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October shows in Pretoria & Joburg

September 30th, 2011

Here are some great ideas for you and your family for this weekend and the week ahead.

In Pretoria- this weekend

Rose Festival Ludwig’s Rose Farm, in Pretoria North from Oct 1-9. The festival brings you exhibits of garden roses and Drayman’s Beer fresh from the keg. A stand of German food, Leberkaes, Bienenstich and Lebkuchen more will keep the hunger at bay. For rugby lovers we’ve added a big screen in support of the BOKKE! Restaurant is open with the best cakes, coffees and rose delights. Free tractor train rides every hour, jumping castle to keep the kids happy in our huge play area. The Butterfly Garden is back in flight after the winter rest. Thorns ‘n Things, the rose boutique is the perfect place for early Christmas shopping.

2x Shopping Centres in Pretoria have quite a bit on offer this weekend.

Ama Baby Bok Wold Cup Play Area at Wonderpark Shopping Centre until Oct. 9. There will be a play area with interactive games, winners workshop, magical movie time, colouring in, play dough, LEGO puzzles and much more Bok entertainment.

The Smurfs are coming to Menlyn – Oct 1,2 . Join us for a Smurfalicious event when the Smurfs visit Menlyn Park. The National Roadshow will be hosted at the exhibition court just outside the Nu Metro Cinemas. Expect nothing less than all blue fun and a full day of activities including the following: Blue face painting, colouring in activities, fun blue play dough, Smurf PlayStation gaming, crafts & workshop, modelling, dance competition, meet & greet with the Smurf characters, MC hosted games & competitions & free gifts & prizes.

SHOWS FOR NEXT WEEKEND

The Nutcracker the ballet, State Theatre, Pta Oct 7-9. The Classical Christmas Ballet performed by Student from The Sheron Viljoen School of ballet,

The African Boma National Eco Expo at Botanical gardens, Pretoria, Oct 8-12 . The Expo focuses on nature conservation and the sustainable utilization of natural resources and offers entertainment for the whole family. Activities, shows and displays: A cheetah show; lion cubs (if available); live snakes; birds of prey; quad bikes; 4X4 vehicles; paintball; rock climbing; steam train rides; life entertainment by various artists and talks byfield experts and role players in various fields of expertise are on the menu

Joburg International Motor Show 2011 at Nasrec Expo Centre, Oct 8-16.

UJ Choir & Tygerberg Children’s Choir Rosebank Catholic Church, Rosebank, Oct 8. These highly talented children participated in the world’s flagship choral competition, the 6th World Choir Games in Shaoxing, China, where they received two gold medals and were crowned Double World Champions – in the Religions of the World and Folklore categories.

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Family friendly rugby viewing & kids theatre

September 9th, 2011

If you’re a rugby fan, I’m sure you’d love to find a great family restaurant with a big screen to watch the rugby with your kids. check our list below to see if you can find something. You can also check out our restaurants page to find more places to go. Booking is essential.

RUGBY VIEWING – FAMILY RESTAURANTS

In Pretoria & Centurion
Jingle Jangle Tea Garden Moreleta Park, Pretoria
Watch the “Bokke”fight it out at our family friendly restaurant/tea garden with a petting zoo for kids. Our facility includes the use of all our jungle gyms, sandpits, trampolines (1 enclosed), plastic scooters, jumping castle, swings and large play area. We also have pony rides. Our menu is extensive ranging from breakfasts to our very popular slow baked lamb shank or finger licking king size prawns served with our special Italian sauce.

Villa San Giovanni traditional Italian food, Wonderboom Airport,Pretoria. Join as at our family friendly restaurant to enjoy delicious traditional Italian food and watch the rugby on one of our screens. Kids are also welcome in our special dedicated play area.

Purple Cow Restaurant Midfield Clubhouse, Midstream,Centurion
Come and watch the World Cup Rugby matches at Purple Cow Restaurant! Ice cold beer, promos, lucky draws and much much more! Kids can play while mom and dad watch the rugby – safe, plenty space to run around and new menu items to die for!

Johannesburg
Alek’s Kitchen Family Restaurant w/ grazing animals, Chartwell
We’ll have 2 normal TV screens available for rugby watching on Sunday ( sorry no plasma ones). Bring the family and enjoy a delicious meal in this unique setting with a relaxed atmosphere. While your meal is being freshly prepared, watch Springbuck and Blesbuck graze. The children can work up an appetite on the swings and jungle gym We have a special kiddies menu for hungry tummies.

Zoo Lake Sports Club Parktown, Jhb
We’ll have several large TV screens up for you to watch while your family enjoys their meal with us. We also have a large secure playground with jungle gyms, slides, swings, a trampoline and more for your kids to enjoy while you get into the business of supporting our team.

TSG 4 Ways Mediterranean Grill Cafe, Fourway
Join the fans to support your favourite team at our family friendly mediterranean grill cafe. A dedicated play area housing playstation and DVD’s to offer comfort and fun for children who can amuse themselves in this space at length

Johannesburg & Pretoria
Primi Piatti with Primi Pods for kids in Jhb & Pta
Come to Primi Piatti -Eastgate, Cresta, Fourways, Irene, Menlyn, Randpark Ridge, Sunninghill and Stoneridge, with the whole family and catch your team LIVE in action during the Rugby World Cup. With Primi PODS for the kids, they’re part of the experience – they can make their own pizzas, play with dough, colouring in and just having fun! A special kiddies menu is available.

Vaal Triangle
Stonehaven on the Vaal garden restaurant, Vaal
We’ll have big plasma screens in our garden restaurant for you to spurr our team on while your kids play. Our children’s play area is designed so that you can enjoy your meal while watching your children thrive on all the kiddies activities including jumping castle trampoline, pool, tree house, jungle gym, sand pit.

JOBURG ZOO & BOKKE MONTH

And then the Joburg Zoo is celebrating from Friday to Sunday. They’ve called it Bokke Month. Zoo visitors who wear Sringbok jerseys on Fridays and match days stand a chance to win spot prizes. They’ll also be running animal enrichment activities about the zoo’s very own bokkies. On weekends there’ll also be face painting for kids.

KIDS THEATRE STARTING THIS WEEK.

We’ve got 2 new kids theatre productions to tell you about that open on tomorrow September 12th in Joburg.

The Pied Piper and other Tales opens at the National Children’s Theatre in Parktown and runs until October 15th. It’s a fantastic interactive adventure filled with song, dance, magic, love, laughter and a happy ending. There will be 2 shows a day from Monday to Saturday at 10.30am & 2.30pm

Fun, Magic and Tales from Africa also starts on September 12th at the Peoples Theatre in Braamfontein. It runs until October 9th. This is a theatre production of African fairytales. Each tale has a strong moral or social message and the professional cast involve the audience in a fun performance. From Monday to Friday the show will be performed at 9 and 11 am in the morning and on Saturdays at 10.30 and 2.30pm

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

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Markets and events in Joburg and Pretoria

September 1st, 2011

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.

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Cowboys and Aliens – an exciting 3-D collaboration of two popular Movie Genres!

August 30th, 2011

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.

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What to do for Women’s month

August 4th, 2011

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

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Super 8 – A super Sci-Fi movie adventure for young and old alike!

July 30th, 2011

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.

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Family activities & train rides in Gauteng

July 29th, 2011

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.

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Walking the Tightrope at JoziX

July 4th, 2011

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.

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Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon – The saga continues…

July 3rd, 2011

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!

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The Lion Park

June 22nd, 2011

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

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