Children’s Fairyland is America’s first storybook theme park. Ever since we opened in 1950, we’ve been a magical place for young children to create, imagine, play, and learn.
On December 21, Governor Newsom announced that the current stay-at-home order will likely be extended through late January. With the current state of the world and our beloved town, Children’s Fairyland is witnessing the fast-paced turn of events and, like many other places of business, our Board of Directors, senior leadership team, and I have made the decision to close Fairyland until the spring. We believe extending the closure affirms our responsibility to prioritize the safety of our staff and to secure a bright future for Fairyland.
Our goal is for Fairyland to reopen for a three-day schedule starting March 19, 2021. Until then, we will continue in our commitment to provide a safe, creative, online space for families and children to play, be inspired through Toddler Storytime, and have fun with at-home activities.
Fairyland will continue to make decisions with great care and courage informed by the latest science and recommendations by our county and state leadership and guided by our mission and values.
We hope that you and your loved ones stay safe and well during the holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.
🤔 Wondering what it's really like at Fairyland these days? Member Jocelyn D. visited with her family on Saturday, the first time since we closed in March, and shared this:
"The girls had a great time at Fairyland this morning – even with the rides closed, they were happy to run around and explore. It actually gave us a chance to take a little more time to see some of the storybook sets that we often pass through too quickly on our way from one ride to the next. It was fun to use our Magic Key to hear stories and look more closely at some of the artwork and gardens. Honestly, they spent a lot of time just... running and being happy to be there. Running over bridges, running up the hill, running through the Alice in Wonderland tunnel and card maze, and running to chase bubbles. It was great to be outside and have a fun, safe, child-friendly change of scenery!"
(Jocelyn, thank you! We're so happy you all had a good time.)
Children's Fairyland is closed right now, but you can take a magical tour of the park led by a playful pixie — follow the flying sprite in a race through your favorite fairy tales! Here we gooooo!
🧚 This incredible "fairy's-eye view" of Children’s Fairyland was **months** in the making, originally captured using a racing drone with an attached 4K video camera by photographer and filmmaker, Stephen Loewinsohn. With this generous in-kind donation, he's bringing back the ✨ magic of Fairyland in this never-before-seen way. YOU can help bring the ✨ magic back by donating to our Reopening and Recovery Fund: bit.ly/Bringthemagicback
Last week, Fairyland librarian, Angela Moffett, passed along some terrific, and free, educational resources to help you pass the time with your young children while sheltered in place. Today, thanks to suggestions from our community, we have even more.
Pen pal time!
First up, check out “Lunch Doodles,” a daily must-see video art series by Mo Willems, creator of children’s favorites like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Knuffle Bunny. As the Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence (as he quips, “I didn’t realize the most impactful word in that title would be ‘Residence’”), he’s teaching children how to draw and encourages them to post their art on social media with the hashtag #MoLunchDoodles. New episodes post each weekday at 10 a.m. PST. Thanks, Nancy F.!
Oakland Librarian Margaret Rodriguez shared this evolving list of libraries that are hosting online storytimes. The focus is on early literacy, particularly songs, rhymes, movement, and stories. You can also follow the hashtag #kidlitquarantine to find out about more children’s literature resources as they come to light. (P.S. Fairyland is working on bringing our Toddler Storytime online again soon.)
Last, but certainly not least, we have a special offer for the young children in our community. As we’ve mentioned before, Fairyland currently has a skeleton crew of essential staffers who take care of our animals, water our plants, and check our snail mail. So, we thought, “What if the children in our community could correspond with some of our ‘elves’?”
So, here's the offer. We invite you and yours to have some fun with us. Have your child draw a picture, color in one of the free Fairyland coloring sheets, or simply write a note, and then snail mail it to us. Our "elves" promise to write back promptly (on special Fairyland stationery designed by Oakland artist Michael Wertz, no less).
