Kids VT, April 2019

CHILDCARE WORKERS STRUGGLE TO MAKE A LIVING PAGE 18

BUILDING A $20 SNACK BOARD PAGE 13

EGG HUNT ROUNDUP PAGE 41

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Plus, the Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan through VSAC is the only 529 college savings plan that qualifies families for a 10% Vermont income tax credit on annual contributions for higher education.

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STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS

COPUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Cathy Resmer cathy@kidsvt.com

COPUBLISHER

Colby Roberts colby@kidsvt.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Alison Novak alison@kidsvt.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Mary Ann Lickteig maryann@kidsvt.com

STAFF WRITER/CALENDAR WRITER

Brett Ann Stanciu brett@kidsvt.com

ART DIRECTOR

Brooke Bousquet brooke@kidsvt.com

MARKETING & EVENTS DIRECTOR

Corey Grenier corey@kidsvt.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Kaitlin Montgomery kaitlin@kidsvt.com

PROOFREADERS

Elizabeth M. Seyler, Kara Torres

PRODUCTION MANAGER

John James

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Don Eggert

DESIGNERS

Kirsten Cheney, Todd Scott, Rev. Diane Sullivan

CIRCULATION MANAGER

Matt Weiner

BUSINESS MANAGER

Cheryl Brownell

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jordan Adams, Heather Fitzgerald, Astrid Hedbor Lague, Ken Picard, Heather Polifka-Rivas, Erinn Simon, Autumn Spencer

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Andy Brumbaugh, James Buck, Glenn Russell, Sam Simon, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

ILLUSTRATORS

Rob Donnelly, Marc Nadel

P.O. BOX 1184 • BURLINGTON, VT 05402

802-985-5482 • KIDSVT.COM

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Editorial content in Kids VT is for general informational purposes. Parents must use their own discretion for following the advice in any editorial piece. Acceptance of advertising does not constitute service/ product endorsement. Kids VT is a proud member of the Parenting Media Association. Kids VT distribution is audited for accuracy. Da Capo Publishing shall not be held liable to any advertiser for any loss that results from the incorrect publication of its advertisement. If a mistake is ours, and the advertising purpose has been rendered valueless, Da Capo Publishing may cancel the charges for the advertisement, or a portion thereof as deemed reasonable by the publisher. Da Capo Publishing reserves the right to refuse any advertising, including inserts, at the discretion of the publishers.

STAFF QUESTION

What’s the best deal you’ve ever gotten?

I found a gorgeous, full-length FAUX LEOPARD FUR COAT at a Salvation Army store in Harlem. It was marked $99 and I thought that was a steal. I brought it up to the register and it was 50-percent-o day, so I got it for $49.50. Later, I found that the original tag from Lord & Taylor was still on it. $450! Woooooohoooo!

DIANE SULLIVAN, DESIGNER

A few years ago I hit the jackpot at Once Upon A Child by scoring a slew of FisherPrice Imaginext BATMAN AND FRIENDS LOOT! It included a waist-high batcave and Poison Ivy castle, Mr. Freeze’s headquarters, and Gotham City Jail along with all the corresponding figures and vehicles. I felt like I stole it for $25!

BROOKE BOUSQUET, ART DIRECTOR

A Little of This, A Little of That

Believe it or not, some people have never read Kids VT. So I am sometimes asked to describe our publication. I usually explain that it’s a combination of fun pieces that showcase local families and kid-friendly places, activities and events, as well as articles that address weightier topics — personal essays and longer features about parenting challenges and topics such as foster care, addiction, gender identity and technology.

Nowhere is that mix on better display than in this month’s pages. It’s our annual Money Issue, which centers on families and finances. In “Undervalued,” I dig into the subject of compensation for childcare providers. It’s an aspect that’s sometimes overlooked in conversations about the cost of care and lack of spots for children. In reporting the piece, I was shocked to learn that the median hourly wage for childcare workers in Vermont is $12.71. I imagine many fellow parents will be, too. The piece explores the financial toll on both early childhood educators and childcare center owners, and it lays out why their work is so critical. Find it on page 18.

On page 22, sta writer Brett Ann Stanciu shares advice for raising a family on a budget. In “On the Cheap,” local experts weigh in on how to spend leisure time, spruce up a house, throw a birthday party, and shop for clothing and groceries without breaking the bank. In the same vein, I describe how to create an Instagram-worthy snack board for around $20 in “The Art of” on page 13.

On page 11, find Heather Poli a-Rivas’ take on “Small Worlds,” the current exhibit at the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art that highlights miniatures. It’s a cultural outing that will cost your whole family just $10. On page 16, Mary Ann Lickteig breaks down the cost of rearing kids in “By the Numbers.” And on page 55, Heather Fitzgerald explains why she invests time and energy to expose her son to nature in “Use Your Words.”

For a bountiful assortment of free or low-cost events this month, check out our April calendar starting on page 39. And flip to page 25 for another installment of our Camp Guide, where you’ll find camp sta ers describing the sweet and simple pleasures their camps o er, as well as lots of great information about both day and overnight summer programs. If you haven’t signed up your kids for camp yet, there’s no time to lose!

ALISON NOVAK, MANAGING EDITOR

In the early 1980s, while still in high school, I bought a FENDER ACOUSTIC GUITAR for $175, which I taught myself to play. It was new but nothing fancy and sometimes sat unplayed for months at a time. But looking back, that guitar has given me more hours of relaxation and joy than any other item I’ve ever owned. Dollar for dollar, it was the best investment I ever made.

KEN PICARD, STAFF WRITER

: the style I had been shopping for, my size, pristine condition at a resale shop. They sell for $250 new. I paid $55.

MARY ANN LICKTEIG, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS’ NOTE

ERINN and SAM SIMON write and photograph the “Family Portrait” column that appears in Kids VT every other month. They live in Burlington with their three kids. Find Erinn’s custom cakes at thatcakestand.com and Sam’s photography at samsimonimaging.com.

Alison prepares a snack board at City Market for an article on page 13.

TRENDING

A viral video shows a father leaping into the path of a fastapproaching sled and snatching two children out of the way in the nick of time. Sometimes heroes wear dad jeans.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently endorsed a tax on sugary drinks, a measure they think will curb kids’ consumption. How about a tax on screen time, too?

A Kentucky high school recently offered a conference for seniors on “adulting” with workshops on changing a tire, filing taxes and cooking.

Is transferring a sleeping baby from the car seat to the crib covered in the advanced-level class?

AUTUMN ANSWERS Should my teenager get a summer job?

got my first summer job at age 16, working down the road from our house at a Medicaid-funded nursing home.I was the nursing aides’ aide. My shift started at the crack of dawn and consisted mostly of scrubbing things clean. This nursing home gig was not the stu of teen movies. There were no beach parties, no sun-kissed crushes and no one spontaneously breaking into song. It was not fun at all, and I very much disliked it. If you’d asked 16-year-old me what the perks of having that job were, I’d have only answered, “Money, and not much of it.” Of course, now I know that job challenged me in a hundred di erent ways —from learning how to show up for work on time to developing compassion for some of the most vulnerable and disregarded members of our community.

In a SheKnows article entitled “Should Teens Have a Summer Job? Experts Weigh

In,” family psychologist Dr. Barbara Greenberg says yes, our teens should definitely get summer jobs, citing financial education among the many benefits. “There is no better way to learn about money than by learning that you need to earn it,” Greenberg says. The benefits go beyond money and include teamwork, time management and self-esteem. Having a summer job helps teens “learn about responsibility and the importance of showing up on time and the

#INSTAKIDSVT

expectations associated with being a valued worker.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, summer labor participation rates among teens ages 16 to 19 peaked in 1979 at nearly 60 percent. It’s been trending mostly downward since then, hitting 34 percent in 2011 and hovering around there in the years since. As fewer college graduates enter the job market with actual work experience, employers seem to be noticing. In a recent NerdWallet article, “Why Your Teen Should Work This Summer,” certified financial planner and columnist Liz Weston writes: “A recent survey indicates many college graduates may be hitting the job market unprepared

to meet employer expectations. While 89.4% of recent grads rated themselves as proficient in their work ethic and professionalism, only 42.5% of surveyed employers shared that view, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2018.”

As you and your teen research summer employment options, it’s also important to consider how your teen’s job will impact your routines and workload. For instance, where is the job located and how will your teen get to and from work? If your teen can’t drive or doesn’t have access to a car, check bus schedules and bike routes. (After all, part of having a job is figuring out how to get yourself to work on time.) It’s okay to prioritize your own sanity and work-life balance by ensuring that your teen’s summer gig doesn’t turn into a whole lot more work for you.

If you can make it happen without the hassle, having a summer job will provide your teen with more than a little pocket cash. It’s crucial real-life experience that will help teach your teen the value of time and money, of balance and routine. Because we’re not just raising kids; we’re teaching our kids how to be functional adults out in the world.

In this monthly column, comedian, writer and mom Autumn Spencer answers tricky parenting questions. Have a question for Autumn? Send it to ideas@kidsvt.com.

HERE’S HOW: Follow @kids_vt on Instagram. Post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #instakidsvt. We’ll select a photo to feature in the next issue.

Tag

Instagram!

PARENT PARTICIPATION

My daughter’s favorite song is PINK by Aerosmith.

HEATHER SAWYER

Jammin’ with the ’80s right now — TAKE ON ME by A-ha, and we sing James Taylor’s YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND every night.

LOU-ANNE JETTIE WOOD

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST by Queen. Been on a Freddie Mercury kick lately.

TARA TYNAN ARNESON

Miles: My favorite song is YOUNG BLOOD HOLLY BECKERT

KIDS SAY WHAT?

RAINBOW by Kacey Musgraves. MOLLY HUDDLE COFFEY

Kiddo loves WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD

PET CORNER

We asked recently. My daughter (6) answered FROM NOW ON (from The Greatest Showman) but changed her mind to HEY JUDE. Gotta stick with The Beatles!

KIM MEILLEUR

On March 27 at the Statehouse in Montpelier, we celebrated the 77 young Vermonters who completed the 2018 Good Citizen Challenge. These Good Citizens were introduced and recognized before the House of Representatives. They also got to hear from Speaker of the House Mitzi Johnson and Gov. Phil Scott. Look for more information about the next Challenge at goodcitizenvt.com.

Nicole Nappi shared a photo of her 10-yearold son, Jayden, with the family’s 1-year-old goats, Poppy and Petunia. Jayden “loves to be a part of caring for our goats,” says Nappi. “He feeds and waters them and brings them treats.” The family got Poppy and Petunia when they were 2 weeks old and bottle-fed them, “so they are very attached to us,” adds Nappi. “They chase us around the yard and sometimes even try to follow us into the house.”

“I don’t care what this Lady Nature person is doing. It’s spring!” DELILAH, AGE 5

This month, we asked our Facebook followers to tell us their kids’ favorite songs. Find their answers below.

BY MARY ANN LICKTEIG & ALISON NOVAK

AWARDS

Kids’ Lit Legend

Montpelier author KATHERINE PATERSON has won the E.B. White Award, given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters to a writer for achievement in children’s literature. “It’s just a real thrill,” says Paterson, who calls White one of her “genuine literary heroes.” As a graduate student, she kept Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style nearby any time she had to write, she says. She read all of White’s children’s books to her own four children “and cried over Charlotte’s Web more times than I can imagine. It’s just wonderful to have an award with his name on it.” The honor comes with $10,000 and is the latest in a long string of accolades for Paterson, who has written more than 30 books, including 17 novels for children and young adults. She is a two-time winner of the John Newbery Medal — for Bridge to Terabithia in 1978 and for Jacob Have I Loved in 1981 — and a two-time winner of the National Book Award — for The Master Puppeteer in 1977 and for The Great Gilly Hopkins in 1979. Paterson, 86, is at work on a new novel for children. She doesn’t call any of her books her favorite, though Bridge to Terabithia has outsold the others. “You know, it’s hard to say ‘favorite’ because I had a di erent relationship with each of them, and they were written for di erent reasons…” she says. “I don’t think any of my children or my books are perfect, but I love them all.” —MAL

Learn more at katherinepaterson.com.

Access to Authors

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Banking on It

According to the National Diaper Bank Network, the average cost of diapering a child is $70 to $80 per month, a hefty expense for moms and dads trying to make ends meet. Consequently, one in three families in the U.S. struggles with diaper supply. To help meet this need in Chittenden County, the Junior League of Champlain Valley opened a DIAPER BANK in March. The women’s organization committed to volunteerism has partnered with the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf — as well as food shelves in Williston, Richmond, Milton and Hinesburg — with the goal of distributing 100,000 diapers annually. Last winter, the league launched a three-month diaper drive and collected about 20,000 diapers for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, said league president Jill Everett. As the drive was ending, Seventh Generation donated 46,000 additional diapers, which prompted members to begin looking for space to house all of those boxes. In June, they signed a lease for a space in South Burlington that includes a 700-square-foot warehouse and 750 square feet of meeting and work space. Donate diapers by dropping them o at Healthy Living Market & Café in South Burlington or the lobby of Kismet Place in Williston. Junior League members will then repackage donations into smaller parcels and deliver them to their five food bank partners. Another way to help? Make a digital donation through the Junior League’s Amazon Wish List. —AN

Learn more about the diaper bank and how to donate at jlcv.org/ diaper-bank.

Four years ago, Donna Sullivan-Macdonald, the librarian at Orchard School in South Burlington, attended nErDcamp Northern New England in Freeport, Maine — a literacy-focused “unconference” that brought dozens of children’s book authors together to lead workshops for educators and to meet families. She was so inspired by the free event that she thought to herself, If they can do it in Maine, we can do it in Vermont Last year, with the help of the Vermont Council on Reading, the Vermont School Library Association and the Vermont Department of Libraries, she launched NERDCAMPVT

This month, the second annual daylong nErDcampVT will start with sessions for teachers run by authors from Vermont and beyond. Then, at 2:30 p.m., the public will be invited to a free Author Faire featuring 34 children’s book writers and illustrators, including Jim Arnosky, Ann Braden, Sarah Dillard, Katy Farber, Jo Knowles and Tanya Lee Stone. Phoenix Books will be on hand for those who’d like to purchase participating authors’ picture books and novels. “It’s a rare opportunity to connect with over 30 authors in one place,” said Sullivan-Macdonald. —AN

The nErDcampVT Author Faire is Saturday, April 6, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Hiawatha Elementary School in Essex Junction. Find more information at tinyurl.com/nerdcampvt.

The March 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Junior League of Champlain Valley’s new diaper bank

Author Dayna Lorentz at last year’s nErDcampVT

COURTESY OF KATHERINE PATERSON

Learn to change the world

MEALTIME BY ASTRID HEDBOR LAGUE

Tarta Pascualina

An Argentinian Easter Classic

Eggs are commonly associated with Easter. They symbolize rebirth and the fertility of spring. In the United States, they are hard-boiled, festively dyed and often part of Easter breakfast. Traditions in other parts of the world make the humble egg a star at the dinner table.

This frugal and filling Tarta Pascualina — literally “Easter Pie” — began as a tradition in Northern Italy but, through the years, became popular in Argentina and other South American countries. The original Italian dish has layers of flaky pastry. In Argentina, the crust became more like empanada dough, sturdy and buttery. The Argentinian version also incorporates nutmeg and sometimes red bell pepper. This meatless entrée is company-worthy but accessible enough for any home cook.

Directions

For the deep-dish crust:

1. Whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl or combine in a food processor. (If using a food processor, you should make the pie dough in two batches.) Cut in butter using a pastry blender or pulsing in the food processor until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and water, and add to flour mixture. Mix just until clumps begin to form. Don’t overmix, or your crust may become tough.

3. Using 2/3 of the dough, form a disc and place it between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper. Do the same with the remaining dough.

Ingredients

For the deep-dish pie crust:

• 4 cups flour

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup ice-cold water

For the filling:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1/2 onion, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 cups frozen spinach (about 2 standard packages), thoroughly drained

• 1 teaspoon salt

Join us

spring Events

High School Open House

Saturday, April 6 @ 11:00 am–1:00 pm

For middle and high school students and their parents. Register online.

Visiting Morning: Grades 1-8

Wednesday, April 10 @ 8:30–10:00 am

For adults only. Register online.

Raising Kids in a Digital World

Thursday, April 11 @ 7:00–8:30 pm

For adults only. Register online.

Save the date: Mayfest

Saturday, May 4

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER AT: www.lakechamplainwaldorfschool.org

SHELBURNE, VT (802) 985-2827

The tarta is similar to a deep-dish quiche with a top crust, but instead of scrambling eggs and stirring vegetables in, you crack the eggs onto the vegetable mixture. Upon serving, the slices reveal a cross section of cooked egg, making for a beautiful presentation.

You could halve the amount of filling you use and make the dish in a normal pie plate, but I prefer a springform pan, which allows for more filling and a prettier plate. In a pinch, you could use store-bought pie crust, but this sturdy, homemade crust is easy to make and work with.

So, why not travel the world via your kitchen this Easter? As they say in Argentina, “Felices Pascuas!”

4. Roll out the larger disc until it is about 1/8-inch thick and large enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Lightly spray the pan with cooking spray, then lay the pie crust in, pressing down on the sides and bottom. Freeze for about 20 minutes.

5. Roll out the smaller disc so that it is just larger than the top of the pan. If desired, use springshaped cookie cutters to make decorative pieces for the top of the pie. Chill the top crust and the decorative designs in the fridge while you make the filling.

For the filling:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until the onion becomes translucent. Stir in thawed, drained spinach, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the ricotta and mozzarella.

3. Take the pie crust from the freezer and fill it with the spinach mixture. Make 1-inchdeep indentations with the back of a spoon about 1 1/2 inches apart around the edge of the filling. Crack an egg into each indentation. Sprinkle the filling

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 2 cups ricotta

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

• 5-6 eggs, plus 1 more for egg wash

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

with Parmesan. Cover with the top crust, and crimp the edges with a fork in a decorative pattern. Cut a slit into the center of the pie to allow it to vent.

4. Mix the remaining egg with about 1 tablespoon of water and brush the top of the crust. Use the egg wash to attach decorative crust pieces, if desired.

5. Carefully tent the pie with tin foil, put the springform pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for another 35 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake for a final 8 to 10 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

6. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing the sides of the springform pan.

7. Slice and serve — warm or at room temperature — with a side salad, if desired.

PHOTOS: ANDY BRUMBAUGH

TARTA PASCUALINA

Astrid’s son, Philip, enjoys Tarta Pascualina

Small Worlds: Miniatures in Contemporary Art

Fleming Museum of Art, 61 Colchester Ave., Burlington

Both of my children have long been obsessed with tiny toys. As a toddler, my son, now 10, carried around miniature ninja figures in his sticky fists. When he lost one — which happened daily — a crisis ensued, and we could not resume normal activities until his beloved Bok Choy Boy was found. My 6-yearold daughter is enamored with little figurines called Shopkins. She collects and trades them with her friends. “Mommy, looook! This one looks like a miniature toaster!” she squeals. “And it’s soooo cute.”

Even I like Legos. Building ships, planes and imaginary worlds with them is something our entire family enjoys together. So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered there was a new exhibit at the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art that highlights small worlds and miniature items.

As an afterschool diversion from Fortnite, I took my kids, Henry and Ruby, on an adventure to the museum. Upon arrival, we briefly perused the permanent installations. Ruby enjoyed the tribal masks, and Henry was wowed by the samurai suit. We passed through a wide marble hall (“Whoa, Mom, this looks like a palace!”) and found the current exhibit. Filled with photography, mini sculptures and hands-on fun, each piece offers an element of whimsy.

Joe Fig’s replica of an artist’s studio had us all in awe. A tiny figure works at a desk in a dollhouse-sized room equipped with photographs for inspiration. A tiny drafting table is littered with even tinier cylinders filled with rulers and paint brushes. Thread-like wires connect to lightbulbs that hang from the ceiling. Close your eyes and you can imagine them illuminated at night while the artist works into the wee hours.

Henry and Ruby loved the larger-thanlife photographs of food by Minimiam, the name for collaborators Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle. Upon close inspection, you can see that there’s a small figurine standing on top of that glazed donut, playing golf with the sprinkles! In another playful photograph, a hiker and a tiny toy van are intrepid explorers amidst the swirls of ice cream on a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

Ruby and I were drawn in by the sparkle and bling of Sally Curcio, who creates snowglobe-like versions of cities using beads of different colors and shapes. Her gleaming turquoise lake surrounded by city buildings elicited “ooohs’’ and “ahhhs” even from my eye-rolling tween.

While most displays are labeled with the “Please do not touch” signs typically found in art museums,

we were delighted to come upon two hands-on installations. Artist Brian D. Collier created The Collier Classification System for Very Small Objects and invites visitors to classify, name and contribute a very small object to his installation. We donated a piece of pocket lint we found in Ruby’s jacket. Using Collier’s system — which includes classifying the object into

collection of candy wrappers, Tic Tacs and unidentifiable pieces of plastic.

Around the corner, Matt Neckers’ open vintage refrigerator is filled with furniture, a miniature sculpture of Jim Sardonis’ famous whale tails and spherical piles of tiny ping pong balls. Visitors are allowed to move them around. Donning the badges and white gloves the museum provides, my kids rearranged the fridge to create their own tableau of oddities, like a ladder studded with tiny rockets and a mini coffee table piled high with small plastic tubes.

