Dining in DC has a great round-up of restaurants in DC, MD and VA offering Passover Seder menus.

Chabad.org has an international seder directory.

Mass Times.org is a great source to find a Catholic Easter Mass near you.

Episcopal Church.org can help you find an Episcopal congregation in your area.

Find-A-Church can help you locate a United Methodist Church.

Communal Passover Seder at Chabad of Silver Spring
Friday, April 6, First Seder Night: services, 7:25 p.m., seder meal 7:45 p.m.
Join Chabad of Silver Spring for an enchanting Passover Seder commemorating the exodus. Discover the eternal meaning of the Haggadah, and enjoy a community Seder complete with hand-baked Matzah, Wine, and a wonderful dinner spiced with unique traditional customs.
Reservations: Adults $36, Child 12 & under $20.

Community Passover Seder at Chadad Shul of Potomac
Friday April 6, 8:15 p.m.
Join a warm inclusive Passover seder. Readings in English and Hebrew. Insightful and contemporary commentary throughout. Great food!
Register online: $45 adults, $18 children under 12.

Annual Takoma Park Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday April 7 at 11 a.m. sharp
The Recreation Department will be hosting its annual Easter Egg hunt on Saturday at Lee Jordan Field (behind Takoma Park Middle School). The hunt will begin promptly at 11:00 a.m. and is for girls and boys ages 2 – 8. This event is one you won’t want to miss, so get your baskets ready. For additional information please contact Lew McAllister at (301)891-7284 or LewM@takomagov.org.
FREE.

Easter Eggstravaganzas on Capitol Hill and in Ballston
Saturday April 7, 2012
Ballston: 10:30 a.m. at Quincy Park, 1201 North Quincy Street, Arlington, Virginia 22201 (map)
Capitol Hill: 1 – 3 p.m. at Lincoln Park, East Capitol St Between 11th & 13th, Washington, DC 20003 (map)

• Easter Egg Hunts
• Life-size Easter Bunny
• Refreshments
• Face Painting
• Games
• Prizes
• Bike Raffles

Free, no ticket or registration necessary for either event!

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at the Hard Rock Cafe Washington, DC
Saturday, April 7, 9:00am – 10:30am
Have breakfast with the Easter Bunny! Kids can go on an egg hunt and have their faces painted, while the whole family enjoys a breakfast buffet.
Tickets: Adults $14.95, Kids $10.95, Children 2 and under free. To reserve your spot, e-mail Jordan_Rosenblatt@hardrock.com or call 202-628-6583.

Breakfast with the Bunny at Rockville’s Thomas Farm Community Center
Saturday, Apr. 7, 10 a.m. – Noon
Activities will include D’s Magic show, spring crafts and games, an opportunity to meet, greet and pose with the Bunny and an egg hunt. A light continental breakfast will be served. Bring your camera. Fee applies to each person attending the event. Pre-registration is required.
Tickets: $10 for City Residents and $12 for non-residents. Register with the City of Rockville for course #38073

Community Second Night Seder at the Washington, DC Jewish Community Center
Saturday April 7, 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
An intergenerational celebration of Passover seder led by Eytan Graubart in the traditional style with lots of singing and participation.  The seder will be catered by Shaul’s Kosher Catering (check out the menu, it’s incredible!) starting with the ritual foods, seder plates and wine at your table and moving to family style service for the seder meal maintaining the traditional style of Passover. With the environment and green in mind, please bring your favorite reusable kiddish cup, wine or water glass to help reduce paper waste.
Tickets: $54, I have a call in to see if there is a children’s rate…will update when I hear back.

Bunnyland at Butler’s Orchard 
April 5 – 7, 9, 14 & 15 (closed Easter Sunday). Open 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. all days.
Egg hunt (they provide the basket), hayrides, photo with Country Bunny, giant slides, hay romp, bounce house/jumping castle, pedal tractors, and bunnies, lambs and chicks. Face painting and pony rides will cost you a few bucks over the cost of admission. My kids’ favorite feature however is the rubber ducky derby: you pump water like Little House on the Prairie and race rubber ducks. Somehow every time we hit Butler’s we spend eons with those ducks.
PLEASE NOTE: Bunnyland Festival is weather dependent. Please call 301-972-3299 before coming out. Weather updates will also be posted on the Butler’s Orchard homepage.
Tickets available on-site: $8.50/child, $6.50/adult.

