Family Playtime Archives | Creating Together Parkdale

Cost-Free Family Events this March Break

March 8, 2023 by Creating Together

_{As recommended by To Do Canada!}

*_{https://www.todocanada.ca/city/toronto/event/toronto-seedy-saturday-2/}*

WinterStation at Woodbine Beach

February 20, 2023 – March 31, 2023

The annual public art installations return to the Toronto east end beaches. Set along the waterfront award-winning artists and design firms transform existing lifeguard stations into structures worthy of a visit or two. This year’s theme is RADIANCE. Dress for the weather and the terrain. Then pop up to Queen Street for a a bite to eat or a hot chocolate to warm up.

Lumière at Trillium Park, Ontario Place

March 10, 2023 – May 7, 2023

Explore the park and experience 16 illuminated installations developed by Ontario artists before stopping by the bonfire to warm up. Utilizing innovation, light and discovery, Ontario artists and creators will “illuminate” the park under a curatorial theme of “renewal”, celebrating the change of seasons from winter to spring. Dress warm and wear comfortable footwear for this outdoor experience. Lumière is open daily from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. with a bonfire hosted on Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. More details on their site.

Sugar Shack TO at Sugar Beach

March 11, 2023 – March 12, 2023

This annual outdoor event will transform Sugar Beach into a fun filled weekend featuring all things maple. Two sugar shacks will serve up fresh made maple sugar taffy and there will be all sorts of maple infused food available for purchase. Maple Taffy $3 for 1 or 2 for $5. Cash or Debit only. Live entertainment and interactive activities for all ages. Dress for the weather.

Nature Connection: Signs of Spring Sap Walk

March 26, 2023

Spring has begun! Join us as we explore the forest and learn how maple syrup is made! Please note this is not a sugar bush program.

Downsview Park , 70 Canuck Ave, Toronto

Get The Jump On Spring & Seedy Saturday

March 25, 2023 | 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Toronto Botanical Garden’s annual Horticultural Open House IS BACK with seed and other garden-related vendors and exhibitors including local horticultural societies, garden clubs, and environmental organizations.

Toronto Botanical Garden, 777 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto

St Patrick’s Day Parade Toronto

March 19, 2023 | 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM

Parade Begins 12:00 PM, line of march lasts one and a half hours at any given point along the route.

Join us for the biggest St Patricks day parade to hit the streets of Toronto.
A community event in celebrating Irish culture history and heritage. The parade has grown to include a number of diverse communities and non-profit groups and is recognized as the largest Irish-themed event held in Toronto. A fun-filled affordable family day.

Bloor St W & St George St to Nathan Phillips Square. Toronto

Summer Fun for the Whole Family

July 12, 2022 by Creating Together

Looking for fun summer activities for your children that won’t break the bank? Explore some of the following cost-free family friendly options around the city…

Toronto Public Library Programs:

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/search.jsp?N=37850+37867+38807+37846&Ns=p_pub_date_sort&Nso=0

Weekend Nature Play at the Brickworks Children’s Garden

“Designed to showcase and make available to the public the many benefits of place based outdoor play and learning, the Children’s Garden offers play and stewardship-based opportunities for children and families of all ages.

Here, children and caregivers have the chance to engage in active, inclusive and hands-on activities while cultivating a lifelong stewardship ethic. It is truly a place like no other!”

https://www.evergreen.ca/whats-on/event/weekend-nature-play/

Pedestrian Sundays – Kensington Market

The streets of Kensington Market are yours and open in celebration on throughout the market.

Pedestrian Sundays

Family Friendly Days at the Gardiner Museum

Create with Clay!

https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/learn-create/familydays/

Imagination Playground

An exciting and cost-free outdoor play area for families, including a life sized chess board!

https://ontarioplace.com/en/whats-on/imagination-playground/

Art Gallery of Ontario – Family Fun for Everyone

https://ago.ca/learn/family

Taste of Regent Park

“Vibrant weekly market features talented local artisans, craftspeople, community organizations, food vendors, caterers and entertainers. In the heart of Regent Park, people come together in The Big Park (Dundas E & Sumach St.) to celebrate, share and enjoy delicious, healthy, affordable and culturally diverse foods.”

Taste of Regent Park Returns

Bloor West Street Fest

https://www.bloorwestvillagebia.com/page.php?pageType=events&eventId=100052759

TD Festival of South Asia

https://gerrardindiabazaar.com/

Toronto Outdoor Art Fair

https://torontooutdoor.art/

What about a cost-free night out for the grownups?

