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Great Places to Go with Kids in Town
Every family has its favorite places, those special stops along the way for great ice cream, a fun family hike or a beautiful new party dress. And every year the Boston Parents Paper asks readers to vote for their local favorites and share the spots they put at the top of their lists for exploring, playing, eating and shopping in Boston and its surrounding communities.
Here, you’ll find the winners of our fifth annual Family Favorite Awards – 75 shops, restaurants, museums, zoos, fun destinations and more, all based on your nominations and our careful research. Family Favorites offer great tips on everything from finding the best birthday cake to buying your child’s first shoes. Some of this year’s winners represent exceptional places that win an award year after year; others are new additions to our ever-growing list.
Have fun perusing the winners and be sure to try out some that are new to you. Watch for next year’s ballots in the March and April 2009 issues of the Boston Parents Paper for your chance to nominate some of your own favorites!
Favorite Indoor Play Space
• Imagination Island, 12 Resnik Road, Plymouth 508-747-7447 www.imaginationislandusa.com Too hot? Rainy weather keeping the kids indoors? Head south, kick off your shoes, and let them climb, jump, bounce and do almost anything else their imaginations can conjure up to work off extra energy in this colossal play space. Kids can leap to their heart’s content in the giant Palm Tree Moon Bounce, explore the 14- foot high climbing equipment, or find buried treasure in the pirate’s cove. Your little fashionista can even play dress-up in the boutique. And that’s only half the fun!
Other Great Picks …
• Climb aboard the new 32- foot-long inflatable pirate ship at Kids Playground (15 Normac Road, Woburn, 781- 935-2300; www.kidsplayground.com) and explore Kids Village with its costume shop, police station and beauty parlor. • Promote family fitness at Together in Motion (1 Broadway, Arlington, 781-643- 1377; www.togetherinmotion.com). Bring the kids for tumbling, dance or open play (while you relax in the lounge area); then head back at night “sans kids” for pilates, yoga and boxing!
• Explore 12,000 square feet of play space at Imajine That (354 Merrimack St., Lawrence, 978-682-5338; www.imajinethat.com). Activities in the child-sized grocery store, stuffed animal hospital and jurassic room will work up your child’s hunger for kidfavorite foods, like the macaroni and cheese or pizza served in the Imajinethat Café.
Favorite Day Trip
• Roger Williams Park and Zoo, 1000 Elmwood Ave., Providence 401-785-3510 www.rogerwilliamsparkzoo.org. Once you pass through the gates of Roger Williams Park (RWP), it won’t take long before you realize why our readers voted this urban oasis their favorite day trip. The award-winning Roger Williams Park Zoo, home to more than 1,000 animals from anteaters to zebras, just keeps getting better. It’s smack-dab in the middle of a $35 million renovation plan, which not only has improved the giraffe habitats and focused on elephant breeding, but will also include a new polar bear exhibit and Children’s Play Zoo in the next couple of years. But RWP is so much more than the zoo. Take a paddleboat ride; visit the Museum of Natural History, Cormack Planetarium or new Botanical Center; ride the Victorian carousel; play in the arcade and stroll the beautiful grounds Check out the Hasbro Boundless Playground, where children with and without disabilities can play and learn together. Whew! With all these activities, we wonder if one day is really enough!
Favorite Fair
• Topsfield Fair. 2008 Dates: Oct. 3-13 207 Boston St., Route 1, Topsfield 978-887-5000 www.topsfieldfair.org Year after year, families choose this 10-day extravaganza as a winner. If you live anywhere north of Boston, you’ve at least heard of the Topsfield Fair, America’s oldest agricultural fair and home to last year’s world-record-breaking pumpkin, weighing in at 1,689 pounds. Holy cow! Or should we say holy squash! Drop by in 2008 to see how this year’s entries measure up, plus enjoy arts and crafts, animals, vegetable and baking contests, top-notch musical entertainment, rides and more. Mustsees this season include the Canadian Mounted Police equestrian team’s renowned Musical Ride, from Oct. 3- 8, and a live show with animal authority Jeff Corwin, host of Animal Planet’s Corwin’s Quest, on Oct. 11. Kiddie Land offers rides and entertainment all week. And children ages 8 and under are admitted to the fair free with an adult.
