My Fair Lady + New York's Chelsea Market = Kids Off The Couch Road Trip: Flower Power in NYC

The Merry Month of May is made for celebrating mothers and the bountiful blooms of Spring. What better way to combine the two than by winging off to New York City for a special visit to Chelsea Market? The market, located in an old Nabisco factory, explodes with New York's finest -- fresh fish, remarkable flowers, scrumptious bakeries, clothing and kitchen supply shops, and exotic food stands. Our cinematic inspiration was My Fair Lady, the classic musical starring Rex Harrison as a linguistics professor who transforms a Cockney-accented flower girl into a lady. Dazzled by Audrey Hepburn's sunny turn as Eliza Doolittle, we headed to the refrigerated flower rooms at the Chelsea Wholesale Flower Mart, and delighted in copious floral splendor before heading out to forage among the many food vendors in the cavernous building. After everyone gathered their favorite lunch treats, we headed out into the daylight and clamored up to an extraordinary elevated garden walkway called The High Line that afforded views of the Hudson to the West and fun peeks down the art-filled streets in the Meatpacking district, and West Chelsea. Securing a seat for a Sunday morning picnic required a bit of Eliza's gumption but once settled, we spread out in the sunshine, nibbled on freshly baked muffins and practiced our best "rain in Spain" imitations. Happy Mother's Day to all! Click here for more about the Market and the High Line, an elevated walkway that stretches through the neighborhoods of Chelsea

The Best DVDs of 2009 from Kids Off The Couch

Let the Gifting Begin!

It's Cyber Monday -- so, cross a few names off your holiday gift list with a few simple clicks. And thanks! Kids Off the Couch receives a portion of your Amazon sale.

Must Have for the Home Library: Up, Monsters, Inc., Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition; Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary Edition; Gone With the Wind 70th Anniversary Edition, The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition

Action Lovers: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Star Trek, Twilight, Wolverine, Taken, Quantum of Solace, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Songs and Stars Mamma Mia!, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Hannah Montana The Movie

Your Classic Collection: The General, James Bond 10 pack, North by Northwest, The Mel Brooks Collection

Documentary Lovers: Ken Burn's The National Parks: America's Best Idea, The Cove, and Food, Inc., Valentino; The Last Emperor

Indie Choices: Sunshine Cleaning, 500 Days of Summer

Vacation Reading List Tip: While you have some downtime, peruse this parenting tome -- we promise, it will affect your New Year's Resolutions: Po Bronson's

NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children

Must Have Stocking Stuffer: Nobody doesn't love the new Scrabble-Like word game, Bananagrams. Good for anyone who can spell!

Embrace the Season!
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The Pink Panther 2 + What's Priceless in Your City = Kids Off The Couch

The Pink Panther has slinked his way into a new generation of fans, and our kids loved seeing Steve Martin reprise his role as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther 2 (opening nationwide on Feb. 6). When a thief called "The Tornado" steals priceless treasures from all over the world, the infamous Clouseau -- sidelined as a meter maid to stay out of trouble -- is asked to join an international Dream Team of sleuths. Desperate to impress his fancy colleagues (including Andy Garcia and Alfred Molina), Clouseau nearly loses the one girl who actually admires him (Emily Mortimer) in a globe-trotting caper that will put a grin on your family's faces. The international intrigue gave us a perfect opportunity to create local intrigue of our own -- what would a sophisticated thief steal in Los Angeles? We put together a Tornado's Hit List of invaluable objects -- both precious and iconic -- and took our families to see our own local treasures. From a Van Gogh's masterpiece, to our favorite hamburger in town, we enjoyed a day of inestimable value! (Click here for more about the film and for ideas about creating your own family's Hit List.

Win Exclusive Kids Off The Couch LA Screening Tickets to “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”

Kids Off The Couch Contest

Sign Up Today for your Free Kids Off The Couch Membership and become eligible to Win 4 Exclusive Kids Off The Couch Screening Tickets to “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at Noon. Eighty (80) winners will be chosen!

