Tag Archives: children

Local Events

Eggs for the hunting at local community centers

Photo by makelessnoise via Flickr/Creative Commons.
This weekend brings several egg hunt events at Beacon Hill and nearby community centers.

At Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.), Friday, April 6 at 8 p.m., there is a Teen Flashlight Egg Hunt for those 12 and older. The event is free, but bring a flashlight and a bag. Meet at the community center gym at 8 sharp. The hunt will be outdoors.

Saturday, April 7, is the Spring Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast. Breakfast will be served from 9-11 a.m., and the Egg Hunt starts at 10 a.m. sharp. The Egg Hunt is free, but breakfast is not: $4 for pancakes, $5 for pancakes and sausage, or $6 for pancakes, sausage and eggs.

The Van Asselt Community Center is also holding a Spring Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast Saturday from 10-11:30 a.m. The egg hunt for kids aged 2-8 is free and starts at 10 sharp, and the pancake breakfast will follow the egg hunt. The breakfast is $3 per person for all-you-can-eat pancakes with syrup, butter, and juice.

Down the hill, both the International District/Chinatown and Rainier community center are also holding free egg hunts Saturday morning at 10 a.m. (April 7) for kids under 11. The International District/Chinatown Community Center is located at 719 8th Ave. S. The Rainier Community Center is at 4600 38th Ave. S.

Education

Van Asselt readers to compete for city championship

“The Van Asselt Bobcat Champions” from Van Asselt Elementary School on South Beacon Hill will compete in the city final of the 2012 Global Reading Challenge against students from Adams, Alki, Arbor Heights, Graham Hill, Greenwood, Loyal Heights, Northgate, Roxhill, and View Ridge elementary schools. The event is this coming Tuesday, March 27, at 7 p.m. in the Central Library Microsoft Auditorium, 1000 Fourth Ave., and it is free and open to all. Parking is available for $5 in the library’s garage.

The Challenge is a “Battle of the Books” for kids in grades 4 and 5. To compete, children read books from this list, and then participate in a “Quiz Bowl” game. Questions about the books are read to the teams and repeated once. Then the teams have 20 seconds to write down the correct answer. The winning Seattle team will take home the Global Reading Challenge traveling trophy and continue on to a videoconference challenge against students from Fraser Valley and Coquitlam in British Columbia, Canada.

The final against the Canadian teams will be held on Friday, April 13 at 10 a.m. at the John Stanford Center, 2445 Third Avenue South.

Local Events

Save the date: Egg hunts and pancakes at the Jefferson Community Center

Photo by makelessnoise via Flickr/Creative Commons.
Mark your calendar—Jefferson Community Center has some eggy events coming up next month.

On Friday, April 6 at 8 p.m., the community center hosts a Teen Flashlight Egg Hunt for those 12 and older. The event is free, but bring a flashlight and a bag. Meet at the community center gym at 8 sharp. The hunt will be outdoors.

The next morning, Saturday, April 7, is the Spring Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast. Breakfast will be served from 9-11 a.m., and the Egg Hunt starts at 10 a.m. sharp. The Egg Hunt is free, but breakfast is not: $4 for pancakes, $5 for pancakes and sausage, or $6 for pancakes, sausage and eggs.

Jefferson Community Center is located at 3801 Beacon Ave. S.

Local Events

Green eggs, ham, and birthday cake

Green eggs and ham? Photo by Ben Husmann via Creative Commons/Flickr.
All are invited to celebrate the 112th birthday of Dr. Seuss at Jefferson Community Center, next Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m. There will be birthday cake, green eggs and ham to try, and more. Admission is $2 and the entire family is welcome.

Jefferson Community Center is located at 3801 Beacon Ave. S. For more information, call 206-684-7481.

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Food Forest, food for kids, food for thought

Someone spinning on his head at Jefferson Park in the late afternoon sun. Photo by Robinette Struckel in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.

We’ve been holding on to some of these Bits for a while, so no time like the present… here goes!

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The Beacon Food Forest was featured recently in Crosscut, where Robert Mellinger writes:

“There is no other project of Beacon Food Forest’s scale and design on public land in the United States — a forest of food, for the people, by the people.”

The article gives a thorough background on the bureaucratic issues that the Food Forest organizers have had to deal with so far, as well as an overview of future plans.

The Food Forest was also featured in Take Part this week.

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Travelers Thali House was recently touted in the Seattle Weekly‘s Voracious blog as “colorful food kids will eat.”

Travelers was also mentioned in the March issue of Sunset, on page 17. The blurb mentions that Travelers serves Indian street food and gives a couple of examples.

Back to Voracious, where Travelers was featured yet again this week in a “Sexy Feast” review by Jay Friedman:

“My thali looked like an edible artist’s palette. Instead of a paintbrush, I’d dip my fork into the various metal bowls, sampling each carefully and seeing how it blended with the next…

“Exploring and enjoying different tastes and textures, with varied sequences of bites, nibbles, scoops, and swirls, made this a delicious experience.”

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7×7 listed Beacon Hill as “one of the 7 best neighborhoods in Seattle” — specifically, “best for families.” Writer Alida Moore cited our parks, playgrounds, library, diversity, and light rail as reasons the Hill is great for kids, along with one highly-rated school: Mercer.

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Have you noticed that MacPherson’s doesn’t sell sprouts anymore?

