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.

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

Besides offering delicious recipes, cookbooks are wonderful guides that teach our kids helpful tips about the ingredients, the tools, the process, and the techniques necessary for preparing whatever dish that strikes their fancy. Cookbooks also present an opportunity to teach kids at every developmental stage –toddlers may learn about colors and textures while helping with the ingredients, preschoolers learn about the different food groups, and grade-schoolers can practice their reading and math skills.

A recent New York Times article discussed the growing number of kids’ cookbooks on the market today. Why the increase?

Because parents who have a keen interest in cooking encourage their young children to spend time in the kitchen and new titles take a more sophisticated approach to children’s food.

Thanks to this growing interest in cooking with kids, we now have an abundance of cookbooks to choose from—from targeting specific age groups, to healthy cooking to global cuisine–many with fabulous photography or illustrations and brand ties-ins (such as cookbooks by celebrities, stores and TV Shows).

I personally love when the cookbooks—like our recent library find, C is for Cooking—give helpful suggestions for what steps in the recipe young kids can handle (measuring, stirring, cracking an egg) and what steps are best left to an adult (chopping with sharp knife).

With all the options on the bookshelves today, deciding which cookbook to use can be challenging. Here is a list of books mentioned by the New York Times—we have not tried them all yet. We tend to use our local library to sample cookbooks so I plan to reserve some of these titles with my library card and will report back on what we think of them. We sometimes purchase the books we use over and over for our collection—then we don’t feel so bad if the ingredients smear the page or the edges are worn from repeated use.

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It is terribly ironic that for decades, mothers (the women who most deserve a boost to their self-esteem and ego) have dragged around oversized, cutesy bags that match their charges. No more. There is whole new crop of bags that will take Mom beyond diapers, and the Zosephine diaper bag is one of the newest contenders.

Zosephine bags come in four styles named after points on the map: Kyoto, Seattle, Minneapolis, and St. Paul. Each bag is made from a solid, durable fabric complemented with a playful print that recalls the destination. The bags are lined with a white nylon fabric that wipes up easily and keeps bottle leaks from dripping all over your car. The bright white interior makes it easy to see objects inside. The nylon is a little stiff, and I worry that crumbs might collect in some of the seams of the smaller pockets. Zosephine bags come with a changing pad made of the same white nylon fabric that lines the inside of the bag. The changing pad rolls up to fit easily inside the bag and ties with an attached ribbon. I found that the changing pad was too small for us. My son is rarely still, especially during a diaper change, and I am nervous when I lay him down on the cleanest diaper-changing stations. I like to have plenty of room to roll, just in case.

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The Kidoinfo family has certainly grown over the last year and there are now over twelve regular contributing writers. Our computers, Wi-Fi, and email allow us all to work virtually anywhere and anytime—especially helpful if juggling multiple jobs, childcare or sick kids. The downside is since we don’t need to see each other to get our articles written and posted on the Kido blog, we often don’t see each other. I am a big believer in face time and connecting offline—and although I love my computer and use it quite a bit—I decided it was time to meetup in person with the other Kidoinfo writers.

We met at Jake’s in the jewelry district, conveniently located for people driving from all parts of the state and a groovy place to have food and drink inside with a great jukebox or outside on the patio. They have free Wi-Fi as well in case you need it. What a blast. People met for the first time, found out more about each other, decided on ways we can all stay in touch, shared ideas about future stories and more.

Kidoinfo writer meetup (pictured above L to R, except for Martha Iachetta (thinking mom) who had not arrived yet): Jill Davidson (education), Maura Keating (product reviews), Michelle Riggen-Ransom (nature/nurture), Anisa Raoof (publisher), Erin Goodman (it’s a date), Nancy King (editor), Marianne Ruggiero (risd artplay), Katy Killilea (grocery news, food, general), Jaci Arnone (general)

Snacks and dollars for the jukebox—since it was so nice outside we decided to save our dollars for the next Kidoinfo meetup.

Other Kidoinfo contributors who were not able to attend: Mark Binder (story of the month), Megan Fischer (providence children’s museum), Adam Darowski (general), Geoff Griffin (general), Hope Foley (audubon society), Katie Mulligan (nutrition), Christina Mitchell (pediatrician), Melissa Brusso (sports mom), Jen Morin and Kirsten DiChiappari (wellness).

The program will begin on Monday, June 30 and run five days a week until Friday, Aug. 22, 2008.

Lunches include a sandwich or pizza, fruit, milk and juice. Any child 18 or younger is eligible to receive a free lunch (no questions asked), as long as he or she eats it on site.

Check the Kidoinfo summer guide for a list of pools and waterparks.

