Community Corner
Grab & Go Planner: Feb. 9-15
Valentine's activities at the library and Lowes or register for a maple tour - pick and choose from this week's array of family events.
Family best bets for the week ahead.
Valentine Fun at the Library
Why go: Go to the library to and make a special craft to take home for Valentine's Day.
Where: , Clawson
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When: 10:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday
Cost: Free
Find out what's happening in Clawsonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
What else: While you are there, look for some books on Valentine's Day.
Make a Free Music Box
Why go: Lowe's offers kids a free Build and Grow workshop every Saturday. It's for kids older than 3 and their parents. This weekend, in honor of Valentine's Day, kids will make a heart-shaped music box.
Where: Lowe's, 434 W. 12 Mile, Madison Heights
When: 10 a.m. Saturday
Cost: Free. Pre-register online.
What else: Kids get a free project, merit patch, certificate, apron and goggles.
Wild Winter Celebrates Black History Month
Why go: If you go to the Detroit Zoo’s Wild Winter, your kids will get a better understanding of Black History Month and how it ties into the animals from Africa. There will be African drum lessons and dance performances by the Kuungaga Drum and Dance Company, stories told by Kevin Collins and Ivory Williams, African animal enrichment, games and arts and crafts.
Where: Ford Education Center, , Royal Oak
When: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Cost: Free with zoo admission: $12 adults, $10 seniors, $8 children (2-14), free for those younger than 2
What else: Take a stroller and dress for the weather – the animal enrichment take place in the animals’ homes in the park.
Family Sundays at the Detroit Institute of Arts
Why go: If you want to help your children appreciate art, take them to the Detroit Institute of Arts. On Sunday afternoons, children can create in the drop-in art workshop from noon-4 p.m. and watch a 2 p.m. puppet show or a storyteller spin tales. This Sunday, kids will be using markers and muslim to create their own West African form of painting and listen to Ivory Williams weave tales. Then there’s the art. Be sure to introduce them to Arty the donkey, a sculpture that sits outside the drop-in workshop in the Prentis Court. Arty is the only artwork in the DIA that can be touched.
Where: Detroit Institute of Arts
When: noon-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday drop-in art workshop; 2 p.m. Sunday storyteller
Cost: Free with museum admission. $8 adult, $6 senior, $4 children, free for 5 and younger, members and Detroit residents on Friday
What else: Your children will love browsing through the large children’s section of the gift shop. Park in the surface lot on John R, right across from the back of the DIA, for $5.
A Day in the Sugarbush
Why go: If you want your children to see behind the grocery store shelves and realize maple syrup comes from maple trees, sign up now for a tour in March at the E. L. Johnson Nature Center.You’ll help the naturalist tap the trees, collect the sap, and visit the sugar shack to watch the evaporation process that produces maple syrup. Every tour is approximately one hour and scheduled every 20 minutes.
Where: E. L. Johnson Nature Center, Bloomfield Hills
When: noon-3 p.m. March 19 - register in advance
Cost: $7 per person in the Bloomfield Hills Schools, nonresidents pay more
What else: There are other maple syrup walks at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Environmental Interpretive Center, the Huron-Clinton Park’s Nature Centers, Dinosaur Hill Nature Center in Rochester and the Wint Nature Center at Independence Oaks County Park in Clarkston.
More information: Online registration
