Fun for Families in Ottawa, Canada
Ranked #1,471 in Parenting & Kids, #47,906 overall
I'm always looking for new and fun things to do in our home town of Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) with my three young boys. I thought this would be a great place to share some of my ideas for having fun with your family in and around the national capital.
Five plus 40 ideas for (practically) free family fun in Ottawa!
You don't have to dip into the kids' college fund every time you take the family out for the day. Ottawa is full of gorgeous parks, walking trails, and other lovely spaces you can hang out for free, or for very little.
- Take a hike. There's a lovely conservation area off Prince of Wales just of Woodroffe at Winding Way. Or you can check out Mer Bleu conservation area. Or Petrie Island. There are hundreds of lovely little spots like this all around Ottawa.
- Ride the O-Train. Your teenager might not be enthralled, but my preschoolers are always thrilled by a ride on the big red O-Train. The loop from South Keys to Bayview and back is just a little over half an hour.
- Tour the Parliament Buildings. When were you last a tourist in your own town? Visitors are welcome to tour the buildings, view Parliament in action, and enjoy public programs and colourful spectacles, such as the ceremonial Changing the Guard ceremony. Be sure to leave lots of time to wander the grounds, and maybe visit the cat sanctuary on the bluffs behind the Parliamentary Library.
- Visit the library. Ottawa has an amazing public library system, and many of the suburban libraries have excellent children's programs and a huge selection of kid books. My personal favourite is the Ruth E Dickenson branch in Barrhaven - the entire basement is devoted to kid's stuff, including kid-sized cozy chairs and sofas for reading and cuddling.
- Explore the Canal. You don't have to skate to enjoy Ottawa's beloved Rideau Canal skateway. When the canal freezes (usually in January) take a stroll and enjoy the ice sculptures, the hot chocolate, and of course, the Beaver Tails!
- If you liked these tips, I've got 40 more just like them on my blog! Check it out!
Family fun idea: Make-yer-own sidewalk paint!
I get excited when the winter finally breaks for spring. I'm inordinately delighted to see the toboggans and mittens replaced with skipping ropes and fooz-ball sets. In this warmer-than-average spring, we've already long since broken out the sidewalk chalk and bubbles, so I was looking for something fun to enjoy the lovely day. After lingering longingly over the (rather expensive) Crayola sets in the store, we decided to make my our sidewalk chalk paint!

It's crazy easy: just stir together equal parts corn starch and water, and a couple drops of food colouring. We had to crank up the corn starch in our first batch because it came out too runny, but our second batch turned out perfectly! It looks a little watery when you paint it out, but as the water evaporates the colours become more vivid.

We tried regular brushes, but they were a little bit too small for the job. We found that the square foam brushes you use to paint household trim worked much better! We started out painting the driveway, and quickly moved on to bricks, garden fixtures and even the lamp post. And then, rather predictably, things disintegrated into a spatter-fest that would make Jackson Pollack proud.

We used about a half a box of corn starch and maybe a dozen drops of food colouring -- that's a full evening of creative, outdoor entertainment for less than $2. Oh, and did I mention? It washes out cleanly in water!

It's crazy easy: just stir together equal parts corn starch and water, and a couple drops of food colouring. We had to crank up the corn starch in our first batch because it came out too runny, but our second batch turned out perfectly! It looks a little watery when you paint it out, but as the water evaporates the colours become more vivid.

We tried regular brushes, but they were a little bit too small for the job. We found that the square foam brushes you use to paint household trim worked much better! We started out painting the driveway, and quickly moved on to bricks, garden fixtures and even the lamp post. And then, rather predictably, things disintegrated into a spatter-fest that would make Jackson Pollack proud.

