Need a little extra help with your homework or just want a cool place to work? Students in Kindergarten through 8th grade are welcome to visit the Children’s and Youth Services Department at the Main Library or the Madison Branch after school Monday-Thursday from 3-5 p.m. for Homework ER.
Other after school programs include The Zone (Monday-Thursday) and Creation Station (Fridays) for students in Kindergarten through 5th grade, 4 p.m. at the Main Library and Madison Branch. Visit www.lakewoodpubliclibrary.com/youth or call 216/226-8275 ext. 140 for more information. And don’t forget – books are always available at the library.
Lakewood Recreation Department
One thing that sets Lakewood apart from surrounding communities is the diverse, affordable programming offered through our recreation department. Among the many youth programs, offerings include Aviation Inspiration, Babysitter Training, Children's Technology Workshop, Fun w/ Panda (Learn Chinese), Spanish for Families, Technology Connections, and various other holiday break camps and afterschool programs. Call 216/529-4081 or check their website at www.lakewoodrecreation.com for the current catalog and information.
Great Lakes Science Center
Located in downtown Cleveland between Cleveland Stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center offers more than 400 hands-on interactive science exhibits. The center invites visitors to "learn by doing" with exhibits featuring technology, the environment, the body, and the Great Lakes. There are also interesting temporary shows, as well as an adjacent OMNI-MAX theater. This surround sound, multi-screen theater engrosses the viewer as it teaches about geography, the environment, and even the human body. From December through March, you can ice skate at the outdoor, polymer ice-skating rink, which carries a separate admission charge. The center offers a parking garage, and visitors may dine at various eateries on the lower level. The Center's Science Store offers unique and educational items. For more information call 216/694-2000 or visit www.greatscience.com.
Children's Museum
The Children’s Museum, 10730 Euclid Avenue, is the only institution in Cleveland completely dedicated to the development of young children, ages birth to eight years, through family learning. The museum provides exhibits and programs that enhance child development - a place where young children can learn through play. Permanent exhibits include Splish! Splash! which is all about water transportation. There is also a weather forecast center where kids can present their own weather broadcast in front of a camera and play it back. Other exhibits include Bridges to the Community, where kids can push a small grocery cart, go through the check-out line, "bank" with play money, and pump their own "gas," among other activities. The Big Red Barn, based on the book by Margaret Wise Brown, is designed for kids ages 0-4 and their caregivers. Features include a working silo, a barn slide, and an apple orchard. For more information call 216/791-7114 or visit www.clevelandchildrensmuseum.org
Western Reserve Historical Society
The Western Reserve Historical Society, in Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood, is actually two museums -- the History Museum and the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum -- plus an extensive library. It's filled with exhibits about Cleveland from the days of Moses Cleaveland to the present. The History Museum consists of two gracious, late 19th century mansions, the Hay-McKinney and the Mather houses, extensive exhibits on the settlement of Cleveland, and the Chisholm Halle Costume Wing. The houses, which contain many of the original furnishings and decorative pieces, are available to the public on guided tours, noon-5 p.m. daily. (Preschoolers may find this tour a bit long.) The Costume Wing houses items of apparel dating from the late 18th century to the present. Especially fun for kids is the Auto-Aviation Museum with over 100 antique autos and aircraft. For more information call 216/721-5722 or visit www.wrhs.org. Click on Programs and Events for current programs. Click on Links to discover more programs and institutions for learning about Cleveland history. The James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor is highly recommended.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, located in Cleveland's University Circle, is a treasure trove of more than 4 million specimens. This museum contains reconstructed dinosaur skeletons, natural gemstones and prehistoric fossils, and archeology exhibits about Native American tribes. Among kids’ favorite areas is the platform where they can stand and wait for an “earthquake” to hit. The lower level is dedicated to Ohio's natural history, with sections on birds, plant life, insects and ecology. The Museum’s Smead Discovery Center, a hands-on learning center on the lower level, is filled with games and activities for families and young children. They also offer programs, and activities change frequently. The Shafran Planetarium offers several 35-minute shows daily about the moon, the stars, and the galaxy. On the Museum's grounds are the Wildlife Center & Woods Garden and the Environmental Courtyard. Both feature native Ohio plants and animals. Live animals include owls, deer and otters. There is a café and an extensive gift shop, which offers hard-to-find adult and children’s books on natural history subjects; jewelry; fossil, rock and mineral specimens; educational toys for babies through teens; and high-quality telescopes, microscopes, binoculars and other scientific tools. For more information call 216/231-4600 or visit www.cmnh.org
Frostville Museum
The Frostville Museum, located at the corner of Cedar Point and Lewis Roads in the Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation, illustrates how the 1800s settlers lived and worked in the Rocky River Valley. The museum’s goal is to preserve and display 19th century Ohio history. The museum and historical society consists of eight buildings containing period toys and furniture, and approximately100 different society members who dress in authentic attire, giving the feel of the 1800’s.Throughout the year they hold a number of activities like pancake breakfasts, a Civil War encampment, military timelines, classic and hot rod car shows, juried art show, Cedar Valley Settlers Day, a haunted trail in October, and a special Holidays at Frostville event preceding the winter holidays. Check out their website at www.olmstedhistoricalsociety.org for specific dates and times or call 440/779-0280.
