Donuts, Alpacas, and Dairy Cows

I suggested a while ago that joining a parenting group can help restore, or at least prevent the further erosion of, your sanity.  A monthly calendar of activites can be very reassuring. After a while, though, they can all start to look alike as the calendar planners get into a rut.  I am currently in this rut, and I have been going over past calendars to try and spark some ideas.

I realized that we’ve gone on some great group tours over the past few years, and I’d like to share them with you.

• First, did you know that Krispy Kreme did tours? They are quick, and fun. Perfect for the attention span of the preschool and under crowd.  Oh, and free.  Perfect for the budget of, well, anyone.  The best part is when they wheel a huge vat of chocolate out.  Each kid gets to dip their own donut, then decorate it with sprinkles.  Tours are only done on Tuesday mornings, and they book up QUICK.  Just call the store and ask to schedule a tour and they will give you the available dates. 
• Michaels also does tours.  This is different than the Saturday events you might have heard about; it’s a private activity just for your group. The kids start out in the classroom (in the back of the store) and make a fun and easy craft.  We did sand buckets with foam stickers.  Then the employees take the kids on a tour of the store if they are interested.  The cost of this is just $1 per kid at the 28th Street location and I would imagine it is the same or close at other stores. 
• Most of the fire stations around give tours as well.  This includes the surrounding communities as well; just give them a call to arrange a tour.  You might want to read this post first about the grouchiest fireman ever.  After that trip my group decided to stick to the Kentwood Station because we have always had great success with them.
• Blandford Nature Center set up a tour for us last year, and it was one of the best tours.  It started with a story time, then we took a little hike, then made a craft.  It was $2 per child.  They’re going to be busy with Sugarbush for the next few months, so late spring would be a good time to book.  Mmmm, Sugarbush. Now I’m thinking about pancakes with fresh syrup…
• I blogged about Dairy Discovery already, but it is worth mentioning again.  It was so fun for the kids to see an operating Dairy Farm, and our tour guide was wonderful.  You can read about that here.
• We also took a tour of an alpaca farm.  This was fun too, and the kids got to pet an alpaca and also take home a little bag of alpaca hair. Fur. Whatever.  They also learned very interesting and little known alpaca facts.  The most memorable thing for me on this trip though was that A.P. discovered a huge hill was PERFECT for rolling down and effectively ended the tour as the other kids followed his lead and lost interest in pretty much every thing but the hill.  The farm was Circle R Ranch in Caledonia.
• If you have a facility or meeting space, you can have the Kent District Library come to you with a Play, Grow, Read! Make and Take Literary Program.  This is amazing. They have the entire program, all crafts and activities related to early literacy (pre and early reading) skills in these suitcase type bags, and they just set up shop and take over.  You can read another review of that program here. This is also free.  More info on that awesome program is here.

These are my tour guide tips:

1. Have an estimate for the number of kids and adults when you call.  Ask when the need to have a definite number and make sure you call back on that day.
2. Make sure you have the pricing information worked out, and see if there are any deposits required.
3. Make sure the members of your group have very good directions, and know that the tour may start without them if they aren’t there in time.  Some places get very annoyed when they have to wait, as they have other groups scheduled after yours.  Just trust me on this one.

Hopefully, this will help jazz up your parent group’s (or preschool, or any group with young kids) calendar in the coming months.  Please send any new ideas my way!

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