Three things to do this weekend in Ottawa (March 5-6)

Sugarbush Season is in full ‘spring’!

This week we’d like to highlight The Log Farm, which begins its sugarbush experience on March 5th. They are located at 670 Cedarview Road in Nepean. There will be wagon rides out to the sugarbush to see how the syrup is made, walks through the trails and hands-on experiences of garthering sap (as long as weather cooperates). There is also access to the main farmyard with friendly animals, hay structures and sensory tables. Don’t forget to tour the pioneer farmhouse!

Purchase your tickets ahead of time to avoid disappointment!

Pacific Discovery Tank

The Canadian Museum of Nature has some new aquatic residents: live anemones, urchins, sea cucumbers, sea stars and more are now on view in a newly-unveiled interactive feature in the Water Gallery. The Pacific Discovery Tank is 14.6-feet (almost five metres) long and reveals the interesting creatures that inhabit tide pools (shallow pools of water along rocky shores that are exposed during low tide).

With transparent sides and installed at children’s eye-level, the tank is a window into the wonders of tide-pool life that’s easily accessible for all visitors. On weekends and Thursday evenings, museum interpreters will be at the tank, and the public will be able to touch some of the creatures under the educator’s guidance during those times. The tank will also be staffed during school breaks and holidays.

Outdoor rink at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

If you’re looking for an outdoor activity close by, the Ag and Food Museum has an outdoor skating rink under the Pavilion. Make sure to pack your skates and helmet! While you’re there you can also do a winter craft, check out the science of maple syrup and watch museum guides make delicious maple butter! Book your tickets in advance, and might I suggest Saturday if you want to use the outdoor rink? Sunday looks crazy warm and very rainy (but perfect for some indoor museum time!)

Winter Wonderland Getaway - Arrowhead Provincial Park

Even though things are opening up, I don’t feel comfortable flying anywhere yet (one of my kids is immunocompromised, so we are extra careful… no matter how much I would love to have a beach vacation right about now!), so we looked closer to home for a getaway to escape the cabin fever that always hits in February.

My checklist for planning a winter break was: close enough to comfortably drive there in a day, lots of activities for the kids, and not super expensive. Googling word jumbles like “fun winter activities kids families Ontario Quebec” led me to read about Arrowhead Provincial Park, a not-so-well-kept secret just outside Huntsville, in the Muskokas. Seeing photos of the hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and skating trails in a gorgeous part of Ontario convinced me we had to try it!

Now, luckily for me, I start dreaming about planning trips many, many months in advance, so I was able to snag one of the very few winterized cabins in the park itself (and I have a lot of experience trying to book the best campsites the second the Ontario Parks website opens up bookings!), so we had a fantastic location within the park itself, but there are plenty of small hotels and motels within 5km of Arrowhead that are open year-round in case you miss that precious booking window. I am grateful to not have had to bring all our camping equipment there, and only had to worry about packing our clothes, food, and winter gear.

 On our first full day, we did so many runs on the 1.3km skating trail through the woods. The ice was perfectly maintained, and even my five-year-old, who is still a bit nervous on skates, had so much fun! I realized the next day that the park office has skating support frames for kids to borrow- by that point she didn’t need it though! The park also rents out any winter gear you might need (so I didn’t actually need to bring all of our snowshoes!), including skates, skis and helmets.

On our second day, we skated more, and explored some of the other trails. My fitbit tells me we covered 14km in a combination of snowshoeing and hiking, with an extra 4km on skates! It was one of a handful of days I can remember that my very, very energetic children have told me that they are tired (thank goodness because I had zero energy left to do more by late afternoon!) so we headed into Huntsville for some hot chocolates at Starbucks and then picked up some pizza to bring back to the cabin. Everyone was asleep by 7:30 (something else that is unheard of normally in my family!), and the 3.5 hour car ride home the next day was calm and quiet too (I mean, there were still a few of the usual “His leg is on my siiiiiiiide” and “She’s looking out MY window” comments, but it was much quieter than usual!).

There are still at least a few more weeks of wintery weather ahead of us, if you’re looking for an active getaway that your kids will love (and be tired out by!), Arrowhead is a perfect escape.

Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored, just my thoughts about an awesome spot not too far from Ottawa .

Julia is a health educator and homeschooling Mama to three kids, and can usually be found on hiking trails or camping in the deep dark woods. 

Three things to do this weekend in Ottawa (February 25th - 27th)

I’m getting so excited about the re-opening of everything (and glad to have our city back!) that I want to share some regular activities happening every weekend, now through spring. I feel like we all need a little pick-me-up, and what better way to boost the spirits then to get out of the house and DO something.

If you have events or activities you’d like to share, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at kidsinthecapital@gmail.com

Canadian Museum of Nature Reopens!

Book your tickets to get back to one of our favourite museums! Don’t forget to check out the owls if you haven’t seen them yet.

