family & community

Family Movie Night

Every 2nd Friday

We show the newest family movies on our Big Screen every 2nd Friday. Join your neighbors and meet new friends for dinner, a craft and movie. Now serving Frankie's Pizza, salad, and dessert. What a great deal! Snacks are also available for sale.

Mats are available for the kids to lie on the floor. We encourage children to wear their PJs and bring their blankets, pillows, beanbag chairs and/or sleeping bags.

Age Requirement: For families with children. A tentative schedule of movies is listed below. Please call or email us to suggest a movie you and your family would like to see.For more program information email Cindy or call 425-432-1272.

Family Night is funded in part by generous grants from the Maple Valley Black Diamond Rotary Club, Frankie's Pizza and Maple Valley Signs.

Early Release Classes

Join our NEW Early Release Classes at the Community Center this winter and have fun learning new art techniques and creating unique art. We are happy to welcome Tracy Melger, an elementary school art teacher, who recently moved to Maple Valley. Learn to sew Monster Dolls, create architecture prints,and a lot more. Tracy is busy putting together more classes for your children!

Monster Doll

Kids will learn the basics behind pattern making, proper ways to layout and cut shapes from various fabrics, and basic hand sewing skills to make their own Monster Doll. Basic sewing skills covered in this class will be how to properly & safely handle & thread a needle, three basic stitches: whip stitch, running stitch and blanket stitch, and to how to close up a seam. Students will bring to life their dolls using different type buttons, an array of colored yarns, and all sorts of scrap fabric types. It’s a great tactile class for kids that love to work on 3-D projects and have fun. All materials supplied.

Drawing Nature & Flowers - Still Life Workshop

This class will help students understand the details that can be found in nature and flowers.  Focus will be made on the various parts of flowers like the petals, pistil, & leaves.  This workshop will build hand and eye coordination while focusing on "drawing what you see.”  Students will look at artwork from Dutch Artist Vincent Van Gogh and English Artist David Hockney and then create a drawing by observing an arrangement of flowers. Students will be encouraged to draw big with lots of detail, may it be just one or two flowers or the whole arrangement, and it’s up to the artist. We will talk about color and color mixing as they prepare to complete their piece with oil/pastel and CrayPas. All materials provided & students are encouraged to bring an art smock or old t-shirt to wear.

Let's Draw Food!!

This class will start with a discussion & observation of the various colors and patterns in food.  We will display fruit to create a color wheel.  Some vocabulary words that will be learned and understood will be balance, asymmetrical, symmetrical, & proportions. Students will create different detailed sketches of the fruit and vegetables and identify words to describe their drawings. These observational drawings will help strengthen their eye for detail and memory of everyday objects, along with practicing the use of their fine motor skills! They will then choose their favorite drawing and complete the piece by painting with watercolors.  The fruits and vegetables can be eaten by students for the process of identifying the characteristics of each fruit or vegetable. All materials provided & students are encouraged to bring an art smock or old t-shirt to wear.

For more information email Cindy or call the Community Center at 425-432-1272. NEW classes just added on February 20, 2013!

Safe Sitter®

Better sitters today. Better parents tomorrow.

Safe Sitter® is developed especially for 11 to 13 year olds and offers a curriculum that includes hands-on practice, group interaction, role-playing, games and discussion. For more information visit the Safe Sitter website. Please bring a sack lunch. Parents are invited to attend a celebration ceremony for their Safe Sitter® graduate at 3:40 pm.

Age Requirement: 11 - 13 years old. Call 425-432-1272 to register. For program information email Brandy or call 425-432-1272.

Preschool Fair

Looking for a preschool, but don’t know where to start?

Plan to attend our 16th annual preschool fair in January 2014 and meet with representatives from local schools who will answer all of your questions. Fun, hands-on activities are provided for children. Missed this years event? We have provided you our 2013 Preschool Resource Directory (PDF 523 KB) to help you get started!

Preschool Letter of Invitation (PDF 253 KB)

Preschool Directors: Please complete and return the 2013 Preschool Fair Registration (PDF 111 KB) form to register your preschool. Application must be filled out and emailed to Cindy. Vendors must pre-register to reserve space.

For more program information email Cindy or call 425-432-1272.

School Readiness Workshop

Preparing your child for school

Will your child be ready for school? What will the school expect from them? What can you do to help them be ready? All these question and more will be answered during an informative School Readiness Workshop, regarding school readiness. The workshop is in partnership with Maple Valley Community Center, Tahoma School District and other local agencies. This workshop is FREE!

School Readiness Flyer (PDF 231 KB)

Age Requirement: Families with preschool age children.

For more information email Brandy or call the Community Center at 425-432-1272.

Community Egg Hunt

Hunt eggs in the wilderness

Join the fun at Lake Wilderness Park for our 15th annual Community Egg Hunt. Meet GMVCC’s Spring Bunny and Sparky from Maple Valley Fire & Life Safety. And parents, don't forget to visit the King County Sheriff’s booth where your child can join the “My ID Club”. Participants are encouraged to bring a canned food item to donate to the Maple Valley Food Bank and Emergency Services. Donations of new or gently used children’s books will also be accepted for GMVCC’s annual Peanut Butter Jelly & Books summer outreach program.

