17:
Walk the streets of Deep Ellum during the district’s monthly market, see the new camp site and bike trail at the Trinity River Audubon Center, and join the grand opening celebration for LLELA’s new pollinator garden.
Deep Ellum Outdoor Market
For one of most unique flea markets around, take a walk through the streets of Deep Ellum at their monthly market on Saturday from 11am–5pm. Listen to local bands play reggae music while you browse jewelry and art vendors, and check out the food vendors too. After all, barbecue followed by ice cream says, “It’s summer in Texas.” – Well, almost.
Forest Fest at the Audubon Center
The Trinity River Audubon Center recently finished a new overnight campsite for groups and a new bike trail that crosses over the Trinity River. Join the free Forest Fest for a family camping clinic with REI instructors, kayaking and canoeing, and more on Saturday from 10am–2pm.
LLELA’s new Pollinator Garden
Also, take your littlest nature lovers to the grand opening of the new pollinator garden at the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area. Make a “pollinator pal” at the craft station from 9:30–11:30am on Saturday, and join wildflower and butterfly walks through the new lush garden of prairie grasses and wildflowers that boost native pollinators, namely bees and butterflies.
Admission is $5 per person and free for ages 5 and younger. Stick around for the Homestead Open House from nοοn–3pm, and call 972/219-3930 to register for the Star Party from 8:15–9:15pm.
Sign up to receive our Weekend Guide newsletters each Thursday to your inbox, and for more family-friendly events every day, visit the calendar at dfwchild.com/showcalendar.asp.
posted by
Elizabeth on 2013.05.16, under
Around Town: Dallas,
Around Town: Fort Worth,
Around Town: North Texas,
Celebs,
Cool Stuff,
Family Fun,
Food,
Healthy Families,
Kid Fun,
Learning and Growing,
Marketing and Events,
What to do today!16:
This Friday, jump off your energy at the grand opening of a trampoline park in Fort Worth, get an autograph from your hero at the Dallas Comic Con, and join the campaign for real food on Food Revolution Day.
Dallas Comic Con
Superhero and comic fans will descend upon the Irving Convention Center for Dallas Comic Con Friday–Sunday. Enter the kids costume contest to show off your homemade costumes, and get autographs from the original Captain Kirk and fierce Priceline Negotiator William Shatner, Firefly’s Nathan Fillion, Brandon Routh from 2006’s Superman Returns, Andrew McCarthy for all those Pretty in Pink fans, and more celebs and legendary comic writers and artists. Online registration has closed but you can still get tickets at the center’s box office. Single-day tickets are $25–$40 for adults, and kids tickets are $5 for ages 5–12 and free for ages 4 and younger.
Opening of the new Flight Deck Trampoline Park
Join the grand opening for West Fort Worth’s first indoor trampoline park with more than 90 high performance trampolines and attractions including, a foam pit, basketball dunking lanes, main court, and two dodgeball arenas. The party starts at 5pm on Friday with door prizes and music spun by a DJ, and the grand opening runs through Sunday. Check out their , a frozen yogurt shop with 16 flavors and a full topping bar, and stay tuned for open jump times, scheduled jump times specially for young children, Teen Nights, JumpFit 1000 Classes and dodgeball leagues.
The park has different admission pricing for weekends and weekdays, starting at $8 per hour for kids 6 and younger. Kids 3 and younger are always free with a paying parent. Weekend admission: $12 per hour for ages 7 and older; $10 per hour for ages 6 and younger; free for ages 3 and younger with a paying parent.
Food Revolution Day
Do you know Jamie Oliver? He’s the British chef who’s encouraging families to eat “real food” to avoid the growing obesity rates, and he’s leading the way with the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, which has declared Friday as Food Revolution Day. Visit foodrevolutionday.com to find an event near you – including the Real Food Picnic at Texas Discovery Gardens in Dallas or the Fort Worth Food Park Party – or gather your kids in your own kitchen to make a great meal from scratch. Check out Oliver’s recipes, and download more free resources, including a coloring sheet for the kids.
Sign up to receive our Weekend Guide newsletters each Thursday to your inbox, and for more family-friendly events every day, visit the calendar at dfwchild.com/showcalendar.asp.
15:
From pizza dough tossing to kids karaoke, here’s what you’ll find inside the children’s activity corners at these five weekend festivals in Dallas, Grapevine, Addison and Richardson.
May 17–19: Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival in Richardson
Listen to a weekend full of musical acts (gospel, punk, rock, blues, country – they’ve got it all) and let your kids get in on the musical action too. The Kidz Korner has a karaoke stage where the kids can sign their heart out their future fan club members. After the vocal cord workout, walk through the butterfly habitat and check out the rock climbing wall, sand pit, trampoline and petting zoo.
May 17–19: Taste Addison
To work up an appetite for samplings from the festival’s 60 featured eateries, take the kids to the Family Fun Zone for a quad bungee jump, bounce house and Spiderman obstacle course as well as face painting, caricatures, old-fashioned photos and sand art. A special entertainment stage just for the kids will be running continuously with clowns, animals presentations, music and musical theater productions.
May 17–19: Main Street Days in Grapevine
Pizza is the main event at the downtown Grapevine festival. Kids 10 and younger can sign up for a session at the Roma’s Pizza Toss Academy and learn how to roll and toss dough like an authentic pizza maker. Get your fill of pizza slices from vendors along the Pizza Piazza, and check out the KidCave for the tricycle riding area, LEGOLAND junior builder competition and SEA LIFE Aquarium’s touch pool. Admission is free until 5pm on Friday.
