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.)

3. You must supply us with a valid email address.

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!!!

HOT TOPIC: When did Halloween costumes become so...slutty?

How is it that you can't find a girl pirate costume unless it is has a low cut top, long slits up the legs, and vampy high boots!? Used to be, those choices came in adult sizes only, but unless you've eschewed this holiday for the past five years, you know that the sexy version of the holiday's standards are now sold in kids' sizes. These choices are making the Disney princess outfits look downright puritanical. When exactly did Halloween costumes get so sexy? According to an article in the LATimes, Halloween costumes are an obvious indicator that girls are being pushed, from an early age, to think of themselves as sexual objects. The research hints that boys are being pushed to be more aggressive at an early age.

Talk to us! Do you feel kids are being sexualized too early? And, what are your kids wearing this year: did you buy a costume, hunt around the Goodwill, or shop in your closet?

Great New Kids Off The Couch Contest. Win a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card!

1) Sign Up for for your Free Kids Off The Couch membership with a kid friendly adventure delivered to your inbox each week, plus valuable discounts on local cultural events here

2) Select your favorite Kids Off The Couch Adventure

3) Briefly explain why you think it is the best in Blog Comments

4) Immediately become eligible to win a $50 gift card from Amazon.com.

(Contest expires 11/15/08. US residents only. Void where prohibited.)

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

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown + Corn Maze = Kids Off The Couch

Good Grief, It's Halloween!

Our kids' faces lit up like Jack-o-Lanterns when we told them we were upping the pumpkin ante this year by letting them loose in a Corn Maze. After sampling the delicious produce, we set off into plants that reached high above our heads. We bonded together over a map, trying to figure our way out from beneath the stalks and laughed ourselves silly every time we got lost -- our kids triumphant that the adults in the group steered them wrong plenty of times. Later that night, we popped up some corn and plopped on the couch for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Charles Schultz's magic pulled us back to our favorite believer, Linus, who waits in a pumpkin patch for the arrival of The Great Pumpkin. Given the current economic crisis, it's nice to know that hearkening back to simpler times can be so reassuring. Click here for more to learn about the corn mazes near your city, and to find a YouTube link to the old television special.

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