Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Sep. 9 2007 12:12 pm
Put two or more moms together and inevitably, at some point in the conversation, they will start comparing notes on family-friendly places to eat, which libraries have good story times or how to find the best language school or tutoring service. They shake each other down for information and advice, wanting to make sure they're doing it right and that their kids aren't missing out. Moms want to know places to take their kids where it's perfectly acceptable to act up or get down and dirty. They crave the right books, sure-fire science projects and educational toys. Arizonamoms.com is launching an improved Web site today with top 10 lists of things to do, places to go and information about raising a family in Arizona. The first of the lists is Moms' Top 10 Places to Pretend:
FOR CHEFS
Young Chefs Academy
As demonstrated in the recent Disney-Pixar movie Ratatouille, an animated movie about a rat who yearns to become a chef, anyone can cook. At the new Young Chefs Academy, children learn to cook real food, not just how to boil ramen noodles, as well as receive food-related lessons in nutrition, history, math, science, creativity and manners, says chef Alan Frailich, who owns and operates the academy with his wife, Yvonne.
Classes are weekly and run for about three months, with a different theme each month.
Where: 16597 N. 92nd St., Scottsdale.
Cost: Varies for special events but typically about $18 an hour.
Details: (480) 502-0303 or youngchefsacademy.com/scottsdale.
FOR PRINCESSES
LolliLocks Kids Salon
Pamper your princess' tresses by having them trimmed, highlighted, styled or wrapped by a stylist and follow it up with a manicure and pedicure before she dashes off to the boutique to have a look around. In the brightly painted shop, princesses will find products such as Creamsicle Leave-in Conditioner and cute bows, jewelry, backpacks and journals.
Here's what makes this place great: You can schedule an appointment by phone or online, so there's no waiting your turn.
Where: Two locations: LolliLocks at Dana Park, 3510 E. Baseline Road, Suite 103, Mesa, (480) 890-5654; and LolliLocks at Desert Ridge Marketplace, 21001 N. Tatum Blvd., Phoenix, (480) 502-0395.
Cost: Prices vary by location, but, generally, haircuts run $16 and manicures are $15. A SweetSpa Party, where up to six guests get their hair and nails done, make flip-flops and eat cake, runs about $225.
Details: lollilocks.com.
FOR ASTRONAUTS
Challenger Space Center
Be a crewmember on a two-hour simulated space mission. The center's flight deck features more than $1 million in technology, including a Mission Control room designed after the one in the Johnson Space Center in Houston. In the Barany chair, kids experience the disorientation of space flight. Boarding passes are $17.50 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. Call for launch times and reservations.
Where: 21170 N. 83rd Ave., Peoria.
Cost: $6 admission; $4 for ages 6 to 18 and 55 and older; free for age 5 and younger.
Details: (623) 322-2001 or azchallenger.org.
FOR FUTURE STARS
Valley Youth Theatre
Whether your child is a natural ham and wants to develop performing arts skills or is shy and needs to build his confidence, Valley Youth Theatre offers a nurturing place to learn how to act, dance and sing, says Jessica Graeber, director of education and outreach.
A Valley favorite that has produced quality children's plays for almost two decades, the theater's education programs give all kids a chance to act in weekday and weekend classes as well as workshops and camps. The staff comes from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Second City and Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts, drawing on real-world experience to give students a professional theater education.
Where: 525 N. First St., Phoenix.
Cost: Varies by class - for example, $150 for eight weeks of beginning acting classes for age 5 and older or musical theater for age 9 and older; $90 for eight weeks of Play Pretend for ages 3 and 4.
Details: (602) 253-8188 or vyt.com.
FOR ARTISTS
Shemer Art Center and Museum
Shemer offers classes for children year-round. The littlest kids can do art with their parents - finger painting, coloring, learning to hold a paintbrush - or sign up for My First Clay Class. Children ages 5 to 7 can take Clay Works, where they build their own masterpieces, and older kids can sign up for a class in which they create their own fantasy creatures and build them out of art supplies.