Museum adventures can be eyeopening and enlightening, but also exhausting. Small Worlds offers just enough artistic exposure for short attention spans. Before you leave, head upstairs to check out the amazing mummy that’s part of the museum’s permanent collection. Then, reward your art hounds with an ice cream cone from the Dairy Bar at UVM’s Davis Center, and you’ve got a day trip that’s more than a little fun. K

Small Worlds: Miniatures in Contemporary Art runs through May 10. The Fleming is open TuesdayFriday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Wednesday 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon-4 p.m. Admission is $10 per family, or $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors. Children 6 and under are free.

either a “once living” or “never living” category — contributors then use a key provided by Collier to name the very small object. Henry named the lint Nelifrag Pockeattachgrayspherisquisheunlik, put it in a small classification bottle and added it to the growing

While most displays are labeled with “Please do not touch” signs, we were delighted to come upon two hands-on installations.

Ruby examines miniature glassware from the museum’s global collection

Henry checks out Matt Neckers’ open refrigerator

A larger-than-life photograph by Minimiam

Precocious Player

Essex teen is a classical music master

While the music of artists like Ariana Grande, Post Malone and Drake might excite the typical teen, Henry Wu is more keen on the works of Frédéric Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach and Camille Saint-Saëns. The 16-year-old pianist and cellist is involved with a variety of classical music endeavors, including playing in the Essex High School orchestra and the Vermont Youth Orchestra.

Henry, a junior at Essex High School, has garnered many musical accolades. A pianist since age 5 and a cellist since fourth grade, he’s the principal cellist in the VYO and a beneficiary of the 2018 Jon Borowicz Memorial Scholarship, which awarded him $500 and allowed him to perform a solo concerto with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.

In the past few years, Henry has gone from simply playing music to taking on important leadership roles. Despite his reserved demeanor, it “comes naturally to me,” he says. “I think I have this quiet leadership that works for me.”

Vermont Youth Orchestra Association music director Benjamin Klemme says Henry is remarkable “not only in his playing, but also in his approach to citizenship” within the orchestra. “He’s always volunteering to mentor younger students in the organization,” says Klemme.

Henry’s transition from playing to leading began in the summer of 2016 at an intensive overnight camp sponsored by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts at the Walnut Hill School in Natick, Mass. The program, which included the study of orchestral and chamber music, was more rigorous than anything he’d ever done. He returned the following summer for another round.

“It confirmed that I want to keep playing music for the rest of my life and help lead and teach others through music,” he says.

Since this epiphany, Henry discovered the Back to BACH Project, a worldwide, community-based initiative to expose elementary school students to classical music.

“They had chapters in big cities around the world, but there wasn’t one in Vermont,” Henry says. So he started

AGE: 16

one, and he now serves as the regional director of Burlington’s chapter. He and a group of peers from the VYO travel mainly to Chittenden County schools, spreading their love of classical music and explaining the skills required to master their instruments.

TOWN: Essex

“I really enjoy performing for young kids because they have an open mind to everything,” says Henry.

But Henry doesn’t just educate kids. He and his twin brother, Nathan, who plays piano and violin, created a concert series called Classical Music Encounters, which they host at local libraries. During a recent performance at the South Burlington Public Library, the brothers presented a series of pieces that comprised a judiciously streamlined history of classical music to a crowd of around 50 onlookers, most of whom appeared old enough to be the boys’ grandparents. Starting with the Baroque era, they worked their way through history, playing solo and duo works from the 18th through 20th centuries.

Recently, Henry has been branching out to different musical genres. He’s a member of SoundCheck, a rock band featuring Vermont high school students from various musical backgrounds and abilities focused on writing and playing songs relating to social justice issues, such as racial equality.

“It was a big challenge for me to not play classical music,” he says.

But SoundCheck artistic director Brian Boyes says Henry thrives in the group. “Henry is that super rare student who brings fierce intelligence [and] powerful talent, yet he also has an immense amount of integrity,” Boyes says. “He’s a good listener and speaks up when he needs to. Those are rare things to see in anybody, let alone kids.”

Henry recently took on the role of musical director for the spring production of Shrek the Musical Jr. at Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School in Essex Junction. He’s responsible for teaching the score to 40 students playing a wide variety of instruments.

Despite his accomplishments, Henry says that, at this point in his life, he doesn’t plan to pursue music as a career. So what does he want to do?

“So many people have asked me that, and I don’t have a great answer,” he chuckles. “I’m interested in a lot of things. I really like technology, science and math. I also have a passion for social justice. I don’t think there’s a career that combines all of [that]. K

NAME: Henry Wu

COURTESY OF HENRY WU

Creating a Snack Board — on a Budget

Ihave a somewhat embarrassing — though surprisingly common — a nity for looking at beautiful photographs of yummy things to eat. That means I follow a lot of food bloggers on Instagram.

It was on one of those accounts — Weelicious — where I first saw a photo of a snack board. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, picture a cheese plate you might order at a fancy restaurant (another one of my a nities). Then, take away a considerable amount of the cheese and add baguette slices, crackers, berries, fruits, veggies, charcuterie, olives, dips and all other sorts of appealing finger foods.

Presentation matters, and not just because it determines the number of likes you’ll get on Instagram. As any parent who’s called broccoli a tree or made happy-face pancakes knows, the way you display food is half the battle when it comes to feeding kids. No one’s going to clamor over a skimpy, beige snack board. Think bounty — a rich palette of varying colors, sizes and textures artfully arranged and practically spilling o the board.

The enticing smorgasbords I’ve scrolled through on social media look expensive. So I wondered: Is it possible to create a deluxe snack board on a budget? I turned to Mae Quilty, outreach and education manager at Burlington’s City Market, Onion River Co-op, for help.

I met Quilty at City Market’s South End store, and we grabbed a cart. Our mission: to create a snack board my family of four could eat for dinner for around 20 bucks.

First, we hit the store’s grab-and-go section, where I picked up Hunan dumplings, roasted root veggies, hummus and hard-boiled eggs. These items cost between 79 cents and $3.19. We cruised into the bakery section, where Quilty advised me that the best price for a baguette was Klinger’s long loaf for $2.99. Then we hit up the deli, where I scooped up a hunk of cob-smoked pepperoni for $2.67 and a block of Cabot Farmhouse Reserve Cheddar, on sale for $2.29.

Since it was Thursday, bulk items were 10 percent o . I picked up small bags of dried cranberries (44 cents),

raw almonds (90 cents), sunflower seeds (31 cents) and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds in hues of lavender, dark purple and bright yellow ($1.36) to serve as a pop of color and a sweet treat.

In the produce department, we grabbed locally grown carrots and an apple, a few tangerines, sugar snap peas, and a Chioggia beet, which reveals a candy-cane pattern when sliced open. None of the fruits or veggies cost more than two bucks.

Before heading for the register, I threw in a $1.79 package of sesameflavored dried seaweed for a bit of saltiness and crunch.

My haul totaled $28.39, a bit more than I planned to spend. But after Quilty and I assembled the board, I had enough baguette, cheese and sausage left over to make lunch for two the next day.

The assembled board looked professional, fun to eat and most definitely Instagrammable (though I refrained from posting it). An added bonus? I took it home to my family for a no-muss, no-fuss dinner. I got four likes at the kitchen table that night.

BUDGET BOUNTY

Want to make a snack board at home? Follow these tips from City Market’s Mae Quilty so your smorgasbord doesn’t break the bank.

• It’s cheaper to make your own hummus, bean dip and kale chips. Find City Market’s recipes for roasted garlic white bean hummus, kale chips and chipotle black bean dip online at kidsvt.com.

• Shop the bulk section for small amounts of more expensive items, such as nuts and dried fruit. Bring your own containers to reduce waste.

• Look for prepackaged cheese and meat trim — irregular and end pieces — in the deli department; they cost less than the cleaner-cut varieties.

• Some grocery stores offer a reduced-price produce bin with perfectly good-to-eat fruits and veggies that may be bruised, past their peak in ripeness or unappealing at first glance.

• Think vegetarian. Choose protein-rich hard-boiled eggs or oven-roasted chickpeas in place of more costly meats.

• Since organic produce usually comes with a higher price tag, use the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list — 12 fruits and veggies you should buy organic whenever possible — and Clean Fifteen list — 15 items that are OK to buy conventional — to guide your purchases.

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

The finished budget snack board

Snack board ingredients

When Does Acupuncture Help Children?

Many Vermonters take a holistic approach to maintaining their health and wellness. Some seek out acupuncture for themselves and their families as an alternative or complement to conventional Western medical treatments.

Katina Martin is a licensed naturopathic doctor, midwife and acupuncturist with Vermont Natural Family Health in Salisbury and Burlington. Martin, who’s been practicing in Vermont since 2006, treats children and adults with natural remedies, such as Chinese herbs, rather than conventional pharmaceuticals. She spoke to Kids VT about the many health benefits that acupuncture can provide to children. (Families should consult their insurance providers to find out whether they cover acupuncture. Some plans, including Dr. Dynasaur, do not.)

KIDS VT: How does acupuncture work?

KATINA MARTIN: Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medicine modality that’s been used for thousands of years. It involves inserting very thin needles into precise points along channels in the body, which are thought to stimulate healing and restore function. In this system of medicine, there are meridians of invisible energy pathways that run throughout the body. In good health, our qi (pronounced “chee”), or life energy force, should flow freely along these meridians. If there’s a blockage in the smooth flow of that qi, then it’s thought to cause illness and pain. I like to use the analogy that meridians are like rivers flowing through our bodies that nourish our muscles and organs. When

there’s pain or disease in the body, there’s an obstruction in this flow similar to a dam that blocks the movement in these rivers. Acupuncture serves to remove these dams in order to restore the free flow of these rivers and restore balance to the body.

KVT: What conditions do you typically treat in children?

KM: Acupuncture can be used for a wide variety of ailments and complaints. I find it useful in treating musculoskeletal complaints resulting from sports injuries, such as sprains, strains and concussions. I also use it for migraine headaches, allergies, asthma and digestive issues. And, it’s helpful with hormone imbalances and menstrual cycle irregularities in teenage girls.

KVT: Can you use acupuncture to treat children’s mental health issues?

KM: Definitely. I use it frequently for mental and emotional complaints. Acupuncture is a holistic approach that treats the mind as well as the body because it stimulates the body to bring it back into balance. We can use acupuncture to treat depression, anxiety, insomnia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

KVT: At what age can children begin acupuncture?

KM: I find it easier to treat children who are 10 years old or older because they’re better able to understand the concept of acupuncture. Sometimes younger children will associate the needles with getting their blood drawn or with vaccines, which are very different experiences. Not that children

One to Watch

younger than 10 shouldn’t get acupuncture. I’ve done acupuncture on my children since they were toddlers. For younger children, you can use acupressure points instead and teach parents where they’re located so that they can do that at home. Acupressure involves the application of firm pressure with the fingers to massage and stimulate specific points rather than using needles. The same points used in acupuncture are utilized in acupressure to correct imbalances in the body.

KVT: How do you alleviate fear or anxiety that children may have about the needles?

KM: I find it helpful to first show them the needles so that they see how thin and flexible they are. I will then insert the needle into a point on my own hand to show them that it’s not painful and that I’m able to move my hand comfortably. I describe the sensation as similar to a mosquito bite. I also let them know that we can try just one needle at a time and that they’re always in control. If they don’t like it, we can pull it out quickly. It shouldn’t be a painful experience. If they have a parent who gets acupuncture, it can also help to come in and watch their experience.

KVT: Are there times when you wouldn’t recommend acupuncture for kids?

KM: There are very few contraindications with acupuncture. I would use caution if a child has a seizure or clotting disorder. But overall, it’s a very safe modality.

KVT: Can acupuncture be used as an alternative or complement to Western medical treatments?

KM: Absolutely! It’s definitely a great complementary therapy and can be used as an alternative to conventional treatments as well. Because there are so few contraindications, there are very few side effects. The most common is soreness at the site where the needles were that quickly resolves, and sometimes bruising and minimal bleeding. Especially with the current opioid epidemic, acupuncture can be used as a great pain-relieving treatment alternative. I can even help wean people off their pain medications while giving acupuncture for pain relief. Acupuncture can also be used after surgery for pain relief and to improve blood flow and to encourage healing.

KVT: Anything else?

KM: I like to use acupuncture in my primary care naturopathic practice because I focus on wellness and prevention. When you get acupuncture to treat one ailment — say, headaches or migraines — the patient won’t just see benefits in that chief complaint. They may also see improvements in other parts of their health. The headaches will go away, but they may also be sleeping better and therefore have more energy. So it’s addressing the whole person and bringing the whole body back into balance. K

Calf on the Lam

Book traces the adventures of a wandering week-old steer

In September of 2017, a runaway steer in Woodstock had townspeople on the hunt. The week-old American Milking Devon, Huck, and his brother Finn had just been purchased by Billings Farm & Museum, a historic working and educational farm. On delivery day, Huck headed for the hills.

He ran through the fields, down River Street, and even wandered up nearby Mount Tom. The next morning, when he was given up for lost, the farm manager found him back at the farm. The little explorer had crawled through the rails of a fence and joined the other calves in the pasture.

Billings Farm was started in 1871 by Frederick Billings, a lawyer, railroad builder and pioneer in scientific farm management and reforestation. Now owned and operated by The Woodstock Foundation, the Billings Farm & Museum was founded in 1983 to preserve the historic property. In addition to a restored farmhouse and creamery, the farm is home to sheep, draft horses, chickens, Jersey cows and oxen.

The Devons were a prized addition. This once-common breed played a significant role in Vermont history as valuable draft animals, hauling timber and clearing fields — and even earned a place on the state flag.

Currently, Huck and Finn are training to wear a yoke and pull loads as demonstration animals. Until they’re ready

to perform, visitors can see them in the barn or outside in the paddock. When illustrator and writer Kristina Rodanas — also a part-time educator at Billings — first read about Huck’s journey, she thought, Somebody has to write about this. “It was just too good a story to pass up,” she said. Her picture book, Huck’s Way Home, is Billings’ first children’s book.

From her Woodstock studio, Rodanas spoke with Kids VT

Kids VT: What inspired you to write this story?

Kristina Rodanas: When I read about a lost calf in the newspaper, I thought, Huh, I bet I know where he came from … That was the basis for Huck’s Way Home interviewing people. As it turns out, there were a number of people working on the farm that afternoon he took off, so a number of people chased after him. There were visitors when he escaped. They saw him running up through the back of the property and out onto the street. People who worked there chased after him. The police went after him — they really did ... [and] the farm

manager and his family. They were chasing him through the afternoon and up onto the trails along Mount Tom.

KVT: Is there a deeper theme of your book?

KR: This amazing story is all about a

solve your problems … Huck perked up his ears, listened and remembered [to find his way home]. That’s a message to listen to your elders. They sometimes know what they’re talking about … Most of the books I’ve done have something to do with being self-reliant and finding your way through some kind of a crisis.

KVT: Can families repeat Huck’s journey?

KR: We’ve included a map [in the book] that is really cool, so families can follow Huck’s travels. He was spotted by hikers at the star [at the top of Mount Tom]. He was seen in two cemeteries … He was kind of like Where’s Waldo

KVT: Tell us a little about your next children’s book with Billings.

KR: The book will be called Bristly Baby Berkshire Pigs: A Billings Farm Alphabet It will not be the usual alphabet book. No A is for apple here … There will be something special about Billings Farm for each letter of the alphabet, such as: A is for Araucana’s aqua eggs, S is for shearing Southdown sheep and T is for tapping the trees. It should be available for sale later this year.

Meet Kristina Rodanas and Huck at Billings Farm & Museum’s Baby Farm Animal Celebration, Friday, April 19, and

Now enrolling for

The Cost of Raising a Child

Every parent knows that having kids is a big investment. But how do the expenses break down?

$233,610

$284,570 Cost with projected inflation factored in $25,229 Cost of raising a child born in 1960 ($202,020 in 2015 dollars) By 2015, the actual cost rose 16%.

Average percentage of household expenditures attributable to children in marriedcouple families, by number of children:

26% 39% 49% ONE CHILD: TWO CHILDREN: THREE CHILDREN:

Compared with expenditures per child for married-couple families with two children, those with one child spend 27% MORE per child; those with three or more children spend 24% LESS per child.

Cost by Region

URBAN WEST: $245,460

$743

Cost of diapering items for a baby’s first year.

SOURCE: NERDWALLET, 2017

Mostexpensi ve !

URBAN NORTHEAST: $264,090

URBAN MIDWEST: $227,400

URBAN SOUTH: $232,050

Least expensive region to raise a child: RURAL AREAS, NATIONWIDE: $193,020 27% LOWER than the urban Northeast

Brittany, Jeremy, Henry & Evelyn

Brittany: A week before Evelyn was born, Henry was diagnosed with autism. He was 2 1/2. The school system has been great; we met with them early on and figured out options for Henry. He goes to Orchard School in South Burlington a few days a week now, and then both kids are with Jeremy’s parents when we’re working. He has service providers who work with him one-on-one at my in-laws’ house during the week. (Jeremy and I) both work full time, but we try to spend as much time together as a family as possible.

What do you like to do for fun?

Jeremy: Before dinner, we usually go for a walk. This

is the time of year that we start trying to get everyone outside again as much as possible. Henry loves being outside, and exercise really helps keep him focused.

Brittany: He loves climbing!

Jeremy [as Henry climbs on his shoulders]: He loves climbing and loves to wrestle. So we do a lot of floor time. He loves [it] if we just get on the floor and let him climb on us, and Evelyn thinks that’s the funniest thing ever.

What’s your favorite thing to do together?

Jeremy [sitting on the floor, making a giant block tower with Evelyn]: For me, it’s this right here.

Brittany [as Henry climbs into her lap]: Me, too. K

BY ERINN SIMON • PHOTO BY SAM SIMON

Brittany Willette, 33, and Jeremy Willette, 37, at home with son Henry, 4, and daughter Evelyn, 1

Undervalued

When Noelle Cleveland enrolled at San José State University in California in 2008, she knew she wanted to work with young children one day. She thought she might become an elementary school teacher. But as part of her coursework, she volunteered in a preschool and, as she tells it, “instantly fell in love.” Cleveland, now 30, was enamored with “the magic and wonder and excitement” that young children possess.

One decade, two degrees and four full-time early-education jobs later, she still feels that spark. She recalls a recent morning when she walked to the Browns River to explore with her preschool students from Saxon Hill School in Jericho. “It kind of reminds you to take a minute and look at the river,” she muses, “and it’s joyous to watch them learn.”

But despite her passion, her love for the kids and her belief that she is making a difference, she doesn’t know if she can continue in the field.

Since she beganher career in 2014, Cleveland has earned an average salary of about $23,000 a year. Her current job offers little paid time off and no health benefits. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, she’s able to pay for her own health insurance, but it does not include dental or vision coverage. Consequently, she wears expired contact lenses and has a problem with a tooth that she can’t afford to fix.

Between her bachelor’s degree in child development from San José State and her master’s degree in early childhood education from Champlain College in Burlington, she’s accrued $80,000 in student loan debt. She was denied a car loan because the debt labels her a risky borrower. She lives with her partner in the basement of his parents’ home and is delaying marriage and starting a family because of her financial insecurity.

Still, she considers herself one of the lucky ones in her line of

work. Her partner earns more than twice her income in his job as a contractor and is able to help support her financially. Her parents pay the interest on her loans — her father even delayed his retirement and got a second job to help. Living in her partner’s parents’ basement enables the couple to pay reduced rent.

Vermont is experiencing a childcare crisis, parents, experts and lawmakers across the political spectrum agree. A bill to mitigate the problem is currently being debated by state legislators. But Cleveland’s story illustrates an aspect of the issue that is sometimes overlooked.

Conversations about childcare often focus on the high cost and shortage of care. Less frequently discussed is the fact that the providers themselves are barely scraping by.

Parents might be surprised to learn that their kids’ early childhood educators, many of whom are college graduates, are going without health insurance, depending on Medicaid and other government benefits, finding unconventional ways to cut basic operating costs, and even sacrificing retirement savings and paychecks to provide high-quality care for kids.

“I’ve been pedaling uphill and uphill,”

BY ALISON NOVAK

says 71-year-old Judy Pransky, a childcare center owner for almost 35 years. “I often say, How can I keep doing this?”

Cleveland concedes that she “never expected to become wealthy as a teacher,” but she also says she didn’t imagine how challenging it would be to make ends meet. For her, it comes down to dignity. “It is dehumanizing and difficult to have to ask for financial help, especially when you are working hard to stay afloat,” she says.

She knows that the work she is doing is critical. Parents need childcare to return to the workforce after having kids, and young children need high-quality learning experiences, she says. But the question she’s recently been asking herself is: “Do I want to have the job I believe I was born to do, or do I want to live a comfortable and independent life?”

development. After Soutiere gave birth to her son in August 2017, she could no longer afford to work there because the job didn’t offer health benefits, and her pay was just high enough to make her ineligible for Medicaid.

