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Come to cool kiddie hangout Play this Saturday for a family style morning of art and music. From 9:30 to 11am kids can explore their artistic side, every medium imaginable at tot fingers tips at bright and early Messy Art session. Imagine art without sacrificing your clean house. Then stay for a special CD release party for LA local kids' musician Scott Wheatley at 11am.

Ellen of The Long Thread has so generously complied a list of her picks for the "Top 100 Tutorials of 2008" and boy has she hooked us up big time. Some of the tutorials mentioned, namely Oliver + S "Lazy Day Skirt" and "Take along fabric dollhouse", I've actually made and have fallen in love with myself.

Geffen Playhouse's popular family theater program Saturday Scene is back this Saturday, January 10th with their first family performance of the 2009 year. Join them as they present the classic Pinocchio.

Come celebrate the New Year, namely Oshogatsu, the Japanese new year, this Sunday, January 4th at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). In honor of the new year the museum is offering free admission all day and a free Oshogatsu Family Festival from 11am to 4pm. The festival is going to be one nice size family bash including a crafts area where kids can make their own

You have this last weekend of winter/family vacation to escape the holiday rut you've been stuck in for two weeks and get out and do something fun and meaningful with the kids. The Getty Center in Los Angeles just might have that certain activity to help you break free for a few hours of quality family time before you're thrust right back into that humdrum day-to-day routine for good. This Saturday and Sunday the museum is holding their Family Art Stops program.

Amy from Let's Explore has a simple yet grand idea for repurposing all those holiday cards into a fun activity for young kids. She's provided a fast and easy tutorial on how to make a "Christmas Card Puzzle Game". I can't wait to make a set or two of these puzzle cards for my own 2 year old daughter. It's such a basic, clean matching/puzzle idea that I know my detail obsessed little girl is going to go crazy over.

So your kid didn't get that pony she so desperately wanted from Santa to bring them year? Why not make up for the disappointment by taking your mini jockey to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank this Sunday, December 28th for their annual Equestfest? From 11am to 3pm your family can "Meet many of the Equestrians you will see January 1st in the 2009 Rose Parade.

Bowers Museum in Santa Ana is holding a really great Kwanzaa Family Festival this Saturday, December 27th for families looking to learn more about the holiday or just looking for s a nice way to celebrate the holiday together. According to the site "Join us in a cultural tradition that celebrates the best of African thought, practice, and culture, the well-being of family and community, the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it.

Today marks the first day of Kwanzaa, a warm and beautiful holiday outlined in seven principles exploring special traditions, culture and family togetherness in the African American community. To honor this meaningful holiday Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the Cal State Los Angeles campus is having a Kwanaa Celebration Concert this Saturday, December 27th at 8pm.

December 20th marks the beginning of winter. Franklin Canyon Park in Beverly Hills is hosting a free family Winter Solstice Hike honoring the up coming season. Appropriate for families with children 4 years of age and up this guided moderate 2 hour hike in Franklin Canyon is the perfect opportunity to stretch your legs and learn a little something about LA nature in the winter. Guides will be holding discussions on the seasonal changes and planets and constellations in the winter sky.