Plan out activities have things lined up for them to do.
I would say the aquatic center like my kids love doing the swim lessons, they actually like to do jumping off the diving board, they look forward to that.
Go to the libraries and things like that, where you can enjoy not only the free cool air, but also keep them enriched during the summer.
And welcome into the Growing Goodyear podcast. From the city of Goodyear. I'm Jordan Byrd.
And hey everyone, it's Tammy Vo.
And Tammy, this is the time of year that I mean, if we're being honest, probably some parents dread, right? It's the summer kids are out of school. It's hot, you can't really do much besides the pool outside. And this is the time of year where parents like myself scratching our heads trying to figure out what do we do with these kids when they're not in school, and they have all of this free time and downtime.
And of course in Goodyear you know, it's warm, it's hot. It's summertime in Arizona. So that's another challenge is like, you know, you can't just send them out to play. I mean, one of my favorite memories as a kid, I lived in Colorado for a few years. And it was nice in the summer. And me and my parents just said hey, go outside and play. One of the favorite things that we used to do my sisters and I we would dig up onions in the ground that grew naturally. And we'd like make this little like pretend like little witch's brew outside. It was like the funnest thing.
Just a little summer witchcraft.
But you know what kept us busy. We didn't come in till close to dinnertime. But we don't have that kind of luxury necessarily here in the summer. So to your point, yes. What do we do with these kids?
Well and to also add on to it and to back in our day to keep that conversation going. We didn't have tablets, we didn't have phones, we didn't have this built in thing that kids today of all ages are so used to utilizing on a daily basis, where they can just zone out in front of that for hours. We had to go outside back in the day because there really was nothing else going on or anything to keep our attention in the house. So times have changed. Technology has changed all of that. But I think on this episode of the Growing Goodyear podcast, we're really going to present some some good options for parents here in Goodyear, here in the West Valley, for some options to keep the kids busy, keep them engaged and not just turn them into vegetables in front of the screen all summer long. So earlier, I went out to the Goodyear Recreation Campus and the Aquatic Center and I talked to parents about what are some of their tips for keeping kids busy during these hot summer months. What are some tips that parents can have during the summer months while the kids are out of school?
Keep him busy. Like I know that I have like a bunch of crafts that I just bought and stuff. So like let them do crafts. Just keeping them busy.
Have friends and grandparents did that take them everywhere. Because that's what we're doing now. We're grandparents taking the kids.
So you guys are the busy ones?
Yes, we are. And we love every bit.
I would say the aquatic center like my kids love doing the swim lessons, they actually like to do jumping off the diving board. They look forward to that. And the slides. They're doing a lot of programs here at GRC. With they can do for different summer programs.
I think the best tips and tricks is going to be to have something planned. Even if it's just an hour, two hours a day something small plan for the kids to keep them a little active is going to be your best bet.
Plan out activities have things lined up for them to do, whether it's going to the Aquatic Center or going to the park in the evening, getting them some science stem projects. Those are always fun to do.
Just making sure that you make time during the hottest part of the day to go to the libraries and things like that where you can enjoy not only the free cool air, but also keep them enriched during the summer.
Do any of you guys have a favorite part of the waterpark here?
The water slides.
And which water slide is your favorite?
The yellow and orange one.
Water slide.
And do you have a favorite water slide?
The green one.
Ok, one vote for green, someone else already said the yellow. What about you, do you have a favorite part?
I like, I like the lazy river.
The lazy river because you just go and just relax and you're in the water the whole time and it just makes you flow. You don't have to paddle or anything like that.
My daughter likes the lazy river. My son likes the little kid slide over there.
What about mom, what's your favorite part?
Just sitting and relaxing.
Well, Tammy, you can hear by those people at the Goodyear Rec Campus and the Aquatic Center just how much of a treat it is to have a facility like that here in Goodyear and how popular it is with everyone here in Goodyear. But stay tuned because we also we're going to have some tips coming up for others ideas, activities that people can do outside of Goodyear in the West Valley, maybe even some weekend getaway trips around the state that are coming up. But when it comes to the Goodyear Recreation Campus, it is more than just the Aquatic Center. There are so many things that are going on there during the summertime, including drop in summer camps, and you got the teen room and teen trips and all of that stuff. And what's really beneficial to residents, there's a variety of different membership options that they can pick whether it's annually or seasonally or monthly or daily, it really does provide a lot of different options for people.
And we should mention that of course, the rec campus is at this point only available to Goodyear residents. But let's talk about Jordan some of the other things that people can do in Goodyear that are free because you know, you love the word free when it comes to bringing a lot of kids down and trying to find something to keep them entertained.
