Matteo's Dream Playground in Concord

This special playground was designed for a boy named Matteo who is blind and wheelchair bound, and other's like him. It is intended to be accessible to children of all levels and abilities. While I doubt all children could utilize all the features, there does seem to be something for everyone here. There are traditional swings, climbing structures, and stairs, but also a lot of ramps, and musical pipes to bang, and some open space.

One feature to note is a sprinkler area that children activate by pushing a button. This caught me off guard at our first visit, but now I know to bring along a towel, or cut the kids off from the water areas enough ahead of time for them to dry out before we leave. On hot summer days though, the water can be wonderful for cooling off.

There is one large covered picnic area that is available for reservation and several other tables that circle the play area. A low fence surrounds the play area and separates it from the tables, although the playground is still visible from the tables. There is also a restroom available.

Matteo's Dream Playground is located in Hillcrest Park at 2050 Olivera Road.

Alpha Phonics, How My Kids Learned to Read

Sticking with the reading theme, since it's time now for Summer Reading Programs, I thought it was past time for a review of the Alpha Phonics reading book. I used Alpha Phonics to teach both my kids to read the summer before they began kindergarten.

Originally, I didn't think I needed a formal reading instruction book. We are big readers in our family. They kids were read to from before birth. Bedtime stories are a ritual, and we read together throughout the daytime as well. Once they knew their letters, and letter sounds, I tried just starting in on some of the very early reader books, like the "Bob Books", and other similar phonics early readers. I believe we were on the third Bob book when I realized that my daughter was not actually reading. She'd been fooling me. She'd look at the pictures, then the first letter or so of the word, and make a good guess. She made it through 2 books perfectly that way. What tripped her up was the word "rag". She read it as "blanket" based on the picture.

That was when I started researching reading programs. So many of them seemed so complicated, with games, and videos, and songs, and. . .oh yes, at last books too. There were some darn pricey ones too. I chose Alpha Phonics in the end because it was simple, and reasonably priced. The Alpha Phonics website offered the first several lessons for free. We used those first, and they went very well. My daughter gained confidence, and since there are no pictures, I knew she could really sound out her words.

The Alpha Phonics book has been everything I wanted in a program for learning to read. Simple, and organized. There is no preparation or extra work I need to do. We just open the book up to where we left off, and work through the next lesson. There are some lessons that are very long in the beginning, and new sounds are repeated over and over for the child to get a good grasp on them. There were usually more than my kids wanted to deal with in a day, so we didn't always do one lesson a day - when we hit those big ones, we just worked thought one page a day instead. We still made great progress, but with less stress.

I still strongly believe that in order to raise kids who love to read, they must live in a house that loves to read. Parents who read to them often, and just as importantly, read for their own pleasure, and let their kids seem them reading do a lot for the child's attitude toward books. But Alpha Phonics has helped us so much too. it made the process of learning to read smooth, natural, and painless. Despite the rather dull appearance of the book, with no flashy colors, and no pictures at all, both of my kids lit up when I pulled it out, ready to work through the next lesson. Although, in all honesty, they both were more resistant in the very beginning, maybe up to around lesson 10 to 15 or so. By then, thought, they had the hang of the program, then knew how it worked, and more importantly, they knew they could do it. It built that sort of confidence in them. It is a program that I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn to read, or to help someone else learn.

Summer Reading Programs 2012

As the school year begins to draw to a close, libraries, and bookstores begin their summer reading programs. Your kids can earn free books, and other prizes, and keep up their reading skills over the summer. Win, win!

The first place to check out, for summer reading programs, is your local library. They always have a summer program, and in addition to prizes for reading, they usually offer other fun summer programs, like special guests or show, or storytimes.
In Contra Costa County Library, the summer reading program begins June 9th.
Alameda County Library's program begins June 11th.
San Francisco Library's program begins June 1st.
San Mateo County's Library Program runs June thru August.
Marin County Library has many Summer Reading Program launch parities scheduled for this and next week.
Solano County Library's runs from June 11th to Aug. 11th.

The bookstores are sponsoring their usual summer reading programs as well:

At Barnes and Noble, kids can earn a free book (from a pre-selected list) for reading 8 books over the summer.

Half-Priced Books is offering kids a $5.oo gift certificate to kids who read for 300 minutes.

Low Cost Summer Movies 2012

It's almost time again for the great second-run summer movies. The information I've tracked down so far for theaters in the Bay Area include:

Century Theaters Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse,  including the theaters in Danville, Pleasant Hill, San Jose, Woodland, Napa, Walnut Creek and many more - 10 weeks of movies, that vary slightly from theater to theater. They cost $1.00 each, or you can pre-pay for a 10-movie pass for only $5.00. Each of the individual theater links I clicked on also had a coupon for a discounted child concession pack. Check the link for your local theaters to see which movies are offered which days. It looks to me as though Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the most common days offered, with some theaters offering two discount days, and some theaters offering one. The movies start at 10:00 am

Regal Theaters has a spot reserved on its website for information about its summer movie program, but no information released just yet. You can check this link to the Regal website for any details when they are available. 

The other theaters that have offered free or low cost summer movies in the past so far do not have any mention of a 2012 program on their websites, but I will keep checking, and update this post if more option appear. Most theaters don't start their summer movies until mid June, so there is still time.

