Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in vancouver, CN

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

July 23, 2009

One of the places we love to go with our sons is a park on Westham Island in North Delta,. the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. This is a great place to bring visitors and children because it not only has thousands of birds, it also has beautiful scenery, stroller friendly paths and tons of ducks to feed.

Once in the park you can get some bird seed and feed the many ducks. These ducks are used to being fed and see the short ones as their main target. They will eat from the ground or your hand quite readily and all you feel is a bit of tickling in your palm. Watch out for the Canada geese though, they are pretty aggressive. Make sure you leave enough bird seed for other places in the park. The ducks and geese at the beginning are very well fed. You will have plenty of opportunity to feed more throughout the park.

Be sure to bring your camera and if you have them, binoculars or monocular. Besides the obvious ducks and geese there are tons of other birds around. A lot of the time there will be volunteers and other bird enthusiasts walking around the park and they will point out rarer sightings. When we were at the park last someone had set up a high-powered monocular watching an owl. They were very generous in letting people take a look through.

The next time we go, maybe this weekend, we also plan to bring our bird books. M son has a nice small one and we will try to find some of the species pictured there. It is a lot of fun, gives the preschooler room to run, nice paths to run the stroller for the baby, and us a chance to take in the breathtaking scenery that is the west coast. Hope to see you there.

Rainy Day Activities

July 07, 2009

Low and behold July has brought rain back into our life so if you are also stuck indoors here are some places to go to get out of the house.

Kerrisdale Play Palace. The Kerrisdale arena is turned into an indoor playground for the summer. There is lots of room for running, places to bounce and slide and generally get rid of some of your preschooler's pent up energy.

Science World. Not only are there a ton of exhibit to play with, there is a preschooler area that is enclosed with a slide and climbing structures.

The Aquarium. This may still be really crowded because of the baby beluga but there is always lots to see, and you may actually get to see the dolphin show with less crowds.

The beach. Put on the rain gear and hesd to the beach for some tide pool fun. Let's face it we live in Vancouver, we are used to the rain. If you don't go out if it rains we would never go anywhere in the winter.

Whatever you do be it indoors or out have fun. If you are having fun so will your preschooler.

Music Makes the Rainy Day Better

March 23, 2009

As a weekend of sunshine makes its way into another rain filled week I am working to make the days filled with fun, and maybe fitting a little work time for me. To this end I am making new play-lists to go along with the free play, track making and a barrage of "Whys."

There are a couple of kids albums that don't make me crazy and get put into pretty heavy rotation as well as tons of adult music that we love. My son is just as likely to be singing The Ramones or U2 or stuff from Fred Penner or a song he has made up on his own. I think the key to a good play-list is fun tunes that both you and you kids enjoy. Luckily a lot of the time preschoolers enjoy the music you like to play, especially if you take the time to get up and sing and dance with them.  Here are a few albums I would recommend for children and adults.

99 Things to Do in Vancouver Before Kindergarten: Winter Activities Edition

by Gwendolyn Floyd

January 27, 2009

My son has another year and a half before kindergarten, so we have a bit of time to do some interesting things before we have to worry about missing school. These are some of the winter things we would like to try. Take snowboard or ski lessons on the local mountains .  Read more...

Winter Activities in the Mountains

by Gwendolyn Floyd

January 12, 2009

What are your favourite winter activities? Do you like to ski or snowboard? Do you like to go sledding or tubing? Do you like to cross country ski or snowshoe? All of these activities are things that can be found at the local North Shore mountains. Though you must be 48 inches tall to go tubing, there are smaller sledding areas where you bring your own sled on both Mount  Read more...

Chanukah, Skating, Lanterns and the Longest Night of the Year

by Gwendolyn Floyd

December 19, 2008

I know that I have been very Christmas focused the last couple of weeks, but I wanted to remind everyone that Chanukah starts on Monday, and the Winter Solstice is around the corner. With that in mind there are activities for everyone coming up. There are two Chanukah  Read more...

Inspiring Imagination

by Gwendolyn Floyd

October 14, 2008

With a child's imagination almost anywhere is a good place to foster their imaginations. However giving a child building blocks to help with this imagination is especially essential so that when they are a little older they don't forget how to play. Imagination and and imaginary friends  Read more...

Better With a Buddy

by Gwendolyn Floyd

September 23, 2008

Today we are talking about places and activities that are better with a friend. My son is still happy to play by himself but there are some things that he likes better with one of his friends, even if it is one of his imaginary ones. Going to the play gym at the community centre is a  Read more...

Extra Classes for the Preschooler: Dance

by Gwendolyn Floyd

September 17, 2008

In this series I am highlighting a few of the classes you can find around the city, especially at community centres. There are so many Community Centres that I will only highlight some. To find a community centre closer to you check out the Vancouver Park Board's web site for more information. West Point Grey Community Centre has Ballet, and Jazz with spaces left. Classes  Read more...

