Family Resource Centre

  • Home
  • About
    • Our History
    • The Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Supporters
    • Testimonials
  • Programs
  • Guidelines
    • Program Guidelines
    • Health Policy
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Resources
  • Contact

5 Fun Ideas to Celebrate Family Day Weekend

February 13, 2021 by Creating Together

Family Day is celebrated on the third Monday of every February. Though not an official national holiday, we celebrate it across the country, with family festivals and things to do. Between Valentines Day on the 14th and Family Day on the 15th, this time of year is certainly a time for us to appreciate one another.

Each year Creating Together holds a family potluck to celebrate our families. This year, we are all getting creative given the entire Greater Toronto Area is under lockdown until Feb 22.

Here are some ideas for Family Day Weekend:

Go Fishing!

OFFE is a province-wide opportunity for Canadian residents to fish Ontario licence-free. There are four periods throughout the year, the 3-day Family Day weekend in February, Mother’s day and Father’s day weekends and a full 9-days in July, which coincides with National Fishing Week. Give it a try, and fish Ontario waters near you with the kids this family day weekend!

https://www.ontario.ca/page/licence-free-family-fishing

Ice Skating

City of Toronto has 54 outdoor artificial refrigerated ice rink locations, and many of them have the season extended until March, weather permitting. General hours of operation for City-run outdoor rinks are 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, seven days a week. Check them out HERE.

Toboganning

Toboganning never gets old. Timeless, tried and true – enjoy these 50+ Places to Toboggan in Greater Toronto Area

Go for a Family Hike at a Conservation Park

Ontario is filled with unspeakable beauty – and it’s yours for the exploring. Get the hiking boots out, dress warm, and enjoy some of the natural wonders at one of these 50 Nature Attractions & Hotspots in and around GTA.

Vitual Storytime with the Stars!

Burlington Performing Arts Centre invites you to celebrate Family Day by snuggling in with our FREE virtual Storytime With the Stars! Enjoy videos of some of BPAC’s favourite artists, who have each selected a cherished children’s storybook to read to your little ones.

Happy Family Day Weekend

from Creating Together!

Whether it’s sharing food together, helping out one another around the house, spending special time together or sharing memories – we’ve come to celebrate this time of year with love, gratitude, appreciation and fun. From our families to yours, may you enjoy this time together and make it the very best that it can be!

Filed Under: Family Playtime, Special Activities, Tips and Tools, Traditions Tagged With: family traditions, nature discovery

Happy Lunar New Year: Celebrating the Year of the Ox

February 10, 2021 by Creating Together

The Lunar New Year, Chinese Chunjie, Vietnamese Tet, Korean Solnal, Tibetan Losar, also called Spring Festival, is celebrated during the second new moon after the winter solstice, usually between January 21 and February 20 on the Gregorian calendar.

The festival is typically celebrated in Asian countries, beginning with the first new moon of the year and ending on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, 15 days later.

Lunar New Year, February 12

This year’s Lunar New Year begins February 12th, as we move into the Year of the Metal Ox. This year, the traditional parades and festivals will not be held around the world because of the pandemic, but here are a few rituals that are traditionally done to celebrate, to help you bring in this renowned celebration with fun and positivity.

Lunar New Year Activities

Visit family and friends – This tradition is so crucial that LNY travel is annually heralded as the ‘world’s largest human migration’. In 2019, 3 billion trips were projected to be made during the holiday season. With the pandemic, getting on zoom and arranging virtual family get togethers is where it’s at.

Share wealth with family – Red packets carrying cash gifts are given to friends and family. It is also tradition for children to give a gift to their grandparents / elders. Take a look at the history of the Red Envelope HERE.

Clear out last year’s clutter – In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, the last year is washed away: windows, walls and furniture are all cleaned and dusted. However, all cleaning stops on the first day of the Lunar New Year, so good fortune is not swept away.

Hang red decorations – it is said, according to lunar new year mythology, that red is hung to ward off Nian – a lion-like monster that is afraid of the colour red.

Watch a traditional dance – Further to the red decorations, Nian also doesn’t like loud noises, so drums and cymbals accompany a flying lion dance outdoors. This year, enjoy the dance from home through youtube!

Enjoy this Gallery – and discuss with your loved ones what the lunar new year means for you.

Gallery: Lunar New Year celebrations from around the world

Create Origami Oxen!

A very happy Lunar New Year to you all!

Filed Under: Celebrating Diversity, Family Playtime, Special Activities, Traditions Tagged With: Celebrating Community, Culture and Diversity, family traditions, traditions

Increasing Happiness and Well-Being through Traditions of Gratitude

October 7, 2019 by Creating Together

The chill in the air and the changing leaves tells us winter is coming. As the autumn season blossoms around us, it’s a great time to reflect on our autumn traditions.

With the Canadian Thanksgiving around the corner, this becomes a beautiful time of year to celebrate gratitude and thanks for the bountiful harvests in our lives.