So here are the top three things kids can do for free. One, the splash pad at Community Park. So not only does community park have a fantastic splash pad, but if you're one of those parents that can get the kids up and about a little bit earlier, you might also still be able to take advantage of some of the other things that are at the park like the playground, the sports courts and fields before it starts getting too oppressively hot out there. And when it does, it's a great opportunity for the kids to hop into the splash pad.
Loma Linda Park pool. This is free every day. They've got swim lessons, and I was shocked at how affordable this is and you can still register, there's a couple sessions left $30 for eight lessons, that's unbeatable.
The Georgia T. Lord library offers a ton of awesome activities for kids and family, including stem labs to keep the kids brain sharp during the summer break, craft classes, family storytime, movie days, teen board games, it's all listed on their website with their calendar, which you can find at MC L D az.org/Georgia T Lord. So those are some of the awesome options that are available to parents and kids and families here during the summertime in Goodyear. But with a little bit more on what else parents can do in the West Valley and beyond. We are now being joined by Jana Tingum from Phoenix with Kids. Jana, thank you so much for joining us here on the Growing Goodyear podcast. We really appreciate it.
No thank you for having me. This will be fun.
So you are one of the editors, you are the creator of Phoenix with Kids a valuable resource for parents here in the Valley for things to do year round. But specific to the summertime where kids are out of school, parents can be scratching their heads at times trying to figure out what to do with those kids here in Goodyear. What are some of the best places that parents or guardians can take kids during the summertime?
There are some really fun spots, Urban Air and Elevate trampoline park. Those are two that my kids have really enjoyed. Especially, I think, Elevate. We've been there several times. And it's a great place to burn off the energy all ages can play my five year old can my 12 year old can and yeah, get kind of exhausted when you can't go outside.
Wear them out, right?
Yeah.
So what is it specifically about those places? You mentioned the five year old, a 12 year old? Is that kind of something that you're looking for where it's open, or it has interest for all ages of kids?
Absolutely. Yes. You know, it's hard to find places that will entertain, you know, a preteen and a kindergartener. And so yeah, I find that indoor trampoline parks are the perfect place. They usually have a toddler area, or you know, a section for younger kids under six or something so they can play. They're welcome to go around all the other places, too, and jump and throw balls and stuff. But I like the specific smaller area where they won't get overrun by older kids. But then yeah, my older daughter, she enjoys, you know, trying to do flips on the trampoline, or I know Elevate has these swinging aerial ropes you can fall into a pit with and it's it's fun.
So obviously here in Goodyear, we have some great places to take the kids during the summertime. But Goodyear is in this up and coming part of the Valley, the West Valley that so many people moving to the West Valley, there's so many new businesses and opportunities for parents to get those kids out. Let's broaden the scope a little bit to the rest of the West Valley outside of Goodyear. What are some of your favorite places in the West Valley to take kids during the summertime?
So I actually asked my kids this question, like okay, if we can go anywhere in the West Valley, where would you go and they thought about it for like probably five seconds and they're like Round One. Because we went to Round One earlier this year, and they had a blast. I think we were there for five hours. There's two floors. The upstairs has all kinds of sports like roller skating, basketball, trampolines, baseball, and then the downstairs has a huge arcade and bowling. There's snacks. I mean, it would just it entertained us for the entire time. Everyone had fun.
If you're talking five hours that you can kill at a place I mean, sign me up. That sounds like a perfect spot. Now I'm not that familiar with Round One. Where is that?
It's at the Arrowhead mall and you can enter through the mall or from outside as well in the parking lot and stuff and they're open late. So if you happen to have kids that just like to stay up late and don't want to go to bed, take them there. It'll wear them out. It's fun.
It sounds like going back to what we were just talking about a few minutes ago, where there's something for every age group, you know, where you can go there as a complete family, and everyone is having a great time because there's something that's geared for each group.
Yeah, and like I was thinking the arcade, it had games that, you know, my five year old could play and those ones that you know, you play until you win kind of thing. So she's not frustrated, but there's also harder ones, there was Japanese arcade games they brought in that were unique and different. So yeah, I would say check it out. It's a lot of fun.
So Round One, I know that's a fairly new place and a great option. Is there any other places in the West Valley besides Round One that maybe are fans of your children?
KTR Glendale, we really like that another indoor trampoline park. My five year old really enjoyed going to Play Zona I think it's in Glendale as well. It's an indoor like it has a you know, play kitchen and a store and little cars to ride on that sort of thing. There's some good aquatic centers too, which I think a lot of people overlook because you can get in for so cheap sometimes like 10 bucks for a family and swim, waterslides, lazy river sometimes for I mean, so cheap.
We're talking about the water. It's summertime here in Arizona, it is hot, you know, you got to you got to find ways to stay cool. Along those lines of aquatic centers and things like that. What about splash pads? Are there any splash pads that are fan favorites of your kids specifically?
Yeah, the one at Rio Vista Park is really fun. And we also like it because it's gated. So if other parents have a problem with kids darting away or whatever, the gate will keep them right, there you go.
