KidSport: supporting sports in Ottawa

by Josée My husband is a middle school teacher who loves teaching gym and coaching various teams; he's seen first-hand the wonderful effects that participating in sports has on kids. Getting kids involved in sports definitely improves their physical fitness, but it also does much, much more. It raises their self-esteem, develops their leadership skills, teaches them to work as a team, instills discipline, and gives them a safe, positive outlet for all that energy. Needless to say, my husband insists that our children participate in a variety of sports programs. We first enrolled them in the City of Ottawa's Parent and Tot gymnastics program when they were six months old!

As physical education programs are slashed from school curriculum and our kids become increasingly addicted to computers and television, the prevalence of sports in their lives will only continues to diminish. More and more, we need to take active measures to make sure our children get the exercise that they need. My family is lucky that we can cover the costs of putting our kids in sports; not every family has the means, especially as registration fees and equipment costs keep increasing. I recently discovered that Ottawa has a wonderful non-profit organization, KidSport™ Ottawa, whose mission is to help disadvantaged children and youth overcome social and economic barriers preventing or limiting their participation in organized sport. They do this by providing grants for registration fees and/or equipment to eligible families. Their staffing and overhead expenses are funded through government grants, so every penny donated goes to help disadvantaged youth here in Ottawa.

KidSport™ Ottawa offers grants, SportShips and SportsCamp assistance programs. The deadline for grants for sports taking place between April 1st and August 31st is February 15th. If you know a child who faces social and/or economic barriers that keep him or her from participating in sports, KidSport™ Ottawa may be able to help.

KidSport™ Ottawa could use a little help, too. They have a great relationship with Play It Again Sports Ottawa- you can bring your used sports equipment to Play It Again Sports Ottawa and ask that the proceeds be directed to the KidSport™ Ottawa consigment account. You can visit their website and make a monetary donation; or you can volunteerat one of their many activities, like the 1st Annual Polar Bear Hockey Tournament and the KidSport™ Ottawa Skate-a-Thon that took place at Brewer Park on Saturday, February 12th.

I really love this organization's motto: KidSport™ Ottawa - So ALL kids can play! I think that says it all.

Joséeis mom to three-year old daughter B.G., and one-year old son Bonhomme.  She is always searching for fun and frugal Ottawa events and activities, and puts her research to good use at her website, www.frugalfunottawa.ca.

Ontario Early Years Centre

by Yumi The Ontario Early Years Centre (OEYC) calls itself “a place for parents and their children”. I call it “a place that has kept me sane”.  There are locations all over Ontario, with several in the Ottawa area.

I've been bringing my 11-month-old son “Moe” to the playgroups at the OYEC Don Reid location since he was 10 weeks old. At that point, it was more of an outing for me than for him. But it has since become one of his (and my) favourite places to play – and with good reason. We get to play in a bright, spacious area with lots of wonderful high-quality toys. The toys are kept very clean, and there is a wide variety from which to choose. There are different areas for different types of play, including imaginative, crafts, and sensory. And there are lots of wonderful children with whom he can play!

Playgroups are for children ages 0 to 6. Parents with children under one may prefer the Baby and Me playgroup where a smaller “infant friendly” area is blocked off for play. All playgroups have unstructured play time, followed by circle time with songs and a story. Sometimes, instead of circle time, there will be an expert on hand to answer parents' questions – it could be a lactation consultant, a speech therapist, a nutritionist, etc.

Mealtime or snacktime is really easy at the OEYC. Nursing mothers are welcome and accommodated – there's a rocking chair, nursing pillows, and several sofas. It isn't hard to find a quiet little nook for moms who prefer privacy. For older kids, there are high chairs. There's even a kitchen with a fridge and a microwave.

While Moe loves playtime at the OEYC, I've really enjoyed chatting with the other parents. It's a great place to get an idea about ages and stages, to share experiences and contacts and just get a little adult face time.

The OEYC has many other services, too. They hold playgroups at satellite sites around the area. They have a fantastic free toy-lending library, a monthly storytime at Chapters, and a Daddy & Me playgroup (open to dads, grandads and uncles) on the fourth Sunday of every month.

They also offer a number of fantastic workshops. Some are for parents and older kids – for example, Little Chefs is for 3- to 6-year-olds. Others, held in the evenings, are just for parents. There's a monthly Child Care Connection meeting where parents can meet and interview day care providers who have open spots. Other great workshops being offered in the next few months include a baby sign language class, a discussion evening about raising confident children, and a Q and A with a public health nurse. Parents can also take advantage of the OEYC's resource library where books and videos for parents and children are available for loan.

The best part? All playgroups and (just about) all workshops are free of charge! For the location nearest you, check out the general OEYC website . Information about the Don Reid location can be found on their website.

Yumi Webster (@yumikid) loves her job, but is dreading her return to work after a year off with her incredible son “Moe”. You can read about Moe's adventures at kidsquared.livejournal.com, and about Yumi's own adventures at yumikid.livejournal.com. Yumi has lived in Ottawa all her life.

Birthday fun at the Putting Edge

by Dani For his seventh birthday, my middle son Simon wanted a party at the Putting Edge, an indoor glow-in-the-dark mini-golf place tucked in behind the Costco off Merivale Road. One of his classmates had had a party there in the fall, and Simon was adamant that this would be the best place for his party.

In Simon's estimation (which is, really, the only one that counts!) the Putting Edge party was the best! one! ever! With three boys, we've been to lot of party places: A Gym Tale, Starr Gymnastics, Merivale Bowling, Cosmic Adventures, Playtime4Kids -- so many, in fact, that I wrote a giant blog post about fun places to have a birthday party in Ottawa last year! -- and so "best ever" is pretty high praise indeed!

