LA County Fair - join us on Sept 22 at 8.45am for a free educational fieldtrip

It has been a while since I last blogged .. but we are getting ready for the LA COUNTY Fair 2011.

We are veterans of LA County Fair fieldtrips and are happy to share our experiences to enrich your child's learning while having fun.   If you are a schooler and your school is not organizing a fieldtrip because it is too far away, taking a day to educate yourself at the Fair is well-worth it :)

 

"Shark handler Phillip Peters travels around the country with live sharks, and for your amusement, dives into his 5,000 gallon salt-water tank WITH HIS SHARKS for daily performances at the LA County Fair through September."

 

Even seeing sharks at LA County Fair is new to us and I could not believe we are talking about real sharks. Listen to this KPCC podcast and check out his website:

http://www.mjmusselman.com/haaishark/index.html

http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2011/09/03/20589/forget-food-on-a-stick-check-out-the-shark-tank-at

 

We are going on a Thursday and here is a sample Thursday schedule, but get the day's schedule upon arrival! If you wish to join our family on this fieldtrip, please leave me a note on the blog and I will email you with details and how to get free your parking pass from me.

http://www.lacountyfair.com/2011/planyourvisit/documents/sept_9_15.pdf

 

Here are some of the educational and fun events we will be going to -- you can go your own way as a family after we enter the fair or meet up for free milk :) 

America’s Kids: Surrounded by Science

Biology Corner, Chemistry Lab, Forensics
Lab, Microscopic World, Optic-ology,
Physics Lab, Science in the Kitchen...........
All Day Fun
The Super Freeze Show.........11:30, 4:30 PM
Ultra Cool Chemistry Show...............................
12:30, 5:30 PM
Awesome Air Transport Show........................
1:30, 6:30 PM
Phabulous Physics Show....... 3:30, 7:30 PM

 

Under the Sea Adventure, Great White Exhibit.............................................. All Day Fun
Live Shark Encounter.......................2, 5, 8 PM

Under the Big Top Stage After Dark
Dream World Cirque...................... 4, 8, 10 PM

Dinosaur Movie Theater......................................
12, 2, 3, 6, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30 PM
The Prehistoric Stage...........................................
12:30, 3:30, 5:30 PM
Fossil Prep Lab..........................................1, 6 PM
Dinosaurs’ Descendants Show.....7, 8, 9 PM

The Great American Wild West Show.........
1:30, 3:30, 7, 9:30 PM

Gold Panning Demonstration...........................

11 AM, 12, 2, 4, 6 PM

Mojo’s Jungle

Fiona’s Jungle Perch, Iggy’s Insect
Encounter, Joey’s Outback Hideout,
Mojo’s Jungle Survivor Camp, Spike’s
Reptile Territory.......................... All Day Fun
Mojo’s Monkey Mania Show......1, 3, 6, 7 PM
Wilderness Ridge
America’s Great Outdoors........ All Day Fun
Energy Wizards.............12, 12:30, 2:30, 4, 7 PM
Chain Saw Carving Demonstrations..................
12:30, 3:30 PM
Timberworks Lumberjack Show..........................
1, 4, 6:30, PM
Lumberjack Participation Camp.... 1:30, 6 PM
Welde’s Big Bear Expedition..........2, 4:30 PM
Grizzly Falls Exhibit..............................2:30, 5 PM
Pets Ahoy
Buccaneer Boot Camp.....................All Day Fun
The Pirate’s Parrot Show............1, 3, 4:30, PM
The Traveling Buccaneers..................2, 4, 7 PM
Pets Overboard.................. 2, 5:30, 7, 8:30 PM

For those new to LA County Fair fieldtrips, homeschoolers can organize their own fieldtrips.  Please be sure to get your parking passes from your field-trip organizer so you can park free.  Please make sure you have a way to contact your organizer if you need to meet up for free milk cartons.

 

If you miss your organizer at check-in in front of the red school house facade to go in as a group or arrived late, it is usually pretty easy to just go in on your own if you tell the LACF support staff that you missed entering with your group.  Or just walk in with another group.  If you are able to park in that field-trip lot, you are already in a field-trip group.   

We go once a year and stay till closing time, so we almost never go a second time.  However, all fieldtrip participants can get a free child's ticket to come back, but you will need to pay the adult ticket to join your child on a regular trip.  Your organizer can go back to the school facade house area around 3pm and get those free children's tickets.

Finally, we almost never pay for rides and we limit ourselves to 9 rides on the junior rides  that the kids can get free when they write their book reports.  Word limit of the book reports depends on age-group.  Oh, let your child know that the retired teachers working at that counter giving out free ride tickets may ask you about the books you read :)  Here's the link to that form you will need to list all your books. We usually staple our book reports with the forms.

http://www.lacountyfair.com/2011/entertainment/documents/21ReadtoRide11.pdf

There are lots of science stuff this year with new exhibits like bears-viewing and "shark encounter" as well as a 911 training for kids:

http://www.lacountyfair.com/2011/educationcommunity/documents/911forkids.pdf

http://www.lacountyfair.com/2011/educationcommunity/documents/2011AmericasKidsFINAL.pdf

http://www.lacountyfair.com/2011/educationcommunity/documents/2011SharkEncounterFINAL.pdf

http://www.lacountyfair.com/2011/educationcommunity/documents/2011WildernessRidge-FINAL.pdf

The competition entries are really fun to view ... and I always forget to get started in June for July deadlines :)
http://www.lacountyfair.com/2011/entertainment/competitionsAmericasKids.asp

Enjoy the fair .. if you are lucky enough to be invited onto the Community Day floats at 5pm, it is a lot of fun to throw beads to the crowds.  People are really happy to get them!!

 

GCP