10 Earth Month Activities

 

Happy Earth Month, Owlkids Family!

April is a great time to get outdoors, appreciate our environment and take whatever little steps we can to help protect it.

Here are some fun family activities to get you started.

1) Look for crocuses or tulips sprouting up through the dirt.

2) Meet a teen activist who is fighting to protect our planet’s water. 

3) Make a pinwheel and head out on a windy day to see if it works.

4) Put on some work gloves, grab a garbage bag, and pick up trash and recycling from a park or beach.

5) Test your green knowledge with a fun quiz and word search.

6) Make a cute little origami snail!

7) Visit a local greenhouse and learn about how plants grow.

8) Try a cloud in a jar experiment and learn how rain falls from heavy clouds.

9) Turn a juice or milk carton into a bird feeder for your backyard or balcony.

10) Write out an Earth Month pledge that explains what your family promises to do to help the planet. Research online to find small actions you can start incorporating into your household.

 

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10 March Break Activities

Hi Owlkids Family,

Looking for some fun and interesting activities to keep everyone entertained over spring break? Try some of these family-friendly ideas!

1)Make amazing origami creations.

2)Create a seasonal scavenger hunt and explore your neighbourhood, looking for the end signs of winter and the beginning signs of spring.

3)Paint a thick piece of paper with watercolour paint. Then leave it out in the rain or snow and let the water turn it into a new piece of art!

4)Experiment with magnets.

5)Try to read at least three new books over the break.

6)Visit a museum. If you can’t get to one in person, check out a virtual tour like this one at the Canadian Museum of Nature.

7)Make potato stamps and use them to stamp a pattern onto paper or a canvas bag.

8)Challenge each family member to make their best art project using recycling materials like cardboard tubes and containers.

9)Cut up some fruit and veggies, plug your nose and close your eyes, and test your taste buds with a taste test.

10)Wash the family car or bikes to get them ready for spring.

Have a great break, everyone!

– Jackie

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Black History Month Reading List

 

Hi, Owlkids Family!

February marks Black History Month; a time to reflect on and celebrate the achievements of Black people from the past and present.

This is also a great time to diversify your family book shelf and seek out new books at the library. There are so many amazing titles out there that tell stories from under-represented perspectives, share histories of struggle and hope, and offer ways we can all  appreciate ourselves and others; our differences, our similarities. Check out some of the books below!

We hope that your family will enjoy adding more and more books like these to your reading list throughout the year. And if you have book suggestions of your own, we’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Happy reading, everyone!

Click on the book titles for more detailed information and to see sample pages.

Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin (Penguin Random House, ages 4-6)

A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverly Found Her Voice by Nadia L. Hohn (Owlkids Books, ages 4-8)

I am Enough by Grace Byers (Harper Collins, ages 4-8)

Oscar Lives Next Door by Bonnie Farmer (Owlkids Books, ages 4-8)

Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged by Nyasha Warner (Groundwood Books, ages 5-9)

Intersection Allies: We Make Room For All by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, Carolyn Choi (Dottir Press, ages 6-12)

The Kids Book of Black Canadian History by Rosemary Sadlier (Kids Can Press, ages 8-12)

Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendships by Irene Latham (Carolrhoda Books, ages 8-12)

The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis (Random House, ages 8-12)

What Lane by Torrey Maldonado (Penguin Random House, ages 10-15)

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Happy Winter!

 

Hi Owlkids Family,

Winter is here and it’s time to get cozy! Here are some fun family activities to try this year.

1. Decorate gingerbread cookies to look like people in your family.
2. Make candles out of old crayons to add some colour and warmth to your surroundings.
3. Wrap up in blankets and read picture books your children loved when they were younger.
4. Build an elaborate contraption like this, using stuff from around the house.
5. Make yummy frozen hot chocolate.
6. Hold a board game tournament. Final winner gets to choose a special dinner or a movie to watch.
7. Watch a video together about why there is snow on mountain peaks.
8. Gather evergreen branches and make a winter wreath.
9. Settle into relaxation with a pyjama day.
10. Grab a pencil and complete some fun puzzles from one of the Owlkids special issues.

Stay warm, everyone!

– Jackie

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Fall Family Fun

Hi Owlkids Family!

What do you like to do in autumn to celebrate the changing of the seasons? I love going for walks in the crisp fall air and also looking at the tree outside my window. Its leaves seem to change colour so suddenly every year and  then fall to the ground, creating piles of yellow on top of the grass.

Here are some other fun activities to try with your family this fall. Have fun!

Go for a hike somewhere you have never explored before. How is it different from places you have been before? How is it the same?

Build a wind vane and see which way the fall winds are blowing.

Make pumpkin everything! Add pumpkin puree to smoothies, pancake mix, cookies, and pasta sauce.

Collect fallen leaves and press them between the pages of books to enjoy later or turn them into a door wreath or a colourful crown.

Hang a recycled bird feeder outside to help the birds now that food will be more sparse.

Bundle up and have a picnic in a park.

Check out one of the great books from the Owlkids Fall 2021 catalogue. See previews of some of the books here.

Make a cozy pillow to cuddle up with on those extra cold days.

Blow bubbles and see if you can get them to pop by landing on an evergreen tree’s needles.

And last but not least, of course, you have to jump into the biggest leaf pile you can find!

Happy fall!

— Jackie

 

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