Kids just want to have
fun . . . here’s how

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes three fun suggestions for kids of all ages.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
Disney Theatrical Productions and the Cadillac Broadway Series are happy to announce that Disney’s High School Musical will be at the Academy of Music July 11 to 22.
According to the Academy of Music’s news release, High School Musical is a modern musical comedy about a popular high school basketball star and a shy, academically gifted newcomer who discover they share a secret passion for singing. When they sign up together to audition for the lead roles in the school musical, it threatens East High’s rigid social order and sends their peers into an uproar.
In a desperate effort to maintain the status quo, the "jocks," the "brainiacs" and even the drama club regulars are soon hatching convoluted plots to separate the pair and keep them offstage.
By defying expectations and taking a chance on their dreams, however, the couple inspires other students to go public with surprising hidden talents of their own.
This premiered on Disney Channel on Jan. 20, 2006, and became the highest rated original movie up until that time. The film earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first TV movie to deliver nine concurrent singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. For tickets, visit www.kimmelcenter.org/broadway or call 215-731-3333. Tickets are also available at the Kimmel Center box office, at Broad and Spruce streets.

TOYS WANTED
Is your house overflowing with old toys? The Please Touch Museum, a children’s museum, can help you clear some space while using these toys to take part in an incredible art project that will bring joy to everyone.
As part of the museum’s renovation and its new home to open in fall 2008 at the historic Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, Please Touch is creating a monument made out of toys.
As visitors enter the Great Hall, they will see a 40-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty’s Arm and Torch. This sculpture will be created out of toys, games and other objects — wood, plastic and metal — gathered and assembled by Philadelphia artist Leo Sewell.
The subject matter holds a special place in Memorial Hall’s history: The original Statue of Liberty Arm and Torch was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the world’s fair for which Memorial Hall was built, as part of a fund-raising effort. Cash donations were collected in Philadelphia from May to September 1876, to help fund the pedestal that now holds the full statue in New York Harbor.
Non-plush toys measuring at least 1 foot and weighing less than 20 pounds are needed. The toys are being collected at the museum, which is at 210 N. 21st St. in Center City, and at 14 participating Five Below stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, from May 12 to 25.
For more information, visit www.pleasetouchmuseum.org

THAT’S THE TICKET!
Young Phantoms fans have a chance again this season to have their artistic talents on a Phantoms ticket!
Phlex’s Coloring Contest is now open, and the team mascot is seeking young artists to provide drawings and paintings for the team’s 2007-08 season ticket book.
A total of 40 submissions from kids age 14 and younger will be selected, with a different winner featured on season tickets for each of the Phantoms’ 40 home games during the 2007-08 season.
Winners will receive four free tickets to the game for which their drawing is used, as well as a Zamboni ride and a framed copy of their ticket.
Entry forms are available via a PDF file on the Philadelphia Phantoms Web site, www.phantomshockey.com. The form includes an area to draw the picture.
Kids have until June 11 to submit their artwork of Phlex, a Phantoms game, their favorite player, or any memorable Phantoms experience."
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Answer to last week’s cryptogram:
WORD PUZZLES ARE MIND CHALLENGING
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com