reviews

• day outings (26)
• kids books (2)
• movies (24)
• museums (1)
• Music CDs (2)
• parenting books (1)
• Parenting DVDs (1)
• playgrounds (1)
• restaurants (3)
• shows (3)
• theatre (8)
• toys (4)

articles

• Loving the Lory Park Zoo
• A day at the coolest science museum in Jozi
• Tintin hits the big screen in 3D
• Nutcracker on Ice at Montecasino- spending the night
• December 16th, what to do with your family?
• Puss in Boots is a hilarious 3-D comedy adventure for the whole family!
• Kids car & circus parties plus family events this week
• Parenting workshops & shows this week
• October shows in Pretoria & Joburg
• Family friendly rugby viewing & kids theatre
• Markets and events in Joburg and Pretoria
• Cowboys and Aliens – an exciting 3-D collaboration of two popular Movie Genres!
• What to do for Women’s month
• Super 8 – A super Sci-Fi movie adventure for young and old alike!
• Family activities & train rides in Gauteng
• Walking the Tightrope at JoziX
• Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon – The saga continues…
• The Lion Park
• Yeesh! Fun for Kids, the perfect winter birthday party
• Kids theatre and Youth Day activities
• Markets and shows
• Animal parks and horse trails
• Family friendly restaurants
• On Mother’s Day Jozikids talks to Amor Vittone on Jacaranda
• African Adventure is great family theatre – review
• On May 1 Jozikids talks to Amor Vittone on Jacaranda
• Thor – a movie review
• Acrobranch, a forest jungle gym for kids and adults
• Jozikids on Jacaranda with Amor Vittone on Easter Sunday.
• Where to take your kids in Jozi: The Apartheid Museum
• Rio – a movie review
• Hop the movie: a review
• Rango will Bring a Smile to Your Face!
• Bieber Fever
• “Never Say Never!” Justin Bieber didn’t….
• The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre of De Wildt
• “True Grit” brilliant remake of the classic western
• Gold Reef City Theme Park
• Scott Pilgrim vs.The World, a review
• Recommended Xmas books and a CD
• Travel-wise games & activities for the Xmas holidays
• Chasing Big Foot across the countryside
• “The End of The Line”, imagine life without fish
• Charlie St Cloud, a review
• African Alphabet School Concert
• Mama Mia at Montecasino, a review
• The magic of African Tapestry
• Despicable Me in 3D, a review
• Jock of the Bushveld on stage, family entertainment at its best!
• Jock of the Bushveld soon in 3D and as theatre
• Get ready to munch!
• Modern lullabies for babies reviewed
• Baby stimulation DVDs for parents reviewed
• Delta Park Simba Playground
• Marmaduke : a movie review
• Shaka Zulu, The Musical : a review
• Toy Story 3 in 3D: a review
• 20 recommended games to play with your kids
• Review of “Fireball!”, a puppet show about the soccer extravanganza
• Made in SA games for kids
• Space Chimps 2: write a review and win
• Growing kids with character by Hettie Britz – a book review
• Nanny Mcphee 2 – movie reviews
• The Jungle Book fulfils only the bare necessities
• How To Train Your Dragon 3D – movie review
• 5 kids places to visit, free of charge, in Pretoria!
• Alice in Wonderland 3D – a movie review
• Dandylion and Here comes Frankie: children’s books reviewed
• The Princess and the Frog – a movie review
• Out and about in Jozi
• Cinderella on ice: get goosebumps
• The Little Mermaid : a review
• The Transvaal Museum – great for rainy days
• Visit Maropeng, its a blast!
• Nikki’s favourite kids toys on TV3′s Lunchbox

Sept 1 is spring day and a great time to get out with your family. There are some great open air markets and live  to visit this weekend that we want to tell you about.

FRESH PRODUCE  MARKETS

Blubird Whole Food every Sun, Birnam & Thurs, Killarney
Find fresh produce, seasonal organic fruit, vegetables & raw honey. Bio detergents. Someone who will plant trees on your behalf to offset your carbon footprints called GROWATREE.  For kids, there are earthworms and seeds to grow their own trees plus children chefs selling their own produce

Watch out for their Spring picnic on Sept 18.  Bring your bottles of wine, your blankets, shade and of course yourselves and your children. There will be music and a safe area for your children to play on the jumping castle.

