Category: Outdoors

Kiddie Pool 22/04/28

Family fun for the weekend

Family chickens

Learn all about the care and keeping of backyard chickens at the Beaver Brook Association’s Maple Hill Farm (117 Ridge Road in Hollis; beaverbrook.org, 465-7787) on Friday, April 29, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The cost is $25 per person (children are free but need to be registered in advance).

When the chicken class is done, stay for a hike. Find hiking trail maps and a guide to early spring flowers on the Association’s website.

Take them out to the ball game

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats continue their run of home games at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in downtown Manchester against the Reading Fightin’ Phils through Sunday, May 1. Games through Saturday, April 30, start at 6:30 p.m.; the Sunday, May 1, game starts at 1:35 p.m. See milb.com/new-hampshire for tickets and the lineup of promotions such as the pop-it giveaway (Friday, April 29) and Princesses at the Park (on Sunday, May 1).

Kids on stage

The Palace Youth Theatre presents its production of 101 Dalmatians Kids on Saturday, April 30, at 11 a.m. at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org). Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for kids.

A week of storytimes

• Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in downtown Manchester; bookerymht.com) finishes up its vacation week schedule of daily storytimes. Register online; storytimes are free, crafts cost $10. On Thursday, April 28, at 10 a.m. the story will be Ada and the Galaxies and the craft will be a galaxy jar. On Friday, April 29, at 10 a.m. the storytime will focus on Ralph Baer, the Manchester-based father of video games, with the book The Boy Who Thought Outside the Box.

Vacation days outings

• Squam Lakes Natural Science Center (23 Science Center Road in Holderness; nhnature.org, 968-7194) opens its public trails season on Sunday, May 1, with regular daily hours from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last trail admission at 3:30 p.m.). The three-quarters of a mile live animal exhibit trail features coyote, fisher, foxes, bobcats, black bear, river otters, deer, owls, raptors and more, according to the press release, which recommends planning a two-and-a-half-hour visit to walk the trail, which winds through meadows, forests and march boardwalks. Admission costs $22 for adults, $20 for ages 65+, $16 for ages 3 to 15 and is free for children 2 and under.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road in Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org) is regularly open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. This week the museum will also be open Thursday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission costs $10 for 13 and over and $5 for 65+, children ages 6 to 12 and active military and veterans. Children 5 and under get in free and the family maximum is $30.

• The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) is open Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Fridays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m., admission is free as part of the Art After Work programming, when the museum features live music, tours and live music: This week, Old Tom and the Lookouts is slated to perform on April 28. Otherwise, admission costs $15 for adults, $13 for 65+, $10 for students and $5 for ages 13 to 17 (children under 13 get in free).

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (2 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org, 742-2002) is open Tuesdays through Sundays, with sessions from 9 a.m. to noon all six days as well as from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Admission costs $11 per person, $9 for 65+ (no charge for children under 1). (The museum has mask-required and mask-optional sessions; see the website for details.)

This week’s lineup of activities includes World Culture Thursday, when the museum features a craft or other activity celebrating a different culture around the world. On Science Fridays, kids can participate in messy experiments and activities that demonstrate a scientific concept, according to the website. These programs are part of regular admission. As of April 25, there was still availability for the 2 p.m. programs.

• The SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org, 669-0400) is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Purchase reservations in advance via the website (masks are required for all visitors age 2 and up); admission costs $10 per person ages 3 and up.

• The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com, 271-7827) is open daily through Sunday, May 1, from 10:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. There will be four planetarium shows daily, according to the website, which recommends purchasing timed tickets in advance. Admission costs $11.50 for adults, $10.50 for students and seniors and $8.50 for kids ages 3 to 12 (admission is free for children 2 and under; masks required for visitors over the age of 2). Planetarium show tickets cost $5 per person (free for children 2 and under); see the website for the schedule of planetarium shows and for the mask requirements by day.

Save the date: for Dad

The Educational Farm at Joppa Hill (174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford; theeducationalfarm.org) is holding a Dad & Me Expedition on Saturday, June 18, with start times at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Meet at the farm stand and enjoy an all-ages-friendly walk in the woods, according to the website. The cost is $18 per family.