•Marshfield Fair. 2008 Dates: Aug. 15-24 Route 3A, Marshfield 781-834-6629 www.marshfieldfair.org If you live south of Boston, get your late-summer serving of Americana at the 141-year-old Marshfield Fair, chock full of good old-fashioned family fun. Ongoing events such as Granny’s racing pigs, model railroad displays and bee keeper demonstrations add to the everyday fun. Special events – the Battle of the Bands, all-day blues festivals, agricultural workshops and feats of strength like the Frying Pan Fling – give this fair its own flair. Children’s Day is Wednesday, Aug. 20, when all kids ages 12 and under are admitted free.
Other Great Picks …
• Live country and honky-tonk music, petting zoo shows, rides and championship bull riding are all on tap at the Barnstable County Fair (July 18-26, Country Fairgrounds, Route 151, East Falmouth, 508-563-3200; www.barnstablecountyfair.org).
• The Bolton Fair (Sept. 25-28, Lancaster Fairgrounds, Route 117, Lancaster, 978-365-7206; www.boltonfair.org) features Kids’ Country, a fair-within-a-fair for kids under age 12 that includes entertainment, crafts, a hay bale maze and even a chance to milk a cow.
• At the Lowell Folk Festival (the end of July every year; Downtown Lowell, 978-970- 5000; www.lowellfolkfestival.org) parents and kids enjoy Celtic music, Irish step dancing, a Chinese Lion Dance and much more. A family activity area here offers handson games like box-hockey and a bean bag toss.
Favorite Museum
• Museum of Science, Science Park, Boston 617-723-2500 www.mos.org Year after year, families flock to this perennial favorite. And really, who can blame them? In today’s world of ever-changing science, technology and culture, the Museum of Science is right on top of things. From educating kids and adults alike about the plight of planet Pluto to transporting Baseball Hall of Fame artifacts to Boston, families learn through exciting, interactive exhibits and exclusive shows. Upcoming exhibits include the October opening of Goosebumps! The Science of Fear, which examines the way the brain and body work together in response to danger. Don’t miss the museum’s Omni Theater shows Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk, running through Sept. 8, and Wild Ocean, featuring whales, sharks and billions of fish, opening Aug. 1.
• Boston Children’s Museum, 300 Congress St., Boston 617-426-8855 www.bostonkids.org Another perennial favorite, the Boston Children’s Museum continues to entice and inform kids of all ages with creative play spaces and global-minded exhibits – Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China runs through Jan. 4, 2009, connecting visitors to the daily lives of four Chinese children. Don’t miss the museum’s summer lunchtime concert series on Fridays, from noon to 1, on Children’s Wharf. Following its extensive renovation last year, the museum offers many new exhibits, including the Kid Power fitness area with its dance floor, pulley chairs and hand pedal bikes, and the main floor’s New Balance Climb – a sculpture-like climbing structure that spans three stories. On an environmental note: this museum has also just earned an LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Other Great Picks …
• Viewing art has never been so scenic – or kid-friendly – as it is at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln, 781-259-8355; www.decordova.org). Stroll through 35 acres of sculptureladen woodlands (access to the Sculpture Park is free after museum hours) or participate in the Eye Wonder family programs, which include family-friendly guided tours and hands-on art activities.
• At the Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford St., Cambridge, 617-495- 3045; www.hmnh.harvard.edu) explore bugs, dinosaurs and the underwater world in the spectacular exhibit Sea Creatures in Glass through Jan. 4, 2009.
Favorite Live Theater Venue
• Puppet Showplace Theatre, 32 Station St., Brookline 617-731-6400 www.puppetshowplace.org Experience live theater as a family in this creative, kid-friendly and intimate environment, where talented puppeteers from across New England present their extraordinary and imaginative art for both preschoolers and grade-school-aged children. Classic childhood tales like Cinderella are given new twists, and playful puppet variety shows introduce kids to music, drama and imaginative play. The colorful and charismatic puppets and marionettes at Puppet Showplace Theatre will have your kids shouting, “Encore!”
