Going on an Easter egg hunt

by Brie I have fond memories of hunting for eggs on Easter morning. I was pretty sure my kids would like it too. One year I decided that instead of hiding little chocolate eggs or presents around the house, I would take the hunt outside and make a party of it!

I invited friends and neighbours to join us at our local park the Saturday morning before Easter. We had snacks and treats, but the real highlight was sending the kids on a hunt for plastic eggs hidden throughout the park. The eggs were filled with stickers that the kids could then sit down and use to decorate construction paper, along with some crayons we brought.

The Easter egg hunt can be made as easy or as hard as you'd like. The eggs can be hidden low to the ground for younger kids or tucked up high into branches or play structures for the older kids.

We had a great time with our Easter egg hunt. It was a fun way to get everyone together and kick off park season. If you have a big enough backyard you could try an outside Easter egg hunt there too!

Does your family have an egg hunt at Easter?

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

Little Scientists

This post is from our friends at the Calgary based blog Kids in Cowtown. by Danielle

With the cold weather we’ve had to find endless indoor activities to fill the days.  I pulled out the old science experiments for kids books I had lying around.  I found them at book sales and from my mother (who likely found them at book sales).  They never out date themselves so it’s the best kind of book to scout out at sales.  I consider this to be a free activity since it was with supplies found around our house.

We decided to be scientists for the day and picked out 3 experiments to run.

Experiment 1 – environment

supplies: clear bowl, water, oil, washing soda

Fill clear bowl with water.  Have your child add the oil and ask them to observe whether it floats or sinks.  Birds feather have some oil on them which help them from sinking.

Have them add the washing soda and observe what happens to the oil.  Adding detergents to the rivers etc keeps birds from being able to float properly.

Experiment 2 – magnets

supplies: cardstock, paperclip, cardboard, strong magnet

Fold cardstock and cut out paper dolls using a tutorial such as this one.  Tape dolls together to form a circle.  Tape a paperclip to one doll’s foot and sit circle on the cardboard.  Hang the cardboard over the edge of a table and place magnet underneath moving it from side to side.  Watch the dolls dance.

Experiment 3 - forensics

supplies: graphite pencil, paper, clear tape

Rub the graphite pencil on a piece of paper.  Firmly press a finger onto the rubbing.  Take a piece of clear tape and place on fingertip.  Remove and stick onto paper.  Have the child look closely at their fingerprints and compare others.

(my daughter loved this one and did her brother’s prints. We then labeled the fingers above the prints.  This is also a great way to have a record of your child’s fingerprints!)

For some more ideas here’s a great site that will help you start science at home.

Danielle is mom to a 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son and always looking for fun things to do with the kids.  She blogs over at fourdayshome.

Beyond books: Spring Break recommendations from the Ottawa Public Library

This post is part of a series of monthly blog posts by Ottawa Public Library children’s librarians! We hope you enjoy today’s post and remember to check back every month for great children’s books ideas. by Angela Madore, Children's Librarian, Greenboro District Branch

Do you have a child, or possibly more than one? Will he, she or they be at home driving you bonkers this March Break? Are you trying to figure out how to keep them entertained for a couple of hours without taking out a second mortgage?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these question-but especially if you’ve said ‘heck, yes!’ to all of them, you should check out your local branch of the Ottawa Public Library. We’re teaming up with some pretty amazing people and organizations this year to bring you some fantastic programs for all ages. Plus, they’re free! Yes, I’ll say it again-they’re free!

Not convinced? Check this out...

The Billings Estate Museumwill be on hand to teach the kids about fossils and they’ll even be able to make their own to take home. Now, if you’re like me you may be wondering what the connection between the Billings Estate museum and fossils is-right? Well, apparently Elkanah Billings was Canada’s first palaeontologist. Who knew?

CKCU radio station will show your kids how to make and record a radio ad-how cool is that? The Currency Museum will be on-hand to teach them how to play fan-tan, a Siamese game of chance and to show them how to make their own tokens. Aboriginal Experienceswill show them how to make petroglyphs or rock art and folks from the Ottawa Lumière Festival (love it!) will help them decorate their own lanterns.

Wait, there’s more…

Staff from Pinhey’s Point Historical Sitewill show the youngsters how to do paper quilling while the Cumberland Heritage Museum will show them how to create their own print and teach them about printing technology from the 20’s. Magician Elliott Smith will astound the kiddies with his nimble hands and trusty scissors (rocks and paper will also be involved) and Darcy Whyte will show them how to make their very own rubber-powered paper planes. Apparently they can fly up to 4 football fields in length. Pretty impressive don’t you think?

And to kick it all off, Surfsidewill be hosting an RPS (Rock, Paper Scissors) tournament, for kids and teens up to age 18, at our Nepean Centrepointe branch on Saturday March 12 @ 2. The winner of the tournament will walk away with a pretty sweet skate deck.

And just so you don’t think that we’ve brought in loads of presenters in order to get out of doing our own programming, here’s just a sampling of some of the fine things that our library staff have in store for you.