Shemer sits in a lovely area, with a panoramic view of Camelback Mountain. Nora Kerrigan, Shemer's education coordinator, says, "It's just a great place where people can come and see contemporary art as well as make it themselves."
Where: 5005 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix.
Cost: Classes vary. Museum admission is free.
Details: (602) 262-4727 or phoenix.gov/parks/shemer.html.
FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS
Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park
The museum sits on the edge of a 1,500-year-old Hohokam village ruin in the midst of modern-day Phoenix.
Budding archaeologists can explore the 102-acre park grounds, studying the ruin of an 800-year-old platform mound possibly used by the Hohokam for ceremonies and an excavated ball court. Inside the museum, kids can see the buried treasures scientists have found over the years, learn how archaeologists study clues from ancient and historical sites to figure out what may have happened there, and build their own miniature Hohokam village out of wooden blocks. They can also do their own dig.
Where: 4619 E. Washington St., Phoenix.
Cost: $2; $1.50 for seniors; $1 for ages 6 to 17; free for age 5 and younger. Admission is free Sundays.
Details: (602) 495-0901 or pueblogrande.com.
FOR SCIENTISTS
Arizona Science Center
Click here for Strange Matter exhibit video
Your kids won't find any "Don't touch" signs at the Arizona Science Center, where they can get their hands on more than 300 exhibits that encourage exploration and discovery, says Kristin Priscella, the science center's director of marketing.
The "All About You" exhibit offers the science behind the gross-out topics kids love: sweating, sneezing and snot. In the "Many Hands Make a Home" exhibit, kids can design and build their own houses and plan electrical and plumbing systems. One floor up in the Fab Lab, they can experiment with gravity, friction and magnetism. Explore the night skies in the Dorrance Planetarium and get a glimpse of life under the sea in the IMAX theater.
Where: 600 E. Washington St., Phoenix.
Cost: $9; $7 for ages 3 to 12 and seniors; free for age 2 and younger.
Details: (602) 716-2000 or azscience.org.
FOR COWBOYS
Rawhide Western Town at Wild Horse Pass
There's something about Rawhide's main street with its wooden sidewalks that makes a kid swagger like a cowboy. Cowboys are shooting it up outside the saloon. There's a shotgun wedding going on outside the hotel. Set one boot-clad toe out of line, and a kid could find himself in an old-fashioned jail cell.
In this replica of an 1880s Western town, young cowkids can take a ride on an honest-to-goodness stagecoach out into the Sonoran Desert, hitch up a burro or pan for gold. The kids can find themselves caught up in a bank robbery or a bounty hunter's search for a bad guy. All that excitement is bound to work up an appetite. For victuals, sit down to an order of fried rattlesnake at the Rawhide Steakhouse & Golden Belle Saloon while listening to live country music. Don't miss the fresh-baked apple pie with cinnamon-swirl ice cream.
Where: 5700 W. North Loop Road, Gila River Reservation.
Cost: Free admission, but each show and attraction costs $4. A $15 Town Pass is good for all the activities.
Details: (480) 502-5600 or rawhide.com.
FOR PALEONTOLOGISTS
Arizona Museum of Natural History
Kids typically stop dead in their tracks at the sight of a huge T-rex skeleton in the lobby of the Arizona Museum of Natural History and then, squealing with delight, rush toward its bony frame to get a better look.
This is a place where dinosaurs seem to come alive, though not the one in the lobby. Venture farther in to see the three-story Dinosaur Mountain, where robotic recreations of dinosaurs chew greenery, dip their noses in the water for a drink and roar at visitors for unknown infractions.
Young visitors can compare the size of their feet with those of prehistoric creatures, run their hands along mock-ups of dinosaur bones and eggs, and read about the different kinds of dinosaurs, including those found in Arizona.
Where: 53 N. Macdonald.
Cost: $8; $7 for seniors; $6 for students age 13 and older; $4 for ages 3 to 12; free for age 3 and younger.
Details: (480) 644-2230 or cityofmesa.org/swmuseum.
