Robelle Parklands

Recently we attended the Robelle Parklands opening and was thrilled to find so many hands on activities for the kids.

Here are a few of the snapshots from the day along with more information on some of the artists.

One of the exhibits/stalls they had was by Mealie Art. Pastels were available for any budding artist to have a go and start drawing on the concrete. Above is a picture of my 3 year old drawing a Rainbow, note the stunning Octopus created by Mealie in the background. If you take a look at her website you will see how amazing her art is.

You can check out a full you tube interview with her here. You Tube Interview or visit her website for more information.

Next was Felting with Mieke Den Otter and her Husband. Tucked away in a corner of the parkland we made a little felt snake. It only took 20 mins or so and was lot’s of fun. It was so much fun that I am hoping to book into one of her classes for a little more felting fun (info on her blog) . Take a look at her blog as her pieces are amazing and she was such a lovely lady too.

In our continuing exploration of lesser known holidays, let’s take a look at Terry Fox Day, which is probably one you know if you’re Canadian.

Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete who had a leg amputated at age 18 because of cancer and then did a cross-country run to raise awareness and funding for cancer research. He was born July 28, 1958, and the first Monday in August is celebrated as Terry Fox Day in Manitoba.

Fox is considered a kind of folk hero in Canada despite the difficulties of traveling across Canada on foot (no one on his team spoke French, for example, the weather was often bad and cars would force him off the road) and the low number of donations at the beginning of his run. He ultimately had to end his run after 143 days and 3,339 miles, or 5,373 km, because his cancer had returned and spread to his lungs, but he raised $1.7 million, and a telethon a week after he ended his run raised $10.5 million.

Check out some Terry Fox quotes collected by My Little Desire. You can learn more in this video from CBC Kids, and listen to the Terry Fox song illustrated by a first grade class.

Twinkl has a bunch of Terry Fox related activities in both English and French, including an activity pack with a maze and word search, a coring challenge, a fact sheet and coloring page.

Most of the resources I could find were at Teachers Pay Teachers, but you can learn more about the activity pack for grades 1-3 that Mrs. Bremer’s Class has made, which tells his story and has kids write things they learned and discuss why they think he is a hero.

Creative Classroom Core has a few paid resources include writing activities, reading comprehension and a Terry Fox fact book.

That Fun Reading Teacher has a K-2 singalong with a differentiated reader and activity to teach kids about him.

You can also celebrate Terry Fox Day by talking about what makes a person a hero and who the kids in your home or classroom think of as heroes. And if you’re Canadian, there are Terry Fox runs in more than 650 communities in September, so you can make plans to participate or cheer on the runners to remember his legacy.

Have you read?