Fun city
Pasadena is the hub of the universe for great things to do
By Jessica Hamlin 05/13/2010
Summertime and the living’s easy. At least it is for children. But it’s also a time of planning for parents as they keep youngsters occupied all day with something other than TV and video games.
Some of my fondest memories are from summer camps. I went to a couple away from home, but at the local ones I also made friends, played games, sang songs, had crushes on boys I was too shy to talk to let alone make eye contact with, and looked up to cool teachers and counselors who seemed old at the time but were all for the most part in college.
I even went to an art camp one summer in elementary school where I escaped the heat by sitting inside and expressing my creativity through charcoal and pastels. Unfortunately, my drawing abilities didn’t progress and my childhood dream of being an artist — beret and all — never came to fruition.
When surveying current, local summer activities available for children I became quite envious of all they can experience. I wondered if I should temporarily babysit for the first time in years or convince anyone I know with kids to attend these events so I can tag along.
Just because school is out doesn’t mean kids stop learning, growing and challenging themselves in new ways. And just because learning takes place doesn’t mean kids will feel like they’re in summer school. In fact, they can explore many worlds without ever leaving Pasadena and its neighboring communities.
At the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens in Arcadia, kids can enter the world of nature by hiking through lush grounds that feature gardens, waterfalls and animals, like the beautiful peacocks that the Arboretum is so well-known for.
They interact with the Great Outdoors even more through nature crafts, gardening and cooking with organic vegetables from their gardens. Jaime Oliver would be proud. And I am jealous.
If art were a place, the Armory Center for the Arts would be the travel agency. With a plethora of summer classes, kids can traverse the vast landscape of art into unique areas with which most adults aren’t even familiar.
From writing, recording and remixing their own music to making a stop-motion video and creating sculptural costumes and Jackson Pollock-esque paintings — and this is just the tip of the iceberg —children can rack up quite a few stamps on their creative passports.
Kidspace offers classes that include science, baking, singing and art.
Youngsters and their families can get their America on during Kidspace’s Memorial Day weekend festivities, which include hot dogs, popcorn, a mini-pie eating contest, art activities and an outdoor performance.
For the Red, White & Blue Rubber Ducky race, children buy a Kidspace rubber duck (while supplies last) and spruce it up to make it truly their own before racing it. Kids continue their journey into the land of literature during story time at local libraries.
The Pasadena area offers so much during the summer that kids have little excuse to be bored, and you’ll likely want to join in on the fun. You can all proudly say you vacationed in the stimulating universe that is Pasadena.
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