Toe Jam Puppet Band (Various Locations)

The Toe Jam Puppet Band is typically at the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, MA every Monday at 10:30am and 12:30am.  It turns out that they do all sorts of shows and also have CDs.  Even though they have pictures of all sorts of outdoor events, the Buttonwood Park Zoo gives them a classroom size room for quite a little party.  This YouTube video seems old because the gray haired hippie now has a long goatee with several elastics in it, but this video definitely gives a picture of the party happening today.  VIDEO  The two main guys were accompanied by a young saxophonist and a young (I think) bassist.  The group as a whole seemed to be high energy dead heads, which was absolutely fine with us (I apologize for the oxymoron, but trust me, it works).

Today was absolutely pouring, and I was home from work on a personal day, so we took some time out from the day's drama and went to the Buttonwood Park Zoo.  We didn't have to pay the regular admission because we are members, but we did have to pay to be admitted into the Toe Jam Puppet Band's Benefit for Victims of the Earthquake in Haiti.  It only costs $5 per family and $2 per person if it's a school or daycare or some sort of large group, but we didn't see any large groups today.  100% of their profits today went to the Red Cross.

It's clear that there are some kids who go all the time, so they know that they should sit right behind the red line and stay in the little mosh pit of children for fun.  Our two year old wasn't quite ready for that, so we hung out in the back for a while and danced ourselves with a few other families who were doing the same.  Our 10 month old LOVED the music and was shaking her arms and head wildly when the a song's tempo sped up.

The routine of these guys is to show some transparencies of funny things (dragons, ants, silly people) on the wall and get the kids to shout.  They also have a bunch of songs that ask the kids to run in a circle like wild maniacs following the silly guy with the brown beard.  Our son joined in when the "host type" guy ran around with a little bubble maker during a song.  Our boy was then into it and separated from us.  Unfortunately, he ran right in front of the aforementioned guy with the brown beard, and the guy tripped over him.  Thankfully, he didn't crush other children, our son or the large bearded man.  Our son did get kneed in the back and wiped out, but he thought it was hilarious and continued to pretend to be an airplane.  The guy didn't seem annoyed at all that he wiped out while performing.  10 points for him!

They let you take carriages right into the room, which was awesome for our daughter.  There are also restrooms immediately outside the room that the band is in.  Maybe I have missed this in other places, but I was soooooo thrilled that when I went to change my daughter on the ladies' room changing table, I didn't have to balance her on my lap in a small stall to be able to go myself.  In the large handicapped stall, there is a tiny plastic seat, it looks like a little car seat.  I buckled her right in there, and I did not have to do some sort of bacteria ridden balancing act against the stall wall.   We have been going to that zoo for years, and I have never noticed that before.

We left the Toe Jam party before it was over because our son didn't understand when it would be his turn to play the instruments and wouldn't let it go.  Because it was pouring rain, we went out the side door and ran to the  aquatic center, a building right after the bears near the path to the elephants.  

Despite musty smell that lets us know that fish live in there, it was awesome.  We were alone, so our son moved the stools himself to check out the turtles, snakes, fish, and other animals.  There were also some birds that were flying around on their own.  Our son said, "Watch out daddy.  The bird's beak is very sharp!"  He was right, but we assume the birds were supposed to be "free range" because we have seen them on the loose before.

My husband and I agree that the Toe Jam Puppet Band at the Buttonwood Park Zoo is pretty cool for our kids, but we probably would not bring them during the summer unless we could be guaranteed that there would be no school aged children.  School aged children would surely trample the toddlers.