Where do live?
TJS: Providence, RI

What are you planting this year?
TJS: This year we’re removing lots of lawn to make room for perennials. In the veggie garden, we’re planting corn (which we grow mainly to make the dry stalks into fall decorations as the squirrels always eat all the corn), lots of assorted greens, eggplant, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, our regular assortment of herbs, and we’re experimenting with Brussels sprouts.

We’re also planting a neighborhood BYOS (bring your own scissor) herb garden on the side of our house this year. Come on over for a sprig of thyme if you need it.

Where do you garden?
TJS: The first day we looked at the house that would become our own, my wife was asking all sorts of appropriate questions about taxes and heating bills. Me, I had my eye on about sixty square feet of space in the backyard that was screaming, “Clear me out and plant some veggies.”

I’m also volunteering a bit at the Mount Hope Community Garden this year. I can’t think of a better way to get your family involved in the fabric of your neighborhood than by standing shoulder to shoulder, knee-deep in compost with the diverse group of folks who generally make up a community garden.

Who do you garden with?
TJS: Generally with my wife and a small group of friends whose children range in age from 4 months to 6 years of age. We all pitch in (with advice or manual labor) from time to time at one another’s backyard plots and share the bounty either directly or through weekly dinners. Last year a few of us (kids included) plucked many pounds of basil leaves from stems and had a pesto making party. Everyone went home with a few containers of freshly made pesto.

What is your favorite thing about gardening with your child?
TJS: I’ve been hooked on gardening since my grandfather sat me on his lap at age 5 and showed me a cucumber that he had grown inside a beer bottle (Michelob, of course), and I cannot wait to do the same for my son.

Thanks, TJ! Happy Gardening to you and your family.

Nature/Nurture, written by Michelle Riggen-Ransom, is an occasional column with ideas and information to help kids and their families engage with the natural world in fun, interesting ways. Share your thoughts and explorations by adding your comment below, or contact us with your story ideas.

PHOTO CREDIT: From TJ Sondermann’s Flickr account

Artists nowadays choose to work with many different manmade materials. Why do many opt for Styrofoam, of all things? Hold a cup in your hand, and you’ll see it’s light as air. Leave the cup on your kitchen counter and you might see your kids, later in the day, decorating it, looking for additional cups to make a tower, or playing “telephone.” Grownups create with Styrofoam as well, a lightweight, inexpensive material. A case in point is the current show at The RISD Museum: “Styrofoam: From Industrial Invention to Artistic Transformation.” The show brings together unusually compelling art works by major contemporary artists all made of, you guessed it, Styrofoam. The fact that the works exhibit such a variety of interesting forms and textures is tribute to the fact that Styrofoam can be easily reworked. Some of the artists whose work is on view simply create with found pieces of Styrofoam. Tony Feher, for example, just happened upon the Styrofoam “bricks” that make up his witty Blue Tower.

Styrofoam, as we all know, doesn’t biodegrade like paper or plastic, so using cast-off pieces of it to create art, or simply making art objects of lasting value with it may be one of its appealing qualities to many artists. Kids love to create with Styrofoam as well, and they’ll have plenty of opportunities to discover and make imaginative art with this material at The RISD Museum’s June 28 Free-For-All Saturday program, STYROWORLD. At 1 pm, Rhode Island’s own Big Nazo puppet creatures will animate the day’s program with their outlandish costumes and zany antics on the Museum’s front lawn.

Location: RISD Museum, 224 Benefit Street, Providence, RI. (directions)
Time: 11AM-4PM.
Cost: Free
Information: contact Marianne Ruggiero at 401-454-6674 or follow the link above.

Illustration: Tony Feher, Blue Tower, 1997, Collection of Eileen and Michael Cohen, NY courtesy of D’Amelio Terras, NY and Pace Wildenstein, NY

For over 60 years, Meeting Street has been a pioneer and leader in designing and advocating for early intervention, inclusion, education and therapeutic services for children with various needs. They are experts in childhood development and education who are committed to the success of every child.

Meeting Street is where infants, preschoolers and children of all ages and abilities receive individualized attention from highly trained, dedicated educators, therapists, and staff who work as a team, sharing strategies and identifying solutions to bring out the best in each and every child.

Find a list of summer programs here. Learn more about Meeting Street by visiting their website.

The Kidoinfo website and email has been temporarily unavailable yesterday and part of today due to a malfunction with a server at our web-hosting company. I am pleased to say the problem is now fixed. I hope you were mesmerized with the phenomenal range of weather in the Rhode Island area yesterday—from blue skies to lightning to hail—and you missed us a little, but are ecstatic to have us back.