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Adult kickball

When you were seven, you were the king (or queen) of the pitching mound. Kickball pitching, that is. Somewhere along the line, however, you went from being the first picked on the playground to sitting on the bench on the JV team to simply sitting in college. Well, this summer you can seize the opportunity to get off the couch and relive your glory days as an illustrious member of the World Adult Kickball Association. Registration for the Boston Ironsides or the new Somerville Minutemen is $62 for the summer, with games scheduled on a weekly basis. And since the idea is mainly about fun and socializing, and only slightly about raw athleticism, each game is followed by free food, cheap drinks, and much inter-team merriment at the respective sponsor bar — Brookline’s An Tua Nua for the Ironsides and Union Square’s Independent for the Minutemen. The Boston division is filling up fast and registration ends on June 12, but sign-up for the Minutemen stays open through June 22 (the second week of games). So play, eat, drink, and rabble-rouse. Just remember that you have to be 21 to join in the fun.

World Adult Kickball Association, www.worldkickball.com

Adult dodgeball

Some of you see the word "dodgeball" and immediately cut out like, well, the fat kid in dodgeball. Don’t worry — we feel your pain. But the game is different now. Everyone is an adult, most of us have given up on ever really being cool, and, more important, we’ve realized that losing in gym class doesn’t make you a loser. So let’s give it another try, shall we? Big Kids Dodgeball is just dying to host your team. It holds tournaments of co-ed teams made up of eight to 10 players, competing for the greatest reward: ultimate Boston bragging rights. All the games are held at Basketball City downtown, and they’ve got referees and, like, actual rules and regulations. So grab your friends and go peg some old bullies. There’s a good chance they’re not as big as you remember them.

Big Kids Dodgeball, (617) 894-6228, bigkidsdodgeball@hotmail.com; www.bigkidsdodgeball.com

Mapparium at the Christian Science Center

Summer is all about letting your brain shut down while your hedonistic impulses kick in. You drink too much, you sleep too much, you stay out too long in the sun. You watch reruns and read romance novels. And it’s nice, sure. But every so often, something begins to stir from within the inner haze. It’s ... a thought! You kind of feel like ... learning something. But let’s not strain that poor sunburned noodle of yours. Head to the Mary Baker Eddy Library’s Mapparium at the Christian Science Center. It’s a three-story, stained-glass, illuminated globe that reflects the world as it was known at the time of the dome’s creation in 1935. Walk through this historical marvel and across the glass bridge, watch the multimedia presentation illustrating the vast transformations the world has undergone, and if you’re lucky, catch a special performance of the Big Blue Earth musical collaboration and synchronized light show. Sure it’s shiny, it’s pretty, but make no mistake about it — it’s downright educational.

Mary Baker Eddy Library Mapparium, 200 Mass Ave, Boston, (617) 450-7000 or (888) 222-3711; www.marybakereddylibrary.org

Chinatown and North End market tours

Ever walk around Chinatown and marvel at the hundreds of herbs and roots and dried whatchamacallits and wonder how they’re used? Or do you stroll through the alleys of the North End and wonder where you could possibly find ingredients as delicious as the ones used in the local restaurants? What you need is a market tour. Bik Ng will lead you through the streets of Chinatown, revealing the mysteries behind ancient Chinese herbal remedies and other exotic ingredients, as well as offering you samples of many Chinese delicacies. Michele Topor will guide you around the North End, taking you to the best pasticcerias and salumerias and teaching you the ins and outs of an authentic Italian meal. Both women are absolute troves of knowledge and will leave you feeling like an expert yourself. And full. You’ll feel very full.

Mein Dish Tours by Bik Ng, bik@meindish.com; www.meindish.com. Michele Topor North End Market Tours, (617) 523-6032, info@micheletopor.com; www.cucinare.com

Hall’s Pond Sanctuary

Sometimes you just need to get out of the city without really getting out of the city. You don’t want to deal with traffic or hotels or camping or any of that, but you also know that if you spend one more minute surrounded by sweaty commuters, you will absolutely freak out. Well, just chill out for a minute, because you can get away right in the middle of everything at Hall’s Pond Sanctuary, behind Beacon Street in Brookline. This five-acre haven of woods and wetlands is one of only two remaining natural ponds in Brookline, and provides a valuable habitat for many different varieties of birds, including blue herons, kingfishers, and red-winged blackbirds. Follow the nature trail, sit in the gazebo, breathe in the fresh air, and thank the town of Brookline for keeping some things sacred. If they didn’t, you might have caused a ruckus on the T.

Hall’s Pond Sanctuary, behind 1120 Beacon Street, Brookline.

Literary tour of Boston

Boston is a city rich in literary history and talent. Minds automatically wander to thoughts of Emerson, Thoreau, and Walden Pond, but there’s so much more. From June 16 through October 16, take a tour with the Literary Trail of Greater Boston to find out. It has routes in downtown Boston that include the Boston Athenaeum, the historic Nichols House Museum in Beacon Hill, and the Omni Parker House (now hotel), where Dickens used to stay, which hosted the famous Saturday Club of which Hawthorne, Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. were members. Of equal importance, the Omni Parker House is the site of the very first Boston cream pie. If that’s not enough for you, there are fascinating tours in Concord, and a brand-new Cambridge trail will be opening in July. Tickets are $30, and you must make reservations in advance. Who says summer can’t be fun and educational? Really, who? We demand to know.

Literary Trail of Greater Boston, (617) 621-4020, info@literarytrailofgreaterboston.org; www.literarytrailofgreaterboston.org

High tea

High tea, while maintaining an extraordinarily high level of refinement and elegance, is also just about the cutest thing in the world. Everything’s mini! Mini sandwiches, mini pastries, little teapots, delicate tiny china cups and plates, and what is the story with the tea caddy? Is that not the neatest thing you’ve ever seen? It is fitting that Boston, being in New England and all, would have an impressive array of high teas from which to choose. There’s the Ritz-Carlton, where tea-goers dine in a beautifully appointed room of draperies and overstuffed settees, while a harpist plays in the background. The Four Seasons around the corner offers a more modern setting, with views of the Public Garden and a sumptuous menu. Swan’s Café, in the Boston Park Plaza, offers formal tea service every afternoon featuring scrumptious petits fours and finger sandwiches, as well as freshly baked scones and cream. Also worth trying is teatime at the Boston Harbor Hotel’s Café Intrigue, while the high tea at the Inn at Harvard features such nontraditional offerings as brownies. So throw on your pillbox hat and butter up that crumpet, and don’t forget to make reservations wherever you choose to go.

Ritz-Carlton, 15 Arlington Street, Boston, (617) 912-3355; www.ritzcarlton.com. Four Seasons, 200 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 338-4400; www.fourseasons.com. Boston Park Plaza, 64 Arlington Street, Boston, (617) 426-2000; www.bostonparkplaza.com. Boston Harbor Hotel, 70 Rowes Wharf, (617) 439-7000; www.bhh.com. The Inn at Harvard, 1201 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 491-2222; www.theinnatharvard.com