UPDATE -


Regal theaters have released their list of participating theaters and movies. You can see if the theater near you is hosting $1.00 summer movies at their website, here.

Also Rave theaters are offering FREE summer movies. Their online schedule is harder to follow, and it looks like Brentwood is the only bay area theater participating, but you can check it out at the link above.

Sky High Trampoline

Imagine a room filled wall to wall with trampolines. Now imagine several more rooms just like it. That’s Sky High. It’s just as much fun and exhausting as you are imagining.

We have only ever been to the Sky High in Concord, so it is possible the other branches are set up differently. At Concord though, there is one room that is for straight jumping. It’s the biggest room, and it is full of trampolines. They’re even on the walls.

Next there is a room with a pit full of foam at one end. Here you can wait in line, then jump down a long trampoline, jumping into the pit at the end. This is a great photo spot moms!

Another room is dedicated to dodgeball. When my young girls wanted to try it out I was somewhat nervous with all the much bigger teen boys in line to play. I was happily surprised however. While they were fairly ruthless with each other, the bigger kids made a lot of effort to avoid throwing to hard or fast at the little kids. As you can imagine though, it’s an easy situation for accidents to happen. My girls came out smiling, but I did see one little boy take a hit with a foam ball that was not meant for him, and it didn’t look fun.

As for the little kids, they do have one smaller room dedicated to the smaller jumpers. I don’t remember the age cut off, but it was maybe 6 or 7 years old.

In the back they have restrooms, a few video games and vending machines, and tables for birthday parties. We were there once while a party was in progress, and the kids all seemed to be having a great time. I’m not sure what all is included in a party package (the website could tell you if you want more info) but they at least got lots of jumping time, then cake and such at the tables later on.

The cost is paid by the hour. Before you pay a lot up front, try it out for one hour. The first few times we went, we worried that the kids would whine about having to leave after only an hour, but it turns out that jumping constantly for that amount of time is darn tiring. They are almost always ready quit and rest  when our hour is up.

The Concord branch offers a special rate to homeschoolers on Mondays from 1 to 2pm for $6.00 except when local schools are out for breaks or holidays. The regular rate is $10.oo per hour.

ARF in Walnut Creek

The Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) based in Walnut Creek is at its heart, an animal rescue and adoption center. However, they have many programs that expand beyond simple housing and rehoming of pets, and offer some fun things for kids and families, even ones who are not currently looking to adopt a new pet.

We have attended two events at the ARF facility, a tour, and a birthday party, and enjoyed both. They were very similarly run, with some obvious extras included for the party that I will go over in a bit.

At both events we were toured around the facility, seeing more of the ‘behind the scenes’ areas with the tour than the party. Although the tour was with an older set of kids, so that may have been part of the reason. Our groups started out in both cases, watching a short video about the history of ARF including  how and why former Oakland A’s manager Tony La Russa came to found the animal rescue foundation. We were shown the cats and dogs that were at the center waiting for adoption, and learned about the volunteers that help keep the center running.

At the end of the tour we went to a room that housed a play veterinary hospital and pet store. At the party, the children were all given little stuffed doggies or cats and taught how to take care of them in the play veterinary office. They learned to brush their teeth, give them vaccines, and check in their ears. At the play store, they shopped for things they might need to take care of their new pets at home. Then, in both the tour and the party, we got to meet a live dog and get a lesson on how to safely and politely greet and pet a new dog. This ended the tour, but the party went on to have snacks and cake, and gift opening before coming to an end.

I did not organize or set up either of these events, but was told by the person who set up the tour for us that it was a bit of a challenge to do so.  The parties are apparently the main way the center usually introduces children to the work of the foundation, and she was encouraged to take that path. Eventually she was able to set up a tour without a party, but this may or may not be something ARF is willing or able to do on a regular basis. For a party, on the other hand, there is information on the ARF website, and appears that would be something fairly straightforward to do. Everyone at the party we attended, kids and adults alike, appeared to have a terrific time.

I should also mention that you can of course, just show up and have a look around on your own without the benefit of an organized tour if you want. The animals are there to be seen, and hopefully find new homes after all. There are also some great volunteer opportunities for older kids too. So go check them out!

Free and Low Cost Summer Movies 2011

It seems like every year now, the movie theaters change the way they run their free/low cost summer movie programs. This year AMC theaters has discontinued their $1 summer moviecamp all together. Also, of the theater chains that have cheap summer movie offerings, not all individual theaters participate. So check the links below to find out if your local theater is included in the program. Not to worry though. There are still a lot of other theaters offering summer deals on second run movies. It can be a nice way to get out of the heat and have a little down time with the kids.

From comparing programs, I've noticed that all the movie theaters offer their free or $1 summer kid movies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, starting this week. The links below will take you to the theater websites, where you can see the list of scheduled summertime movies. The chains that are still running programs are:

Regal Theaters Summer Movie Express offers Movies for $1 at their Fairfield and Dublin theaters.

Brenden Theaters in Vacaville Has movies for $0.99 with courtesy popcorn and drink for the leftover penny. The Concord Brenden Theater also has movies for $0.99, and a special concession pack offered at $3.00

Century Theater's Summer Movie Clubhouse offers a similar program to last year with $1.00 movies, or prepay for all 10 summer movies for $5.00

It is also worth checking your local parks and recreation guide. Some communities will screen older movies outdoors in a park for free, and they can be a lot of fun to attend.