At Kids & Fitness, her son is able to attend the program at a 50 percent discount, and she gets health insurance benefits for herself. Her son receives health insurance through the statefunded Dr. Dynasaur program, and her family grocery bills are subsidized by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

Childcare workers in Vermont earned a median hourly wage of $12.71 in 2017, while preschool teachers earned $14.57. These numbers come from the 2018 Early Childhood Workforce Index released by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.

The pay is worse in other parts of the country. In 2017, the national median hourly wage was $10.72 for childcare workers and $13.94 for preschool teachers.

Colchester native Jordan Soutiere makes $16.50 an hour working with 1- and 2-yearolds at Kids & Fitness, a childcare program with locations in Essex, Williston and South Burlington run by health club The Edge.

Before starting her current job in the program’s Essex location, she earned $13.50 an hour at another childcare center in Essex, a job she took after graduating in 2015 from Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire with a bachelor’s degree in child

CASHIER: $11.13

DISHWASHER: $11.24

Despite these benefits, Soutiere struggles financially. She shells out $600 a month to repay college loans and estimates it will be 20 years before she is debt-free. She lives in St. Albans with her son and fiancé because they can’t afford an apartment in Chittenden County. Gas for the commute costs about $200 a month. She isn’t able to save money to make a down payment on a house. And she can’t afford to stay home with her son when he’s sick.

It’s not surprising that Soutiere is having difficulty making ends meet. Vermont ranks among the states with the highest cost of living on several surveys. The Living Wage Calculator, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, calculates that the living wage in Vermont — the hourly rate that a full-time worker must earn to support their household — is $13.29 per hour for one adult and $27.84 for one adult with one child, both in Chittenden County, the state’s most populous county, and in Franklin County, where Soutiere lives.

Despite working 40 hours a week, there is “a lot I can’t do because I just don’t have the money for it,” says Soutiere.

Ella Downey, 23, graduated from high school five years ago and got a job as an entry-level assistant teacher at Leaps and Bounds Child Development Center in South Burlington for $9.50 an hour. The first year she was there, she says, 38 employees left. She’s proud that now, under new ownership — the center is one of five Loveworks Child Care Centers in

PARKING LOT ATTENDANT: $11.98

STOCK CLERK: $12.70

CHILDCARE WORKER: $12.71

HAIRDRESSER: $12.93

“I STILL DON’T THINK WE’RE GETTING PAID NEARLY ENOUGH”

Early childhood educators provide critical service but struggle to make ends meet

Noelle Cleveland at Saxon Hill School in Jericho

According to the Vermont Department of Labor, the median hourly pay for the following jobs in Vermont is...

BARTENDER: $13.58

SECURITY GUARD: $13.89

NURSING ASSISTANT: $13.91

PRESCHOOL TEACHER: $14.57

FARMWORKER: $15.24

BUS DRIVER: $17.10

Vermont, and Downey is its director — employees receive health benefits and paid personal time, and teachers receive $14 to $16 an hour, more than many area centers pay, she says. She now makes $19.25 an hour running the day-to-day operations of the center: communicating with parents, giving tours to prospective families, hiring sta and managing enrollment, as well as covering teachers’ lunch breaks and filling in for classroom teachers when they’re absent. “I still don’t think we’re getting paid nearly enough,” she says.

She has di culty finding educators to hire, and being short-sta ed is a constant worry. “We just haven’t had that many people even applying,” she says.

Trisha Scharf, owner and director of Children Unlimited in Williston, which serves 65 students from age 6 weeks through school-age, says talented educators have left her center. One took a job as a clerical worker at a hospital. Others have become paraprofessionals or teachers in the public school system. These positions come with benefits and o er substantially more pay than jobs in childcare. A Vermont kindergarten teacher, for example, earns a median hourly wage of $31.69, according to the 2018 Early Childhood Workforce Index.

Says Scharf: “People who love this age group just can’t a ord to do it anymore.”

“I’LL KEEP DOING THIS AS LONG AS I CAN.”

It’s not only early childhood educators who are feeling the financial strain. Childcare center owners stand atop a razor-thin edge trying to balance quality care with economic stability.

The crux of the problem, says Janet McLaughlin, interim CEO and chief of programs for advocacy and awareness campaign Let’s Grow Kids, is that families who need childcare “can’t a ord to pay more, and early educators can’t a ord to make less.”

Pransky owns Cherry Street PlayCare in St. Johnsbury, a private center that provides childcare and afterschool care for 65 children, ages 6 weeks to 13 years. Cherry Street is a five-star program,

which means it has been recognized by the state as outstanding in a wide range of practices that support children, families and professionals.

Pransky believes that “from the moment of birth until they’re ready to walk into school,” children need highly skilled educators who are deeply invested in their work caring for children. In order to attract that caliber of educators, she says, childcare centers need to pay a decent wage. She prides herself on o ering a good salary to her employees, ranging from $13 to $33 an hour. She o ers two weeks of paid vacation after one year of employment, seven paid sick days and seven paid holidays, and she pays for professional development. Some of her employees have worked for her for 18 years.

How can she o er these competitive rates? “I decided I would sacrifice everything else to pay my sta well,” she explains. That means forgoing things like painting and insulating the building that houses the center (which she owns) and putting o cosmetic repairs on play equipment.

To construct an addition on her building to accommodate more infants and toddlers, she borrowed money from a well-to-do friend, then took out a life insurance policy in his daughter’s name as an unconventional way of repaying him.

Supplemental income she earns from Emerson Falls Hydro, a hydroelectric generating station she built with partners in 1984, goes into her childcare business.

Creativity, she and other center owners know, is key to staying afloat. For more than 30 years, Rosamaria Fay has provided childcare — first in her homebased program, now at the center she co-owns, Milton’s Elite. She’s constantly trying to figure out how to cut costs, she says, doing things like making her own liquid soap.

It costs childcare centers an estimated $15,793 to $35,535 per child to provide one year of quality early care, according to a November 2016 report from Vermont’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Financing High-Quality, A ordable

ROOFER: $17.23

MUNICIPAL CLERK: $18.42

MUSIC THERAPIST: $22.19

PARALEGAL: $23.66

POSTAL SERVICE MAIL CARRIER: $24.37

ELECTRICIAN: $24.96

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: $31.33

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: $35.35

VETERINARIAN: $45.54

Judy Pransky, owner of Cherry Street PlayCare in St. Johnsbury, with children from the center

I decided I would sacrifice everything else to pay my staff well.

CHILDCARE CENTER OWNER JUDY PRANSKY

Undervalued

CONTINUED FROM P.19

Child Care. The higher costs are for infants and toddlers, whose care requires more employees. State regulations require one childcare provider for every four infants, one provider for every five toddlers and one provider for every 10 preschoolers. Some childcare programs don’t offer infant care, says Fay of Milton’s Elite, because “it’s not cost-effective … We’re not making any money off those infants.”

State regulations, updated in 2016, beefed up the

educational requirements for lead, or head, teachers in center-based programs. Additionally, all early childhood educators are required to complete 15 hours of professional development annually. Some childcare center owners say these factors affect their ability to hire teachers at a salary they can afford — because educators with more training expect more money, and job applicants aren’t always willing to get the training they need for the salary being offered.

What’s more, many providers say the income level that enables families to receive state-funded childcare subsidies — known as the Child Care Financial Assistance Program, or CCFAP — is too low, which impacts their ability to charge more for care.

Under the current system, a family of four must make a gross monthly income of $2,092 or less to qualify for a 100 percent childcare subsidy. The subsidy operates on a sliding scale, bottoming out at families of four with a gross monthly income of $6,275, who qualify for a 10% subsidy. The Blue Ribbon Commission’s 2016 report found that less than a quarter of families seeking access to regulated childcare get assistance through the program. Furthermore, the report stated, “to make care more affordable for families, providers offer financial support, including not collecting CCFAP co-payments” for families who receive a partial subsidy, which reduces the income of their businesses.

Additionally, the state currently

NOT JUST BABYSITTERS

One barrier to change, say many childcare center owners, is the public perception that early childhood educators are essentially babysitters.

“Yes, we change diapers. Yes, we get thrown up on. Yes, we play with kids,” Trisha Scharf, owner of Children Unlimited in Williston, says, “but our play is intentional.” Painting, for example, might lead to a lesson on mixing colors. Kids learn science concepts while planting flowers.

Effective early childhood educators need to know and do a variety of things, she continues. Those include understanding social and emotional development, being familiar with therapeutic techniques for kids who have experienced trauma, knowing how to build on a child’s strengths, and giving each child individualized attention while also keeping everyone else safe. Furthermore, they need to be able to observe and assess children, plan and implement activities, refer children who are experiencing delays to specialists, and understand each child’s family dynamics and customs. “Half of our job is social work,” Scharf says.

Research shows that birth to age 5 is a critical time for investing in a child’s education. According to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, in the first few years of a child’s life, more than 1 million neural connections are formed every second “through the interaction of genes and a baby’s environment and experiences.” Furthermore, “early experiences and the environments in which chil-

dren develop in their earliest years can have lasting impact on later success in school and life.”

“We all know the science now,” says Scharf.

Dr. Joseph Hagan, a pediatrician at Burlington’s Hagan, Rinehart and Connolly in Burlington and coeditor of Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, agrees.

When it comes to early childhood educators and young children, he says, “we want someone who’s going to celebrate them, talk to them, sing to them, read to them, and then, when they’re done, talk to them more, read to them more, sing to them more.”

Every child deserves excellent childcare, Hagan says. And, he continues, there’s an economic argument for investing in early childhood education. He cites the Heckman Equation, developed by Nobel Memorial Prize-winning University of Chicago economics professor James Heckman, which states that the highest rate of economic return comes from the earliest investment in children in the form of early nurturing, learning experiences and physical health. Heckman has found that high-quality birthto-five programs for disadvantaged children produce significantly better outcomes in education, health, social behavior and employment later in life than do low-quality programs. Says Hagan: “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a pediatrician or child development specialist who would not agree with Heckman: ‘The earlier the investment, the greater the return.’”

calculates its subsidy for preschool-age children using the 2010 market rate — which is $227 less per child per month than what centers reported charging in 2017. Let’s Grow Kids likens that to “paying a mechanic 2010 prices for their services today.”

Due to pressures like these, Pransky’s St. Johnsbury center — where 88 percent of children qualify for a 100 percent childcare subsidy — loses money every year, she says, and “not one cent has gone into my retirement.” Still, she knows the work she’s doing is critical. “I’ll keep doing this as long as I can,” she says.

It’s not uncommon for childcare owners to sacrifice their own pay to keep their centers afloat. Children Unlimited owner Scharf says that she took almost no salary last year. She had a dip in enrollment in the summer and fall, she explains, and didn’t want to let go of any staff, so she just didn’t pay herself. “I’m lucky,” she says. “I’m married, and my husband can carry benefits, and together we can make a living.”

Mindy Bessette hasn’t seen a single paycheck from her childcare business. She owns Adventures in Learning Child Care Center in Colchester, a Christianbased center she started in 2017 to provide care primarily for children who have experienced trauma. She was inspired to open the center after she and her husband served as foster parents to a child with trauma, and she wasn’t able to find any childcare centers willing to accept him because of his special needs.

To open Adventures, she used the 401(k) savings she accrued working for 25 years as a financial administrator at the University of Vermont. She recently started a capital campaign, sending postcards to local businesses to ask them to help support her work. Her husband often asks her how much longer she’s willing to go on like this. Her answer? “There are always going to be children who need somebody like me.”

“WHO’S GOING TO BE THERE TO TAKE OVER?”

According to the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office, the state lost 20 private childcare centers serving infants to preschoolers — or 4.8 percent — between December 2015 and June 2018. The loss in home providers for the same time period was more dramatic: 204 programs, or 26.6 percent.

McLaughlin of Let’s Grow Kids says the rate of childcare closures has been relatively constant over the last 10 years — excluding a spike after the new regulations were introduced in 2016. What most concerns her is that few new programs are opening up, which mirrors a nationwide trend. According to Building Bright Futures’ 2018 report, “How Are Vermont’s Young Children and Families?,” 67 percent of Vermont children under age 5 who likely need childcare will not have access to a high-quality, regulated program. Focus only on infants who need care, and that number jumps to 84 percent.

Downey

of Loveworks and Scharf of Children

Unlimited both say they have wait lists through March of 2020. Scharf says she gets two to three calls a day from parents inquiring about spots for infants. Fay of Milton’s Elite says she’s encountered parents who are willing to start paying for childcare months before they actually need it in order to secure a spot.

“I’m getting older,” Scharf says. “There’s going to be a time when I’m going to age out of this business. Who’s going to be there to take over?”

One person who knows at least part of the answer is Kaitlin Northey, assistant professor in the Early

Trisha Scharf, left, owner of Children Unlimited in Williston COURTESY OF LET’S GROW KIDS

Childhood Education program at UVM. According to a 2015 report, “The Economic Value of College Majors,” from the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, early childhood educators are the lowest paid college graduates of any degree program.

“I try to prepare my students not only with the professional knowledge and expertise they need but also with the advocacy skills and confidence to see what’s possible and fight for high-quality early childhood education,” says Northey, who teaches undergraduates. That means showing them the research on pay disparities and digging into childcare policy issues. If her students — the future of early childhood education — are going to go into this field, “we want to arm them with information and show them they’re not alone,” says Northey. “The pressure to move the needle has to come from within.”

Ellen Drolette, who has run a homebased childcare program in Burlington for the last 25 years, co-owns Positive Spin LLC, a business that trains early childhood educators to fight for change in the field. “We talk to people about not being a victim of the system,” Drolette says, because “they are the system.” When it comes to advocating for childcare policy that would benefit them, Drolette says, “I think there’s a lot of fear that they may say the wrong thing or their story isn’t worthy.” But she stresses that it’s the early childhood educators on the front lines, not the politicians, who are the experts in these matters. She encourages them to have conversations with family, friends and legislators about the issues they face.

That’s the path Noelle Cleveland is taking. Last year, she began volunteering with Let’s Grow Kids. She says that despite the social taboo around discussing what she earns, she is motivated to speak out because she sees the work she is doing as important — not just for young children, but for society.

“If more people got to explore nature from a very early age, would we be more willing to act on climate change? If more people learned the value of working together and sharing ideas, would we be willing to expand services to help our neighbors? If more people learned the value of using words to solve differences and express themselves, would there be less violence? I think yes,” she says.

“This is not just a job or career; it’s ensuring that there is a future.” K

FINANCIAL FIXES?

In March, the Vermont House Human Services Committee unanimously sent H.531 to the full House for debate, where it received approval. At press time, it was under consideration in the Senate. The bill aims to make childcare more affordable and to support the retention and professional development of its workforce. To help early childhood educators, the bill proposes to:

• Invest $500,000 in a scholarship program to help current early educators earn an associate’s degree, achieve state licensure or participate in the state’s childcare apprenticeship program, which is one path toward becoming a lead teacher.

• Invest $500,000 in a student loan repayment support program.

• Direct the Child Development Division of the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) to issue fiveyear variances to allow some early educators to maintain employment in their current role while they work to meet recently updated education requirements.

To help families, the bill proposes to:

• Align the guidelines for Vermont’s Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) with the 2019 federal poverty guidelines. Melissa Riegel-Garrett, policy director of the Child Development Division of DCF, says this would give some families receiving assistance through CCFAP “a little more help” but would likely not increase the number of Vermont families receiving assistance.

• Adjust CCFAP’s sliding benefit scale so that more families receive more financial assistance, and so small pay increases don’t result in significant decreases in childcare assistance.

• Increase reimbursement rates for prekindergarten and school-age children to align with findings from the state’s 2015 market rate survey, so that families don’t have to cover the significant gap between outdated reimbursement rates and what their programs actually charge for care.

On the Cheap

How to raise a family on a budget

Starting a family means creating your own traditions — a favorite playground or picnic spot, or a beloved song you sing in the car. Each family also develops their own economic plan. How much will you spend on groceries each week? On winter gear? Home decorating? Clothing?

Family budgeting is often approached with dread or uncertainty. In his book, Saved: How I Quit Worrying About Money and Became the Richest Guy in the World, Vermont writer Ben Hewitt humorously acknowledges his fear of family finances. “I am bothered by the fact that for the majority of my adult life, I have fretted over money. And then, ridiculously, I fret over my fretting.”

To lighten the burden, we asked six local pros to share their money-saving savvy — and tossed in a few tips of our own. Here’s to fretting less and focusing on what really matters: raising children.

BUDGET BIRTHDAY BASHES

BY BRETT ANN STANCIU

EAT WELL, SAVE MONEY

Hannaford dietitian Brigitte Harton’s number one tip for tackling the grocery bill: create a meal plan. With 23 years of experience, Harton knows a lot about the subject.

“Don’t reinvent the wheel,” Harton says. Make a general weekly plan to use as a template, tweaking it as needed. You’re not going to create 365 original dinners each year. Ask your kids to participate in menu planning; they’re more likely to eat meals they’ve requested.

Consider your family’s schedule. Soccer-practice or dance-lesson days are good opportunities for “plannedovers” — nights when you raid the leftovers — so you don’t resort to the expense of eating out. Harton suggests using unscheduled evenings to cook large quantities. That leftover roasted chicken will give you a head start on a “planned-over” taco dinner.

A shopping list is key. Inventory what you need, then keep to the list to eliminate expensive impulse buying.

Go vegetarian — or semi-vegetarian. Meat is a pricey ingredient that can be reduced in many recipes. For example, when stir-frying, add more vegetables or beans. Less meat is better for your bank account — and the environment. Shop deals and sales, but be savvy. Don’t use coupons for items you wouldn’t otherwise purchase. My Hannaford Rewards offers cash-back incentives to purchase Hannaford brand products. Other stores offer similar money-saving programs.

Healthy food doesn’t always come from the produce section. veggies and fruits aren’t feasible for your budget — or are out of season — check out canned, frozen and dried options. Shop for vegetables with no salt added

Best-selling writer John Cheever famously quipped, “Writing fiction is not a competitive sport.” Parenting isn’t, either — something to bear in mind when planning a child’s birthday party. Nicole Howard and Raelyn Ward of Whim of Whimsy, a Cambridge party planning and décor rental company, o er some tips for birthdays on a budget.

Howard and Ward emphasize that, for kids, birthday cake is good cake. Box cake mix is perfectly acceptable. “Even the most terribly frosted cake, done with love, will be better — and cheaper — than a grocery store cake anytime,” they say. Or, offer decorateyour-own-cupcakes as part of the festivities.

Timing matters. If you throw an afternoon party, you can offer snacks and cake — but don’t have to provide a full meal to guests. Don’t blow your budget on the venue or a party package. Take a small group ice skating, bowling or to an open gym and skip the expense of a party room. In the summer, set up in a favorite playground or on

a local beach. Many parks have shelters available for little or no cost.

Party décor doesn’t have to break the bank. Tape or hang colored balloons or leave them on the floor. If you’re feeling fancy, draw animals or pictures on the balloons with Sharpies. Twist streamers to make a fancy backdrop — like seaweed for a mermaid-themed party — or hang them like a curtain. Go digital — and not just for invitations. The internet is a gold mine of decorating ideas, many available as free downloads. “Print screen grabs of characters if your child absolutely has to have that princess or cartoon character, and tape it to a birthday banner you already own, a wall or onto a basic plastic tablecloth,” Howard suggests. Be kind to the planet — and your wallet — and nix the tiny plastic

favors that will likely get tossed in the garbage. Plan a DIY craft that doubles as a take-home token. For the little ones, even a balloon on a stick is fun.

Brett’s two cents:

Opt for simplicity. If your child is turning 1, consider inviting family and friends to a picnic. Bring the cake, plates and utensils and ask guests to contribute a potluck dish. Choose a venue with a vista. My good friend’s son had a birthday tradition of hiking up Mount Elmore. While the parties afterwards have mostly faded from memory, we still remember those hikes — the rain, the mud, the view — and I’m sure her son does, too.

and fruit canned in its own juice rather than sugary syrups.

Brett’s two cents:

Buy or barter locally. Vermont farmers produce a bounty of vegetables, meat, cheese, honey and maple syrup. Consider buying in bulk directly from a farm and stocking your freezer with chicken or berries.

Grow a garden. Even a small bed of greens offsets the grocery bill, and what could be healthier and more satisfying than from the backyard?

LOW-PRICE LEISURE

Get creative when planning recreational and cultural outings with your kids. Vermont boasts a variety of state parks — all family-friendly. In addition to swimming, camping, fishing and playgrounds, many o er free concerts, storytelling and naturalist programs. Rochelle Skinner, sales and service manager for Vermont State Parks, gives these tips to maximize good times while minimizing expense.

A $30 punch card provides families with 10 visits at a discounted price.

A $90 vehicle season’s pass includes admission for up to eight passengers to all parks; purchase a second pass for $50.

All Vermont public libraries have one-day free park admission passes available for checkout.

The First Time Happy Camper program, offered at five state parks, includes a free campsite for two nights, loaner equipment and friendly ranger advice for camping newbies.

Vermont State Parks’ Venture Vermont is an outdoor challenge with a reward of a free park pass good for that season and the following year, too.

On Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9, Vermont Days offer free admission to all state parks and free fishing on Saturday. (See vtstateparks.com for more details.)

