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

Tuesday Top Five: Picture-Taking Spots with Spring Flowers

by Amy Kuras

April 07, 2009

Despite the inch or so of snow on the ground right now, it is really actually spring (and really, would it be spring in Michigan without snow?) and soon the flowers that are popping their leaves above ground right now will be in bloom. That means beautiful backdrops for pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

The Dearborn Inn : This beautiful Colonial hotel in Dearborn, near Greenfield Village, has gorgeous manicured gardens that wend past well-preserved colonial homes that you can actually stay in. Their brunch is perfect for a special occasion and a stroll afterwards through the grounds is the perfect ending.


Also in Dearborn is Fair Lane, the Henry Ford Estate . The gardens are lovely, formal but relaxed, and a lot nicer way to explore the mansion than attempting to keep little kids happy on a tour.

Volunteers adopt gardens to care for at the Detroit Zoo , and the care shows in many delightful little pocket plots sprinkled across the zoo landscape. The Butterfly Garden, near the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery, is a favorite.

Another volunteer-sustained place is the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory at Belle Isle . Since the conservatory is indoors, it's a great place for right now when you just cannot deal with another day of snow and cold temps and need some green and warmth immediately. And since it's aconservatory they are able to grow all manner of plants that usually wouldn't be available here, leading to some interesting photo backgrounds.

If you like super formal, regimented plantings the Grosse Pointe War Memorial is the place for you. Its sprawling grounds are arranged precisely, and the building itself is lovely as well.


I know it doesn't seem like to now, but soon, soon it will be springtime and prime time to capture your little ones against a backdrop of nature's annual show. Oneof these spots should provide you with something almost as beautiful as your kids!
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Signs of Spring

by Amy Kuras

March 30, 2009

Ignore the snow on the ground -- spring, my friends, has sprung. Yesterday was terrible weather, yes. Bit you can see it in the faces of the people you pass, in everyone's generally lighter attitude despite the uncertain times we are facing. And I don't entirely think it's about Michigan State's general awesomeness.

Here are some fun ways to celebrate some of our local springtime rituals:

Take the kids to the ballgame. Maybe skip the craziness and general drunken atmosphere of Opening Day, but the Tigers have several day games coming up and thanks to the recession, some seats are even affordable.

Can't swing the major leagues? College and high school softball and baseball are in full swing right now. University of Detroit Mercy has a good women's softball team and a really nice ballpark.


Take a nature walk -- try to spot trees with buds on them, plants, like tulips and daffodils, that are popping up leaves, and other signs of spring like puddles and crocuses. Of course the metroparks are lovely right now as well.

Got a kid obsessed with High School Musicial? Schools all over the metro area are presenting their spring musicals right now. I remember going to see one when I was a kid and the actresses in the play, who seemed like grownups to me, signed autgraphs. Of course now, as a grownup, I realize that must have been as much of a thrill to them as it was to me!

Farmer's markets are starting to reawaken after the long winter. Shop for strawberries, asparagus, and greens and talk with your kids about how plants need different conditions to grow.

Even better, take a trip to your local garden center and choose seeds and seedlings to grow this year.

In The Garden at Home and Away

by Amy Kuras

July 30, 2008

As I have written about before, I love garden activities with my kids. Well, just my daughter so far, my son is just discovering he has toes, but preschoolers love digging in the dirt, watering plants, and especially eating the results. We haven't done a lot this year since I gave myself a one-year break from gardening what with the three-year-old and the infant, but my daughter got the bug  Read more...

How to Grow a Green (And Tiny) Detroit Thumb

by Amy Kuras

May 22, 2008

For the first time in years, we're having an actual spring, instead of temperatures shooting right from the 50 to 90s with no lovely transition in between to remind us why we don't throw ourselves in front of a snowplow during our long winters. So for many of us, it's been awfully hard to restrain ourselves from getting our mitts in the garden. And gardening, far from being yet another thing  Read more...