Gratitude is Key to Well-Being

Evidence from our research at Berkeley suggests that grateful young adolescents (ages 11-13), compared to their less grateful counterparts, are happier and more optimistic, have better social support, are more satisfied with their school, family, community, friends, and themselves, and give more emotional support to others.

Research has also shown that gratitude plays a major role in our well-being and success. For example, one study links gratitude to greater social support and protection from stress and depression over time.

How Can We Cultivate a Tradition of Gratitude in our Youngsters?

Whether it’s Sunday dinners, birthdays, or family game night, having routines that you do as a “family” is important on many levels. Research since the 1950s shows us that no matter which language you speak or where you are from in the world, traditions and rituals in family life are linked to increased happiness, emotional well-being, and a greater sense of identity in children. So how can we cultivate a tradition of gratitude in our families, so we can give our children the best possible foundation?

Harvest time is the perfect time of year to begin.

Traditionally at this time of year, people give thanks for the sunlight and the fruits of the earth, recognizing that we must share those fruits as we enter the harsher months, and prepare to turn inward in the winter darkness. It’s the perfect time to get started on a family routine to cultivate gratitude – and it won’t only benefit the kids. We could all use a little more happiness and well-being!

Join us this Friday for our annual Thanksgiving Potluck Lunch – make a dish with your young one and join us in gratitude and celebration!

The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley has done a lot of work in the area, and published an article with 7 suggestions for fostering gratitude in their “Greater Good Magazine” as part of their “Expanding Gratitude” project, summarized here:

  1. Model and teach gratitude: Expressing gratitude through words, writing, and small gifts or acts of reciprocity are all ways to teach children how to become grateful. Adults can promote gratitude directly in children by helping them appraise the benefits they receive from others—the personal value of those benefits, the altruistic intention of people providing them, and the cost to those people. This helps kids think gratefully.
  2. Spend time with your kids and be mindful when with them: Being mindful helps you maintain empathy toward a child, and this provides important modeling of empathy, the most important emotion for developing gratitude and moral behavior. It will also give you and your child a heightened sense of appreciation for the things both of you love and for your relationship.
  3. Support your child’s autonomy: Using an authoritative or democratic parenting style, which is firm, yet flexible, sup- ports children’s autonomy. This will enhance family relationships, improve the atmosphere at home, and help bring out their strengths and talents, all good for making grateful kids. Also, limiting children’s media consumption and guiding them to use media in prosocial ways protects them from commercial influences that discourage the development of the authenticity, self-development, and social interaction necessary to grow into positive, purposeful, grateful individuals.
  4. Use kids’ strengths to fuel gratitude: After you’ve identified your children’s top strengths and you know their unique strengths profile, you should encourage and help them to use those strengths whenever possible. Not only does this open up opportunities for others to contribute to the things your children love, but it also enables your children to strengthen their ability to be helpful and cooperative toward others, which will make them more grateful.
  5. Help focus and support kids to achieve intrinsic goals: Steer children away from pursuing extrinsic goals and toward pursuing intrinsic goals, such as engaging in activities that provide community, affiliation, and growth. Not only will successfully achieving these goals fulfill children’s fundamental human needs of competency, belongingness, and autonomy, but their personal development, happiness, success, and gratitude depend on it. To amplify their gratitude even more, remember to savor their accomplishments with them along the way, and encourage them to thank those who’ve helped them meet their goals.
  6. Encourage helping others and nurturing relationships: When children lend a hand, especially while using their strengths, they feel more connected to those they’re helping, which helps them to develop and nurture friendships and social relationships. A great way to do this is by teaching them through your actions that other people matter and that tending to relationships should be a priority. To help children strengthen their relationships, you should encourage them to be thoughtful of others, to thank others regularly, and to be cooperative, helpful, and giving.
  7. Help kids find what matters to them: The deepest sense of gratitude in life comes from connecting to a bigger picture, to an issue that matters to others and doing things that contribute to society down the road.

Whatever it is that you choose to do, cultivating gratitude in your family will give everybody a lift, and will create long-term impact for individual family members but also for communities to become more compassionate, caring, and content.

Read More:

How Gratitude Helps Through Hard Times

9 Gratitude Activities for Children

Gratitude Traditions for Thanksgiving Dinner

Filed Under: Tips and Tools Tagged With: family traditions, Gratitude, Happiness, Well-being

Nature Play for Spring!

April 1, 2019 by Creating Together

Even though it may seem like Winter is hanging on, Spring is certainly here – and with that, comes some great opportunities to get outside, and enjoy the benefits that nature has to offer.

We wanted to share some great activities coming up, to celebrate the nature of the season with your children in Toronto.