Our address is: Children's Fairyland 699 Bellevue Avenue Oakland, CA 94610
We look forward to getting hand-crafted correspondence from your littles!
Your turn: If you have discovered fun and educational ways to pass the time with your children, please share them with us! Either write communications@fairyland.org or add your suggestion in the comment section.
“Sheltering in place” at home alone with your kids? Don’t despair! Fairyland’s librarian, Angela Moffett, has put together a list of free learning resources for you. While your PreK and elementary aged kids are hunkered down at home with you, try going down a learning “rabbit hole” with these suggested activities:
No surprise — your public library is full of online resources!
Explore no-cost reading apps and access thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and interactive digital content with your Oakland Public Library card.
At the Scholastic Learn at Home site, you can go on virtual field trips, meet best-selling authors, and explore subjects your children are interested in — day by day (free account required).
Yesterday we shared that we were planning to remain open for our regularly scheduled park hours, including this weekend. However, as you know, the COVID-19 coronavirus situation is ever-changing. While there are no known cases of the virus currently among our staff, visitors, or volunteers, we have determined that closing Children’s Fairyland is the right thing to do at this time.
So, effective immediately, we will be closed to visitors from now until April 3, 2020. We are also delaying our 5-day week opening until further notice. We will continue to monitor the situation and announce our re-opening at a later date.
What about Gideon, Chiquita, and the other animals at Fairyland?
The safety and well-being of our animals are a priority. Our Animals Department staff will continue to take excellent care of each and every one of them during our closure.
What can I do to help?
This situation has put tremendous financial stress on many organizations, especially ones dependent on visitors like Fairyland. If you would like to know how you can provide support please contact our executive director, Kymberly Miller at kymberly@fairyland.org.
As promised in a recent blog post, Children’s Fairyland is keeping on top of the COVID-19 coronavirus situation as it’s been developing, for the safety of our staff, visitors, and the animals in our care. As we continue to implement extra sanitizing efforts inside the park, we want to update you on what other proactive measures we are taking at this time, and what you can do to help us.
As you may be aware, the Governor of California, Alameda County Public Health Department, and City of Oakland have all recently issued orders and recommendations to slow the spread of COVID-19 outbreak. To protect the most vulnerable populations, they ask that select gatherings be cancelled or postponed. To adhere to these guidelines, Children’s Fairyland is in the process of rescheduling the following events: Theatre for the Very Young’s Hickory Dickory Dock and Turn the Page! children’s book festival.
The big question: Will Fairyland be open this weekend?
The short answer: Yes.
The longer answer: Yes, because we believe families with young children (i.e. non-vulnerable populations), in this isolating and overwhelming time, will be looking for respite. As Fairyland is an outdoor park, we think “social distancing” (defined as more than arm’s length of one another) is achievable. However, in order to open Fairyland this weekend, we will have chosen to close Alice’s Reading Room, the Alice in Wonderland Tunnel and the Fairy Music Farm Tunnel, and to cancel Game Day.
The even longer answer: Maybe. As we monitor the situation, we may decide to close Fairyland in response to new information. Also, rain is in the forecast for this weekend, and we may decide to close the park for solely that reason. In other words, everything is subject to change. We thank you for being patient with us!
Again, we are going to continue with our regularly scheduled park hours until further notice. We are currently set to re-open Friday March 13 at 10 a.m. and plan to be open both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
We've installed several additional hand sanitizing stations to help keep all of us germ free!
Here’s an updated list of what you can do:
If you or your child is sick, please stay home.
Wash, wash, wash those hands — with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
While we have hand sanitizer, please plan on packing your own, along with wipes.
Use hand sanitizer often (Please ask any staff member if you need help finding a sanitizing station or restroom.)
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. See #2.
If you need to cough or sneeze, please do so in the crook of your elbow.
Practice “social distancing” by keeping an arm’s length radius around you.
In other words, be kind and stay safe out there, folks! Thanks for doing your part, as we do ours. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us at communications@fairyland.org.
