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Springtopia Now Open in Woodland Hills!
Get ready to celebrate Spring with the ultimate immersive festival – Springtopia! The brainchild of owners Danny Bennish and Darryl Sherman, Springtopia features seven immersive Lands to explore, along with rides, food, alcohol for the grownups, and games where you and the kids can win prizes. With something fun for everyone, this is the perfect day out for all ages. And the best part is once you have paid your entry fee, you can stay as long as you like!
"We wanted to create an attraction and event that appealed to all ages," said Danny and Darryl. "There is something for everyone at Springtopia."
Springtopia is taking over the parking lot of the old Westfield Promenade Mall on Topanga which spans over 200,000 square feet and is now owned by the Rams. When you walk into the event you will start with the seven immersive Lands and then from there, you reach the food court. Then finally you can explore the rides and games.
Springtopia's amazing Lands include Puppy Land – where you can visit and pet real puppies; Holiday Land – where it's Christmas in Springtime and you can meet Santa, his Elves, and the Grinch along with playing in the snow; Pirate Land – Yo ho ho! Come aboard a life-sized pirate ship, find the hidden treasure, and even walk the plank; Spooky Land – Get a good scare (best for those 12 and up) with skeletons, witches, and their creepy friends; 3D Circus Land – Throw on your 3D glasses and explore the circus tent with walls, clowns, and circus animals all in the 3rd dimension; Lightshow Land – where you will experience a unique, one of a kind light show; and finally Fun Land – where you and your kids can join in a silent disco!
"This is a true family experience where parents can come and spend all day here with their kids," said Danny and Darryl. "They'll probably never want to leave because there are so many different things to do!"
Rides run the gamut from kiddie rides, middle-of-the-road family rides, and then thrill rides for the older kids. Additionally, there are plenty of games where you can win prizes.
Vendors include face painting, tattoos, and toys that correlate with the Lands such as pirate-themed toys and light show toys. As for food, there is a little variety of everything: Fair food such as hot dogs, tacos, hamburgers, popcorn, churros, caramel apples, corn dogs, cookies, hot chocolate, and cotton candy and more.
Come to Springtopia – it's Disneyland in the Valley!
Springtopia is located at 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Woodland Hills and runs from March 29 to April 16, 2023, Wednesdays – Fridays: 4 p.m. – 10 p.m (last entry 9:05 p.m.) Saturdays & Sundays: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m (last entry 9:05 p.m.) Starting price is $35 and you can buy tickets with the Fever App, available on Google Play and Apple Store or www.feverup.com. For more information and details log
HEXLAB Makerspace
3D Printing, Designs &
More in Tarzana
By Brianne Nemeroff
Have you ever had an interest in robotics? Maybe jewelry-making or 3-D printing? With all of the technologies available, a lot of us are becoming more curious about how to use them but none of us can actually afford the machinery. So how do we learn? At HexLab Makerspace, you can have access to all of the machinery you want as well as classes to teach you how to use them! Better yet, for the kids almost out on summer vacation, they have summer camps as well! No need to worry about your kids wasting their vacation playing video games. For a fraction of the cost of sleep-away camp, they can learn incredible and useful skills right in your own neighborhood. For more information about class schedules, go to www.HexlabMakerspace.com.
Q&A with Jonathan Schwartz
How did the business of HexLab Makerspace come to be?
HexLab started from HexCorp, a product design and business consulting company founded in 2001 by Mike Hexter while he was still attending U.C.S.B. In 2013, we decided that the public should have access to all of these awesome tools, so we began to seek out the best and brightest to start a Makerspace and HexLab was born!
HexLab Makerspace offers classes and workshops about 3-D printing, robotics, laser cutting, etc.
Why do you think it's important, especially for kids, to learn how to use these technologies?
Starting the learning process at a young age opens up children’s minds to the idea that they can make anything! Tools like 3-D printers, 3-D scanners and laser cutters are the future. Getting kids to learn these amazing technologies gives them an advantage over their peers and builds a solid foundation as a jump-off point to peruse any interests they have and develop them.