May 18: Trinity River Wind Festival in Dallas
Our fingers are crossed that Saturday will be a warm and windy day, so you can witness the area’s best show of large kites by the Japanese Kite Makers. Bring your own kites to fly, join the paper plane-making contest and visit the Kroger Kids Fun Zone to see live animals from the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center and the Dallas Zoo and Frisbee-catching dogs.
May 18: Asian Festival at Main Street Garden in Dallas
The world’s largest continent has so many countries and cultures to discover and appreciate. Get a head start on learning about Asian Pacific cultures by watching performances from dance groups representing Japan, Cambodia, the Philippines, Hawaii and more. Make Asian-inspired crafts at the Passport to Asia for Kids area, taste authentic cuisine from food trucks and shop for handcrafted goods.
Sign up to receive our Weekend Guide newsletters each Thursday to your inbox, and for more family-friendly events every day, visit the calendar at dfwchild.com/showcalendar.asp.
14:
Perfect weather is fleeting in Texas, so are glimpses of native butterflies as they whisk from flower to flower to out of your view. At Collin Creek Mall in Plano, you and the kids will get a guaranteed and prolonged “playtime” with more than 1,000 butterflies that will be enjoying the easy pickings of nectar from flowering plants and feeders inside an indoor conservatory.
(Here’s a tip: wear brightly colored clothing and move slowly or stand still inside the butterfly house. They’ll be more likely to land on you.)
Fly-hard fans can really get into the spirit with butterfly face paintings and butterfly-shaped balloons. Plus, the Greater Plano Kiwanis will be raising money from the 12th annual event for their children’s charities and community scholarships.
The butterflies will be at Center Court through Sunday, May 19. Mall hours are 10am–6pm through Saturday and noon–6pm on Sunday. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for kids. Visit the website for a coupon: $1 off a child’s ticket with the purchase of one adult admission.
Sign up to receive our Weekend Guide newsletters each Thursday to your inbox, and for more family-friendly events every day, visit the calendar at dfwchild.com/showcalendar.asp.
13:
DFW is a thriving metropolis, but alas, no natural beaches or oceans are anywhere in sight. Get to the ocean deep vicariously through a program in Grapevine, and head out even farther (the far reaches of space, that is) from Farmers Branch.
Toddler Tuesdays at SEA LIFE Aquarium
Pay a visit to the sea urchins and horseshoe crabs of SEA LIFE’s touch pool during the Grapevine aquarium’s monthly program for toddlers and their parents. Your little ones can enjoy a playtime in the touch pool area from 11am–2pm and you’ll get free coffee. Get admission for a reduced rate of $14 for an adult and up to two children ages 3–4; $5 per additional child ages 3–12.
(If that whets your family’s appetite for water, consider a trip out to DFW’s two wake parks in Fort Worth and Allen, or go boogie boarding on the new FlowRider at Summer Adventures in Fair Park.)
Star Party
Want to venture even farther than the ocean? Pump up your next stargazing session by joining the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas at the Farmers Branch Historical Park. From dusk–9pm members will have their high-powered telescopes set up for guests to peer through for a closer look at the planets, star clusters and celestial bodies visible right now. Have your own telescope? Feel free to bring it from home.
Sign up to receive our Weekend Guide newsletters each Thursday to your inbox, and for more family-friendly events every day, visit the calendar at dfwchild.com/showcalendar.asp.
10:
DallasChildBaby Fair and Model Search
Have you seen our latest issue of DallasChildBaby? For a chance to see your own baby’s face on our Fall/Winter 2013–2014 or Spring/Summer 2014 issue, enter your baby (ages birth–12 months) in our model search on Saturday. We’ll be at The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano from 10am–3pm. Early registration officially closed this morning, but you can register your little darling on the spot for $45.
Want more motivation?
–Judges from Kim Dawson Agency will also be scouting for models.
–You’ll get a souvenir cover mailed to you in about 45 days.
–Meet with experts and service providers at the free baby fair going on at the same time.
For any questions, visit our events page or call 972/447-9188.
Homegrown Music and Arts Festival
Main Street Garden Park in Dallas will be echoing with sounds from 15 Texas bands including indie rockers Divine Fits and The Polyphonic Spree (think pop rock mixed with choral music – and psychedelic choral robes) starting at 11am. Take your little rockers to this family-friendly annual music and arts outdoor festival for the live music as well as live art demonstrations, craft vendors and grub. Admission is $25 at the door and free for kids ages 10 and younger.
Cruisin’ in the Park
Admit it, you’ve always wanted to race in one of those homemade wooden cars but don’t have the time to build one yourself? Now your kids can take part in the free soap box derby at Haggard Park in Plano on Saturday from 9am–3pm. Kids ages 7 and older and less than 125 pounds can register for a derby car upon check-in. Just bring your own helmet for the wild ride.
Highland Park Centennial Anniversary Literary Festival
A roundup of authors who’ve written books on everything from the Dallas Cowboys to the making of Lonesome Dove to pioneer women (that last one by former Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison) will each be speaking at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas from 10am–2pm for the annual literary festival. Don’t miss Liz Scanion, children’s book author of Think Big, at 10:30am.
Sign up to receive our Weekend Guide newsletters each Thursday to your inbox, and for more family-friendly events every day, visit the calendar at dfwchild.com/showcalendar.asp.
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Deep Ellum Outdoor Market
