Ideas that make childhood more fun

SUMMER

10 Fun Things Kids Can Do on a Summer Day

Ottawa summer days are long. Here are ten ideas that don’t require a packed schedule — just a backyard, a park, or a splash pad.

RAINY DAY

7 Screen-Free Activities for a Rainy Afternoon

Ottawa rain (and shoulder-season drizzle) doesn’t have to mean a movie by default. Seven ideas that use stuff you already have.

STEM

5 Easy Science Experiments Kids Can Try at Home

Kitchen science that looks like magic and uses pantry basics — vinegar, baking soda, water, and curiosity.

OUTDOORS

Create Your Own Backyard Adventure

Turn a small yard or park corner into a quest: map, mission, and a silly boss battle with a stuffed animal.

CRAFT

Build a Cardboard City

Recycling bins become streets, towers, and tunnels. A favourite rainy-day make that can last all week.

STEM

Build Your Own Mini Volcano

The classic baking-soda eruption — still the best 20 minutes in the kitchen if you put it on a tray.

CRAFT

Make Friendship Bracelets

Simple knots, big pride. A calm make that works at the kitchen table or on a picnic blanket.

EXPLORE

Create a Nature Scavenger Hunt

A walk becomes a mission: five textures, three sounds, one thing that made you laugh.

MOVE

Make a Backyard Obstacle Course

Jump, crawl, balance, repeat. Build it in ten minutes from things you already own.

CHALLENGE

Paper Airplane Challenge

Fold, fly, tweak the wings. A tiny engineering loop that fits on a hallway runway.

CHALLENGE

10-Minute Creativity Challenge

Paper, markers, a timer. Invent something nobody has ever seen before — then tell its story.