Though we don’t know everything, there’s a certain amount of job security that comes from providing people with the information they’re seeking. And, hey, I can Google as well as the next guy, so I typically try to track down answers when I can.

Maybe I learn something, too.

So, today I took a call from someone who was wondering how to make crystals from epsom salts.

I’d never heard of this before, but I found the answer easy enough. If you’re looking for something to do with the kiddos, it’s a pretty simple science project .

But, I have to say that this crystallization project (i.e. how to make rock candy) looks much more delicious:

If you’re looking for other science fair ideas, Michaels (1729 S. First St., Yakima; 452-6484) is hosting a free Science Fair Demonstration from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27. Kids can make a free molecule project with Crayola Model Magic, while supplies last.

]]> http://www.playdateyakima.com/2010/02/19/odd-question-answering-service/feed/ 0 http://www.playdateyakima.com/2010/02/12/last-call-for-baby-photos/ http://www.playdateyakima.com/2010/02/12/last-call-for-baby-photos/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:27:58 +0000 Sara Bristol http://www.playdateyakima.com/?p=6112 The deadline’s almost here… We’re going to be picking the winner of our Cover Baby Photo Contest next week. Are you as excited as I am???

Our original deadline for submissions was Feb. 15, but now I realize that’s a holiday and I’m going to be out of the office until Wednesday. So I’m giving you an extra day: Both mail and e-mail submissions must be received by 11:59 pm. Tuesday, Feb. 16.

We’ll shoot a new photo of the winning baby for the cover of the magazine, so your photos don’t have to be perfect. We’re looking for babies (up to 18 months) that will show off for the camera.

Here’s a look at our past winners:

This is Joshua Fuentez, whose big smile won the hearts of our judges back in 2008.  We tried a couple different idea for the cover photo shoot:

But this is the one we picked:

Joshua Fuentez

Last year, we fell in love with another boy in a hat, Dante Manglona. I don’t have the photo that was submitted by his parents here at my fingertips, but he was wearing the same adorable had and outfit we ran on the cover:

So, will this year’s winner be wearing a hat? Will the winner be a boy or girl? Depends on what you send us…

Who are the judges, anyway? “Not me,” says Playdate Coordinator Sara Bristol (That’s right, I just quoted myself.)  Because I know too many of the children submitted for our contests, I always recuse myself from judging & round up a panel of Herald-Republic employees to pick the contest winners. Each judge votes for several of their favorites & then I tally up the votes.

Good luck & have a great Valentine’s/Presidents’ Day weekend.

Sara

It’s time for our third annual Cover Baby Photo Contest! We’re looking for a baby (up to 18 months old) with loads of personality to photograph for the cover of our April/May issue. As space permits, we’ll publish photos of more little ones inside the magazine and on our Web site.

• Submissions must be received by Feb. 15, 2010. Include a self-addressed return envelope if you’d like your prints returned.
• All submissions should include the baby’s name and birth date and a parent’s name, phone number and address.
• Babies must be residents of Yakima County.
• Babies must be no older than 18 months on April 1, 2010 (born on or after Dec. 1, 2008).

Email your submissions to contest@playdateyakima.com or mail them to:

Playdate Magazine
PO Box 9668
Yakima, WA 98909

You may also drop them off at the Yakima Herald-Republic, 114 N. Fourth St. in downtown Yakima. Doors are open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. After hours, there’s a mail slot in the door.

Good luck!

Sometimes it’s fun to kick around a few ideas. In this issue, our “cover story” is called “The Tantrum Zone.” Here are two different concepts the designer (TJ Mullinax) tried on for size:

Which would you choose? Be sure to let us know what you think about our choice when you pick up a copy of the new issue later this week.

With Thanksgiving now behind us, it’s time to pack up the pilgrim plates and flip the calendar to December (yes, already!). In the latest issue of the magazine, I promised to give you a new craft project each week through the end of the year. So, here’s the first project: A homemade advent calendar.

At my house, advent calendars are a big deal. The best part of the season, according to my husband. He’d never even heard of advent calendars until a few years ago — yes, I married a Martian — but now he insists the season wouldn’t be complete without his imported German advent calendar, which I buy online.

A few years back, it was almost impossible to find advent calendars in the stores, but they seem to be gaining popularity now. I’ve seen simple chocolate advent calendars at the grocery store for about $1.99 and the craft stores have all kinds of paint-it-yourself wooden options that you can reuse from year to year.

