Santa Clara County Office of Education: Learning Multimedia Resource Center

Are you looking for fun free summer bridge activities for your preschool through elementary age student? Look no further than the Santa Clara County Office of Education's professional teachers' library Learning Multimedia Center.

Check their website for hours and browse the online catalog.

A wide array of teaching resources, math manipulatives, science kits, DVDs, picture books and literacy backpacks are available not just to teachers and home-schoolers, but any member of the community. My daughter has been enjoying checking out phonics and math materials, themed science kits and other goodies these past two summers. You should really check out their freebie table too, where we scored free workbooks and materials donated by teachers and textbook publishers.

Monster Art Contest for Kids

Check out this fun Summer Art Contest sponsored by University Art.
They are providing the 10" canvases at their stores. Good luck to all your little monsters!

Click Here

Portable Water Play Table

Have you seen the wonderful sand and water tables at Costco and similar retailers? We found these great inexpensive under-the-bed storage boxes at Big Lots and scavenged the house for empty containers, water toys and float and sink items to create this home made water table using empty flower boxes on the front porch as a platform. We found that empty baby vitamin droppers, and bulb syringes make excellent sister-squirters! The best part of our system is that it is totally portable and stores neatly in the utility room rather than sitting in the sun to fade and crack. We are planning to add some sensory tubs with lids to our play station using birdseed, pinto beans or play sand. We will bury and excavate baby plastic dinosaurs and other birthday party goody bag treasures.

Horsing Around at the Stanford Red Barn

Summer vacation is upon us! If you are looking for an inexpensive day trip, why not consider a visit to the Red Barn equestrian center at Stanford University? The center is open from 6am -9pm and permits visitors to self-tour the stables quietly. We wandered freely while our daughter read each horse's name above it's stall. (Thanks to our friend Julie for mentioning this wonderful free resource to us!)

On a recent visit, our daughter was thrilled to be invited by one of the caretakers to feed a carrot to a horse which was being groomed. We topped off our visit with a stroll through the Rodin gardens and world-class Cantor Arts Center (free museum admission and free parking on the weekends). There is an excellent (though pricey) organic cafe on-site. You can also eat your picnic back-pack lunch on the grounds.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/set/barn/index.htm
http://museum.stanford.edu/

Free Day at Tech Museum and Coyote Point Museum

Here are a few free admission opportunities at local museums/attractions. Remember to pack that back-pack lunch and save even more!

Tech Museum S.J.
2nd Sunday

Coyote Point Museum San Mateo
2nd Sunday

Arena Green Carousel S.J.
2nd Tuesday

For San Francisco & surrounding museum free days please see this link:

http://sanfrancisco.about.com/od/museums/ss/freemuseumdays.htm

Free $ to Spend at the Farmer's Market

Yesterday morning we enjoyed the cool breezes and warm smiles at our local farmer's market on Santa Teresa and Cottle:

http://www.pcfma.com/market_home.php?market_id=58

Our older daughter enjoyed turning in the free $1.00 coupon from our Pennysaver mailer to spend at the produce stand, digging up a bag full of "perfect" cherry tomatoes. It's a smaller non-chaotic market, but they do offer a basic selection of fruits and veggies.

Free Music Downloads

I wandered onto this freebie from the Los Gatos Library website. It's a new service called Freegal where you can download a certain amount of free mp3 music files per week for free. You just need a library card number. Don't worry: Los Gatos, (like most cities in the Bay Area) does not require you to be a resident of the city in order to sign up for a library card.

http://www.freegalmusic.com/users/snlogin

Free Preschool Age Summer Program

We just grabbed a flyer for a free summer reading program while at the library this afternoon:

Free Summer Reading Program for Preschool Children

Where: At De Colores Children's Center
196 Martinvale Ln. next to DMV
When: Every Wednesday from June 16th
Time: Mornings 11:00 am to 12:00
Evenings 6:00 pm to 7:00

For Registration call: 408/229-2000

SJPL's Summer Reading Program starts next week!

Yay for summer reading! Saturday, June 12 sees the kick off of the Summer Reading Celebration at the San Jose Public Library. We always sign up for the reading program to earn our little prizes. You can set a personal goal for each of the children or teens in your household and log your books online. They also host a ton of free events such as magic shows, craft workshops and clown performances. Check out their listing of summer events:

http://www.sjlibrary.org/gateways/kids/src/src_events.htm

Free Children's Podcasts

Are you looking for a quiet-time activity for that reluctant napper in your family? I discovered lovely podcasts of familiar folktales by searching "free children's podcasts" on the itunes store page. I downloaded some of my daughter's favorites from Letmetellyouatale.com and the storyhome.com such as Rumplestilstkin, and Stone Soup and created a playlist on the ipod for her to listen to on a recent road trip. Happy listening!

Affordable Swim Lessons

Over the years we have tried swim lessons at a variety of facilities in San Jose: first YMCA (brrrrr!), then summer lessons at one of the high school pools operated by the city (now defunct), and finally wonderful warm water lessons during the winter months at the "no frills" Timpany Center near Valley Medical. But our favorite find for both price and quality are the summer lessons offered by Valley Splash Aquatics (408/513-2450) at Valley Christian High School. The program is affiliated with SwimAmerica and broken down into a series of levels that students graduate through at their own individual pace. We liked that the student is tested right at the moment the instructor feels the child might be ready to move to the next station -- rather than waiting for other kids in the group to move up together. The instructors are high energy, professional and patient high school and college swimmers who really focus their talents on building the skills that progress the swimmers to the next level. It was amazing to see children enter the pool crying on Monday and jumping off the diving board into their coach's arms by Friday. Lessons are $65.00 a week, for 5 30 minute classes. They also offer private lessons. Bring lots of sunscreen and shady hats for siblings and caregivers!

