Every year, on the third Monday of February, the Province of Ontario celebrates Family Day. This day, meant to highlight the importance of family, originally began in Alberta when the Family Day Act was passed in 1990. It took several years for other provinces to pick up the tradition - Saskatchewan in 2007, Ontario in 2008, and British Columbia in 2013.
While this year's festivals and local celebrations have been cancelled due to the pandemic, families are still encouraged to celebrate in their own way at home. Common Family Day activities include skating, playing hockey, snowboarding, skiing, cooking, crafts, reading, and working on a family project together.
Activity Ideas
Winter Suncatcher: All you need for this craft is an empty container (baking pans, pie plates, plastic food container, etc.), water, yarn or ribbon, a small cup filled with rocks or rice to weigh it down, and some items found in nature like pinecones, twigs, leaves, etc. The more variety, the better! Fill the plastic container with the items you've found outside, and place the weighed down cup in the center. This will be where the yarn will go to hang your suncatcher once it's finished, but if you have a drill at home, you can skip the cup and make your own hole. Next, fill the container with water and leave it outside to freeze. If it's not cold enough, you can also pop it in the freezer. Once it's frozen solid, wrap the yarn or ribbon around the hole and hang it outside. Voila! You now have your very own winter suncatcher!
Snow Volcano: You will need baking soda, vinegar, food colouring, a small container, dish soap, and of course, snow. For the exact measurements and instructions, check this post.
Since this is a Canadian holiday, and Family Day also happens to fall on the same day as National Flag of Canada Day, we have also selected a variety of Canadian-themed activities for you to enjoy!
Bake Your Own Beaver Tails - A family recipe first sold at the Killaloe Craft and Community Fair in 1978, Beaver Tails are a Canadian classic! Follow this video for a step by step process of how to make your own Beaver Tails at home (or at least one user's homemade variation of it).
Bonus: Send us photos of your creations and we'll post them online for our community members to vote on categories such as most colourful, most creative, most humorous, most decorated, etc.
Bake an Edible Flag Cake - Bake a vanilla cake in a rectangular-shaped baking pan. Cover completely with white icing, and then add strawberries or raspberries for the sides and maple leaf. This dessert is super fun to create together and a delicious way to teach the shapes that make up the Canadian flag. Red icing instead of fruit works too.
Canadian Flag Handprint Craft - You will need card stock paper, red washable paint, paintbrushes, and of course - hands! Paint the outer edges of the card stock with red paint. Once the child is finished, cover their hands with red paint and have them press down in the center of the painted card stock.
Bonus: Print off the lyrics to O Canada and glue them to the back of the card stock.
Dress in Red & White - This is a great way to teach younger children what the colours of our national flag are and is an easy activity for everyone in the family to participate in. You can even break out any old Canada Day shirts you may have.
Of course, don't let that limit your fun - check out these links for some cool activity ideas!
Watch Movies on Kanopy (library card # required)
Read/Listen to a Book on Libby (library card # required)