Extra Classes for Preschoolers: Sports

by Gwendolyn Floyd

September 15, 2008

In this series I am highlighting a few of the classes you can find around the city, especially at community centres. There are so many Community Centres that I will only highlight some. To find a community centre closer to you check out the Vancouver Park Board's web site for more  Read more...

Extra Classes for Preschoolers: Drama

by Gwendolyn Floyd

September 12, 2008

In this series over the next few days I will highlight a few of the classes you can find around the city, especially at community centres. There are so many Community Centres that I will only highlight a few. To find a community centre closer to you check out the Vancouver Park Board's web  Read more...

Carousel Theatre School

by Gwendolyn Floyd

September 05, 2008

I gave a rundown on Carousel Theatre Company's 2008-2009 season yesterday and I mentioned a little bit about their mission statement. Part of that mission is to provide accessible theatrical experiences. Part of the way they do this is by offering theatre classes to kids ages 3-17.  Read more...

Corn Mazes, Another Sign of Fall

by Gwendolyn Floyd

September 03, 2008

With fall well on its way, and not much time left before the almost daily rain starts, it is time to do as much outdoors as you can. With this in mind I am suggesting going to a corn maze. Fun for the whole family most of the local (well lower mainland) corn mazes also have hayrides, petting  Read more...

Bonus Activities for the Three Day Vancouver Guide: Sports Teams

by Gwendolyn Floyd

July 11, 2008

Vancouver has a number of professional and semi-professional sports teams to go see in any season. I like to go to some of the football games and the Western Conference Final we went to a couple of years ago was fantastic. Depending when you are here you can take in Canadian football, hockey  Read more...

Three Days In and Around Vancouver: Day 1

by Gwendolyn Floyd

July 08, 2008

While many of the activities in the plans for days 1, 2 and 3 are available all year round, I expect that most people would be coming to Vancouver for the summer or early fall. I have tried to put most of the activities into areas where you can take public transit if you need to, but I would  Read more...

Exploring the Urban Jungle: Richmond Nature Park

by Gwendolyn Floyd

July 03, 2008

Another of the great things about living in the lower mainland is that there are so many trails and parks to enjoy. As a teacher the Richmond Nature Park was a great field trip for both the littlest ones and the older children for a number of reasons. The Richmond Nature Park opens daily from  Read more...

Water Park Wednesday

by Gwendolyn Floyd

June 25, 2008

My plan throughout the summer is to check out a number of different water/spray parks around Vancouver with my son. We love the water and playing in the water parks is a wonderful way to keep cool without worrying about having to get in the water ourselves. This week I will review two west-side water parks, Granville Island and Connaught Park. Photo by: Anthony Floyd  Read more...

Vancouver's History and Landmarks

by Gwendolyn Floyd

June 24, 2008

There are so many landmarks in and around Greater Vancouver that it was very hard to narrow down my list. I decided to try to include a bit of the North Shore so we could have both the water and the mountains included. The water and the mountains are such a big part of Vancouver that they both needed to be included. The following activities are both fun and family friendly. Photo  Read more...

Extra Classes for the Preschooler: Keeping Busy During the Summer

by Gwendolyn Floyd

June 17, 2008

There are a lot of extra classes and activities for your preschooler out there. It is hard to know what, if any you should be putting you child in. I am going to point out a few of the more interesting classes I have seen online, and some that I have taken with my son. I have a music background and I can't think of anything more enriching than music classes. That is not to say  Read more...

Things to do in Vancouver Before Your Child Grows Up

by Gwendolyn Floyd

June 12, 2008

Vancouver is a great city and there are a number of things that you should do here with your kids before they grow up. Some are easy and you will do many times while others will be once in a lifetime opportunities. I will start with 5, but I expect there will be many added in other posts. 1: Take snowboard or skiing lessons on the local mountains. If you live in greater Vancouver,  Read more...

Room to Run, Best Places to Tire Out Your Preschooler: Douglas Park

by Gwendolyn Floyd

June 11, 2008

One of my favourite places to tire out my three year old is Douglas Park. Located adjacent to the Douglas Park Community Centre at 22 nd and Laurel this is a playground made for children of many ages from the crawler to the high climber. A big part of its appeal for my son is the Toddler/Preschool portion of the playground. With toddler equipment for the younger set, there is mid  Read more...

Top 5 Things to do in the Rain in Vancouver

by Gwendolyn Floyd

June 10, 2008

Those for you from Vancouver are laughing at me right now. Shouldn't this just be titled "Top 5 things to do in Vancouver?" I know, I know, it rains a lot. 1: My first piece of advice is to check out your local Community Centres. For a couple of dollars your children can bounce in a bouncy castle, play with some Flintstone cars, run around with other rambunctious kids and  Read more...