We used about a half a box of corn starch and maybe a dozen drops of food colouring -- that's a full evening of creative, outdoor entertainment for less than $2. Oh, and did I mention? It washes out cleanly in water!
Museums - A little something for everyone
Ottawa is full of great museums, and they are wonderful places to bring kids of any age. I often think there are more local families than tourists in Ottawa's museums, with good reason!
- Agriculture Museum / Experimental Farm
- Visit the dairy barns, see baby piglets, pet the clydsedale horses, ride a tractor and play on the play structure. I highly recommend buying the annual family pass to this museum, which also gives you entry to the Science and Technology Museum and the Aviation Museum. We go at least six times each year to the Farm alone. Each season is a new reason to visit.
- Science and Technology Museum
- A great hands-on museum, with actual life-sized locomotives to climb through, a snowmobile simulator, and the famous Crazy Kitchen.
Don't miss the annual pass shared with the Science and Tech museum, the Farm and the Aviation museum! - Children's Museum
- The Children's Museum is part of the National Museum of Civilization. A little bit pricey, but beautifully put together. Lots of interactive stations. On the day we visited, my four year old built and painted a wooden bird house.
- Museum of Nature
- We call this the "Bug Museum". It's not quite as hands-on as some of the other museums in town, but its location in a huge old 'castle' more than makes up for it. They are half-way through a massive renovation, and if you haven't been to see the new dinosaur exhibit, you should make plans to go soon!
Out and about in Ottawa
The only thing I love more than finding fun new places around Ottawa with my kids is taking pictures of my kids in fun new places around Ottawa!
curated content from Flickr
Postcards from the Mothership
From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere.
Here's the feed from my other obsession, my blog Postcards from the Mothership. I often chronicle things I do and places I visit in and around Ottawa with my family on the blog.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byComments are always welcome!
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Keeah Oct 15, 2011 @ 11:34 am | delete
- Great lens, will have to try the paint before first snowfall.
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Kathy MacLellan
Sep 4, 2011 @ 2:58 pm | delete
- Hi Dani,
People might like to know that Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre is having a free Season Launch event on October 2, 2011 at 1:30 featuring stories, previews, special guests and cupcakes. For more info, check out ragandbone.ca
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CanadaRed
Aug 22, 2011 @ 11:32 am | delete
- great list, thanks.
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CanadaGear
Aug 7, 2011 @ 7:42 pm | delete
- What a fun Canada lens, I love it, thanks!
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raphanf
Aug 5, 2011 @ 7:47 am | delete
- great lens, i love this
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upholsteryCT
Jan 4, 2011 @ 10:18 am | delete
- You have such a cool lens. Furniture renovation and
upholstery are part of my specialties and are quite relevant to your lens. Great content by the way. Regards, Jasmine
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Elsie01
Dec 19, 2010 @ 10:12 pm | delete
- I love your lens! Well done.
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Theresa
Aug 24, 2010 @ 4:41 pm | delete
- We tried the sidewalk chaulk today...worked super well. Bought the foam brushes in a pack of maybe 10 or so at Dollarama. Also wanted to mention to CAT below, there are colouring books that cater to older kids at Chapters in South Keys. I can't remember who makes them but there are a few different ones there. They are really nice. I saw them less than a month ago.
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CAT
Aug 3, 2010 @ 1:42 am | delete
- Great stuff;
does anyone know where to purchase a colouring book that caters to 10 years up and is not Dora the explorer; Like the old ones we used to purchase.
thanks
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Cool-kids-places
Apr 29, 2010 @ 2:12 pm | delete
- Great ideas! I know my son never got tired of riding the train in our area!
We have also been regulars at our library's "Story Time" every Wednesday evening for the past 4 years.
Here is a site with lots more fun places for kids: http://www.cool-kids-places.com/
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superbookdepot
Oct 26, 2009 @ 6:24 am | delete
- Nice and very beautifully laid out lens. I would really appreciate it if you visit my Best Parenting & Families Books lens and put your views there. Hope you will take out some time to rate it too.
http://www.squidoo.com/parenting-and-families-best-sellings-books
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los_ziegler
Sep 24, 2009 @ 9:16 am | delete
- Gracias DaniGirl!
This is the kinf of info I've been looking for!
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tereasa
Jul 12, 2009 @ 2:40 pm | delete
- awesome stuff!!!
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Darcy Whyte
May 26, 2009 @ 10:03 am | delete
- Hey!
Here's something to do if you have kids. It isn't really all that specific to Ottawa except that I give workshops and I live in Ottawa.
Rubber Powered Model Planes: Here's a link to paste in your browser so you can see what it's about:
http://www.rubber-power.com/How-to-fly-a-rubber-band-powered-airplane.htm
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alteredkat
Feb 22, 2009 @ 8:52 am | delete
- Great ideas...lensrolling this to my "Obama visits Ottawa" lens. 5*
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RMB
Sep 21, 2008 @ 10:53 am | delete
- Great page, thank you for sharing!
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Tiddledeewinks
Mar 8, 2008 @ 4:35 pm | delete
- Nice ideas! Even though I don't plan a trip to Canada from Maine, you have some wonderful ideas for family outings in your area.
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DeliciousSteals Sep 13, 2007 @ 8:15 am | delete
- LOVE YOUR LENS - Will be back for sure. We're in Carelton Place and you have some great ideas for me and my 2 boys. We're off to the orchard today after reading your lens! Thanks
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Diana
Jul 29, 2007 @ 9:12 am | delete
- Great site. Do you know of any kid friendly restaurants.
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Leanne
Nov 18, 2006 @ 4:38 pm | delete
- great page that I just happened upon when looking up the parades. Another activity that my pre-schoolers enjoyed was taking the City Bus to the airport, watching planes for half hour or so, having lunch at Harveys at the airport and then the city bus ride back. This is a real hit for the kids.
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anndouglas
Aug 18, 2006 @ 10:38 am | delete
- It's great to see you here @ Squidoo! Love what you've got here so far!
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heathrow
Jul 31, 2006 @ 11:03 am | delete
- Great start to a lens!
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by DaniGirl
DaniGirl
I'm a working Canadian mom to three young boys. I've been blogging for three years now, and I was going to start a new blog about fun things to do wi... more »
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