  • Children’s Garden Revamp at Evergreen Brickworks: This month’s theme at Evergreen is “Earth Month”. Come enjoy play, art and stewardship in celebration of the earth and it’s creatures! Hop on a free shuttle bus from Broadview Station, and get involved with the Children’s Garden Revamp this month! https://www.evergreen.ca/get-involved/evergreen-brick-works/.
  • Riverdale Farm Field Trip: Explore the trails, visit the barns, and see the farm animals!
  • Sorauren Farmers Market: Open every Monday from 3-7pm, the Sorauren Farmers Market isn’t an outdoor affair until May – but the park and indoor vendors make for a great outing right here in Parkdale. Its also a great opportunity to teach your children the importance of shopping locally, and creating a healthy relationship with healthy food. It also has an incredible unobstructed view of the night sky for evening star gazers!
  • Signs of Spring Detective Quest: Spend a day in High Park looking for the signs of Spring. Become nature detectives and find buds, sprouts, mud, robins, while enjoying the trails, castle playground, and zoo!
  • Create a Nature Table: Bring some items from outside inside, and throw in some symbols of the season: eggs, seeds, flowers…create a tactile learning centre that brings your child’s senses in tune with the season. Take a look at these photos on Pinterest for some inspiration: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/45458277473802237/

More Nature Resources and Activities for Children:

  • Free “Nature as a Classroom” guide by the David Suzuki Foundation
  • Free “Nature Explorers Workbook” by the National Recreation and Park Association
  • “Nature Activities for Children” images on Pinterest

Filed Under: Family Playtime, Special Activities, Tips and Tools, What's On in Parkdale Tagged With: family traditions, Nature Play, Spring

Celebrating Autumn with your Child

September 22, 2018 by Creating Together

In a blog we posted last April about the importance of traditions, we pointed out that around the world, traditions and rituals in family life are linked to increased happiness, emotional well-being, and a greater sense of identity in children. Whether it’s Sunday dinners, birthdays, or family game night, having routines that you do as a “family” is important on many levels.

The Autumn Equinox September 22nd also marks the first day of fall! This makes for the perfect time to honour the turn of another season with your child. If you’re interested in sparking a love of autumn through some family fun, here are a few ideas:

1. Learn some fun facts about the Equinox

The word equinox is derived from Latin, meaning “equal night.” On each equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are said to be equal. The equinoxes are considered a day of balance because day and night are approximately the same lengths. One equinox happens in March (Spring Equinox), and the other in the fall (Autumn Equinox). Here are some fun activities to do with your child, to help them understand the meaning of the fall equinox: https://www.kidzworld.com/article/2526-autumn-equinox

2. Create a seasonal rhythm for the home

Use this time to create a seasonal rhythm in your home – this will help you get things done and create balance in the home.  Children thrive on routines. Some are daily, some are weekly, and they can also be seasonal. Equinoxes are a great time for getting rid of clutter, letting go of those unused toys and giving away the outgrown cloths. Once those things are let go of, a seasonal bucket list is great way to get everybody involved in what they’d like to do the coming season.

3. Have a fall scavenger hunt

CBC has a great “print and play” autumn scavenger hunt guide online. Or, if you aren’t up for organizing it yourself, consider going to one at Evergreen Brickworks.

4. Create a fall nature table

Nature tables give children the opportunity to play with objects found in nature, helping them notice the little changes that happen when a season shifts, and connect with the natural world. They also create a sensory experience for the child, and can be used for pretend or imaginative play. Consider what the season represents for your family’s culture, values, beliefs, celebrations. Then, go around your home with that in mind and you’d be surprised what you can find (rocks, leaves, sticks, acorns, pine cones, seasonal art and crafts, silks and candles in the season, fall books for kids, etc)! Put these together, and voila!

*Of course, include only objects that are safe for your child to handle. Keep small and breakable objects off the table until you think your child is mature enough to handle them.

5. Go on a family nature walk in High Park

This is a great opportunity for young ones who need to get out, and are no longer using a stroller (but you can carry babies in a carrier of course). “Grandparents, parents, teens, children and babies alike will love this chance to discover the natural wonders in High Park’s incredible savannahs, woodlands and wetlands. Walks are led by our amazing nature interpreters, as well as the High Park Rangers and the High Park Eagles Youth.”

Calendar of upcoming High Park Family Nature Walks

Filed Under: Family Playtime, Tips and Tools Tagged With: equinox, fall, family traditions, Nature Play

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2

About Us

Our Programs

Guidelines

Resources

Creating Together Parkdale Family Resource Centre

Our mission is to support the healthy social, cognitive, emotional and physical development of children 0 to 6 years and their families. We welcome children aged 0 to 6 years and their families/ caregivers to relax and connect with each other and with the greater communities through our many programs.
Learn more »

Now Open for In-Person Program!

Sign up to receive our monthly calendar

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Hours

MON 9:00am - 2:30pm
TUE 9:00am - 2:30pm
WED 9:00am - 2:30pm
THU 9:00am - 2:30pm
FRI 9:00am - 1:30pm
SAT 10am - 2:00pm (twice monthly)
SUN Closed

Please refer to our Calendar »

Contact Us

Creating Together
1342 Queen Street West
Phone: (416) 537-1004
Send us a message online »

Charitable Registration Number:
12947 6248 RR0001
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 Creating Together · Log in