FOR ZOOKEEPERS
Phoenix Zoo
Teens can get an idea of what it's like to work at the Phoenix Zoo by joining Zoo Teen, a group of 13- to 17-year-olds with interests in animals, nature and conservation who volunteer their time on weekends at the zoo. The teens interact with the public through games, crafts and the presentation of animal artifacts, but they also present small animals to guests. As teens get older, opportunities for more involvement are available. Teens must apply to participate. Forms are available on the zoo's Web site.
At Camp Zoo, even the youngest children can get a taste of life at the zoo in weeklong camps, offered through the summer. Kids learn about animals and, depending on their ages, even feed turtles or scoop llama poop.
In a special, all-day experience, young people 18 and older are paired up with an honest-to-goodness, khaki-wearing zookeeper and tail them through their day, helping with the feeding and care of animals.
"You get the opportunity to live the life of a zookeeper for the day," says Jim Brewer, the zoo's vice president of communication.
Cost for the all-day experience is $300.
Where: 455 N. Galvin Parkway.
Cost: $14 admission; $9 for seniors; $6 for ages 3 to 12; free for age 2 and younger.
Details: (602) 273-1341 or phoenixzoo.org.
Reach the reporter at karina.bland@arizonarepublic.com and read her blog at moms.azcentral.com.
Young Chefs Academy-HUGE
Young Chefs Academy-HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT
I recently planned to have one of my daughter's Brownie meetings at The Young Chefs Academy in Scottsdale. I was told by the owners of the company that I should get 2 consent forms signed. One of them was to allow the children to be photgraphed. After reading the form and showing it to the other Moms, many of us were concerned about this waiver/consnet form, and did not agree to sign it. We still planned to have our meeting their but did not want our kids to be photographed. When I told the owners that we did not have all of these waivers signed and that some Mom's did not want their kids photgraphed, they got extremely nasty with me on the phone. They infomred me that they had booked photographer and were creating publicity with our Borwinie meeting. They had never informed me that this was their intention. This was supposed to be a regular Brownie meeting for 15 girls to earn a badge. The owners were downright rude, nasty and totally unprofessional with me on the phone. Showing total disreagrd for me and for the entire troop and their families, they cancelled our Brownie meeting. I have never dealt with with anyone in the business world that was so unprofessional, rude, and just outright nasty. I would urge everyone reading this to avoid this place and tell everyone you know to do the same. It is obvious that they do not care about building up a business in our community or in creating an atmosphere that is friendly, warm and inviting to families. They disappointed 15 little girls and their families that were really looking forward to this event. It is unfortunate that this is how they are choosing to run their business and the word will spread fast!!
GREAT time at Young Chefs
GREAT time at Young Chefs Academy!...
As a Brownie Mom of this same troop, I was concerned enough about this issue to talk with the owners about it when my daughter was invited to a birthday party that was held at Young Chefs Academy. I found out a completely different side of the story. By the way, my daughter had a GREAT time at the party and we're booking her own birthday party there.
Apparently, there was a mixup. It happens to new businesses. Young Chefs showed me what happened and Vicki is being TOTALLY unreasonable. I'm mad because Vicki never told us that Young Chefs had offered to give each of the Brownies a $30 gift certificate. I wish I would have known that but Vicki never passed that information to us.
Young Chefs also showed me an email they had received from Vicki's husband. Talk about foul language and unprofessional!!! Nobody deserves to be talked to or writen about like that and I apologized on behalf of the other moms.
DC Mom
Just wanted to add a
Just wanted to add a followup to my previous post. My daughter had her birthday party at Young Chefs last Fall and it was SO fun. All of the girls had a great time and the staff was tremendous. We had videos, music, balloons, and the girls were laughing the entire time. Even the food was great.
I enrolled my daughter into their summer cooking camp for 1 week. They cooked Greek food in class and every night, my daughter wanted to share the recipes with me and asked me to cook with her. How awesome.
These people do a great job!
By the way, I noticed a huge box filled with food they have been collecting from the many other Scout troops that have gone there. There also was a sign from St. Mary's Food Bank thanking Young Chefs for their help in providing so many meals to the food bank. It's obvious they DO care greatly about the community. Nice people.