Spring and Easter Celebration Festival at Ticonderoga Farms
Now – April 15, 2012, Daily 10:00am—5:00pm. 26469 Ticonderoga Rd. Chantilly, Virginia (703) 327-4424. Join the Easter Bunny for some festive fun with egg hunts for candy and toy-filled eggs (golden goose eggs get you an extra prize!) on Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m each day.  Kids and adults can get on the slides, take a hayride, visit farm animals and roast marshmallows.  Bring your camera for photo ops with the Easter Bunny.  Remember to bring your own basket or bag for collecting eggs.  Baskets will be available for purchase.
Tickets available on-site: Weekdays $7.95, Holidays & Weekends $11.95      

Spring break activities for families in the Washington, DC area are plentiful, but often hard to track down.

Rather than send you hunting through Google (who has the time?) I have compiled some solid options for you in one easy place.

Here are my top recommended weekday activities for you and your children to enjoy, whether your Spring Break is this week April 2 – 6, or next week April 9 – 13. I have broken the suggestions into four categories: free activities, practically free events (admission price less than $10), performances and special staycation treat events.

And you will be rewarded for leaving a comment with YOUR best recommendation for spring break fun with kids: All comments are entered into a drawing for TWO free tickets to see the Washington Ballet’s Alice in Wonderland at the Kennedy Center on opening night, April 11! Read on for details.

FREE ACTIVITIES

National Portrait Gallery Spring Break Special Programs
Monday April 2 – Friday April 6, 1 – 4 p.m.
Experience the National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait Story program, in which young visitors, accompanied by adults, drop in to listen to a story about or written by a famous person from history. Afterward, they create a special piece of art. Children can also check out a Portrait Discovery Kit and learn about famous Americans by doing some or all of the activities included in the kit.

Free Performances on the Outdoor Stage by the Washington Monument
Daily beginning at noon through April 15. 
12 p.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday to Thursday; 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Washington Monument grounds – Independence Avenue & Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW (map)
Spring break may have missed peak cherry blossom time, but it coincides with the ongoing National Cherry Blossom Festival. Check out the daily line-up of musical and dance performances at the Canon Performance Stage at Sylvan Theater. (And for goodness sakes, take the Metro!)

Meadowside Nature Center 40th Anniversary Celebration
Friday April 6 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Explore the world of owls, hawks and eagles through raptor-themed activities, science activities (owl pellet dissection), games (kids will “migrate?!”), crafts and refreshments (owl cupcake decorating – wash your hands after the owl pellet dissection!). Visit the living resident birds of prey and meat the mascot Otus the Owl. There is a huge listing of free activities for all ages, it’s an event not to be missed!

Easter Monday at the National Zoo: Celebrating African American Families
Monday April 9, All Day
A Washington-area multicultural tradition, this event features special family activities, live entertainment, talks with Smithsonian scientists, and more. Free and open to the public.

PRACTICALLY FREE EVENTS

Cabin John and Wheaton Regional Trains, Carousel at Wheaton Open for Spring Break!
Saturday, March 31 through Sunday, April 8, from 10am to 6pm each day
Tickets: $1.75 per person, and a book of 10 tickets is $15.75 (buy 9, get the 10th ticket free!). Children age 2 and younger ride free with a paying adult.
The minature train at both Cabin John and Wheaton Regional Park and the Ovid Hazen Wells Carousel at Wheaton, too will be up and running during Montgomery County Public Schools’ Spring Break. They cannot run the trains when the tracks are wet, so please check their Facebook page for scheduling updates.

Washington Nationals First Home Game! Exhibition Game vs. Red Sox
Tuesday April 3, 3:05 p.m. Nationals Park
Tickets: $10 and up online, $5 day-of at the Nationals Park box office
Your opening-day gift is the 2012 Season magnet!

Clark’s Elioak Farm and the Enchanted Forest are Now Open!
Open Sunday April 1 through Monday April 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday April 10 -Sunday April 15 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.
Tickets: $5.00 per person, no charge for Infants under 12 months. Show  your AAA Card and pay $4.50 for all visitors entering the farm with you. Hayrides, pony rides and the cow train are each $2 extra per person.
My family and I love this place. Read my full review.

Claude Moore Colonial Farm is Now Open!
Wednesdays – Sundays, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (April 2 – December 9)
Admission: Children under 3 are free, Adults $3, Children & Seniors $2.
Children of all ages enjoy learning at the Farm. Older children imagine themselves back in time, while helping with farm chores such as carding wool, mixing Johnnycake batter, weeding in the garden, or hoeing in the fields. Toddlers take in the sights and sounds and love to splash their hands in the wash tub, watch the chickens, or gaze into the hearth fire. Children of all ages look forward to seeing the farm animals. Remember not to pet or feed the livestock!