Our party started out with 45 minutes dedicated to putt-putt, which was choreographed and supervised by the wonderful party hosts. (More about them later.) We then had an hour in a semi-private cubicle for pizza, cake and presents, and a final 15 minutes where the kids were set free in the mini-arcade clutching fistsful of tokens.

Blacklight birthday party

(It's a great place for a party, but a real challenge if you're a camera-toting photo junkie of a mom! That black light might be fun, but it is not favourable to anyone's complexion!)

They broke our party of 10 into two groups for the golf. The party host was great about keeping them on the course, keeping them laughing and engaged with silly activities like zombie walking, and keeping them from giving each other concussions via out-of-control putters. (Oy, boys!) We were there for 11:15 on a Sunday morning and had the place to ourselves, which was a terrific fluke of luck, but I've heard the place can be chaos at other times of day.

It was really the party hosts, Pat and Daniel, that elevated this to one of my favourite-ever locations for a birthday party. They were thoughtful and considerate, both to me and the guests. They sweetly offered a putter and ball to not-quite-three-year-old Lucas and the 13-year-old family friend who was tagging along to keep an eye on him, even though we didn't pay for them to play as part of our package. The hosts anticipated our every need, from a lighter for candles to drink refills to shepherding presents to offering to wrap up leftover chips and wash our cake ornaments for us. They were easily two of the most charming young fellows I've come across in the service industry. With someone to watch the toddler and the party hosts taking care of the details, I felt like I was actually attending and enjoying Simon's party, rather than simply enduring it!

38:365 Happy Birthday Simon!

Putting Edge offers several party packages from the bare-bones Birthday Special at $15.95 per guest to the Ultimate Package at (eek!) $24.95 per guest, with an à la carte menu of extra services. Since we wanted a lunch-time slot, we chose the Funtastic Package at $19.95 per guest, and feel like we got our money's worth and more.

Simon and his friends had a blast, the Putting Edge did all the work, and the parents and grandparents had a great time -- what more could you ask for?

Danielle Donders lives in Manotick with her Beloved and three little boys. She has been blogging about Ottawa family fun and just about anything else that pops into her mind since 2005 at Postcards from the Mothership.

Kids in the Capital is conducting a survey this week to learn more about our readers and better understand what kind of information you’d like to see here.  Please take 5 minutes to answer, and you’ll be entered into a draw for a free photo from Sara McConnell Photography at the Red, White and Love event on February 12. Click here to take survey

A wonderful toy store in Orléans - LMNOP Toys!

by Joanne About a year ago my family found a wonderful place… a place filled with Playmobile, Zoob, Melissa and Doug… and only a 5 minute drive from our house!  LMNOP Toys and Games is a local toy store filled with toys that will feed your child’s imagination and creativity.

Located in Orleans next to Sobeys’s (corner of Trim and Innes) this wonderful place stocks the most amazing toys.

If Santa is looking for French language toys – he will find many to fill his sleigh!  What makes this store number one on my list is it carries lots of French language toys.   If you are francophone family or your child is in French immersion, you know that it is not always easy to find educational games in French – they have a wonderful selection of French language board games to choose from.

If the good boys and girls on your list want toys they can build - they also have a wonderful selection of Zoob – if you are not familiar with Zoob it is a great building toy that kids can snap together and make many different creations.  My little man really enjoys his Zoob.  We play with it often – the limits are his imagination!

For the hard to shop for grandparents who love doing puzzles with the grand kids they have a wide selection of Ravensburger puzzles for all ages.

It is our first stop for birthday presents and where my kids often spend their allowances!

When I am looking for something extra special, not the typical present that takes a dozen AA batteries and will keep my kids occupied for hours – I know I can find it at the wonderful LMNOP toys.

LMNOP Toys 5160 Innes Road Orleans Ontario www.lmnoptoys.ca (613) 834-8697

Joanne  is the proud mom of Amélie (8 years old) and Mathieu (5 years).  She is new at blogging and you can find her at Our Money Pit.

Gotta Paint for Christmas!

by Alicia An advantage to having a child is avoiding the expensive Christmas gifts and presenting family and friends something handmade from your little ones.  These are the gifts that will be truly treasured.

For my son’s first Christmas last year, we went to Gotta Paint to create some unique gifts.  Gotta Paint is a ceramic, mosaic and glass fusing studio.  They have various ceramic pieces that are easy for children to handle like mugs, plates, tea pots, bowls, piggy banks and wine goblets. Currently for Christmas, they also have a huge selection of Christmas shaped plates, ornaments, and knick knacks.

We decided to paint a couple of ceramic plates for Grandparents last year using handprint and footprint art. The wonderful staff helped us through the whole process (especially the hold-press-release of the very wiggly hands and feet). They had all kinds of ideas for us and we also found inspiration from samples of other children’s art displayed on the shelves and walls.  We were very happy with how they turned out!

Once we finished painting, the plates were sent off to be glazed and fired in the oven and we were able to pick them up at a later date. We purchased a plate stand for each and now our son’s Grandparents can display their plates every Christmas and remind all of us just how small those fingers and toes once were!

This Christmas season our son was able to do some of the painting himself and proudly painted some ornaments and a mug. We made an appointment and sneaked in just in time before the Christmas deadline.

Check out Gotta Paint’s online calendar to view daily promotions.  We especially like their Food Bank days; with a donation to the Food Bank they wave your studio fees!  You are encouraged to call ahead to book an appointment (appointments are needed during this busy season) and although Christmas deadlines have past, they have a number of great promotions during the winter holidays.

Will your children be giving handmade gifts to family and friends this year? Don’t forget to put your child’s name and age on the back or bottom of the keepsake!

Alicia is mom to 19 month old, little E, and is new to blogging. You can read her blog at, I Found My Feet.