Summer is a ripe peach, juice dripping off our elbows. At Schnepf Family Farms in Queen Creek, the trees bow low with fruit so junior pickers can reach the branches, in time for Grandma's Baking Day. Sign up your son or daughter for this tasty event that has kids making pies, cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies with a real, old-fashioned Grandma. Chefs age 5 and older don little aprons, and then gather eggs and pick peaches to put in their take-home treats. Choose from three remaining sessions: Saturday, May 24, from 9 a.m. to noon, and Saturday, May 31, from 9 a.m. to noon or from 1 to 4 p.m. The cost is $15. Waiting parents and siblings can visit petting zoos, ride trains, and devour scoops of Carrie Schnepf's homemade ice cream. Find the farm at 24810 Rittenhouse Road in Queen Creek. Take U.S. 60 to Ellsworth, south eight miles to Rittenhouse, then left three miles to the farm. For more information, call 480-987-3333. - Kim Toms
SPIES LIKE US
Junior agents save the world
5/23-6/27
Encourage your kids to explore new interests this summer -- espionage, perhaps? -- by taking in a free Friday-night screening of Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams. The Antonio Banderas insta-classic rolls at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 23, as part of Tempe's Movie in the Park Series. Folks are welcome to bring blankets and lawn chairs (they can even haul in outside food and drinks!) to the Kiwanis Park Lake Fire Circle, Mill Avenue and All-America Way in Tempe. The free Friday film series continues through June 27. See www.tempe.gov/pkrec/movies.htm or call 480-350-5200 for a schedule. - Jill Koch
Bad Hare Day
Learning lessons from puppets
5/22-6/1
Talk about shell shock. The haughty hare didn't think his pokey rival had a chance, so the silly rabbit overslept on race day and lost to the tenacious turtle.
Extolling persistence and preparedness, Aesop's tale of The Tortoise and the Hare gets a Southwestern twist at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater, where Jack Rabbit and the Desert Tortoise continues through June 1. The comical retelling pits Dusty the Desert Tortoise against Jack the Rabbit in a race through the Arizona desert. Recommended for kids in preschool through third grade, the show invites audience participation, cheers and jeers.
The theater is located at 302 West Latham. Showtimes are 10 a.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Call 602-262-2050 or log on to www.azpuppets.org for tickets, $5 for children, $7 for adults. - Jill Koch