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Neighbor Lesley Ernst writes:

“You know the neighborhood is changing when…

“Arriving at my massage office on Hanford St. and Beacon Ave. early last Sunday morning to find that the ubiquitous litter in the parking strip has changed from 40-ouncers to Kombucha bottles and PCC to-go containers.”

Arts, Local Events, Volunteering and Giving

Caspar Babypants to play at Wellspring Open House Saturday

Wellspring Family Services, just a bit east of Beacon Hill on Rainier Avenue, is holding a free Holiday Open House this Saturday, December 3. The event will feature a special performance by Caspar Babypants (otherwise known as Chris Ballew from The Presidents of the United States of America). Caspar will be debuting a brand-new song written about the winner of this summer’s Kids Helping Kids coin drive contest.

The event runs from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Wellspring, 1900 Rainier Ave. S. Caspar Babypants performs live at 1 p.m., and there will also be holiday treats and tours of the facility.

Admission is free for all ages, however, you are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the Wellspring Holiday Toy Room. The Toy Room is a place where homeless families may come and choose gifts for their children. Wellspring expects to share gifts with over 1,000 children in this year’s Toy Room.

Caspar Babypants performs for happy, dancing children. Photo courtesy of Wellspring Family Services.
Local Events

A grand opening and a final closing among this weekend’s events

This weekend Beacon Hill will celebrate holiday festivals, live music and food, a grand opening of a neighborhood amenity, and a closing of a neighborhood institution.

The community centers on the Hill are both holding events for kids tonight, October 28, from 6 to 8 p.m. Van Asselt Community Center (2820 S. Myrtle St.) is hosting a free Halloween Carnival for kids aged 12 and under. Games and goodies are promised for the carnival guests.

Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.) is also hosting a Fall Festival and Haunted House for kids 11 and under (the haunted house is for older kids, per parents’ judgment). There will be games for 25 cents each or 5/$1, and the haunted house admission is $1.

For both festivals, kids should dress in their best costumes, and bring a bag to collect treats and prizes.

Tomorrow, October 29, the Mountains to Sound Trail Grand Opening celebration starts at 2:30 p.m. at 900 Sturgus Ave. S. Mayor Mike McGinn and other dignitaries will be there to mark the opening of the trail, and tours of the area’s improvements will be given.

Afterwards, head down Beacon Avenue to the first Beacon Boogie, a celebration of food, art, and music. See five bands at five different venues for the grand total of five dollars (free for kids 12 and under), as well as enjoying great food and art from Beacon restaurants, artists, and galleries. See the event schedule here.

On Sunday, October 30, a more somber celebration will mark the closing of Beacon Lutheran Church (1720 S. Forest St.) after 70 years serving the community. The final worship service is at 10 a.m., and at about noon, the church and community will gather for a potluck dinner and remembrance program. All are invited to either or both parts of the event.

The church community gathered in the unfinished sanctuary of the new Beacon Lutheran Church in Spring, 1949. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church via John Graham.
Local Events

Save the date: Halloween festivals at local community centers

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Jefferson Community Center will be haunted on October 28. Photo by Wendi.
Both community centers on Beacon Hill have scheduled Halloween festivities for Friday, October 28, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Van Asselt Community Center (2820 S. Myrtle St.) is hosting a free Halloween Carnival that evening for kids aged 12 and under. Games and goodies are promised for the carnival guests. Wear a costume, and bring a bag or basket to collect treats and prizes. Refreshments will be available for sale.

Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.) is holding their own Fall Festival and Haunted House for kids 11 and under (the haunted house is for older kids, per parents’ judgment). Games will be 25 cents each or 5/$1, and the haunted house admission is $1. As at the Van Asselt festival, guests should dress in their best costumes and bring a bag or basket for treats.

Local Events

Bounce Fest returns to JCC next week

Jumping rope is just one of the fun activities planned for next week's Bounce Fest. Photo by Andrew Malone via Creative Commons/Flickr.
Bounce Fest is back again at Jefferson Community Center next Friday, September 23, from 6-8 p.m. Admission is $2 per child. There will be bounce toys for all ages, jump-roping, hop scotch, music, snacks and more. All activities will be indoors, so the event will go on rain or shine. The folks at the Community Center promise “We will wear the kids out and send them home tired! Come and join us for a evening of fun!”

Education

Denise Louie Education Center receives literacy grant

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Photo courtesy of Denise Louie Education Center.
Denise Louie Education Center (DLEC) recently received a $2,000 grant from the Target Foundation to help instill a love of reading in the children the organization serves at sites on Beacon Hill, in the International District, and in Rainier Beach/Lake Washington.

The funds from the grant will allow DLEC to purchase books for their Raising a Reader Program, a national program that gets families engaged in daily reading through parent training and rotating book bags that children check out each week.

The Raising a Reader program encourages daily “book cuddling,” described by DLEC as follows: “Parents follow the child’s lead and either read or invent a story using the pictures from the book. That way, a book can be shared regardless of the parent’s language or literacy level. Parents learn how to use prediction, open-ended, and leading questions to engage their children. By the end of the program, families sign up for a library card so they can continue with daily reading which will help their children become proficient readers and successful students.”

The Beacon Hill branch of DLEC is located at 3327 Beacon Ave. S. in North Beacon Hill. For more information about the organization, visit the website.