Brett’s two cents — beyond state parks:

Swim at public beaches. My family’s favorite is Caspian Lake in Greensboro — shallow and perfect for small children.

DESIGN ON A DIME

Explore a local trail system. While some require a small fee — Burke’s Kingdom Trails is $7-15 and free for kids under age 8 — others, like the Lamoille Valley and Missisquoi Valley rail trails, the Stowe Recreation Path, and the Burlington Greenway Bike Path are free. In Huntington, the Green Mountain Audubon Center opens its five miles of trails to the public for a donation.

Visit your local library. It likely has museum or historic site passes for free or reduced admission. While you’re at the circulation desk, check out the library’s programming. In addition to story times, libraries often host fun events, from puppet shows to crafting sessions.

Check out low-cost or bydonation performances on by community theater troupes and schools.

Know when to splurge. After a hot hike, stop for ice cream sundaes as a sweet reward.

BARGAIN GARB

New parents often bemoan the amount of stu kids require — including clothing. Anya Huneke, owner of Burlington’s Dirt Chic consignment shop, points out the wisdom of shopping secondhand. “Kids grow through — and wear through — clothes so fast,” she says. Their tastes change, too.

Buy ahead, Huneke advises. Her advice applies not just to anticipating upcoming seasons, but larger sizes, too. Your kid isn’t going to wear a 2T forever. If you see a great price on a 3T snowsuit, assume it will be used. “Don’t waste a good deal,” she says. Invest in the practical, “concentrating on stuff that’s about play,” Huneke says, since those clothes will get the hardest use. Focus on sweatpants, T-shirts and slip-on shoes, rather than fancy get-ups and lace-up shoes. Buy unisex clothing, so that everyone in the family will be satisfied with hand-me-downs.

what’s worn out. If you don’t have simple sewing skills, consider learning to replace lost buttons and stitch small rips.

Repurpose outgrown or no-longerloved clothes. Huneke cuts leggings into shorts for her daughter to wear beneath skirts.

Establish a swapping system with fellow parents. That way, nothing goes to waste and everyone wins. Last, Huneke acknowledges, she’s gotten “a lot of rags out of my kids’ clothes.” That’s useful, too.

Does your house need a springtime spruce up? Burlington mom Jillian Kirby, who writes the lifestyle blog Hey Jillian, suggests starting small. Children’s rooms are “perfect places to flex your DIY muscles,” she says. Because they’re not the family’s main living spaces, the stakes are lower. Plus, children’s preferences often change every few years.

Kirby’s practical tips center on a ordability and creative expression. Fresh paint is a budget-friendly way to brighten up a space in a short time. But be cautious with color, Kirby advises. “You don’t want to be stuck repainting a whole hot-pink or neon-green room in a couple of years,” she says. Instead, focus on a single wall if you want to experiment with a brilliant hue or a playful mural. That way, when your little girl turns into a tween who’s no longer in love with cotton-candy pink, repainting won’t make you pull out your hair.

poorly constructed and surprisingly pricey. Cruise Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or Front Porch Forum for used, solid-wood items. “Even the most dated dresser can turn into a creative, one-of-a-kind piece with some new hardware and paint,” says Kirby.

Decorative accents are a good way to create a unique space. Add whimsy and excitement with fun wall art and colorful or patterned window treatments and throw pillows. Even amateur seamstresses can

stitch pillowcases, curtains and duvet covers in creative prints.

Hang a wall of inexpensive matching frames with photos or prints of your kid’s current favorite characters. Use a regular office printer, so you can swap out SpongeBob SquarePants or Peppa Pig when a new infatuation comes along.

For DIY inspiration, Kirby recommends spoonflower. com and designsponge.com.

Budget-priced new furniture is often

Repair

Easy Does It

Camp staffers share the sweet and simple activities that make summer memories

COMPILED BY ALISON NOVAK

The most memorable and meaningful camp experiences are often the least complicated. From running barefoot in the grass to floating in the lake on a sunny afternoon, from sipping homemade teas to listening to animals in the woods, summer camps offer kids the opportunity to unplug, abandon their school-year worries and just enjoy childhood. We asked summer program directors and staff to tell us about a simple pleasure campers experience in their program.

CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE GAME ACADEMY

Session 1: July 8–19, 2019

Session 2: July 22–August 2, 2019

This two-week program, taught by Champlain faculty (all game industry veterans), introduces high school students to game development— game design, game art and animation, programming, testing, and production.

Register by June 14, 2019 champlain.edu/game-academy

A simple pleasure at the Sailing Center is one I see every week in our Little Guppies camp for kids ages 6 and 7. When we have no-wind days, our Guppies love to spend a sunny afternoon SWIMMING AND PLAYING ON A STANDUP PADDLE BOARD (SUP) tied to our dock. The SUP becomes a platform to jump o of, a safe zone in a game of chase, a challenge to see how many Guppies can fit on the board at once, and a generator of smiles and giggles all afternoon long.

-MARY DOWD, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY SAILING CENTER, BURLINGTON EASY DOES IT, P. 32 »

Summer Art Camps

Start June 17 for ages 6-18 To

camps,

Summer Camp at Shelburne Museum

Tumble through the grounds, paint by the pond, explore the beloved Ticonderoga, and ignite your creativity and imagination. Registration open now. Visit shelburnemuseum.org/camps.

June 24–29

CIRCUS CAMP

Ages 7–12

Come one, come all as Circus Smirkus and Shelburne Museum partner to offer a camp focusing on all things circus arts. Joni White-Hanson, residency artist, will join us each day to teach us the tricks of the trade—from clowning to juggling, and much more. The week will culminate in a big top performance for family and friends!

July 29–August 2

QUILT CAMP

Ages 8–12

Learn new sewing techniques or improve existing skills as we gather in this weeklong summer camp creating unique lap quilts. Campers will explore the Museum’s extensive collection of textiles and gather inspiration. Each camper will have access to a sewing machine for the week, as well as all materials needed to create beautiful, unique, and inspired quilts.

August 5–9

EN PLEIN AIR

Ages: 7–10

Geared toward children ages 4–6 years old, these weeklong camps teach children about the Museum’s collections through close looking, art making, games, and fun! Each week’s activities will focus on a single theme. Sign up for a single week, or up to four!

Week 1: July 1–5 Trains

Week 2: July 8–12, Circus

Week 3: July 15–19, Boats

Week 4: July 22–26, Animals NEW!

COUNSELOR-IN-TRAINING PROGRAM

Ages 13–16

Have you outgrown the traditional summer camp but are still looking for summer fun? Consider being a Counselor in Training! Our new CIT program allows young adults the opportunity to explore the grounds and gain on the job experience working with campers and staff, while still in a supervised environment. Young adults will join Museum staff to help plan and prep for camp as well as assist in all day- to-day activities. CITs must be available for a full week and will need a personal reference and cover letter when applying for their camp choice.

Photography by Mollie Davis.

For kids who are wild about animals

For kids who are wild about animals!

For kids who are wild about animals!

Kids Ages 5-7: $200

Animal Adventures (ages 7-9)

Animal Adventures (ages 7-9)

Week 1: Monday-Friday, July 8-12 Session One: 8:30AM-12:30PM

Afternoons only still available!

July 13-17 ● July 20-24

Afternoons only still available!

Week 2: Monday-Friday, July 15-19

July 13 -17 ● July 20-24 -12)

Session Two: 8:30AM-12:30PM

Kids Ages 8-9: $390

Week 3: Monday-Friday, July 22-26

Session Three: 8:30AM-3PM

Week 4: Monday-Friday, July 29-Aug. 2

Summer Safari (ages 10-12)

Full-day camp: A few slots available

Register: (802) 862-0135 x 12

Or visit chittendenhumane.org.

Session Four: 8:30AM - 3PM

Kids Ages 10-12: $390

Week 5: Monday-Friday, Aug. 5-9

Session Five: 8:30AM-3PM

Week 6: Monday-Friday, Aug. 12-16 Session Six: 8:30AM-3PM

What will your adventure be?

June 6-9 Adult Camp Ages 21+

June 15-16 Smirkling Camp Age 6-11

June 22 Intro to Smirkus Age 5-11

June 23-28 Beginner Camp Age 8-16

June 30-July 12 All Levels Age 8-16

July 14-26 Intermediate Age 12-18

July 28-Aug 16 Advanced Camp Age 12-18

WE KNOW CAMPS Register today

CAMP KODA

Age: For kids in K - 6 grade

Location: 6 area communities

Hours: 7:30 am – 6:00 pm

Full-day, coed summer day camp with 3 and 5 day options in Burlington, Essex, Georgia, Underhill, and Waterbury.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CAMPS

Age: Co-ed for ages 11-14

Location: Greater Burlington

Hours: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm

These camps will provide an opportunity to make a real difference!

CAMP IGNITE

Age: For girls ages 8-14 Location: Burlington

Hours: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

A camp to Inspire Girls in Nature, Technology, and the Environment on the shores of Lake Champlain in Burlington.

SUMMER BOOKEND CAMPS

Age: For kids in K - 6 grade Location: Burlington

Hours: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm

Beginning and end of summer camps celebrate A Universe of Stories in collaboration with the Fletcher Free Library.

CAMP ABNAKI

Age: For boys in grades K - 10 Location: North Hero, VT

Hours: 1 and 2 week sessions

Day and overnight camp on Lake Champlain. Campers build skills, a sense of values, and have fun! campabnaki.org

For more information about Y summer camps, and to register today, visit gbymca.org/camp

Act! Laugh! Play! Perform!

Spruce Peak Arts Camps offer a fun, in-depth learning experience packed with creativity and opportunity to develop new skills.

YOUtheatre: Fractured Fairy Tales Camp

Instructors: Madeline Nickerson and Christine Penney

Campers will create and perform a story based on famous fairy tales. Song and dance might show up as well!

Monday, July 15 to Friday, July 19

9am to 3:30pm* (performance at 3:30pm Friday)

Ages: 6 to 14

Fee: $295 Spruce Peak Arts Members, $335 Non-Members

Jazz, SCAT, Performance Camp

Instructors: Dave Tisdell and Kevin Bloom

Campers will explore their jazz “voice” during a fun-filled, creative, and multi-disciplinary week.

Monday, August 12 to Friday, August 16 9am to 3:30pm* (performance at 3:30pm Friday)

Ages: 8 to 14

Fee: $295 Spruce Peak Arts Members, $335 Non-Members

Space is limited, Sign up today!

W H E R E M E M O R I E S A R E M A D E 2 01 9 SUMMER CAMPS

Sail, paddle, & more starting June 17th! Scholarships Available

Digital Forensics & Cybersecurity

Pre-College Summer Academy

July 14–27, 2019

Learn how to solve & prevent crimes through Digital Forensics & Cybersecurity

High school students—are you interested in how crimes are solved or prevented by investigating how people use their computers and other digital devices? In this 14-day residential camp you will learn by working alongside experts in the fields of digital forensics and cybersecurity at the Champlain College Leahy Center for Digital Investigation.

SPRUCE PEAK ARTS /camps

.org

122 Hourglass Drive Stowe, VT | 802-760-4634

Located at the top of the Mountain Road at Spruce Peak

Space is limited. Register today. champlain.edu/digitalforensics2019

Partnering individuals with and without special needs, ages 7 through adults for a summer day camp experience. IEP designed programming.

Easy Does It

At Camp Paw Paw, a simple pleasure the campers will enjoy is TAKING CARE OF CARMEN THE BOX TURTLE! They will learn about her species, feed her, clean her cage and give her fresh water every day.

ERIN ALAMED, DIRECTOR OF VOLUNTEER AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH, CHITTENDEN COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY, BURLINGTON

Usually early in the week, campers VISIT THE FLYNN MAINSTAGE and have a tour of the stage area and backstage. The tour allows campers to examine the inner workings of the theater, from learning about the complex rope-andpulley system that manages the many curtains, to examining the catwalk safely from the ground, to seeing the green room where famous performing artists have relaxed, to sitting in front of the lighted mirrors in the chorus rooms. This experience gives campers attending our performing arts camps a window into the world of a professional performing artist.

SARAH

CALIENDO,

MANAGER, FLYNNARTS, FLYNN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, BURLINGTON

Night Eagle is all about simple pleasures: enjoying the call of a loon as it flies overhead, making its way to Wallingford Pond; trudging through a wetland and seeing a moose lift its head as it stands majestically after taking a drink; creeping up on a group of otters as they frolic around the floating dock in the swimming area; BEING ABLE TO GO BAREFOOT

WHENEVER YOU WANT and enjoy the feel of the earth under your feet without being told to put your shoes on; learning to make homemade ice cream the old-fashioned way; or baking loaves of homemade bread in an outdoor clay oven and then slathering butter on it when it’s still warm.

BRUCE MORETON, DIRECTOR, NIGHT EAGLE WILDERNESS ADVENTURES, WALLINGFORD

Taking care of box turtle Carmen at Camp Paw Paw

Whittling at Night Eagle

Tomahawk throwing at Night Eagle Wilderness Adventures

During hot afternoons we have restore time, which is full of the simple pleasures of a Vermont summer day. TAKING GOATS OUT FOR A FOREST ROMP is a sweet way to beat the heat. From the herb garden, kids make refreshing sun tea. Turns out mint, lemon balm, chamomile and bergamot are for us boring adults. The kids mix up and guzzle down tea made from everything from tarragon and chives, to borage and dandelion. They also love to sip them through shallot or chive straws! We also visit the marsh and get up to our waists in oozing mud — pretty refreshing once the hosing down is complete.

MICHAELA RYAN, DIRECTOR, NEW VILLAGE FARM CAMP, SHELBURNE

Definitely the best simple pleasure that campers have at Wildflowers is the ability to FREELY EXPLORE THE STUDIO for over an hour every morning at their own pace. Some children come in needing quiet time in the Lego loft. Some children dive right in with scissors and a roll of masking tape at the tinker bench. Sometimes there’s a small group laying the groundwork for an adventure in the sand boat. What’s amazing is watching it unfold every morning — kids getting the time and space they need on that particular day to bloom.

LYNDSY BLAIS, FOUNDER, WILDFLOWERS STUDIO, ESSEX JUNCTION

A simple pleasure that kids experience at camp is sitting on a rock, immersing themselves in the outdoors and just getting to move at a slower pace. Groups are outside for up to seven hours a day during day camp and 24 hours a day during expeditions. Simple pleasures during the days are LISTENING TO BIRDS AND CHIPMUNKS, feeling rocks and moss, and smelling leaves, rain and pine trees.

ANDREA CHAREST, CO-OWNER, PETRA CLIFFS, BURLINGTON

A simple pleasure we enjoy at Rock Point Camp is our MORNING CIRCLES. It is a time to connect with campers and nature, as well as gear up for the day. In circle, we often sing songs, share what we are grateful for and take a few moments to be mindful of our surroundings. It helps set the tone for what our camp is all about.

JULIE GARWOOD, DIRECTOR, ROCK POINT CAMP, BURLINGTON

June 23-29 &/or June 30July 6, 2019

Serving advanced and gi ed students entering grades 4-9 for 22 years!

802-658-9941 LUCY@TDIVERMONT.ORG

Kevin Sneddon’s Hockey School

2019 Summer Camp Programs

Girls Basketball Week 1: June 17-21

Week 2: July 15-19

Boys Basketball Week 1: June 24-28

Week 2: July 22-26

Girls Soccer Week 1: July 8-12

Week 2: July 29- Aug 2

Field Hockey Week 1: July 22-26

Overnight: July 14-18

Boys Soccer June 24-28

Girls Lacrosse July 8-12

Boys Lacrosse Week 1: June 17-21

Week 2: July 29- Aug 2

Volleyball July 8-12

Knights Total Sports July 29- Aug 2

Baseball July 29- Aug 2

SoaringintoSpring

Big Rig Day: Curious kids get up close and personal with cool trucks, tractors and buses, then check out games and activities. 9 a.m.-noon, Swanton Village Municipal Building, Swanton.

Earth Day Celebration: This planetary fête includes DIY crafts, live raptor programs, vegetable seed planting and opportunities to learn about how human decisions impact the environment. 10 a.m.5 p.m., Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Quechee.

Vermont Maple Festival: A giant parade, marionette shows, Main Street entertainment, specialty foods and more showcase Vermont’s signature sweet. See vtmaplefestival.org for schedule. Downtown St. Albans.

Environmental enthusiasts celebrate Earth Day during the EARTH & SPACE-TACULAR FESTIVAL by planting seeds, engaging in out-of-this world activities and participating in the annual mud fling (pictured). Saturday, April 20, through Sunday, April 28, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington.

Like the University of Vermont Medical Center on Facebook and get weekly updates from Dr. First! See “First With Kids” videos at uvmhealth.org.

2 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: Fledgling architects assemble creations collaboratively with colorful blocks. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 3-5 p.m. Info, 472-5948. FREE

CHITTENDEN

After-School Snacks on Tuesdays: The library teams up with the Hinesburg Community Resource Center and offers munchies for afterschool readers and library users. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 2:15 p.m. Info, 482-2878. FREE

Art Play Day: Little ones and caregivers drop in and get messy with multiple materials to spark imagination. Ages 18 months to 5 years with caregiver. Radiate Art Space, Richmond, 8:45-10 a.m., $5 per child; $8 max per family; $40 for a 10-visit punch card. Info, 324-9938.

Creative Tuesdays: Young artists involve their imaginations with interesting materials. Kids under 6 must be accompanied by an adult. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 3:15-4:45 p.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Money Smart Games: Savvy strategists have a blast playing Monopoly and Life to mark Money Smart Week. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-3:45 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Spanish Musical Kids: Niños celebrate Spanish through Latin American songs and games. Ages 1-5 with a caregiver. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Teen Advisory Board: Teens take time together. Grades 9 and up. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2-3:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Tinker Tuesdays: Inquisitive kiddos investigate what makes technology tick by taking apart objects and designing new creations. Use the library’s materials or bring in computers, keyboards or other old electronics. Winooski Memorial Library, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 655-6424. FREE

FRANKLIN

Adoption Support Group: Families facing adoption issues and challenges join forces in a respectful setting. All welcome. Franklin County Seniors Center, St. Albans, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 524-1700. FREE

LAMOILLE

Free Family Art Workshops: Imaginative youngsters drop in for all or part of the morning and make masterpieces with many materials. Coffee, drinks and snacks provided. River Arts, Morrisville, 9-11 a.m. Info, 472-6857. FREE

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: Little ones immerse in art projects and free play activities, stimulating socialization and motor, language, and cognitive development. Ages 4 and under. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 9-11 a.m., $5; $20 for a 5-visit punchcard. Info, 457-3500.

3 Wednesday

CHITTENDEN

Game Gathering for Developmentally Delayed

Young Adults: Teens and young adults enjoy simple, noncompetitive board and card games and socializing. Ages 14-25, with a support person, if needed. Milton Public Library, 4-5 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Kids’ Chess Club: Strategy lovers of all abilities face off against opponents. Ages 6 and up. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 6-7 p.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Minecraft Club: Homeschool gamers play and socialize. Bring a device with Minecraft pocket edition. Ages 7-12. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 1-2 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Open Studio: Kids ignite their imagination with the library’s materials. Essex Free Library, Essex Junction, 3-4 p.m. Info, 879-0313. FREE

Read With Daisy the Therapy Dog: Book buffs of all ages bring a selection from home or borrow from the library to amuse an attentive canine. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:15-4:15 p.m., preregister. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Vermont Astronomical Society: After a starry-eyed presentation, amateur sky gazers use telescopes to check out the constellations, weather permitting. Milton Public Library, 6:30-8:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Classes

List your class or camp here for only $20 per month! Submit the listing by April 15 at kidsvt.com or to classes@ kidsvt.com.

BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: The future of our nation lies in the courage, confidence and determination of its people. Our Kids BJJ Program promotes self-esteem, selfconfidence, character development and a physical outlet with discipline, cooperation with other children, respect for peers and adults, perseverance and a healthy lifestyle.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will help your kids to learn realistic bully-proofing and self-defense skills that they can use for the rest of their lives! Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu builds endurance, patience and self-respect. Give your kids the ability to get stronger, gain confidence and build resilience! Our sole purpose is to help empower people by giving them practices they can carry with them throughout life. Remember you are raising children, not flowers. First class is free! Please stop by our school at 55 Leroy Road, Williston; call 598-2839; visit vermontbjj.com or email julio@bjjusa.com to register your son or daughter!

INSPIRING PIANO LESSONS: Individualized lessons for students ages 6 through adulthood by renowned professional music director, Randal Pierce. All experience levels welcome. Info, randalpiercemusic. com, randal.pierce@gmail.com or 999-1594.

EVOKIDS AND EVOBABIES YOGA CLASSES: Join us for spring classes in Burlington and Essex Junction! Weekday and weekend classes available in both locations for all ages, new babies up to teenagers. Evolution Family Yoga Center, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington and 37 Lincoln Street, Essex Junction. Info, evolutionprenatalandfamily. com.

GAME BOARD AND PIECES: Students will design and construct a tabletop game and pieces using the laser machine and compatible materials such as plywood, cardboard or acrylic, and the 3D printer. Alternately, several game ideas are available or you could adapt a game of your choice! June 24-29, 1-4 p.m., $295. Location: Generator, 40 Sears Ln., Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761.