We have music-based programs, dance programs, origami programs and puppet theatre programs. We have paper doll programs, writing and drawing programs, family storytimes and gaming programs-yes, we have Wii! I’ve always wanted to say that!

Some of our branches are also offering great programs for teen including gaming, crafts and anime. There is also a babysitting course at Cumberland and two career-themed programs at Nepean Centrepointeas well as a button making program and Wii tournament at Greenboro.

Now that we’ve completely won you over, here are some important things to keep in mind when browsing through our programs database. First of all, not all of these programs are offered at every branch. To make it fair, we’ve tried to offer a few at each branch. Also, because we are a bilingual organization, many programs are offered in French. Check out our website for specific details like program times, dates and locations.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Don’t despair if the programs at your local branch have already filled up. See what other branches still have openings and try somewhere different. There really are many interesting and varied branches in and around the City. Just think of it as an adventure. You may be very glad you did. And the library is always a great place to visit, browse and choose some great reading. See you during the break!

Tobogganing. Is. Awesome.

by Zach  Our two year old boy clung to me, weeping. "It's okay," I said. "I'm going to go on the tobbogan with your sister, okay? You can wait up here with your grandpa."   "No!" he said, and held on tighter. "Okay," I said, "alright." His four year old sister was sitting patiently at the front of the toboggan, ready to tip over the edge of the tiny, tiny hill. I tried to think of some way to compromise.   "Do you want to sit on my lap?" I suggested, not for a second thinking he'd accept that. "Yeah," he said. He wasn't happy, but apparently preferred to think that at least we would all go to our doom together.   I folded my legs and sat him down on my lap, held on tightly, and pushed off.   On the way down, he giggled. "Again!" he yelled when we slid to a stop. So we did, again, and again, and again.   I had high hopes at the beginning of the winter for tobogganing, but I'm a little embarrassed to say that last weekend was only the second time we'd gone tobogganing. The first time amounted to a kind of warm up, with the girl agreeing to watch me slide down a miniscule hill on the toboggan by myself. She laughed, but didn't particularly want to participate. The boy choose to sit in the stroller, out of the wind, and watch us skeptically.   This second round, though, was an enormous success. The girl hopped right on our toboggan that we had bought at a garage sale, probably around five years ago, ready to hurl herself down whatever hill might be closest. Though the boy had been excited when I suggested tobogganing, when he actually saw what it involved, he decided this really was not a good idea after all. However, I think to everyone's relief, he eventually came around and thoroughly enjoyed himself.   We were at Patterson Creek, at Bank Street just south of Patterson Avenue. The former creek bed sits a few feet below the level of the surrounding roads, which means that the park area is almost entirely ringed by toboggan hills perfect for the four year old-ish age group. The area is popular, and I've often seen the corner of the park by Patterson Avenue and Bank Street overrun by families and various snow-sliding devices.   The large amount of space also means that a four-year old can move restlessly around the edges of the park, picking and choosing new places to slide down. There's plenty of street parking, and the Glebe is just a short ways south for hot chocolates and other snacks to bolster little sledders.   Of course, there are loads more hills in Ottawa, and I look forward to dragging the kids to as many as they will tolerate as they get older ... or possibly they'll be the ones dragging me. The city of Ottawa has put together a great list of the hills, which includes details like nearby parking, some of the features of the hills themselves, and potential hazards.   What has your experience been with tobogganing in Ottawa? Do you have a favourite hill, especially for a particular age range? When did you start with your kids, and what were their reactions?

Zach is a dad to a four year old girl and two year old boy. He sometimes blogs. He is often blogged about by his wife over at Capital Mom.

RCMP Stables Open House

By Vicky On Saturday, March 5th, the RCMP Musical Ride Stables are having an open house from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

This annual event raises food and funds for the Ottawa Food Bank. It's also a great opportunity for you and your children to see the  world famous Musical Ride up close! Admission is free, however, donations of canned goods for the Ottawa Food Bank are always welcome.

We first went to this event last year, and it was a learning experience for the whole family! RCMP officers were on hand to answer questions on the care and training of horses. We got to see what a typical day would be like for an Officer on tour with the Musical Ride - everything from Ride training to mucking the stalls!

We were fascinated to see that above each horse's stall there were the names of its' parents and the birth year. We had fun walking around trying to figure out which horses were related!

The Musical Ride Visitor’s Centre and stables are located on the grounds of the Canadian Police College at the end of St. Laurent Blvd. North and Sandridge Rd. The grounds can also be reached via the Aviation Parkway. On site parking is free. The stalls are quite cool, so make sure to dress warmly.

Throughout the day there are also demonstrations and displays by various RCMP services and branches, as well as the Explosives branch and the Ottawa Fire Service.

There are many photo opportunities to be had with the mounted riders, Safety Bear and the RCMP mascot! On your way out you can stop by the Mountie Shop and the Musical Ride Visitors’ Centre too.

For more information visit the RCMP web site.

Vicky is the mom to 4 year old son named Joel and 20 month old daughter named Mieka. You can read her blog at blog Some Kind of Mom.