Other Great Picks …
• Wheelock Family Theatre, (200 The Riverway, Boston, 617-879-2300; www.wheelock.edu/wft) presents affordable, accessible productions for all generations. Shows for the 2008-2009 season include Saint Joan, Seussical! And Charlotte’s Web. • At the Lyric Stage Company (140 Clarendon St., Boston, 617-585-5678; www.lyricstage.com), kids become part of the play in participatory shows like Swan Lake, Hansel and Gretel and Rumplestiltskin.
• Patricia Gleeson, executive director of the Boston Children’s Theatre (321 Columbus Ave., Boston, 617- 424-6634; www.bostonchildrenstheatre.org) may have announced her retirement, but the show must go on. And the 58-year-old theater company will do just that with live plays performed for kids, by kids. Catch these family-friendly shows in parks, malls, camps and theaters during the summer. BCT’s affordable mainstage productions begin in December.
• Variety is the spice of Coolidge Corner Theatre (290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-734-2500; www.coolidge.org), which offers a range of children’s shows from mid-October to the end of April. On Saturdays and Sundays, bring the kids for puppetry, magic shows, storytelling, sing-a-longs, jugglers or plays.
Favorite Animal Encounters
• Franklin Park Zoo, One Franklin Park Road, Boston 617-541-5466 www.franklinparkzoo.org Sure, the kids love the family dog, but nothing compares to seeing members of the wild kingdom up close and personal. And this year, there are a few more mouths to feed at this top pick for places to do just that. Staffers at Franklin Park Zoo welcomed the birth of Tuli, a female Grevy’s Zebra, in February. Last October, on the heels of a 2007 Red Sox World Series Championship, parents Beau and Jana gave birth to a 154-pound baby giraffe, appropriately named Sox.
• Stone Zoo, 149 Pond St., Stoneham 781-438-5100 www.stonezoo.org The new Black Bear Exhibit at Stone Zoo, another winner, was unveiled on Memorial Day weekend and features brothers Smoky and Bubba, 2-year-old frisky bears from the Appalachian Bear Rescue in Tennessee. A sister zoo to Franklin Park, the Stone Zoo can sometimes feel more intimate and relaxed, particularly for families with younger children.
Another Great Pick …
• There are only approximately 3,000 Bengal tigers left in the wild. Get a glimpse of these elusive and exquisite animals at Southwick Zoo (2 Southwick St., Mendon, 800-258-9182; www.southwickszoo.com), where two Bengal cubs are now on exhibit. The tigers join other new arrivals, Fergie, a baby camel, and two baby warthogs.
Favorite Hike
• Blue Hills Reservation, Headquarters, 695 Hillside St., Milton 617-698-1802 www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/blue.htm Hiking might not be the simplest thing to do with kids in tow, but Ranger Pete, former Blue Hills ranger and current acting deputy director of Urban Parks and Recreation, has made it easier for families to decide just what trail to conquer. He has rated the difficulty of some of the reservation’s more than 100 miles of wooded trails. Fortunately, there are plenty of easy hikes that provide access to beautiful views in the park. The Braintree Pass Path passes by stands of hemlocks, slopes covered with mountain laurel, an Atlantic cedar swamp and an old cellar hole that marks where settlers farmed hundreds of years ago. The Houghton’s Pond Loop offers a short, scenic hike around this popular body of water. Whatever road you choose, don’t forget to stop by Reservation Headquarters for maps and information.
