Kids Off The Couch: What's On Our June Radar Screen!

Welcome, Summer!

Ballet Nacional De Cuba Ticket Giveaway

If school isn't out yet for your kids, at least the end is in sight. Get ready to celebrate the End of Homework by enjoying some of the many family festivals and art events around town this month. We've unearthed so many neat film festivals that we are secretly hoping for some June Gloom so we won't feel too bad ducking inside!

Ballet Nacional de Cuba Giveaway: Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center is bringing the wonderful Ballet Nacional De Cuba to town for five shows of Don Quixote from June 23-26 (including two matinees). First formed in 1948 by Alicia Alonso, Ballet Nacional de Cuba has created more than 600 works and performed in more than 60 countries. Kids Off the Couch subscribers are eligible to win a Family Four-Pack of tickets to the 2:00 PM performance on Saturday, June 25 at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Click here to enter your name to win - please include a phone number!

Movies Galore this Month: Besides the many summer films already in theaters (we love Kung Fu Panda 2), there is a plethora of film festivals for lucky Angelenos this month. From the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival at the Chinese 6 Theaters (June 6-9), that includes a free matinee of The Incredibles, to the Los Angeles Film Festival(June 16-26), that takes place downtown again this year, to a fabulous line-up of Tim Burton films at LACMA. Your family's film savvy quotient is about to go way way up!

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Tree People is holding it's annual Green City Fair this weekend (June 4) in Coldwater Canyon, with live music, face painting and plenty of environmental workshops and hikes. You can also enjoy the outdoors the following weekend (June 11) at the Children's Nature Institute's Kids Rock Concert and Festival in Hancock Park. If you have grandparents in town, there's nothing more relaxing than an afternoon spent at the Getty -- either the Villa or the Getty Center -- following some of their creative art programming for kids. And, consider paintapic, a cool at-home art project, which turns a photo into a paint-by-numbers project.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: MOCA is holding a Big Family Day celebration (June 5), downtown. The Hammer continues its Family Flicks programming with a free screening of Hyper Sapien (June 12). The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum has two Shakespeare plays in its summer line-up, The Merry Lives of Windsor and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Plan ahead for this treat, because seeing a play in Topanga Canyon is a must-have LA experience. Click here to read a Popcorn Adventure about this fabled outdoor theater.

TEENS: Consider letting your art-loving teens wander around the Culver City Artwalk this Saturday (June 4). Or if they're into dance, check out the Dance Camera West Dance Media Film Festival (June 16) at The Getty Center. We're always fretting over our kids' obsession with their cellphones, so take a quick listen to Warren Olney's radio show from yesterday; it's the start of what is sure to be a lengthy national conversation about cell phones as potential carcinogens.

PARENTS: Satisfy your travel itch at the Getty by checking out a new photo show, A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans until Now, that explores the Cuban cultural and political landscape during three distinct historical periods - before, during, and after the 1959 revolution.

Too Good to Be True: Two cool new food ideas emerged this month -- check outWaffle Chix, serving fried chicken and waffles in Westwood, and a souffle bar at Rockenwagner's at the Market at Santa Monica Place. As for eating at home, check out the USDA's brand new food plate, released this morning that replaces the 19 year-old food pyramid, and aims to be easier for families to use in planning healthy meals.

Kids Off The Couch

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Kids Off The Couch: What's On Our Los Angeles May Radar Screen

No More Showers, it's Time for Flowers

Train Day Ticket Giveaway

May, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways: Mother's Day, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Cinco de Mayo and a three-day weekend for Memorial Day. As much as we may revel, we know that the end of the month means just one thing: School's out in one second flat!

Train Day Invitation: PBS Kids and the Jim Henson Company have organized a special day to celebrate National Train Day at the Los Angeles Live Steamers -- Your junior conductors and engineers can spend the afternoon riding the trains and singing along with DINOSAUR TRAIN creator Craig Bartlett. Kids Off the Couch has 10 sets of Family Four-Packs to give away to our subscribers. The event takes place on Saturday, May 7 from 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM. The event is not open to the public, so send us a note if you want to be in the ticket giveaway for this fun afternoon.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Two days of bugs and other crawly things mark the Natural History Museum's wildly popular Bug Fair, Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15. Fair is free to members, or with museum admission. If bugs aren't your thing, come by the Hammer on May 15 and participate in theKids Art Museum Project, in which artists help kids make art (all to benefit kids programming at the Hammer!). Finally, the Skirball Cultural Center is hosting an afternoon of magic in conjunction with their new show Houdini: Art and Magic(which we'll tell you more about next week) so mark your calenders for Presto Chango: Magic Day at the Skirball on May 14 from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: The Los Angeles Times Festival of Bookstakes place this weekend (April 30-May 1). Check out the festival's iPhone or Android App, that will help your family navigate the event's new location, at USC. We love to go to this annual event and discover new books, ideas and authors - it's all FREE! Click here for the Target Children's Stage line-up for Saturday, and here for Sunday. If you're a history buff, make some time to check out the Magna Carta, on view at LACMA until May 5. Or, tee-up the topic of European history digital style, and soak up The Royal Wedding -- Kate marries William tomorrow -- it's practically Wedding Day in London already, so set those DVRs!

