Things to do in Howard County

I'm often asked what one can do with small children in Howard County.  Sometimes, but the chronically malcontent, I'm told that there's nothing to do with kids in Howard County.  I am limiting myself to weekend jaunts around the county, and to things appealing to the preschool set (though older and younger will also have fun).  Here are some suggestions for things to do this weekend - excluding the many parks, playgrounds, tot lots, gyms, pools, libraries, and classes all over the county:

• B&O Railroad Museum Ellicott City Station.  A great local, small museum focused on trains and the history of the railroad and Ellicott City, which are rather intertwined.  I also spent a summer volunteering here back when Green Day was edgy.
• Howard County Conservancy.  Trails, geocatching, nature walks, animals, and similar.  It's an interesting historical site as well.
• Clark's Elioak Farm.  For the Howard County parent of a certain age, there's the bizarre experience of reliving your childhood in a disjointed manner, seeing all the old Enchanted Forest items strewn around.  There's a petting zoo, tractor rides, and the ability to purchase farm produce and some very good meat.  I also suggest the grown ups fortify themselves at Iron Bridge across the street.
• Larriland Farm.  Pick some apples, beets, broccoli, pumpkins, or flowers.  Or just go to the red barn and buy them.  Tractor rides, great fruit, and a gorgeous pond.  My nature-hating son loves Larriland - though last time he was there he gave himself a bloody nose trying to cut flowers for his crush (which is either on his 2.5 year old friend or her mother, I haven't figure out which yet).
• Bollman Truss Bridge.  There's a magic in this bridge for all, but especially for a preschooler just learning how things are put together.  This is a the last remaining all iron truss bridge.  There's a great trail that is very accessible to small children - and a great discussion about Sodor will likely ensue.  
• Robinson Nature Center.  Really frickin' cool, and shocking that this place is in a county this small.  It's pretty much our county's science center, with a planetarium, tons of activities, and nature related exhibitions.  
• Sharp's at Waterford Farm.  A fall extravaganza.  I even just wrote a post about this place.
• TLV Tree Farm.  Where the Howard clan always gets its Christmas tree.  We have yet to shed any blood here, though we have cutting open bagels.  Corn maze, animals, other fall fun.

As I say to every teenager who complains about the ennui of their painful existence, stop choosing to be bored.  There's plenty to do - just pack up the iPad, Nexus, or Kindle and take it with you.

Sharp's at Waterford Farm

We took the obligatory preschool fall fieldtrip to a farm and pumpkin patch - this year it was Sharp's at Waterford Farm.  I think we were joined by about a thousand other kids in Howard County and Montgomery County schools.  ChaseKBH was horribly disappointed that we drove rather than take the school bus - since we brought BeaABH with us, and she's too little to sit on a school bus.  So yes, it was my kid crying in the parking lot about not being able to get on the bus.

Prior to doing the whole stay-at-home parent thing, I was never the parent to take ChaseKBH on field trips, so my comparison points aren't great.  However, from talking to Jamie, it seems that the Sharp's trip was a bit more educationally focused than previous farm trips, but, on the other hand, more kids were there so it was a little chaotic.  The kids had a blast though.



The tour stated in the barn, with a discussion of cotton and its place in agriculture.  There wasn't much discussion of its place in American history - which is a difficult discussion to have with three and four year olds.  Given where our family lives, and the discussions we have already started to have regarding the Civil War at the B&O Railroad Museum, I am going to have to figure out a reasonable approach to have these discussions.



Next was a discussion of honey bees, and choosing volunteers to do the honey bee dance.  All the preschoolers knew the role of male bees, or drones.  Well, they knew they were inside the hive, didn't do work, then were thrown out and died - all ideas that I personally thought were much more difficult to grasp than their role with the queen's eggs.



One of the kids also got to dress up like a bee keeper.



After the beehive, we went to look at the animals.  This is a pig's behind.  I can't exactly capture the smell.



Goats!



We also hand fed the animals.  I personally hate hand feeding animals in situations like this.  First and foremost, the animal tongue feels gross on my hand.  Second, I try very hard to teach respect and distance from strange animals - and even docile goats and cows can be dangerous.  Third, there's often not great hand washing facilities, and I spend the rest of the day thinking about the agricultural diseases most recently reported in the press.   The children, however, love feeding them - except my son who shares my germaphobic tendencies.



ChaseKBH really liked the cow.  Actually, he really liked the idea that the cow made milk that became butter that became cookies.



This kid isn't really great with either nature or agriculture.  Watch his allergies start to form.



Sharp's has a corn maze and corn mini maze.  The corn maze was a lot of fun - until one of the kids thought that it might be a good idea to trailblaze his own path.  Thankfully, it was not my child, though the child in question is a charmer who has the spirit of an adventurer.

Sharp's has a cotton field that the kids can walk around.  The kids each took an open and closed cotton bud to study.



We then picked popcorn in the popcorn field.  There is something very eerie about a popcorn field.



The tractor ride was seriously awesome - it was amphibious!  We took a couple swings through Cattail Creek.



Cattail Creek.



Why my allergic-to-everything-outside son likes sitting on hay I don't know.



And finally, the moment of truth - the pumpkin patch.



The pumpkins then became pie.

There's a lovely store with produced, jams and jellies, and, most importantly, coffee.