Welcome to Kid’s Corner! Looking for information about stuff for us kids to do on Anna Maria Island? Well, this is the place to find it! For kids, by kids…this info will help give you ideas while you are staying on our awesome island! Have an idea to share? Please leave us a comment! We want to help you guys learn all the fun that is available on the island…with some insider tips, too! Hope you enjoy your stay on the Gulf Coast, and we hope we can help make it even more fun!
The Island Branch Library will be holding numerous FREE programs for the Summer months that are specially designed for each age group. The Island Branch Library located in Holmes Beach, is a great place for children to spend their summer.
June 13th: Giving Tree Drum Circle
June 20th: Indian Dance
June 27th: Mosquito Story Time
July 11th: Chalk Art @ The Library
July 18th: Pirates!
July 25th: Puppet Show
June 5th: Book Club: Hatchet
June 19th: Make Marbled Paper
July 3rd: Book Club: The Dreamer
July 17th: Culture Club – Morocco
June 26th: T-shirt Surgery (Bring your own T-shirt)
July 10th: Paper Beads
June 12th: Florida Maritime Museum
June 15th: Mindful Breathing: Meditation
June 28th: Driving & Dementia: What You Need to Know
July 17th: Cooking with Herbs
July 19th: Activities for Alzheimer’s Patients
July 20th: Mindful Breathing: Meditation
July 24th: Intro to Self Publishing
July 31st: Wildlife of the Salt Marsh
Island Branch Library
5701 Marina Drive
Holmes Beach, FL, 34217
(941) 778-6341
Great things often come in small packages. Such is the case with Dips Ice Cream located at 9801 Gulf Dr in Anna Maria, FL. The entire store is about the size of a walk-in pantry, but it’s teeming with a vast assortment of treats capable of getting adults and children of all sizes buzzing.
Adults will enjoy the many throwback candies, including bottle caps, wax lips and jaw breakers. Kids will like the dotted ice cream pellets and general abundance of delicious refined sugar.
Sea Lions: On the Water’s Edge
Mote Marine Laboratory is hosting some very special guests from now until May 1, 2013. Sea Lions: On the Water’s Edge is a temporary exhibit currently running in The Aquarium featuring a trio of Patagonian sea lions who are very comfortable in the spotlight. This thirty minute show runs three times a day, seven days a week at 11:30am, 1:30pm, and 3:30pm. Admission is included in the regular Mote Marine ticket price, so you can enjoy all that Sarasota’s famous marine research center and aquarium has to offer – including some new sea lion themed features and goodies in the gift shop.
In between performances of Sea Lions: On the Water’s Edge be sure to check out all the regular features at Mote Marine including a sting ray touch tank, shark tanks,sea turtles and manatee rehabilitation hospitals, The Deep Sea Diner, and even a preserved giant squid! Admission is $19 for adults, $18 for seniors 65 and older, $14 for ages 4-12, and free for children under 3 years old.
Sea Lions: On the Water’s Edge is a charming, family friendly and educational performance, which will keep little ones so enthralled they won’t even realize they’ve learned something when it’s over. Sea lions are members of the pinned family, which means “flipper footed” and includes seals, sea lions, and walruses. This narrated demonstration will teach you all about their natural athleticism, intelligence, and playfulness while also educating audiences on rescue and conservation efforts. This is a real treat for visitors and native Floridians alike, since there are no sea lions to be found in the Gulf of Mexico. They must not have heard how pristine and peaceful our beaches are.
The sea lions, affectionately referred to as “the girls”, are Stella, Rose, and Kitty. And they have a wide variety of tricks to show off including hand stands, back flips, and some rather impressive dance moves. But they haven’t let show business go completely to their head – after the show is over, you’ll have the opportunity to cuddle up with these friendly marine mammals and have your picture taken. They do have one rule – “don’t touch the sea lions, let the sea lions touch you”. Prints are available, at any extra cost, in three different sizes.
Florida is the world’s favorite place to vacation and that seems to have extended to our flipper footed friends as well! Be sure to stop by Mote Marine and check out Sea Lions: On the Water’s Edge before they head back home at the end of April. We’re sure this educational show will gain your own seal of approval!
Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium
1600 Ken Thompson Parkway
Sarasota, FL 34236
941-388-4441
The Manatee County Central Library holds Music Monday weekly. The half hour reading program runs from 6:30pm until 7:30pm and is designed to help children that are just learning how to read. Music Monday is a free program that uses music and movement to promote the connection between spoken and written word. Seating is available on a first come, first serve basis.
Manatee County Central Library
1301 Barcarrota Boulevard
Bradenton, FL 34205
(941)748-5555 ext 6318
Santa Claus in the 2011
Anna Maria Island Christmas Parade
CHRISTMAS PARADE on Anna Maria Island
Christmas Parade & Santa Open House
December 08,2012 at 10am
As another holiday season rapidly approaches, the Anna Maria Island Privateers would like to invite you to participate in their 2012 Christmas Parade on December 8th, followed by our Santa Open House at Coquina Beach; where the man in red will be handing out gifts to the youngsters. This much anticipated annual event brings great joy to children and adults, islanders and visitors alike.
We hope you will celebrate this special kick-off to the Holiday Festivities by enjoying the parade, which begins at Bayfront Park then travels south along Anna Maria Island, through the three island cities of Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach. We hope everyone can come out and enjoy the experience and spread the joy to others!
More information and online registration visit the Anna Maria Island Privateers website at CHRISTMAS PARADE.
The Home Depot offers Kids’ Workshops on the first Saturday of every month.
Designed for children ages 5-12, the kids can enjoy making a FREE craft project from 9am-12pm on the first Saturday of each month. They receive hands on instruction, a commemorative pin and certificate of achievement, not to mention, their very own Home Depot workshop apron.
Check with their website each month to see what they will be making.
This Saturday, November 10th, 2012 from 10 AM to 4 PM the Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez is hosting some old-fashioned family fun. This celebration is for the Schoolhouse Centennial! This free event will feature live music all day, craft vendors, museum tours, and an ice cream eating contest for children. Food vendors will include Village Idiot Pizza, Tyler’s Ice Cream and Cortez smoked mullet. Kids will enjoy face painting, balloon artist, free books, and activity and craft stations. Commemorative pins will be given to pupils who attended the Cortez Rural Graded School.
Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez
4415 119th St. W.
Cortez, Florida
The event is being Sponsored by:
The Islander
Tyler’s Ice cream
R.B. “Chips” Shore, Clerk of Circuit Court
For more information contact:
Amara Cocilovo
Curator, Florida Maritime Museum
Amara.cocilovo@manateeclerk.com
941-708-6120
Enjoy bounce houses and old fashioned carnival games and a kid friendly haunted house at the Anna Maria Elementary School Fall Festival.
At 10am the costumed children will parade from the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce to Anna Maria Elementary school to open the festivities.
From 11am-3pm there will be games, goodies and lots of fun throughout the school grounds.
Enjoy a bouncy house, a rock wall, a bake sale, an auction and games for all ages!
The Sandbar restaurant will provide delicious food in the school cafeteria, and Tyler’s ice cream is offering a chance to win the “Make Your Own Ice Cream Flavor” contest.
Come enjoy the fun and festivities of the Fall Festival on Anna Maria Island.
http://amepto.org/fall-festival-is-here/
Florida Aquarium
Today’s information is about some of the awesome aquariums near Anna Maria Island There are so many cool places to go if you’re interested in exotic or local marine animals.
To kick it off, there’s the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. They have 100′s of different animals. Some of them have been injured & are being hospitalized right there in the aquarium. They also have technological games & activities that you can participate in during your visit. You can explore & discover the marine life they have there, touch stingrays in their touch tank & so much more.
There’s also the Clearwater Marine Hospital (C.M.H.) in Clearwater that holds one of the most unique dolphins ever, Winter. If you haven’t seen the movie Dolphin Tale, Winter is a dolphin that lost her tale in a crab trap accident & is the one & only dolphin with that kind of disability. She now has a prosthetic tale & is living happy & healthy in C.M.H. You can see Winter & all her friends at C.M.H. & some of the other activities They have a hurricane simulator, some of the actual props & sets that they filmed in the movie, otters, turtles, & so much more. See more at SeeWinter.com
Enjoy your summer & keep in touch with Kid’s Corner!
6101 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach, FL 34217