LAST BLAST

8 things kids can do before school starts

Summer is quick ly coming to an end. While you might soon be hitting the school supplies aisle or picking up new clothes, don’t let summer go by without squeezing in a few more moments of fun.

Check out our list of family events and find more at austin360. com/raisingaustin. There, we’re counting down to the first day of school with tips to help you start the year off right.

1. Celebrate the bats.

Yes, we love our bats underneath the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. Austin Bat Fest celebrates everything bat. Congress Avenue Bridge, 100 S. Con- gress Ave. 4 p.m. to midn ight.Aug. 18. $15, kids 8 and younger free. roadwayevents.com/event/bat- fest. You don’t have to wait for the fest to celebrate them. They come out every night around dusk.

Youalsocanheadtolocalcaves to see if you can see any bats there (plus you’ll be much cooler than our 100-plus temperatures above ground). Check out Longhorn Cavern State Park, Inner Space Cavern, Cave Without a Name, Wonder World Park and Natural Bridge Caverns.

2. See some live music.

Hear a different section of the symphony each week during the Austin Symphony Hartman

Concerts in the Park .7:30p.m. Sundays through Aug. 26. Free. The Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Drive. thelongcenter.org. Or see the symphony put music to scenes of nature in National Geographic’s “Symphony for

Our World.” 8 p.m. July 28. $29-$59. The Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Drive. thelongcenter.org Or check out Hey Lolly

Music Sing-Along. 10 a.m. Saturdays through Aug. 4. $3. Scottish Rite Theater, 207 W. 18th St. scottishritethea ter.org. Or Gustafer

Yellowgold. 11 a.m. July 28. $10-$6. Scottish Rite Theater, 207W.1 8th St. scottishritetheater.org something 3. Stay cool new and at learn a museum The Bullock Museum offers Free First Sunday each month. The theme on Aug. 5 is Friendship. Sense-sational Thursdays allows you to explore history with your senses at 10 a.m. Thursdays. Explore Little

Texans, Aug. 9. Create art

during Make It Tuesdays: Round ’Em Up ,A ug .7.You can also explore science at the museum with Daniel G. Benes Science Shows, Aug. 2. Yippee Yay! The rodeo exhibit c omestolife with trick roping. 2 p.m. July

28, Aug. 4, Aug. 18. Bullock Museum, 1800 N. Congress Ave. thestoryoftexas.com Create Ice Paintings dur- ing Contemporary Austin’s August free Families Create eve nt,11a .m. to 3 p.m. Aug.

11. Laguna Gloria, 3809 W. 35th St. thecontemporary- austin.org

The youngest Austinites can Splash Into Summer this August for Baby Bloomers, 9 a.m. Monday and Saturdays at the Thinkery, $5. Kids 4 and older can take the Felt Food workshop in which they will learn to sew by making food out of felt. 10:30 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Aug. 4-5, Aug. 18-19. Let the kids play while you have Parents’ Night Out, 5:30-10 p.m. Aug. 3. Kids must be 4 or older and potty-trained. $45 first child, $25 each additional sibling. Thinkery, 1830 Simond Ave. thinkeryaustin.org

Dr. Kold comestothe Sci- ence Mill and plays with liquid nitrogen. 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Aug. 4. Tumble podcast records “The Surprising Story of Sea Stars’s Sticky Feet.” 11 a.m. Aug. 18. Science Mill, 101 S. Lady Bird Lane, Johnson City. sciencemill.org Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum remembers President Lyndon Baines Johnson during Family Day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 12. Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum, 605 Robert E. Lee Road. umlaufsculpture.org T he Williamson Museum offers Hands on History. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 11. 716 S. Austin Ave. williamsonmuseum.org 4. Get reading again BookPeople has authors coming before school starts. Samantha M. Clark reads “The Boy, the B oat and the Beast.” 2 p.m. July 28; Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Party. E njoy w izardly portraitures, costume contest and scavenger hunt. 6 p.m. July 31. Alexandra Bracken reads “The Darkest Legacy.” 7 p.m. Aug. 2 (at Austin Public Library Central Branch). Vanessa Roeder reads “Lucy and the String.” 2p .m. Aug. 11. Get Curious with Tumble! A Science Party for Kids. 2 p.m. Aug. 12. Bree Barton, Kayla Olson and Cory Putman Oakes read “Heart of Thorns,” “The Sandcastle Empire” and “Witchtown.” 7p.m.Aug.13. BookPeople also has story times every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Upcoming themes include Under the Sea, July 31; Baby Signs, Aug. 1; Shapes and Sizes, Aug. 4; Road Trip, Aug. 7; Ms. Stacy, Aug. 8; All in the Family, Aug. 11; Armstrong Community Music School, Aug. 14; Tiny Tails

AMERICAN-STATESMAN 2010 Isabella Matamorosm, 3, dances along with the Austin Symphony Chamber Winds during the Hartman Concerts in the Park.

ANA RAMIREZ / AMERICAN-STATESMAN The Austin Zoo has three rescue tigers.

NICK WAGNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN 2017 A swimmer floats at Barton Springs Pool.

CONTRIBUTED BY EMILY MORRIS/BULLOCK CREATIVE The rodeo exhibit at the Bullock Museum includes a treasury of rodeo prizes, some works of art in their own right.

CONTRIBUTED Samantha Clark reads “The Boy, the Boat and the Beast” at BookPeople.

“The Boy, the Boat and the Beast” by Samantha Clark