Growing to share

Gardening for a community

I recently went to Brattleboro, Vermont, to meet with the organizers of Edible Brattleboro. It is an informal group of people who believe that “access to fresh healthy food is a right for all, regardless of means. This serves as the basis of the work we are doing, and we do our best to eliminate barriers to benefitting from our work, and thus everything we offer is free.”

The prime movers behind this movement are Tom Green and Marilyn Chiarello, who have been working to turn empty spaces and lawns into places for food production. Both are retired school teachers. Marilyn saw a TED talk by Pam Warhurst in 2015 and decided that something similar could be done in Brattleboro.

That first year Edible Brattleboro approached the local food cooperative and asked for a strip of land between the parking lot and the Whetstone Brook. The Coop agreed, and volunteers built a 4- by 8-foot raised bed. They have since expanded this space, growing strawberries, tomatoes, herbs and more. Volunteers plant, weed and water as needed. Anyone can help themselves to the free food; there are no questions asked.

By now there are gardens and fruit trees all over town that were started by Edible Brattleboro. I went around with Tom and Marilyn and looked at some of their projects. Three cherry trees are planted in front of the town hall, and other fruit trees are planted on school property. Another garden is at an addiction recovery center, Turning Point, where there are raised beds in the front lawn.

Another garden is at the Root Social Justice Center, at the edge of their parking lot. Volunteers made container gardens using food-grade plastic 55-gallon drums using designs Tom found online. They have water reservoirs so that water wicks up into the soil in the drums, and daily watering is not needed. Tom also got some one-cubic-meter “intermediate beverage containers” that originally held sugar syrup. Again, he fitted them with water reservoirs to avoid daily watering.

Edible Brattleboro has had good luck getting small grants to support their activities. Although not a 501(c)3 themselves, they work under the auspices of Post Oil Solutions, a local nonprofit that sponsors them. But they will work with any organization that will help in their efforts.

Often low-income residents do not have the tools they need to garden. Fortunately, in Brattleboro that is not a big issue as the town library has a “lending library” of tools and kitchen equipment that they furnished with a grant from the Vermont Foodbank. The library’s grant included money to purchase a simple wooden structure in their parking lot to house the tools, and a part-time librarian to check out tools at specified times. For beginning gardeners, having a source for the basic tools can be an important saving.

We also visited a large greenhouse for extending the season and growing things like tomatoes and peppers in a controlled environment. Tom Green and volunteers put it up this winter, and they look forward to using it shortly. It sits on space offered by the Brattleboro Retreat Farm, a nonprofit.

There is a weekly farmers market in Brattleboro and Tom and Marilyn couldn’t say enough good things about the generosity of the farmers. At the close of the market each week volunteers from Edible Brattleboro visit the market and collect produce donated by farmers. They got a grant to buy a large refrigerator to hold perishables, and have an outdoor “Share the Harvest” table the next day at Turning Point.

So what can you do? All communities have both gardeners and people in need. What is needed in most towns are people like Tom and Marilyn. People with a commitment to helping, time, and organizational skills. Except for Tom’s work building the green house and large self-watering containers, no special skills were needed for what they have done.

Some sort of organizational structure is needed. I like the idea of joining up with an existing nonprofit so that grants and donations can be made to a certified 501(c)3, allowing donors to take tax deductions. That also lets people know that their money will be used properly.

There are organizations you could link up with, perhaps. You probably already know about soup kitchens and food banks in your town or a nearby town. So you could plant a little extra this year with the idea of sharing. Or you could help to organize others in your area to join with you.

Churches are another good place to start gardens. They generally have lawns in full sun, and people who want to help others. The soil in any lawn generally needs improving, but I bet most farmers would be delighted to donate some compost or composted cow manure to add to the soil. Garden centers are generally willing to donate some seeds or seedlings when the time comes, or perhaps a few bags of compost. So all you need is people power. I bet you will be gratified at how willing others will be to help.

