Matilda and the walk to the "Bug House"

Being an avid Roald Dahl fan I had high hopes for 'Matilda' which was shown today at the State Theatre as part of the "Read it, Watch it" summer movie series co-sponsored by the Schlow Library and the State Theatre.  "Read it, Watch it" movies are shown each Wednesday at noon, tickets are free and families are asked to bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to various local charities. I should have screened "Matilda" before bringing my four year old daughter M. Though having read the book in fifth grade my memory of it is clearly lacking because I did not expect Ms. Trunchbull to be as overtly mean to children as she was, locking them in closets full of nails and throwing them out of windows.  And thankfully my daughter couldn't make any sense of parents not caring about their children and not letting them read books.  We made it about half-way through the film before she had had enough and we made our escape only to find a lobby full of other young children and their parents assessing whether or not to stay and find out if Ms. Trunchbull or Matilda won the day.

M at Irving's

We headed to Irving's on College Ave. for an afternoon snack. Irving's is one of my favorite, kid-friendly, establishments in State College.  The acoustics make it a perfect place to dine with children, as a seemingly unintended consequence of the cavern like main dinning area, you can speak as loud as you want and not disturb other diners.  You also order at the counter, your food comes quickly, is reasonably priced and they offer many child sized options such as fruit cups and peanut butter and jelly on bagels.  Because customers have to pick-up their own cutlery, napkins and beverages, Irving's also allows very active four year old girls the chance to move around while not causing a scene.

Refueled we continued on our walk.  Crossing College Ave we travelled up the Mall and around Old Main.  I was disappointed to discover that there is no easy way to push a stroller around the front of Old Main.  I sent my four year old on mini-scouting missions for ramps and sidewalks but with no luck to be found we took my 7 month old on an "off-sidewalk" bumpy ride across the lawn and up a small flight of stairs.  Though semi-annoying, because of this maneuver we found a "tree-cave" just like the one Max and the Wild Things "rumpussed" in according to M.  Read the book again then while facing Old Main walk around the right side and discover the "tree-cave" for yourself!

Getting to know Honey Bees

Our walk culminated at the Frost Entomological Museum on Curtin Rd across from the Berkey Creamery.  The Frost Entomological Museum houses Penn State's Insect collection and serves to educate the public through interactive displays and tours.  A small display area is open to the public during the week, Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.  The displays are geared toward children and pack an informative punch.  Last fall we housed a Monarch caterpillar as it metamorphosed into a butterfly and I was overjoyed to learn that M remembered the monarch's life cycle, could identify the caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly and knew that they migrate to Mexico to overwinter. M was enthralled with the live bee hive display and had many questions about bees.  She loved discovering that honey bees are the only insect that make food for humans and that bees dance to communicate.  As we walked back to our car, she stopped next to a daisy and said, "The bees should come here to get their nectar!"  On our next trip to the library we will be definitely *bee* investigating more about Honey Bees!