Yoga for Kids: Young yogis engage their energy and explore breathing exercises and relaxation poses with professional instructor Melissa from Evolution Yoga. Ages 2-5. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

RUTLAND

Lego Club: Budding builders bust out amazing architecture with blocks. Sherburne Memorial Library, Killington, 3-4 p.m. Info, 422-9765. FREE

WASHINGTON

Creating With littleBits: Curious kids investigate electricity. Ages 8-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036.

Walk-Through Wednesday at Orchard Valley: Parents interested in an alternative education for their children in grades 1-8 tour classrooms, observe a lesson and ask questions. For adults. Orchard Valley Waldorf School, East Montpelier, 8:30-9:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 456-7400. FREE

PRENATAL & POSTNATAL YOGA AND STRENGTH TRAINING CLASSES AT EVOLUTION PRENATAL YOGA CENTER: Now with two locations, Burlington and Essex Junction! Have a more comfortable pregnancy and prepare for birth with stretching, strengthening and relaxation — and then bring body back to balance and strength in our postnatal classes. Join our community at any point in your pregnancy, and 6 weeks or later in your postpartum time (until baby is crawling). No yoga experience necessary.  $17/class, $140/10 class pass ($20 off if purchased on your first class), or $90/monthly unlimited. Location: Evolution Prenatal Yoga Center, 20 Kilburn Street, Burlington and 37 Lincoln Street, Essex Junction. Info,  evolutionprenatalandfamily.com.

ELECTRIFY YOUR WARDROBE WITH WEARABLE ELECTRONICS: LIGHT UP FASHION YOU SEW YOURSELF!: Wearable electronics combine sewing with circuitry. Imagine a hat that twinkles whenever you tilt your head, or a costume that flashes when it’s dark outside. Participants will learn how to use different types of sensors, as well as how to create their own switches and battery holders using magnets, conductive fabric and other materials. Campers will also learn how to integrate a preprogrammed microcontroller into their own designs. June 24-29, 9 a.m.-noon, $295. Location: Generator, 40 Sears Ln., Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761.

DESIGN CAMP: SCREEN PRINTED STICKERS & SHIRTS: Go from doodle to design using Adobe Illustrator and a vinyl cutter! This hands-on workshop will teach kids how to make multicolor prints. Starting with markers and sticker paper, kids will learn all the tools necessary to turn their drawing into reproducible digital designs. This camp covers Adobe Illustrator basics, design thinking, as well as an introduction to Generator’s Roland GX-300 vinyl cutter. July 8-12, 9 a.m.-noon, $295. Location: Generator, 40 Sears Ln., Burlington. Info, generatorvt. com, 540-0761.

KIDS WOODSHOP: MAKE A CHAIR OR STOOL: Build your own chair, then sit down and relax! Design and create your own step stool or chair for your bedroom or a space needing a seat!  Students will get the chance to use a table saw, jigsaw, router, and orbital sander to build their hardwood creation. Students will design their own seat and leave with the amazing piece of work! July 8-12, 1-4 p.m., $295. Location: Generator, 40 Sears Ln., Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761.

WINDSOR

Homeschool Red Clover Book Award Club: In this 6-week program, home learners read books on this esteemed list, participate in art and writing projects and vote for their favorite read. Ages 5-11. Hartland Public Library, 1-2:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 436-2473. FREE

Toddler Time: See April 2.

4 Thursday

CALEDONIA

Free Family Art Workshops: Imaginative youngsters drop in for all or part of the morning and make masterpieces with many materials. Coffee, drinks and snacks provided. Ages 1-12 with adult caregiver. Old Firehouse at GRACE, Hardwick, 9-11 a.m. Info, 472-6857. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Chess Club: Players of all ages pursue a game of strategy. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Colchester Lego Club: Mini-makers participate in surprise challenges with interlocking toys. Ages 6-10. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Essex Lego Club: Small builders strengthen STEAM skills while having a blast with plastic blocks. Ages 5 and up. Essex Free Library, Essex Junction, 3-4 p.m. Info, 879-0313. FREE

Food for Thought Teen Library Volunteers: Young adults polish off pizza as they ponder library projects. Grades 7-12. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 4-5 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Hinesburg Lego Club: Junior builders have a ball with blocks, friends and snacks. Ages 5-10. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 482-2878. FREE

Monthly Home School Program: Home learners soak up nature-related studies in an outdoor classroom. Parent participation optional. Ages 6-8. Audubon Vermont, Huntington, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., $20-25, preregister. Info, 434-3068.

Over Dinner Series: Childhood educator, organizer and author Emma Redden joins the community over dinner to discuss the why and how of talking with preschoolers about race and racial violence. Hive on Pine, Burlington, 6-8:30 p.m., $20 with potluck dish; preregister.

Preschool Yoga: Children’s Yoga Teacher Melissa Nutting charms wee ones and caregivers with a half-hour of singing, relaxing, reading and stretching. Ages 3-6. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 11:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE Ukulele Kids: Musical ones join Joe to sing and play. All ages. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Writing Club: Amateur authors create unique comic books, poems and more. All ages. Winooski Memorial Library, 4-5 p.m. Info, 655-6424. FREE

FRANKLIN

Fairfax Read to a Dog: Book lovers choose stories to share with a furry friend. Ages 5-10. Fairfax Community Library, 3:15-4:15 p.m., preregister for 15-minute time slot. Info, 849-2420. FREE Franklin Lego Thursdays: Kiddie constructionists combine their imaginations with the library’s supplies. Haston Library, Franklin, 2-5 p.m. Info, 285-6505.

PJ Story Hour: Sleepyheads get ready for bed, then arrive at the library for themed stories, snacks and a craft. Ages 6 and under. Fairfax Community Library, 6-7 p.m. Info, 849-2420. FREE

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

5 Friday

CHITTENDEN

Family Gym: Indoor playground equipment provides tiny tumblers a chance to run free. Ages 7 and under with caregivers. Greater Burlington YMCA, 10:15-11:45 a.m., $5-8 per family; free for members; preregister. Info, 862-9622.

Family Paint Night: Moms, dads and kids take pleasure in painting together. Davis Studio, South Burlington, 6-7:30 p.m., $25 per person; preregister. Info, 425-2700.

Game Day: Strategy lovers get the weekend o to a super start. All ages. Winooski Memorial Library, 4-5 p.m. Info, 655-6424. FREE

HeART & Home: Changing the Community

Narrative: Facilitated by Jen Berger of At the Root, families add their words and images to a refrigerator-magnet style installation with a theme of home, community, inclusivity and diversity. The art piece will be on display and available for additional participation through April. All ages. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 2-5:30 p.m. Info, 660-3456. FREE

Home and Community Painting Workshop:

Artists and educators Dorsey Hogg and Jenn Volansky lead the creation of large collaborative paintings about home and community. The paintings will be exhibited at the Fletcher Free Library; each participant takes home a small piece. Ages 10 and up. Bobbin Mill Community Room, Burlington, 5:30-7:30 p.m., preregister; light dinner provided. Info, 660-3456. FREE

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: Toe-tapping tunes captivate kiddies. Radio Bean, Burlington, 11 a.m. Info, 660-9346.

Egg Hunts

JAY EASTER EGG HUNT: Little ones with eager eyes search out sweet treats. Ages toddler to 11, accompanied by an adult. Jay Community Recreational Center, SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 1 P.M, bring a nonperishable human or pet food item. Info, 318-1206. FREE

GLOW-IN-THE-DARK EGG HUNT: Lights out! Middle school kids and tweens search out sweet treats and prizes in the nighttime park. Ages 9-12. Prouty Beach, Newport, FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 8:30 P.M, $12-15, preregister. Info, 334-6345.

COLCHESTER EGG HUNT: Well-placed eggs await capture by little hands. Ages 4-8. Colchester Bayside Park, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M, bring a nonperishable foodshelf item. Info, 264-5640. FREE

ESSEX EGG HUNT: Little gatherers collect eggs and treats to celebrate the start of spring. Toddlers through grade 4. Maple Street Park, Essex Junction, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M, nonperishables accepted for the food shelf. Info, 878-1375. FREE

FAIRFAX EGG HUNT: Kiddos line up for a finding frenzy, searching for rewards in plastic eggs. Immediately following, the Fairfax Community Library offers hot cocoa, photo-ops with the Bunny and craft activities. Fairfax Community Park & Recreation Path, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M. Info, 849-6111, ext. 20. FREE

Magic the Gathering: Players of all abilities seek knowledge and glory in this trading-card game. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 6-8 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Parents’ Night Out: Moms and dads enjoy some personal space, while small ones in PJs savor a snack, arts and crafts and a movie. Grades K-5. Maple Street Park, Essex Junction, 6-9 p.m., $10 per child. Info, 878-1375.

Preschool Yoga with Danielle: Small ones stretch and relax. Ages 2-5. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

STEAM Fridays: Eager youngsters engage with inventive science, technology, engineering, art and math projects. Check online for specific program details. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Toddler Time Dragon Bowl: Caregivers and small kiddos stop in for fun and socializing. Ages 1-5. Spare Time Entertainment, Colchester, 9 a.m.noon, $5; includes shoes. Info, 655-2720.

FRANKLIN

Yoga Story Time Yoga with Ms. Liza: Small ones soak up a storytime with stories, songs, stretches and bubbles. Swanton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 868-7656. FREE

RUTLAND

First Friday: Youngsters get the weekend o to jolly start with group activities, rotating from games to crafts. Sherburne Memorial Library, Killington, 3-4 p.m. Info, 422-9765. FREE

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: Petite ones play with plastic cubes and chat companionably. Ages 4-12. Craftsbury Public Library, Craftsbury Common, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 586-9683.

MILTON EGG HUNT: Young scavengers meet the Easter Bunny and race to find candyfilled eggs. Ages 9 and under. Bombardier Park, Milton, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M. Info, 893-4922. FREE

MONTPELIER EGG HUNT: Sharp-eyed kiddos search out sweet treats. Event begins promptly at 10 a.m. Ages 12 and under. Hubbard Park, Montpelier, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 9:45 A.M. Info, 225-2518. FREE

MUD SEASON CELEBRATION AND EGG HUNT: The Green Mountain Club hosts a festive morning for families, featuring eggs hidden along a trail. Green Mountain Club, Waterbury, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M.-NOON. Info, 244-7037. FREE

NEWPORT EGG HUNT: Sprightly youngsters meet the Easter Bunny, make crafts, play games and search for sweet treasures.

Ages 10 and under. Prouty Beach, Newport, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10:45 A.M.-NOON, $3 per child. Info, 334-6345.

ST. ALBANS EGG HUNT: Eager youngsters seek sugary delights. Arrive early. New this year is a zone for kids ages 10-12. Taylor Park, St. Albans, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M. Info, 524-1500, ext. 266. FREE

STOWE EGG HUNT: Jolly youngsters track down sweet things, followed by face painting, festive activities and a face-to-face meeting with the special bunny of the day.

Stowe Elementary School, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10-11:30 A.M, $5 per child. Info, 253-6138.

WILLISTON ROTARY EASTER EGG PARADE AND EGG HUNT: A parade of celebrators culminates in frenzied sweet seeking. Williston Central School, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 8:50-9:30 A.M. Info, 878-2762. FREE

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

6 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Winter Farmers Market: Locally produced crafts, cheeses, breads, veggies and more vie for spots in shoppers’ totes, with free co ee and tea and children’s books to read at the market. Middlebury VFW, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Winter Farmers Market: Freshly baked goods, veggies, handmade crafts, meat and maple syrup figure prominently in displays of Vermont wares. St. Johnsbury Welcome Center, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 748-8575.

CHITTENDEN

Book Launch By Tamara Ellis Smith: The acclaimed author of Another Kind of Hurricane celebrates the publication of her brand-new picture book with an enthusiastic audience. Phoenix Books, Burlington, 11 a.m. Info, 448-3350. FREE

Burlington Winter Farmers Market: Local farmers, artisans and producers o er fresh and prepared foods, crafts, and more in a bustling indoor marketplace made merry with live music. UVM Davis Student Center, Burlington, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 656-4636.

Friends of the South Burlington Library Used

Book Sale: Ravenous readers scope out stacks of gently used titles, audiobooks and DVDs. Wheeler Homestead and Garden Park, South Burlington, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Info, 846-4140.

Kids Building Workshop: Handy helpers learn doit-yourself skills and tool safety as they construct seasonal projects. Ages 5-12. Home Depot, Williston, 9 a.m.-noon, preregister at workshops. homedepot.com. Info, 872-0039. FREE

Lake Champlain Waldorf High School Open House: Parents and their prospective high school students sit in on a sample lesson, meet faculty and students, and take a tour of the campus. Lake Champlain Waldorf High School, Shelburne, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., RSVP. Info, 985-2827, ext. 212. FREE

Mural Unveiling: Artist James Valastro shares his new creation and a short talk with admiring fans. Crafts, photo-ops and refreshments round out the morning. South Burlington Public Library, 10:3011:30 a.m. Info, 846-4140. FREE

nErDcampVT Author Faire: More than 30 regional authors and illustrators greet fans and sign books, available for purchase through Phoenix Books. Grades preK-12. Hiawatha Elementary School, Essex Junction, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Info, 652-7329. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences students coach elementary-age kids in reading, math and science. Grades 1-6. Some assistance available for other grades in certain subjects with inquiry. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 9-11:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Read to Cleo the Therapy Dog: Canine and reading enthusiasts visit with a personable pooch. Ages 2-12. Milton Public Library, 10 a.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Webby’s Art Studio: Roll a Bowl: Crafters of all ages and abilities explore and play with air-dry clay and practice a unique design technique. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular winter museum admission, $5-10; free for members and children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

FRANKLIN

St. Albans Baby Story Time: Wee ones and parents meet each other over nursery rhymes, songs and simple stories. Ages 2 and under. St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Winter Farmers Market: More than 50 vendors peddle produce, fresh salad greens, apples and cider, artisan cheeses, homemade breads, and other local products. Vermont Farmers Food Center, Rutland, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 342-4727.

WASHINGTON

Vermont Scholastic Chess Championships: Checkmate! Players of all abilities sit down for strategy games focusing on fun and sportsmanship. Grades K-12, in nine divisions. Register between 8:30-9:30 a.m.; games begin at 10 a.m. Berlin Elementary School, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., $12 per player; free to spectate; preregistration encouraged. Info, 223-1948.

WINDSOR

Family Clay: Children and their parents make memories firing and glazing special pieces. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 10 a.m.noon, $20 per parent-child pair; $5 each additional child. Info, 457-3500.

7 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: Moms, dads and children have fun with free court time and use of equipment. Open to all experience levels. Middlebury Indoor Tennis, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Info, 388-3733. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Art Play Day: See April 2, 10-11:30 a.m.

Essex Open Gym: Energy-filled kids flip, jump and tumble in a state-of-the-art facility. Ages 6 and under, 1 p.m.; ages 7-12, 2:30 p.m.; ages 13 and up, 4 p.m. Regal Gymnastics Academy, Essex, 1-5:30 p.m., $8-14 per child. Info, 655-3300.

Family Gym: See April 5.

Harry Potter Party: Muggles, wizards and witches are amused by a spellbinding afternoon of magical activities and snacks. Costumes encouraged. Ages 8-18. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, noon-2 p.m., preregister. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Old North End Neighborhood Band Teen Music

Jam: Hosted by the One Band, musician Brian Perkins leads a music jam/rehearsal open to teenagers of all experience levels, combining strings, woodwinds, brass and vocals in a mix from past and present immigrant groups. Ages 12-20. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 12:15-1:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 881-8500. FREE

PoppyClock Collective Collage Workshop: Families put together paper, magazines and other materials to express what ‘home’ means within a diverse and inclusive community. All ages. Bright Street Co-op, Burlington, 1-3 p.m. Info, 660-3456. FREE

Silent Comedies for Kids: Dogs drive cars, houses explode and trains appear out of nowhere amidst breathtaking stunts, all presented and accompanied by Neil Brand, in this magical family classic film experience. Main Street Landing Film House, Burlington, 11 a.m., $5-10; free for children under 13. Info, 660-2600.

8 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: Bitty ones dance and sing to a brisk beat. Ages 3-5. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 11:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Crafts for Kids: Clever kiddos get creative with artsy projects. Ages 5-10. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Info, 264-5660.

FREE

Gamers Group: Youngsters pursue pastimes including Dungeons & Dragons and board games. Grades 5-8. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Read to a Dog: Little library patrons delight in books and a furry friend. All ages; under 5 with adult caregiver. South Burlington Public Library, 5-6 p.m., preregister. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Read with Pugsley: Petite ones practice literacy skills with the library’s new pooch and friend. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:15-4:15 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Stories with Megan: Little listeners learn and laugh. Ages 2-5. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Teen Space: Adolescents enjoy games, music, snacks and special events. Ages 12-17. Milton Public Library, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Williston Preschool Music: Lively tunes with local musicians strike the right note among the wee crowd. Ages 5 and under with a caregiver. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 11 a.m., limited to one session per week per family. Info, 878-4918.

FRANKLIN

Fairfax Maker Mondays: Afterschool kids drop in and ignite their imaginations with the library’s materials and tools. Ages 10 and up. Fairfax Community Library, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 849-2420.

FREE

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: Mini-musicians ages 2 and under sing songs and engage in early literacy activities. Rutland Free Library, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 773-1860. FREE

9 Tuesday CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: See April 2.

CHITTENDEN

After-School Snacks on Tuesdays: See April 2.

Art Play Day: See April 2.

Creative Tuesdays: See April 2.

Library Elementary Event Planners: Junior helpers prepare snacks and plan projects for younger students. Grades 6-8. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-3:45 p.m. Info, 878-6956.

FREE

Spanish Musical Kids: See April 2.

Strategy Board Games: Game lovers partake in complicated tabletop pastimes. Ages 13 and up. Milton Public Library, 5-8 p.m. Info, 893-4644.

FREE

Tinker Tuesdays: See April 2.

WASHINGTON

Create A Puzzle: Imaginative youngsters put together pieces. Ages 8-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

MULTIPLE VT LOCATIONS

Free Cone Day: The concept is simple — ice cream gratis at Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops — but choosing between flavors like Cherry Garcia and Chubby Hubby is oh-so-hard. Various locations. Info, 846-1500. FREE

10 Wednesday

BENNINGTON

Author Karen Gross: This Shires Press poet presents her new book of children’s poetry, Flying Umbrellas & Red Boats with little listeners and grownups. Ages 5-12. Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Info, 362-2200. FREE

CALEDONIA

Friendship Bracelets Making: Kids create crafts for National Siblings Day. Ages 7-12. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 3-4 p.m. Info, 748-8291. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Kids’ Chess Club: See April 3.

Lake Champlain Waldorf School Visiting

Morning: Parents interested in an alternative education for their children in grades 1-8 visit the Turtle Lane Campus classes, followed by conversation and questions. Lake Champlain Waldorf School, Shelburne, 8:30-10 a.m., RSVP. Info, 985-2827, ext. 212. FREE

Library basics: Dewey & Databases for Homeschooled Students: Out-of-classroom children learn tips and tricks for navigating the library’s physical and digital resources. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9-10 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Live-Action Role Play: LARPers create characters and plots in an amazing and imaginary adventure. For ages 11 and up. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-5 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Open Studio: See April 3.

Tiny Ones: This caregiver-child morning takes wee ones and their grownups on a woods adventure, with creative play and sensory challenges. Ages 18 months to 4 years. Ascension Lutheran Church, South Burlington, 9:30-11:30 a.m., $18 per child; preregister. Info, 489-0410.

Yoga for Kids: See April 3.

Young Writers & Storytellers: Small ones spin their own yarns. Ages 5-11. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4-5 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Live Performances

BIG BANG BOOM: Three seasoned professional musicians — who are dads, too — rock out with family-friendly music that gets the audience of all ages singing and dancing. Strand Center for the Arts, Plattsburgh, SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 7 P.M, $12-20. Info, 518-563-1604.

DAN ZANES & CLAUDIA ELIAZA: This Grammy Award winner and Haitian American jazz vocalist engage the audience in a participatory, sensory-friendly performance of original songs and folk icon Lead Belly’s children’s music. Ages 3 and up. Higher Ground, South Burlington, SUNDAY, APRIL 7, NOON & 3 P.M, $15-17. Info, 652-0777.

GREEN MOUNTAIN YOUTH SYMPHONY SPRING

CONCERT: The young musicians of the Repertory, Concert and Senior Orchestras mesmerize the audience with a wide variety of music, including selections from The Lord of the Rings. Three Montpelier High School seniors perform — Eleanor Braun, Nadia Scoppettone and Colin Desch — and a composition by Hartford High School student Katharina Mueller is performed. Barre Opera House, SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2-5 P.M, suggested donation $5-15; free for children under 5. Info, 888-4470.

‘MAMMA MIA!’: Lyric Theatre Company mesmerizes the audience with a 46-member musical and dance production of this feel-good magical story of love and friendship as a young woman sets out to determine her birth father. Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 7:30 P.M., FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 7:30 P.M., SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1 & 7:30 P.M., AND SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 1 & 6 P.M, $24-42. Info, 863-5966.