TEENS: If your teens are trying to fulfill their community service hours, jump aboard the citywide volunteer effort that is BIG SUNDAY, May 15. MOCA's graffiti show, Art in the Streets, is sure to stir up some controversy, so let them form their own opinion. Oh, and there happens to be a little stage show they might like -- the GLEE LIVE tour is coming to Staples on May 28 (with an afternoon and evening show).

Mothers and Other Favorite Mammals: One of our most-viewed Popcorn Adventures teaches how to explore the downtown Flower Mart. We paired it with My Fair Lady, so take a look and we promise you'll never pay flower shop prices for anyone (even Mom) again. Also, local seals and dolphin are suffering from another outbreak of an algae that affects their nervous system. We visited the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro a few years back, on another Popcorn Adventure, and you can do the same. Call ahead to see what supplies the kids can bring to donate.

PARENTS: Here's a worthy date night event: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson gather friends for a reading of The Merry Wives of Windsor to benefit The Shakespeare Company of Los Angeles, at UCLA Live on Monday, May 9.

Pasadena Lovers: Pasadenans love their neighborhood so much that it can make a Westsider jealous. We just read a hilarious new book by Lian Dolan called Helen of Pasadena, a breezy romance about a woman who returns to work after her husband drops dead -- it's set at the Huntington Gardens and full of spot-on observations about the mommy wars and parenting in Southern California. And, for a taste of the neighborhood, you can explore all the Museums of the Arroyo for free on Sunday, May 15 from noon to 5:00 PM.

Food News The Market at Santa Monica Place is set to open on May 20, presumably in time for summer. We're very excited that Homeboy Industries -- a company formed by Father Greg Boyle to put gang kids back to work -- is selling their salsa and chips at Ralph's. Support them by purchasing their products or by donating online.

Kids Off The Couch

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Kids Off The Couch March Radar: From A Dan Zanes Ticket Giveaway to Daylight Savings Time

Yesterday's New York Times Science section had a cool article about Academy Award winner, Natalie Portman. Turns out Oscar's black swan was a finalist in a national Intel high school science contest, and then went onto Harvard. The article quotes one of her professors as saying that, despite Natalie's active movie career, she never missed a deadline at school. We knew we liked that girl! Next week, we're writing about girls and science, so stay tuned.

PRE-SCHOOL and ELEMENTARY -- Caterpillar Adoption Days: Observation is the core of the scientific process, and we have a great way to start good science habits in your kids. Each March, Kidspace Museum in Pasadena hostsCaterpillar Adoption Days, allowing children to bring home a larva that will hatch into a butterfly under their eyes. Caterpillar adoptions begin on Saturday, March 19 and continue through the weekend of April 14 and 15, when the Grand Butterfly Release will take place. Click here to read our Popcorn Adventure about this great LA tradition.

TICKET GIVEAWAY - Dan Zanes: UCLA Live presents Dan Zanes & Friends at Royce Hall on Saturday, March 19 at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM. UCLA Live favorite Dan Zanes and his band perform exuberant, handmade music for enthusiastic crowds of kids and kids at heart. The audience is invited to sing along with gusto before things heat up and ultimately evolve into an all-ages dance party. Click here if you'd like to be entered to win a Family Four Pack to the 2:00 show.

ELEMENTARY - Build a Better World: As part of the Build a Better World component of Noah's Ark at the Skirball, local charities participate in activities at the museum. From March 15-20, Habitat for Humanity will be on site, so drop by and learn how building houses can change the world.

ELEMENTARY - World Culture Watch: We're planning a summer vacation so thinking of exotic foreign locales is right up our alley. The Music Center hosts a varied series of free concerts throughout the year, and next up is A Gaelic Gathering and the Tinkers on March 19th at 11:00 AM at theWalt Disney Concert Hall. Experience the world in your kitchen by clicking here for a slide show of global soup recipes from our fave new cooking site, Fine Cooking. Or, to explore the world's museums from the comfort of your chair, check out Google's new Art Project. (Careful, you could get lost in here).

ELEMENTARY -- The Bard Still Rules the Box Office: Gnomeo and Juliet surprised everyone by beating out Hall Pass last weekend, so if your kids are tuned into the Shakespearean storyline, have them check out A Noise Within's latest production of The Comedy of Errors, playing now through mid-May.

