‘F’ is for Free & Frugal Family Fun: Week of March 4

The Great Girl Gathering, Sat, Mar 10 and Sunday, March 11, 10 AM – 6 PM, Mall Wide. Girl Scouts, friends and families of all ages are invited to celebrate our 100th birthday. Join us for a weekend of entertainment, interactive activities, attempts for a world-record and celebrity appearances. It’s free to attend and open to all!

MORE at the MALL of AMERICA
State Lottery Million $$ Match Party, Sunday, March 4, noon – 3 PM, Rotunda, the Minnesota State Lottery introduces Million $$ Match—the new scratch game where you could instantly win up to $1 MILLION! Come early and stay to play all afternoon. You’ll enjoy free gift with purchase offers, audience games and prize drawings.

Legend of the Guardians, Saturday, March 10, 10 AM, Free Family Flicks at the Mall of America, first-come, first-served, as seating is limited to the theater capacity. FREE!

Toddler Tuesday, Dora’s Mermaid Adventures, Tuesday, March 6, 10-10:30 and 11-11:30 AM, Mall of America Sears Court, Dolphins, whales and crabs, oh my! Meet Dora from 10 – 10:30 and 11 – 11:30 a.m. Make an “under the sea” craft and don’t forget to stick around for storytime! Please note: If necessary, the meet and greet line may close prior to 11:30 a.m. to accommodate those already in line. FREE!

Hunger Game Cast Q & A and Autograph Signing, Friday, March 9, 3-5 PM, Rotunda – Meet the cast of “The Hunger Games”.  A limited number of wristbands will be distributed at the Microsoft Store on Friday, March 9 at 5:30 a.m. Please enter Mall of America through the South Level 1 entrance. Please read the autograph signing guidelines for more information.

SUMMER PLANNING
iD Tech Summer Camps for kids and teens ages 7-17.  Students experience real campus life at at Macalester College in St. Paul. Day campers study in computer labs, eat in university dining halls and may take campus tours. Boarding campers live in college dorms! With an average of 6 students per instructor and customized curriculum for beginner to advanced learners. iD’s unique computer camps offer courses that vary from creating video games and producing digital movies to designing web pages and learning programming and robotics.  Click .

EXHIBITS & THEATRE EVENTS
The Secret Garden at Stages Theatre Company, March 2 – 18, musical adaptation was created just for Stages Theatre Company and is for ages six and up with a run time of 75 minutes. and tickets can be purchased by visiting stagestheatre.org for performance dates and times, or by calling the Box Office at (952) 979-1111, Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for children (ages 5 to 17) and seniors (60+). Lap passes are available for free (ages 0 to 2) and $5 (ages 3 to 4). Discount coupons available in the Entertainment Guide (E124) and Chinook Book (C136) or Enter to win FREE tickets from Macaroni Kid.

The Lion King 1.5, Friday Night Family Movies, Friday, March 9, West Side Perk, 7700 W Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington, 6 PM, FREE! For more info: Check their website at: West Side Perk or call 952-944-4048  for more information.

Real Pirates Exhibition, Science Museum of Minnesota, Saturday, Feb. 18 - Monday, Sept. 3 – Don your pirate hat and climb aboard a recreation of a pirateshhip. Learn to tie knots, hoist a pirate flag and explore what life was like on a real pirate ship. See more than 200 artifacts from North America’s only authenticated pirate shipwreck.MOVIES & THEATRE

CRAFTS
Heartfelt
---Swordmaking, Friday, March 9, 16, 22, 4:30 – 6 PM, ages 9 and up, $40, Attention all knights, princes, princesses--get ready to swashbuckle with your very own handmade sword! We will rasp, plane and sand a precut wooden “sword blank” into a smooth finished saber in this three session class. Finishing touches will include a handle wrap and a beeswax finishing rub. Woodworking is fun and satisfying but also challenging--be sure to have an after school snack to replenish your energy for the work ahead! Please bring along a wood clamp or two from home if possible; we will also have clamps available. 
---Clayplay, Saturday, March 10, 4-5 PM, ages 5 and up, $20. Modeling with clay is soothing and therapeutic for children. We will experiment with both plasticine (which never dries and can be re-used) and air drying clay. Pinch and coil pots will be demonstrated but mostly, we will let our imaginations help us dream up our projects.
---Needlefelting 101, Sunday, March 10, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM, ages 9 to adult, $28. Have you tried needle felting? This intriguing craft is easy to learn and the results are most satisfying. Turn fluffy sheep‟s wool into dimensional figures, woodland plants and animals and so much more. We will develop our skills by making a variety of flat and dimensional shapes that are the “building blocks” of most needle felting projects. A flat heart, cute apple, gnarly gnome and a simple sitting dog will be our practice projects in this skills class. Sharp barbed needles will be used.

