Sly Spoon

Family Friendly Boston – What to Know About Setting Up a Fire Station Visit

April 6, 2016October 15, 2021 Brittney

One of my son’s favorite activities to date was a visit to our local fire station. The Cambridge Fire Fighters are awesome and if your interested in a planning a similar activity all it took for us was a small group of friend who were interest in going and a phone call to the fire station.

Family Friendly Boston – What to Know About Setting Up a Fire Station Visit

When we got there they gave all the little kids plastic fire hats and called down a few of the fire fighters and had them dress up in all their gear for the kids. I had to laugh at the announcement made over the PA when we enter that was something like “If you’ve been here less than 3 years suite up and come down,” which I read as “if you you’ve been here less than 3 years you’re at the bottom of the totem pole and you’ve got kiddies to entertain.” Whether that was true or not doesn’t really matter because the people that did come to talk to us were all amazing!

They were super friendly as they walked us over to the fire trucks and let the kids go wild climbing on the trucks. The kids were allowed to push the buttons, sit in different seats, and pretend to drive the engine all while talking to the fire fighters. The fire fighters were also super good sports about letting us take pictures with them.

Our trip ended when calls started coming in and soon both of the fire engines along with most of the fire fighters were gone, which seemed like a good point to wrap up our trip.

Things to Note:

1) Price
Free! Fire fighters are awesome.

2) Setting up an appointment
Call the fire station and let them know you’re interested in coming. We told them that we had a small group and set up a tentative date. On that day they will have you call in an hour or so before your appointment to make sure that there haven’t been emergencies calling away the firefighters. So keep in mind that your date will be semi tentative.

To Schedule a visit: Call Lieutenant Mike Hughes at 617-349-4153 or email him. Please give the following information: number of students/kids visiting; ages; what school or organization; contact person with phone number; the station you would like to visit, the day and time you would like to visit.

The day of your visit: Call 617-349-4900, their Emergency Communications Center, and ask for the station you will be visiting. When connected, double check that your visit is expected and confirm your time and number of visitors. Upon arrival, if the station is empty, that means the firefighters had an emergency run. Call 349-4900 again, tell them you are at the station for a visit and ask if they know how long before the firefighters return. You can then decide to wait or call and reschedule a visit.

If you need to cancel: Call 617-349-4900, their Emergency Communications Center, and ask for the station you were expected to visit. When transferred, tell them of your cancelation.

3) Things for the Kids
The fire fighters were amazingly nice and fun. Each kid got to start the tour out with a fire fighter badge (sticker) and a fire fighter plastic hat, both of which were provide by the fire station.

4) Things you might end up doing
For us, and our group of 15 toddlers we ended up sticking close to the fire trucks. The kids were mesmerized and perfectly happy just to be able to see real fire fighters and crawl around on the trucks. I don’t know how long this would have lasted but we were there for a good half hour before both trucks got called away.

Summary & Rating ★★★★★

Five Stars. How could I do any less? This was a wonderful activity, my son adored it, it was educational, hands on, free and a lot of fun to be able to interact with the amazing people keeping us safe. The only possible down side I can see is if your child was super excited about a potential trip and you had to change the date due to the firefighters being called away… which really can’t be helped. In any case we loved this and will be doing it again… probably every year that we live here.

Have you been here before? If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have for setting up an outing in the comments section below.

Cambridge Fire Department
(lots of locations) This is the main office
491 Broadway Cambridge MA 02138

Phone: 617.349.4900
Website: http://www.cambridgema.gov/cfd

Visiting Hours: They prefer morning hours during the weekday (Not Tuesday or Thursday mornings because they have inspections) If those times don’t work for you call and they will probably be willing to try to work something out with you.

Cardboard Creations – DIY Character Lacing Cards – How to Make Lacing Cards Easily and Inexpesively

April 4, 2016October 15, 2021 Brittney

Easy DIY Character Lacing Cards - Cardboard Creations - Frozen Lacing Cards - Olaf

Lacing cards a such a great “quiet time” activity and they are prefect for helping toddlers develop fine motor skills. I wanted to get some for my son but had a hard time finding them, or at least finding ones that I wanted. I finally realized that their really isn’t much to a lacing card and decided to make my own.

I am so happy with how they turned out. They were so easy to make and by making them myself I was able to use characters my son is interested in. I made a full set and he loves both being able to play with the different character cards… and occasionally, even lacing them. 🙂

Supplies Needed:

Cardboard Piece (preferably a cardboard shipping box, but cereal boxes and the like will work as well)
Colored print out of character or colored page from a coloring book
Scissors/Exacto Knife
Foam Paint Brush
Hole Punch
Elmer’s Glue
Yarn or String
Tape

Steps to Make Character Lacing Cards:

1) Cut out your character leaving a 3/4 inch boarder around it.

2) Mix glue with a little bit of water, I used about 1 part water to 2 parts glue, you can also use modge podge for this.

3) Cover your cardboard piece with your glue/water mixture using your foam brush.

4) Press your cut out character onto your gluey cardboard and use your foam brush to smooth it down.

5) Cover the top of your character with another layer of the glue mixture, be sure to get the edges well.

6) Let it dry.

7) Once dry cut out the cardboard around your character, I ended up using an Exacto Knife for this.

8) Punch holes around your character.

9) Take your piece of yarn/string and a roll a little piece of tape around the end. Taping around the top part of the string with make it stiffer and easier to use for lacing.

