Weekend Roundup, Early!

We're doing the weekend roundup a little bit early this week. Tomorrow, I'll be doing my review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.

So, lucky us, because it's a day early, we get to add an extra event. First up is Mambo Combo, a free concert at Watkins Park, 301 Watkins Park Dr. in Upper Marlboro, tonight at 7. If you like some good music, bring a blanket or chairs and head on over.

This weekend is full of fun stuff for the kids. Dinosaur Park, the 41-acre fossil park in Laurel is open for visitors this weekend, with lots of activities (Noon-4 pm Saturday). Also, if you don't mind driving, the Temple Hills Community Center is having a free circus, from Noon - 2 pm (jugglers, acrobats & more). Your older kids can tie-dye t-shirts at the New Carrollton library on Saturday.

Sunday is rife with adventure. For just $5, you can join park rangers on a kayak tour of Berwyn Heights'  Lake Artemesia. Want adventure without  spending any money? Head over to Greenbelt for a free puppet workshop at 1 pm! Stick around for a gymnastics performance at 3 pm. The details on all these events are on the calendar page.

And of course, you could go to the movies over the weekend. Tomorrow, you'll get my thoughts on whether you should add the Wimpy Kid to your weekend lineup.

-Hyattsville Mom

What the Heck is Instagram?

I could've Instagrammed this photo of ducks I took.

Lately on Facebook, I've been seeing these posts that say, "FACEBOOKFRIENDNAME took a photo with Instagram." So, I've been trying to figure out what the heck Instagram is and why people are using it, instead of just uploading their mobile pic like normal.


Well, I thought I'd try the most obvious route to answer this question--check out Instagram's website. Only it was more baffling than these cryptic posts. In the FAQ, What is Instagram, the site says: "Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your mobile phone, then choose a filter to transform the image into a memory to keep around forever."  Umm, yeah, that explains it all. Not.


So, I asked my FB friends and learned it's a new social network. Except it just uses pictures. So, you get to have your Instagram friends and see their Instagram pictures. And Instagram also lets you share those photos on other networks, like Twitter or Facebook (hence all the posts I've been seeing recently).


Now that I know what it is, I'm probably going to pass. Friends say there are great photo editing tools on the site, and it's more cozy than Facebook (as there are fewer friends). But, I just don't think I can swing another social network. I'd have to make friends again. I'd have to answer demands from the software to comb my inbox for possible friends. And most importantly, I'd have another thing to distract me from getting things done during the day. It's hard enough living, blogging, tweeting and Facebooking. I can't add Pinning (Pinterest) and Instagramming, too.


So, what say you? Are you using Instagram? Is it so cool it's worth adding another social network to the cue?


That's it for today. 


Hyattsville Mom


p.s. Breastfeeding awareness week starts today and runs through Aug. 7.  More information is online: http://worldbreastfeedingweek.org/. 

Book Tuesday: A+ Workbooks

Well, bonjour and happy Tuesday to you!

Very quick post today. Both the kids are out of camp, and it's hectic trying to post. Just three more weeks until public schools start again. Summer went by so quickly. I can't believe it's almost time to go back.

Along those lines,  for Book Tuesday today, I thought I'd talk about the books, er workbooks, we've been using lately. I guess you could say I've been a bad parent over the summer, contributing to the hated "summer loss" teachers talk about. We've done nothing school related.

So, at Target recently, I saw these A+ workbooks. And they're great for kids to get them back in the school mindset. I bill them to my kids as "activity books" because they usually have at least one or two fun activities in them, and they are great for recapping math and reading principles kids learned in school. The books are $1 apiece at Target (though if you wait, there's usually a regular $1 bin purge that will put them at half price for even better, 75 percent off).

I got addition and subtraction for my daughter and multiplication and division for my son. They also have interesting books on astronauts, presidents and other interesting topics. We've been doing half-a-dozen pages each day, and so long as I call them "activity books" the kids do them with good cheer.  So, if you're looking for something fun and educational for your kids to do, check these out.

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

Free Camp for Low-Income Middle School Kids

Innoworks Science Camp still has some slots available for middle school students who receive free or reduced-priced lunches.

At the free camp, students will learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics through science experiments.  The camp is at the University of Maryland College Park Aug. 13-17. It runs from  9 am to 4:30 pm.

