Seattle Children's Kids Marathon

There is a great active, healthy and community centric event tomorrow at Seattle Center, the Seattle Children's Kids Marathon, bring your kids out for the fun!!!

The Seattle Children's Kids Marathon 2009 is on SATURDAY, November 28th at 10:00 AM at the Seattle Center. Kids begin their final 1.2 miles from the corner of 5th and Harrison.
The Seattle Children's Kids Marathon is structured to allow children — kindergarten through eighth grade — to complete a full 26.2 mile marathon at a rate that is fun and safe for their growing bodies “one mile at a time.” It also encourages them to read 13 books and perform 13 do rights (good deeds).

What is a Marathon?
In ancient Greece, Phidippedes ran from the plains of Marathon to Athens to report about the Persian War. That is where the marathon got its name. Thousands of years later, people still run, but now they do it for fun. About half a million people run marathons every year! People who run marathons train a lot. Your body must be in good shape to run a marathon. A marathon is 26.2 miles. The Seattle Children's Kids Marathon will get you on your way to being physically fit.

The Kids Victory Recovery Area is located in the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. Kids will receive their space blanket and water as they cross the finish line in Memorial Stadium and will then proceed through the secured finisher chute to the Victory Recovery area where they will receive their finisher shirts and their Goody Bag containing their finisher certificate and medal, as well as refreshments and post event fun with Radio Disney.

PLEASE NOTE: Parents/Guardians, you may run with your child if you wish. For safety reasons, you will be required to wear a bib/runners number to accompany your child on the course and each child may have only one parent accompany them. Every child who enters the event will be given two bibs with the same number — one for the child and one for the accompanying adult. For lost parent/child reasons, the child and adult bibs will both contain the child's information. If you have a younger child in a stroller accompanying you, that child will have to be entered in the event and have a bib number to be on the course.

Photos from the Seattle Kids Marathon 2008 are available here

Awards: You get the following awards for finishing each of these mileposts:
13 Books: A special certificate 13 Do Rights: A special certificate 5 miles: Award token, chain and award certificate 10 miles: 10 mile award token and award certificate 15 miles: 15 mile award token 20 miles: 20 mile award token and award certificate 25 miles: 25 mile bonus award token Final 1.2 miles: Kids will receive their space blanket and water as they cross the finish line in Memorial Stadium and will then proceed through the secured finisher chute to the Victory Recovery Area where they will receive their finisher shirts and their Goody Bag containing their finisher certificate and medal. Note: Kids receive one t-shirt per entry.

Okay, Play on the Furniture!

It's not every day that we let our kids to play on the furniture and that's why we are excited about Bobles. Yes, they are chairs and tables. In fact, when designer Bolette Blædel was on maternity leave with her first son, she soon discovered the scarcity of children’s furniture that encourages play, creativity and physical exercise, while at the same time satisfying her preference for good, Danish design. With her sister, the fashion designer Louise Blædel, she therefore conceived the idea of creating a series of multifunctional furniture that children want to play with and adults want to bring into their sitting room.

So you can say, "yes!" to your youngster tumbling, rolling, balancing, seesawing, rocking, and jumping off these styling pieces. The Tumbling animals are produced in a firm foam with a soft surface, very easy to clean under the shower. The Tumbling animals are tested especially for children and is free of any toxin or phthalates.

If you want to try these out, come on into our store as we encourage kids to play on the stuff we have out. Check out our story hour with Moon Paper Tent on Thursdays at 10:30.

How to Make a "Light" Saber

Any Darth Vaders missing their light saber? Here's an easy, inexpensive way to make one that will last long past Halloween. It's made of foam and tape so even a mighty dual will not hurt anyone. And, if you are looking to hone some jedi fighter skills, have Darth count how many times s/he can keep a balloon in the air using the saber. Or, practice spelling his name in the air.

Materials (most can be found at Home Depot):

1. Foam pipe insulation that is about 1" diameter
2.Colored duct or masking tape in gray, black and any third color for the "light" part.
3. Stickers in various shapes. We used foam circles, ovals and stars.


Instructions
1. Cut 3 foot pieces of foam pipe insulation
2. Duct tape the handle alternating black and gray with various widths.
3. Use colored duct tape to complete "light" part. We used blue painter's tape.
4. Place small circular/star/oval foam stickers on the handle as buttons.

Enjoy!

What to do all that artwork?

