This week’s Smart Summer Challenge week has a Forest Friendly focus, so it’s a perfect opportunity to write about the time we spent at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theater-in-the-Woods.
The Theater-in-the-Woods is one of our favorite summertime spots, and it’s something we add to our Summer Fun Cards for the last few years.
Visiting the theater is super-sneaky fun learning thrown in any week of the year, but I highly recommend that all families explore local theaters during breaks from school.
Here’s the skinny on our recent Theater-in-the-Woods experience, where we saw an incredibly engaging storyteller and jammed to one of our favorite PBS Stars. We loved, loved, loved it–and each time we go, my kids ask for a return visit while we’re leaving the Wolf Trap parking lot.
- Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theater-in-the-Woods: Wolf Trap is an awesome theater situated deep on 117 acres the property of Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, so it’s easily accessible for many here in the DC Metro area.
The Theater-in-the-Woods is seriously right smack dab in the middle of the woods.
Maddy, Owen, Cora, and I were totally excited about our drive down to Virginia, and though I was still battling a cough and wicked summer cold, being outdoors to see two great shows was just what the doctor ordered.
Summer programs at Wolf Trap’s Theater-in-the-Woods run from June through August, at 10 am and 11:15 from Tuesday through Saturday. Many visitors pack a picnic lunch for after the show because it’s such a beautiful property, and the second show ends at lunchtime!
Baba Jamal Koram on stage. . . and with the children of the audience.
Our first show was storyteller Baba Jamal Koram and the Under the Griot’s Tree: Stories of Wonder and Wisdom show. I wasn’t sure how Maddy, Owen, and Cora would take to their first real-life storyteller experience, but they loved Baba Jamal Koram. Loved him. I was worried they wouldn’t be able to sit still the whole time, but they were mesmerized. Most of the kids in the audience were.
At the end of the show, Baba Jamal Koram invited the children to come up on stage to try out his instruments–and they did.
The stories of wonder and wisdom were interactive, imaginative, and included all sorts of catchy songs and beats; the kids were singing them into the evening that day and the next few days.
Steve rocks the stage at Wolf Trap’s Theater-in-the-Woods.
The second show was SteveSongs, with Steve Roslonek, one of our favorite PBS stars evaaaah.
We danced a little in our seats, jammin’ to songs old and new, we laughed when the background accidentally fell and laughed harder when my good friend’s husband jumped up on stage and helped with the bubble-blowing. Like the performance before him, Steve got the crowd engaged and active, and we loved it.
Before we knew it, the show was over and we zipped to the tables for lunch.
It was a perfect day for an outside concert, and this kind of activity is great for getting kids out in the community, subjected to new types of performers and art forms, and taking advantage of the super resources in your area.
If you’re close to the DC Metro area, Wolf Trap is definitely worth stopping by, and you can check out their summer performance schedule to see what shows you can make before the curtain closes. Please be sure to look for their Educational Resources before you go because the ideas and support they offer to parents and teachers is incredible.
fyi: Many thanks to our friends at Wolf Trap Foundation for providing our family with tickets to this show. This is an unsponsored post, and the opinions here are all my own, influenced only by my three little travel buddies.
We’re rockin’ and rollin’ through week 4 of the Smart Summer Challenge--a 6 week campaign that Candace of Naturally Educational, MaryLea of Pink and Green Mama, and I are hosting to show all parents how important it is for parents to make summer learning fun!
Summer learning can be simple–even 5 or 10 minutes a day in the span of a read-aloud, and anything and everything counts. All we ask is that you link up here on Fridays and share what you’ve done (meaning: share one way you participated). Each Friday for the duration of the challenge, we’ll choose one participant to receive an awesome (and I mean totally worth your time awesome) prize.
Our goal is to show all parents that if we can do it, anyone can do it. And if we want our kids meet with success in school and to enjoy learning about the world around them, it’s our job to create a lifestyle of learning for our families. Join us!
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