Artful Afternoons are an afternoon drop-in art program for guardians and children ages 6 to 12 at The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls. Begin by examining a work from the Museum’s permanent collection or exhibitions, then visit the Art Studio to put your discoveries into action. A different topic is explored each week. Starting at 2:30pm on Wednesday, March 27th. The Hyde Collection is located at 161 Warren Street, Glens Falls.
Tuesday for Tots March 26, 2019 10:30 am – 11:30 am – This program is best suited for children ages 2-5.
Join The Children’s Museum at Saratoga for this fun and educational time for some of our littlest visitors! Experiment together with art, science, language and math early learning activities that support early childhood learning. Children can practice important skills like taking turns and making a friend as they explore the different stations that promote school readiness, social connections, and skill development. Check each date for a different theme & activity.
March 26, 2019 – “Riddles & Rhymes”
What are we learning: Fine and Gross Motor skills, Social and Emotional Maturity, Early Literacy and Early Math Skills
The new parent meetup at Northshire Bookstore takes place weekly on Thursdays at 10:30 am, and is facilitated by Rebecca Rovner, birth & postpartum doula. Parents & their babies, birth to age one, are welcome to drop by for company & conversation. Northshire Bookstore is located at 424 Broadway in Saratoga Springs.
The Congress Perk Painting Event is at Saratoga Paint and Sip Studio on March 28th from 7-9pm, click the button below for tickets now before it sells out!
Join us Saturday, March 30, at 2:00 pm in the exhibition Like Sugar at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. We will look at and think about all the forms of sugar that exist today, and use candy imagery to create our names using paper, collage, pom poms, popsicle sticks, and more!
Family Saturdays foster multigenerational creative collaboration through looking at artwork in our galleries, discussing and sharing ideas, and engaging in a hands-on art activity inspired by those conversations.
All programs run from 2:00 to 3:30 PM and are free and open to the public, and suitable for children ages 5 and older, accompanied by their adult companions.
Tang event page: https://tang.skidmore.edu/calendar/974-family-saturday
Registration is required. You can register beginning one week before each program. For more information and to register, call our Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080. We welcome visitors of all abilities! Be prepared to get messy and have fun! Share your Family Saturday photos on social media by including #tangfamsat.
click the cover above to read the issue now
The KTNS Kids Consignment Sale features over 100 consignors of New and Gently Used maternity and children’s clothing, shoes, baby gear, books, games, toys, and more high-quality items at a discount. Search for treasures, save money, and support a great cause!
KTNS is a 501c3 non-profit preschool that aims to give children an enriching play-based introduction to education. Proceeds from the sale help us fund our school. In addition we connect with local charities and families in need to donate unsold items after the sale.
Where: The Saratoga Springs City Center, 522 Broadway, Saratoga Springs.
PLUS, I am giving away FOUR free presale passes here! To enter to win a presale pass all you have to do is comment below on what YOU are on the hunt for at the KTNS Kids Consignment Sale! FOUR winners will be chosen at random and notified via email on Wednesday, April 3rd, so mark your calendars for this HUGE amazing sale and enter today to win! You can enter more than once, so good luck!
NY's Maple Weekend is coming! Sponsored by the NYS Maple Producers' Association, Maple Weekend runs for two weekends: March 23-24 & 30-31, 2019.
During Maple Weekend, maple farms across New York State invite visitors to their “sugar houses” to experience firsthand how pure, mouth-watering maple syrup and other related products are made. Visitors also have the opportunity to enjoy fun, family-friendly activities, taste New York’s freshest syrup and purchase maple products. It’s super easy to find some great spots to visit just by clicking below, and stay tuned to Mini City where we will be sharing some of our favorite local spots to visit!
Join us April 2 at either our Lower School or High School for a comprehensive look at what makes our education unique and designed to prepare children for a changing world! You will experience two main lessons, meet students and faculty and have the opportunity for Q&A and a personal tour. This morning is designed for both prospective and current parents and older students (ages 12 or up please). For more information or to RSVP, contact Elisabeth at admissions@waldorfsaratoga.org or 518-587-2224, or click here.
Living Accents will be joining Saratoga Paint and Sip Studio on Wednesday, March 20th from for this special DIY Succulent Planting in Wood Box . So much fun! Their last plant night sold out so sign up soon! Saratoga Paint and Sip Studio is located at 80 Henry Street Saratoga Springs.
Click the button below for tickets:
Expectant and adoptive parents are invited to join Saratoga Hospital’s upcoming Infant Care Class and learn about a variety of care topics, including newborn characteristics and behaviors, hospital routines, daily care and bathing, diapering, swaddling, feeding issues, crying, and colic. We will also discuss health and safety information, including SIDS risk factors. Car seat safety training will be provided by a nationally-certified Child Passenger Safety Instructor.
