There are always a handful of churches and organizations that host this spring time blitz. Here are a few we’ve found in and around Des Moines, Iowa:

Saturday, April 16th

Johnston Community Education Eggstravaganza
Time: 9:30 am
Where: Johnston High School (map it)
Admission: Free
Hunt through the Johnston football field for treats and prizes! The “Egg” Stravaganza is a fun event for participants and spectators alike. Hop on over to Johnston, but don’t be late! The hunt starts at 9:30 a.m. SHARP! All participants must be eight years old or younger. Spectators are welcome.
More information »

Valley United Methodist Church Easter Egg Hunt
Time: 10 – 11:30 am
Where: 4201 Ashworth Rd, West Des Moines, IA 50265 (map it)
Admission: Free
For all ages but especially toddlers through 4th grade! Outside on the church grounds if weather permitting/inside if inclement weather!
More Information »

Sunday, April 17th

Mt. Olive Lutheran Church / Easter Egg hunt and Fun Fest
Time: 1-3 pm
Where: 5625 Franklin Ave, Des Moines (map it)
Admission: Free
Come hunt eggs, get your face painted, play some games, have fun! Prizes, too.
More Information »

Saturday, April 23rd

The Clive Firefighter’s Association annual Easter egg hunt
Time: 9 am
Where: Linnan Park, 8500 Alice Ave., Clive (map it)
Admission: Free
The egg hunt is for children ages 1-10. The younger children will hunt for eggs on the tennis courts in a controlled area. Parents may help. The older kids will be turned loose on the park’s grass area to find as many eggs as possible. There are special eggs that can be exchanged at the fire station for a prize.
More information »

Living History Farm Family Easter Party
Time: 9am – 1pm
Where: Living History Farm (map it)
Admission: $5.50/person or $5.00 LHF members
Fun for the entire family including: toy hunts, preschool Bunnyland, live rabbit exhibits, barnyard animal walk, horse and wagon rides, traditional games and egg decorating. Townsfolk will open their doors for spring visitors in the town of Walnut Hill. Free pop, popcorn and steak and egg wrap while quantities last.
More information »

Waveland Park Neighborhood Association Egg hunt
Time: 10 am
Where: The grounds of Hubbell Elementary, 800 42nd St. and the Roosevelt athletic complex. (map it)
Admission: Free
Get there early – the hunt begins EXACTLY at 10. Bring your own basket. Lots of prizes and an appearance by the Easter bunny!
More information »

Swap-O-Rama-Rama (SORR) is a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing. And it’s happening right here in Des Moines on April 24, Saturday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. The entrance fee is $10 + any size bag of clothes.

During this event you’ll learn to foster creative thinking in terms of clothing modification, screen printing, and embellishment. It’s more than a clothing swap! Experts will be on-hand to help and teach!

Check out the Swap O Rama website for more info.

There will be three showings of Handmade Nation during the event. Showing times are 11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 4.30 pm. The entry fee for this is $5.

Find SORR events in your area here.

So don’t forget to grab your hat and read with the cat!

And if you don’t have a hat, you can always make your own with felt or paper.

{photo via flickr}

See Curious George Live! in Des Moines, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, January 1-3.

Download a coloring sheet, and print it.

Show us what your little ones can do, and bring it to the store in Valley Junction by end of day Monday, Dec 28, and you will be entered to win a family pack of four tickets!

Or come in and have your little ones color while you shop! Coloring sheets and color pencils are available. Yay!

Winner of coloring contest will be chosen from contestants at random. Winner will be randomly drawn on Tuesday 29, contacted by a representative of the Iowa Events Center.

Audio books for kids is something that’s new to us. It’s also a category that we hadn’t plan on adding to our store. But after meeting with Brian Keairns, the owner of PlainTales, we decided to give it a try.

Our kids loved it! When we played Selected Just So Stories on our drive home from the mall one day, they listened intently. The whining and the crankiness went away immediately. When we got home, they insisted on finishing the story. So we sat in the van parked in the driveway and waited for the story to finish.

On a recent trip to the Omaha Zoo we played the Gingerbread Boy & Other First Tales. It’s a 2 hour drive. To entertain the kids we typically sing, play “I spy” or the “animal guessing game,” but that can only last so long. So, we were glad to be able to play an audio book for them when they got bored.