What are your most popular classes for kids?
The Intro’s to 3-D printing and laser cutting are very popular. Every Wednesday night and Saturday morning, we hold free intro classes for both 3-D printing and laser cutting, alternating every other week.
If kids were to take classes at HexLab Makerspace, what career paths could they potentially be heading towards?
There are endless opportunities: robotics, engineering, product design, fashion,
architecture, software development, digital arts, etc. These tools provide the community an opportunity to build whatever they can imagine.
For those who do not know what the equipment is used for, what types of things can you create with your equipment?
Robots, toys, art, jewelry, leatherwork, woodwork, metalwork, etc. We have tools that allow the community to build almost anything. Between the 3-D printers, laser cutters, and CNC metal milling machines, you can make almost anything, not to mention all of the other tools, equipment, and education we have to offer.
For the adults who use the equipment, what is the benefit of using your Makerspace?
A great sense of community and motivation. Each day we see a wide variety of people with varied interests and projects coming in to use our Makerspace. Our Makers collaborate and motivate one another through their creativity, sharing, knowledge and ideas. We also provide access to tools, equipment, and software that people just can't afford by themselves [as well as the] help they need to learn how to use these tools.
Jonathan Schartz is the C.O.O. of HexLab Makerspace in Tarzana, California. HexLab Makerspace offers individuals the opportunity to have access to technologies such as 3-D printing, laser cutting, and hot stamping and embossing. Day passes start at $20 a day and monthly passes start at $55 a month, $40 for students, with an additional 30% off classes. The kids classes are available for ages 10 and above. Children 16 and under must have a parent sign a waiver. 18740 Oxnard Street, Tarzana, CA #303.
KIDS STUFF
Paying It Forward
Simple Money Lessons for Kids
Good parenting should include teaching our kids how to best manage their finances. Contrary to general perception, this can be taught at an early age - that is, children as young as three years old, when they are just starting to acquire basic concepts about money.We can help mold our children into financially responsible individuals through these fundamental and simple money lessons for kids:BudgetingWe might be surprised how easily kids learn to budget their money – whether it's their allowance, gifts from relatives or money they earned from doing chores. A simple lesson in budgeting is to have our kids divide their money into three parts: (1) for saving, (2) for spending and (3) for charity. For example, we may teach them to put aside 30% in a piggy bank or better yet in a savings account, spend only up to 60% and donate 10% to the church or a charitable institution.SpendingKids would first have to learn the difference between necessities (needs) and non-essentials (wants). In very simple terms, let us try to explain to them how to spend their money wisely. If ever they do make an unwise purchasing decision, we should not get upset nor bail them out. Let us help them learn from it so that they won't commit the same mistakes later in life when it really counts.SavingOne of the most important money lessons for kids is the lesson of saving. Children should be taught the concept of saving for the future, such as for a long-term goal that we and our kids should set together. It is also important to have them maintain a certain level of savings; an emergency or contingency fund, a money cushion or whatever we may want to call it. The idea is to teach them not to deplete their savings. Aside from putting aside cash as savings, we may also want to involve them later in saving household expenses.EarningAs soon as our kids are old enough, we may introduce them to the rule of working for money. We should note however that children should earn money from doing extra or non-routine chores. Their usual responsibilities such as tidying up their room should not be included in this pay-for-work arrangement. What we want them to understand from this is that "money is earned". Also, this would reinforce the lesson about spending as we can be quite certain that our kids would be wise and careful in spending their hard-earned money.InvestingEducating our kids about investing, even just the basics, is vital for them to grasp the idea of growing their money over time. We may start off with a simple explanation of risks and rewards and then tell them about the investments that we have. For older kids, instead of having all their money in a savings account, we could have them put a part of it into a time deposit, a mutual fund account or even in stocks and bonds as we teach them about diversification.Of course, these simple money lessons for kids are best taught through the examples that we, their parents, put into practice. If done successfully, we would have instilled in our kids the money-management skills and attitude that would greatly help them later in life.
