We are committed to helping our community stay engaged and active during the COVID-19 situation. While our recreation facilities are closed and you're missing your favourite programs and activities, we have created an all-star line-up of links to learning and fitness activities that can be done at home.
| Activities For Families |
- Follow North Dumfries Community Health Centre on facebook for a new adventure posted every Monday.
- Langs is now offering Virtual Programming, visit their website for more information.
- The rare Charitable Research Reserve has shared a list of activities, experiments, games and workshops.
- The Region of Waterloo Library has online access to favourite newspapers and magazines, and links to online resources for entertainment or research.
- Follow Early Years Info Waterloo Region on Facebook and Twitter for activities for young children.
- Nature At Home activities from Grand River Conservation Authority.
- Kids Corner - police themed activities for kids from our friends at Waterloo Regional Police Service.
- Activities for the kids from the Food Bank of Waterloo Region.
- Fire safety for kids with Sparky School House.
- Jumpstart - check out their fun ideas to keep kids active at home and for fun tips from their partner programs, including ways to stay connected and engaged with Jumpstart Athlete Ambassadors
- Listen to the birds in your neighbourhood and learn a new bird call.
- Safari At Home activities from African Lions Safari to keep your little monkeys entertained.
- Toronto Zoo is bringing the zoo to you through links to resources, live cams, videos and more.
- Paint rocks and leave them around your neighbourhood to brighten someone's day.
- Spring scavenger hunt in your neighbourhood, while practicing physical distancing (keeping 2 metres apart from others).
- Historical Walking Tours right here in North Dumfries. Remember physical distancing protocols (keeping 2 metres apart from others) while your family is out for a walk.
- Make rainbow bubble snakes in your backyard.
- Create an indoor mini putt course. Use different objects throughout your home to make this as challenging as possible. For the holes use plastic cups on their side to hit the ball into. If you don't have a golf putter think of different ways to play with either a hockey stick, your hand, foot etc. Keep score and see who can complete the course in the least amount of shots!.
- Indoor Obstacle Course:
- Crawl under a string or a sheet like a limbo
- Crawl under or over some chairs
- Walk one foot in front of the other on an imaginary balance beam
- Run while balancing a beanbag or a stuffed animal on your head
- Somersault from one area to another
- Throw a sock into a laundry basket
- Crab walk
- Bear walk
- Slither like a snake
- Walk backwards
- Walk sideways
- Dance move, strike a pose
- Pile some pillows to turn them into a “mountain” you must climb over
- Use a toy car on the floor to challenge your child to push it from one station to the next without using their hands
Have your family create different ones each day, time yourselves to see how fast you can do the obstacle course!
- Build a time capsule:
Pick and create things to put into a time capsule; put everything in a shoe box or a container and put it somewhere safe in your home. Open it up in a year, 5 years, or 10 years.
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| Learning at Home |
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Local school boards have embarked on a distance learning journey:
Waterloo Region District School Board
Waterloo Catholic District School Board
Are your kids ready for a 30-day challenge? Join United Nations Environment Program's Earth School for 30 days of quests to learn about the environment and connect with nature.
Play and explore at the government of Canada's Climate Kids website.
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| Recipes |
| Stay tuned for favourite recipes from Council and Staff! |
| Virtual Tours |
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Parks Canada
Parks Canada 360 lets you explore Canada’s national parks and hidden gems.
YouTube link
Ripley's Aquarium
Check out the live Shark camera from the Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto
www.ripleyaquariums.com/canada/shark-camera/
Canada's Wonderland
Take a virtual Roller Coaster Ride! Head over to Canada’s Wonderland YouTube page and select Rollercoaster POV, Thrill Ride POV or Family Ride POV.
www.youtube.com/user/CanadasWonderlandPR/playlists
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| Waterloo Region Museum |
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Help the Waterloo Region Museum literally write history! Share your experiences of life in Waterloo Region during the COVID-19 pandemic with written accounts, artwork, or video recordings by emailing them to helpusmakehistory@regionofwaterloo.ca with the subject line “Writing COVID-19 History”. For more information, visit: https://www.waterlooregionmuseum.ca/en/whats-on/help-us-make-history.aspx#
Virtual Field Trips with Waterloo Region Museum and Doon Heritage Village.
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| Wellness & Fitness |
- Need a short movement break? Download the Participation Canada app and use the awesome ‘Take 10’ function anytime you feel like squeezing some activity into your day.
- The YMCAs of Cambridge & Kitchener-Waterloo have everything you need to stay healthy and moving at home; recipes, online workouts, wellness tips and fun for the whole family.
- Free online yoga classes and guided meditation by the NDCC’s yoga instructor, Angela Bryson of ANGELS-LANDING Yoga & Wellness.
- Wellbeing Waterloo Region - In response to COVID-19, Wellbeing Waterloo Region has added COVID related events to their calendar. These listings are events and programming related to general wellbeing that have been adapted to become virtual.
- Calming crafts - relax and de-stress while being creative.
- Dance to music, play active video games, skip rope, and remember to stretch and move after long periods of sitting (at least once per hour)
- Start a nature journal. Look out the window each day and record what you see (birds, flowers, shapes in the clouds etc.)
- Start a plank challenge with your family (or friends via video chat). Start by trying to hold a plank for 30 seconds. Record your time, and each day challenge each other to beat your personal records.
- Olympic Challenge
The summer Olympics might be cancelled, but you can recreate an Olympic experience at home. Set up a bunch of different games and see who gets the gold medal!
Here are some events to try to crown your champions:
• Long Jump - Set up an open space and use tape to mark who jumped the furthest.
• High Jump - Give each person’s name written on a piece of tape and see how high they can jump by placing the tape as high as they can on a wall with their hand as they jump.
• Hallway or Sidewalk Dash - Time who is the fastest runner in the house. Run from point A to point B, and time each person.
• “Cycling” - Using your bike, scooter, rollerblades, skateboard time who is the fastest from one light post to and back outside.
To make it more fun design your own team flags, medals and have a medal ceremony for the events!
- Total Body Fusion Workout – our friends from City of Cambridge have a workout on YouTube you can do at home.
- Working from home and sitting through a lot of Zoom meetings? Fit these stretches in between meetings! Thank you to our friends at the City of Cambridge for this helpful tip.
- Enjoy a walk or jog (maintaining physical distancing of 2 metres from others) with intervals of yoga, ab blasts, cardio and stretching with your small children. With thanks to the City of Cambridge for this Stroller Fit resource.
- Spell your name fitness challenge:
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