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Fun for Families in Ottawa, Canada

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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.
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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!
  6. 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!

Sidewalk chalk 6

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.

Sidewalk chalk 5

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.

Sidewalk chalk 1

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!

Sidewalk chalk 2

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.
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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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