Click through to find out more about the schedule of classes and how to register:
Cat & Nat are coming to Albany! On Wednesday, March 20th at 7 PM Cat & Nat will be at the Egg Performing Arts Center (Empire State Plaza, Albany) for a one night only performance!
Hilarious best friends Cat & Nat created a massive online community of moms by sharing their ultra-real and just a bit R-rated dispatches from the mom trenches. From what not to eat a few days postpartum (chicken wings) to the most effective ways to avoid postpartum sex, Cat & Nat’s newest book, Mom Truths is everything no one will tell you about having kids.
CATHERINE BELKNAP and NATALIE TELFER have been friends since they were teens, and now their video series “#MOMTRUTHS” which shares everything from toddler tantrums to sex, has turned them into viral sensations and…wait for it….authors! With seven kids between them and millions of fans on social media, they get real about the parts of parenting that somehow don’t make the Instagram feed. Find them online at https://www.catandnat.ca.
What to expect at each show:
• A live viewing of a #MOMTRUTHS podcast recording (Cat & Nat will dive deeper into a hilarious excerpt from the book – unique to each tour city).
• Brutal honesty about motherhood – we get into all the mom confessions that no one ever talks about
• Shenanigans (we can’t really define what this is, you just have to be there to find out)
• New friends. Come alone, or come with 20 other people, but we guarantee you’ll walk away with a community of women who have your back through the everyday gong show that is our life.
VIPs will receive an all-access badge with a Cat & Nat branded lanyard, have a meet and greet with Cat & Nat and attend an intimate Q&A. Click the button below for tickets:
Andy Griffiths is the New York Times bestselling author of The Day My Butt Went Psycho!, Zombie Butts from Uranus!, and Butt Wars! The Final Conflict, as well as the Treehouse Series and Killer Koalas from Outer Space. In 2007, he became the first Australian author to win six children’s choice awards in one year for Just Shocking! He lives in Melbourne, Australia, and is Australia’s most popular children’s writer. He will be here in Saratoga Springs at Northshire Bookstore on Saturday March 23rd, tickets are required for this event and space is limited.
Tickets are $5 for children and unaccompanied adults, and are good for $5 off any book by Andy Griffiths purchased in the store the day of the event. Tickets are free for adults attending with a child. Click here to purchase tickets!
We had the pleasure of interviewing Andy ahead of his Saratoga Springs visit, and chatted with him about what inspires him to create and advice he has for young writers.
How old were you when you started writing?
I was writing as soon as I was able to pick up a pen. I delighted in writing and drawing simple cartoons that amused both my family and, when I got to school, my friends and teachers. I got an old Underwood typewriter from a school fete when I was in Grade 4 and taught myself to touch type from a typing book. I then started making little magazines full of stories and jokes that I sold to other students for three cents a copy. When I eventually became a high school English teacher I started writing for and with my students and my professional writing career sort of took off from there.
2. What were some of your favorite stories and books growing up?
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Dr Seuss books. The Adventures of Pinnochio. Winnie the Pooh. The Magic Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton. Twilight Zone-style American comic books. Basically anything that promised fantasy, adventure and humor … preferably all three mixed together!
3. You have two daughters, what do they think of your books?
They are young adults now, but growing up I think they were bemused by my books and how much other children and their friends liked them. They were captivated by the books of other authors—not their dad’s!
4. In interviews you have talked about the importance of boredom in children’s lives and the effects that over scheduling can have on them and we couldn’t agree more, could you tell us more about how you think boredom can positively affect children?
I prefer to think of boredom as space … free space in which anything can happen. While there may be many secondary and unpredictable benefits, pure play has no agenda, no measurable outcomes. It is enjoyable for its own sake. Perhaps one of the most powerful ways for a parent to teach this is to model it for your children. Turn off your own screens and let them see you being creative and indulging your own playful instincts and curiosity.
5. What do you hope a child gains from reading your books?
A few things I guess. I would hope that they have a joyful and pleasurable reading experience and so are encouraged to go on and read more. I hope they get a sense of the limitless freedom and exhilarating possibilities of the imagination. You really can go anywhere and think anything, and Terry and I delight in challenging ourselves to go to ever more outlandish and unthinkable places with each new Treehouse book. I also hope our readers have a really good laugh and develop an appreciation of the possibilities of humor to inspire them to be more creative in their thinking and to reap all the health benefits of laughter. And last—but not least—to develop their functional reading skills so that they are better able to negotiate the world of print and enjoy all the benefits—health, career & personal—that increased literacy skills bring.
6. You’ve talked in the past about your experience growing up free range in the 70s, how do you think parents can implement some of those freedoms for their own children in today’s society?
The free range parenting of the 70s gave us plenty of freedom, sure, but it also exposed us to dangers and risks that perhaps weren’t entirely desirable. I think parents need to employ a degree of sensible—but not extreme—risk management for their children that allows opportunities for non-supervised, non-adult driven playing time. Every child is different, of course, but parents definitely need to be there to help children strike a reasonable balance between screen and non-screen time.