Have you made this craft? What was your experience like and do you have an suggestions to make it better? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Touring Boston – What to Know About Attending the Boston Symphony Orchestra

March 30, 2016October 15, 2021 Brittney

If you want to have an amazing musical experience you’ve got to check out the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall. We went over Valentines Day last year and had a fantastic experience (and if your an MIT student and your interested in going get your tickets from the MIT Copy Tech, you get a card that allows you to buy tickets for only a few dollars a person… I can’t remember the price exactly but I want to say it was between $5-$10/person. If your a student from another university I suspect there are similarly discounted tickets available to you.)

We walked to Symphony Hall and enjoyed walking around the hallways for a few minutes and learning more about the history before we settled into our seats. The Hall itself has incredible marble statues and ornate gold work lines the top of the hall, and once the music started well it was breath taking.

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall

We really enjoyed being able to have this experience and if you like classical music this is a must visit.

Things to Note:

1) Price
It varies depending on the event. Some are even free.

2) Getting There
I would suggest public transportation but there are a few parking garages around the area you can use. More information about parking for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

3) Children
Children over 5 years old are permitted to attend symphony events. If you have children under 5 you’ll have to wait and attend one of their “Concerts for Very Young People” performances where young children not only get the hear fantastic music but they also have a chance to interact with the performers.

4) Attire
Semi formal is generally requested though there is no official dress code.

5) Arrival
Get there earlier enough to be seated before it starts. If you’re late you’ll have to wait until the end of whatever piece is being played before the ushers will take you to your seat.

Have you been here before? If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below.

Summary & Rating ★★★★☆

Four Stars. While this was a great experience for my husband and I it’s really not a very kid friendly activity. The hands on “Concerts for Very Young People” are great but they don’t happen super regularly. In any case if your looking for a nice date night this might be just the thing.

Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall
301 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Phone: 617-266-1492
Website: https://www.bso.org/

Toddler Letters – “G” is for “Grass”

March 28, 2016August 22, 2023 Brittney

Letter G Craft - Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft G is for Grass with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Supplies Needed:

Brown Craft Paper
Green letter “G” cutout
Glue
Scissors
Grass Shoots

Toddler/Preshooler letter of the week craft G is for Grass with related craft, tracing sheets and fruits/vegetables.

Set Up:

We started this letter by walking outside together and gathering some grass shoots. Then we went in and I had our “G” cut out and ready to go. I slathered the “G” with glue. Then my son and I took turns cutting the very long grass shoots into shorter pieces so they would fit on our “G” and putting them into the glue. He thought cutting the grass with scissors was pretty much the most fun and most funny thing he had ever done. 🙂

We finished up by talking a little bit about plants and different things that grow like grass, trees, and flowers.

Tracing Letters:

*Courtesy of http://bogglesworldesl.com/

Have you made this craft? What was your experience like and do you have an suggestions to make it better? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Touring Boston – The Go-getter’s Guide to the Garment District

March 23, 2016October 15, 2021 Brittney

Boston on the cheap. So if you’re new to the area and like me married to a full time student chances are that money is tight. One clothing option for the slightly more adventurous is a place called the Garment District. This place has been around for thirty or so year and they have new and used clothing, mostly used.

There are two floors worth of clothing. The top floor is where you’ll find some new stuff and used/vintage clothing that has been sorted by style (men, women, shirts, dresses, pants etc.) I was able to by a really nice wrap dress there (Banana Republic Brand) that had been slightly used, still in great condition for about $10.

However the real adventure is the clothing by the pound area. This takes place on the bottom level of the store and it’s a little bit of great deal madness. It cost $1.50 a pound. I had seen it advertised and I was curious to see what it actually was.

I walked in and they handed me a clear plastic garbage bag a motioned to the mounds of clothing covering the floor. It was a foot deep, wall to wall, carpet of clothes, there were no aisles and no order. You had to walk across and into the clothing piles to reach things and then just rifle through it looking for something of interest to you.

Tons of people just squatted down and started looking through the things around them. It took a few minutes for me to come to terms with this madness, but I decided we had walked there and I should give it a fair try. It was fun in a really weird way, I think a couple of my crazy cousins would have loved it, but my husband wasn’t ready to dive into this hipster dumpster life style so he checked out the sweaters upstairs until I was finished.

Things to note:

1) The garment district is mostly used clothing
Some of it is sorted by kind and style, those pieces tend to me more expensive (a few dollars a piece) and then there is clothing by the pound where there is absolutely no order, but the clothing you find there is really inexpensive and there are still high quality brands and fashionable pieces in the clothing by the pound… you just have to sort to find them.

2) Half of this store is a costume store (Boston Costume)
This means you can also find a bunch of random things there and during the month of October the clothing by the pound section is closed and the upstairs regular clothing section is compressed so they can fit more costumes.

3) Clothing by the pound can be a great deal
I’ve found a number of high quality sweaters, there are often coats, and if you look hard enough you can find children’s clothing, which is really light = inexpensive.

4) Odd Hours
The hours seem to be on a collage timeline, they open at 11am-midnight, every day but Saturday. Saturday they open at 9am.

Summary and Rating: ★★★☆☆

This place was very odd to me and it took some time for me to wrap my head around sorting through old clothing in piles on the floor. With that said, I found some great deals and going through it with the mindset that it was part of the adventure made it fun. To each their own.

If you’ve been to the Garment District I’d love to hear your thoughts and feelings about it. Feel free to share them with me in the comments below.

Have you been here before? If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below.