{"id":9488,"date":"2014-06-17T12:33:08","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T17:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/?p=9488"},"modified":"2014-06-17T16:23:48","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T21:23:48","slug":"24-things-every-canadian-child-should-do-before-age-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/2014\/06\/17\/24-things-every-canadian-child-should-do-before-age-12\/","title":{"rendered":"24 things every Canadian child should do before age 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I saw this, I knew I had to share it. What perfect timing! ParticipAction<\/a> is calling on Canadian families to celebrate June 21, the first day of summer, as the Longest Day of Play by encouraging kids to get out and get active.<\/p>\n

Here’s their list of 24 things every Canadian child should do before the age of 12: <\/p>\n

Experience total weightlessness at the top of a swing
\n Skip stones across water
\n Play leap frog
\n Hang upside down from a tree limb
\n Jump into water cold enough that it almost takes your breath away
\n Throw rocks or snowballs at a post from a distance until they get a bulls eye
\n Ride a bike with no hands
\n Paddle a canoe
\n Piggyback someone
\n Roll down a big hill
\n Try a sport that requires a helmet
\n Collect something in a forest
\n Make up a dance routine
\n Slide down something on a piece of cardboard*
\n Build a fort
\n Hike somewhere for a picnic
\n Bury someone in the sand
\n Play outside in the rain
\n Jump in a pile of leaves
\n Make a snow angel
\n Fly a kite
\n Create an obstacle course
\n Swim in a lake or an ocean
\n Make up a game involving a ball<\/strong><\/p>\n

(*As long as that something is not the stairs to the basement, as I learned from my friend Paul in high school. Fun, but painful when you veer off course if you happen to be going down face first.)<\/p>\n

Although I do see merit in simply shoving the kids out the door and letting them use their own creativity to keep them occupied, I also think this is a wonderful checklist of FUN things to do this summer. And who says you have to be less than 12? I think this reads like a bucket list for a summer full of family fun. I’m pretty sure we’ve done a lot of these things with the boys, but I’m still going to print this list out and stick it to the fridge. Or better yet, the wall of the tree house!<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/a><\/p>\n

What would you add to the list of active experiences Canadian kids should have by the age of 12? I’d add play hockey or baseball in the street, play hide and seek outdoors at twilight, have a watergun fight, jump through the sprinkler, and do the “Nestea Plunge” backwards into the pool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I saw this, I knew I had to share it. What perfect timing! ParticipAction is calling on Canadian families to celebrate June 21, the first day of summer, as the Longest Day of Play by encouraging kids to get out and get active. Here’s their list of 24 things every Canadian child should do … Continue reading “24 things every Canadian child should do before age 12”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mothering-without-a-licence","category-ottawa-family-fun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9488"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9491,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9488\/revisions\/9491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}