Los Angeles Kids Off The Couch: What's On Our August Radar!

Endless Days of Summer

Ticket Giveaway for Fantasia at the Hollywood Bowl

Did you notice that the city felt empty over the past weekend? While many Angelenos vacation elsewhere, we're enjoying quiet freeways and perfect weather. With blue whales cruising our coastline in record numbers and a bevy of outdoor screenings and concerts, what could be better than LA in August? Another month of summer, that's what.

Ticket Giveaway: August is our favorite time to spend an evening at the Hollywood Bowl, and we are excited about many of the varied concerts on the August calendar -- from Hairspray (this weekend) to the Buena Vista Social Club, classical concerts with Gustavo Dudamel and an evening celebrating the music of maestro John Williams. This month Kids Off the Couch has a Family Four-Pack to Walt Disney's Fantasia for Sunday, August 21. You'll see all your favorite scenes, plus a glimpse into the brilliant artwork and unfinished segments of this Disney masterpiece. The evening features the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and ends with fireworks. Tickets are still available to the three performances, Friday & Saturday 8:30 PM and Sunday 7:30 PM (August 19-21). Send us a note at familysavvy@gmail.com to enter our giveaway contest. Tickets will be awarded by August 10.

Cruising the Coastline: It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel and there is an unusually large congregation ofBlue Whales off Long Beach, reminding us who shares the waters off our beaches. Click here for our whale-watching Popcorn Adventure.

Elementary: Nothing says summer better than listening to music outdoors. Take the tram up the hill on weekend afternoons this month for the J. Paul Getty Museum'sGarden Concerts for Kids, and hear Frances England, Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could, and Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, Saturdays and Sundays, August 6 through 21, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM. The Skirball also has fun weekend programming for kids, so consider their Family Amphitheater Performances, Saturday and Sunday at 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM, or a fun water-themed family day on August 21. You can indulge a childhood fantasy of running away with the circus this Sunday morning at a free Family Flicks screening of Toby Tyler (August 7 at 11:00 AM) at the wonderful, pink Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer. Don't forget the very gentle Winnie the Pooh, a surprise hit about our favorite friends from the Hundred Acre Woods, still in theaters.

Middle School: If you have Tim Burton fans in your house, you will want to spend a few Friday evenings outside at LACMA watching some of his more popular films, like James and the Giant Peach, Pee Wee's Big Adventure or Alice in Wonderland. Films start at sundown and are free. On Thursdays this month, check out the outdoor screening lineup at Movies in the Park @ The Grove, including The Blind Side and Toy Story 3. To keep idle fingers busy (and away from texting), pick up a new craft this month. Our girls love to knit and needlepoint; knitters should check out Wild Fiber in Santa Monica, and Aristeia is a good place to get started on needlepoint. Make your own books at Scribble Press, or, learn to cook at Piccolo Chef. We have tried and tried to find a good woodworking class for kids here in LA (as you can see, this idea is gaining steam elsewhere in the nation) but haven't yet found one. If you know of one, please tell us and we'll pass it along to subscribers.

Teens: Sad that the X Games are over? Check out the US Open of Surfing, taking place in Huntington Beach through this weekend...also can be viewed live, online. Without homework, teens might have time to knock off two books -- Kathryn Stockett's The Help and David Nicholl's One Day -- before their film adaptations hit the big screens. The Help opens on August 10 and stars Emma Stone. One Day, starring Anne Hathaway, opens on August 19.

Adults: MOCA's Art in the Streets closes this weekend, so get downtown and, while you're there, check out The Lazy Ox Canteen in Little Tokyo.

Concert Goers: Pop stars Katy Perry and Taylor Swift are both in town this month (Perry at Nokia Theater this weekend and Swift at Staples for four nights, August 24-24.)

One More Thing: We are impressed with this beautiful digital book called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from noted children's book author and illustrator William Joyce and his colleagues at Moonbot Studios.

Kids Off The Couch

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Ticket Giveaway: LA Phil Presents MGM HD West Side Story at the Hollywood Bowl

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the iconic film with The LA Phil!


Certain films become classics by virtue of their perfect execution, and others pass the test of time because they capture an emotional veracity that rings true with generations of audiences. West Side Story has remained in our hearts by accomplishing both seamlessly, and with style that is truly timeless. Celebrate the movie's 50th anniversary at The Hollywood Bowl when The LA Phil plays Leonard Bernstein's electrifying orchestral score and memorable songs with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim live, while the newly re-mastered film is shown in glorious high definition on the Bowl's big screen with the original vocals and dialog intact. 

This classic romantic tragedy echoes Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, re-setting the story of the rivalry between the Montagues and the Capulets to 1950s New York, where the Sharks and the Jets fight over turf. Tune into Nathalie Wood's rendition of "Tonight" and show the kids that some stories just never get old.


What: LA Phil Presents MGM HD presents West Side Story at the Hollywood Bowl Friday, July 8th and Saturday, July 9th at 8:00pm. Plenty of seats are still available. Click here for tickets and more information about the show.

Enter to Win: Kids Off the Couch has a Family Four-Pack to give away to the Friday, July 8 show. Click here to be in the drawing - and please include your telephone number. Winner will be chosen by June 17.

West Side Story: The 1961 film, which garnered ten Oscars including Best Picture, ignited musical theater with innovations in its electric dance numbers and a cross-cultural love story that captured the imagination of a nation. Memorable songs include "Something's Coming", "Maria", "America", "Somewhere", "Tonight", "Jet Song", "I Feel Pretty", "A Boy Like That", "One Hand, One Heart", "Gee, Officer Krupke" and "Cool".

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

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

www.kidsoffthecouch.com