MIDDLE SCHOOL - Jazz at the Fowler: The Fowler debuts a stellar collection of photographs and documents in Jam Session: America's Jazz Ambassador's Embrace the World, an exhibit that will include several live jazz sessions over the course of the five-month show. We'll keep you updated on the ongoing family programming, which starts March 20 with Kids in the Courtyard: Peanut, Peanut Butter... and JAZZ.

MIDDLE SCHOOL - Monopoly Goes Digital: We loved the media kerfuffle last month when Milton Bradley announced a new version of its most famous board game. Monopoly Live will be available in the fall for $50, and pundits caution that making monopoly digital will eliminate the human element -- all that cheating, dealing and rule bending that kids learn to deal with during hours spent playing unsupervised games. For another humorous take our rapidly changing landscape check out this hilarious article, 8 Skills Our Parents Had that We Don't on a cool site called Matador and consider teaching some of these essential skills to your kids. (Or let the grandparents do it for you!).

TEENS -- Open Mike and College Night: We're obsessed with NBC's show,Parenthood, and love the storyline about Amber, a teenager who loves to play guitar. If your teens have the hankering, have them come out to a Teen Open-Mic Night at the Skirball Cultural Center, from 4:00 - 7:00 PM on Wednesday, March 23. If you're ramping up to the college process, our friends at Team Tutors have a special evening for you with a NYC-based admissions expert on March 23. Click here for details.

TEENS - Design Driven: Family Flicks at the Hammer is showcasing the Films of Charles and Ray Eames on Sunday, March 20 at 11:00 AM (free). Teens intrigued with design will also like the new exhibit at the A & D Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire, Soupergreen.

DATE NIGHT -- Liz Taylor in Iran: Both Liz and the turbulent state of Iran have been in the news lately, so it's an interesting time to check out a series of photographs of Elizabeth Taylor taken by a young Firooz Zahedi on a 1976 trip to Iran. At LACMAthrough mid-June.

Outtakes: Our new obsession? The new blood orange flavor at Pinkberry. If you loved last week's Popcorn Adventure on LA's food trucks, check out TruckIt Fest this Sunday, March 6 from 11:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. There's still time to register for the LA Marathon. Consider walking the fabulous new route from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier on March 20. And finally -- Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 13. Don't forget to push those clocks forward!

Kids Off The Couch

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Kids Off The Couch - Please Be Our Valentine ♥

Please, pretty please, would you be willing to show us some love this Valentine's Day by filling out a survey? We can't promise chocolate or rainbows, but do vow to listen to everything you say and use your suggestions to do a better job for you in 2011. Don't you wish your significant other would promise as much!?

DIY VALENTINES: We've thrown a Valentine making party each year since the kids were in kindergarten and love how relaxed everyone becomes when cutting heart shapes with scissors and dreaming up silly love rhymes. Here's all you need to do: make a quick run to a craft store and stock up on scissors, paste, stickers, ribbon, glue and glitter. Pile supplies in the center of a big table (don't forget to cover the table with a cloth) and be sure to serve up something chocolate. You'll be surprised what gets discussed when the subject is love! Click here to read our Popcorn Adventurethat paired Cocteau's black and white classic Beauty and the Beast with a Valentine's Day party.

IF YOU LOVE THE MUPPETS: The Hammer is hosting a free screening of The Muppet Movie on Sunday (2/13) at 11:00 AM as part of their Family Flicks film series. Parking is $3 below the Museum. Head over to Yogurtland after the screening for a yummy treat.

IF YOU LOVE MUSIC: The 53rd Grammy Awards are taking place at Staples Center on Sunday night (2/13) and will air on CBS. With an incredible line up that includes Mick Jagger, Barbara Streisand, Bob Dylan and Dr. Dre parents can talk about some of their favorite artists -- and then, listen as the kids explain why they like Lady Gaga.

IF YOU LOVE FILM: The Aero Theater on Montana is hosting a fabulous film series this weekend called That Special Valentine's Day Weekend: Romancing the Screenwith romantic titles ranging from Casablanca to The Notebook.

IF YOU LOVE CHOCOLATE: Our favorite local candy man is Jonathan at Compartes Chocolatier. We have a weakness for the Sweet Sloops made in Maine at Harbor Sweets. And, one of our newest subscribers has a chocolate making company calledChocoveda. We haven't tried it yet, but sure want to!

IF YOU LOVE US: Don't forget to fill out the survey. It's only seven questions long and will be dropped into your in-box tomorrow!

Kids Off The Couch

If you like what we do, please tell a friend to sign up! info@kidsoffthecouch.com

www.kidsoffthecouch.com