Bryanston Organic Market, every Thurs & Sat morn. Buy delicious freshly made food,  you’ll also find great organic fruit and veggies. And for the kids there’s entertainment,  craft activities including candle dipping, pottery painting and sandart. They sometimes have puppet shows and puppetry making as well.

Hazel Food Market in Menlo Park Pretoria, Describe their market as a a European-style food market which sells all types of food products from fresh fruit and vegetables to ready-to-eat food. There is a jumping castle, jungle gym and kids play area every Saturday during the market.

COMING UP Saturday September 10th

Shared History- The Indian Wellbeing Experience at Zoo Lake, Parkview
Includes lectures on Indian Ayurvedic Practices, Organic& Ayurvedic Food Stalls; display counters for Ayurvedic Products and Literature, Yoga Workshops and Guided meditations,,Sept 10.

Shakespeare Dreaming at Joburg Zoo, Parkview, Sept 10.
Robert Whitehead, Mark Hawkins and Vanessa Cooke have woven a delightful tapestry of Shakespearian text
into an accessible fun-filled program of music, dance and comedy for all ages. Featuring a stellar line-up which includes Timothy Moloi, James Ncgobo, Robert Whitehead, John Vlismas, Leeanda Reddy, Mari-Louise Basson & Craig Arnold and featuring the Johannesburg Youth Ballet.

CHARITY INITIATIVE

Toyful Collection both old and new for charity, Wonderpark Shopping Centre, Karenpark ,  Pretoria North.Aug 20-Dec 11.

by Joy Dembo, married, with an 18 year old son and a 25 year old daughter.  Addicted to the www, particularly Twitter. Recruitment Response Handling Consultant and Freelance Copywriter, vegetarian and animal lover. Visit her blog.

This movie is such a clever collaboration of the ever popular western and science fiction genres, so if you want to see something that’s the same, yet vastly different, this movie is the one to pick!

Starring the yummy Daniel Craig and the even yummier Harrison Ford (for the moms), the gorgeous Olivia Wilde (for the dads) and the cute Noah Ringer (for the teens), this movie will keep the whole family entertained.

Combining puppets, and Computer Generated animation,  the visual effects are awesome and the kidswill definitely be glued to the screen when the Aliens finally make their spectacular 3-D appearance!

The action takes place in late 1800’s Arizona, and starts when a stranger (Daniel Craig), wakes up in the dessert, with a strange shackle around his wrist, and severe amnesia, which leaves him with nomemory of who or where he is. Confused and injured, he stumbles into the “skiet, skop and donner” town of Absolution and quickly discovers that  townsfolk don’t take kindly to strangers and that the town is ruled by the all-powerful Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) and his delinquent son.

At least this WAS the case, until the town is caught in the grip of fear, as a strange and eerie force attacks the town, and picks the residents off the street, one by one, and spirits them away in a strange alien craft.

In true hero style, the stranger slowly regains his memory and becomes the town’s only hope of salvation!  The crack shot cowboy comes to the realisation that the mysterious shackle around his wrist holds the key to fighting off the alien force, rescuing the abducted townspeople and saving the town.

Cowboys and Aliens is Universal and Dreamworks latest 3-D offering and is directed by Jon Favreau and based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name,  created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.

The film was released on Friday, 19 August, so if you haven’t already seen it, make a point of doing so this weekend.

The movie is classified 13 L V and runs for 117 minutes.

If you haven’t discovered it yet, Jozikids.co.za is the most up to date and detailed resource for parents in entire Gauteng region to find what you need including events, activities, venues and lessons.  You’ll also find it on your cell phone when you search for Jozikids.

Its women’s month and we have 2 interesting women’s activities to tell you about:

The first is taking place at Melrose Arch on August 13th next to Moyos restaurant. There will  be a huge big Pink  truck offering Free Breast Cancer Screenings plus valuable information this disease that affects as many as 1 in 29 South African women.

Also on Saturday the 13th Your Parenting is running a workshop, called Pregnancy & Breastfeeding at the Southern Sun hotel in Hyde Park. It’s about how the first 9 months (pregnancy) shape your baby’s life and Getting breastfeeding off to a good start. It only costs R150 pp.

