Learning more about Canada at the Museum of Civilization

As part of our recent visit to the Museum of Civilization, we have also explored part of the historical and cultural exhibition on the First Peoples Hall.   The museum highlights various parts of the history of Canada and it’s always nice to go see artifacts up close and personal while visiting.

The First Peoples Hall contains over 2000 artifacts that come from Canada’s Aboriginal peoples from sea to sea.    You can see gigantic totems in the Grand Hall and explore the diversity of the First People in Canada.   There are numerous crafts made by Aboriginals as well.   I am in awe of the creativity of the First Peoples even to this day.

It wasn’t the first time we explore this specific section of the museum.  In the past, the kids were able to discover various games that Aboriginal kids would play in order to develop the skills they would need as adults.

Elsewhere in the museum, you will also discover the Canada Hall which will take you through a journey of 1000 years of social history within our country.   The first section focuses on the Atlantic region, Quebec and Ontario through the years 1000 to 1885.  The second section will present the Western and Northern Canada from 1885 to the present.

To complete your visit and learn more about Canada, you should definitively check out The Canadian Personalities Hall which will allow you to meet face to face with twenty-seven Canadians whose decisions, actions and accomplishments shaped our country.

The museum also has an IMAX theater where you can enjoy fabulous presentations on various subjects.

Bottom line is that there is a lot to do when you go to the Museum of Civilization.  It’s a great place to learn more about Canada, to let the kids loose in the Children’s Museum and to enjoy family time.

- See more at: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2013/07/learning-more-about-canada-at-the-museum-of-civilization/#sthash.sptYofpJ.dpuf

Discoveries at the Canadian Children’s Museum

Last week, I presented to you a special exhibit currently going on at the Canadian Children’s Museum located inside the Canadian Museum of Civilization.  Today, I want to present you the rest of the Canadian Children’s Museum – more specifically its permanent exhibitions.

When the kids enter the magical world of the Children’s Museum, you can expect an around the world tour as well as fun things to do.    Not only your child will receive a special passport which you can stamp as you explore the Children’s Museum but he/she will have the opportunity to experiments first things with various settings.

Right from the start, your child will have the opportunity to discover the world of performing arts with numerous costumes and experiment with lighting and sounds.   From there, a whole world opens up to the kids.   They can go from one station to the other to explore an Egyptian pyramid, the market Bazaar which includes not only international food but a currency exchange booth as well.   At the Port of Entry, you can explore a cargo ship and operate a crane to help unload the cargo.   You can visit homes from around the world, build a new house, explore the restaurant business,  travel by on an Indian bus and even discover toys from the past.

The museum is not big but could help you to entertain your kids during a rainy day or an extremely hot day (like the ones we are having these days…).   Besides, once you got your ticket to explore the Children’s Museum, you can also explore the Canadian Museum of Civilization.  And don’t forget the special exhibition – The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head.

Next week: Exploring Canadian History at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Originally Published on the Woodall’s blog.

The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head

Another fun exhibition is in Ottawa for the summer. The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head has arrived in town on June 8^th and will be at the Canadian Children’s Museum located inside the Museum of Civilization until January 5^th, 2014. However, please keep in mind that this specific exhibition is specifically geared for younger kids ages 2-4. Though my kids enjoyed exploring this exhibition when we went, it was a little bit too “childish” for my nine and twelve year old son. My 5 years old daughter and 7 years old son had a blast on their own way.

This exhibition was created by the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in collaboration with Hasbro. In fact, I had requested the possibility to check the exhibition out through my contact at Hasbro Canada. Within a few days I received confirmation that we could go anytime we wanted.

So on a nice Saturday morning, we headed up to the Museum of Civilization in order to explore the special exhibition entirely created around the Adventures of Mr. Potato Head. Right at the entrance of this exhibition, my kids were immediately attracted to the play table where you can decorate seven potato bodies using numerous body parts and accessories. My four kids and I created our own silly Mr. Potato Head figure based on our imagination and ideas. You can see the result of this creativity below.

Right after unleashing this creativity, you can discover a bit of history about Mr. Potato Head.   Did you know that Mr. Potato Head used to have a real potato for his head in the 1950s?   You can see the kind of body parts and accessories the set back in those days had in a special presentation bubble.    My kids were amazed by this interesting fact when we explained to them that the toy exist for quite some time.

The exhibition contains four main stations where the kids can explore and discover the world of Mr. Potato Head. In the Spud Safari, the kids can learn to identify creatures based on their calls, hop in a jungle rover and explore the surrounding as well as create their own amazing jungle bugs out of a variety of tools.

In the Space S.P.U.D., the kids can join Commander Mr. Potato Head on the S.P.U.D. (Super Potato United for Discovery) space station as they orbit the distant planet Neptato. For some reasons, unbeknown to be, my kids have not been attracted to this specific station while we visited.

In the Spud Overboard, the kids can expore a playhouse for underwater exploration with buttons triggering water sound effects. Budding musicians can explore your music gifting by composing an ocean overture while using the vessel’s musical pipes.

Finally, in the Spud Quest station, the kids can transform themselves as archeologists in order to explore the ruins of a lost vegetable kingdom. A huge statue is at the centre of the room and using the pedestal, the kids can emboss their names on a piece of paper using the 26 tatoglyphs. This was my favourite part to be honest. However, I would have made the pieces of paper a little bit longer so that you could create tatoglyphs on the whole name of the child when it is longer. Behind the huge statue of King Tato’s you will find fun mazes that are designed to challenge any child – young and old. The mazes immediately attracted the attention of my two oldest kids during our visit.

The kids were also invited to create their own burlap bag to take home while visiting the Children’s Museum Studio. My two youngest kids designed their own bag to collect treasures during their own exploration this summer. My older two didn’t want to do this activity but waited patiently while their siblings were being creative.

If you are visiting Ottawa/Gatineau, you might want to bring your younger kids to the Adventures of Mr. Potato Head. Tickets can be purchase online.  Please note that the purchase of the tickets will allow you to explore the Canadian Children’s Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization as well.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Hasbro Canada and the Museum of Civilization for allowing my family to explore the new exhibit of The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head in exchange of a reviews . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.