Enjoy a free movie night in the park!

Here are all the FREE movies you can watch in Toronto parks this summer

Let us know what you plan to explore with your family below, and be sure to stay up to date on all of our summer programming at Creating Together. See our calendar for more details.

Exploring Play-Based Learning

June 29, 2022 by Creating Together

In early June Creating Together scheduled a Parent and Caregiver Discussion on Play-Based Learning. An understanding of Play-Based Learning is incredibly beneficial for all parents and caregivers of children in their early years.

Why is Play-Based Learning important, and how can we support it? Continue reading to learn more!

What Do Children Learn Through Play?

Child-led play develops areas such as language, communication, literacy, spatial awareness, and social emotional skills, as well as creativity, wonder, self-regulation, self reflection, and problem solving. The experience of play is fundamentally relationship and community building.

What Makes for Meaningful Play?

1. Children make their own decisions.

2. Children are intrinsically motivated.

3. Children become immersed in the moment.

4. Play is spontaneous, not scripted.

5. Play is enjoyable.

(Nell & Drew, n.d.)

How Can You Support Play-Based Learning?

As a parent or Caregiver, how can you support play based learning? One of the first steps in supporting play is understanding it, and respecting it. When we as adults learn to value play, we allow children the time and focus they need to aid their learning and development.

What is Your Role?

Follow their interests – allow the child to lead!
Expand through language, materials, planning
Observe

Interested in learning more? Explore the following resources:

https://www.wonderschool.com/p/parent-resources/what-is-play-based-learning/

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/five-essentials-meaningful-play

Join us at Creating Together for play-based learning opportunities. See our calendar here.

References

Nell, M. L., & Drew, W. F. (n.d.). Five Essentials to Meaningful Play. NAEYC. https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/five-essentials-meaningful-play

Get Outside! Outdoor Programming at Creating Together

May 9, 2022 by Creating Together

New Outdoor Program has begun!

It’s that time of year! The weather is getting nicer and we are so happy to announce the return of outdoor programming starting May 2nd.

Our new outdoor program will be held on Mondays and Tuesdays, with Drop-in program provided from 9:00am-10:30am at Beaty Avenue Parkette (66 Beaty Avenue, a two minute walk from Creating Together).

Benefits of Nature

Researchers and natural environmentalists have been studying the effects of exposure to nature on children, and have found some interesting results: Engagement with nature has huge benefits for children physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

For instance, Adams & Savahl (2017) discovered it has a significant influence on children’s emotional and social well-being, while Pensini, Horn, & Caltabiano, (2016) discovered that early exposure to nature improves one’s mental health as an adult. Would you like to help improve your child’s short-term memory and ability to focus? Another study shows that being in nature for extended periods of time promotes the development of attention skills, while protecting against inattention-hyperactivity symptoms such as (Ulset, Vitaro, et al, 2017). There are also a number of physical benefits, such as improved vision, and reduced risk of obesity.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get outside!

What should I bring?

It’s always good to come prepared 🙂 Please bring:

water bottles,
sunscreen, and
weather appropriate clothing.

After the outdoor program ends at 10:30 am, the Creating Together staff will stroll back to the centre to continue the program and provide snack at 11:00 am. We welcome families to join us on our stroll back to the centre, and for those who wish to join at the centre, we encourage you to come at 11:00 am or later.

Do I need to wear a Mask?

Masks will not be required for outdoor programs however our staff will remain masked. During Outdoor Programming Creating Together indoor space will be closed for drop-in, however if you need to use the washroom during the outdoor program you can head to the centre.

What if it rains?

If the outdoor program is rained out, we will instead open the indoor drop-in program at the centre.

Outdoor and Indoor Program Schedule

Here’s when we are outside and inside through the week:

Monday & Tuesday

9:00am – 10:30am- Beaty Avenue Parkette (Outdoor Program)
10:30 – 11:00 – Family Transition Time
11:00am – 1:30pm – Creating Together (Indoor Program)

Wednesday – Friday

9:00am – 1:30 pm – Creating Together (Indoor Program)

Two Saturdays a month:

10:00am – 2:00pm – Creating Together (Indoor Program)

You can view additional program details and special events on our monthly calendar, linked here.

Welcoming May at Creating Together

May 2, 2022 by Creating Together

It’s time to welcome May here in Parkdale – and with it, we mark one successful month of drop-in programs! This month we acknowledge CMHA Mental Health Week May 2-8, 2022. We also wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Mothers in our community, and Eid Mubarak to the Muslim Community! We look forward to celebrating and acknowledging these days in the centre this month. The warmer weather brings some exciting changes at Creating Together. Read on below for further programming updates and news.