A bit of pampering

Come and be pampered with your daughter at the Mom & Daughter Pamper Spa organised by Glittagals at Planet Fitness the Wanderers in Illovo. Sessions costs from R50 for kids and R100 for adults- booking is essential. Sessions take place on Aug 9,12,16,23.

Then how about going out and leaving all your worries at home on August 9th? Put your sneakers on and lets go. As usual the Jozikids calendar is filled with loads to do. Heres a sampling of some family friendly restuarants offering Women’s Day Specials for the whole family

Family Friendly Restaurants offering Women’s Day Specials

Ludwigs Rose Farm in Pretoria North has a talk by  Anja Taschner about roses – pollen, seeds and new colours. Enjoy a meal or tea at the restaurant and take in the tranquil farm atmosphere. Visit thecrawly room filled with insects and bearded dragons. Large playground for the kids to enjoy and tractor rides

Primi Piatti has created primi pods at certain branches which now offer kids pizza making & baking,in Pta  you’ll find primi pods in Menlyn and Irene. In Joburg  at  Bedfordview, Cresta, Eastgate, Fourways,Randpark Ridge, Stoneridge / Edenvale and Sunninghill

Tres Jolie in Ruimsig on the West Rand is a restaurant with pony rides, jungle gyms and a farmyard

by Joy Dembo, married, with an 18 year old son and a 25 year old daughter.  Addicted to the www, particularly Twitter. Recruitment Response Handling Consultant and Freelance Copywriter, vegetarian and animal lover. Visit her blog.

Super 8, Spielberg’s new Sci-fi movie is reminiscent of Blockbusters such as ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Although, not quite as spectacular, Super 8 will keep you glued to the screen until all is revealed at the end.

Five Ohio school friends decide to make a monster movie on an 8 mm camera, in the summer of 1978.  Filming one evening at a remote railway station,  they witness a catastrophic train crash, whichnot only interrupts the sequence they are shooting, but almost ends up killing them, as carriages derail and fly into the small wooden station building.  Luckily the six manage to escape physically unscathed, but soon realize, to their dismay, that the train wreck was not an accident.

Soon afterwards a series of strange disappearances and unexplained events in town, lead the children,  and the town Deputy, to investigate and uncover a terrifying military conspiracy that rocks the very fabric of this close-knit community.

The central character is Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), who is struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother and trying to make sense of the relationship he now has with his grieving and bitter dad.  His friends are Charles (Riley Griffith), the chubby, and hilarious, movie producer; Cary (Ryan Lee) who is a certified pyromaniac: Martin (Gabriel Basso) and the beautiful and wicked Alice (Elle Fanning, who is the sister of Dakota). They are a typical bunch of happy-go-lucky American kids, amusing themselves during the summer vacation, until the train wreck changes their lives forever.

Brilliant performances by all five make this movie funny, sad, scary and nail biting until the last credits roll!

Very young kids won’t get it, but everyone else will love it, especially if you are a fan of Science Fiction movies.

The movie opens on 29 July, so make a point of taking the older kids to see it this weekend.

If  you haven’t discovered it yet, Jozikids.co.za is the most up to date and detailed resource for parents in entire Gauteng region to find what you need including events, activities, venues and lessons.  You’ll also find our mobi site on your cell phone when you search for Jozikids.

Here are a couple of events and activties you can do with your family this week.
In Centurion, theres a family friendly restaurant with a play area and section for kids to make their own pizzas called the Purple Cow. They’ve organized a True Italian Cooking  Evening on Saturday Aug 6th . You’ll learn about making sauces, pastas – the cook is author Tossie Lochner who will have samples of her sauces for sale plus a book with some of the recipes she  will make. The whole family is welcome

Every Friday and Saturday night,  Lakeside Mall in Benoni organizes:

Kiddies Craft Evenings Its an enclosed supervised area where the kids can create while you enjoy a meal at one of their restaurants.

Rocky Ridge Estate This venue has a play park, fantasy minitown and road safety traffic area. It’s a place you can take your family for a day trip with a picnic basket , they also have a braai area – Booking is essential
as they also organise kids parties, educational outings and many other functions.
So phone before you go but it sounds like a great self catered family outing .

