kids & family
by Kathleen Donner
The Lunar New Year (online) Family Zone
Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. It is celebrated around the world and is a time to cherish loved ones both near and far. This year the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is highlighting the Chinese traditions and celebration of the Year of the Ox. Enjoy a variety of family-friendly activities you can complete at home and with your extended family and friends via Zoom. Watch traditional Chinese craft demonstrations and performances. Join the Madison Chinese Dance Corporation for acrobatics, yoyo, and other Chinese dance traditions. americanart.si.edu/events/family-zone/lunar-new-year.
Soar Together @ Air and Space Virtual Family Day: What’s Beyond Our Solar System?
Soar Together @ Air and Space is a monthly virtual family program from the National Air and Space Museum. Through live events and interactive activities you can do anytime, your family can explore a different air and space topic every month. This month’s family program, on Feb. 18 and 19, all day, will explore the questions, “How do we know what is out there beyond our own universe?” and “What world do you imagine?” You’ll learn about the ways scientists study planets outside our solar system, and then use your creative side to imagine what it would be like to live on another planet. Register at airandspace.si.edu/events/ soar-together-air-and-space-virtual-family-day-whatsbeyond-our-solar-system
Balloonacy at Imagination Stage
Balloonacy is a beautiful, movement-based show that revisits the classic film The Red Balloon. Nothing can go right for the character of the old man, whose days are gray and dreary–until he is visited by a friendly red balloon. In the playful physical style of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the old man--an adult version of the boy in the film--regains his youthful spirit, with the help of the red balloon. $12. Balloonacy is at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda Feb. 5 to 20. Best suited for ages five to eleven. Imaginationstage.org.
Darbuka Drumming at the National Children’s Museum
On Saturday, Feb. 12 and Sunday, Feb. 13, join in on an authentic Darbuka drumming session. You’ll learn more about Arabic music and instruments like the Darbuka, an iconic percussion instrument used in the Middle East. The program, in the Creative Corner on the first floor, lasts approximately 30 minutes and will start at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. It is recommended for all ages, especially five to nine. Museum admission is $15.95 for one adult and one child. The National Children’s Museum is at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. nationalchildrensmuseum.org.
How Things Fly
How does an airplane stay aloft? How can something as insubstantial as air support all that weight? Why do you become “weightless” in space? How can you propel yourself there, with no air to push against? These and many other questions are answered in How Things Fly, a gallery devoted to explaining the basic principles that allow aircraft and spacecraft to fly. The emphasis here is “hands-on.” Dozens of exhibits invite you to push, pull, press, lift, slide, handle, touch, twist, turn, spin, bend, and balance. Open Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The National Air and Space Museum’s building on the National Mall will temporarily close to the public March 28, 2022 until fall 2022.
National Zoo Webcams
See giant pandas, elephants, lions and naked mole-rats 36
E a s t o f t h e R i v er D C N e w s . c o m
P.Nokio: A Hip-Hop Musical at Imagination Stage
G.Petto is an ingenious computer games designer who one day discovers that his newest game character P.Nokio can live outside the computer. G.Petto is thrilled at the prospect of having a “son,” and with the help of the Graffiti Fairy, he teaches P.Nokio how to become a real boy. But, P.Nokio falls in with con artists and finds himself in a web of lies that endangers his father. To save G.Petto, P.Nokio must wise up, keep it real, and learn that words and truth are the mightiest weapons of all. A completely contemporary, high-energy musical update of Pinocchio, on stage at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda, from Feb. 26 to April 9, is best suited for ages five to eleven. ASL-interpreted performance is March 27 at 1:30 p.m. Sensory-friendly performance is April 3 at 11 a.m. imaginationstage.org.