In case you, like my husband, are also from Mars and don’t know what I’m talking about… An advent calendar is a way to count down the days until Christmas, usually from Dec. 1 to 24. If you’re interested in a little advent history, read more here.

In addition to being fun all month long, I love advent calendars for kids because they help answer the “how many more days” question. So, at the very least, I’d recommend making a paper chain.

You can use anything from recycled newspaper to printer paper to extra pages of scrapbook paper or gift wrap. Just cut 24 strips of paper, approximately 1.5 inches wide by 8 inches long. Tape them together into a chain & hang them on the wall. Each day, through Christmas Eve, you’ll remove one link. (Hint: Before you hang the chain, I’d recommend numbering each link with the date 1-24 so you’ll be able to quickly determine whether a link has already been removed each day. This saves you from counting them over & over again…. learned that one the hard way.)  At my house, we like to make paper chains for counting down other anticipated events as well, such as a birthday or family vacation.

Okay, finally now, I’m going to tell you about the little paper bag advent calendars my family’s been making. I first made this last year for my dad, who said it was the best gift he’d ever received. So, keep it in mind for a grandparent gift as well as for the kids.

Here’s what you need:

* 24 small bags. I got these colorful bags at Michaels craft store. Small lunch bags would work too, and Chinese take-out boxes would be super cute.

* 24 small clothes pins (also from the craft store) or paper clips.

* A 5-foot length of ribbon.

* Stickers. We used number stickers, but you could also hand number the bags with a Sharpie. Also, this is a great use for leftover scrapbooking stickers with a holiday theme.

* 24 items to stuff the sacks (more on this below).

So, the basic idea is that you number each bag 1-24. On Dec. 1, you open bag No. 1 and see what prize is inside, repeat the next day with bag No. 2, etc. I love the little bags (as opposed to the drawers of most reusable calendars) because you’re not so limited in size of items … and the variety of daily surprises is what makes this fun.

I let the kids decorate their own bags, then I secretly stuffed them with the goodies. This year, I also sent each of my parents their own advent calendar. Since I can’t be with them as much as I’d like during the holidays (they live in Oregon), it’s a nice way to be a regular part of their day.

Anyway, here are some ideas for fillers for grandparents: Ornaments, jewelry, pocket-sized tissues, soaps, small office supplies (sticky notes, push pins), seed packets and bulbs, playing cards, fishing lures, fridge magnets, wallet-sized photos of the kids, travel or sample-sized items, coffee/tea bags, hand-written notes or drawings, and — of course — chocolates and other candies.

You’ll want to decide on a budget since the cost for 24 items can get out of control pretty quickly. I’d suggest doing at least five “gifts” and then filling the rest of the days with an inexpensive treat.

For the kids, filler ideas include:

* Candy. Find cute foil-wrapped chocolates at Boehm’s Candy Store in the Chalet Place shopping center, 56th and Summitview avenues, Yakima. Also, Top Foods grocery store at S. First Street and Washington has tons of bulk candies.

* Small toys: Leftover party favors, Silly Putty, toy cars, Bakugan, Polly Pockets. The Clover Leaf at 4110 Main St. in Union Gap has some fun stuff for advent calendars or stocking stuffers. Dollar stores are also a great place to look.

* Holiday ornaments.

* Pencil sharpeners and erasers. We found lots at the school supply store at 302 W Yakima Ave. Other small arts and craft supplies are great, too. A new box of 24 crayons would fit in my bags.

* Items for their treasure box: Shells, colored rocks, marbles, etc.

* Coins.

Now enjoy the Christmas countdown!

Sorry for the delay, folks. I usually try to get the Web site updated on the same day the magazine publishes (latest issue hit the stands last Wednesday), but I just got the latest winners of our Gotcha photo contest posted this morning. You can see them here.

Also, I’m getting lots of Christmastime photo submissions lately… but the next issue will be February/March. So, here’s a little tip: We’re more likely to pick photos that fit the season, or where the season doesn’t matter. Also, we prefer photos that are spontaneous and capture a glimpse of the child’s personality or a special moment, something that makes you think “Gotcha!” It’s not so much about the cuteness of the kid (they’re all cute, right?) as the quality of the photo.

For more about how to enter, click here.

