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What to do this Family Day weekend

Family Day is this Monday

•  The National Arts Centre’s Big Bang! Festival will be in full swing this Family Day Weekend, so stop by for kids’ activities and performances in spaces all over the building. For example, Solarium: Interactive Sound Garden is a free exhibition that brings music to a lush indoor green space. 
•  National Gallery of Canada’s Family Art Adventures give your kids the freedom to create and play. Included with admission to the Gallery. Saturday through Monday.
•  Stories, crafts, and games await curious kids at Canada Agriculture and Food Museum (901 Prince of Wales Drive).
•  Are there empty spaces on your bookshelves? Habitat’s ReStore Reads sale is selling books priced from $1. Saturday and Sunday at 3 Iber Road in Stittsville.
•  After a day on the slopes at Calabogie Peaks, check out the live music at Black Donald’s Bar.
•  On Sunday (February 18), form an epic singing duo with your kid at the Hintonburg Public House All Ages Karaoke. 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
•  Also on Sunday, wear your kilt or just borrow some tartan to participate in the Scottish Society of Ottawa’s annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate, which is taking over the Lansdowne Park Skating Court from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. In addition to skating, you can expect performances by the Ottawa Celtic Choir, the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, and the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa.
•  Ausome Ottawa creates sports opportunities for kids with autism, and the organisation is taking over the Mayfair Theatre on Monday for a fundraising screening of the heartwarming comedy Kicking & Screaming. While open to the public, the event will be sensory-friendly, with a partially lit theatre, lower volume of the film, and no previews.
•  It’s free to access the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Airforce exhibition at the National War Memorial.
   
•  There’s a lot going on at Mādahòkì Farm’s Pibòn (Winter) Festival, Winterlude Edition. Entry is free, but some activities require advance registration.
   
•  As Winterlude winds down, Gatineau’s Jacques-Cartier Park (Laurier St. Gatineau) welcomes families Saturday through Monday for climbing over and through tunnels and structures of snow, wandering a maze, and solving puzzles on the Giant Game Cube. Free.
   
•  Kids can get a (temporary) tattoo, take a selfie, and make crafts at the Big Bang Festival.
   
•  The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum will be open on Monday for a family scavenger hunt.
   
•  Kids can build a paper piggy bank and explore the currencies of the world as the Bank of Canada Museum continues its weekend Winterlude activities. Free, open all Family Day Weekend.

Family Day Weekend Road Trips

•  On Saturday, find events and activities all over downtown Perth, Ontario at the Frost & Fire Winter Festival. Be as active as you want with bowling or the scavenger hunt, or simply bundle up and take a horse and carriage ride throughout the bustling town. Then, head to Code’s Mill where a vendor marketplace will feed you.
•  Perth is also the place to go to watch the mystery thriller Sleuth, by Studio Theatre Perth.
•  Back Forty Cheese is opening up its groomed snowshoe trails, toboggan runs, and Cheese shop from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday. 1406 Gulley Road, Mississippi Station, ON
•  Groove Sunday night away at Almonte Black History Month’s Dance Party (Almonte Curling Club, 160 Bridge Street in Almonte Ontario.). $20 admission. The event is raising funds for Equal Chance, the Ottawa organization that assists Black communities in accessing social, economic, cultural and political opportunities and services.
•  Fulton’s Sugar Bush opens this weekend, and it’s the place to be on Monday February 19 for horse drawn sleigh rides, the consumption of delicious maple taffy and skiing the trails.