Maple Syrup Season Begins

Stanley’s Olde Maple Lane Farm opens this weekend! Starting Saturday, February 26th, they will be open on weekends from 10am-3pm until Sunday April 17th. They have taffy, tractor-drawn rides and a barn full of animals.
Admission: $8.50 per person. Children 2 & under are free.

NAC Opens In-Person Shows

In collaboration with Capital Pride, check out DESIIRE on Friday February 25th, a Congolese, Queer singer-songwriter who delivers a unique blend of Afro, R&B, Electronic & Hip Hop to create music that is filled with hypnotic instrumentals and vocal moody simplicity.

Saturday night is Toronto Comedy All Stars: a collection of Toronto’s best standup comedians who bring their A game to Ottawa for an unforgettable evening of comedy!

Still time for snowshoeing and tubing

Winter isn’t over yet, even if many of us are tiring of all the ice/rain/snow mix. I’ve heard Countryside Adventures is super fun, as well as Le Domaine de l’Ange Gardien.

2022 is the Year of the Garden

The Canadian Garden Council (CGC) has proclaimed 2022 as the Year of the Garden to commemorate Canada’s garden heritage, celebrate today’s vibrant garden culture, and participate in initiatives that will create a sustainable future for our children.

Being the gardeners that we are, we’re ALL over this! And we’re assuming many Ottawa families will want to jump on board, too. The CGC is working to have parliament officially declare 2022 as the Year of the Garden, and you could email/call your local municipalities to push for this initiative.

The initiative will officially launch on March 20th, the first day of spring, and we’ll be covering a number of different stories related to gardening here in Ottawa. We also want to invite our many followers to share their stories and gardening adventures with us. If you have a fun and interesting story about gardening with kids, please email us at: kidsinthecapital@gmail.com

In the meantime, who’s already shopping for seeds? I know I am! Here’s a roundup of some of our past posts related to gardening:

Will it Grow? Experiments for Kids in Growing Veggies

The Vegetable Gardener and the Art of Seed Saving

Worm Composting Made Easy

Quick and Easy Guide to a Veggie Garden

What you wished you’d been told about gardening with children

As you can see, we’re very vegetable garden-biased, so we’d love to hear from folks who grow things other than veggie gardens. Have you got a native flower garden? Are you growing things to attract the bees? Hit us up!

And stay tuned for the Year of the Garden.

February Fun Activities in Ottawa

It’s been a long January, made longer by yet another lockdown. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got cabin fever!! February is looking up as many local venues and museums re-open to the public. We’ve made a list of some fun winter activities you can check out in February, with indoor, outdoor and virtual options.

Winterlude

Sadly there will be no in-person activities this year again, but event organizers are putting on a virtual ice sculpting contest, and you can vote between February 11th and 20th.

Ottawa Museums

We are excited that museums re-open this month, with the following dates. Don’t forget to book your tickets online if you want to go:

Ingenium (Museums of Sci and Tech, Agriculture and Aviation): open now! Activities are happening both onsite and online.

Check out Winter Whimsy, and take a break from the ordinary! Discover how maple syrup is produced, stroll through an incredible aircraft collection, or tap into your inner Sherlock Holmes with a sleuthing game. Snowed in at home? Keep the kids engaged through downloadable crafts and experiments, seasonal recipes, and virtual children’s programming (registration required).

Diefenbunker: open now!

Museum of Nature: CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Museum of History: CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Fire and Ice Winter Exhibit

From February 25th to 27th Bank Street will be closed-off between Cooper St. to Slater St. and the street will be transformed with large-scale, interactive light based art and sound installations. All six installations are unique and will invite the participant to take part in never-before-seen interactive components. Each stop on the light and sound tour will combine colourful digital imageries with captivating soundtracks to create a unique form of interactive storytelling.

a sampling of the fire & Ice magic

The installations will shine nightly between February 25th to February 27th. On Friday and Saturday, the light exhibit starts at 6pm and ends at midnight. On Sunday, the light exhibit starts at 6pm and ends at 11pm. The Fire & Ice Winter Exhibit is family-friendly, free to the public, and it's self guided.

Awesome Author’s Youth Writing Contest

The Ottawa Public Library is hosting a contest for young writers between the ages of 9 and 18. There are also some amazing online workshops that kids can take to learn more about storytelling, comics, poetry and more! My daughter just did a workshop this past weekend and loved it.

Check out their website for all the details.

Skating, Tubing and Sledding

Book a spot at an outdoor rink in Ottawa, or try one of these forest rinks:

RiverOak

Icelynd

Countryside Adventures (tubing can be found here too!)

Éco-Odyssée

And of course, our world famous Rideau Canal Skateway!

For tubing check out:

Domaine de l’ange

Edelweiss

Lac Beauchamp

See a movie!

If you’re comfortable heading back to the theatres, there are lots of family-friendly films to see. Check out Encanto and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (*not for the young ones) at Cinestarz, or Sing 2 and Spiderman at Landmark!

Happy Family Day Weekend!