March promises to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Experience all of the animals in between with your family's outings this month.
Big, Big Bugs
Through May 31
General Admission: $8/$3/Free (Adults/Children/Under 3 years)
Exhibit Admission: $2
Planetarium Admission: $3
Grand Rapids Public Museum
272 Pearl Street
grmuseum.org, (616) 456-3977
It sounds like a personal nightmare to me but your swarm may go buggy for the gigantic insects featured at Grand Rapids Public Museum's newest exhibit, Big, Big Bugs. Common Michigan crawlers such as the 20 feet long, 10 feet tall praying mantis, 30 times life-sized caterpillar, or a locust with a 21-foot wing span are displayed at uncommon proportions. Shrunk smaller than the animated creepers, people become the pests, skittering through the giant leaves and blades of grass to peek at giant bugs up close and personal.
Check out the bug family portraits when you enter the dirt-walled Bug House. Crawl through an Alice in Wonderland wormhole to witness fighting atlas beetles magnified 40 times their size to 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, but watch out for the giant aerosol can of human repellant. Schedule a session in the Bug Lab to examine the scientific side of a bug's life including topics like life cycles, adaptations, anatomy and insect jobs. The planetarium show "Crickets & Constellations" completes your insect itinerary.
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Animals Onstage Our four-legged (and eight-legged) friends invade children's theatre in March. Classic stories with non-human main characters are the trend this spring. The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck This musical Beatrix Potter interpretation is irresistibly adorable for children preschool to middle school. Charlotte's Web A play that eradicates arachnophobia has got to be good for all ages. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Your tween will thank you for saving his procrastinating butt on the book report due this month. |
Through June 6
Admission: $6.50, under 2 years free
Grand Rapids Children's Museum
11 Sheldon Street
grcm.org, (616) 235-4726
Future veterinarians in your family get a chance to play their dream role at the Happy Animal Clinic. Performing exams and emergency medical attention to stuffed animal patients, studying animal X-rays, and providing animal grooming transforms your animal lover into an animal doctor. Hands-on fun includes animal scavenger hunts, feeding time at the kennel, creating pet puzzles and a special animal Make-it and Take-it activity. Competitive family? Pick a four-legged racer and cheer them on in the pet cross-country derby race. Plan your visit for March 13, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. to meet real sea creatures in Blue Fish Aquarium's touch tank.
Kalamazoo Reptile and Exotic Animal Show
March 13; 10a.m.-3p.m.
Admission: $4/$2/Free (Adults/Children/Under 6 years)
Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds
2900 Lake Street
kalamazooreptileshow.com, (269)779-9851
Does your family prefer slithery to four-legged and furry? Does your pet inspire company to cringe rather than cuddle? The Kalamazoo Reptile and Exotic Animal Show sounds like your kind of afternoon outing. Join fellow lizard lovers in this meeting of reptile, amphibian and exotic animal connoisseurs. Bring your own reptilian buddies to show off and trade, or come to meet massive constrictors, mellow tortoises or shifty-eyed iguanas for sale. Regardless of your motivation, the day is sure to fulfill your family's amphibian amore. The bad news: your kids will surely beg to take one of hundreds of scaly specimens home. The good news: a veterinarian exam from Milwood Animal Clinic comes free with any purchase.
John Ball Zoo Grand Re-Opening Celebration
March 6, 10a.m.-2p.m.
Admission: $3.50/$3/Free (Adults/Children/Under 3 years)
John Ball Zoo Administration Building
1300 West Fulton
johnballzoosociety.org, (616) 336-4301
Just in time for your family's animal-themed adventures, John Ball Zoo's grand re-opening celebration is this month. Zoo staff is on-hand throughout the afternoon to reintroduce you to the zoo including new exhibits you can expect for the summer. Warm up your tootsies and your creativity at the kids' craft station in the aquarium.
Black History Month reminds us to celebrate diversity. West Michigan is home to countless cultures, so use this month to expose the family to assorted cultures. Area art centers offer tons of fun ways to sample West Michigan's melting pot.
DTE Ethnic Heritage Festival
Grand Rapids Public Museum
272 Pearl St., Grand Rapids
Feb. 6, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission: Free
grmuseum.org, (616) 456-3977
Grand Rapids Public Museum packed this festival with cultural exposure. Music, dance, foods and crafts from various ethnic groups that call West Michigan home are featured throughout the day in tons of fun activities. Two stages stay active with traditional dancers representing Irish, Pacific Island and American Indian cultures. Get your feet moving to a heart-thumping drum performance by the multicultural group WaZoBia. Settle in for the oral talents of storytellers and handiwork of craft demonstrations. Fashionistas in the family will love the traditional and modern ethnic fashion showcase hosted by local celebrity and newscaster Terri DeBoer. Try the mouth-watering delicacies from various cultures available for purchase. While the kids climb aboard the free carousel rides, mom and dad can drink international beer from foreign lands.The planetarium show, "Everybody's Sky: Start Stories from Around the World" and the museum's permanent exhibit "Newcomers: The People of the Place" complement this (multi) cultured event perfectly.