Children's Discovery Museum Secret Parking

It's Sunday morning and time for our little stroll through downtown SJ and visit to members-only hour at Children's Discovery Museum. Our favorite free parking spot is located on Delmas and San Carlos, just on the other side of the VTA tunnel near Woz way. Your little one may find it thrilling or terrifying to cross under the 87 freeway, but the brave will save $5.00 and get a little extra exercise before and after the museum visit. We like to snag our free parking early and wander the foot paths and bridges past Center for Performing Art's large reflecting pool, on to Cafe Bijan for a sack of paper-thin raisin cookies to stave off the mid-morning crankies. Then back to the museum for an hour or so of play. You may pack a picnic and go to Arena Green to have lunch and a $1.00 ride on the carousel or a few minutes splashing in the fountains at Cesar Chavez Park before heading home for a long nap.

Play Clay Day

Are you concerned about your child using Playdough and bubble solution manufactured overseas? Here is a recipe for home made Play Clay from Miss Maria, teacher of my daughter's Toddler and Me class (Los Gatos-Saratoga Recreation):

1 c. water
1-2 tsp. food coloring
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 c. salt
2 Tbs. oil
1 cup flour

Place all ingredients except for flour into a sauce pan over low heat. Stir in flour as mixture heats up. At this point you may need to remove from heat. Keep stirring until mixture starts looking dry. Dump onto counter and knead. Let cool and play! Store in a plastic bag or container.

This is a wonderful activity to teach about measurement and liquids and solids.

For bubble solution, Maria uses Downy and water. You can also try a corn syrup and Dawn solution.

Store Review: Grocery Outlet

Yesterday we made our monthly trek to the new & improved Grocery Outlet on Tully and Monterey Road. If you are wary of the "dented can store," you will be surprised what a clean, friendly and organized place it is. Here's the run-down: Grocery Outlet (kind of the Big Lots of the food world) sells close-out groceries, wine, household products and a nice selection of health and beauty supplies at a deep discount. A few caveats: watch out for the temptations of Lard Land (hydrogenated cookies packed to the gills) and you will be disappointed by the produce and bread selections, however there are a few cardinal rules to scoring excellent deals when shopping here:

• Be picky on your brand names but keep an open mind too.

• Always check expiration dates -that case of energy bars expiring at the end of the month might be quite fossilized (give-em a little squeeze nobody's looking).
  

• Get it RIGHT NOW because if it's good, it'll be gone tomorrow
  

I do bulk up on organic snacks for road trips, lunch boxes and the occasional keg of hand sanitizer. Yesterday we found Fig Newman's organic fig bars for $2.62 (I think they are close to $5.00 at most markets). You will find great deals on cereals, yogurts, frozen finds, soups and pastas and other yummy staples. Yes, you will get burned from time to time -- like the can of "mild" green chiles I innocently tossed into my bean soup & fed the kids. Ooops. Or that bag of mini frozen blueberries with so many stems still attached (extra fiber, people). But for the most part, it's cheap and it's great!

Pretty Princesses

Tonight I'm hoping to finish my daughters' "princess" dresses for a special birthday party we've been invited to attend. Instead of going the pricey Disney costume route, we headed to our favorite spot for kids' clothing-- Goodwill (Santa Teresa) and bought some plain party dresses with taffeta skirts for about $3.00 each. The girls and I visited Hancock Fabrics and picked up some colorful netting, ribbons and marabou to hand sew to the dresses. My older daughter added her own beads for flair and voila we will add some wings and turn them into fairy costumes next Halloween. I love our local Goodwill -- it's not as large and organized as the Almaden Expressway branch, but I find the best housewares, clothing and childrens' VHS for a song.

Free ZUMBA! @ the library

One of my favorite frugal mom finds from the past few months has been the free evening Zumba and Hatha yoga classes offered by the various branches of our San Jose Public Library. For the uninitiated, Miss Connie our dynamic Zumba instructor at Edenvale and Pearl Avenue will lead you through a heart-pounding 60 minutes of aerobic-latin dance routines. I love her positive spirit and encouragement, as there are ladies (and the rare gentleman) of all ages and body shapes in the house. Beware: she pumps the music loud enough to shake the library.... My favorite song from her collection: El Tiburon by Proyecto Uno. You'll have to look that one up on youtube.

Welcome

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a "seasoned" ability to score a great bargain. Whether it's my bulging coupon file located in the passenger door-cubby of the car, or my obsession with taking advantage of free kids' events at the public library -- I've got a knack for sniffing out a good deal.

Okay, whoever said, "write what you know" has got me thinking, wouldn't it be great fun to start documenting our fabulous family finds (restaurants and shops, outdoor spots....) for our friends and family members?

Since I am a librarian (currently at home to raise the kids), it's the perfect tool to stay current with my information skills. I hope you enjoy my new endeavor. I appreciate any comments and suggestions!