Favorite Park
• Castle Island Day Boulevard, South Boston 617-727-5290 www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/castle.htm Technically, you won’t get lost on this island, a 22-acre urban park connected to the mainland by pedestrian and vehicular causeways. But you could lose yourself in its history. Castle Island is the oldest fortified military site in what was British North America, and Fort Independence, a five-bastioned granite fort completed in 1851, is the island’s main attraction. Open to the public from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, fort tours are conducted by the Castle Island Association; you can also take a selfguided tour around the ramparts. After, stay for a picnic, a swim or a stroll along the water’s edge. Watch the planes from nearby Logan International Airport cruise by overhead or the boats sailing in and out of Boston Harbor and take the kids to the playground. Just don’t leave before you grab some fries, a burger or some ice cream (heck, grab all three) at Sullivan’s, a seasonal take-out institution.
Favorite Adventure Place
• Blue Hills Reservation, 695 Hillside St., Milton 617-698-1802 www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/blue.htm Calling all explorers! Outdoor activities abound at this top choice for family adventures. Experience the urban oasis of Blue Hills Reservation and enjoy everything from picnicking and swimming to mountain biking and wildlife, only minutes from the bustle of Boston, on 7,000 acres stretching from Quincy to Dedham and Milton to Randolph. Visit the Blue Hills Trailside Museum – open during renovation – for nature programs and live animal demonstrations. Or hike the 635-foot Great Blue Hill to enjoy panoramic views and learn more about meteorology at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center. Check out the variety of programs offered at Brookwood Farm and Houghton’s Pond, and enjoy family-friendly guided hikes, such as the Sunset of Summer hike offered on Aug. 31.
• Race Point Beach, Race Point Road, East of U.S. 6, Provincetown 508-487-1256 www.nps.gov/caco Perched on the tip of Cape Cod in vibrant Provincetown, Race Point Beach is more than just sand and water. It’s another winner for great outdoor adventures. You can cycle or walk the trails through beachside forests, or participate in programs offered by the National Parks Service – including rescue demonstrations at the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station, tracking animals or examining marine life. Or simply spend some time playing in the sand or splashing in the clear (but cold) waters of this pristine beach, where you can watch the sun rise and set over the ocean.
Other Great Picks …
• A trip to Story Land (Route 16, Glen, N.H., 603- 383-4186; www.storylandnh.com) is a New England tradition for young families. In addition to the always-fun themed rides, play spaces and friendly roving characters, new this summer is the Royal Hanneford Circus, which will perform daily through Labor Day.
• Explore a realistic ancient Egyptian archaeological dig site at 5Wits Tomb Adventure (186 Brookline Ave., Boston, 617-375-WITS; www.5-wits.com) and endure challenges, twists and traps to solve the mystery of the missing professor.
• Learn about Boston-area history through familyfriendly scavenger hunts organized by Watson Adventures (877-9-GO-HUNT; www.watsonadventures.com). The Bonkers Family Hunt in July takes you in search of a strong man in historic Faneuil Hall, enormous fruit at Quincy Market and a giant’s teakettle. Or check out the Go Fish Scavenger Hunt at the New England Aquarium in December.
Favorite Beach
• Nantasket Beach, Reservation Route 3A, Hull 617-727-5290 www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/nantask.htm Summertime without a trip to a decent beach is like peanut butter without the jelly. South of Boston, in the picturesque town of Hull, Nantasket Beach boasts 26 acres along 1 1/3 miles of coastline perfect for biking, sunbathing and swimming. Lifeguards are on duty from late June to early September. After a dip in the ocean, take the kids for a spin on the horses at the historic Paragon Carousel, open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And on those lazy Sunday afternoons, enjoy Concerts-By-The-Sea at the Bernie King Pavilion.
• Wingaersheek Beach, Atlantic Street, Gloucester 978-281-9735 www.gloucester-ma.gov Head north to Cape Ann, where a low-tide sandbar, calm waters and a kid-friendly atmosphere make Wingaersheek Beach a great family destination. A view of the Annisquam Lighthouse, across Ipswich Bay at the northern end of the Annisquam River, adds to the coastal scenery and a nearby snack bar makes hungry children happy. Lifeguards work Memorial Day to Labor Day. Just be sure to get to Wingaersheek early; non-resident parking is limited and this popular beach is known to fill up fast on warm summer days.
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