VERMONT FIDDLE ORCHESTRA SPRING CONCERT: Traditional and contemporary fiddle tunes get the all-ages audience’s toes tapping.

Barre Opera House, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 7 P.M, by donation. Info, 229-4191.

THE MAPLE-MUD SHOW WITH THE SWING PEEPERS: Vermont-made, earth-friendly interactive music and storytelling gets kiddos — and their grownups — moving and grooving. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 10 A.M, suggested donation $10 per family. Info, 457-3500.

‘TURN TO STONE, A JOURNEY TO NARNIA’: Vermont Youth Dancers enchant an audience of all ages with an original spin on the classic story of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, about 4 children who are sent away from London during WWII and embark on a magical adventure. Mount Mansfield Union High School, Jericho, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1-3:30 P.M, $12. Info, 899-1174.

‘UNDER THE STREETLAMP’: The crowd gets cheering in this family-friendly evening of classic hits from the American Radio Songbook and favorite Doo-Wop, Motown and old-time rock ’n’ roll hits. Ages 6 and up. Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 7 P.M, $25-75. Info, 760-4634.

‘THE ADVENTURES OF SHARP EARS, A SLY FOX’: The handcrafted puppets of No Strings Marionettes enchant small ones with the story of triumph over injustice. Barre Opera House, SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2 P.M, $7.50. Info, 476-8188.

LIP SYNC BATTLE: Teams of local residents take to the stage and strut their talents before the judges, with the audience choosing the winners via text-to-vote. Paramount Theatre, Rutland, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 6:30 P.M, $22.50-32.50; proceeds benefit Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum. Info, 282-2678.

FRANKLIN

Fairfax Lego Club: Amateur architects construct creatively with colorful blocks. Ages 6 and up. Fairfax Community Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 849-2420. FREE

Homeschool Program: Photosynthesis: Why don’t plants go grocery shopping? Home learners soak up info from biologist Deborah Steel. Ages 8-12. St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 524-1507. FREE

RUTLAND

Lego Club: See April 3.

WASHINGTON

Create Your Own Slime: Enthusiastic kids stir up a batch of wet, gooey stuff. Ages 8-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

11 Thursday

CHITTENDEN

Chess Club: See April 4.

Colchester Lego Club: See April 4.

Essex Lego Club: See April 4.

Genre Panel: Eager readers learn about different formats and genres from Brownell librarians and why to like them all. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 6-7 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Hinesburg Lego Club: See April 4.

Monthly Home School Program: Home learners soak up nature-related studies in an outdoor classroom. Parent participation optional. Ages 9-12. Audubon Vermont, Huntington, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., $20-25 per child; preregister. Info, 434-3068.

PJ Storytime: Little ones snuggle up in their sleepy clothes for bedtime yarns. Ages 2-7. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:15 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Preschool Yoga: See April 4.

Raising Kids in a Digital World: Parents and educators spend an evening focused on learning practical and positive strategies to support students’ digital lives, and discuss ways to build safe and healthy relationships with technology.

Dana Graber’s book Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology will be available for purchase. Lake Champlain Waldorf High School, Shelburne, 7-8:30 p.m., RSVP. Info, 985-2827. FREE

Read to a Dog: Pet-lovers peruse books with registered therapy pooches. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 3:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Ukulele Kids: See April 4.

Williston Preschool Music: See April 8, 10:30 a.m. Writing Club: See April 4.

Yoga for Youth: Perfect for middle school and high school students on early dismissal days, this program encourages youngsters to stretch and relax. Mats provided. Ages 8-18. O’Brien Community Center, Winooski, 1-2 p.m. Info, 655-6424. FREE

FRANKLIN

Crafternoon: Seed Paper: Mini-artists make paper using recycled fibers and flower seeds that can be sown in the soil. Ages 6 and up. Fairfax Community Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 849-2420. FREE

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See April 4.

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

Ongoing Exhibits

BRATTLEBORO MUSEUM & ART CENTER

Info, 257-0124

Glasstastic 2019: 20 wild and whimsical glass creations wow visitors, conceived and drawn by students in grades K-6 and transformed into art by New England glass blowers. Over 1,200 children’s drawings submitted in this contest are displayed, too. $4-8; free for children ages 18 and under; free admission for all, Thursdays, 2-5 p.m.

Through June 16.

CHANDLER MUSIC HALL, RANDOLPH

Info, 728-9878

Your Art, Your Story: Twelve area schools showcase artwork by students grades preK-12 in a variety of mediums, illustrating imaginative interpretations of self-portraits, masks, imaginary creatures and landscapes. Fridays and Saturdays, noon-6 p.m., and during Chandler performances. Through April 20. FREE

ECHO LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE

CHAMPLAIN, BURLINGTON

Info, 864-1848

Age of Dinosaurs: Fans of these giant creatures journey back in time to the Mesozoic era, visit these amazing animals in their habitat and get hands-on with interactive stations including a fossil dig pit, fossil rubbing and remote-control dinosaurs. Regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Through May 12.

MONTSHIRE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, NORWICH

Info, 649-2200

Destination: Space!: In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission’s moon landing, space fans take a tour of the technology that landed astronauts on the moon, check out what’s happening on our sun and earth, and travel to the far reaches of outer space. Regular museum admission, $13-16; free for children under age 2. Through August 4.

Making Music: Families explore the inner workings of all things musical — from cellos to electronic synthesizers — play and make instruments, and engage with multimedia exhibits which share stories of musicians, scientists and craftspeople, highlighting traditional and new practices, techniques and materials. Regular museum admission, $13-16; free for children under 2. Through May 15.

ROBERT HULL FLEMING MUSEUM, UVM, BURLINGTON

Info, 656-0750

Small Worlds: Miniatures in Contemporary

Art: Devotees of diminutive realms are enchanted by the work of multiple artists, featuring tiny figures, rooms and landscapes in photographs or sculptures, evoking both childhood playthings and the dark forces hidden beneath the seduction of the small. Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon-4 p.m. Regular museum admission, $3-5; free for members and children under 7. Through May 10.

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

12 Friday

CHITTENDEN

Dungeons & Dragons: Players embark on invented adventures, equipped with their problem-solving skills. Game starts at 6:30 p.m.; come early for assistance with character design. Grades 6 and up. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956.

FREE

Family Gym: See April 5.

Game Day: See April 5.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See April 5.

Music with Raph: Melody lovers of all ages play and sing. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9:30-10:15 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

STEAM Fridays: See April 5.

Toddler Time Dragon Bowl: See April 5.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See April 5.

13 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Winter Farmers Market: See April 6.

BENNINGTON

A Trio of Children’s Authors: Three Vermont children’s authors — Jo Knowles, William Alexander and Linda Urban — share their work, from picture books through young adult literature, with an eager audience. Ages 3-14. Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 362-2200. FREE

Easter Craft Making: Small ones create seasonal crafts. Ages 4-12. Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 362-2200. FREE

CALEDONIA

Pysanky Making: Local crafter Annie Gaillard teaches kids the art of decorating Easter eggs with traditional Ukrainian folk designs, using a wax-resist method. Ages 10 and up. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 2-4 p.m., preregister; space is limited. Info, 472-5948. FREE

CHITTENDEN

‘The Easter Surprise’: Author John Churchman reads and signs the fifth installment of his Sweet Pea & Friends series, featuring a curious little bunny who solves a farm mystery. Phoenix Books, Essex Junction, 11 a.m. Info, 872-7111. FREE

Bat Life in Vermont: Vermont small mammals biologist Alyssa Bennett hosts an interactive talk for all ages about these winged creatures, including info about threats to their welfare, how to help conservation, and a hands-on exploration of local mammal tracks, scat and furs. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 11 a.m.noon. Info, 878-6956. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See April 6.

13 SATURDAY, P. 44 »

America’s First Au Pair Program

Since 1986, Au Pair in America has provided families with the highest quality child care, top-notch service and support and an enriching cultural experience like no other by offering:

• Three unique program options offered to meet the varied needs of your family

• Up to 45 customizable hours of flexible live-in child care

• Qualified and screened au pairs from nearly 60 countries

• Professional and reliable year round support right here in Vermont!

13 Saturday (cont.)

Paper and Sculpture Workshop: Pulp paper artist Eden Stern teaches young crafters to create their own paper from cotton fiber and fabricate a relief sculpture. Ages 10 and up. Bring a lunch. FlynnDog Project Space, Burlington, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., $15-30; sliding scale; preregister. Info, 660-3456.

Read to a Dog: See April 8, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Webby’s Art Studio: Weave the Rainbow: Curious crafters design papers, cut them into small strips and put them together in a crazy and colorful masterpiece. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular winter museum admission, $5-10; free for members and children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

Science & Nature

SCIENCE & STORIES AT ECHO: Preschoolers rally ’round for nature-inspired tales and activities. ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, TUESDAYS, THROUGH APRIL 16, 10:30

A.M., AND TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 10:30 A.M., regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Info, 864-1848.

MONTSHIRE MAKERS: Tweens and teens get a head start on designing and building a Cardboard City of the future. Ages 11-18. Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 6:30-8 P.M., $8-15. Info, 649-2200.

THE NEW LIFE OF SPRING: Small ones greet the season with a story, animal crafts and a celebratory hike. Ages 3-6. The Nature Museum at Grafton, FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 10-11:30

A.M., $5-8 per child; no charge for caregivers. Info, 843-2111.

CARDBOARD CITY: Architects of all ages and abilities design and build a free-standing structure of cardboard and tape to join other buildings, parks, bridges, boats and buses. Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 11 A.M.-3 P.M., regular museum admission, $13-16; free for members and children under 2. Info, 649-2200.

SHELBURNE SUGAR-ON-SNOW PARTY: Families sample the state’s “liquid gold” and delight in boiling demonstrations, free samples, a farm barn, trails and live music. Palmer’s Sugarhouse, Shelburne, SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS, NOON-4 P.M., THROUGH APRIL 14. Info, 985-5054. FREE

SUGAR-ON-SNOW AT SHELBURNE SUGARWORKS: Families see the sweet stuff boil, sample fresh syrup, listen to live music from 12:30-3:30 p.m. and explore miles of hiking in the sugarbush. Shelburne Sugarworks, SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS, NOON-5 P.M., THROUGH APRIL 14, food and syrup available for purchase. Info, 233-7531. FREE

SHEEP AND SHEAR DELIGHTS: Little lambs leap while spring-lovers drop in and watch a sheep get its yearly haircut, then wash wool and learn how to spin and felt. Shelburne Farms, SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 10 A.M.-1 P.M., $5. Info, 985-8686.

STORIES FROM SPACE: Science educator Mike Ressler zooms small ones through the solar system with stories and a space-based craft. Ages 5 and under. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, St. Johnsbury, SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 10-11 A.M., AND SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 10-11 A.M. Info, 748-2372. FREE

ANIMAL BUDDIES: NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: Friday, during museum hours, preschoolers take their stuffed friends to the Museum for a “hibernation” night. The next morning, little tykes enjoy a light breakfast and learn how Vermont’s woodland animals wake up after a long winter’s sleep. Ages 6 and under with caregivers. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, St. Johnsbury, FRIDAY, APRIL 12 AND SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 9-10 A.M., $10; preregister. Info, 748-2372.

MONTSHIRE UNLEASHED: AN EVENING FOR

ADULTS: The museum opens its doors after hours so grown-ups can let their inner curiosity run wild. Beer, wine and food available for purchase. Ages 21 and up. Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 6:30-9 P.M., $7-10; free for museum members. Info, 649-2200.

PARK SPRUCE UP DAY: Volunteers get the grounds ready for summer use, with projects including painting, weeding, setting up tennis and volleyball courts, putting out tables and garbage cans, and more. Bombardier Park, Milton, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 9 A.M.-NOON. Info, 893-4922. FREE

SLITHERING SNAKES & REPTILES: 802 Reptiles engages animal admirers in this up-close encounter with 5 snakes, 1 lizard and a surprise guest, including a reading of a Dr. Seuss story and plenty of time for Q&A.

Ages 4-8. Colchester Bayside Activity Center, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1:30-3 P.M., $20-25, preregister; 1 adult per child. Info, 264-5640.

TINY TERRARIUMS: Junior green thumbs make a miniature world and discover what plants need to grow and how to tend this tiny garden. Ages 2-10. Gardener’s Supply, Williston, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 10-11 & 11:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M., preregister. Info, 658-2433. FREE

SENSORY-FRIENDLY SUNDAY AT ECHO: Kids, teens and adults with sensory processing differences, autism spectrum disorder or developmental disabilities experience a calm museum, closed to the general public. Visitors interact with exhibits, participate in hands-on science activities or watch a short film with accommodations. ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 9-10 A.M., free for families with sensoryprocessing differences. Info, 864-1848.

BABY FARM ANIMAL CELEBRATION: Visitors “ooh” and “ah” over cute and cuddly calves, lambs, chicks, ducklings and goslings. Farm life exhibits, tours of the 1890 farmhouse and children’s activities round out the day. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., AND SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., regular museum admission, $4-16; free for children under 3. Info, 457-2355.

FRANKLIN

Big Rig Day: Families get up close and personal with cool trucks, tractors and buses, then enjoy games and activities. Swanton Village Municipal Building, 9 a.m.-noon. Info, 868-5077. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Winter Farmers Market: See April 6.

WASHINGTON

Capital City Winter Farmers Market: Root veggies, honey, maple syrup and crafts change hands at an indoor off-season celebration of locavorism. Montpelier City Center, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 793-8347.

Kids Trade & Play: Families exchange clean and gently used clothing and toys, sizes newborn to 12. Capital City Grange, Berlin, 9:30-11:30 a.m., $3 per family. Info, 831-337-8632.

WINDSOR

Norwich Winter Farmers Market: Local growers present produce, meats and maple syrup, complementing baked goods and crafts from area artists. Tracy Hall, Norwich, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 384-7447.

14 Sunday

TAKE APART DAY: Curious kiddos explore the “guts” of everyday items, from toasters to toys, then build something new. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, St. Johnsbury, FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 10 A.M.-3 P.M., regular museum admission, $7-9; free for children under 5. Info, 748-2372.

EARTH & SPACE-TACULAR FESTIVAL: The community celebrates Earth Day by planting seeds and participating in the museum’s mud fling — the traditional tossing of mud balls off the deck — or taking an educational trip through the solar system with out-of-this world activities like imagining life in space and creating stomp rockets. ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, SATURDAY, APRIL 20 THROUGH SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Info, 864-1848.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION: This celebration of our planet includes DIY crafts, live raptor programs, vegetable seed planting and opportunities to learn about how our decisions impact the environment. Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Quechee, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 10 A.M.-4 P.M., AND SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 10 A.M.-4 P.M., regular museum admission, $13.50-15.50; free for children under 4. Info, 359-5000.

VERMONT MAPLE FESTIVAL: Come on, get sappy! A giant parade, marionette shows, Main Street entertainment, specialty foods and more showcase Vermont’s signature sweet. Check vtmaplefestival.org for schedule. Downtown St. Albans, FRIDAY, APRIL 26 THROUGH SUNDAY, APRIL 28, most events are free. Info, 524-5800.

BIRD-MONITORING WALK: Eagle-eyed participants bring binoculars to search the museum’s property for fluttering feathers, followed by coffee. Best for adults and older children. Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington, LAST SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 7:30 A.M. THROUGH AUG. 31, donations welcome; preregistration encouraged. Info, 434-2167.

RESOURCE EARTH DAY WALK: In celebration of our planet, folks dressed in ‘creatively green’ costumes saunter along a 2.5 mile stroll and learn about earth-friendly activities. Red Rocks Park, South Burlington, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 9 A.M.-1 P.M., $5; free for children under 6. ST. JOHNSBURY WORLD MAPLE FESTIVAL: This sweet celebration features a 8 a.m. 5K Sap Lap, a hearty pancake breakfast sweetened with this year’s bounty, a downtown street fair from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and a kids’ fun zone. Downtown St. Johnsbury, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, some fees applicable; Sap Run $5-8; $20 per family. Info, 626-4124.

ADDISON

Family Play: See April 7.

CHITTENDEN

‘The Easter Surprise’: Author John Churchman reads the fifth installment of his Sweet Pea & Friends series, featuring a curious little bunny named Fern. Afterward, Theresa Somerset leads a demonstration of traditional Ukrainian Easter egg decoration for crafty kiddos. Ages 3-8. The Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, 2 p.m., preregister. Info, 985-3999. FREE

Dream Big 5K, 1K and Fun Run: Racers of all ages and abilities take a flat trek through neighborhoods, on a stroller and wheelchair-friendly course. Registration opens at 8 a.m.; 10 a.m. 5K and 1K start, followed by the fun run at 11 a.m. Essex Middle School, $10-35; free for fun run; proceeds benefit EDD Memorial Fund adaptive sports programs. Info, 879-7173.

Essex Open Gym: See April 7. Family Gym: See April 5.

Old North End Neighborhood Band Teen Music Jam: See April 7.

Williston Firehouse Pancake Breakfast: Community members sit down to a full spread of morning eats, meet and greet firefighters, and touch a truck. Williston Fire Department, 8 a.m.noon, $5-8; free for children under 2; proceeds benefit the firefighters. Info, 878-5622.

WASHINGTON

Dance, Sing and Jump Around: In this last session of the season, families delight in a lively afternoon of circle and line dances, singing with instruction, and live traditional music. Ages 3 and up with caregivers. Capital City Grange, Berlin, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 223-1509.

15 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: See April 8.

Read to a Dog: See April 8.

Read with Pugsley: See April 8.

Stories with Megan: See April 8.

Teen Space: See April 8.

Williston Preschool Music: See April 8.

FRANKLIN

Fairfax Maker Mondays: See April 8.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See April 8.

16 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: See April 2. CHITTENDEN

After-School Snacks and Stories: While kids relax and refuel after school, volunteer Greg Leroy reads picture books. Children under age 10 must be accompanied by a caregiver. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 2:15 p.m. Info, 482-2878. FREE

Art Play Day: See April 2.

Burlington School District Community Health and Wellbeing Fair: Parents check out the numerous local services and supports for families while savoring a free dinner. Burlington High School, 5-8 p.m. Info, 865-5332. FREE

Creative Tuesdays: See April 2.

Poetry Remix: Young writers get witty with blackout and collage poems. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-3:45 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Spanish Musical Kids: See April 2.

Tinker Tuesdays: See April 2.

FRANKLIN

Family STEAM Night: Moms, dads and kids team up for activities around science, technology, engineering, art and/or math. Fairfax Community Library, 6:30-7:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 849-2420. FREE

Travel Talk With Ian: Homeschooled student Ian Bright shares some highlights from his many trips around the world with curious community members. All ages. St. Albans Free Library, 1 p.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE

WASHINGTON

Lego Family Free Build: Dads, moms and youngsters drop in for fun with the library’s abundance of plastic blocks. Ages 5 and up. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m. Info, 244-7036. FREE

17 Wednesday

CHITTENDEN

Kids’ Chess Club: See April 3.

Minecraft Club: See April 3.

Open Studio: See April 3.

Read With Daisy the Therapy Dog: See April 3. Yoga for Kids: See April 3.

Zine Club: Imaginative youngsters experiment with di erent writing styles and art techniques to create personal publications. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

FRANKLIN

Fairfax Read to a Dog: See April 4.

STEM Club: Under the lead of local inventor Ralph Lemnah, science-y types challenge their imaginations with themed activities. Ages 6 and up. Fairfax Community Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 849-2420. FREE

RUTLAND

Lego Club: See April 3.

ORLEANS

Mid-Week Movie: Families take a ‘hump day’ break with a PG-rated animated flick about video games. Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, 6-8 p.m., $5; free for children under age 13. Info, 533-2000.

WASHINGTON

Cardboard Creations Family Program: Mamas, papas and kids get busy building with paper. Ages 6 and up. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Homeschool Red Clover Book Award Club: See April 3.

18 Thursday

CALEDONIA

Free Family Art Workshops: See April 4.

CHITTENDEN

Chess Club: See April 4.

Colchester Lego Club: See April 4.

Dorothy’s List Book Discussion: Little literati chat about DCF pick I’m Just No Good at Rhyming by Chris Harris. Grades 4-8. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Essex Lego Club: See April 4.

Hinesburg Lego Club: See April 4.

Preschool Yoga: See April 4.

SoundCheck: Hosted by slam poet Rajnii Eddins, the Young Writers Project and Burlington City Arts sponsor a writing workshop for adolescent authors and an open mic at 7 p.m. Burlington City Arts, 6 p.m. Info, 324-9538. FREE

Ukulele Kids: See April 4.

Williston Preschool Music: See April 8, 10:30 a.m. Writing Club: See April 4.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See April 4.

WASHINGTON

Build With Keva Blocks: Budding architects stop in and spark their imagination with an abundance of wooden blocks. Ages 5 and up. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m. Info, 244-7036. FREE

19 Friday Passover Begins

CHITTENDEN

Baby Time: Families with wee ones socialize, read board books, learn some sign language and play. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9:30-10 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Family Gym: See April 5.

Family Movie: Viewers enjoy a family-friendly flick while feasting on free popcorn. *Note early start time. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 6:20-8:35 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Game Day: See April 5.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See April 5.