Featured photo: Volunteers built this greenhouse that was paid for by a grant. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Book it

Celebrate Indie Bookstore Day

If you love your local bookstore, this Saturday, April 30, is your chance to support it — and get some good deals, exclusive merchandise and prizes — during national Independent Bookstore Day.

“Independent bookstores are the hearts of the communities they serve,” Michael Herrmann of Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord said. “We’re glad for this opportunity to thank everyone who makes it possible for us to be here.”

At Gibson’s, thank-yous will come in the form of raffle prizes and the chance to earn discounts and a tote bag of Advanced Reader Copies.

The Bookery in Manchester is celebrating the day with games, contests and giveaways.

“I think there’s been more of an awareness even in the past few years about the importance of local businesses,” Bookery events coordinator Lily Foss said. “People think we’re a dying breed but we’re still very much vibrant. … We have the pleasure of bringing in authors and [hosting] other special events.”

Saturday will bring a performance from magician DaSean Greene at 11:30 a.m., and Foss said they’re thrilled that he’s coming back.

“The kids absolutely loved him,” she said. “They were all crowded around him.”

The Bookery will also have a special Indie Bookstore Day tote bag and special merchandise for sale, and they’ll be giving away small prizes with the “very popular prize wheel,” which people can spin if they purchase a certain amount, Foss said.

“People get so excited,” she laughed. “No one has ever refused to spin.”

Toward the end of the day, Foss — a former Jeopardy! contestant — will be hosting a literary trivia event that she said is a combination of Jeopardy! and pub trivia, with people playing on teams. She said she went through the online “J-Archive” and compiled an entire game’s worth of literary trivia from various shows throughout the years.

“It has been tested by customers and booksellers to make sure the questions aren’t too hard or too easy,” she said.

Foss is also including one question from her own stint on Jeopardy!. She said she was the youngest contestant that night by at least 10 years, and she was at a disadvantage with categories like “90s Pop Culture.” But it was worth the experience: “It was my 15 minutes. … And I got $1,000.”

“I’ve been wanting to bring trivia here for a while,” she said, “so I’m really looking forward to that. And we do serve libations … coffee, tea, beer, wine and canned cocktails, so it will have that pub trivia [atmosphere].”

Independent Bookstore Day is one of the biggest days of the year for local booksellers, as they thank their customers and their customers thank them for offering a bookstore experience that you can’t get at chain stores.

“As we struggle to return to something that looks like normalcy, it’s more important than ever to celebrate community,” Herrmann said.

“It’s such a fun day,” Foss said. “It’s just a big party, celebrating our customers [and] thanking them for choosing us.”

Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day

The Bookery, 844 Elm St. in Manchester, will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with prizes, games and exclusive Independent Bookstore Day merchandise. Magician DeSean Greene will perform at 11:30 a.m., and Literary Trivia will be held at the end of the day.

Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 S. Main St., Concord, will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will be doing double stamps all day (two stamps for every $10 on your Frequent Buyer Stamp Card), a tote bag of Advanced Reader Copies for every $100 spent, and a raffle ticket for every book purchased, with raffle items that include a Gibson’s Bookstore merchandise bundle, a Personalized Shopping Experience and an Indie Bookstore Day merchandise bundle. Bonus: If you wear any Gibson’s Bookstore merch (shirts, hats, pins, etc.) now through April 30, you will get a full stamp card, good for 20 percent off an entire transaction.

Toadstool Bookshop, 375 Amherst St., Nashua, will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will be celebrating with cake and refreshments, according to the store’s Facebook page. There will also be an Advanced Reader Book Table set up for people to browse and select books for $1 each, which will be donated to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter.

Featured photo: This aluminum shovel is lightweight and good for cleanup. Courtesy photo.

Kiddie Pool 22/04/21

Family fun for the weekend

For the littles

• The Nashua Public Library and the Greater Nashua Smart Start Coalition are holding an Early Childhood Fair on Saturday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Greeley Park on Concord Street in Nashua. The day will include a performance by children’s musician Mr. Aaron, storytelling by Uncle Bobby, storytimes with Nashua area libraries and representatives from local agencies with resources for kids (such as Beaver Brook Association, NH Hunger Solutions, Constellations Behavioral Health Services, area libraries, Little Pilgrim School, UNH Cooperative Extension: Nutrition Connections and more), according to a press release. Contact the library at 603-589-4631 or [email protected] for more information.

