The Ulitmate Block Party in Pictures

by Jennifer Cooper, posted on October 3rd, 2011 in Features, Parties & Celebrations

How you play is who you become. -The Ultimate Block Pary

Yesterday, Baltimore celebrated a day of play and creativity when it brought The Ultimate Block Party to Rash Field.

There was no shortage of creative, hands on activities for everyone. Play was organized into the following centers: Adventure, Construction, Creative, Language, Make-Believe, Arts, Physical, and Math/Science/Technology.

Our first stop was at the National Aquarium table where kids got to make sand art fish. I tried searching around online for a link to the sticky cardboard stuff they used, but I couldn’t find one. I imagine you can probably find something similar at a craft store. It’d make a great party or rainy day activity.

After making fish art, we visited bioEYES sponsored by Johns Hopkins University School of Education. The kids got to see what zebrafish look like at 1, 2 and 3 days old. Did you know, zebrafish and humans share 80% of the same genes? And we learned that it takes just three days for them to develop from egg to free-swimming alevin.

After some science fun, we headed over to visit For the People Entertainment’s Family Hip Hop booth, where kids could make their own hip hop music. The technology was pretty incredible.

Next was jump roping. People, I am not ashamed to admit, I was pretty rusty. Thankfully, the nice people swinging the rope allowed me a do-over.

Then it was onto the ClayWorks exhibit. They had artists there to teach kids techniques and how to use a variety of tools (including some non-traditional ones like the post card to flatten out the clay). The kids spent the majority of their time there and loved every moment of it.

And the best part? They got to take home what they made. This was by far, the highlight of the day, which, er, may be a tad obvious from all the pictures. Feel free to just scroll right on through.

Before we left, we made one more stop. We couldn’t leave without checking out Parks and People’s Nature Play Space. The bamboo teepee was begging us to check it out. I want one for our backyard.

The entire event was hands-on, creative education at its finest. Kids were able to make connections and discoveries at their own pace.

Now if you’re one of those curmudgeonly types that looks a field of kids running around and thinks, look at all that aimless frivolity, meh! then you’re probably not a Classic Play reader. But if you are, and that’s all you see, let me say this: you’re not looking very hard. May I suggest you play a bit? It’ll open your mind to a world of possibilities.