Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Washington, DC

Merrifield Garden Center

by Beth Hoffman

May 23, 2009

Ah, Spring, when a young suburbanite's fancy turns to thoughts of mulch.  Do you constantly smell like mulch these days, even three showers past your last stint in the garden, or is that just me?  Last weekend, to get a break from the weeding and the mulching, we went to the garden center to buy some new plants for all those bare spots that were formerly covered by weeds.  We had a two-year-old gift certificate to Merrifield Garden Center, so we decided to head over there and put it to use.  We went to the new place near Fair Oaks, not the original in Merrifield.  And wow, this place blows my regular nursery out of the water.

We had both kids with us, of course, and they had a blast.  The toddler was in the backpack, saying hello to all of our fellow patrions, and straining for handfuls of any plant I got him too close to.  The preschooler ran all over the place admiring the plants, debating the best azalea colors, helping me pick tomatoes based entirely on their pictures and/or funny names, and getting an impromptu education on the difference between annuals and perennials, evergreen and deciduous, indoor and outdoor plants, and why in the heck we needed all that mulch anyway. 

I never thought a trip to the nursery with the kids would be anything but a hassle, but it was actually a lot of fun to go through all the plants with the kids, and Merrifield was a great place to do it.  It's huge, well organized, well stocked, and has plenty of wagons to dump the kids in when they get tired of tearing up and down the rows of rhododendrons.  So brush up on your plant identification skills, or just keep a sharp eye out for the tags, and take the kids to the garden center for a free field trip and ecology or biology lesson.
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2009 White House Easter Egg Roll

by Beth Hoffman

March 26, 2009

So, are you spending all day today refreshing the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll ticketing website, or is that just me?  No luck, so far for me.  They are releasing tickets in blocks throughout the day, but the times are not published so you just have to guess and get lucky.  I suppose this is more convenient for most of us than thronging the Ellipse for tickets, but at least then you can see how many people are ahead of you and what your chances aire.  Anyway, since I am dedicating so much time to running over to my laptop to hit F5, I thought I would share some fun facts about the White House Easter Egg Roll, for anyone else out there who is spending far too much time on this today.

From the White House's Easter Egg Roll website:

• The White House Easter Egg Roll will be held on Monday, April 13, 2009 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the South Lawn of the White House.
• The theme for this year's egg hunt is "Let's Go Play."  Do you think that means President Obama will be on hand to play "Wizard of Oz" with my three year old for nine straight hours?
• The first White House Easter Egg Roll was in 1878.
• This is the first time that tickets have been distributed online.

(Refresh.  Refresh.  Refresh.)

 Good luck if you are trying for tickets!

Hearty flowers for little hands

by Leticia

March 16, 2009

With the warm spells that we have had so far this month, we are eagerly watching the buds form on the trees, the yellow blooms of the forsythia in our yard grow bigger each day, and the tips of our tulip plants emerge from under the grass. 

Last year we really got into gardening and this year I’m determined to get an earlier start on our planting.  Whether you have a yard of your own or want to start a container garden to brighten up your indoor space, planting is a fun and easy science activity that is quite rewarding for young children. 

But where to start?  Sometimes the selection at garden centers can be completely overwhelming.  Last year my kids wanted one of each seed packet on the racks before them.  The pretty blossoms and colors sent them into a spring planting tizzy and it was hard to restrict them to just a few kinds.  Based on our planting and growing experience from last year, I suggest the following seeds for your budding botanist which are not only easy to grow but are sturdy enough for your child cut with child scissors without destroying the blooms:

Cosmos- I remember my mom planting Cosmos in our yard each spring.  I loved picking the pink, purple, and white ones for bouquets for our kitchen table.  Cosmos are great flowers for any yard because they tolerate poor soil, heat, and drought well. 

Nasturtiums- These blooms are generally yellow, red, and orange.  While some say you need to soak the seeds in order to have them germinate faster, we found that just planting them and keeping the soil moist was enough to make the seeds sprout.  Nasturtium flowers and leaves are edible and commonly used to adorn fancy salads but you may not want to tell your child this for fear that they will start to sample other non-edible garden plants.

Zinnias- Zinnias come in all colors and are quite hearty flowers that are also deer resistant.  My children loved seeing the beautiful yellow, white, red, bright and pale pink, purple blooms throughout the summer.  We picked them all summer long and had constant containers of them on our kitchen table.  They bloomed constantly despite regular harvesting and we even had Zinnias blooming into early fall even when it started to get cold.

Marigolds- These short blooms are usually full like pom poms.  They can be solid yellow, orange, or white or variegated with multiple colors on a single bloom. Marigolds are perfect for kids because they bloom prolifically all summer long and there’s not much that can be done to harm them.  Their stems are perfect for a child to cut and when the flower dies, you can collect the seeds in a jar to save them for next year’s planting season.

Coneflowers- We always admire our neighbor’s coneflowers.  These large flowers usually have purple petals and a beehive shaped center that rises up from the flower.  They are a perfect addition to your garden if you want to try to attract butterflies to your yard.

Black Eyed Susans- If you have a lot of room and are looking for a flower that will fill the space you give it, plant some Black Eyed Susans.  This Maryland state flower has 13 yellow petals with a black center.  They can become bushy as they plants mature but the blooms flower all summer long, making for a gorgeous backdrop in your yard.

Sunflowers- There are many variety and colors of sunflowers besides the dinner plate size blooms that tower over children.  Check the back of the seed packet to find ones that grow only a foot or two high and intersperse them with a packet of the super tall ones.  Since the stems of some sunflower varieties can be quite thick, have your child wrap their hands around yours as you use garden shears instead.

Now that you know the heartiest flowers for little hands, head to the garden center to get some peat pots and soil to start your seeds inside.  If you end up with too many seed packets like we did, have a planting party and invite some friends over to begin getting them excited about spring too. 

Happy planting!

Savvy Guest: National Children's Museum Offers Tips to Beat Winter Boredom

by Leticia

November 12, 2008

Today's Savvy guest post is by the National Children's Museum . When it opens in 2012, The National Children's Museum (NCM) will be a world-class cultural and educational center dedicated to engaging children and empowering them to make a difference. The mission of NCM is to inspire children to care about and improve the world. Today the National Children's Museum experts provide families with  Read more...

Soda Can Bowling

by Leticia

July 28, 2008

We are a Diet Coke family. My husband loves the stuff meaning that there's no shortage of soda cans in our recycling bin each week. Staring at the wealth of Diet Coke cans as I passed by our recycling bin on my way to the house today reminded me of a great activity that we once did in the basement of our college dorm- can bowling! Can bowling is simple- gather all of those cans that have  Read more...

A Backyard for the Birds

by Leticia

July 14, 2008

After the tragedy of a baby bird dying in our yard , it was a pleasure to watch a robin build a nest right outside our kitchen window one night during dinner. As we've sat together at each meal over the past two weeks we've watched Mama Bird sit on her three eggs. We've watched her come and go and hunker down in her nest, protecting them during summer rainstorms. Little Miss Techie and Captain  Read more...

Cultivating a Green Thumb

by Leticia

May 26, 2008

We're at the time in the year where the seasons are wavering between spring and summer. A series of rains have made the grass lush and green while the temperatures are warming and hinting that summer is on the way. I'm not a fan of the mosquitos and the Californian in me absolutely despises our humid summers so I'm trying to take advantage of being outside before summer truly arrives. We've been  Read more...