A week of storytimes

• Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in downtown Manchester; bookerymht.com) has multiple storytimes in the upcoming week, starting with a reading of Lobstah Gahden: Speaking Out Against Pollution with a Wicked Awesome Boston Accent! by Alli Brydon and illustrated by EG Keller on Saturday, April 23, at 11:30 a.m. This special Earth Day storytime will also include a recycled water bottle lobster craft. On Monday, April 25, at 10 a.m. the book will be Just Be Jelly and the craft will be a jellyfish. On Wednesday, April 27, the 10 a.m. storytime will feature Eddy the Manchester Police Department’s comfort pony. On Thursday, April 28, at 10 a.m., the story will be Ada and the Galaxies and the craft will be a galaxy jar. On Friday, April 29, at 10 a.m. the storytime will focus on Ralph Baer, the Manchester-based father of video games. And be sure to save the date for Saturday, April 30, which is Independent Bookstore Day.

See the show

• As of April 18, tickets are still available to Peppa Pig’s Adventure, a live show based on the popular cartoon, at the Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Friday, April 22, at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m. Tickets cost $39 through $59; a $50 VIP add-on gets you a post-show photo experience.

And speaking of beloved characters: Dog Man: The Musical, based on the comics of George and Harold (in the books by Dav Pilkey), a live musical about the titular hero, will come to the Cap Center on Saturday, May 14, with shows at 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets cost $15 per person or you can get a family four-pack for $50.

Museum outing

Looking for an activity during April vacation? Here are the operating hours of area museums.

• The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) is open Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Fridays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m., admission is free as part of the Art After Work programming, when the museum features live music, tours and more (Kevin Horan is slated to perform on Thursday, April 21, and Old Tom and the Lookouts is scheduled for April 28). Otherwise, admission costs $15 for adults, $13 for 65+, $10 for students and $5 for ages 13 to 17 (children under 13 get in free).

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road in Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org) is regularly open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. For vacation week, the museum will also be open Thursday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission costs $10 for 13 and over and $5 for 65+, children ages 6 to 12 and active military and veterans. Children 5 and under get in free and the family maximum is $30.

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (2 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org, 742-2002) is open Tuesdays through Sundays, with sessions from 9 a.m. to noon all six days as well as from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Admission costs $11 per person, $9 for 65+ (no charge for children under 1). (The museum has mask-required and mask-optional sessions; see the website for details.)

The museum will celebrate Earth Day — Friday, April 22 — with special craft activities, a scavenger hunt, a Science Friday project to make a mini window greenhouse (at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m.), a project to plant a flower to take home (at 11 a.m. or 3 p.m.) and more.

And little makers may want to save the date now for a Fairy House and Gnome Home Spring Celebration in May. On Saturday, May 7, learn to make a fairy house at a child and adult workshop (the cost is $20 for one pair plus $5 per additional child). On Friday, May 13, bring a homemade fairy house or gnome home to drop off at the museum (or attend the museum to make one there) and then have them added to a display of fairy houses and gnome homes in Henry Law Park and the museum Play Patio. Kids can make houses on-site throughout the weekend, when the museum will host special performances and activities.

• Though normally closed on Mondays, the SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org, 669-0400) will be open Monday, April 25, as well as Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Purchase reservations in advance via the website (masks are required for all visitors age 2 and up); admission costs $10 per person ages 3 and up.

• The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com, 271-7827) is open daily through Sunday, May 1, from 10:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. There will be four planetarium shows daily, according to the website, which recommends purchasing timed tickets in advance. Admission costs $11.50 for adults, $10.50 for students and seniors and $8.50 for kids ages 3 to 12 (admission is free for children 2 and under; masks required for visitors over the age of 2). Planetarium show tickets cost $5 per person (free for children 2 and under); see the website for the schedule of planetarium shows and for the mask requirements by day.

