Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in baltimore, MD

Garden Adventures at Surreybrooke

June 22, 2009

What separates Surreybrooke from other garden centers, and what makes it totally worth the drive up to Frederick County, is its abundance of family-friendly amenities.  Check out the adorable children's garden, complete with animal benches, an evergreen maze and an impossible-to-resist wooden look-out tower; visit any of the three ponds, one of which is home to the most massive frogs I've ever seen; say "awwww" to the precious miniature ponies; picnic at a table or out on the grass, in full view of the nearby mountains; pretend to be a troll or a bear or a princess in a quaint, imagination-inspiring cottage.  Plus, pick up some beautiful, healthy plants for your garden, typically for less than you'd pay at one of those big-box hardware store/garden centers.  And you know what else is awesome aboutSurreybrooke?  Once you're finished with all of your plant-shopping and exploring, you can head on over to neighboring Gambrill State Park, where you'll find rocks for climbing, trails for hiking, and plenty of gorgeous mountain scenery.  Just be sure, if you decide to visit on a baking summer's day, to protect your delicate plant purchases from the heat (or maybe consider hitting Gambrill prior to Surreybrooke).

Surreybrooke - 8537 Hollow Road, Middletown, MD, 301-371-7466  Read more...

Weekend Highlights: 5/22-5/24

May 21, 2009

Guess what?  It's almost weekend time again.  And this weekend is not just any weekend, for it's the unofficial start of the summer season.  So bust out the sunscreen, shimmy into your swimsuit and fire up the barbeque grill.  It's time to get this three-day party started! 

Weekend Highlights, 5/8/09 - 5/10/09

May 07, 2009

Mothers, not surprisingly, figure prominently among many of this weekend's highlights.  You'll find lots of fun stuff to do--for mothers, for children, and for everybody else--all over the Baltimore area this weekend.  Enjoy!

Earthly Delights: Five Gardens to Visit with the Family

March 10, 2009

My family and I, we love to ramble through beautiful gardens.  And not only because my husband is a gardener, and because he's a fiend for hardscapes and hardy perennials, but also because gardens are inspiring and soul-lifting places that stir our imaginations and strengthen our bonds with nature.  Having visited about a million gardens, including their own, my kids know not to trample delicate seedlings or to (intentionally) scare the heck out of wildlife.  Still, as they're kids, they like to run and screech and wander, all of which they can do, within reason, at any of the gardens I'll describe below.  Think gardens are prim and proper places, only to be visited with your granny, and in a sunhat?  Think again, as spring is coming, and I can think of few better ways to usher in, with your children, the season of rebirth.  Read more...

The Weather Outside Is Frightful, and My Toddler's Being Spiteful (Volume Two): Five (More) Things to Do in Baltimore on a Less-Than-Perfect Day

by Laura Stallard Petza

January 20, 2009

Winter. At its best, it's a season of light snow, of candy hearts, and at its worst, well, it's a season of boredom. There hasn't been much in the way of snow this winter, and it's too early, of course, for candy hearts, so what's left for you to do with the kids? Sure, there's ice skating--I wrote about skating venues a few weeks back--but perhaps you're still looking for a few activities that  Read more...

Growing a Gardener: The Cromwell Valley Children's Gardening Club

by Laura Stallard Petza

October 11, 2008

First off, I should come clean about something: I am not a gardener. I'd like to be--after all, there are few delights tastier than herbs and veggies plucked straight from the soil, and what could be more lovely than the dahlias my husband tends every summer? The problem, I'm loath to admit, is that I'm prissy. I don't like to get dirty. I don't like to lift things. And while I do very  Read more...