The target age for the Kid's Fringe activities and shows is probably about 3-10 years old but my two year old found plenty to enjoy. I printed out a schedule of the activities beforehand but there was really no need to because a large board set up at the festival had all the information we needed on it and helpful volunteers stationed nearby to answer questions about all the shows and activities.
Kid's Fringe is located across the street from the main Fringe Festival in it's own little park. There are several lots with free parking located just a short walk away but I opted to pay the $5 to park in the science center's garage since I was planning on taking Alyssa to the science center afterwards. From the science center garage Kid's Fringe is just a quick walk across the street leading into the parking garage so it took us less than five minutes to get there.
The first thing that caught my daughter's eye was the bounce house. There is no fee to use it and the volunteer manning it was wonderful about making sure the little ones had plenty of time to jump without getting knocked over by the bigger kids. My daughter would've stayed in there all day if I had let her but there were so many other things to see and do I dragged her out after about five minutes of jumping. She was a little upset until she saw the Blue Man Group booth set up nearby giving out free crayons, coloring sheets, and balloons. One blown up balloon later she was happy and ready to see the rest of the festival.
Also stationed by the bounce house was a booth manned by Mad Science. They had several activities for the kids to do such as blowing bubbles, playing with noise maker tubes, and making coffee filter butterflies. My two year old was most interested in the bubbles and happily played in that area for a while with the two volunteers that were kind enough to blow plenty of bubbles for her to chase and pop. (Older kids were blowing the bubbles on their own but the large wands and bucket were a little hard for my two year old to manage.)
After she got nice and sudsy we walked down the hill to the craft area to see what other kinds of activities they had to offer. (There were also a few booths set up in this area selling food and drinks if you were hungry.) The craft area had numerous tables set up in a row along the curb so we started at the first table, where she colored a kid's fringe picture.
Other tables had things you could cut and glue, add stickers and stamps to, and paint. My daughter's two favorite stations in this area were the one where she got to stamp pictures onto a hat and the one where she got to add feathers and foam decorations to a mask. I loved the fact that despite the fact that everything was free, they were not stingy at all about how many stickers my daughter wanted to add to her mask or how many purple Pom poms she insisted on gluing on her paper at another station. All of the volunteers were very friendly and helpful and my daughter really enjoyed participating in the craft activities.
On one side of the row they had some large pieces of fence set up for the children to draw and paint on. One was covered with chalkboard paint so the children could draw on it with chalk. The other one was set up so that children could paint on it Tom Sawyer style. The painting station even had smocks in an effort to keep the kids' clothes from getting dirty. My daughter drew on the chalk fence for a while but then decided she'd rather do the other painting activity at a nearby table then paint on the fence.
The other activity was painting a 3-D paper mushroom. This is the only activity I paid for all day ($1.00 suggested donation/mushroom with proceeds benefitting the SPORE Project, a worldwide effort to promote awareness for the support of arts in the schools and creativity in day-to-day life). My daughter had fun adding every color of the rainbow to her mushroom and then placing it in a nearby "field" of mushrooms in the grass around a sculpture so it could try before she took it home.
After we painted our mushroom we moved on to the activities on the porch of the Mennello Museum of Art. They had a table set up where you could choose and paint a plaster piece but we passed that one by because my daughter was not interested (I think this activity might've costed a few $ as well). The duck pond is what caught her eye. The duck pond was a basic baby pool filled with swimming rubber duckies. Kids were allowed to choose a duck and whatever shape was on the bottom of the duck they chose they received a prize that corresponded with that shape. this activity seemed to be very popular amongst the festival go-ers slightly younger than my daughter. My daughter got a star and was given a Kid's Fringe pin.
Next to the duck pond they had an area set up with all kinds of props and dress up items where the kids could choose some props and then go into a cardboard photo booth for mom or dad to snap a pic with their camera. There were plenty of choices in props for both boys and girls to be happy with and my daughter spent quite a while in this area. For her first turn in the photo booth she chose to be a dinosaur holding a large pair of scissors but for her second turn she decided to be a ladybug holding a toothbrush. It was definitely a fun area for a toddler to play dress up and mix and match props!
On the sidewalk in front of this area they had a large foam puzzle set up. My daughter loved pulling the pieces apart and putting them back together. It was a little difficult for her to do on her own but she was able to match the colors and pound the pieces together with help.
Even more fun was when the fairy standing nearby came over to play on the puzzle with her. There were two fairies roaming around Kid's Fringe available for pictures and my daughter definitely had a blast interacting with them! She and the fairy played Follow the Leader on and around the puzzle for a while before some other children came over to the fairy and wanted to take pictures. The fairy was wonderful with a two year old and made my daughter laugh and laugh.
