Visiting the Agricultural Museum

by Kamerine

Fall, with its cooler weather and beautiful colours, is the perfect time to get out with the kids.  We love this time of year for visiting Ottawa's museums.  Recently we went to the Agriculture Museum. Have you been?

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My kids love seeing the animals and race around checking out all the stalls.  First we see the cows and horses, stopping to gawk at the size of Goody, the bull.  We then check out the outside animals and the chicken coop.  This leads to a stop at the playground which is always packed on a nice day.  I drag them away to go see the goats and sheep, the bunny and pigs.  Finally we get to the back building to see the cows and calves, but we always end our trip with another stop at the playground.  There is more to see and do but that's our usual circuit.

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We love going to the Agriculture Museum so much that we bought a two-year membership.  The thing with having a membership is if my kids throw a huge fit and we have to leave after only having seen the cows, so be it.  We can always come back.  If we spend our entire trip at the playground, that's fine too.

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Membership is great and gets you in to not only the Agriculture Museum, but the Science and Tech Museum and the Aviation Museum too.  These museums are all perfect for kids - lots to see and do and quite stroller-friendly.  We save the Science and Tech and Aviation museums for rainy days.

There are other benefits of being a member such as a discount in the gift shops and admission to museums elsewhere in Canada.  If you're still debating, let me tell you about the members Hallowe'en party coming up.  The Agriculture Museum is hosting a fun party for the kids the weekend before Halloween with crafts and treats and and costumes and more, but you need to be a member and you need to RSVP.

Hopefully I convinced you to get out to the Agriculture Museum.  You can check it out and if you love it put your admission towards a membership.  How nice is that?  Say hello to Goody for us.

Kamerine is mom to 3 year old Little J and 1 year old Baby K.  She documents her life with two toddlers, a husband and a cat at followk.blogspot.ca.

Exploring the Capital With Your Pre-Teen

by Ali As the mom of two pre-teen girls, my mom-status borders on the verge of semi-ok to lame. While I try and stay cool, my girls will tell you I’m fighting a losing battle.  That being said, I still love to spend time with them so I’m always on the lookout for things to do with them that will promote me to a semi-cool rank. This year, I’m happy to say that I actually came up with a few things to do that weren’t as boring and babyish as usual, and my girls were actually less embarrassed than usual to be seen with me.

The Byward Market

I love the market, especially in the fall. I love the smells and the colours and especially the maple sugar candies.  My girls do love to window shop and people watch so this fall we headed down to the Byward Market to do just that. One of our first stops was the Moulin de Provence bakery. The delicious smells will knock you over and the Obama cookies are always a hit.  On weekends at the market, there are buskers and musicians to watch and in the summer and fall, the fresh fruits and vegetables are incredible. And once there, you should definitely take a look at the street vendors for a pair of earrings or a new scarf.

Starbucks in Westboro

When my eldest turned twelve, she decided that it was much cooler to hang out, rather than spend time with me.  Since I wasn’t ready to just let her go off with her friends ALL of the time, I started taking her for coffee (read hot chocolate) at the Starbucks in Westboro.  While we sip our drinks and people watch, she really opens up and starts to talk about everything that’s going on for her – her life, her friends and pretty much anything else she can talk about while the hot chocolate lasts. She feels very grown up and I feel lucky that she’s still willing to sit and talk to me. Of course, window shopping through Westboro after our coffee is an added bonus.

The National Art Gallery

The National Gallery of Canada was definitely a plus. Both of my girls are budding artists and they do appreciate taking the time to explore the different exhibits.  There is plenty of Canadian art with exhibits by Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and the Group Of Seven, but it also has a really cool Modern Art Collection. We spent a fun afternoon doing a “Ferris Bueller” and just stared at the amazing paintings.

National Arts Center

With daughters who dance competitively and who love being on stage, one of the coolest things we did was the backstage tour at the National Arts Centre.  On October 2nd, (one of the Culture Days at the NAC), my girls got to experience many areas of the NAC that they had never seen before.  We got to saw the NAC stages, the dressing rooms, the backstage corridors and set-building shops on this self-guided tour. They also have tours on performance days for the first 12 visitors (first come, first serve).

The HI-Ottawa Jail

In this haunting season, the next adventure I have planned for us is a haunted tour of the Ottawa Jail Hostel. The jail served as Carleton County Goal from 1862 to 1972. After it closed, it was turned into a youth hostel.  Guests sleep in renovated prison cells or in the former offices of the prison staff.  Rumor has it that many a guest has told stories of ghostly apparitions appearing at the bottom of their beds, mysterious footsteps, and banging in the walls. It was even named one of the seven spookiest buildings in the world by Lonely Planet. Hopefully, this will be a hit.