The December/January issue of Playdate will be distributed Wednesday, Nov. 25. Our theme this issue is “Have a Crafty Christmas.” In the magazine, you’ll learn how to assemble a miniature graham cracker house (a gingerbread-esque house, a friend called it) as well as a sugar cube igloo. We’ll also be rolling out a new craft project each week through the end of the year here on the Web site.

Also here on the Web site, we’re keeping a list of who’s naughty and nice… oh, just kidding. We’re keeping a list of all the family-friendly holiday events you may want to enjoy this season. That list is here.

This issue’s cover models are Jacqueline and Nathaniel Thornell, who live in Yakima. To let us know you’d like to see your kids on the cover, enter our ongoing photo contest here. The winner of the Gotcha! contest has their photo published in the magazine. And sometimes we like to pick our cover models from those photographs as well.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

IMHO, the city gets a lot of bang for its buck by supporting program, which visits various parks each weekday for several weeks in summer. I like that the art projects are accessible to all kids since they’re free and offered at so many different locations. And, frankly, I feel our parks department isn’t offering nearly enough recreation programs as it should be for a city of Yakima’s size.

So, here’s a little more on the ArtsVan funding situation from the Allied Arts e-newsletter. If this program is something your family enjoys, I’d encourage you to speak up.

As reported in the November 18 issue of the Yakima Herald Republic, City Council members are considering cutting all city funding to Allied Arts’ ArtsVan program (as well as funding for the Yakima Symphony and RSVP).

In previous years, the city has provided Allied Arts with $5,333 to run the free summer arts program for area youth, that was established with city funds in 1985. While this only covers a portion of ArtsVan’s $20,000 operating cost,it is still a significant amount, without which ArtsVan could not continue to serve the Valley at the same capacity. ArtsVan is vital to the city and should remain partially subsidized by the city.

This past summer saw an increase in the number of children attending ArtsVan: 5,215 in 2009 up from 4,163 in 2008. ArtsVan offers valuable arts education and experiences not found in the classroom, while meeting two key points of the City of Yakima’s mission and goals: it is an outstanding service that meets the community’s needs and it enhances Yakima’s quality of life. It also acts as a positive youth program that provides role models for youth.

If you have enjoyed the free ArtsVan programs in the summer, please contact the City Council and urge them to keep the arts in their budget. Letters to the Editor are also greatly appreciated.

Yakima Herald-Republic
Email: opinion@yakimaherald.com (Please put “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line or body of the e-mail; do not send attachments.)
FAX: 509-577-7767 (Please label as “Letter to the Editor”)
Snail Mail:
To the Editor
P.O. Box 9668
Yakima, WA 98909

City Council
Online Contact Form: http://www.ci.yakima.wa.us/council/contact.asp

These days, news rooms know to expect calls when they publish a photo of a bicyclist without a helmet or somebody holding a cigarette. I have to admit, though, I was a little surprised when I got a note last year about this photo of a little boy pretending to drive his grandfather’s RV.

“I was disappointed to see the picture of the child in the front seat of the car.  It’s a very unsafe practice, and hopefully you’ll put a statement about that in your next issue,” the e-mail said.

What is there to say? I wondered. The mother was standing close by, taking the photo. The engine wasn’t running. The boy is obviously playing, not actually riding in the front seat of the car. You all know that children should be seated in an appropriate car seat or booster seat in the back seat until they’re either age 8 or at least 4′9″ tall, right? Also, “children under 13 years old be transported in the back seat where it is practical to do so,” according to Washington law.

Anyway, I knew when I first saw this next photo that somebody would be happy to remind me — and you — that infant seats should never be set on an elevated surface.

In fact, the baby’s mother and I talked about that very topic when I called to let her know the photo was selected as the winner of our Gotcha! contest. She was the one who brought it up, pointing out that the chair is actually a very low beach chair and also that she was “right there,” just an arm’s reach from the baby.

After giving it some thought, I didn’t include any sort of warning in the text that we published alongside the photograph. I decided that I didn’t need to make excuses for the photo, which our judges chose because the baby’s kick-back pose and expression made them chuckle.  But I knew it was just a matter of time before I got a letter.

“I am writing out of concern in regards to a picture shown in the most recent Playdate magazine,” said the note in my inbox. “The picture is one of the last pages in the back of the magazine and shows a cute baby in a Bumbo seat. While the baby is adorable, the picture actually shows the baby in a Bumbo and the Bumbo is on what looks to be a lawn chair.