PLAY
Creative Kidstuff Toddler Play Time at the West End St. Louis Park and Wayzata stores (Wednesdays at 10 AM) is hosting a weekly Play Time for toddlers and parents in our inviting playroom stocked full of toys and activities that toddlers will love. We’ll prepare the room and plan the activities, set up and clean up! Your only job is to play. FREE!

NATURE EVENTS
Wood Lake Nature Center,  Minneapolis Parks and Recreation and Three Rivers Park District offer a wide variety of fun activities and events for all ages including preschoolers. Three Rivers also has Free Family Fun Days.

STORY TIME
Family Storytime at the Hennepin County Libraries (recurring) FREE!
Augsburg Park Library
---Family Storytime, Tuesdays, March 6 – April 10 at 10:30 AM
---Used Book Sale at Augsburg Library, Saturday, Mar 10, 10 AM – 2 PM
Oxboro Library, Family Storytime, Monday, March 5 – May 21, 10:30 AM
Penn Lake Library, Family Storytime, Tuesday, March 6 – Apr 3, 10:30 AM
Southdale Library
—Baby Storytime, Monday, March 5, April 2, 10:15 AM and Tuesday, March 6 – April 3, 10:15 AM- For children from birth to 24 months.
—Family Storytime, Tuesday, March 6 – April 3, 7 PM and Wednesday, March 7 – April 4, 10:30 AM
—Teen Anime Club, Wednesday, March 7, 7-9 PM, Grades 7-12. Can’t get enough anime? Join up to watch and review brand-new anime episodes, share artwork and hang out with other anime fans.
—Chess Club, Wednesday, March 7, 6:30 – 8 PM – Grades 4-6. Chess it out! Have fun learning the basics of chess, improving your game, mastering strategies and meeting other chess fans. Walk-ins welcome.

Wild Rumpus Tail Time – Mondays at 10:30 a.m. The Wild Rumpus also has a program for book clubs. Register your book club and receive 20% off. (recurring) FREE!

Barnes and Noble Story Time – all FREE events
Mondays – 11 AM, Burnsville, Preschool (recurring)
Mondays – 10 AM, Eagan (recurring)
Wednesdays – 11 AM, Edina, Froggy Plays Soccer (recurring)
Thursdays – 10 AM, Highland Park, St. Paul, Toddler story time (recurring)
Fridays – 11 AM, Edina, Spring (recurring)
Fridays – 7 PM, Highland Park, St. Paul, PJRama story time (recurring)

Creative Kidstuff Story Time, Thursdays at 10 AM at all stores  (recurring) FREE!

RICHFIELD RESOURCES
Richfield Bloomington Community Education catalog
Richfield Recreation catalog
Richfield Outdoor Ice Skating Rinks locations and hours
Richfield Ice Arena website

Richfield Historical Society
Tours of the Bartholomew House (usually Wednesdays 12-8 p.m. and Saturdays 12-4 p.m.)
This 150 year old house has witnessed Richfield’s change from an agricultural community, to a truck-farm town, to one of the earliest and fastest growing suburbs.

Richfield: House & Home, now showing until August, 2012
This main gallery exhibit takes a closer look at the “lookalike” houses of Richfield. We see our local Cape Cods, Ramblers, and other suburban houses every day. This fun and interactive exhibit will let us explore what makes a rambler a rambler, why Cape Cods came back into fashion, and why those “lookalike” house don’t look alike any more.

Minnesota on the Map – showing until March 10, 2012. Calling all map lovers!
This traveling exhibit from the Minnesota Historical Society makes a stop in our library gallery for a short time only. See how our state has been represented in maps from past to present and take a look at some of the gems in Richfield Historical Society’s great map collection.

ADDITIONAL ARTS & HISTORY RESOURCES
Bloomington Art Center Classes
Eden Prairie Art Center Class Schedule
Edina Art Center - Class Schedule
Hennepin History Museum – $5 adults, $1 seniors and all under 18 years, free for members, closed on Mondays
Hopkins Art Center – Class Schedule
Joann Fabric – Edina store class schedule
Michael’s – Richfield store class schedule, Bloomington store class schedule
Minneapolis Institute of Arts – FREE daily admission, closed on Mondays

Visit Alphabet Adventures for more family fun at home and around town. Please share FREE and FRUGAL FAMILY FUN ideas in the comment section or email them to meganmmc@yahoo.com.