Hand raised right here. Yes.
Yeah, that's a good one. Um, the one also the Friendship Park splash pad is really fun, too. That's also actually, now I think about it. That one's enclosed as well. Rio Vista is in Peoria, and Friendship Park is in Avondale.
We're talking about a lot of places where parents or guardians can take kids to. But also I know that there is a major portion of kids out there and families out there where mom and dad are still working during the day. The kids are out of school. So they're kind of stuck in the house. And you don't just want to stick a tablet in front of them or let them veg out in front of the screen all day. So do you have any tips for parents who may have kids that are stuck at home during these hot summer months?
Yeah, so one year we had the splash pad and you hook up your hose to it. And it just sprays fountains out from a big mat. The kids loved it. And so like we didn't have to go to a splash and we had one in our backyard, you can fill up buckets, do water balloons, there's actually reusable water balloons you can buy on Amazon, make your own water fun, and then have popsicles you know, eat watermelon outside have a seed spitting contests like you know, I remember doing back in the day.
And that's the thing. You know, it's kind of interesting, because you have these kids who are so accustomed to technology. And that's just kind of their go to where if you tap back into some of that stuff that you or me or anyone else out there may have done when we were growing up. Some of that stuff can still apply to the kids nowadays, right?
Oh absolutely. I think it's almost a lost art sometimes of crafts, hobbies, like, oh, my kid loves Minecraft. But what else? I've been trying to bring in this summer actually some you know what I would call hobbies. Okay, let's learn how to do string art. Let's learn how to crochet, that one didn't go very well. But we still tried. My oldest is into painting. Okay, so we looked up some YouTube videos. YouTube is an awesome resource for drawing videos, anything you want to learn how to do, utilize YouTube, yes, to entertain, but also to teach you a new skill. I think it's a great idea.
Let's branch it out a little bit now to the whole family because you know, everyone is looking to beat the heat right now. And here in the Valley. And we are in a very beautiful part of the country where not that far of a drive. You have mountains and you have trees and you have lakes. So let's say the whole family is looking to get away for maybe like a weekend getaway. Is there any favorite spots that you have around the state where you know, it's a couple hours drive, but it may be 30-40 degrees cooler, and it's great activities for the kids in the family?
We love getting away in the summer, it comes to a point where like, I feel like we're going insane and we really just need to get out of the heat, kind of refresh our minds. And yeah, and kids need to be outside. So we really love going to Show Low. Show Low is about three hours northeast of here. It can be you know, 20 degrees cooler. There's a lot of good hiking options, easy hikes too, not hard ones, a really fun playground with zip lines or some good food. It's just, it's a laid back town that also offers a lot of activities. And just like I said, cooler weather you can't beat that just sitting outside in the evenings really helps.
I mean that's the biggest difference, right? It's nighttime where the temperature actually decreases and it's still not 100 degrees at 10pm. So yeah, no, I totally feel you on that. Let's talk a little bit about some of the things that are important to you, as a parent and as the curator of Phoenix with Kids, what are some of the things besides maybe looking for a place that is open to all sorts of ages of children. But what are some of the other key factors that you're looking for and trying to get the kids out and about an active during the summer with three kids?
I mean, you go to a play place, it can add up so fast, whether you buy socks, you know, snacks or whatever, you can spend almost 100 bucks. So one of my favorite things is memberships and a lot of places have specific memberships just for what June through August or something. So you can buy in and go in as many times as you want and play and I feel like that's a real good way for parents to save money. There's also options like discount movie days, you know, Harkins is a good one that you can go see a movie for two bucks. There's other movie theaters that do discounted movie day show, sometimes they include popcorn, which always makes the kids happy.
And the adults.
And adults. Yes, this is true. And also just we like to meet up with friends and swim. I feel like that's a really fun way to stay connected with people and just get outside enjoy water. And again, save money because like I said, 10 bucks, your whole family can usually go to an aquatic center for five hours and enjoy splashing in the water.
Well yeah, in a lot of these places. I know from personal experience. 10 bucks may only get one kid in the door, you may not even get the kid in the door at 10 bucks.
No, there's some places that are charging, you know, over 20, sometimes 30 bucks per kid.
I love the tip about memberships because I think that's something that can be so useful. Are there any other tips or suggestions or secrets even that you might have as you guys put together the Phoenix with Kids website and all of the social media that you guys have? Is there any other tips or tricks of the trade, if you will, that you can share with other parents out there?
Indoor ice skating is a thing which kind of surprises people, there's several ice rinks, but we go to ice den often and they have a free skate open skate time. Like I think it's 10 bucks like a person skates are included and it's 50 degrees so bring a sweatshirt you know, bring, wear pants kind of thing. But I mean, even if you don't know how to skate or you're just not very good at it. It's just it cools you off. And I think places like that are overlooked also. Yeah, bowling. We had one year we went bowling probably every week. We weren't very good. And our scores were terrible the entire summer. But we had so much fun. And it was cool indoors. You know, it was a good escape for us.