Rainbows, parkscapes, abstract scribbles, detailed diagrams of Jedi Fighters, and the list goes on... With cleaning for the fall comes a time to address the question that any parent runs into the moment their wee one places a pen (or stickers) to a page...What to do with all that artwork? It's wonderful, colorful, imaginative and a new insight into the way their minds work. But, man, there's a lot of it!

And, it's pretty tough to keep it all. So, here are a few tips (some ideas complements of simplemom.net):

1. Pass some along to the grandparents.
Grandparents love handmade creations from the grandkids. Set aside a collection for each set of your folks, and surprise them with a book of art for their coffee table or for their cubicle at work. What grandparent doesn’t love bragging about their grandkids? Give them a tangible way to do so. You can even place a little note at the beginning and make sure you kids sign it!

2. Use it as gift wrap or as cards.
Save money and declutter by using some art as gift wrap. Your kids will beam with pride, and you’ll pass along original art as part of the gift. You can also make cards with art and get the same results.

3. Rotate the best artwork in frames.
Assign a few frames throughout the house to displaying recent works of art. Have your kids pick out their favorite, and hang those in their bedroom or playroom. Select your favorites, and display them where you’ll enjoy them. Rotate the collection every few months. If you don't have frames, try hanging a string and use clothespins to hang them on the string. It's easy to rotate and makes a nice display

4. Keep clutter boundaries with a designated bulletin board.
If there’s still a ton of art you or your kids love after framing the best, designate a bulletin board in their room just for their art. They can hang as many well-loved pieces as can fit on the board, which keeps tangible boundaries on the quantity.

5. Keep storage boundaries with a designated box.
Many times, the real problem isn’t displaying the art, it’s storing the art. You want to save your kids’ art so they can look back as they grow, and so you can walk nostalgically down memory lane in a few years. That’s completely reasonable, in theory. The problem lies when you keep every. single. piece. of. art. created.

That’s just not possible. You can’t save it all, because mostly likely you’ll run out of room; if you don’t, then your head will spin with trying to organize and catalog it all so that it’s enjoyable. When you keep too much, it lessens the value of the artwork you truly do love. Your collection is watered down.

Assign a sturdy, acid-free art box for each child. Try this acid-free storage box because it’s inexpensive, sturdy, large, and has a space to label the contents. If you want to keep your child’s recent painting, write down the date or their age on the back (you think you’ll remember, but you won’t), and toss it into their box. At the end of each year, go through and select three or four of your favorites to keep for posterity. Get rid of the rest.

6. Take photos of the art.
If it breaks your heart at the thought of tossing the art and somehow losing its memory, take a digital photo of the piece before getting rid of it. It’s still clutter, for sure, but at least it’s not physical clutter. You can digitally store their work on a CD, and one day, you can look back at it via computer. Or, include it in an end-of-the year photo book using a photo site like www.shutterfly.com.

7. Toss it. Teach kids the value of decluttering.
When push comes to shove, a lot of your kids’ art is more for the process of creating than for the result. It’s okay to throw away some of their art. In fact, it’s fine to toss most of their art. When you save only the artwork you love, you’re increasing its value. And when you get your children involved in deciding which ones to keep and which ones to save, you’re teaching them the value of giving loved items a specific place of honor, and that it’s really good to not hoard. If you don’t want your kids riddled with a cluttered life as adults, start teaching the principle of living with boundaries now.

What is the big deal with blocks, really?

Ever wondered why blocks remain a staple of any kid's playtime? I mean, they're just blocks...right? How great can a cube (or cylinder, or cone) be?

Truth is, early childhood educators have known for a long time that block play (PDF) is a simple, effective, and therefore indispensable, tool in the development of our kids. Playing with blocks starts kids learning basic math and science concepts (abstract) -- sorting, counting, size, shape, weight, spatial relationships -- and the imaginative story-telling that it stimulates improves language and reading skills. When you add in other kids and parents into the equation, your child develops social skills like cooperation, negotiation, and responsibility.

Worried about having to pick up the blocks after your little one is done? Make that part of the process and putting toys away can be a sorting game all on it's own.

Here's some good guidelines used in play-based classrooms:

• We build with blocks, not throw them.
• You may knock down only the tower you build.
• You may build as tall as you are.
• We keep the blocks on the carpet.
• We build away from shelves and other people and furniture.
• We take out only what we will use.
  

We've got a great selection of blocks here at Urban Kids Play, too. Stop by to say hi and check them out!