My family has our kid-friendly favorites in and around Rhode Island—everything from the tastiest hotdog to the best shady park to the orchard where we pick our apples. What follows is our current list, but I know it will change and evolve as my kids and my husband and I keep exploring and day-tripping around the area.

Read the A-list here. I invite you to share your kid-friendly favorites and feel free to add categories as well. (Enter “Reader A-List” in the subject line.). We will post the Kidoinfo Reader A-List in the fall and randomly select one of our readers to win a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant! Deadline: September 15, 2008.

By Katy Killilea

After a night of fireworks, why not spend a day on the East Bay bike path? If your kids have outgrown their bikes, co-pilot seats, enclosed trailers, or trail-a-bikes, good used equipment can be found at tag sales, Craigslist, or with friends who have slightly older kids. Everyone seems to be shedding equipment at this time of year.

East Bay Bike Path highlights for Kido cyclists include:

• The view of Providence—especially if you live in Providence—from the causeway.
• Waving to other kids going in the opposite direction, and spotting sleeping babies.
• A stop at Del’s in Warren for frozen lemonade, Fruity Cow in Warren for palatas (Mexican popsicles,) or DariB in East Providence for an ice cream cone. All are located right along the bike path.
• A visit to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island Environmental Education Center in Bristol. For cyclists, this is an ideal pit stop. It’s right on the path, and offers plenty of bicycle parking. Step into the cool building, enjoy the exhibits, get a drink at the bubbler, and use the rest room.

This April, a huge fire destroyed the wooden walkway leading from the bike path out into the marsh, so it is closed. But the rest of the center’s property is open for exploration, and some kids may be very interested to see if they can spot lingering effects of the fire. Admission is FREE this Saturday (Free admission the first Saturday of the month).

If you head out for a ride, pack plenty of water and a picnic. Get ideas from Katy or Anisa’s picnic basket. Bike path picnic spots: Haines Park in East Providence, on the giant rocks along Brick Yard Pond in Barrington, or in Colt State Park in Bristol. All have shade and ample room for pulling over with a family’s worth of bicycles.

Details:
DariB - 240 Bullocks Point Avenue, Riverside, RI
Phone: (401) 433-1931

The Fruity Cow - 7 Turner Street (corner of Child Street), Warren, RI 02885
Phone: (401) 289-2089

Del’s Lemonade - 65 Child St., Warren, RI 02885
Phone: (401) 247-2210

Audubon Society - 1401 Hope Street (Rte 114), Bristol, RI 02809
Phone: (401) 245-7500
Website

If you head out for a ride, pack plenty of water and a picnic. Read what Katy and Anisa pack in their picnic basket.

Bike path picnic spots: Haines Park in East Providence, on the giant rocks along Brick Yard Pond in Barrington, or in Colt State Park in Bristol. All have shade and ample room for pulling over with a family’s worth of bicycles. Email us and tell us what’s in your picnic basket.

Photo credits: DariB by Douglas Itkin for Kidoinfo, Map from RI Department of Transportation

When the temperature starts rising like it did recently, we need to find ways to help our kids (and us) cool off fast while hopefully entertaining them at the same time. Make sure you always have plenty of cold water on hand for you and your child to drink.

INDOORS:
Visit your local branch of the Public Library
Visit the Mystic Aquarium (inside part) or NE Aquarium
Visit a museum
Go to the mall (Emerald Square Mall has a carousel in the food court)
See a movie for free
Grocery shop
Hop on the bus (though not all are air conditioned) — free on ozone alert days
Explore the indoor play areas at McDonald’s or Burger King (you do not have to buy anything to use the play equipment)
Take a cool bath

OUTDOORS:
Play with spray bottles filled with water
Make water balloons
Eat popsicles
Set up the sprinkler/kiddie pool in a shady spot in the backyard
Head to a local water park (Open July-August)
Visit a shady park like the Baby Park, Lincoln Woods, or Colt State Park
Take a walk after dinner to your local ice cream shop

Tell us your ways for staying cool and having fun when it heats up outside!

I am sending my boys (age 6) to day camp for the first time this summer. Here is our checklist to help keep track of all of the essentials and make our camp mornings easy and stress-free. Print your own copy and tuck into your child’s bag so they can check off everything they should bring home. Add your own suggestions in the comments below.

This list of items for day camp should fit into your child’s backpack.

___ Sunscreen with an SPF rating of at least 45 (I think the roll-on kind is easier for younger kids to re-apply it themselves.)

___ Insect repellant wipes and/or insect repellent wristband (Do not send an aerosol can of insect repellant—the spray will sting if it gets in your child’s eyes.)

___ Bathing suit and towel (I recommend the cheap, super thin ones—less bulk in the backpack.)

___ Water bottle filled with ice-cold water

___ Hat

___ Comfortable running shoes or closed-toe sports sandals WITH socks

___ Extra set of clothes (especially a pair of socks and shirt if they get wet from the rain)

___ Raincoat

___ Medication: All camps should have your child’s medical information on file. Having an extra note with details in their backpack and attached to their Prescription medication and/or Epi-Pen is helpful.