“My concern is that the picture shows the use inappropriate and unsafe use of the Bumbo seat. There are a lot of articles and a statement from Bumbo about the correct use of the seat. It adds: ‘This site is devoted to educating users of the Bumbo Baby Seat how to use the product safely in order to prevent falls. Never use the Bumbo Baby Seat on any elevated surface and never leave a baby unattended in a Bumbo Baby seat because babies can get out of a Bumbo — it is not a restraint. ‘ http://www.bumbosafety.com/

“Additionally, here is another resource: http://www.bumbobabyseat.com/“

Wow! A whole Web site dedicated to the proper use of the product… got me thinking that our Yakima mama wasn’t the first person to put the Bumbo on an elevated surface. I forwarded the letter from our concerned reader onto the baby’s mother to get her thoughts.

“[R]egarding the safety concerns I’d like to note (and you may remember from our chat) this lawn chair was significantly low to the ground and he was within an arm’s reach. At that time (4 mos.), he was no where near capable of climbing out of the Bumbo. However, he is crawling now and pulling to a stand. The last time we … put him in the Bumbo on an elevated surface, I barely caught him in time as he climbed out and was taking a header towards the ground. The Bumbo has a bold warning in red right on the product as well as on the packaging and in the instruction manual so unless a parent can’t read or doesn’t pay attention to such warnings, a parent may or may not knowingly and willingly take the same risk I did. I was always aware of the risks and carefully supervised him, but the incident did happen very, very fast. I would certainly support any warning or disclaimer you might want to include in the next issue of Playdate.

“Thanks for forwarding that message on to me. As you noted, a response was likely and the author does have a point. I can’t say I wouldn’t have written something similar out of concern for baby safety.”

As the mother said, when accidents happen, they do have a tendancy to happen very, very fast. You don’t ever hear people say, “Johnny had been playing in the middle of the street for about an hour when this car rolled down the street at 20 mph and hit him.” Nope, Johnny darted out, the car swung around the corner too fast, the sun was in the driver’s eyes…  When accidents happen, we’re usually not expecting it. And, unfortunately, all the seatbelts, helmets and properly used Bumbo seats in the world aren’t going to keep our babies safe all of the time. But we’ve still got to do what we can, right?

So, assuming you haven’t already thrown out your Baby Einstein videos with the bath water, you might be interested to know that Disney is offering a refund for any of those lame-brained baby videos you may have collecting dust on the shelf. To get your refund, the video must be purchased in the last five years and you must submit your claim before March 4, 2010. Find all the rules and whatnot here.

The refund is the result of continued pressure from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which in 2006 filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission requesting that Disney stop claiming that Baby Einstein videos were educational for infants.

If you’re interested in the politics of this topic, check out the latest scuttlebutt on the D.C.-based Web magazine Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2233556/. (A little heads-up that the author penned this as a Bush attack, which isn’t my intent. I just like Noah’s take on the “mompreneur” who created the videos. Common knowledge seems to be that kids under the age of 2 shouldn’t be watching any TV, so the idea that somebody who markets programs especially for this age group would be held up as a hero is a little absurd.)

That said, both my kids watched TV before they were 2… and they still do. No doubt, they watch too much. But if your tots enjoy Baby Einstein and the show buys Mom a few minutes of freedom to make dinner/help with homework/paint her toenails/whatever, I’ve got no problem with it.

So, while I’m not deluded that watching TV is going to make my kids smarter, here’s one study that agrees with me that a little TV in an otherwise healthy childhood isn’t going to harm a kid either. Here’s the news release from the March issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP):

TELEVISION AND VIDEOS FOR CHILDREN UNDER 2 MAY NOT INFLUENCE SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Exposing infants and toddlers to television does not improve their language and visual motor skills at age 3, but does not appear to harm them either. In the study, “Television Viewing in Infancy and Child Cognition at 3 Years of Age in a US Cohort,” researchers looked at the amount of time 872 children spent watching television or videos from birth to 2 years of age, then assessed their language and visual motor skills at age 3. When researchers adjusted for other factors that could influence these skills, such as maternal education and breastfeeding, the effect of television appeared neutral. Contrary to many parents’ perception that television viewing is beneficial to their children’s brain development, the researchers found no evidence of such a benefit. The authors point out that there are many potential benefits of limiting television exposure in children, including improved diet, lower risk of overweight, less exposure to violent content, and improved sleep quality.