If you or your  kids want to ride a train theres:

Mini Steam Trains open days, Florida Park, Aug 7,21.

Reefsteamers to Magaliesburg, Parktown, Aug 6,9,27 .

Tshwane Xplorer at Friends of the Rail, Pretoria, ,Aug 9.

by Sine Thieme, a writer and mother of four who is new to South Africa and busy chronicling her experiences on her blog, Joburg Expat.

If you’ve ever felt the itch to join your kids on the jungle gym but were afraid you’d get stuck because everything was kid-sized, you’ll love JoziX. It’s a playground for kids and adults alike (though not very small kids – the minimum age is 7), featuring rock climbing walls, swinging monkey-bars, a trapeze, tightropes, a jousting wall, a tricky rope ladder, and gigantic slip-‘n-slides in the summer.

We recently had a birthday party there for our youngest daughter, and I had envisioned my job as setting up the refreshments, cutting the cake, and taking some pictures. But before I knew it I was swinging along the monkey bars like an orangutan and trying to throw my husband (who had envisioned his job as providing the transport) off a high beam using gigantic mittens.

Everything is padded so there is no risk of injury, but you will be left with some sore muscles (mainly from trying to climb out of the deep crevices of the huge mats you land on). The nice thing is that you get to stay as long as you want, so that you can go 5 out of 9 in the jousting competition against your husband, if necessary.

Visit my blog for a more detailed story about this fabulous venue.

by Joy Robyn Dembo, married, with an 18 year old son and a 25 year old daughter.  Addicted to the www, particularly Twitter. Recruitment Response Handling Consultant and Freelance Copywriter, vegetarian and animal lover. Visit her blog.

Sadly, I didn’t see Transformers 1 and 2, as I really love Science Fiction movies.  I mean, I saw all gazillion Star Wars movies, so I am not really sure why I didn’t see Transformers, BUT I can say with confidence that if you have seen the first two, you are in for a treat, and if you haven’t, don’t worry, you will catch on quickly and still be in for a treat! And, unlike the first two, this sequel is in 3D, which makes it even more spectacular.

Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, the movie is an EPIC of even more EPIC proportions. The special effects are beyond words and the magnitude of the Autobots and the Decepticons (See! I am already talking like a Transformers Junkie!) is absolutely awesome.

Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro continue to give star studded performances, and Peter Cullen and  Hugo Weaving return as the voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively.  A new addition to the cast is English model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who plays Carly, Sam’s gorgeous new love.

Without revealing the complex plot, I can tell you that the movie begins when a mysterious event from Earth’s past reappears in the present day and threatens the entire future of mankind as we know it.  A catastrophic war threatens to erupt and even the Autobots find it difficult to save the planet.

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky is living an ordinary and frustrating life until he finds a job,  and meets up with Jerry Wang, who discusses certain conspiracy theories about the “the dark side of the moon” with him, and so the adventure begins.

I came out of this movie absolutely wonder-struck.  It is really that awesome!

Not for kids under the age of 13, but  a must see for the teens this July holiday.

Releasing today, 29 June, but get your tickets quickly as a little birdie told me that it is already almost fully booked for all shows in JHB today!

by Sine Thieme, a writer and mother of four who is new to South Africa and busy chronicling her experiences on her blog, Joburg Expat.

A great place to visit with your kids if your budget is limited or you don’t have time for a full-fledged safari is the Lion Park just North of Dainfern. You get to drive through the park in your own vehicle (making sure the windows stay up the entire time!) and will get good looks at not only lions but also cheetahs, wild dogs, a variety of antelopes, and a giraffe.

Afterwards, when you’ve seen enough lions (we had the privilege of watching a young white lion climb up and down a tree), observed the wild dogs during feeding, and roused the cheetahs from their nap, you get to enter a special enclosure on foot, where there are more animals. We got to pet and feed a baby antelope, see hyenas and ostriches, and, as the crowning of our afternoon, play with the lion cubs.

They are actually a lot bigger and stronger than you think. Like grown dogs with sharp claws. So they’re not as easy to pet as little kittens, but just as playful. Only smaller groups of people are allowed in the lion enclosure at a time and there are several volunteers to help keep the lion cubs tame. They were kept quite busy as a group of Japanese visitors arrived after us!

