About Heather Camlot
A freelance writer, crafts junkie and mom of two, Heather Camlot is constantly on the lookout for that elusive work-life balance she hears so much about. Read about Heather's never ending search for five minutes to herself while trying to meet deadlines, make the school bus and raise two fantastic children.
I’ve mentioned my children’s love of water before. You may recall the post about their lengthy showers or perhaps the one where they flooded the bathroom because they were “cleaning.” Lately, Alexandre has been doing “experiments” to see what happens when he fills a funnel with soapy water (his result: the soap stays in, the water comes out. My result: the floor is a mess).
So when we were invited to the Royal Ontario Museum’s family media preview for its new show Water: The Exhibition, it seemed a no-brainer.
The goal of the exhibit is to educate about water’s essential role in life and the need to protect it. To do so, Water features a mix of multimedia, live animals and hands-on displays to peak interest. There is a lot of reading to be done over the nine sections to get a handle on the ins and outs of water, from its physical and chemical properties to its critical role. Fine for parents, not so good for little ones.
Still, my children pretended to be mini-journalists, taking notebooks with them to the ROM. Alexandre managed to write “frogsicle” and “des vrais poissons” (real fish). Juliana wrote “ROM” and “Frogsicle,” as well. Then they handed me the notebooks and took off.
Younger visitors, like mine, will particularly enjoy the first section, with a live Gila Monster, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake and fish in several tanks. Further on, Juliana liked seeing how a dam works, for which she had to push a lever to lift the dam after one side filled with water, and Alexandre tried testing his knowledge of water with the computerized quiz at the very end of the exhibit (not surprisingly he got the question about water consumption and time spent in the shower wrong).
Other kid-specific highlights include the fog curtain, which made my children feel like they were standing in a waterfall, the water sculpture, which shows how ice turns into vapour, and the enormous hanging water planet onto which images of Earth from space were projected. Alexandre was disappointed that he couldn’t find the bird-poop frog (he’s six, you can understand why he’d want to see the silly-named animal).
Although the exhibit itself is geared to older kids, if you want to take little ones, go during spring break or on “water weekends,” when the museum rolls out complementary family programming with scavenger hunts, interactive games and crafts (like making your own aquarium).
No matter when you go, the most important thing is to impart some of the knowledge you’ve learned to your kids, big and small. Even the littlest among us can get behind turning off taps and reusing water to water plants.
