Play Ideas

Unstructured play with cardboard boxes is one of the all-time great childhood activities. My dad is a contractor and would bring home appliance boxes for us to play in all …

Channel Islands Harbor is about an hour north of Los Angeles off the 101 Freeway (exit Victoria). As you’re approaching Channel Islands Boulevard, you’ll notice a fairly new development to …

I’m an ocean kid. My dad was a Chief Engineer in the Merchant Marines. My great grandfather engineered steamships on the Great Lakes. To quote Jimmy Buffet, “the sea’s in …

Discovery Beach is the name for this game that’s part puzzle, part matching, and part ocean education. The game is self-contained in a box with clear plastic cover, hidden from …

My kids love homemade anything. Don’t we all? Homemade cookies, homemade toys, homemade playdough, homemade forts all make their list of favorites. For every mom, however, there is implicit meaning …

(Me, on the playground in 1970-something. I still have that sweater.) We eat together almost every evening in our house. Normal dinner conversation is usually entertainment enough. We share our …

Kids Grow Gardens of Joy We have a “dry” recycling bin in the kitchen where we throw newspapers, boxes, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls and the like. My son picks …

Looking for an Ojai hike along Shelf Road? A good friend and I recently escaped for a weekend away. My favorite mini-outing was hiking in Ojai. We found the hike …

Hiking & Camping Take a walk through your neighborhood, backyard, local park or nature trail and try to find something for every color of the rainbow. Look hard with kiddos …

I’m no activist.I’m passionate about parks.I would care if I couldn’t bring my kids.My children verge on tears to hear some might close. This weekend I went to Emma Wood …