Our oldest just turned 6 and our little girl will be turning 4 soon. Their favorite titles:

• Selected Just So Stories – Both like The Elephant’s Child
• The Gingerbread Boy & Other First Tales – These are classic children’s tales. Stories they’ve read and heard before and are familiar with.
• Animal Tales – In the words of our 6 year old: “When I listen to this, I think about the animals, the baby raccoon that’s looking for ants and fish to eat.”

We decided to add PlainTales. Not only did we add PlainTales audio books to our selection at KangarooBoo, we also added features to our website to offer MP3 versions of these audio books.

Try it out. Download Animal Tales for FREE. And get 40% OFF PlainTales audio book CDs with the code TALES during checkout. This offer expires on September 6, 2009.

Plus, for a limited time all MP3 versions of the audio books are 41% off! It doesn’t get any better than this.

Shop PlainTales now!

Putumayo Kids is celebrating the release of the new Picnic Playground CD with a series of live performances! They’re all free too. Check out the schedule:

If you’re in the area, be sure to mark your calendars and pack the world in your picnic basket for some delicious songs!

In my quest for non-candy presents, I came across these two gorgeous Flensted Mobiles: Love D’Amour and Happy Hearts. Both are far less fattening than chocolate and way longer lasting than flowers.

For angel lovers, Haba’s Heart Angel would be a great gift.

One of my son’s favorite parties was a February birthday where they decorated heart-shaped boxes (I still have to have it on my dresser), and we’ve got a Heart Box craft set perfect for such parties.

If you’re talking about kids exchanging cards, your non-candy Valentines have to be really cool if you want to avoid toothbrush-for-Halloween syndrome. Luckily, we have some really great toys small and inexpensive enough to bring for the whole class:

• Monkey Pencils
• Racing Cars
• Moving Mice
• Yo-Yos
• Tops

And if you’re getting the first gift for your new little Valentine (congratulations!), we have some great heart-themed baby necessities:

• Heart Clip
• Heart Rattle
• Heart Pacifier Chain
• and many more

Melissa & Doug has a couple of cute products for kids too young to throw around a real football (and, if you’re somewhere too cold to play outside, they’re easier on the furniture and knickknacks): Fill and Spill Sports Bag and Sports Balls in a Mesh Bag.

If you’d like the kids gathered round the table, one great activity is decorating cookies or cupcakes in team colors. The Cardinals and the Steelers are playing this year and their colors are red and white (Cardinals), and yellow and black (Steelers). Black’s kind of an icky deal for frosting though, so white and yellow, with cut up black licorice or sprinkle accents is just as good.

Both the team logos are pretty simple this year, so older kids might like trying to put the team logos on cookies. Painting the logos or key game scenes is also a fun activity.

Knowing some fun facts about the teams will also help kids take a more lasting interest. For instance, the Cardinals have been a team for more than 100 years (though not always in Arizona). In my son’s case, that’s older than great-grandma! And they’ve never been to a Super Bowl, but the Steelers have won four.

For more trivia, games and funny mascot videos, the NFL has a kids page.

My son and I had fun looking at moon phases on the calendar to figure out when Chinese New Year might be this year: usually the second new moon after the winter solstice (sometime between Dec. 19 and 22). We talked a lot about how the sun is better for tracking time in days, but the moon probably was better at tracking time in months before paper calendars were widely available.
We also had fun talking about transitioning to the the Year of the Ox. We looked at what years we were born in (like a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, he decided his Tiger beat my Rat even if it is still my year), and made some predictions about what might happen this year.

The most exciting thing for my son is the importance dragons play in Chinese New Year. YouTube has a great selection of Dragon Dances to watch.

And we made our own dragons! This craft is easy and can be easily tailored to many different age groups. All you need are some empty egg cartons, string and paint.

Want more dragons? We’ve got toys, books and more to bring luck and fun in the coming year.

Kathe Kruse is our newest brand, and the toys are made in Germany. I am really impressed with the Kathe Kruse puzzles. The colors are beautiful and each block is delicately detailed with metallic paint.

New moms will love all the infant and baby toys as well. Many are made with organic materials, and they squeak, hold pacifiers, and generally give comfort. Poupsis, giraffes and stars are just some of the unusual creatures from Kathe Kruse.

I really like the Kathe Kruse dolls, especially the Nature Conservation Angel. What a gorgeous little girl! The Mini It’s Me Winter Doll is also incredible. You can tell by the description I wrote how much I love all her beautiful details and extras.

Take a look at all the fabulous new Kathe Kruse products and let us know what you think!