Preschool Yoga with Danielle: Simple movement, stories and songs satisfy children ages 5 and under and their caregivers. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30 a.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

STEAM Fridays: See April 5.

FRANKLIN

Yoga Story Time Yoga with Ms. Liza: See April 5.

New Parents

BOSOM BUDDIES TOO: Nursing mamas of toddlers and mobile wee ones socialize and swap supportive stories and advice with peers and professionals. Babies welcome. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5:30-7 P.M. Info, 371-4415. FREE

EVOLUTION POSTNATAL YOGA: New mamas tote their pre-crawling kids to an all-levels flowing yoga class focused on bringing the body back to strength and alignment in a relaxed and nurturing environment. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center, Burlington, SUNDAYS, 12:15 P.M., TUESDAYS, 10 A.M., THURSDAYS, 10:45 A.M. AND FRIDAYS, NOON-1 P.M., THROUGH APRIL 14, $17; $120-140 for a 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

EVOLUTION PRENATAL YOGA: Mothers-to-be build strength, stamina and a stronger connection to their baby. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center, Burlington, SATURDAYS, 11:30 A.M., SUNDAYS, 10-11:30 A.M., MONDAYS, 5:45 P.M., TUESDAYS, 4:15 P.M., WEDNESDAYS, 5:45 P.M., THURSDAYS, 12:30 P.M. AND FRIDAYS, 8:15 A.M., THROUGH APRIL 14, $17 per class; $120-140 for 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

EVOLUTION PRENATAL YOGA ESSEX: Mothersto-be build strength, stamina and a stronger connection to their baby. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga, Essex Junction, SATURDAYS, 8:15 A.M., SUNDAYS, 5:30 P.M., MONDAYS, 10:30

A.M., TUESDAYS, 6:15 P.M., WEDNESDAYS, 12:30

P.M. AND THURSDAYS, 4:15 P.M., THROUGH APRIL 14, $17 per class; $120-140 for 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

MOM AND BABY YOGA: Brand-new mamas and their littles relax, stretch and bond. Followed by a free mothers’ gathering at 11:30 a.m. Embodied, Montpelier, TUESDAYS, 10:30-11:30

A.M, $11. Info, 223-5302.

PRENATAL YOGA: Moms-to-be stretch and bend. Embodied, Montpelier, TUESDAYS, 6-7:15

P.M, $16 per drop-in class. Info, 778-0300.

BURLINGTON EARLY MONTHS INFANT MASSAGE: This mother-infant group includes baby massage and postpartum new mama support. The Janet S. Munt Family Room, Burlington, WEDNESDAYS, 11 A.M.-NOON. Info, 862-2121.

FREE

ESSEX LA LECHE LEAGUE: Moms bring their bitty ones to a discussion of parenting and breastfeeding. Siblings welcome. Essex Free Library, Essex Junction, FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 6:30-8 P.M. Info, 899-5490. FREE

HYDE PARK BABY CHAT: Parents with babies mingle, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Lanpher Memorial Library, Hyde Park, FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229.

PRE/POSTPARTUM CIRCLE: Mamas, papas, primary caregivers of wee ones and mamasto-be drop in, recharge their energy, practice gentle stretching exercises and self-care, while savoring socializing, tea and snacks. Bring newborns through crawling babies. The Children’s Room, Waterbury, THURSDAYS, 11 A.M.-12:30 P.M. Info, 244-5605. FREE

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See April 5.

WASHINGTON

Montpelier Mother Up! Monthly Meet-Up: Families discuss the realities of climate change, what that means on a local, state and national level, and how to create a more just and naturefriendly world. Dinner and nature-themed kids’ programming included. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, 5:30-7:30 p.m., RSVP requested. Info, 229-0041. FREE

20 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Winter Farmers Market: See April 6. CALEDONIA

Caledonia Winter Farmers Market: See April 6.

CHITTENDEN

Burlington Winter Farmers Market: See April 6. Dad Guild Monthly Playground: This new group gets fathers of young children reading together, having fun with creative play and forming new friendships. All are welcome. Ages 5 and under. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 4-5:30 p.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Family Art Saturday: Families drop in and ignite their imaginations with a current exhibit, then get hands-on with an artistic endeavor. Burlington City Arts, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 865-7166. FREE

BREASTFEEDING FAMILIES GROUP: Nursing moms (and supportive dads, too!) gather for snacks and advice. Church of the Nazarene, Johnson, THIRD WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 11 A.M.-1 P.M. Info, 888-5229. FREE

ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION: Novice parents pursue advice about this practice where a caregiver uses timing, signals, cues and intuition to address a baby’s need to eliminate waste without using a diaper. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 1-2 P.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

Hinesburg Saturday Storytime: Small ones and caregivers start the weekend off with stories, songs and games, followed by free play and snacks. Ages 5 and under. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 482-2878. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See April 6.

Read to Cleo the Therapy Dog: See April 6. Webby’s Art Studio: Decou’pot’: Curious crafters learn about decoupage — a popular Victorian era activity — then make a paper collage masterpiece from a terracotta pot. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular winter museum admission, $5-10; free for members and children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

BURLINGTON

LA LECHE LEAGUE: New moms bring their babies and questions to a breastfeeding support group. Older children welcome. Lending library available. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:15 A.M., free. Info, 985-8228. FREE

LA LECHE LEAGUE OF THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM: Expectant, novice and experienced moms join nursing experts for advice and support. Enter through the children’s section of the library. Siblings welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:30 A.M. Info, 720-272-8841. FREE

BABYWEARERS OF CENTRAL VERMONT: Brand-new mamas and papas check out infant carriers, get advice and spend some socializing time with other new parents. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, SECOND THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M., AND FOURTH MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5:45-7:45 P.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

MAMA’S CIRCLE BARRE: This supportive gathering brings moms of new babies and toddlers together to foster friendship through unique-but-shared experiences. Imagine Yoga, Barre, SECOND FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

MORRISVILLE BABY CHAT: Parents with babies socialize, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Lamoille Family Center, Morrisville, SECOND SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30

A.M. Info, 888-5229.

BREASTFEEDING CAFÉ: Mamas nurse their babies, chat and ask for answers from a certified lactation consultant. Pregnant women, supportive dads and older siblings welcome. Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury, THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 11 A.M.-1 P.M. Info, 236-4136. FREE

LA LECHE LEAGUE OF CENTRAL VERMONT: Breastfeeding mamas swap stories and support each other, with a professional available for consultation. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

NURSING BEYOND A YEAR: In a supportive setting, mothers discuss the joys and challenges of breastfeeding children approaching one year old and beyond. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, THIRD FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

HOW TO BREASTFEED PRENATAL CLASS: Expectant mamas and their partners learn the basics of breastfeeding, how to get off to the best start with their baby and where to find assistance when needed. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, FOURTH TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 4:30-6 P.M., preregister. Info, 371-4415. FREE

JOHNSON BABY CHAT: Parents with babies mingle, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Church of the Nazarene, Johnson, FOURTH TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229. FREE

MOMMY GROUP: Breastfeeding peer counselor Angela Scavo hosts mamas and answers questions in a relaxed setting. Junebug Mother and Child, Middlebury, FOURTH WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-10:30 A.M. Info, 349-9084. FREE

TINY TWILIGHT CAFE: Caregivers and children ages 3 and under connect with each other in a safe and welcoming environment. Light dinner provided; older siblings welcome. Downstreet Community Room, Barre, FOURTH SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 4:30-6:30 P.M., RSVPs appreciated. Info, 595-7953. FREE

Wildlife of Vermont: Live Animals: Southern Vermont Natural History Museum shares critters who crawl, fly and slither with curious child naturalists. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 11 a.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Winter Farmers Market: See April 6.

21 Sunday Happy Easter!

CHITTENDEN

Old North End Neighborhood Band Teen Music Jam: See April 7.

22 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Breakout: Deserts: Curious kids check out the library’s escape room, solve a puzzle and learn about deserts. Ages 8 and up. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:30-4 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE Colchester Preschool Music: See April 8. Crafts for Kids: See April 8.

Milton Legos at the Library: Builders fashion architecturally sound constructions in this STEM program. All ages. Milton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Read to a Dog: See April 8.

Starting Seeds: The Burlington Garden Club’s Joelyn Niggel shares a special story about green thumbs and advice about sowing seeds. Ages 4 and up. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:30-4 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Stories with Megan: See April 8.

Teen Space: See April 8.

Williston Preschool Music: See April 8.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See April 8.

23 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: See April 2.

CHITTENDEN

After-School Snacks and Stories: See April 16.

Art Play Day: See April 2.

Bird Drawing & Painting Class: Amateur artists pursue creative projects. Ages 4-10. Milton Public Library, 2-3 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Creative Tuesdays: See April 2.

Fairy Houses & Gnome Homes: Little listeners soak up stories about wee folk at 11 a.m., then construct diminutive dwellings. All ages. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Introduction to Embroidery: Diana Snyder, President of the Northeast Embroidery Guild, hosts a hardworking session for small sewists. Ages 8-12. South Burlington Public Library, 10:30 a.m.-noon, preregister. Info, 846-4140.

FREE

Spanish Musical Kids: See April 2.

Spanish Storytime: Games, songs and stories en Español amuse little library-goers. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 9:30-10 a.m. Info, 482-2878. FREE

Strategy Board Games: See April 9.

Tinker Tuesdays: See April 2.

FRANKLIN

Kid’s Craft: Grass Heads: Junior green thumbs drop in and create a craft to grow at home. St. Albans Free Library, 1-3 p.m. Info, 524-1507.

FREE

WASHINGTON

Melted Crayon Art: Petite Picassos get messy with crafty projects. Ages 8-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

24 Wednesday

CHITTENDEN

Family-Friendly Painting Workshop: Iraqiborn Sabah Abbas leads imaginative families in an evening of painting and community. No experience needed. Ages 10 and up. ONE Arts Center, Burlington, 5:30-8:30 p.m., $15-30; sliding scale; preregister. Info, 660-3456.

Kids’ Chess Club: See April 3.

Live-Action Role Play: See April 10.

Saysawyou it in

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

Make a Beaded Bracelet: Junior jewelrymakers manufacture their own masterpieces with the library’s materials. Ages 8 and up with adult. South Burlington Public Library, 3-4:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Open Gym + Arts and Activities: Kids check out the full-sized space and get busy with Play-Doh, coloring and other art stations. Ages 10 and under. NETS Center Campus, Williston, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 777-7865. FREE

Open Studio: See April 3.

Start Your Garden: Joelyn from the Burlington Garden Club gets green thumbs sowing seeds in small pots. Ages 4 and up with adult. South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Young Writers & Storytellers: See April 10.

RUTLAND

Lego Club: See April 3.

WASHINGTON

Squishy Circuits: Mini-makers experiment with electricity and construct colorful sculptures using conductive play dough. Ages 8-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

25 Thursday

CALEDONIA

Build A Story: In celebration of Poetry Month, little library-goers listen to Science Verse by Jon Scieszka, followed by a building block challenge. Ages 13 and under. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 3-4 p.m. Info, 748-8291. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Bike Ride: Families on wheels take a trip to the tree farm, have refreshments and pedal back. Wear helmets and sunscreen for safety. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Colchester Lego Club: See April 4.

Essex Lego Club: See April 4.

Preschool Yoga: See April 4.

Vintage Video Games: Gamers join the retro trend, using vintage consoles in the library. Ages 14 and up. Milton Public Library, 6-8 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Williston Preschool Music: See April 8, 10:30

a.m.

Writing Club: See April 4.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See April 4.

Life-Sized Candyland: Families sign up for a 10-minute slot to saunter through a real-world version of this singular game, savoring sweets along the way. Fairfax Community Library, 1-3 p.m., preregister. Info, 849-2420. FREE

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

Kids have questions. We find answers.

26 Friday

CHITTENDEN

Decorate a Canvas Bag: Imaginative youngsters have fun fashioning designs on canvas, using the library’s materials. Ages 6 and up with adult. South Burlington Public Library, 10:30 a.m.-noon, preregister. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Dungeons & Dragons: See April 12. Family Gym: See April 5. Game Day: See April 5.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See April 5.

Lil’ Vermonters Consignment Sale: Shoppers delight in gently used baby, child and maternity items, from newborn to youth 14, including toys, furniture, books, baby carriers and much more. See lilvermonters.com for consignor info. Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction, 5 p.m., $5 admission for non-consignors on Friday with advance ticket purchase; free on Saturday. Info, 878-5545.

Music with Raph: See April 12.

Owls and Their Calls: The Vermont Institute of Natural Science engages eager youngsters in an up-close encounter with live birds. Milton Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Red Kite Green Mountain: Presented in partnership with the Flynn Center, a multisensory adventure — designed for young people on the autism spectrum and their caregivers — serenely moves the audience through the seasons and wildlife of Vermont with playful activities. Followed by an optional meet-and-greet with the local actors and their puppets. Ages 4 and up for youth of all abilities. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 9-10 a.m. & 11 a.m.-noon, preregister. Info, 865-7216. FREE

FRANKLIN

Joepetto’s Magic Toy Shop: Handcrafted wooden puppets amuse a crowd of all ages — with a dash of music and comedy. St. Albans Free Library, 1:30 p.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See April 5.

WASHINGTON

Family-Friendly Film Screening: Film-loving folks have fun viewing a surreal fantasy flick from Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam, with snacks and a small craft for kids. Ages 8 and up. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 3:30-5:30 p.m., suggested donation $1-2; $5 per family; proceeds benefit the Montpelier Senior Activity Center’s Savoy Archive collection. Info, 225-8694.

27 Saturday

Passover Ends

ADDISON

Middlebury Winter Farmers Market: See April 6.

CALEDONIA

Junior Jam: Young wordsmiths read their original work or a favorite poem. Ages 4-13. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 3-4 p.m. Info, 748-8291. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Family Art Activity: Families drop in and join artist Sabah Abbas for an activity focused on home and community. All ages. Northgate Apartments, Burlington, 1-3 p.m. Info, 598-3139. FREE

Lil’ Vermonters Consignment Sale: See April 26, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Movie at the Library: The big screen shows an all-ages feature. Snacks provided. Milton Public Library, 1 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See April 6. Read to a Dog: See April 8, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Vermont Sci-Fi & Fantasy Expo: This familyfriendly, two-day festival mesmerizes fans with authors and artists, gamers, cosplayers, prop makers, fight demos, vendors, and more. Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., $15; free for children under age 6. Info, 778-9178.

Playgroups

Kids enjoy fun and games during these informal get-togethers, and caregivers connect with other local parents and peers. The groups are usually free and often include snacks, arts and crafts, or music. Most playgroups follow the school calendar. Contact the organizer for site-specific details.

MONDAY

AUDUBON NATURE PLAYGROUP:

Audubon Vermont, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 434-3068.

BURLINGTON CRAWLERS, WADDLERS AND TODDLERS: Janet S. Munt Parent-Child Center, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Info, 862-2121.

CHARLOTTE PLAYGROUP: Charlotte Central School, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 425-2771.

JERICHO PLAYGROUP: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 899-3932.

MORRISVILLE PLAYGROUP: River Arts, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

OPEN GYM: Central VT

Gymnastics Academy, 10 a.m.noon, $10. Info, 882-8324.

ROBIN’S NEST NATURE PLAYGROUP: North Branch Nature Center, 10 a.m.-noon, donations welcome. Info, 229-6206.

TWINFIELD PLAYGROUP: Twinfield Union School, 8:15-9:45 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

TUESDAY

BRADFORD PLAYGROUP: Grace United Methodist Church, 9-11 a.m. Info, 685-2264, ext. 24.

BROOKFIELD PLAYGROUP: First Congregational Church of Brookfield, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

BURLINGTON FATHERS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER: Janet S. Munt Parent-Child Center, 4-7 p.m. Info, 862-2121.

EVOLUTION NEW FAMILY PLAYGROUP BURLINGTON: Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center, 11:15 a.m. Info, 899-0339.

WINOOSKI PLAYTIME: O’Brien Community Center, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 655-1422.

WEDNESDAY BARRE PLAYGROUP: Aldrich Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292, ext. 115.

COLCHESTER PLAYGROUP: Colchester Village Meeting House, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 264-5640.

MAMA’S CIRCLE: Good Beginnings, Montpelier, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 595-7953.

NORTHFIELD PLAYGROUP: United Church of Northfield, 10:30 a.m.noon. Info, 262-3293.

PURPLE CRAYON PLAY GROUP: ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, 9:3011:30 a.m., donations accepted. Info, 457-3500.

RICHMOND PLAYGROUP: Richmond Free Library, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 434-3036.

SOUTH ROYALTON PLAYGROUP: United Church on the Green, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

ST. JOHNSBURY TODDLER TIME: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30 a.m. Info, 748-1391.

WATERBURY MUSIC & MOVEMENT: The Children’s Room, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 244-5605.

THURSDAY

DADS AND KIDS PLAYGROUP: Family Center of Washington County, 5:30-7 p.m. Info, 262-3292.

JOHNSON PLAYGROUP: United Church of Johnson, 9-10:30 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

MONTPELIER PLAYGROUP: St. Augustine Church, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

OHAVI ZEDEK SYNAGOGUE PLAYGROUP: Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, Burlington, 9:3010:30 a.m. Info, 864-0218.

RANDOLPH PLAYGROUP: St. John’s Church, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

UNDERHILL PLAYGROUP: Underhill Central School, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 899-4676.

WAITSFIELD PLAYGROUP: Big Picture Theater, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 262-3292, ext. 115.

Voicing Art Poetry Reading: Inspired by the current art exhibit at Flynndog Gallery at South End Station, the community submits poetry and prose by April 11 and shares work publicly. All ages. Nomad Coffee, Burlington, 2-3 p.m., food and drink available for purchase. Info, 832-928-8837. FREE

Webby’s Art Studio: Folk Art Houses: Inspired by the museum’s collection of Grandma Moses paintings, visitors paint a miniature house in her style. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular winter museum admission, $5-10; free for members and children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

FRANKLIN

Exordium: Science with Mr. K: Kids on school break explore symmetry with a professional, using hands-on activities. Fairfax Community Library, 10-11 a.m., preregister. Info, 849-2420. FREE

Youth Baking Class: Maple Scones: Junior chefs stir together a sweet and seasonal treat using the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook as a guide. Ages 9-14. St. Albans Free Library, 1 p.m., preregister. Info, 524-1507. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Winter Farmers Market: See April 6.

WASHINGTON

‘Young Adventurer’s Guide’ Book Launch and Party: Author Ben Hewitt shares his newest release — The Young Adventurer’s Guide to (Almost)

Everything: Build a Fort, Camp Like a Champ, Poop in the Woods: 45 Action-Packed Outdoor Activities — with an enthusiastic young audience. Ages 8 and up. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 229-0774. FREE

WILLISTON PLAYTIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 11 a.m.noon. Info, 878-4918.

WINOOSKI PLAYTIME: See Tuesday.

FRIDAY

ALBURGH PLAYGROUP: Alburgh Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 582-9942.

CAMBRIDGE ELEMENTARY: Cambridge Elementary School, 9-11 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

CENTRAL VERMONT PLAYGROUP: The Children’s Room, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 244-5605.

COLCHESTER PLAYGROUP: See Wednesday.

EVOLUTION NEW FAMILY PLAYGROUP ESSEX: Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga, 11 a.m. Info, 899-0339.

OPEN GYM: See Monday.

RUTLAND PLAYGROUP: Rutland Free Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 773-1860.

WATERBURY PLAYGROUP: The Children’s Room, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 244-5605.

WINSOOSKI MOVE, PLAY, CONNECT PLAYGROUP: O’Brien Community Center, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 655-6424.

SATURDAY MONTPELIER SATURDAY PLAYGROUP: Family Center of Washington County, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292, ext. 190.

Capital City Winter Farmers Market: See April 13.

WINDSOR

Norwich Winter Farmers Market: See April 13.

28 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: See April 7, 10:30 a.m.-noon.

Middlebury Mother Up! Monthly Meet-Up: Families discuss the realities of climate change, what that means on a local level, and how to transition to a safer and healthier world. Vegetarian meal and childcare for ages 8 and under provided. Middlebury Recreation Center, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 382-0829. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Essex Open Gym: See April 7.

Family Gym: See April 5.

Marbling Workshop: Pulp paper artist Eden Stern teaches families the age-old technique of marbleizing paper and making books. Ages 6 and up. FlynnDog Project Space, Burlington, 1-2:30 p.m., $15-30; sliding scale; preregister. Info, 660-3456.

Old North End Neighborhood Band Teen Music

Jam: See April 7.

Paper Making Workshop: Pulp paper artist Eden Stern guides families in fashioning one-of-akind paper from cotton fiber. All ages. FlynnDog Project Space, Burlington, 10:30 a.m.-noon, $15-30; sliding scale; preregister. Info, 660-3456.

South Burlington Community Read-A-Thon:

Families and friends of all ages celebrate literacy by reading aloud together, with free books, snacks, prizes and a performance by Jon Gailmor. South Burlington Public Library, 1-3:30 p.m. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Vermont Sci-Fi & Fantasy Expo: See April 27.

Story Times

Early literacy skills get special attention during these readaloud sessions. Some locations provide additional activities such as music, crafts or foreign-language instruction. Most story times follow the school calendar. Contact the organizers for site-specific details.