The Moscow Circus "A Russian Folk Fair"
Van Singel Fine Arts Center
8500 Burlingame Ave. SW, Byron Center
Feb. 8-9, 7 p.m.
Admission: Adults $29.50, Students $18.50
vsfac.com, (616) 878-6800
Van Singel Fine Arts Center offers a happier perspective of Russian culture than the Red Dawn marathon on TNT by hosting the talents of The Moscow Circus. The folk fair starts as soon as your family enters the lobby filled with Russian clowns, costumed performers and dancers and continues as you find your seats for the thrilling theatre-circus production. Narrated by Russian mythical characters, the show weaves cultural history with the exhilaration and silliness of a circus. Your little world travelers will emote "ooohs," "ahhhs," and "OWWWs" while witnessing the strength, grace, balance and flexibility of the famed circus performers before the colorful backdrop of lively Russian music and bright traditional costumes. Audience participation adds a bit of hilarity to the night as you laugh at the poor sap pulled on stage.
African Art Super Saturday
Muskegon Museum of Art
296 West Webster Ave., Muskegon
Feb. 13, 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Admission: Free
muskegonartmuseum.org, (231) 720-2570
In honor of Black History Month, Muskegon Museum of Art is dedicating their monthly Super Saturday to African and African American artists. It's a perfect outing for families seeking culture. Throughout the day, different activities are sure to please everyone in the family. Start with a stirring film about African culture and the creation and use of African masks. Then try your own hand at the art form with the children's Make and Take craft. Your tiny artists will use bold colors, designs and patterns to construct their own African Masks. After the African exposure, join the docent on a tour of contemporary African American artists' work. While you're there, check out another multicultural exhibit, the Edward Curtis exhibit, an American Indian portfolio.
Year of the Tiger Exhibit
Holland Area Arts Council
150 East 8th St, Holland
Feb. 1 - April 26; Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Admission: Free
hollandarts.org, (616) 396-3278
Holland, a sanctuary city during the Vietnam War, possesses a rich Asian community, so it is fitting that the Holland Area Arts Council hosts "Year of the Tiger." In conjunction with the early spring New Year Celebrations of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian cultures, the free exhibit offers a glimpse into the Asian experience. Asian Hollanders share artifacts including traditional costumes, artwork and sculpture as well as intriguing personal immigration stories. Specific dates to visit the exhibit offer extra family fun. All day on Feb.4, along with the first Fridays of its running months from 6 to 8 p.m., kids learn Asian crafts such as weaving, sapling planting and cooking. A special Kids Can Cook "Asian Delights" class is offered in conjunction with the Year of the Tiger exhibit on Feb. 6 from 10 a.m. to noon for $12, in which kids ages 5 to 10 become chefs of spring rolls, white rice and various stir fry sauces.
Renucci House
290 Ransom St., Grand Rapids
spectrum-health.org, (616) 391-1790
What kid doesn't love homemade cookies, cakes, brownies or pies? This volunteer opportunity centers around yummy baked goods. Guests at the Renucci House are families of Spectrum Health patients who live more than 45 miles away from Grand Rapids. It provides a comfy place to stay while visiting sick relatives. This is where your family comes in. Just gather up the ingredients for your favorite baked treats and head to the Renucci House dining room. Your family is welcome to come in and use their three fully-equipped kitchen areas to make (and sample) homemade goodies to leave for the guests, bringing a little home away from home to the Renucci House.
Camp O'Malley
7360 Thornapple Dales Dr., Alto
campomalley.org, 616-871-6551
This volunteer project is great for families with active, outdoorsy kids. You'll be outside in the crisp fall air romping through the leaves - did I mention raking them? - in order to help complete the fall clean up of Camp O'Malley. Camp O'Malley is a character-building camp for inner-city kids who may not otherwise be able to afford the summer camp experience. Serving approximately 500 deserving young people, Camp O'Malley works to build leadership and healthy life skills and to instill a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence. Bundle up in your outdoor play clothes, make a steaming thermos of hot cocoa and plan an outing in huge leaf piles while helping maintain the grounds of this worthwhile camp.
Soups On! Bowl Painting Party
Catholic Charities West Michigan
soupsonforall.org, (616) 498-1656
If your family carries some creative, artistic genes, or if not, this is an excellent way to get involved in community giving. Spread out the newspapers, turn your dining room into a ceramics studio and spend an afternoon letting your artsy juices flow painting pottery. For $8 per person, all of the supplies including brushes, paints and soup bowls are delivered to a location of your choice and your masterpieces are picked up the next day.
The finished bowls are donated to Soups On!, a fundraiser held at The B.O.B. in January to raise money for God's Kitchen (Grand Rapids), Christian Community Center (Muskegon Heights) and Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry (Muskegon). Most of the bowls are given as thank-yous to guests of the fundraiser, but the most beautiful are sold in a silent auction to raise additional money for the soup kitchens. Each year, the event calls for 1,500 bowls painted by community volunteers in Grand Rapids and the Lakeshore.
