KidsOutAndAbout Weekly Newsletter |
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Dear KidsOutAndAbout readers: When I was a kid, summer meant St. Rocco’s Feast in the Peterstown neighborhood of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The streets were filled with music, carnival rides, vendor booths, and fairgoers... but the main attraction for 10-year-old me was zeppoles: lumps of dough dropped into hot oil, puffed golden, shaken in a paper bag with powdered sugar, and handed over hot enough to require
patience. To my young self, they were almost proof of magic. They were also my gateway drug into Italian food. Zeppoles led eventually to prosciutto and fresh mozzarella, risotto and gnocchi, pesto and puttanesca. Along the way, I learned that food has a vocabulary: crisp, chewy, silky, smoky, briny, bitter, fermented, caramelized. Knowing the names of flavors and textures helped me notice them more clearly, and knowing where dishes came from helped me see that food carries
geography, history, ingenuity, celebration, and memory. The more I tasted, the bigger the world became. Summer is the perfect season to help kids develop that kind of appetite... for food and discovery. Visit a farmers market and learn what grows nearby. Pick berries and notice how they taste when harvested just a second ago with
your own hands. Try the food truck serving something you’ve never ordered. At a festival, ask what country or region a dish comes from, what ingredients give it its flavor, and who traditionally makes it. Kids don’t have to like everything. Exploration still counts when the verdict is “Not for
me.” As tour guides to our kids’ universe, we can help them notice that food connects downward to the Earth and outward to people. Name the flavor. Name the texture. Name the place and the tradition. Then take another bite. Sometimes an entire world opens through one little bag of fried dough.
—Debra Ross, publisher of KidsOutAndAbout.com, co-author of The Eclipse Effect: How to Seize Extraordinary Moments to Build Strong Communities
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KidsOutAndAbout.com: Discover more. Do more. Connect more. If you like my publisher's column, you can easily scroll through past columns in the "Notes from Deb" section of our site. |
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Martial Arts Camp - Texas Tang Soo Do San Antonio Looking for something fun, exciting, and active for your kids during spring break and summer? Enroll them in our Martial Arts Camp. Space is limited, so register online https://tangsoodosa.com/programs/martial-arts-camp/ or call (210) 690-1310 to enroll now. During the Karate Camp, there will be games, obstacle courses, arts and crafts, and movies. Participants will receive training in the martial arts, eat lunch with their friends, and enjoy fun, active games. Parents must provide a sack lunch, a water bottle, and any additional snacks or drinks to last through the day. Kids should wear clothes they can be active in, but karate uniforms are not required. In addition, please bring a book to read. https://tangsoodosa.com/
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There’s still time to make summer count. Taste Buds Kitchen is booking the final weeks of our kid-friendly Summer Camps — hands-on, high-energy, and designed to keep kids engaged from start to finish. Each week features fun themes, real cooking skills, and plenty of “look what I made” moments. Don’t miss your chance to get in.
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What if after-school music lessons could change your child's life? At School of Rock San Antonio, we see it happen every day. Our programs go way beyond basic instrument skills. By jamming in a real band, kids naturally build the kind of self-confidence, focus, and resilience they need to thrive in the real world. It’s a safe, supportive community where they can learn to play an instrument, have fun, find their people, and make lifelong friends. Don't just pay for music lessons—invest in their future. Schedule a FREE trial lesson today: Call 210-314-7671 or click the link to get started! https://www.schoolofrock.com/locations/sanantonio
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Join us for a quick conversation to receive free diapers and resources for all families in need! Join us for our Community Resource Day, a free event for parents who are pregnant or have children under 36 months old!We understand the challenges that come with raising young children, and we want to help ease the burden by providing free diapers to families in need.
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Witness the rise of a legend in Evita. This riveting musical tells the story of Eva Perón’s transformation from a poor, ambitious teenager to the powerful First Lady of Argentina. Set to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s unforgettable score—including “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and “Buenos Aires”— Evita is a sweeping tale of fame, power, and the complex woman behind the myth. Winner of multiple Tony Awards, it’s a theatrical experience that resonates with passion and political drama.
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Come to Mitchell Lake at night to help us celebrate National Moth Week! National Moth Week is a worldwide community science project celebrating moths’ beauty, diversity, and ecological importance. Moths are nature’s secret night pollinators and a great food source for many birds. We will learn about their role as pollinators in our native plant gardens, smell the flowers that they help make possible, and survey the moths and other insects that are attracted to our UV Light Stations. Program from 8:00 – 9:00pm, and open community science moth ID from 9:00 – 10:00pm.
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Presenting El Gran Dia de los Artistas, a free indoor community event that features live music, dance, poetry performances, live art demonstrations, and the main attraction, an artisan market, showcasing original works for sale.
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Get ready for a day filled with free backpacks for students pre-k to 12th grade and free health screenings kickoff the school year right! Grace Pavilion Community Outreach (GPCO) is hosting a FREE Health-Fair & Back to School Event! Our goal is to distribute over 2000 Backpacks with School Supplies to students in Pre-K to 12th grade. This in-person event will take place on July 18, 2026 at 10:00 AM (Central Time). This event is designed to support the community with health-related resources and preparations for the upcoming school year. FREE Health Screenings for adults and children.
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Summer Movie Mornings are back and bigger than ever! Beat the summer heat with 10 fun-filled weeks of $1 family films at EVO! We'll show a different film each week, with showtimes at 10am EVERY DAY.
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Each weekly Nature Exploration features a different nature-play activity designed to inspire a love of nature while engaging in sensory experiences outdoors. Explorations begin at the lawn near Prickly Pear Pavilion in the Family Adventure Garden just past the entrance archway. Recommended for Early Childhood ages 5 and under.
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Beginners Welcome! Each person will make their very own project to take home. In this class, parents and kids ages 8 and up can sit together (or not!) and make a beginner-friendly sewing project. All materials are included and most are already pre-cut for you! After a brief 15 minute sewing machine "test drive" training, you will be well-trained to use a sewing machine for the evenings project. Your enthusiastic instructors will guide you each step of the way to make a fun and easy sewing project.
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2026's best places to take kids in San Antonio and the surrounding area: Early each summer, thousands of parents vote in the KidsOutAndAbout survey of the Top 20 Places to Take Kids. Our Top 20 results page is an annotated list of the winners, both of the
top 20 slots and of the three catgory winners.
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Nothing says SUMMER quite like going to an amusement park with your family! We've put together a great list of ones you can visit within driving distance of San Antonio. So, pack the sunscreen, load up the car and head out on a grand adventure!
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The KidsOutAndAbout annual guide to summer camps in the San Antonio area is back! You can search by date, age, or categories like day/overnight, sports, drama, music, theatre, arts & crafts, technology, robotics, horseback riding, preschool, & more.
Our guide puts summer fun right at your fingertips!
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Fruit picking is a great activity to do together as a family. It helps little ones understand where their food actually comes from, and it's a fun tradition to share every year right through the teens. Here's where you can pick fruit with your family:
Strawberry picking, cherry picking, blueberry picking, raspberry picking, peach picking, and other pick-your-own opportunities in the San Antonio area.
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Have a great weekend!
Debra Ross
Publisher, KidsOutAndAbout.com
Mom of Madison and Ella |
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