COVID-19 Protocol

We have returned to mandatory masking in the centre, and encourage the same for children over the age of two, should they be able to comfortably mask. We will no longer be screening upon your arrival, yet we invite you and your family to self-screen using the following tool or our posted notice at the door. We wish to remind families who have travelled outside of Canada, that Ontario Public Health requires that you wear a mask in public spaces for 14 days, monitor symptoms, and track all close contacts.

For the safety and respect of all of our community members, we continue to ask that you remain at home if a member of your household feels unwell. For families who continue to feel well enough to join us at the centre, please ensure you sign yourself in and out of the program on the attendance sheet.

We are thankful for your continued cooperation.

Program Update

Thank you to everyone who has joined in as we re-opened the drop in program for the first time in two years. The gravity of how important this space is for children and families to gather and connect has never been clearer. We are grateful to rebuild our practices together and build new understandings of what we all need to feel safe, welcomed, and represented in this space as we support young children who are growing and learning within a complex world.

Invitation to Collaborate

As staff and families re-acquaint ourselves with the program we would like to invite more collaboration back into the centre.

Would you like to lead circle or story time?
Would you like to plan a special day or celebration?
Do you have feedback or suggestions on how we can better represent and support you and our community?
Do your children have questions or inquiries they would like to explore at Creating Together?
Help us represent your home language at the centre by making labels for items in the centre!

Over the next few weeks Leah will be checking in with families in-person, emails, and phone calls to connect on how we can meet your needs going forward. Please feel free to connect with Leah during drop-in program for an informal chat about ideas or ways you might want to contribute to the program.

Community Guidelines

With drop-in program re-established we would also like to provide some updated community guidelines:

Please ensure food/eating/chewing takes place at the tables and hands are washed before returning to playtime.
Creating Together is a place for caretakers, parents, and guardians to connect and play with children. Play is an essential way young children learn. We discourage cell phone use and encourage you to instead focus on following your child’s joy, curiosity, and interests while joining our programs.
Thank you for participating in cleanup routines and modelling collaboration. We are looking into the future and considering how we can safely return to a more open kitchen policy for families. Thank you for your patience as we continue to limit kitchen use and take gradual steps to ensure we re-open safely.

New Outdoor Program!

Our new Outdoor Program will begin on May 2nd and will be held on Mondays and Tuesdays. Drop-in program will be provided at 9:00am-10:30am at Beaty Avenue Parkette (66 Beaty Avenue, a two minute walk from Creating Together). Following our outdoor program, we will walk back to Creating Together for snack at 11, followed by indoor programming. See below for our schedule.

Program Schedule

We continue to offer a reduced virtual program schedule (including Science with Sal), as well as in-person program Monday to Friday 9:00am-1:30pm and two Saturdays a month 10:00am – 2:00pm (please note the location of programs below). You can also view additional program details and special events on our monthly calendar, linked here.

Monday & Tuesday

9:00am – 10:30am- Beaty Avenue Parkette (Outdoor Program)
10:30 – 11:00 – Family Transition Time
11:00am – 1:30pm – Creating Together (Indoor Program)

Wednesday – Friday

9:00am – 1:30 pm – Creating Together (Indoor Program)

Two Saturdays a month:

10:00am – 2:00pm – Creating Together (Indoor Program)

Special Guests

We are lucky enough to welcome two special guests this May for circle time! Mark your calendar and join us for these exciting guest visits at Creating Together:

Natalija from Parkdale Library, will join us May 4th from 10:00am – 10:30am
Nina from Glitterbug 2SLGBTQ+ EarlyON Program, will join us May 11th from 10:00am – 10:30am
We look forward to being joined this month by an Early Childhood Studies student from Toronto Metropolitan University, and an ECE student from Humber College. Let’s give them a warm-Creating Together-welcome!

Resource Boxes

With the expansion of our in-person services, Resource Boxes will be limited in materials moving forward. Resource Boxes will still be available for families actively using our program, in the first two weeks of May, until May 13th.

To book your pickup time, please contact Creating Together by phone or email: (416) 537-1004 / creatingtogether@rogers.com.

Let’s Keep Connected

To see some of Creating Together’s daily sunshine, give us a follow on our new Instagram account @creatingtogetherearlyon – catch all of our centre updates, shared activities, and unforgettable program moments!

Welcome May! We’re so glad you’re here.