Summer break (if not quite summertime yet) is upon us, and for many parents the span between now and that blessed day when school starts up again can appear from here to eternity. Few are the lucky who can afford to keep kids in camps every week between now and August, and many parents have to take time off from work in coming weeks to play personal camp counselor for their charges.
The job can be a challenge, but it can also be fun if you plan ahead. Metro Atlanta’s attractions tend to bring their own “A” games in terms of programming family-friendly special events and exhibits during the hot months. Here’s a sampling of what’s out there:
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Center for Puppetry Arts
Cinderella goes big top in “Cinderella Della Circus,” playing a tightrope walker in P.T. Barnum’s show who speaks only in rhyme, in puppetry center artistic director Jon Ludwig’s adaptation, opening June 16. Cinderella gets no respect from cruel ringmaster Madame Bullie, but with the help of circus friends, including Oliver the elephant and Cornelia the “zebracorn,” she is able to snag the eye of her true love. This encore staging of a 2008 hit features about 20 handmade marionettes operated by four puppeteers.
Runs June 16-July 17. 10 a.m. and noon Tuesdays-Fridays; 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 3 p.m. Sundays. Half-price previews: 10 a.m. and noon June 14-15. $16.50 ages 2 and older (includes Create-A-Puppet Workshop or Create-A-Puppet To-Go Kit and all museum exhibits). 1404 Spring St., Atlanta. 404-873-3391, www.puppet.org.
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Southeastern Railway Museum
Anyone who’s visited knows that every day is a good day for locomotive love at this 35-acre, mostly outdoor Duluth museum, home to some 90 items of rolling stock including historic Pullman cars and classic steam locomotives.
But this weekend that feeling is all the more so during the annual Locomotive Celebration. Kids can get temporary caboose tattoos, participate in a locomotive hunt (seems like it’d be hard to hide one), look at model railroads and enjoy crafts and food.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.$8, $6 ages 65 and up, $5 ages 2-12. 3595 Buford Highway, Duluth. 770-476-2013, www.srmduluth.org.
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Fernbank Natural History Museum
Along with its “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids” exhibit, Imax movies and the recently opened 7,000-square-foot NatureQuest indoor learning playground for kids, the museum is giving guests “97 Days (and Ways) to Play” this summer. Mythic Mondays feature scavenger hunts; Wednesdays offer free hot dogs; and on Safari Sundays, the first 250 kids receive a free safari hat with their museum ticket. Other special days include Superhero Day on June 19, Pirate and Princess Day July 9 and Aug. 6 and the Dinosaur Birthday Bash Weekend Aug. 20-21.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Activities free with general admission: $17.50, $16.50 students and 62 and up, $15.50 ages 3-12. 767 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta. 404-929-6300, www.fernbankmuseum.org.
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Aurora Children’s Playhouse
Kids are hardly a passive audience in Wendy Bennett’s “Storybook Alive,” an Aurora Children’s Playhouse summer production at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville. They get to crow, chant, mime and act out the parts of mice and even a pumpkin. The show, offered twice this Wednesday, is the first in a series of four Wednesday productions in June — each intended to serve as an introductory theatrical experience and about 45 minutes long, perfect for those wee attention spans.
10 and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. $7. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. 678-226-6222, www.auroratheatre.com.
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Stone Mountain Park
A rite of summer for metro Atlantans since 1983 and always one of the best bargains of the season, the Lasershow Spectacular received a major technical update this year with new digital video projection that gives the show 3-D like effects.
The renamed Lasershow Spectacular in Mountainvision boasts some whiz-bang moments over its 42 minutes, such as when the 825-foot-tall mountain appears to crack open, exposing a futuristic view of Atlanta’s skyline.
Some folks like to come out early, stake a place on Memorial Lawn for a picnic, boogie to the pre-show music, toss a football and wait for night to fall — one of the metro area’s mellowest and most diverse communal gatherings.