Preschool Songs and Stories at the Arts Barn Theatre in Gaithersburg
Thursday April 5 11-11:45 a.m. (as well as EVERY first and third Thursday of the month through June 2012).
Preschool Songs and Stories gives three to five year olds and their parents or guardians the opportunity to explore the arts through singing, dancing and active listening to story books. Admission is just $3 per child per session, no fee for adults. Payment may be made at the door. The Arts Barn is located at 311 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg. For more information call 301-258-6394 or visit online at www.gaithersburgmd.gov/artsbarn.

Paper Airplane Day at the College Park Aviation Museum
Friday, April 6, 12 noon-4 pm
Build your own paper airplane and compete in our annual Paper Airplane Derby at 3 pm. Prizes will be awarded! FREE with museum admission: $2/ages 18 & under; $4/adult; $3/seniors ages 60 & up.College Park Aviation Museum, 1985 Cpl. Frank Scott Drive, College Park 20740, 301-864-6029.

PERFORMANCES

Subscribe to my new mom blog A Parent in America and you could win a laptop!

Hillwood Museum Fabergé Egg Family Festival
Saturday March 31 10 a.m. –  7 p.m. and Sunday April 1 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Children can step into Fabergé’s Workshop to decorate their own Fabergé-inspired eggs, play Russian folk games, enjoy festive folk music and storytelling, meet historic character Tsar Nicholas II and more. Details.
Tickets (advance purchase recommended): $15, $12 Seniors, $10 Members and College Students, $5 children ages 6-18, free for children under age 6

Easter Egg Hunt and Marshmallow Harvest at Great Country Farms in Bluemont, Virginia
Saturday March 31 and Sunday April 1. The farm is open daily until November 27 from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Just one hour’s drive from DC (70 minutes from Silver Spring), Bluemont’s Great Country Farms is the perfect weekend roadtrip any weekend in the spring. But this weekend there are multiple Easter egg hunts and marshmallow harvesting (aka kids pick PEEPS off of trees, ha!). There will also be live family-friendly music, and as always, on-site farm animals to pet and feed, the 2800 sq ft Pumpkin Jumpin’ Pillow, hayrides, the Cow Train, Double Barrel 60’s slides, the pedal cart track, four mazes, a tractor tire climbing mountain,  and rope swings. More info.
Tickets:  $10/child (3-10yrs)  & $12/adult on Festival Weekends, $8/child (3-10yrs)  & $10/adult weekdays. Children 2 years and under, Active Duty and Retired Military ID card holders, CSA members and Fan of the Farm Season Pass holders are free of charge.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Fully Charged at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore
Friday March 30 – 7:30 pm, Saturday March 31 – 11:30 am, 3:30 pm, 7:30 pm, and Sunday April 1 – 1:00 pm, 5:00 pm
My family and I have been wowed by “the greatest show on Earth” in years past. We concur that it is not only the gold standard for incredible circuses (note: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey prides itself on its humane treatment of animals), but also a family weekend outing to remember. Additionally, you can see the show at The Patriot Center in Fairfax April 4 – April 15, 2012 — a spring break treat, maybe?
Tickets: $26.00/$18.00/$14.00 (Circus Celebrity, Front Row and VIP available).

Coming Next Week: A Parent in Silver Spring’s 2012 Ultimate Spring Break Idea List, your go-to resource of fun local outings and happenings the week our little monsters are home from school!

Children FREE at The Bach Sinfonia You Decide: Bach’s Audition at Leipzig
Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 8 PM at the Cultural Arts Center at Silver Spring Montgomery College
This evening is full of history and fun! First, a free pre-concert discussion precedes this and all Bach Sinfonia performances at 7:15 PM led by Daniel Abraham.  During the performance, the audience will play the role of the Leipzig Town Council and determine whether Bach deserved the award of Cantor at Leipzig through a systematic voting process using hand-held clicker polling machines (cool!). The Bach Sinfonia musicians will be joined by featured soloists Celine Ricci, soprano, Charles Humphries, countertenor, Craig Lemming, tenor, and Phillip Collister, bass.
Tickets: $30 adult, $27 seniors (60 and up), $15 (ages 15 – University), FREE (ages 14 and under). Order Online at www.bachsinfonia.org or call (301) 362-6525

Bunnyland at Butler’s Orchard 
Saturday March 31 and April 1, as well as April 5 – 7, 9, 14 & 15 (closed Easter Sunday). Open 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. all days.
Egg hunt (they provide the basket), hayrides, photo with Country Bunny, giant slides, hay romp, bounce house/jumping castle, pedal tractors, and bunnies, lambs and chicks. Face painting and pony rides will cost you a few bucks over the cost of admission. My kids’ favorite feature however is the rubber ducky derby: you pump water like Little House on the Prairie and race rubber ducks. Somehow every time we hit Butler’s we spend eons with those ducks.
PLEASE NOTE: Bunnyland Festival is weather dependent. Please call 301-972-3299 before coming out. Weather updates will also be posted on the Butler’s Orchard homepage.
Tickets available on-site: $8.50/child, $6.50/adult.