1. You must be a subscriber, to our newsletter to be eligible. Sign up here if you haven’t already done so.

2. To enter, please go to the Kids Off The Couch Archives and pick your favorite kid friendly adventure. Come back to the Blog and tell us about your selection or suggest a new adventure AND leave your email address in order to be contacted in the Blog Comments section. One entry and one comment per person. Please also specify how many people will be attending in the comments of the blog. (No more than 4 tickets will be allocated per person.)

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4. The contest starts NOW and entries must be date stamped by our server no later than Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 AM Pacific Time to be eligible.

5. 80 winners will be selected during a random drawing and will be notified via email to receive the prize. If you haven’t heard from us, you haven’t won.

6. No prize substitutions.

7. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

8. No purchase necessary.

9. Void where prohibited.

10. The full rules are located here.

Our kids loved this family-friendly sequel that follows the adventures of escaped New York City zoo animals Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo. When the group is marooned in the African plains, they band together to learn about family and friendship (DreamWorks, PG). Check out the film's website for more details. Good luck!!!

Stellaluna + A Bat Education = Kids Off The Couch

Imagine what Halloween night would be like if you were a bat. No need for flashlights or glow in the dark stripes on your costume. You'd hear, through echolocation, the rustling wrapper of your favorite candy before you even knocked on the door. You might identify by smell what's in your trick-or-treat bag without even looking. The heroine of the award-winning picture book Stellaluna and her batty friends can do all that! Reading this beautiful book about friendship and bat habits gave our kids an interest in these masters of the night, so we visited our local Science Museum's Bat Exhibit. From donning special ears to help understand bat hearing, to screaming in a chamber to learn about echolocation, our kids got into the bat act, and came away with a scientific understanding of those spooky Halloween creatures that swoop down from the night sky. Click here for a wonderful series of bat books for elementary aged kids, and for a gruesome article -- and cool pictures -- in yesterday's New York Times about bloodsucking creatures, like vampire bats, for some at-home bat education that kids will love

Introducing Paul Newman to Your Family

We shed real tears at the loss of Paul Newman, whose legendary looks and powerful screen presence dominated the movies for years and whose charitable work (through the Hole in the Wall camps for seriously ill children and Newman's Own) set an elegant example of how one man can make the world a better place.

The easiest way to introduce your kids to one of our greatest movie stars is to show them Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Starring Newman at the height of his confident power and featuring Robert Redford in his breakout role, the film is a giddy love-poem to the vanishing ways of the West. Cool, even vintage cool, always translates... The kids were immediately grinning along with the comedic relationship between the two stars and can quote the film's most famous lines ("Who ARE those guys?").

Butch Cassidy has plenty of gun play -- the two heroes famously head out to their deaths in the last frame of the picture -- and shows the men with prostitutes and drinking alcohol. But, we think this classic is fine for kids over 10, as long as parents get on the couch and discuss the racier scenes (fast forwarding works, too.) You'll remember the plot turns -- it's just like riding a bicycle, which is exactly what Redford and Newman do with Katherine Ross to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head". (Rated PG for violence, Directed by George Roy Hill).

The Sting reunited Redford and Newman as two card-playing con men in a beloved and complicated film which won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Don't try to explain (or even understand) the plot. Just sit back and enjoy the Joplin rags as you watch these two movie stars win over a new generation. (Rated PG, also directed by George Roy Hill).

Paul Newman played the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars, a great film for younger kids. We happen to have covered this film last week - for more, please visit our website. Kids get a charge out of knowing Newman was a race car driver in real life, placing second in Le Mans in 1979. (Rated G, directed by John Lassiter and Joe Ranft).

If your kids know Newman only because they've seen his face on Newman's Own popcorn bags and salad dressing bottles, that's okay, too. Be sure to let them know that Newman's Own gives every single penny of profit to charity. For more about Newman, click here to last month's Vanity Fair article (the photos alone are worth five minutes).

Diane and Sarah
Founders, Kids Off The Couch

Kids Off The Couch

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