7. If there is one thing children today need more in their lives, what do you think that is?
Play. An abundance of unscheduled screen-free time to allow them space to play, read and dream.
8. Where do you draw inspiration from for your books?
A lifetime of reading and keeping my eyes and ears open. Movies and TV can also be great sources of inspiration, as can travelling, which I get to do a lot of these days thanks to the success of the books. One of the best ways, however, is simply to sit down with (book illustrator) Terry Denton and just play around with words and pictures and try to make each other laugh: ideas can multiply faster than we can write and draw them when we do this.
9. What advice would you give to a child that loves to write?
Purchase a very cheap exercise book and resolve to write or draw or paste something into it every day. It’s a book for collecting pictures and ideas that interest you for whatever reason. While you are creating this ideas book you will be getting invaluable writing practice. The more they practice writing and becoming comfortable with thinking-in-writing the more they will be able to do. And, also, just as importantly, to read as many books as they can. As Doctor Seuss so memorably said, ‘the more you read, the more you know, and the more you know, the more places you’ll go!’
A big thank you to Andy for the interview, and we will see you at Northshire on Saturday!
Head to Saratoga Spa State Park for a hike around Creekside Classroom on Thursday, March 21st from 2 PM – 3 PM to look for signs of winter. Snowshoes will be provided if necessary. If the weather is nicer we can look for signs of spring with spring bingo. This is for children of all ages. This is a free event. Registration is required. Please call (518) 584-2000 Ext. 111 to register.
This Friday is a Special Story Time with the Glens Falls Symphony at Northshire Bookstore! On Friday, March 15th at 10:30am head to Northshire Bookstore for a special story time with guest stars from the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra: Viola player Carrie Davids & Patron Services & Marketing Manager Diane Swanson will share music and stories in celebration of their concert at Skidmore College on March 17th entitled "The Sages."
A professional violist based in the New York City area, Carrie Davids is an avid performer, collaborator, and teacher. Originally from Connecticut, Ms. Davids began playing the viola at the age of 6. She has studied at the HARTT School of Music, Interlochen Arts Academy, Eastman School of Music (BM), and Manhattan School of Music (MM).
This story time is free and open to the public, no registration required. Northshire Bookstore is located at 424 Broadway in Saratoga Springs.
Join us Saturday, March 16, at 2:00 pm in the exhibition The Shelf to look at the variety of objects on display from the Tang collection. We’ll think about why these objects are shown side by side. What do they have in common? What makes them different? Why do people collect things and hold onto them? We will create our own menagerie on a shelf using cardboard, model magic, pipe cleaners and an assortment of embellishments!
Family Saturdays foster multigenerational creative collaboration through looking at artwork in our galleries, discussing and sharing ideas, and engaging in a hands-on art activity inspired by those conversations.
All programs run from 2:00 to 3:30 PM and are free and open to the public, and suitable for children ages 5 and older, accompanied by their adult companions.
Tang event page: https://tang.skidmore.edu/calendar/972-family-saturday
Registration is required. You can register beginning one week before each program. For more information and to register, call our Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080. We welcome visitors of all abilities! Be prepared to get messy and have fun! Share your Family Saturday photos on social media by including #tangfamsat.
On Saturday, March 16th at 1 PM head to the Saratoga Springs Public Library for a free performance of Pinocchio from Opera Saratoga’s Opera to Go. Featuring music from operas by Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Offenbach, and Pergolesi, and adapted by John Davies and performed in English, this whimsical 40-minute adaptation of the classic story by Carlo Collodi is the perfect introduction to opera for elementary school students. Appropriate for Pre-K through Grades 6. No registration required.
The Creation Station is open every Saturday at The Children's Museum at Saratoga (69 Caroline Street, Saratoga Springs) for Art Adventures from 10:30 am-12:30 pm. This is a creative space where children and their families can make art together. Each week, we offer a multi-sensory craft that encourages self-expression and experimentation with different art mediums. Museum admission required.
All families are invited to attend the Library’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. Led by Diane Payette (aka Grama Tippy Toes), the program will include stories, a sing-a-long, Irish dancers and maybe a visit from a Leprechaun! A light snack of Irish Soda Bread will be available. No registration is required, and siblings are welcome.
The celebration is taking place at 10 am and 1 pm on Saturday, March 16th. The Clifton Park - Halfmoon Public Library is located at 475 Moe Road in Clifton Park.
Join a librarian from the Saratoga Springs Public Library in the Creekside Classroom at Saratoga Spa State Park for a bird-themed story on Friday, Mar 15th from 11am to 12pm. After we listen to Finding a Dove for Gramps, we will count birds at the birdfeeder and make treats for our feathered friends! This event is free and appropriate for ages 1-6. Please call 518-584-7860, ext 305 to register. Admission is free.