PLEASE RECYCLE and DONATE YOUR PLASTIC EGGS AT EVENT or COMMUNITY CENTER!

Age Requirement: Toddlers (walking) through Grade 3.

For more program information email Cindy or call 425-432-1272.

Tina McDonough

GMVCC’s Community Egg Hunt is funded in part by the generous support of the following people and organizations: My ID Club Sponsor Tina McDonough of Re/Max Select Real Estate; Maple Valley Girl Scout Troops who so generously donated their time to stuff over 16,000 eggs; Wilderness Village Plaza (Jim Flynn); Maple Valley Black Diamond VFW; Professional Fire Fighters; Volunteer Fire Fighters; the City of Maple Valley for allowing us to use Lake Wilderness Park; Covington Costco for their donation of a gift card to purchase egg hunt treats; Motorplex Protow, Safeway and BECU for advertising this event; and John Moore of Innovative Images Photography for the beautiful pictures he captured of the event.

Clothing Exchange

The Ultimate Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Event

Join us for our annual clothing exchange. Birth to children's size 18 clothing, shoes and accessories are needed. Maternity and nursing clothes and baby equipment are also welcomed. Items remaining after the event will be donated to charity.

This is how it works! Starting at 4 pm, you can drop off your clean and gently worn clothes and shoes with our Girl Scout volunteers at the back entrance of the Community Center through the covered breezeway. Please have clothes sorted by size so that they can be put on the correct tables. The doors will open at 6pm for you to shop for clothes in the sizes that you need. It's that easy. It is FREE! No money exchanges hands. If you are interested in donating only, the day of the event, you can get a tax receipt for your donations. Clothes must be clean and gently worn to be donated. This is a really fun event. It only happens once a year!

For more information view our Clothing Exchange flyer or email Volunteer Coordinator Kim Chan or GMVCC Children & Family Program Coordinator Brandy or call the Community Center at 425-432-1272.

Cooking 101 & Cooking 102

Mixing math, science, food and fun

Create healthy, delicious and kid-friendly meals that the whole family will enjoy. We will be making breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers and snacks together. The best part will be tasting our meals and re-creating them at home with recipes for everyone. Who knows...you just might get a night or two away from the kitchen this summer! Class size - minimum of 10 kids and maximum of 15.

Age Requirement: 3 1/2 - 9 years. Pre-registration is required. Call 425-432-1272 to pre-register.

For more information email Brandy or call 425-432-1272.

Trick or Trucks

A safe and fun family alternative to traditional trick-or-treating!

Just imagine being four years old again and pretending you are driving a real size dump truck! And to make it even more exciting, the actual dump truck driver gives you candy! What could be better?

On October 31, Halloween day, the GMVCC Children and Family Program will host our annual "TRICK OR TRUCKS" event! The "big rigs" that children see everyday in their community are parked on our lot for this one special night and children are allowed safely climb, sit on, and explore the vehicles and do their trick-or-treating at the same time. Don't forget to wear your costume and join us for all the fun and a special Halloween pizza dinner!

Parking and shuttle service at the Maple Valley Church of the Nazarene.

Age Requirement: Families with children. For more information email Cindy or call 425-432-1272.

BIG TRUCKS NEEDED!
If you would like to participate with your big truck, please email Cindy or call 425-432-1272. Garbage trucks, tow trucks, excavators, backhoes, tractors, buses, street sweepers, YOU NAME IT!

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

We have several Sponsorship Opportunities (PDF 467KB) that will benefit our non-profit organization as well as your business. Sponsor benefits including advertising your business in our monthly calendar, in the newspapers, on our website, and on our Facebook page. Additional opportunities for visibility may be available. For more information about becoming a sponsor, please contact Children & Family Program Director Cindy Pettigrew.

Holiday Lights at the Lodge

Family Crafts

Do not miss the largest display of holiday lights in Maple Valley when the Lake Wilderness Lodge and Arboretum turn on the twinkle. Bring your entire family and experience the thousands of lights that decorate the park.

Inside the Lodge holiday treats will be served and the Greater Maple Valley Community Center Children & Family Program will be hosting the Family Crafts Room. Holiday performances by the Maple Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra and others will take place in and around the Lodge. Venture into the cold to hear the roving carolers sing, ride the train through the twinkling Arboretum, and experience Santa’s arrival on Maple Valley Fire & Life Safety’s Holiday Fire Engine

Family Crafts Room Age Requirement: 2-1/2 to 11 years.

No pre-registration required.

For more information email Cindy or visit the Holiday Lights at the Lodge webpage.

Kids Creations

Holiday Gifts & Decorations

Make the mess at our house as we celebrate the season with our 7th annual Kids Creations by making holiday gifts and decorations. Refreshments will be provided.

Don't forget to bring your camera for a picture with Santa!

Age Requirement: 2-1/2 to 11 years.

For more information email Brandy or call the Community Center at 425-432-1272.