Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in detroit, MI

Tuesday Top Five: Navigating Eastern Market with Your Kids

by Amy Kuras

March 17, 2009

Tuesday Top Five--Navigating Eastern Market With Your Kids

Back before we had kids, my husband and I used to smile at the families we'd see at Eastern Market on Saturday mornings, hoping for the day it would be us pushing a little newborn in a stroller or giving a big kid tastes of fruit. And as it turned out, both our kids has Eastern Market excursions while they were still tiny babies.

So, I've gotten pretty good at negotiating the crowds and figuring out which stalls are worth a stop and which ones need a pass, and now I have figured out several good ways to keep little kids entertained while we peruse the stalls to see what's new and fresh.

-- Travel light. You'll be carrying bags, probably pushing a stroller or pulling a wagon, and maybe juggling a bulky watermelon or frozen chicken or something. Stuff a diaper and some wipes, if you need them, inside a pocket or in your smallest possible purse and leave your big diaper bag at home. Because you will hit people with it. Don't ask me how I know.

-- That stroller or wagon? It takes up space. Respect the flow of traffic and if you need to stop and confer with your kids or partner about something, pull off to the side out of the main flow of people. My absolute pet peeve is the people who are all "Oh, look, strawberries!" and stop dead in the middle of the walkway.

-- The best food can be found in Sheds 3 and 1 -- humanely raised meat and pastured eggs in Shed 3 as well as exotic vegetables and good quality fruit. Shed 1 has local and organic produce, as well as the kind of stuff I have felt the market has needed for years-- small vendors just getting started who are trying to build and audience for their products. Of course, everything but Shed 5 is shut down until spring and everybody is crammed in there.

-- Keep your kids fed and they'll be happy. Almost all the stalls hand out samples of their stuff, and a preschooler can happily graze their way up and down the stalls. We also love the popcorn at Yoder's stall.

-- Lunch options abound: Russell Street Deli (they also sell soup in the stalls that is to die for), Supino Pizza (awesome, I cannot say enough good stuff about them), and the legendary $3 sausage sandwiches at Eastern Market Seafood -- $3 for a pita stuffed with your choice of three sausages from a list of anykind you can imagine and some I have never heard of.

Spring is on the way, and Eastern Market is one of the best parts of it. And one of the best parts of Eastern Market is watching the families introduce their children to the delicious sights, smells and tastes.  Read more...

Tuesday Top Five: Time Passing

by Amy Kuras

February 17, 2009

Tuesday Top Five: The Shapes of Detroit

by Amy Kuras

February 10, 2009

With our theme this month being math, and getting our little ones ready for it, I admit I am a bit at a loss. I am, um, definetly a writer when it comes to math. Luckily my husband has a good head for numbers and so far I've been successful in not infecting my dauhter with my dislike and fear of it; she likes all the math activities at school.

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