So there are a few of the things I have found to do around Ottawa that allowed my girls to maintain their oh-so-cool and hip pre-teen status. I’m still on the look-out for more things to do that, when mentioned, won’t make them roll their eyes and groan “Aw, Mom!”  So please, help me keep my not-quite-cool-but-not-totally-lame mom status and share your favorite pre-teen haunts.

Ali is a psychotherapist, blogger, social media enthusiast and chocoholic. She is also a Dance Mom to two awesome girls. She is the owner of Second Act Consignment Dancewear and creator  of Therapy Stew. She blogs at AliGoldfield.

Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre

by Leah Before taking my daughter to her first Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre show, I worried.  Would she have the patience to sit through an entire performance?  Would the puppets scare her, or worse--would she be bored?  Could a puppet show interest a kid with access to animated movies and phone apps?

After the performance started, I quickly realized how little I knew about puppetry and about Rag and Bone in particular.  Co-founders Kathy MacLellan and John Nolan are award-winning masters of story-telling and their craft.  In their hands, the simplest objects became expressive characters.  Complex full-figured puppets breathed life.  The children in the audience were as fascinated by the technical aspects of puppetry, as they were by the stories being told. My daughter wasn’t scared by the puppets—if anything, she related better to the stories because it was “like playing with dolls”.

Watching Kathy and John weave among the audience members, performing, responding to the children’s reactions, and seeing the older audience members lean in closer, it is obvious that they have an exceptional ability to connect with audiences of all ages and different backgrounds.

Since that first time, we’ve now gone to a number of Rag & Bone performances. With an emphasis upon classic children’s stories like The Wind in the Willows, combined with dance, music, and video, they create theatre that’s fresh, memorable and definitely fun.  After seeing The Flying Canoe, I watched my daughter and her friends come up with their own stories about talking cats, howling like wolves, and sailing over the trees.

If you haven’t taken your child to see Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre, you are missing an extraordinary experience.  Their next performance is an adaptation of the Canadian children's classic, Zoom at Sea, by Governor-General Award Winner and Member of the Order of Canada, Tim Wynne-Jones.  We can't wait to see how Kathy and John create a whole ocean in a room!

Creepy Crawlers & Alligators….in Ottawa!

by Amanda Alligators, Turtles, Snakes and Marmosets…….oh my! Okay, well the marmosets are super cute but the snakes are a big OH MY!  Where can these all be found in the Ottawa area? Little Rays Reptiles of course! If you haven’t been in a few years like me then you will be pleasantly surprised to see they have undergone some renovations and the place has received a nice facelift both inside and out.

We took our two year old and 6 month old (she came along more for the ride then because she has an interest in gators lol) out to Little Rays on a Saturday early afternoon with plans to spend some quality time as a family enjoying a new place and allow our son to explore and discover.

We got there just in time for a showing where they feed some of the animals.  Our 2 year old was definitely more interested in walking around and a little young to sit still throughout this so we continued on through discovering the rest of the creatures.  During the eating shows it is extremely important and continually reminded that everyone must sit quietly and still. These shows are probably best for the 4+ crowd. It did work out to our advantage to see the rest of the creatures while everyone else was watching the feeding show as there is not a lot of space inside when there are a lot of people.

With a two year old and quick attention span (unless he’s watching his favourite movie Cars, over and over and over…..) we saw everything and were ready to leave in 30 minutes.  For our family and our sons current interests we definitely will not  be back paying full admission until we know that we will be spending more time there.

I would definitely recommend taking children who are older to explore and if it is nice out there is a little area out back where you could enjoy a picnic lunch.  Their daycamps also seem very interesting if you have a child who enjoys snakes, lizards and creepy crawelers!

Amanda is a mom to a 2 year old boy and 6 month old baby girl.  When she is not out having fun with the kids you can find her getting her yoga on at www.littlelotusyoga.ca

Butterfly Show!

By Shawna I almost hate to let you in on this little secret, because I’m afraid of it getting too crowded, but as a faithful Kids in the Capital contributor, I cannot keep it to myself: Carleton University’s Department of Biology hosts a free butterfly show in their greenhouses every fall, and it’s on right now, right now, right now!

That’s right, every day from September 29 to October 8 inclusive, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, you can bring your kids to see a fluttering, flittering, flapping display of gorgeousness free, free, free!  (Donations, however, are appreciated of course).  It’s also a great chance to grab some pictures of exotic, colourful butterflies that aren’t native to the area.  Or some pictures of your kids.  Or, best of all, some pictures of your kids interacting with exotic, colourful butterflies!  I went last year with the kids, and it was a big hit.  Sage in particular was utterly thrilled when a butterfly landed on her.

Here are the details!

You’re welcome.  Now don’t tell too many people…

Shawna is mom to 4-year-old Sage and 2-year-old Harris.  She has  been writing online since 2003, and her latest project is a fledgling photography blog.  She plans on visiting the butterfly show twice this year: once with her kids and camera, and once with just her camera.