For more information on the camp, or to apply, visit http://www.innoworks.org/newinno/studentapplication.php.  Applicants are encourage to apply as soon as possible.

Weekend: Sharks, Cooking & Flying Phenoms

Photo courtesy of Shiyam ElkCloner via wikicommons

Happy Weekend to you all. Isn't it wonderful when Friday finally rolls around?

So, there's lots of exciting stuff on tap to do this weekend.

Firstly, if you like sharks, check out the National Aquarium DC, which is doing its Shark Weekend. Saturday & Sunday, from 10 am to 4 pm, they'll have family friendly activities involving sharks. They'll have a shark feeding, scavenger hunt and shark-tooth touching (not while the tooth is still in the shark's mouth, though). The DC Aquarium is at 1401 Constitution Ave., and Shark Weekend activities are included in the price of admission. For more information, go to http://www.aqua.org/visit/dc/calendar/shark-weekend?EventID=%7b04CBB577-599C-42F9-ABD3-17F237867FCD%7d.


Next up, the Greenbelt Library branch is having a free show discussing Amelia Earhart, the famous pilot who disappeared on a trip. The show is for all ages, so long as they can sit still and listen, and starts at 2 pm.

Also, this weekend, if your kids like cooking, they can attend a Wegmans Kids in the Kitchen class, at the Woodmore Town Centre location. The theme Saturday is Southwest Fiesta. According to Wegmans, "It’s fiesta time, so come party with some of the yummiest veggies ever! In this class you’ll prepare 2 veggie-licious dishes: Pineapple, Jicama & Cucumber Salad (what’s a jicama? You’ll find out!) and Veggie Queso Nachos." The class is for kids 4 and up and costs $5 per child for those with a Wegmans card. For more information, go to https://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PressReleaseDetailView?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=398972. There are two classes, one at 10 am and one at 2 pm.

Well that's about it for me. We're aquarium members, so we'll probably check out the Shark stuff this weekend. I hope you all have a great one.  More fun things can be found on our calendar.

-Hyattsville Mom

Summer Sickness

Image courtesy Mcrfarlandmo's Photos

The kids have caught a summer cold and given it to me.

I HATE being sick in the summer. A runny nose and cough in 100 degree temperatures is just no fun.

With that info, this is the extent of my post today. I'll have a weekend roundup post tomorrow, with all the exciting weekend happenstances.

-Hyattsville Mom

Happening today: Spinny Johnson will perform at 2pm at the New Carrollton Library, 7414 Riverdale Rd. For more information about the FREE performance, contact the children's librarian, 301-459-6900.

Research Wednesday: Spatial Skills & Internet Signs of Depression

I get lots of news releases about research, but I hardly ever use it. So, I thought I'd take Wednesdays as a day to blurb any interesting research on kids, parents, health, er, anything that looks useful to folks with kids.

So, today I've got two interesting things.

1. Spatial games will help your kids with math. New research from the University of Chicago finds that kids who are good at fitting shapes together to make recognizable objects are also better at the number line and math problem solving. “These results suggest that improving children’s spatial thinking at a young age may not only help foster skills specific to spatial reasoning but also improve symbolic numerical representations,” said Susan Levine, co-author of the paper, "The Relation Between Spatial Skill and Early Number Knowledge: The Role of the Linear Number Line," published in Development Psychology. "This is important since spatial learning is malleable and can be positively influenced by early spatial experiences." For more information on the study, check out the university's news release on the research: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/06/13/learning-about-spatial-relationships-boosts-understanding-numbers.

2. Doing 9 things online means you may be depressed. Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology recently found that college students who are depressed use the Internet differently than others. The researchers used real-time network data to suss out 9 things college Internet users who were depressed were more likely to do. Among the culprits are using more file-sharing services, chatting online more often, and frequently switching Internet applications. The last attribute may be caused by trouble concentrating, which is a sign of depression. The study is unique in that it did not rely on self reporting. Instead, it tested its 216 participants for depression, then gave each participant a random id number to use on the network and tracked their usage. The users who had tested positive for depression had the usage patterns mentioned above. More information on the study is available here: http://news.mst.edu/2012/05/internet_usage_patterns_may_si.html.

Have a good one.

-Hyattsville Mom

Happening Today: New Carrollton library's drop in craft series. Stop by the library, 7414 Riverdale Rd., from 2-4 pm today to make a craft. For kids of all ages.