Avon Lake Public Library
Housed in a beautiful, light-filled building, this library is something special. A floor-level fish tank beckons visitors into the children’s section, which has a large area of toys for preschoolers, including puppets, a train set, a dollhouse, and puzzles. There are couches for parents to relax on while their children play. DiscoveryWorks is located on the south side of Avon Lake Public Library. Large windows provide natural light for hands-on displays for preschoolers and older kids. Different learning stations allow children to pursue art, music, building activities and more. For hours and additional information, call 440/933-8128 or see www.alpl.org
Brainbuilding Websites
Commonsensemedia.org features reviews of movies, music, books, TV shows, web sites and Nintendo games. Easy to navigate, this site is a great resource for parents who wish to gain insight into media appropriate (or not) for their children. Common Sense Media provides trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume.
At kids.nationalgeographic.com, find a profile of the T-Rex, directions for tie-dying, word games, book blogs and more. This site contains videos, activities, games and stories especially for kids from National Geographic.
FreeRice.com is a website where users play various educational, multiple-choice games in order to raise money to fight world hunger. The games include English vocabulary, multiplication tables, pre-algebra, chemistry (basic and intermediate), English grammar, basic foreign language vocabulary for English speakers (French, German, Italian, and Spanish), geography (world capitals and country identification), and art.
The Library of Congress offers fun, interactive ways for your kids to explore history, science, literature and more at www.loc.gov/families/. This is a fascinating collection of photographs, historical documents and American memorabilia.
Funbrain.com offers more than 50 interactive learning games for children K-8, plus tools for parents and teachers. Kids can search by grade level or topic. Classic Funbrain games like "Grammar Gorillas," where kids must identify parts of speech by clicking on the correct words in a sentence, teach math and reading with simple text-based interfaces and minimal graphics. The site also offers newer Flash-based games with cartoon-like graphics, such as "Fun Match," a card-matching game, or "Math Soccer," where, once kids answer a math problem correctly, they can shoot a soccer ball past the goalie. Resources for parents and teachers include guides to the games, downloadable quizzes, and supplemental educational resources including flash cards. Older kids will enjoy the online comics and books such as "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," which chronicles the life of seventh-grader Greg.
Math Playground will help your kids keep their brains active and ready to go even when school is not in session. Check out www.mathplayground.com/index.html for math games for elementary and middle school students.
MakeBeliefsComix.com lets kids design their own comic strips by choosing pre-drawn characters, selecting a mood for the character and writing words and thoughts for them. Comics can be written in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin and Portuguese. After completing a comic strip, authors can print it, email the strip to a friend or use the comic strip to create personalized messages or greeting card stories. Google and UNESCO selected MakeBeliefsComix as one of the world’s most innovative web sites in fostering literacy and reading
Get kids solving, creating, and printing their own crossword puzzles at readwritethink.org/crossword, a free crossword generator. Kids can write clues for words they pick, then print the puzzles to challenge others.
Tikatok.com allows kids to write, illustrate and publish their own books. Readers can log on to the site to see what has been written. Beginners can use optional prompts called Storysparks to get started. It’s free to log on and create a book; printed copies cost about $20.
Do you have a great family-related resource, event or tidbit of information that you want to tell us about?
Submissions for the Lakewood Public Library Parent Pages can be emailed to akloss@lkwdpl.org
