City of Ottawa - At Your Museum - August 2023

 

Play Free with the City of Ottawa Museums

From June 24, 2023 to September 3, 2023 regular admission for children ages 17 and under will be free at Billings Estate National Historic Site and Cumberland Heritage Village Museum as part of the City of Ottawa’s Play Free initiative. Nepean Museum and Pinhey’s Point Historic Site continue to be open with admission by donation. Visit any of the City of Ottawa Museums and Historic Sites (Wednesday-Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm) to explore local history or check out each site’s schedule of family-friendly activities and demonstrations. *Please note that some exceptions may apply for special programs and events.

Weekend Crafters

Play, tinker, and create at Nepean Museum’s MakerStudio! Families are invited to get crafty each weekend in August with drop-in activities inspired by local history. Admission is by donation. Saturdays and Sundays from August 5 to August 27 from 1 pm to 4 pm. August 5-6: Create a multi-media collage using photos of Nepean through the decades, magazine clippings, stickers, and more. Complete the scavenger hunt challenge by identifying local faces in the permanent exhibition and hallway gallery. August 12-13: Learn the basics of weaving on a loom and complete the scavenger hunt challenge by tracking down objects from Nepean’s material past in the permanent exhibition and hallway gallery. August 19-20: Use colour coded beads to make a personalized morse code necklace then complete the scavenger hunt challenge by using your new code breaking skills to reveal a secret message hidden around the museum’s gallery. August 26-27: The museum has been slimed! Mix up your own batch of slime inspired by Nepean’s very own You Can’t Do That on Television. Complete the scavenger hunt challenge by finding all the slime splats hidden in the permanent exhibition and hallway gallery.

From blacksmithing to carpentry and beyond!

What kinds of specialized skills and tradespeople were required to keep a rural village running smoothly in the 1920s and 30s? Visit Cumberland Heritage Village Museum, just 30 minutes outside Ottawa’s downtown core, to experience history brought to life. See our heritage demonstrators at work tending to the harvest, teaching in the one-room schoolhouse, typesetting in the printshop, and more.

History Helpers

Each week at Pinhey's Point Historic Site, we’re exploring life in early March Township through the eyes of a different child with crafts, games, and scavenger hunts. Kids and their families are invited to drop by the museum August 6, 13 and 20 between 1 pm and 4 pm to join the fun! Admission is by donation.

Learn how to make ice cream

Families are invited to join us at Billings Estate National Historic Site Friday afternoons through August 25 from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm for a free drop-in program. Kids and parents can celebrate summer in 19th-century style as we learn how to make homemade ice cream using traditional methods and play heritage games including graces, croquet, potato sack races, nine pins and more.

Schools IN for the summer at Cumberland Heritage Village Museum

Put yourself in the shoes (or, more accurately, the desk) of a student in a rural, one-room schoolhouse. A costumed heritage interpreter, in the role of a schoolteacher, will take families through engaging activities inspired by early 20th century arithmetic, composition, geography, or nature study lessons. Put your thinking caps on and discover how life in the classroom has evolved over the past 100 years. Families with kids and adults of all ages are encouraged to participate together! Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm (approximately 30 minutes in length).

Farm animal tours

Are you interested in learning more about the farm animals that call Cumberland Heritage Village Museum home each summer? At 4 pm daily (Wednesday-Sunday), you’re invited to join one our knowledgeable interpreters as they complete the afternoon feedings and share insights into these unique heritage breeds.

Registration is open!

Do you have a budding archeologist at home? A young one with a green thumb or future chef in the making? Billings Estate National Historic Site is offering two fantastic children’s programs this August that will inspire creative thinking and hands-on engagement with local history. History detectives, artefact hunters, and curious minds ages 8 to 11 can join the museum’s excavation team on Thursday mornings with "Can You Dig It?". From bugs to butter making and beyond, kids ages 5 to 7 are invited to travel through time to tackle history-inspired challenges on Friday mornings with "Time Travellers".