Spring activities

Early-in-the-season gardening chores

I’ve finally had a few days of dry weather with temperature in the 50s, so I have been able to start some spring cleanup. Some of my beds are still too wet, so I will wait on working there until my feet don’t sink in. Walking on wet soil compacts it, ruining soil structure.

My first chore is always to rake up the sand and gravel that the snowplows leave on my lawn. I use a straight-edged shovel that is made of aluminum and is sold for barn cleanup. I rake the sand into the broad shovel, and dump it into a wheelbarrow. If I see that the grass is being pulled up, I wait until later, when the grass has fully woken up.

It’s too late to rake here. I’ll remove leaves by hand to avoid damaging buds. Courtesy photo.

Next on my list is to pick up any downed branches. Winter always does some “pruning” of dead branches. If I can reach any jagged tears where branches have broken off, I snip or saw them back to the trunk or the branch where it originated. And this is a good time to take off those plastic wraps that protect young trees from mice and voles.

I don’t generally rake leaves out of my flower beds in the fall, as I like the extra protection against erosion and cold temperatures they provide. But that means that bulb plants are covered now, and the ground is insulated from the spring sun. I want the soil to warm up. So I try to clean up places where I know there are spring bulbs as early as possible.

If the daffodils are poking through, I use my fingers to pull back the leaves. I fear that a rake will damage the tender stems and flower buds. In other places where bulbs are not up yet, I use a rake and gently rake off the leaves. Sometimes I will bring along a scrap of plywood or a 6-inch plank to stand on as I work, minimizing compaction.

This is when I prune blueberry bushes. By now it is easy to identify the fat, round fruit buds as opposed to the skinny little leaf buds. I remove branches that aren’t producing fruit, allowing for more sunshine to get into my plants.

hand holding small buds of blueberry plant
Blueberry fruit buds are fat, leaf buds are not. Courtesy photo.

For the past few years a foreign fruit fly has badly damaged blueberry crops. The spotted-winged drosophila (SWD) infests ripening fruit, causing it to get mushy and unpleasant. This is in contrast to ordinary, native fruit flies that only lay eggs in over-ripe or rotting fruit.

At present the only way I know that organic growers can prevent damage is to cover bushes with row cover or a very fine mesh. But that is a big bother when it is time to start picking. The SWD appears fairly late in summer, so early-ripening varieties can sometimes avoid them.

Of course if you haven’t cut back all your perennials, spring is a good time to do that. I like to wait until spring to cut back some perennial flowers with seeds. Finches and other seed-eaters enjoy the seeds, particularly when bigger, greedy and aggressive birds or squirrels are hogging the seeds at the feeder.

In the fall I usually do a good job of weeding and mulching the vegetable garden with fallen leaves or straw. In the spring I rake the mulch of my wide raised beds so that the sun can help to dry out and warm up the beds. I leave the mulch in the walkways to inhibit weeds, and later I will add new mulch around my tomatoes and other plants.

My roses haven’t woken up yet, or not by the time I wrote this, but will soon. I have a dozen or more roses and most are very hardy. I particularly like the Knockout rose series. They are very resistant to diseases, do not seem to attract Japanese beetles or rose chafers, and are very vigorous. But each spring I need to cut back the canes to a point where the tissue has not been winter damaged.

You can easily tell if the stems of your roses are alive by rubbing a stem gently with your thumbnail. If it shows green, it is alive. If it is not green, it is dead. Cut back any stem to a place where there is a bud on tissue that is alive. Or you can wait until they leaf out, and cut back the dead parts. If you have a few shoots that got much taller than the rest of the plant, you should cut those back for aesthetic reasons.

Spring is also a good time to pay attention to the “volunteer” shrubs and trees that show up uninvited. There are several invasive species that birds plant seemingly “willy-nilly” anywhere they perch. Seeds pass through them and start growing without your help. But you should pull these shrubs and trees before they get so big you need a backhoe!