A visit at the Lion Park will take you about two hours and costs R130 per adult or R70 per child (discounts for multiple children and children under four free). Just be sure to plan some time (and money) for the gift shop at the end

Click here for more information about the Lion Park

by Nicki Dadic, tattooed wife to David, mum to Luca Jack, marketing & digital consultant & social media girl, full-time gleek, part-time blogger. Visit her on facebook, twitter and her blog

Having a Winter baby is not the brightest idea, especially when it comes to birthday parties – I should know, as I celebrate my birthday in the very middle of June. Summer kids get to have birthday braais, pool parties with slip ‘n slides and water pistols, pony rides and petting zoos and long hot afternoons, while Winter kids end up taking two friends to the movies and calling it a day after a couple of hours. Now, you can’t exactly take a couple of two year olds to the movies, so last year I made the mistake of having Luca’s first birthday party at a semi-outdoor venue and the short version of day’s events, is that it was a complete disaster.

This year I took the responsible route, the route that I assumed would be unexciting and that no one would really enjoy. Boy, was I wrong! Yeesh! in Woodmead was the perfect venue for a Winter toddler’s second birthday! The helpful staff took care of everything from the table set up, decor, snack packs and clean-up – which is the one thing that most moms hosting a party dread. I arranged my own catering for the adults, but Yeesh! does offer this service, as well as customized party packs, cakes, cupcakes and more. Being the control freak I am, I had to take charge of a couple of items – but had I had no time to pick up the adult eats, Yeesh! would have taken care of the entire party, from start to finish.

We took the morning slot of 10 to 12, which worked out perfectly for a group of 15 children, aged between 16 and 36 months. Everyone had arrived before 11, with a jumping castle, ball pit, padded climbing apparatus and slides keeping all the kids busy. At 11 we sang happy birthday and the little ones dug into Luca’s “Gru” cake and “Minion” cupcakes (it was a “Despicable Me” themed party) and after another half hour of play time, all of the moms started to notice tired eyes, whiney voices and the goodbyes slowly began. Two perfect hours of Winter party fun, all thanks to Yeesh! We’ll definitely do it again next year, with the bitter Jozi Winters keeping us limited to indoor party venues.

Thanks again Yeesh!

Catch Merle from Jozikids.co.za on Jacaranda FM every Sunday morning, to find out what to do with your kids and families today and in the week ahead.

If you haven’t discovered it yet, Jozikids.co.za is the most up to date and detailed resource for parents in the Gauteng region to find what you need including events, activities, venues and lessons.

Let’s see what we’ve got for you today and the week ahead.

I want to start with new children’s theatre productions that started this week in Jo burg

Alice in Wonderland at the People’s Theatre, in Braamfontein,
Oliver Twist at the National Children’s Theatre, in Parktown and
Romeo and Juliet performed by the South African Ballet Theatre at the Mandela Theatre, Jhb, June 7-19. For Grade 10 learners studying Romeo and Juliet as a set work book, there is a  special (shortened) performance on June 14th at a cost of only R50.

Another musical for the whole family is 60s Summer of Love Barnyard, Boksburg, on until Jul 10. Where you can take your kids to hear music from The Beatles, The Mammas and The Pappas, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clear Water Revival, Janis Joplin, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and many more

Then there’s Youth Day on Thursday and once again we have loads on offer for you.

If you want to support a charity -
Chocolate Festival for School of the Blind, Melville

If you want to see animals
Bird Garden at Montecasino, Fourways
Crocodile Feeding at Croc City Crocodile Farm, Fourways
Elephant Sanctuary open days, Hartbeespoort
Lory Park Zoo open days, President Park

How about some action
Compu-Kart Raceway go- karting, Edenvale East Rand/Ekurhuleni
Go-karting in Menlo Park Pretoria
Zwartkops Quad Centre Centurion, Jun 16

Or if the weather remains so cold you may want to find an indoor playground
Play Days at Oki Doki, Linden,
Jimmy Jungles indoor play area, Randburg,
Jungle Rumble indoor playground, Mulbarton

Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful day and I’ll be back with Amor next Sunday with ideas of what you can do with your kids and families.

Well that’s it from me. Remember you can find more ideas of what to do with your family in the Gauteng region on Jozikids.co.za