Chico Kids

From 5 to 10 p.m. today, Baskin Robbins will have small scoops with be 31 cents (you can buy up to three), with optional donations invited in honor of firefighters.

We’re planning on heading over to the Chico State campus this afternoon for the Nakland Children’s Carnival. It runs from noon to 4:30 p.m. today (Sunday, April 26) on the Yolo lawn. It’s put on by the Nu Alpha Kappa fraternity and features inflatable games, carnival games, giveaway prizes and food. It’s free, too. You really can’t go wrong when you have “inflatable games” and “free” in the same sentence, so we’re looking forward to it.

Today, Saturday, April 25, head on down to Chico’s City Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to check out the activities for kids as part of the annual Children’s Faire. A variety of community organizations set up booths to educate and communicate. It’s sponsored by Butte County Children and Families Commission as part of the Week of the Young Child.

If this huge stack of boxes and bags in my entryway is any indication, it’s time for the awesome, annual Chico Nursery School rummage sale!

Great stuff from dozens of families, yours to choose from this Saturday, April 25, from 8 a.m. to noon at Chico Nursery School: 1190 E. 1st Ave. There will be donuts and other treats for sale, too.

It’s all a fund-raiser for CNS, a nonprofit parent coop for preschoolers ages 2 years and 9 months to 5 years old. The school was founded in 1968.

From noon to 8 p.m. on April 21, enjoy a scoop of free ice cream at a special event at Ben & Jerry’s (East and Cohasset) benefiting the nonprofit Sunshine Kids Club. Choose from 16 flavors for your free cone, and you can pay $1 for waffle cones.

A variety of activities are planned throughout the afternoon, including martial arts demos, wheelchair basketball, an ice cream eating contest, animals from the Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation, a performance by Jet Fuel Only and more.

Learn more about the Sunshine Kids Club at www.sunshinekidsclub.org.

The scramble for eggs begins at Caper Acres on Saturday, April 11 at 9 a.m. The Spring Jamboree includes the egg hunt, an Easter Bunny visit and more. Visit the CARD Web site for more info, and have fun!

We’re really looking forward to the annual Kite Day, which is coming up this Sunday, March 29, from noon to 4 p.m. at Community Park off 20th Street. We haven’t missed a year yet! We already have our kite, albeit a “one-season” one. (Due to get crunched.) As always, it’s sponsored by the Chico Area Recreation District and Bird In Hand and will feature music from Oldies 102.1. Don’t forget your souvenir button! And if your kite meets with a kite-eating tree or is otherwise damaged, you can often get help fixing it right there. Also, there are prizes for the best homemade kites. The event is free.

A little drizzle didn’t stop us from heading out to the Chico Air Museum today. Located at the Chico Municipal Airport at 170 Convair Court, the Chico Air Museum is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A dedicated group of volunteers started the nonprofit museum in 2005 and since then it has grown to include many historic planes (some being restored on-site), plus several rooms full of expertly compiled and displayed local and national aviation memorabilia. The volunteers are especially helpful, offering stories of local lore. (The airport was a U.S. Air Force air field during World War II).

The volunteers hauled out a cute kiddie plane for Alec to ride around in. (Alec, who’s 4, looked a little nervous pedaling around and I couldn’t figure out why until he made it clear that he expected the wheeled plane to actually lift off into the air!) We checked out all the planes and then climbed into one that had been shot down by U.S. forces during WWII. You can sit in the cockpit and steer and everything. Way cool.

Even if your kid isn’t a plane fanatic, plan a visit to the Chico Air Museum. It’s free, but they always accept tax-deductible donations.