KCMO Community Centers. We’ve got a pretty extensive list of indoor pools to check out.

Or you can check out your local YMCA for indoor pools and more! Did you know that you can download a FREE 14-day guestpass for use at the local YMCA?

2. Check out some of Kansas City’s museums with cheap or free admission – the Puppetry Arts Institute, the Johnson County Museum of History (with the new Kidscape exhibit), the National World War I Museum, the Toy & Miniature Museum, The Money Museum at the Federal Reserve (for older kids) and the art museums (Kemper, Nelson & Nerman). Some of these have free admission – others will cost you a few bucks a person (with lower admission prices for the little ones).

3. Kaleidoscope at Crown Center – FREE Family Art Sessions almost every day of winter break

4. Visit Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs for free glass marble making demonstrations

5. Open Gyms – most are for the preschool crowd but there will certainly be some open to the school-aged kids over break – check our list of Open Gyms – prices range from $1 to $10 for several hours of fabulous, exhausting play!

6. We’ve written about ice skating in Kansas City–tomorrow, (Sunday Dec. 20, 2009) Leawood’s Ice at Park Place is featuring Star102 at the Ice from 2-3pm!  Stop by for half-price skating, prizes and giveaways!  Call 913-663-2070 for latest skating conditions, group rates and party info.

7. And don’t forget your local library! Many have fun holiday programming – there are regularly scheduled storytimes, craft sessions and holiday performances – or just hang out there for an afternoon for a change of scenery! Many library activities are listed in the KC Kids Fun Events Calendar.

8. Some of the local parks and recreation departments are also offering winter break camps and activities. For example, Blue Valley Rec is offering basketball camps, open gyms and art classes. I’m sure others are doing the same.

So, if Christmas has broken the bank – don’t despair. There are still great things to do with the kids that won’t involve the television, the computer or video games! Have a fantastic break!