Jana, is there anything else that you think people should know, or any other things that maybe we haven't covered yet that can be of use to parents during the summertime in the Valley?
I mean, honestly, our website Phoenix with Kids is so packed full of information. We've been doing this for over 10 years reviewing places, and we've expanded a lot to outside Arizona. So even if you're looking for a day trip, you know you can't spend overnight, but you want to know where's the best water place, you know, to go and Sedona and have the kids play in Oak Creek, we've got you covered. You know, if you need restaurant ideas, we can suggest that as well. Just go on our website, search by city search by activity, and it should come up with a list of ideas to hopefully inspire you and get out with a family.
Well, you guys are also very active on social media as well highlighting a lot of these places as you attend them. So give us the website and give us your social media.
Yeah, so our blog is PhoenixWithKids.net. And then we're on Instagram and Facebook at Phoenix with Kids. And our foodie account is AZ Food with Kids on Instagram and Facebook where we review kid friendly restaurants.
So what does that basically boiled down to? Pizza and chicken nuggets?
Yes and no. We've expanded like there's some fairly fun places that like kids can, you know, get their mac and cheese but also the atmosphere might be a little more exciting for adults and you know, the restaurant themselves are welcoming for kids. And you know, understanding if your kid won't just sit in that seat the whole time.
Well, I know from personal experience, being on your guys's website, the calendar that you guys have, which just lays out well in advance, all of the activities, all events that might be happening, anything of note has been a tremendous help for me and my family. Because it's like, man, we got to, you know, we got a Saturday coming up, we don't really have anything to do, we should get the kids out and about, we don't want to be stuck in the house all day. Let's check the calendar and see what's happening. And so just for me, personally, I really appreciate that calendar feature that you guys have, because it's a nice easy layout of things that are happening not only in Goodyear, not only in the West Valley, but throughout the entire state.
Yeah, thank you for mentioning that because yeah, it's we've tried to work hard just to find free activities and also ones that you have to pay for all over the Valley, things you can do with your family, sometimes certain age groups only, but it's just there as a resource.
Thank you so much for taking the time and joining us here on the Growing Goodyear podcast and sharing some of the summertime tricks to keep those kids busy during the summertime. We really appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
Well, our thanks to Jana from Phoenix with Kids which is such a valuable asset to parents and, you know, that's kind of the main crux that I've learned throughout this episode of the Growing Goodyear podcast, Tammy, organization being kind of planned out thinking ahead, finding those things, those calendars, those event pages, where you can kind of plan ahead a little bit really seems to go a long way in helping keep the kids busy and keeping the sanity for the parents during the summer months.
And I think sanity is really key because for some parents who let's say you're working too but you're like, oh, no, now I have to also find something for my kids to do. It can be a lot. And so one thing that I think is also important too, aside from parents, obviously navigating the responsibility. What if we put some of it also on our kids, especially maybe some of our older kids? I mean, one thing I had my kids do was write down a list of ways they can be productive this summer, and I've challenged them to try and keep on top of it themselves.
Is there anything they put down that surprised you? Or any ideas they had that you're like, oh, wow, I wasn't even thinking about that?
Well, my son put on his list one of it was played lots of Roblox. If you don't know what Roblox is, it's basically a video game that all these kids are on. And so we cross that off real fast. But I did let him know that if he was productive in some of these other areas, that you would get some Roblox. So you know, it's a little bit of negotiating, I would say, a give and take.
Well, I know we've covered a lot of ground in this episode, but just to reiterate, if there's anything that caught your attention regarding the Goodyear Recreation Campus, or the Aquatic Center, or anything related to Goodyear Parks and Recreation, you can find their information, the classes, the schedules, swim lessons, all of that stuff on their website at Goodyear, az.gov/parks and Rec and once again for the Georgia T. Lord library, which offers a ton of free activities during the summer months. You can find all of their information at MCL D az.org/Georgia T Lord.
I think Jordan more than anything, a reminder, just enjoy summer. I mean, it can get boring. You got to keep everyone busy. But I think before you know it, school is going to be back in session and the kids will be back.
Well thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the Growing Goodyear podcast. For Tammy Vo, I'm Jordan Byrd. We hope you enjoyed listening to this and we hope you took some practical tips out of this one as well. And until next time, remember, it's always a great time to be in Goodyear.
That concludes this episode of Growing Goodyear. Make sure to leave us a review and subscribe on your favorite streaming or podcast player app. If you have any questions or comments, email us at communications at Goodyear az.gov. And don't forget to follow us on the city of Goodyear's social media pages.
