Parent's Thread: The kid is bored, what to do?

[Shell]

OK, in the spirit of Art's thread, here is a place to talk about great places to take kids in the area.

Tomorrow, we will go to Kazoom Puppet Theater (http://www.carolinapuppets.com/kazoom/index.php). They do a "play" from a different book each month and are open every Wednesday and Thursday morning. They invite kids from the audience up on stage and they get to do lines into the microphone if they want and pretend to be the lion or whatever it is. The 2 women who run it tells the kids to say before each line. The main puppet is Bartlet and he is a huge cane's fan:
http://www.carolinapuppets.com/kazoom/gallery/bartlet_hurricanes.jpg

Cole loves it. It is hit or miss when you go.. sometimes there are preschools there which means more kids and less of a chance of being picked and other times every kid who wants one gets a part. I am hoping for the latter tomorrow since school is out and I don't think it is a well known thing. We need to start doing LGC playdates!!

[Shell]

Other favorites include:

Classes through the Raleigh Parks and Rec (http://www.raleighnc.gov/publications/Parks_and_Recreation/Leisure_Ledger.PDF). Cole starts soccer on Saturday :) It is a total of $5 for 4 classes on Saturdays with kids his age (well his age as of tomorrow anyway!). We're doing a hockey class in August on saturdays :) He also likes the music class but didn't like the art class even though he likes doing art.

We go to the $1.50 theater (http://www.carmike.com/showtimedetails.aspx?theatrenumber=076140)on the rare occasions there is a kids appropriate movie out. We can get the 3 of us in, 2 drinks, and a large popcorn for $11.25. (hah, as an aside, they do have slapshot playing right now)

We haven't done this yet, but I keep meaning to do the Horse and Carriage ride (http://www.downtownraleigh.com/event/?id=2855) through downtown.

The Museum of Life and Science (http://www.ncmls.org/)in Durham is very good in my opinion. we always have a good time there but don't go to often because it is kind of far. The Museum of Natural Sciences (http://www.naturalsciences.org/index.html) in downtown Raleigh is always a hit with Cole as well. We haven't been to Exploris yet.

Pullen Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullen_Park) is awesome but gets crowded. Playspace (http://www.playspacemuseum.com/)is also a hit.

[puck_it]

they have slapshot at the $1.50? its not listed anywhere...

[Shell]

You're right, sorry, not sure why my brain translated "Blades of Glory" into "Slapshot" :lol:

[puck_it]

:lol::lol: i was > < that close to running out there to see slapshot

[Shell]

OK, so none of you take your kids anywhere fun? :p

We might go to this on saturday since it is supposed to be a pretty nice day. Unfortunately Cole will be ready to go before Barefoot Manner and Larry Keel, both of who I like.

http://www.earthproductions.net/claytoncookout.htm

[sandstorm]

If anyone is going to Myrtle Beach...

We went to this place called Magiquest. You buy a wand ($12.95) and then pay a fee to enter the castle and earn money , search for runes(quests) and go on adventures.You can also duel. The wand works similarly to a Wii remote(you point the wand at treasure chests and it stores your progress in it. You have to go back and save after each quest(time consuming... and you do PAY for the time). We paid for a special $24 for a wand and 90 minutes (which was plenty of time). My husband and I went in as VIP (non-playing members) and it cost $7.99 each for us, but we got a discount card for 1/2 price at next visit and after that, VIP visits are free. Where they get you is all the accessories for the wands, outfits etc... My son wanted to add to his wand and later he used his allowance to buy more stuff for it in the store.
We were all exhausted by the end of 90 minutes and he was nowhere near completing the quests and never went on an adventure, but it took us a while to get the hang of it. It was fun. Its not for really little kids, but if your child is playing computer or video games and like dragons and knights and all that, they'll love it. Plenty of adults were playing too. Great rainy day activity in Myrtle Beach