___ Food: Most day camps will provide lunch and snacks. If you pack a lunch it should be easy to eat on the ground. A sandwich (avoid peanut butter since most camps are nut-free), fruit and a juice box or water makes for a healthy lunch. Granola bars make an excellent snack. Some camps may have snack bars – find out the rules and cost of items ahead of time so you can plan if and how much money you want your child to have everyday. I recommend putting money in a zippered change purse or Ziploc baggy. Notify the camp of any food allergies your child may have.

Photo Credit: Children’s Critter Pack from LLBean

By Jaci Arnone
Nothing quite says summer has arrived like our first ride of the season on the Looff Carousel at Crescent Park. This year as we sat outside the pavilion enjoying a frozen lemonade and reveling in the thrill of our first ride, I couldn’t help but wonder about the story behind this Rhode Island treasure.

I did a little bit of digging to find out that our local carousels play a significant role in carousel history. Four of the area’s carousels were made during the golden age of carousel art, and a reproduction at Roger Williams Park pays homage to the great carousel builders of the nineteenth century.

There are plenty of fun facts to share with your kids during your next visit to a local carousel. Not only will they enjoy the ride, they will also be able to learn about Rhode Island’s history. And if they’re lucky, they may just get the brass ring!

Crescent Park Looff Carousel
End of Bullock’s Point Avenue, East Providence, RI
(401) 435-7518 or (401) 433-2828
Cost: $1 per ride
Summer hours: Open Thursday – Sunday, Noon – 8pm
Off season hours: Open Friday 4pm – 8pm, Sat & Sun Noon – 8pm

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By Katy Killilea

Drive time from Providence, RI: @ 38 minutes (@ 28 miles) (directions)

Tiverton is home to some of Rhode Island’s best sandwiches and cookies (at Provender) cheese (at Milk and Honey Bazaar) and ice cream (at Gray’s), all of which make going for a family hike there a brilliant idea.

There are many enticing options for hikes in Tiverton. Weetamoo Woods is just half a mile from Tiverton Four Corners (located at the intersection of routes 77 and 179, and the home of the above-referenced delicacies) and makes for an exciting hike for a wide age range. Our group was comprised of two moms and four kids (ages 5, 5, 6, and 7.) We saw a family with young teenagers and a twelve-year-old who seemed equally well-matched for the hike.

Other than proximity to high-quality snacks, what’s so special about Weetamoo Woods? The hiking trail is what was once Rhode Island’s only highway. (History!) Stone walls and stone slab bridges are regular features, as mighty as the days they were built centuries ago. (Architecture!) As we ventured through the woods, we found princess pines, holly trees, onion grasses, and skunk cabbages. (Botany!) The stone bridges cross brooks of various depths and speeds. (Water to throw sticks into!) And then, at last, we reached High Rock.

High Rock is indeed a very large rock. When you reach the top of it, you find yourself up above the treetops. Our kids were flabbergasted by their achievement. (”This is the highest mountain in the world!” and “This is the awesomest place I’ve ever seen!”) The adults in our group ruled out a High Rock game of hide-and-seek that was percolating. It did feel slightly treacherous, and a younger child or someone uncoordinated could easily fall quite a distance and get hurt. However, my perception of danger may have been skewed by my poor choice of footwear (boiled wool clogs). Next time I’ll wear sneakers or hiking boots. Reaching and climbing High Rock was a reasonable goal for our group of moderately experienced child hikers.

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By Erin Goodman

Our annual, treasured Potluck Picnic in the Park actually began out of sheer desperation two years ago when, a few weeks after our son was born, our daughter was turning two.

Up until a week before her birthday, I planned to host a party for our friends and family at our house, as I had done for her first birthday. And then sleep-deprivation and postpartum hormones kicked into high gear, and through my sobs I began trying to figure out how the heck to get out of the insanity that I had created for myself.

Remembering the wonderful collective first-birthday celebration my friends (aka the “Yoga Mamas”) held at Goddard Memorial Park the year before, I made a quick phone call to secure adjoining picnic sites for our celebration.

The party, which also celebrated Father’s Day, was so much fun that everyone, especially older relatives with fond memories of childhood picnics at Goddard and Pulaski parks, immediately started talking about making it an annual tradition.

Then this year, in the hopes of creating a more relaxing Father’s Day for my husband, who spent the last two schlepping gear to the park, moving picnic tables, and flipping burgers, we decided to celebrate the kids’ birthdays (quietly) on their actual birthdays, move the picnic to Memorial Day weekend, expand the invite list, and make it an (unofficial) start of summer party. And that’s just what we did!
And since all our guests brought the food, we got to focus on the really fun stuff!

I picked up burlap coffee bean bags ($1 a piece at Building 19) for sack races, a giant parachute ($24.95 at Target), hula hoops, balloons for animal-making (which, somewhere along the way, my husband has become quite proficient at), Frisbees, a wiffle ball and bat, a couple of Nerf balls, and plenty of jars of bubbles (all purchased at iParty).

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There are many ways to share the magical world of butterflies with our children.

