Do it!
Ages 6–8
Hug a Really Big Tree The West Coast’s moist and mild climate cre- ate the ultimate natural nursery for arboreal giants. No child is immune to the awe-inspir- ing grandeur of a grove of 270-foot-tall Cali- fornia redwoods in Redwoods National Park or the 800-year-old Douglas fir in Vancouver Island’s Cathedral Grove. Redwoods can grow to girths of 25 metres (81 feet)—better bring the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents for this group hug!
Make Wild Berry Campfire Crisp (and Eat it)
This is a fun activity for the campsite or back- yard that finishes with a delicious reward. To make campfire crisp, you just need a pot set, oats, brown sugar, margarine and, of course, berries. Blueberries, blackberries, raspber- ries, huckleberries, strawberries, cloudberries, cranberries, salmonberries—Canada is well endowed when it comes to these tiny fruits. Latitude, elevation and month will determine what flavour of crisp you make; just pick what- ever is plentiful. In the pot, heat berries with a bit of water and sugar until soft. Fry oats and sugar with margarine until golden brown and serve over the berries. Dig in.
Ages 9–11
Stargaze Learning the constellations isn’t just memoriz- ing geometric patterns in the night sky; it’s discovering tales of love, loyalty, avarice and revenge—important parables that have been passed down from the ancient Greeks. Get a kid-friendly guide like the Peterson First Guide to Astronomy (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) and find the easy constellations: Ursa Major and Minor—the long-tailed bears, Orion—the great hunter, Cassiopeia—the boastful and punished queen and Pegasus—the winged horse. Pick a moonless night to stargaze from your own backyard. Or head to the north shore of Lake Superior for some of the darkest skies in Ontario.
Plant a Vegetable Garden
This summer-long project can transform a 6-foot by 12-foot backyard plot into a fresh eats buffet. Before you start planting, research what veggies grow well in your climate and soil type, and then let every family member choose a crop. Pumpkins, carrots, peas, corn and potatoes are hardy choices that your kids will actually want to eat.
Talk to Birds
Learning to identify birds by their songs is actually much easier than it sounds. Pick up
a good field guide that describes the birds’ voices with helpful mnemonics that make calls easy to remember. For example, a red-winged blackbird’s call resembles “eat my CHEEEzies”, a barred owl asks “who cooks for you, who cooks for y’all?” and the lovely white-throated sparrow sings “dear sweet Canada-Canada- Canada.” Actually talking back to birds is a little more difficult than merely listening. For prac- ticing at home, you can’t beat the hardcover Bird Songs (Chronicle Books, 2006), which plays audio recordings of 250 North American birds through an integrated speaker.
Ages 12–14
Bicycle in a National Park Riding on park roads and pathways is encour- aged and some parks, like Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, even have scheduled road closures so cyclists can peddle traffic- free. Iconic American parks like Yosemite and Grand Canyon are especially bike-friendly as park officials try to manage summertime traf- fic jams. A ride on the paved, 19-kilometre Val- ley Trail beneath Yosemite’s granite sentinels, or snaking along the narrow, 13-kilometre South Rim Trail above the Grand Canyon are two-wheeled adventures not soon forgotten.
Go on a Coast-to-Coast Roadtrip
A family roadtrip doesn’t have to mimic Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold dragging Rusty, Audrey and patient wife Ellen across thousands of miles of dusty backroads in a sagging, wood-paneled station wagon. Rather than this ill-advised approach, letting your family in on the planning helps create enthusiasm and valuable knowledge of geography, map reading, prioritizing and creating an agenda. For the full roadtrip experience, go without backseat entertainment systems or handheld gaming devices. And remember, you don’t have to do it all in one go.
Vancouver Island’s Douglas fir are hard to wrap your arms—and your mind—around.
Summit a Mountain
Find the highest peak in your area that can be safely climbed in a day with a pair of short legs and size six Merrells. When planning your hike, keep in mind that every 250 metres of eleva- tion gain adds an hour to your hiking time. Whether it’s a real mountain or just a molehill, there’s a great sense of achievement in reach- ing the summit. Straightforward scrambles across Canada include Newfoundland’s 806-metre Gros Morne Mountain; Montreal, Quebec’s 414-metre Mont St. Hilaire and Jas- per, Alberta’s 2,766-metre Pyramid Mountain.
All Ages
Take a Weekend (or Longer) Canoe Trip
Sure, a daytrip is less work, but you’ll need to spend at least a full night out together to ex- perience the true wild soul of canoe tripping. Choose a trip with conservative daily distanc- es so you have plenty of time to swim, fish, hike and explore. Give each child his or her own small barrel or canoe pack to bring along can’t-live-without toys, companions, games and clothes. In the heart of Canada’s canoe country, Algonquin and Killarney provincial parks are famous, but less popular areas like Temagami and Quebec’s La Vérendrye and Papineau Labelle reserves are every bit as beautiful and less crowded midsummer.
www.canoerootsmag.com
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