After our playtime with the fairy we decided to stop for a snack and check out the main stage while we were doing so. The main stage has different shows throughout the day but the one we saw was called Musical Stories: Interactive Stories. It didn't really hold my daughter's attention for very long but most of the older kids in the audience were invited to come up on up on the stage and it looked like they were having a great time. (There were several other shows that I think would've held her interest better but the times just never worked out for us to see them.) The lunchtime dance party that followed the show was more at a two year old's level and when she finished her snack my daughter got right up and danced along to the kid friendly music.
When we left the dance party we headed to the area they were calling the "Fringezilla Playground."
This area was set up in the grass and had all kinds of activities set out to keep the kids active. From sack races to soccer balls to scooter rides to special exercise equipment, my daughter enjoyed it all. she ran from activity to activity and played with it in ways that were age appropriate for a two year old. Her favorite thing was a large exercise ball half the size of her that she enjoyed pushing around the area. It was set up in a beautiful area right by the lake and plenty of parents with older kids and tiny babies were just enjoying the atmosphere in this area and letting their little ones crawl around on the grass while their older children played nearby.
On the entrance path to this area there was a face painting booth. My daughter really wanted to participate but the line was long and my two year old does not wait very well in long lines so after trying for a couple minutes she decided that she would rather get an ice cream from the ice cream truck parked nearby instead. Next year I know to go to the face painting booth first because of its popularity and the time involved (I think there is also a small fee for this activity as well).
While we enjoyed our ice cream we walked down underneath the big tree and watched the Drum With Me Baby Drum Circle that was going on. Children of all ages (even younger babies) were participating and this was a huge hit with my toddler!
Kid's Fringe is located across the street from the main Fringe Festival in it's own little park. There are several lots with free parking located just a short walk away but I opted to pay the $5 to park in the science center's garage since I was planning on taking Alyssa to the science center afterwards. From the science center garage Kid's Fringe is just a quick walk across the street leading into the parking garage so it took us less than five minutes to get there.
This area was set up in the grass and had all kinds of activities set out to keep the kids active. From sack races to soccer balls to scooter rides to special exercise equipment, my daughter enjoyed it all. she ran from activity to activity and played with it in ways that were age appropriate for a two year old. Her favorite thing was a large exercise ball half the size of her that she enjoyed pushing around the area. It was set up in a beautiful area right by the lake and plenty of parents with older kids and tiny babies were just enjoying the atmosphere in this area and letting their little ones crawl around on the grass while their older children played nearby.
They had a bunch of drums of all sizes set up in a circle and were encouraging the children to pound on them in different ways to make different sounds. My daughter really enjoyed pounding on the drum while sitting down on it. The fairies came and joined the drum circle and (after dancing along to a song or two played on the drums) danced around the tree to "The Wheels on the Bus." The fairy that danced around the tree with my daughter was wonderful with her and held her hand and danced at her pace the entire time without breaking character.
When the drum circle was over my daughter played in the tree branches for a little while, "climbing" them until we finally headed over to the final set of booths. The first booth was all about making paper airplanes. My toddler was still a little too young for the more elaborate planes the guy was making but she was thrilled with the basic plane (already folded) he showed her how to fly and gave to her. She happily threw it around on the grass and off a hill for a little while before we headed on to the next set of booths.
The next booth we visited was sponsored by IBEX puppetry. They had crane, manatee, and fish puppets on display and crane, manatee, and fish origami puppets the children could make for themselves.
Later in the day they were doing a workshop with the puppets that I'm sure my daughter would enjoy if she were a little older. She was still too young to make the origami puppets even with help but she had a lot of fun making and playing with her own cut out and folded in half version of them. The 3 puppets available to make were set up at tables from the easiest to the hardest and there were plenty of volunteers from IBEX to help the children make and show them how to operate them.
The final area of the festival consisted of a bunch of sheets hung up to create a fort. This area was sponsored by the Squirrel Circus and was also a big hit with my toddler. The sheet fort was set up into 3 separate rooms-a reading room full of picture books, a room where kids could use markers to write words on index cards and pin them to the sheets to make continuous, silly sentences, and a quiet room with nothing but a blanket on the floor. My daughter really enjoyed looking at the picture books and having me and the volunteers read them to her so we spent quite a bit of time in this cool, quiet tent fort.
After we read several books I dragged her out of the tent fort so we could watch a short parade. She played with the pinwheels in the grass while we were waiting.
When the parade ended we made one final visit to the bounce house before heading out. Overall it was a fun, mostly free day and I can't wait to go back again next year!
When the parade ended we made one final visit to the bounce house before heading out. Overall it was a fun, mostly free day and I can't wait to go back again next year!
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