The Scarborough Renaissance Festival is one of the best-kept secrets in the DFW area for families searching for a memorable weekend experience. This festival has been in operation for 35 years and it provides activities for each member of your family. Yes, even the preschoolers. Here are the seven top pre-schooler friendly activities at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival:
1 – Take a family picture when you enter the festival
When you enter the festival, you will have an opportunity have your family picture taken by a festival Jester. This opportunity will help your family, especially your preschooler, remember this experience for years to come. My toddler was enamored by the colorful costumes, the painted faces, and the joyful personalities of the Jesters who greeted each visitor with a smile and an opportunity to take a picture.
2 – Let Your Preschooler Lead Your Family Through the Festival as They Recognize Items from Their Storybooks
Preschoolers love to peek inside items that they recognize from storybooks and movies. Let them explore their imaginations and connect with items they recognize at the Festival. At the entrance of the park, preschoolers flock to the Sword in the Stone to try out their strength just like in the fairytale. Peering deep into the darkness of the wishing well allows them to imagine what might be waiting at the bottom.
3 – Take Your Preschooler on a Once-in a Lifetime Elephant or Camel Ride
Before visiting the Scarborough Renaissance Festival, we explored the event website and blog posts, so we knew to look forward to an elephant ride. However, the pictures and the text were only the introduction to such an experience. This was a great opportunity to see elephants and camels up close because my toddler is accustomed to the traditional boundaries that are present in most zoos around the country. The true experience of riding an elephant is one not to be missed.
4 – Preschoolers Can Step Back in Time By Viewing a Live Joust
Preschoolers usually experience the past through movies and storybooks, but they usually do not experience live recounts of history. The joust show should not be missed during an experience at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. The ambiance of the outdoors, the sight of the houses, and the energy of the knights added to our toddler's experience. I have never had the opportunity to view a joust show and it was great to experience something that I have only read in books and seen on movies. Now, we have the opportunity to bring classic storytales and literature to life after introducing our preschoolers to the stories we appreciated as children.
5 – Preschoolers Can Talk with a REAL Mermaid at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival
Preschoolers who love “The Little Mermaid” can have a live conversation with an actual mermaid. The mermaid encounter is one of the special parts of the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. While you wait in line to talk to the mermaids, you can view and hear the stream flowing through the trees. Through this experience, preschoolers meet three mermaids who are all distinctly different. One mermaid is seated in a large shell and the rest of the mermaids are seated in large tanks. As you walk throughout this encounter, fountains add to your preschooler’s temporary adventure under the sea.
6 – Treat Your Preschooler to a Healthy Snack
The amount of healthy snacks available to visitors of the Scarborough Renaissance Festival is impressive. Fresh fruit, grilled chicken, smoked turkey legs, and vegetarian options were available throughout the festival. Italian Ice served in fruit cups is a refreshing treat during the hot part of the day.
7 – Experience the Scarborough Renaissance Festival Petting Zoo with Your Preschooler
When preschoolers hear noises from an animal, they love to guess which animal made the sound. Preschoolers who attend the festival can also experience this guessing game. A preschool-aged child who heard a “baaa” sound quickly identified the sheep and connected the animal to the noise. Seeing a sheep for the first time, she carefully ran her fingers through the soft wool and giggled when she heard the sheep baa again.
This year marks the 35th year of the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. It was a great detour from the normal weekend plans for families with preschoolers. Expose them to a new experience and they will definitely learn about history in a dynamic way.
~Scarborough Renaissance Festival provided complimentary tickets to the event. All opinions reflect the views of the author.~
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as a guest blogger! It was great working with you!
J. Edwards
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