Canadian Museum of Nature 2013-2014 Season Preview

By Helene The Canadian Museum of Nature is largely defined by its impressive collection of prehistoric fossils, so with the 100th anniversary of the museum’s fossil gallery this year, it is a great time to visit. The museum celebrated the milestone at the recent launch of the 2013-2014 season. It has interspersed photos and short stories about the fossils on display, telling the story of how far they’ve come. The gallery easily impresses all ages; however, with primarily framed black & white images, this programming will mostly appeal to adults.

More intriguing for kids will be the live fossil preparation Saturdays from 1- 4pm only in November. The winner of last spring’s Dino Idol “Canadian Club” will be among the fossils to be prepared for study (right in the fossil gallery!). They have been sealed in large plaster field jackets since they were collected in Alberta about 100 years ago.

Other highlights this season include Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants, from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, looks at how ants live, work and play through photography.

Also, the return of a favourite - Frogs: A Chorus of Colours, 25 Sept 2013 through 11 May 2014, was a highlight of my family’s visits to the museum in 2010. Finding frogs from around the world camouflaged in their “natural habitat” is fun for all family members. Hint: bring a stroller or folding stool as many of the displays are out of a toddler’s sightline. A number of hands-on activities such as frog mini-golf complete the experience.

Looking ahead:

For adults and children alike:

Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence, from 3 May – 9 November 2014, focuses on organisms (from the typical fireflies to fish and mushrooms) that light up or glow in the dark and promises to be awe-inspiring. On view for the first time in Canada, it is organized by the American Museum of Natural History Museum in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Nature and The Field Museum in Chicago.

For the culturally-minded:

Arctic Fest, 2nd Edition (April 2-6, 2014) and Arctic Voices (Nov 2014) First introduced last April, this festival aims to connecting Canadians young and old to Canada's northern heritage through fascinating stories. A collaboration with Science North.

For the science-buff:

X-rays of Arctic Fishes (Jan – June 2014) A small exhibit looking at the architecture of Arctic fishes.

For the explorer:

Passenger Pigeon – Extinct for a Century (June – December 2014) This once common bird in eastern North America became extinct with the world's last Passenger Pigeon dying in 1914.

For the visual:

Canadian Wildlife Photography of the Year, 6th Edition (May –September 2014) Award-winning photos from Canadian Geographic’s 2013 national photo contest.

For the movie buff:

3D movies Penguins 3D and The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D round out any visit.

A surcharge applies for entry to the special exhibitions, Frogs and Creatures of Light, as well as 3D movies.

Apple Picking at Mountain Orchard

It's that time of year again. The air is getting crisper and the kids are settling into their school routine. For me, fall always means apple picking. Every fall for the past several years, my girls gather a bunch of friends and we go apple picking. Mountain Orchard has always been our orchard of choice. It's a great place for families, it's close to Ottawa (only a short 40 minute drive on the 416 toward Kempville) and the majority of the trees there are actually the direct descendants of the original McIntosh tree, first discovered by John McIntosh in Dundela, Ontario, in 1829. I think that's pretty cool.

Mountain Orchard is about more then just apple picking. There are corn maizes, wagon rides, a hay jump and (best of all) the hot fresh apple cider donuts that are made right in front of you. They are the real reason we go back every year. Well, that and the fresh apple cider.

My girls love climbing into the apple trees to get the apples and there are trees for kids of all ages - with ladders for the older kids to climb and low hanging branches for the little ones.

No matter where you go apple picking, it's a great way to spend time with your family and friends and get outside to enjoy the fall weather. All the apple orchard near Ottawa are open now and many, like Mountain Orchard, are open every day until the apple picking season is done (usually by the end of September).

Have you been apple picking yet? We're going again this weekend! 

