Source: gimliicefestival.com
Take in the Gimli Ice Festival this weekend (March 5-6, 2022) and discover activities like the 5K (or 10K!) ice walk (or run, skate, snowshoe, bike, or ski) competition, frozen t-shirt contest, kids’ colouring competition, frozen fish toss, snow or ice creation contest, viking life re-enactors, and much more! Learn more.
Source: publiccityarchitecture.com
Check out Manitoboggan at St. Vital Park, Winnipeg’s first barrier-free and universally accessible toboggan slide. The project was initiated by the City of Winnipeg to replace the previous 1980s-era toboggan slides and warming shelter, which burned down in 2013, and was seen as an opportunity to provide the community with a better, more inclusive winter experience. The complex includes two new toboggan chutes at differing heights, a four-season warming shelter, a treetop ramp walkway through the forest, and a viewing deck facing the slides. Learn more.
Check out the City of Winnipeg’s list of park skating ponds and rinks open for pleasure skating this season. And don’t forget the Arctic Glacier Winter Park skating trails at The Forks, as well as the Duck Pond at Assiniboine Park. Stay safe and warm out there!
Source: Travel Manitoba
Get out and explore this winter at Riding Mountain! Pull on your parka and lace up your boots to self-guide through snowy landscapes, or join a Parks Canada guide for an in-depth snowshoe excursion during the holiday break. You can also become a Riding Mountain National Park Winter Xplorer, or try their Christmas bird count while learning more about how to identify the birds that stay in the park for the winter. Learn more about Riding Mountain’s winter activity schedule.
Source: Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society is continuing their series of free Manitoba hikes next weekend (November 13) at the Pinawa Suspension Bridge in the Whiteshell. The hike will take a 2.5km loop trail starting at the suspension bridge. Take the time to breathe in the outdoors, get to know Manitoba’s eastern region, and enjoy the company of other nature lovers. Learn more and register.
The Rady JCC is celebrating Tarbut: Festival of Jewish Culture from November 13 to 20 with a host of activities, including concerts, film screenings, plays, and book readings. See the full festival line-up and get tickets.
Source: National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society’s website includes lots of amazing resources to help kids learn more about birds of all kinds! Their page aims to bring together activities from across Audubon’s national network of environmental educators, including the classroom curriculum Audubon Adventures, plus related DIY activities and content from Audubon’s editors. These activities can be done at home or in a yard or park, sometimes with the help of a computer. The goal isn’t to teach a child how to name and identify bird species, but rather to give them space to explore and feel connected to the natural world. Explore their resources and learn more about Birds on the Move, All About Owls, Raptors, and more!
Source: Manitoba Parks
Have a howling good time in the Whiteshell with their Wolf Howl Hikes! Hike along with a park interpreter on a 2.5km trail around Goose Pond at the Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary. Along the way you’ll howl for wolves, listen for their haunting calls, and learn more about this iconic canine.
Admission is FREE for everyone to attend! An adult must accompany children under 12. Accessibility accommodations are available. Program presented in English. Wolf howl hikes are offered through November 26. Learn more and register.
Source: American Museum of Natural History
The night sky is like a giant puzzle. Hidden among the thousands of stars you can find dozens of constellations. You can also search for individual stars and planets. Stargaze when there is little or no moonlight and the sky isn’t cloudy and give your eyes a half hour to adjust to the darkness. Bring some tools, including a sky map to help you identify what you see and binoculars or a telescope to see celestial sights more clearly and closer up. Keep a notebook with you to sketch what you see in the sky and to keep a record of your sightings.
Not all points of light you see at night are stars. Airplanes, satellites, and meteors (or “shooting stars”) move fast, so they’re easy to tell from stars. But what about planets? Planets look a lot like bright stars, so telling stars from planets can be tricky. One clue is that planets don’t twinkle like stars, although it’s sometimes hard to see the difference. To see what planets are currently visible in the night sky, visit Timeanddate.com’s interactive night sky map.
Source: Dalnavert Museum
Join the Dalnavert Museum for a Halloween Scavenger Hunt on any of their museum tours booked for the weekends of October 23-24 and October 30-31. Get dressed up and do a fun family-friendly tour and scavenger hunt – you can even cast a spell in the spooky attic at the end! Learn more and book. The Dalnavert is also offering VOD screenings of The Empty House, a ghost story adventure based on the classic short story by Algernon Blackwood. Experience the story in a new and haunting way from the comfort of your own home as you follow the adventures of the main characters through the museum. Learn more and rent.
Join the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (Manitoba Chapter) the day before Halloween for a spooktacular free Halloween hike in Birds Hill Provincial Park on October 30 at 11:00AM. They’ll have activities and treats for kids at the overlook tower about a third of the way along the Chickadee Trail. It’s a great chance to get outside and burn off some energy before the big day. The Chickadee Trail is a great hike for families, people who are new to hiking, and experienced outdoorsy types looking for an easy but rewarding trek in the woods. Just a short drive north of Winnipeg (or south of Selkirk), it’s one of the more popular trails in Birds Hill Provincial Park for a reason. Learn more and register.
Source: 123homeschool4me.com
Have you ever wondered why leaves change colour in fall? This fun, engaging, and simple leaf science experiment is perfect for kids ages 4-10.
Materials
Directions
Spark Creative Learning!
During winter, the days get shorter, affecting the amount of sunlight the leaves are exposed to. Due to this lack of sunlight, plants go into a resting state and live off of the glucose that they stored over the summer. As they shut down for the winter, the green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, you can begin to see yellow and orange colours. Small amounts of these colours have been in the leaves all along. For example, in maple trees the bright red that shows up in fall is a result of excess glucose being trapped in the leaves. Learn more.
