Fun Family Ideas in Columbus, Ohio 2006

Columbus Children’s theater is a great organization which offers shows geared towards children—but done well enough that adults will also enjoy the productions. They do a wide variety of shows and their theater is a very intimate setting where first time theater-goers will not be overwhelmed. The productions last for about an hour—the prices of the seats are EXTREMELY reasonable—and season seats are a GREAT deal!!! They have a website at http://www.colschildrenstheatre.org/, which lists their current productions. They also offer summer camps for the kids who are interested in theatre. They offer all sorts of classes year round. We have had season tickets for about three years and don’t miss any of their productions. One of the best things is that at the end of the performances the actors come out and sign autographs for the children—and they are very willing to take the time to pose for pictures when you ask—so don’t forget your cameras. This is a terrific way to stipulate a child’s interest in theatre!!! Everyone I have ever dealt with associated with the organization has been helpful and very very committed to the organization.

The Columbus Zoo is a terrific place for both children and adults... this is the zoo where Jack Hanna became famous and the attention has brought a lot of wonderful exhibits and events to the Zoo. If you are going to close enough to be able to go a couple of times a year purchasing the membership is well worth the investment. They do all sorts of special seasonal events such as Eggs, Paws & Claws at Easter; Boo at the Zoo on Halloween, for a nice place for children to go trick-or-treating at their treat stations; and one of the nicest times of the year is their Christmas holiday light display, which has become a family tradition for us. It is a great place to spend a day outside with the family and seeing animals in very well designed exhibits. You can check out their web site for hours and events http://www.colszoo.org/.

They have exceptional educational classes on week-ends during the school year and a fabulous summer day camp program which is always in HIGH demand with a lottery drawing for available spots which had an early spring deadline. The younger children’s camp is less competitive to get into to so it’s worth the call to see if spots are available. My grandchildren have done it and it was one of their favorite camps. The reason the older kids camp is such a demand because they spend one overnight at the zoo which is quite a fun time from them!

Columbus is one of the cities which is part of the Broadway Across America Series of shows. They have a wonderful variety of shows each season. I never could stand the kids sing song tapes on car rides so I choose to teach my children and grandchildren Broadway songs, which is such a joy to exclude "Old McDonald" and the comparable receptive songs from car trips!!! The kids just learn great songs and never know they have learning great theatre numbers. Broadway in Columbus offers season tickets which allow for better seating than general sales. When the very family friendly production come and I want to take the kids, having season tickets makes additional seats available for purchase well before public sales so seating is better than you can get without season tickets. They also offer additional productions outside of the series for which better seating at earlier times are available to season ticket holders.

Productions like Annie and Beauty and the Beast make it through every couple of years. They also give advance seats to the truly child productions of shows like Dora the Explorer and Barbie. Also being a season ticket holder gives you the perks of buying very good seats for shows in other cities—a great idea during vacation time. The first time we saw a road troupe of "The Producers" was in Florida, and our seats were in the fourth row! They have a web site at http://broadwayacrossamerica.com where all the cities and shows are listed. It is a wonderful organization and the customer service for season ticket holders is stellar. If you only want to see a show here and there just keep your eye on the site and they show when public sales occur. The productions take place at the Ohio Theatre and the Palace Theatre (where Mel Torme stated he wrote "the Christmas Song"), which are both beautiful.

COSI is the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, and is a terrific place for kids. There are a wide variety of hands on interactive exhibits throughout the huge building. They have special exhibits which come in for limited engagements. You can check out their hours and special events at their website at http://www.cosi.org. One terrific thing they have is a big IMAX screen and when they have the 3-D movies running, the kids think that is really terrific!!!! The building is broken up into sections of earth and water and various exhibits which are permanent exhibits. There is always something new to discover and even for those who have been prior, repeat trips are just as much fun since the entire place is so very interactive. I have not found a child yet who is bored there—there is something to stimulate anyone!!! For the very small kids who really can’t interact there is a small child play area where a child can interact with age appropriate displays—an adult of course needs to stay with them—but it frees up the older children and adults from having to drag along a small child. They have terrific summer camp programs for children with specific interests. They also have year-round classes which children can find very fun!!! If you are going to go more than once, a season pass is the way to go—the cost is very reasonable and being able to drop-in for just a couple of hours is a very nice option!!!