9:30 nightly through Aug. 7, then on limited nights through Oct. 29. Free with the park’s $10 vehicle entrance fee. Terrace seats ($10 with snack; reservations recommended) and meal and all-attraction packages also available. Stone Mountain Park, U.S. 78, Exit 39 B, Stone Mountain. 770-498-5690, www.stonemountainpark.com.
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Children’s museum
Kids can learn if their pitch speed measures up to Tim Hudson’s and how to navigate a balance beam and pommel horse during “Team Up! Explore Science & Sports” at Imagine It: The Children’s Museum of Atlanta. Running June 11 to Sept. 11, the program aims to teach how geometry, physics, force and friction interact with sports and also provides a locker room full of sports gear for playing dress-up.
10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. Free with general admission: $12.50, free 2 and under. 275 Centennial Olympic Park Drive NW, Atlanta. 404-659-5437, www.childrensmuseumatlanta.org.
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Zoo Atlanta
It’s almost like a romper room this summer at Zoo Atlanta. Visitors can turn on the baby talk for the frisky Po, now regularly seen entertaining his mom, Lun Lun, in the Giant Panda building; three warthog piglets in the African Plains exhibit; and an infant female western lowland gorilla born last month. If baby animals aren’t your thing (and if not, what is wrong with you?), check out the new Complex Carnivores exhibit, populated with a binturong, a fossa and a couple of comical bush dogs.
9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays, 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays and July 4. Ticket sales end an hour before closing. $20.99 adults; $15.99 children 3-11; $16.99 65 and older, students and military. 800 Cherokee Ave. SE, Atlanta. 404-624-9453, www.zooatlanta.org.
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Atlanta Botanical Garden
If you still haven’t made it by to check out the three enhancements that opened last year— the high-rising Canopy Walk, waterfall-dominated Cascades Garden and the Edible Garden and Outdoor Kitchen — good things and good times are always sprouting up during summer at the Piedmont Park attraction. The garden offers something for everyone on Father’s Day (June 19), with cooking demonstrations and tastes by Farm Burger, drumming and stories by Chetter Galloway, music by the Bluegrass Sound Band and the Botanical Express Ride-On Train ($2 per ride). Best of all, dad’s admission is half-price.
Father’s Day activities: 1-4 p.m. June 19. Regular hours: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays (until 10 p.m. Thursdays). $18.95, $12.95 ages 3-12. 1345 Piedmont Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-876-5859, www.atlanta?botanicalgarden.org.
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Georgia Aquarium
Perhaps you’ve heard that the aquarium recently opened a $110 million dolphin exhibit. And maybe you’ve heard about its AT&T Dolphin Tales show, the theatrical swoosh of lights, songs and, yes, dolphins leaping out of a 1.8 million-gallon tank. If you’re planning to go, reserve tickets in advance. Also, if you want to kick your aquarium experience into another price level, its latest addition is the “Beluga and Friends Interactive Program.” Guests can don a wet suit for an up-close experience with the whales and trainers for $224.95 ($205.95 for annual pass members).
Dolphin Tales shows 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. daily. Dolphin Combo ticket: $37.45, $25.95 ages 3-12, $30.40 65 and up. Aquarium summer operating hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays. Check website for exceptions. 225 Baker St. NW, Atlanta. 404-581-4000, www.georgiaaquarium.org.
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Chattahoochee Nature Center
Beautiful creatures will take wing during Chattahoochee Nature Center’s annual Flying Colors Butterfly Festival, and so will the imaginations of children. Hundreds of butterflies will be set free at the Roswell event, July 16-17. Kids can get their faces painted and can build fairy houses or gnome homes. Giant butterfly and caterpillar kites will be flown, and costumed small fry can follow grand marshal Ms. Chrysalis in a parade.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. July 16; noon-5 p.m. July 17 (butterfly releases will be at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. July 16, 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. July 17). $10, free age 2 and under. 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell. 770-992-2055, www.chattnaturecenter.org.
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