MONDAY

BARRE CHILDREN’S STORY HOUR: Aldrich Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 476-7550.

COLCHESTER PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

ESSEX STORYTIME WITH EMILY: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

HUNTINGTON STORY TIME &

PLAYGROUP: Huntington Public Library, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 434-4583.

HYDE PARK STORY TIME: Lanpher Memorial Library, 6 p.m. Info, 888-4628.

NORTHFIELD CHILDREN’S STORY

TIME: Brown Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 485-4621.

RICHMOND BABY LAP TIME: Richmond Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 434-3036.

ST. ALBANS MOVEMENT & MUSIC

STORY HOUR: St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507.

STOWE STORY TIMES FOR 2-3-

YEAR-OLDS: Stowe Free Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 253-6145.

WATERBURY BABY & TODDLER

STORY TIME: Waterbury Public Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 244-7036.

WOODSTOCK BABY STORY TIME: Norman Williams Public Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 457-2295.

TUESDAY

ALBURGH STORY HOUR: Alburgh Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 582-9942.

COLCHESTER TODDLER STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

CRAFTSBURY STORY TIME: Craftsbury Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 586-9683.

EAST BARRE STORY TIME: East Barre Branch Library, 10 a.m. Info, 476-5118.

ESSEX JUNCTION STORY TIME: Brownell Library, 10-10:45 a.m. Info, 878-6956.

FAIRFAX PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Fairfax Community Library, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Info, 849-2420.

HARTLAND EARLY LITERACY

STORYTIME: Hartland Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 828-436-2473.

HINESBURG YOUNGSTER STORY

TIME: Carpenter-Carse Library, 9:30-10 a.m. Info, 482-2878.

LYNDONVILLE STORY TIME: Cobleigh Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 626-5475.

MILTON INFANT STORY TIME: Milton Public Library, 9:30 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

MONTPELIER STORY TIME: KelloggHubbard Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 223-3338.

MORRISVILLE PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Morristown Centennial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 888-3853.

SHELDON STORY TIME: Sheldon Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 933-2524.

SOUTH BURLINGTON TODDLER

TIME: South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 846-4140.

WATERBURY SONGS AND STORIES: The Children’s Room, 9-9:30 a.m. Info, 244-5605.

WILLISTON STORY TIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 878-4918.

WOODSTOCK PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Norman Williams Public Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 457-2295.

WEDNESDAY BARNES & NOBLE STORYTIIME: Barnes & Noble, South Burlington, 11 a.m. Info, 864-8001.

ESSEX BABYTIME: Essex Free Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

ESSEX JUNCTION STORY TIME: See Tuesday.

HYDE PARK STORY TIME: See Monday, 10 a.m.

JERICHO STORY HOUR: Jericho Town Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 899-4686.

LYNDONVILLE STORY TIME: See Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

MARSHFIELD STORY TIME & PLAYGROUP: Jaquith Public Library, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 426-3581.

MILTON TODDLER RHYTHM & MOVEMENT STORY TIME: Milton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

NORWICH WORD PLAY STORY TIME: Norwich Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 649-1184.

QUECHEE STORY TIME: Quechee Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 295-1232.

RANDOLPH PRESCHOOL

STORY TIME: Kimball Public Library, 11 a.m. Info, 728-5073.

RICHMOND MOVERS AND SHAKERS

STORYTIME: Richmond Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 434-3036.

SOUTH

BURLINGTON

BABY TIME: South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 846-4140.

SWANTON STORYTIME: Swanton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 868-2493.

WARREN PRESCHOOL STORYTIME: Warren Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 496-3913.

THURSDAY

BRISTOL STORY TIME: Lawrence Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 453-2366.

BURLINGTON BABYTIME: Fletcher Free Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 865-7216.

HINESBURG MOVEMENT AND MUSIC: Carpenter-Carse Library, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Info, 482-2878.

NORTHFIELD CHILDREN’S STORY TIME: See Monday.

RUTLAND STORY TIME: Rutland Free Library, 10-10:45 a.m. Info, 773-1860.

ST. ALBANS MOVEMENT & MUSIC STORY HOUR: See Monday.

ST. ALBANS STORY HOUR: St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507.

VERGENNES STORY TIME: Bixby Memorial Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 877-2211.

WATERBURY PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Waterbury Public Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 244-7036.

WESTFORD STORY TIME: Westford Public Library, 11 a.m. Info, 878-5639.

FRIDAY BRANDON STORY TIME: Brandon Free Public Library, 3 p.m. Info, 247-8230.

COLCHESTER BABY STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

CRAFTSBURY STORY TIME: See Tuesday.

ENOSBURG MOMMY & ME STORY

HOUR: Enosburgh Public Library, 9-10 a.m. Info, 933-2328.

ESSEX MUSICAL STORY TIME: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

29 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: See April 8.

Gamers Group: See April 8.

Lego Fun: Budding builders bring out the blocks. Children under age 8 must be accompanied by a responsible caregiver. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Let’s Jam! Learn to Play the Ukulele: Williston Central School music teacher Karla Kennedy leads families in some strumming fun. Instruments provided, or bring your own. Ages 8 and up. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Read to a Dog: See April 8.

Read with Pugsley: See April 8.

GEORGIA PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Georgia Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 524-4643.

KILLINGTON STORYTIME: Sherburne Memorial Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 422-9765.

LINCOLN STORY TIME: Lincoln Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 453-2665.

MILTON PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Milton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

MONTPELIER STORY TIME: See Tuesday.

NORTHSHIRE BOOKSTORE STORY

TIME: Northshire Bookstore, Manchester, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 362-2200.

RANDOLPH TODDLER STORY TIME: Kimball Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 728-5073.

READ & PLAY: Moretown Town Hall, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 496-9728.

ST. JOHNSBURY ACORN CLUB STORY TIME: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 748-8291.

STOWE BABY & TODDLER STORY TIME: Stowe Free Library, 10:3011:15 a.m. Info, 253-6145.

SATURDAY COLCHESTER SATURDAY DROP-IN STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

ENOSBURG STORY HOUR: Enosburgh Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 933-2328.

ESSEX WEEKEND STORYTIME: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

MILTON DROP-IN SATURDAY

STORYTIME: Milton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

NEXT CHAPTER BOOKSTORE STORY TIME: Next Chapter Bookstore, Barre, 10:30 a.m. Info, 476-3114.

Teen Space: See April 8.

Williston Preschool Music: See April 8.

FRANKLIN

Fairfax Maker Mondays: See April 8.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See April 8.

30 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: See April 2.

CHITTENDEN

After-School Snacks and Stories: See April 16.

Art Play Day: See April 2.

Burlington Circle of Parents for Adoptive & Guardianship Families: Moms and dads come together to socialize about their parenting experiences and strengthen skills. Childcare and dinner included without fee. Howard Center, Burlington, 5-6:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 864-7467. FREE

Creative Tuesdays: See April 2.

Spanish Musical Kids: See April 2.

Tinker Tuesdays: See April 2. Tuesday Movie: Viewers relax with a familyfriendly flick. Popcorn and drinks provided. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

LAMOILLE

Free Family Art Workshops: See April 2.

WINDSOR

Toddler Time: See April 2.

PRESENTED

10 th YEAR!

House

Junction at the Essex Culinary Resort & Spa

Juniper

Kismet

e Kitchen Table Bistro

La Casa Burrito

e Lighthouse Restaurant & Lounge

Mad Taco at Double E Performance Center (Essex)*

e Mad Taco (Montpelier, Waitsfield)

Magic Hat Artifactory

Mandarin*

e Marina

McGillicuddy’s Five Corners (Essex Jct.)*

McGillicuddy’s Irish Ale House (Williston)*

McGillicuddy’s on the Green (Colchester)*

Michael’s on the Hill

Misery Loves Co.

Morgan’s Tavern at the Middlebury Inn

Mulligan’s Irish Pub*

New Moon Café

Noonie’s Deli*

e Old Foundry at One

Federal Restaurant and Lounge

Our House Bistro

Park Squeeze

Parker House Vermont Restaurant & Rooms

Pascolo Ristorante

Pauline’s Café

Pizzeria Verità

Prohibition Pig

e Reservoir Restaurant & Tap Room

Revolution Kitchen

Rí Rá Irish Pub

Ruben James*

Sage Restaurant*

Sarducci’s Restaurant & Bar

e Scale Poké Bar*

Simon Pearce Restaurant

Skinny Pancake (Burlington)

Smokey’s Low N Slow*

Starry Night Café

Stone Corral Brewery

Superfresh! Organic Café

Sweetwaters

Tavern at the Essex

Culinary Resort & Spa

ree Brothers Pizza & Grill

ree Penny Taproom

Tourterelle

Trattoria Delia

Tres Amigos

Twin Flames Taqueria*

Vergennes Laundry by CK*

Vermont Pub & Brewery

Vermont Tap House*

West Meadow Farm

Bakery*

Whetstone Station

Restaurant and Brewery

e Windjammer Restaurant

Zenbarn

JUST FOR

Pearl GemJam

BY MARC NADEL

Maggie Pie, the famed collector of shiny objects, needs your help to figure out which pearly path leads to the most money. The total of the numbers on each trail of trinkets — from Maggie to a coin container — will tell you how many dollars are inside. So which one is the most cluttered with cash: The Pirate’s Treasure Chest? The Pink Piggy Bank? The Sturdy Steel Safe? Or the Pot O’ Gold?

I’ve got a hunch that your number crunching will add up to a happy day for our feathered friend Maggie.

KIDS JUST FOR

Writing Contest

On April 22, Americans celebrate Earth Day, an annual event that began in 1970 to highlight the environmental issues our world faces. This month, write a poem or paragraph about the ways in which you help take care of the earth and why it’s important.

COLORING CONTEST WINNERS

SPONSORED BY

This month’s submissions dazzled our judges with a radiant palette of pastels — perfectly suited for spring.

Eight-year-old Hayden’s violet elephant soared in a rainbow sky, buoyed by a bundle of fat balloons. Joni, 4, made her masterpiece sparkle with glittering gold and green stars. Nine-year-old Josie’s pink and purple elephant, Penelope, carefully balanced on a tightrope beneath an umbrella held by her curved trunk. Awesome artwork, kids! Don’t forget to send us your most imaginative work this month!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

“MR. BUBBLES”

Sophia Bandy, 9, Cambridge

“ST. PATRICK’S STRIPES”

Maria Bush, 8, Hinesburg

“ELEPHANT RAINBOW”

Annie Rawson, 4, Stowe

“PEANUT PARADISE”

Selena West, 7, Essex

“ELEPHANT ZOOM-ZOOM”

The winners of annual family memberships to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium are…

We’ll pick two winners and publish their names and poems in the next issue. Winners receive a $25 gift certificate to Crow Bookshop Deadline to enter is April 15. Send your entries to: Kids VT, attn: Writing Contest, P.O. Box 1184, Burlington, VT 05402.

WRITING WINNERS

Elise O’Brien, 10 EAST MONTPELIER

If I were the luckiest kid in the world, I would use my luck to help animals, I would find them all homes, I would find them a home where they are happy, I would find them homes where people take good care of them, I would find them a home where they can run and play, I would find them homes where they can be with their owners, I would find them a home where they want to stay, I would find them homes where there are people that love them, I would adopt some of the animals too!

Viyana Khabbazian, 10 SOUTH BURLINGTON

Another year, another way, to get some cash on St. Patty’s Day.

A pot of gold, I was determined to find, I would search up and down with an open mind.

And then I saw what I hoped to see, A glistening rainbow staring down at me. At that very moment, I knew what to do, That rainbow wasn’t out of the blue.

I followed that rainbow, I went high and low.

And at the end you won’t believe what I found, Right there on the ground was a pot of gold.

And now I was certain, As certain as I ever could be, The luckiest kid in the world is me!

Oona Raven Russell-McDode, 4, Woodbury

“RAINBOW SPARKLE”

Anna Sousa, 5, Northfield

“ELEPHANT OF THE RAINBOW”

Arielle Brkovic, 7, Cambridge

“ONE LUCKY DAY”

Jesalyn Greene, 11, Wolcott

“CITY DRIVING”

Levi Peters, 8, Huntington

“COLORFUL ELEPHANT ON A SUMMER DAY”

Taylor Rock, 5, Barre City

“IT’S CHEESE O’ CLOCK”

Whitney Butnor, 9, Charlotte

“NEWSPAPER ELEPHANT”

Norah Heikel, 10, Winooski

TOP TITLES

“THE JEWEL ELEPHANT”

Lena Schlatter, 5, Burlington

“NUTS ABOUT YOU”

Kaja Beeli, 7, South Burlington

“KEEP CALM AND LOVE ELEPHANTS”

Marley McVeigh, 10, Duxbury

“Here Comes the Sun!” Annaleigh Kayhart, 12 CAMBRIDGE

to 8

9 to 12

In our March issue, we asked kids to write a poem with the title, “The Luckiest Kid in the World” in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Below, find the winning entries. Elise and Viyana each receive a $25 gift certificate to Crow Bookshop in Burlington.

“The Fancy Elephant” Kaya Rivas, 7 BURLINGTON

6

“Blue Elephant” Wyatt Wilder, 5 NORTHFIELD

5 & under

Coloring Contest!

Three winners will each receive an annual family membership to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium. Send Kids VT your work of art by April 15. Be sure to include the info at right with your submission. Winners will be chosen in the following categories: (1) ages 5 and younger, (2) ages 6-8 and (3) ages 9-12. Winners will be named in the May issue of Kids VT. Send your high-resolution scans to art@kidsvt.com or mail a copy to Kids VT, P.O. Box 1184, Burlington, VT 05402.

Sponsored by

KIDS JUST FOR

Jumble

BY DAVID L. HOYT & JEFF KNUREK

The letters of these crazy words are all mixed up. To play the game, put them back into the right order so that they make real words you can find in your dictionary. Write the letters of each real word under each crazy word, but only one letter to a square.

Birthday Club

You are now ready to solve this month’s Jumble For Kids. Study the picture for a hint. Then play around with the letters in the circles. You’ll find you can put them in order so that they make your funny answer.

Print your answer here:

Puzzles4Kids

Riddle Search — FURIOUS! Look up, down and diagonally, both forward and backward, to find every word on the list. Circle each one as you find it. When all the words are circled, take the UNUSED letters and write them on the blanks below. Go from left to right and top to bottom to find the answer to this riddle: How do rabbits throw tantrums?

ANGRY AWFUL BLUE CRYING

FUMING HOWLING HUFFY IN TEARS

AVALON lives in Salisbury and turns 8 on April 5. She loves sports, gymnastics, dance and softball, but her favorite hobby is riding horses. She has six older and three younger siblings.

Avalon wins four day passes and four 3D movie tickets to ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain in Burlington.

HAYDEN lives in Hardwick and turns 7 on April 5. He loves Legos and can spend hours building with his sister. He’s a chess enthusiast who is always good-natured and up for adventure.

BY HELENA HOVANEC

MADISON lives in Essex Junction and turns 10 on April 7. When she’s not dancing, she enjoys spending time with her family at their camp, swimming, skating and learning to knit.

To enter, submit information using the online form at kidsvt.com/birthday-club Just give us your contact info, your children’s names and birth dates, and a photo, and they’re automatically enrolled.

Hayden, Madison and Cameron each win a day pass to ECHO.

RECKLESS SHOOK UP SOBBING SOUR SULKY SULLEN UP IN ARMS UPSET

Riddle Answer:

CAMERON lives in Richmond and turns 8 on April 22. He enjoys snowboarding, science experiments and building with Legos. He has a great sense of humor and a kind heart. He’s an easygoing kid who loves to fish, hike and do just about anything outside.

ANSWERS P. 55

Not All Sweetness & Light

An inconvenient late-night excursion brings mother and son closer to nature

When I was growing up, the high point of my family’s interaction with the outdoors was driving through Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to visit my uncle and pausing at a scenic overlook. I lived in an endless suburb of housing developments and shopping centers. Although I eventually found solace along a wooded bike path that ran next to a creek near my house, I had only the vaguest sense of what the things I loved there were called or why they were there.

In my first botany class in college, I was startled to discover that trees have buds in January; I had always assumed they just appeared in spring. After college, while identifying prairie grasses for an ecology research project, I discovered I loved working outside. I realized, though, that just knowing the names of things was not enough; I wanted to understand why things were the way they were. I decided to go to graduate school to acquire the knowledge I craved about my surroundings.

I now teach ecology to college students, and their hunger for this information is palpable. Probably, like me, they want to connect with where they live and to be part of something bigger than themselves.

After all these years, I have finally logged enough hours to be fairly fluent in the language of nature, but when I meet native speakers, I am jealous. Compared to them, I still feel like an outsider. So when my son, Jesse, was born 11 years ago, I wanted to immerse him in nature right from the start. When he was very young, I read The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson’s essay about how to develop a lifelong love of nature. Carson wrote of taking her grandnephew out in nature even when it was “inconvenient, interfering with bedtime, or involving wet clothing that has to be changed or mud that has to be cleaned off the rug.” Of one such time late at night, she wrote: “I think we have felt that the memory of such a scene, photographed year after year by his child’s mind, would mean more to him in manhood than the sleep he was losing.”

Yes, yes, I thought. I vowed to take Jesse out in nature despite the extra laundry and the lost sleep. Since he was

a baby, we have tried, and sometimes succeeded, to get out into the woods at least once a week as a family. When Jesse was a toddler, my friends and I formed the Muddy Boot Brigade and tried to meet at different natural areas once a week. Since he was in first grade, Jesse has spent Fridays at Crow’s Path’s Field School getting muddy and building fires. But even now, as timesensitive opportunities arise — looking for the Northern Lights or checking out the river at flood stage — they never seem to come at a good time.

Jesse was crying loudly on the living room floor. He was dressed but was resisting help putting on his rain gear. Ben’s mouth was tight. Somehow we got the stiff vinyl jacket and pants on Jesse and dug out another headlamp from the not-quite-on-purpose piles in the corners of our house. I found his hat and rain boots, but only one dry mitten. Eventually I found its mate, mudencrusted, in the dirty-laundry basket. I wanted to yell. I settled for slamming the door on my way out.

When I read The Sense of Wonder, I imagined my whole family sharing joyously in these rituals. But that night, Ben was tired and a little sick, so Jesse and I went to the pool by ourselves.

I strained to buckle Jesse’s floppy body into the back seat, and he sat bleary-eyed as we drove silently. When we pulled into the parking lot, he said sleepily, “I don’t know if I can get out.”

I remember a particularly ungraceful April night when my son was 5. I took the recycling to the curb around 10 p.m. and noticed it was raining. Since the beginning of the month, I’d been watching for the first rainy night, when all the salamanders and wood frogs from the surrounding woods would trek to their nearest vernal pool to find a mate.

Vernal pools are low-lying spots in the forest that fill up with snowmelt for a few months in spring and summer and then dry out, so they are safe from eggand tadpole-eating fish. The closest one to my house is a 15-minute drive, and I’d been taking my husband and son to that one every year. But after a few icy false alarms, I had been tasked with scoping it out alone before bringing them along.

I stood by the recycling bin that night, thinking longingly of my bed, but eventually I went back inside, grabbed a headlamp and my rain gear, and headed out.

When I got out of the car, the chuckling of the wood frogs enveloped me immediately.

I called my husband, Ben, from the pitch-black parking lot. “They’re here,” I announced. “Will you wake Jesse and get him ready to go?”

“Sure,” he said, but he sounded doubtful.

When I walked in the front door,

We made quite the racket bushwacking in the slippery darkness to the pool, and the frogs were quiet by the time we arrived. So we turned off our lights, slid our backs down two skinny maples and waited. Just as the frogs tentatively resumed their calling, Jesse said, “I’m ready to not do this anymore.”

I told him he could turn on his headlamp, and he cast light around the pool, making crazy designs. It eventually fell on the yellow spots of some salamanders, and he excitedly pointed them out. We saw two frogs join together and not let go. We sat silently in the middle of this sensuous racket for a half hour, and we drank it all in: the soft rain, the smell of mud, the silent salamanders, the chuckling frogs, the amazing convergence of them all arriving here together, at the exact same moment, and our being in the middle of it.

And then we went home.

During the drive, I thought of Rachel Carson’s grandnephew. And I wondered: When Jesse is grown, will the part that’s been photographed by his child’s mind be the crying on the living room floor and sitting too long in the dark, or the awe and wonder of the chorusing frogs?

As my son gets older, I sometimes ask myself how many more expeditions he’ll want to go on with me. I’m trying to play my cards right and not force him into anything. But when he found out I was writing an essay about this trip to “our” vernal pool, he perked up and asked, “When is that? We didn’t miss it, did we?” K

PUZZLE PAGE ANSWERS

SEE “JUST FOR KIDS” SECTION FOR PUZZLES

NADEL PUZZLE ANSWER: The Pink Piggy Bank has $52, the most money.

RIDDLE SEARCH ANSWER: They get hopping mad.

RIDDLE ANSWER: When they raced to finish their shoelaces first, it ended —IN A TIE

JUMBLES KEY.

We’ve Cut Tuition by 50% ASSOCIATE DEGREES BACHELOR’S DEGREES & UNDERGRAD CERTIFICATES