The summer is almost over and kids are headed back to school, but there are still some fun activities to do on the weekends! Happy Back-t0-School!
Watch the video here.
The theme for Theo’s 8th birthday party was pretty unique. Our local Utah Children’s Theater holds a Shakespeare Festival for kids every year, and this festival happened to occur right at the same time as Theo’s birthday. We had to take advantage!
As part of the theater, they have a private room where you can hold parties. They offered a “Breakfast with Shakespeare” party where they served made-to-order waffles so we had an early morning birthday party!
We baked our own birthday cakes this year — something I hadn’t done since his 1st birthday! We used a regular waffle iron and cooked many layers of cake batter “waffles.” Then we frosted them one on top of the other until they were cake-shaped. We ended up with three different cake flavors: chocolate, strawberry, and funfetti!
After the breakfast/eating waffles portion of the party, the kids were treated to a special abridged Shakespeare performance. It was quite funny and the kids were all well-behaved in their theater seats.
For the party favors, I wanted to emphasize the literary theme of the Shakespeare party, so we gave each child a small notebook and personalized bookmark. It had a great Shakespeare quote, “I count myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my good friends.” Months later, I was volunteering in Theo’s classroom and saw that one of his classmates was reading a book using his bookmark from the party! I was so happy to see it.
On today’s segment, I discussed three performances that kids will love:
Watch the segment here!
Happy Spring! Here are the topics I mentioned on TV today.
These are also some fun activities happening this month that I didn’t have time to mention on air:
To see the video, click on this link.
Here are some fun theatre shows you and your kids can enjoy this month!
“The Road to Broadway” Rowland Hall school musical
Rowland Hall Larimer Center, 843 S. Lincoln Street
Allow me to get a bit sentimental about my childhood for a moment: when I was in 6th grade, my middle school’s annual musical was “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” I still remember auditioning for the show with the song “Happiness” and having so much fun rehearsing and putting on the show. I’ve been in several musical performances since (in the last, ahem, 20+ years), but for some reason this show sticks in my mind as one of the best theatre experiences I ever had.
Somewhat-relatedly, Theo has been really getting into this series of books that were hand-me-downs from my husband:
Theo has been interested in doing magic tricks since he was really young. He loves learning tricks and practicing how to perform them. He has perfected his “Abracadabra!” and “Ta Da!” We always try to catch the shows that magicians perform at the library and other community events. Three years ago, we had the opportunity to see the Hatch Academy of Music and Magic perform at the Ring Around the Rose children’s series at Rose Wagner Theater. We’ve seen a lot of different shows on different topics through this series. Tickets are relatively inexpensive at $5/person and they are a kid-friendly environment.
It was such a fun show! Richard and Rosemary Hatch perform classical music (piano and violin) with magic tricks and have some stunning combinations integrating both. I was so excited to see that they are doing another show this year, and will be performing on May 9. You can find out more about the show and buy tickets here.
I was looking around the Hatch Academy website and saw that they teach different courses on magic. The class “How to be an Amazing Grandparent!” caught my eye and I was tickled to think about grandparents learning fun tricks to share with their grandkids and friends. I think it is so great that the Hatch family used their varied talents to put together a show that presents both magic and music and it is really a unique opportunity to experience both.
We took Theo to see Ballet West‘s performance of The Nutcracker last Christmas, and he was enthralled. Not only is the music and dancing beautiful, but the athleticism and discipline of the dancers is apparent. It is a great way to show children that you can be both artistic and athletic. The ballet is a lovely combination of both.
I was so excited to see that this season they are offering another family-friendly performance in the spring: Aladdin! These performances will feature the dancers of Ballet West II along with children of the Ballet West Academy. I think it’s great that children in the audience can see their peers on stage and imagine that it could be possible for them to participate if they were interested and dedicated.
There is a short segment that was produced by KUED called “Contact in the Community” about this particular show, which could be a fun way to introduce the ballet to kids prior to attending the performance. They go “behind the scenes” and show costumes and preparation backstage, which is fun for both parents and kids!
Click to watch the video here.
I love that we have such an inclusive community here that offers great programming and activities for all children. There are two events I want to highlight that are especially geared towards kids with special needs and they sound great!
The first is the Utah Opera and Utah Symphony’s concert on Thursday, January 22 at the Capitol Theatre. You can register at the link above and here is their description of the event:
Utah Symphony | Utah Opera offers an annual concert for children with special needs and their families. We present this concert because we know that many families cannot attend cultural events together because their special needs child acts in distracting ways. We feature our Opera Resident Artists with the Utah Symphony on the Capitol Theater Stage in a special concert where everyone understands the difficulty of keeping these children quiet in their seats. This concert is FREE but registration is required.
As always, I believe in exposing kids to as much art and theatre and film as possible and to have these venues encourage this for all families is so refreshing and wonderful.
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| Santa’s Arrival at City Creek Mall |
Let it Snow: A Holiday Music Journey
Home for the Holidays Open House & Service Project
Date/Time: Tuesday, Dec. 2 from 3:00 to 7:00pm
Location: YWCA (322 East 300 South)
Cost: Free
Sponsor: YWCA Utah
Christkindlmarkt SLC
Date/Time: Thursday Dec. 4 through Saturday, Dec. 6 from 11:00am to 8:00pm
Location: This is the Place (2601 E. Sunnyside Avenue)
Cost: Free
Sponsor: This is the Place Heritage Park
The Night Before Christmas
Date/Time: Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:00pm; Saturday, Dec. 6 at 1:00pm and 7:00pm
“Frozen” Sing Along Fun
Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2:30pm
Location: The City Library (210 East 400 South)
Here Comes Santa Claus!
Date/Time: Saturday, December 13; 11:00am and 12:30pm
Location: Abravanel Hall (123 West South Temple)
Cost: $6-$18
Sponsor: Utah Symphony
Christmas Carole Sing-Along
Date/Time: Monday, Dec. 15 at 7:00pm
Location: Energy Solutions Arena (301 W. South Temple)
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Larry H. Miller Family and Robert C. Bowden
Pupcracker – A Canine Nutcracker
Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 27 at 7:30pm; Sunday, Dec. 28 at 2:30pm
Location: Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (138 West Broadway)
Cost: $20
Sponsor: Intermountain Therapy Animals
Adventures with Theo 