The Colour Run is Coming to Ottawa

On August 25^th, the Color Run is coming to Ottawa. The Color Run, also known as the ‘Happiest 5k on the Planet’, is a weird and wild paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness and individuality. From it’s debut in January 2012, it has focused on fitness and fun rather than who wins. In fact, there’s no winner at all. Or hundreds of winners. Depending on how you look at it. With only two rules, the concept of the Color Run is easy to follow:

1. Wear white at the starting line
2. Finish plastered in colour

I know it sounds a bit daunting – a 5K run – but don’t worry. This run is for everyone – kids and families – at all levels of fitness. Remember, there are no winners. The whole point of the run is FUN!

So get your whites on and head down to the Canadian Tire Centre on August 25^th. It's $50 for individuals to register and $45/person for teams of 4. Kids under 5 are free.  The fun starts at 9 am.

Stay tuned for more about the Color Run. We’re sending Andrea Lie and her daughter down to the event so we’ll have a first hand account of the color mayhem. 

Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants - A Giveaway (Closed)

Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Secret Life of Ants is a new exhibit at the Museum of Nature. We sent Andrea and her kids to scout out the digs and they loved it. You can read about their adventures here. The collection is on loan from the Smithsonian and features 39 incredible, large-format images from Mark W. Moffett, who the National Geographic Society describes as “the Indiana Jones of entomology.” The exhibit is jam-packed with all kinds of interesting information about how ants work, hunt, live and communicate.

Now for the giveaway part

We have a family pass for one lucky family (2 adults and 2 kids) to visit the Museum of Nature and The Hidden Life of Ants.  The pass includes admission to the Hidden Life of Ants exhibit and all the regular exhibits but some special exhibits and movies may have additional fees. In order to qualify you must answer tell us one fun fact about ants (or even just why you love ants!).  Leave your answer in the comments below and we'll pick a winner at random on August 5th. Good luck!

Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants

By Andrea In the summer months we aim to keep them out of our homes. At picnics we do everything to avoid them. On the front patio stones the kids catch and examine them. We consider them a pest but is there more than meets the eye? Yes!

If you've ever watched ants at work you discover their behaviour, anatomy and purpose is more complex than we generally understand. This spark of interest is satisfied at the Canadian Museum of Nature's new visiting exhibition, Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants on loan from the Smithsonian.

When the opportunity to preview and blog about a new feature at the CMN presented itself, I gladly accepted. Our membership allows us to foster our children's education and this exhibit is a compliment to junior elementary science curriculum where insects are studied.

When you enter the gallery you notice the large, colourful photos of magnified ants. Through the eyes of a child, this is what macro photography was meant for: seeing bugs up close and in detail. Mark W. Moffet, an award-winning photographer for National Geographic, lends 39 large-sized photos of ants which capture their behaviour, their roles in their ant-heap and their habitat.

In addition to the images there are two aquarium-like encasements at a child's eye-level allowing them to observe ant colonies at work. My children were especially interested in the honeypot ants but also intrigued by having poisonous ants carry seeds to feed their young beneath their fingertips. An effective visual was the casting of an ant colony's underground habitat. When you consider that we only see the small hill of dirt and a hole, it opens their eyes to a whole new underground world!

The exhibition opened July 26th and runs until January 5, 2014. It can be found to the left of the stairs behind the main desk at the front entrance. The cost of admission and/or membership includes access to this exhibit as well as several fun activities held throughout the summer. The following activities are for visitors of all ages and run until September 2nd.

IT'S A TRAP! INSECT TRAP MAKING WORKSHOP

• Daily at 10AM, 11AM, 2PM and 3PM

ANT SCAVENGER HUNT

• 
Daily

ANT CRAFT

• Saturdays and Sundays, 9:30AM – noon

PICNIC TIME

• 
Daily 11AM - 2PM

ARTIST IN THE GALLERY

• Irena Lyubchenko, August 19 - 23, 1PM - 4PM
• Dinorah Catzalco, August 26 - 30, 1PM - 4PM

I found this exhibit to be accessible, appealing and informative to my three children of different ages. Enjoy your visit!

Andrea is a happily married stay-at-home mother of three amazing children who loves her friends, family, art, music and takes too many photographs. She blogs here.