I have experienced my fair share of music classes with Charlie and Eve when they were babies, toddlers and young preschoolers.

But never one with a live band!

Enter Kidville Bethesda‘s Rockin Railroad, or as we call it around these parts, 11 month old Alice McFadden’s ultimate happy place.

Once a week Alice has been jamming, laughing, clapping and making friends in this incredibly engaging music class. It is unlike any mommy and me, sing-songs-in-a-circle experience I have seen in my eight plus years doing the mom thing.

At Kidville Bethesda’s Rockin Railroad class for children aged newborn to five years (with caregiver), there are two lead singers, a keyboardist and a drummer. All are gorgeous, Laurie Berkner-bandish young people who are totally into their pint-sized audience. One of the leads plays guitar, the other intermittently leads the class in dance, blows bubbles and animates puppets.

The banter is instructive for little ones, and also pop culture-filled and funny (think those “for the grownups” quips on Sesame Street). The music is excellent. We have sung a diverse collection of tunes, including Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, Row Row Row Your Boat and No Doubt’s Spiderweb.

I love Kidville Bethesda’s location in the heart of Bethesda on Bethesda Ave. (not to be confused with the now-closed Rockville branch of this franchise). When we are done with class, it’s beyond fun to split a salad at Sweetgreen or just walk and people watch around the adorable downtown.

Kidville Bethesda offers creative classes for babies, toddlers, and kids up to six years old. Developed by early childhood development specialists, classes are available in music, dance, gym, art and academic enrichment. There are open gym hours in the playspaces, a kiddie salon for fast and preppy-cute haircuts, a boutique full of educational toys and kid accessories, and they host birthday parties, too. This new local Kidville franchise is thanks to the hard work and community commitment of local mother and business owner Anjali Varma (pictured at right).

Anjali invited my family and I to Kidville’s Open House event this winter, which was a fun way for my daughter Eve and I to take a tour of the facility. Eve and a buddy had a blast playing in the open gym/playspace area, creating art in the arts and crafts center, and also grooving with the Railroad. Afterwards, Anjali contacted me and suggested that Alice and I take a class and review for you all here on A Parent in Silver Spring.

Alice loves jamming to the live band so much — she just lights up and belly laughs the entire time, crawling to front row by the small stage like a groupie!  — that I will be signing her up (out of pocket, just like a regular non-blog-reviewer mom) for the Spring/Summer 2012 16 session class that begins the week of May 7.

And generously, Kidville is  offering a sampler of three free class sessions to a lucky reader!

To be entered to win this giveaway of any THREE one-session classes for your family, go to the Kidville Bethesda website and then come back here and leave a comment citing the Kidville Bethesda class that you would most love to have YOUR child experience!

After leaving your comment, you can gain additional entries by:

• Liking Kidville Bethesda on Facebook (leave a comment letting me know you Liked)

• Follow Kidville Bethesda on Twitter (leave a comment letting me know you are following)

The randomly-drawn winner from all entries will be drawn in one week on Sunday April 1, 2012 at midnight. The winner will be invited to choose three single sessions of any class he/she desires during the Spring/Summer 2012 16-week run (subject to availability). If you win, you may choose three sessions of that favorite class from your comment – a free mini-enrollment! – or you can skip around and select three single class dates from different age groups or class types.

I am confident that you will be as impressed with Kidville Bethesda as me, and your child will be as stoked as my Alice. Check out this face.

That expression? Sheer happiness.

Kidville is the best part of our week, even better than that one time we took a walk and we saw a FOX and then a bunch of VULTURES.

C’mon, when you are 11 months old, that is HIGH PRAISE. 

Disclosure: Alice and I were gifted five sessions of Kidville Bethesda’s Rockin Railroad for review for A Parent in Silver Spring, an approximate retail value of $140. However, Alice adores this class so much that I will be enrolling her for the Spring/Summer 16 week session on our dime. Please join us!

For tickets and more info on this exciting event, click the image above.

MYB is an advertiser on A Parent in Silver Spring. However, the choice to promote this event was mine. All ballet tuition for my MYB attending child is paid in full by our family.