Here are some to look for: bush honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), barberry (Berberis thunbergii), burning bush (Euonymus alatus), Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), blunt-leaved privet (Ligustrum obtusifolium) and the vine Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). Norway maple (Acer platanoides) and common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) are trees that are also common and invasive.

Why worry about invasives now? They are more obvious in the landscape. Most get a jump on the growing season by putting on leaves while our native plants are still asleep. Plus, you have time now. So go dig them out if you can. Cutting them down usually just stimulates them to set up many new plants from their roots.

Later, when spring warms up, we will be planting our veggies and annual flowers so we won’t have time for many of these activities. So get out there on the next nice day.

Featured photo: This aluminum shovel is lightweight and good for cleanup. Courtesy photo.

Kiddie Pool 22/04/14

Family fun for the weekend

Easter fun

• Charmingfare Farm (774 High St. in Candia; visitthefarm.com, 483-5623) will host its Egg-Citing Egg Hunt this Saturday, April 16. Sign up for a time between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. for a hunt for a dozen chocolate-filled eggs, a horse-drawn or tractor ride, a visit to the barn decorated specially for Easter, a visit with the animals (including spring baby animals) and a visit with the Easter Bunny, according to the website. Tickets cost $22 per person.

• New England Vendor Events is holding an Easter Family Fun Day on Saturday, April 16, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the VFW at 15 Bockes Road in Hudson. Tickets cost $1 (plus fees) to reserve a spot for a specific egg hunt time. The event will also have music, food, vendors and more. See eventbrite.com/e/4th-annual-easter-family-fun-day-in-hudson-tickets-248074586767.

• The Saturday, April 16, storytime at the Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in downtown Manchester; bookerymht.com) will feature the bookThe Easter Egg by Jan Brett. After the story, kids can participate in a craft making paper Easter eggs with tape and wet chalk.

• The Hudson Mall will host an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 16, with egg hunt times at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and noon.

• On Saturday, April 16, Our Promise to Nicholas Foundation will hold an indoor maze to an egg hunt and the Easter Bunny at the NH Sportsplex (68 Technology Dr. in Bedford; ourpromisetonicholas.com) from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Hop along a bunny trail to play games, do a bunny craft and more and then head to the egg hunt field at a specific “egg hunt time” and take photos with the Easter Bunny (as well as other mascots and characters), according to the website. Tickets cost $8 per person; family tickets are also available through Friday, April 15, at 6 p.m. Tickets at the door cost $10 per person.

Chicks!

Kids can make Chicken Clucker crafts at Goffstown Hardware (5 Depot St in Goffstown; goffstownhardware.com) on Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to noon. The event is free.

Movies for all

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com) will hold a sensory-friendly screening of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (PG) on Friday, April 14, at 4 p.m. At sensory-friendly screenings, the volume is down, the lights are up and moving around is allowed, according to the website. Tickets cost $5.99.

Trout for kids

• The Basil W. Woods Jr. Chapter of Trout Unlimited will sponsor a Youth Fishing Day at Merrill Park on Eastman Street in Concord on Saturday, April 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free and kids under 16 years old can fish in a stocked trout pond with tackle and bait provided. The event will include refreshments, fly casting instruction and fly tying demonstrations, according to a press release.

Save the date: for Peppa Pig

Peppa Pig’s Adventure, a live show based on the popular cartoon, will come to Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Friday, April 22, at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m. Tickets cost $39 through $59; a $50 VIP add-on gets you a post-show photo experience.

Save the date: for mom

• The Educational Farm at Joppa Hill (174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford; theeducationalfarm.org) is holding a Mom & Me Spring Hike on Saturday, May 7, with time slots at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. for a hike around the farm. The cost is $18 per family; go online to reserve a spot.

Save the date: for summer theater

Tickets are on sale now for the eight productions of the Children’s Summer Series at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) starting July 5 and running through Aug. 26. The series starts with the BJ Hickman Magic Show and wraps up with a presentation of Frozen Kids. The shows run Tuesdays though Fridays at 10 a.m. and Tuesdays through Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. The shows are younger audience-friendly. Tickets cost $10.

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