American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids
1050 Fuller Avenue, Grand Rapids
greatergrandrapids.redcross.org, (616) 456-8661
An organization recognized for providing relief to those in the direst straits, the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids is a natural place to look for a family volunteer opportunity. This holiday season, the Red Cross plans to distribute a million holiday cards to service men and women and their families in the United States and around the world. Your whole family can help Greater Grand Rapid's local chapter meet its goal of 2,000 cards. Personalize the cards with messages from your family and individual signatures or make a family road trip delivering the season's greetings to local Veteran's Homes and Hospitals.
Ronald McDonald House of Western Michigan
1323 Cedar Street, Grand Rapids
wmrmh.org, 616.776.1300
Does your family have something that you love to do together on a regular basis? Maybe a game night or a movie night? What's fun about this volunteer project is your family basically does what it loves to do already but invites the residents of Ronald McDonald House of Western Michigan to join in. Just plan a themed activity, head over to the Ronald McDonald House with the supplies you'll need and provide a family event to make the residents feel more at home while staying in the house. Some past family-hosted events have been dessert nights, arts and craft nights and tea parties.
If an alien happened to visit West Michigan during the month of October, his report back to the mother ship would surely describe an obsession with a bulbous orange gourd called the pumpkin. Hoards of people voyage to a produce market or outside in a patch, take great care on inspecting the various shapes and sizes of pumpkins, then haul their favorite home, only to scoop out the stringy guts, carve a face on it, then light a candle within its new cranium.
As if this isn’t a strange enough ritual, humans continue their fascination by displaying the pumpkins in front of their dwellings, roasting seeds and baking pies from the orange flesh, traveling to neighbor’s homes to view other pumpkin creations and some even hurl them to the ground, delighting in the explosion of pumpkin parts. There are also social events in honor of the revered vegetable that are attended throughout the month as well.
Fall Family Funday
City of Holland Farmers Market
150 West 8th Street, Holland
Oct. 3, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Admission free
hollandfarmersmarket.com
Start off the month of pumpkin preoccupation at the Holland Farmer’s Market, celebrating the start of autumn. This carnivalesque event is packed with activities for your fall-loving fam. Have your face painted to get in the festive mood. Inspire some creativity at the kids’ craft station and test your family’s precision (and frustration-threshold) at the “Needle in a Haystack” candy hunt and bean bag toss games.
It wouldn’t be a true observance of fall without some pumpkin worship. Expert pumpkin carvers demonstrate different ways to design and display the lovely fruit. If you want to paint your gourd, there’s pumpkin painting. If you want to fill your face with pies made of the round squash, there’s a pumpkin pie eating contest. Fall Family Funday is sure to fulfill your family’s pumpkin pleasures.
6th Annual Pumpkin Path
Lamar Park
2561 Porter Street, Wyoming
Oct. 10, 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
Admission free
wyomingmi.gov
Throw on a light jacket and enjoy the fall colors with a family stroll through the paths of Lamar Park. More than 3,000 children are expected to visit the pumpkin path to view tons of pumpkins in the carving competition. You can display your family’s whittling wiles by dropping off your finished jack-o-lantern, carved or decorated, at Lamar Shelter near the splashpad between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. the day of the event. Pumpkins will be judged in age groups, with a special category for families who work together on their creation. Winners of each category receive ribbons and bragging rights and are displayed with the competition along the park paths. Local businesses host spaces along the path luring your visit with goody-bags, toys and prizes.
Prodigious Pumpkins
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
1000 East Beltline Avenue, Grand Rapids
Oct. 17, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; October 18, 12 p.m.-5 p.m.
Admission: Adults: $12, Children 5-13: $6, Children 3-4: $4
meijergardens.org
Witness some true freaks of nature when you visit Frederik Meijer Gardens. A collection of pumpkin anomalies displayed along the paths of the garden amaze your whole family. They don’t even need carving to thrill you; their sizes are monstrous, weighing hundreds of pounds. Besides the giant gourds, your children are entertained with interactive activities, including a search around the farm for fun pumpkin facts.
Extreme Pumpkin Carving
Barnes & Noble
3195 28th Street, Grand Rapids
Oct. 10, 7 p.m.
Admission free
barnesandnoble.com
Tom Nardone, who proved his pumpkin-carving celebrity on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” promises tricks and treats when he visits Barnes and Noble for his “Extreme Pumpkin Carving” demonstration. Your family is sure to have the coolest pumpkin on the block when you use the designs witnessed at this event. With power tools and pyrotechnics, this is not your average jack-o-lantern experience. When the expert squash artist pulls out his chain saw and blow torch, your whole family is in for a hair-raising time. This pumpkin demonstration inspires you to go outside of the box when it comes to carving and out of the way when Nardone lights his pumpkin creations on fire. While he’s there, Nardone will autograph one of his three Extreme Halloween books available at the event.
