Activities and Special Guests

The 2012 Family Area activities schedule will be online in June! For your reference, here were the fun things children could do in the Family Area in 2011.

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Artist Central

Wings, beads, masks and more – let your imagination run wild! Pop in and try your hand at dozens of arts and crafts throughout the day or check the schedule for planned activities and fun for creative hands.

Face Painting

Butterflies, whiskers, stars and more – surprise your family and friends with the “new you” after a visit to our face painting corner.

Reading Tent

Sneak away to the Reading Tent to relax and enjoy a story or enchanting tale. Check the schedule for special guest readings with live illustrations by Grant Anderson and Sheldon Dawson and hand puppet shows by Puppet Folk.

Fun In The Sun

Games and activities take place in the field all day long. Get your hands dirty in our giant sand pile, skip, hula, run or roll your day away.

Grant Anderson Under Reading Tent

Grant Anderson became interested in stories for children by listening to the tales of his father and uncles. Combining traditional values with contemporary issues, his stories bring together complex themes, fanciful characters, and captivating scenarios with a healthy dose of fun. Along with illustrator Sheldon Dawson, they are a fixture in classrooms and libraries across the province.

Winnipeg International Children’s Festival

Get down and clown around with hands-on circus art workshops. Learn to juggle, strut on stilts, ride the rola bola or dare to challenge the two-foot high tight wire.

Art Train

Environmentally conscious crafters of all ages are invited to join the folks at Art Train in upcycling fabric remnants and found objects into hippie headbands and rock star armbands.

Winnipeg Art Gallery

Express your love of music through painting with the help of the WAG’s Youth Program Coordinators. Children of all ages are invited to paint their favourite musical memory to be displayed for everyone to see for the duration of the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Seven Teachings Craft and Song Circle

Join in a circle to hear about the Seven Teachings of Manitoba’s First Nations. These teachings bring us back to our connection to the land, and are represented by seven animals, each with its own special gift. Make your own shaker with one of the seven animals on it and use your shaker in a drumming, singing and movement circle.

Fun with Worms

Join our friends from the Green Action Centre to see their composting worms at work! These hard working critters eat our kitchen waste, turning it into rich fertilizer for our gardens. Visit our squiggly friends, get your hands dirty and make your own bookmark to take home.

Green Thumbs

Use your newfound knowledge of composting and plant your very own herb garden with the friendly folks from Food Matters Manitoba and Sage Garden Herbs. Watch a seed-starting demo, taste a variety of herbs and plant your own mini- garden in a take-home recycled container. For added fun, bedazzle your planter in Artist Central!

Art City Parade Station

Everyone is invited to join Art City artists in the creation of the “Little Wings Parade.” This free-style fabric workshop is sure to inspire the artist within. Stop by and make a costume, accessory or prop in preparation for the Sunday parade. All are welcome to march with us from the Chickadee Bigtop to the Labyrinth.

Green Fools Roving Stilt-Walkers

Tag along as our colourful, interactive personalities cruise the site making friends in high places.

I Swung with High Strung

Courageous kids age eight and up are invited to swing and smile from a trapeze. Suspend upside down in the safety of a harness while crowds gasp and cheer.

ZAP CIRCUS

Join our friends from down under in a juggling, poi and staff workshop. All ages are encouraged to participate.

IDE Canada

Cool off at our water play area, which features revolutionary products such as the treadle pump and low-pressure sprinkler.

Manitoba Hydro

Make a kootie catcher, play eye spy, turn your hand at a game of “wattzee” or head to the sand pile and dig in with help from the Manitoba Hydro fleet.