Read about them:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Kaito’s Cloth by Glenda Millard and illustrated by Gaye Chapman

Find them:
Explore your garden or local park and try to catch one with a butterfly net. Buy one at Target or Benny’s or online at butterflystores.com

Raise your own:
Buy a kit, complete with reusable mesh butterfly house and certificates for butterfly larvae. You will see something like this.

Become one:
Make your own butterfly wings with these how-to directions on the Family fun website.

See them locally:

• The Flutterby: Butterflies in Bloom runs from May 26 to September 1, 2008
Wander through a beautifully landscaped 2100-square foot greenhouse (located inside the zoo), filled with hundreds of free-flying butterflies.
Admission: Special ticket required for Flutterby exhibit ($3 Adults; $2 Kids, ages 3-13; Kids under three are free) in addition to regular Zoo admission.
Roger Williams Park Zoo - 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI
Phone: 401-785-3510

• Painted Wings in Flight: Summer Butterfly Programs
Guided by expert naturalists, Audubon programs take you to fields and refuges throughout the state filled with thousands of butterflies. Find out more online at Butterflying with Audubon.
Admission: Varies, call for details.
Audubon Society of Rhode Island (ASRI)
Phone: 401-949-5454

Photos are from the “Flutterby: Butterflies n Bloom” in Exhibit. Photo credit: Douglas Itkin

By Katy Killilea

When expert fisher-friends invited us to join them at one of their hot family fishing spots this weekend, we were ready. We had just acquired fine rods and reels from a tag sale, the sun was shining, and we had half a box of peanut butter crackers already tucked into our beach bag—we were ready to go! And so we went on our way, for the very first time, to fish at Sabin Point Park in East Providence.

The kids’ ages were (a strapping, fearless) three years to (a patient, nurturing) seven-and-a-half, and casting off the tiny beach at Sabin Point suited them perfectly. The bait was clams. The expert family provided this bait, as well as hooks and bobbins. There were a few brief, harrowing moments when the inexperienced children waggled their rods and hooks a little too close to their mom’s face. Many lines got tangled in many Crocs. But the good times far outweighed the bad. And we didn’t even catch a fish!

The children stood so patiently in the water, casting over and over and reeling in seaweed. The knowledgeable parents instructed the rest of us on the art of casting, maintaining a line-unsnagging posture, and everything else we needed to know. Sabin Point is a beautiful part of Rhode Island. We spent most of our time on the beach fishing, but there is also a playground with tons of swings, little slides, and even those low basketball hoops with real backboards that are so hard to find. Ducks and minnows were easy to spot, as were jolly men smoking cigars. Lovely sea glass as well as ordinary sharp shards of glass are plentiful (so use caution where you walk or sit) . There are big rocks perfect for balancing and clambering and there’s even a two-hundred-meter track paved for tricycle and beginning bicycle riders.

Overcome with hunger for fish after two hours spent fishing at the beach, our group headed to Blount’s Clam Shack on Water Street in Warren. The Clam Shack is open for the 2008 season and is as brilliant as last year with a new trailer that serves Wildberry Frozen Yogurt and Gelato. On a sunny day, there is no better place to be. Many diners arrive by boat, so there is plenty to watch on the water. The sun feels more intensely bright there–the crushed white shell ground cover and the proximity to water are unbearable without sunglasses– so every table has an umbrella, and there are big white tents set up for extra shade.
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Today I welcome Erin Barrette Goodman, a writer, yoga teacher, and mother of two young children. She is the founder and director of the Rhode Island Birth Network, which promotes empowered decision-making during the childbearing years. Together with her husband, John, she is in the process of turning their 1.5-acre South County yard into a sustainable suburban homestead, which they’ve affectionately dubbed Nadalada Farm. When she is not writing, networking, or working in the yard, Erin enjoys arranging special dates to have fun with her children, husband, friends, and occasionally alone!

By Erin Barrette Goodman

When I mentioned to my husband, John, that I would be writing a column on dating for Kidoinfo.com, he was, understandably, a little confused.

I am, after all, a thirty-something mother of two young children, and my last official date took place over a decade ago.

When I clarified that I am going to be writing about family-friendly dating – the special things we do as a family and as a couple, with one or both of our kids, and with other families and friends, and equally important, alone – he seemed less confused (and a bit relieved).

My interest in this new world of family-friendly dating started a year and a half ago when my friend Julianna, an artist and healer and a fellow new mom trying to stay sane, invited me to join a small group exploration of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

At the core of this twelve-week creative recovery/discovery process are two essential tools – daily journal-writing, or “morning pages,” and weekly “artist dates.”

The rules for the artist dates are pretty simple: Set aside one to two hours a week to do something by yourself and for yourself to nourish and feed your creativity.

Each week at our group check-in meeting, we shared a quick review of our date experiences, which included everything from beachcombing, window shopping, thrift-store treasure-hunting, tub-soaking, garden-planning, and tea-sipping, to yoga classes, dancing, cooking, and movie-watching.

As I went through this powerful process, I noticed that not only did I love my weekly (solo) artist date, but I also liked the idea of creating similarly nourishing, great-feeling “date” experiences with my children and husband.

And so began our exploration of family dating!

What makes a date a date?
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