The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation (604-257-8400, www.city.vancouver.bc.ca) operates more than twenty community centers. These centers host a huge variety of other children’s pro-grams, courses, and individual and team sports for all ages, year round. They also hold a wide array of summer camps. Some of the more unusual ones — including kayaking, canoeing, and arts camps — are run out of the idiosyncratic False Creek Community Centre (1318 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, 604-257-8195). Young children also revel in the Waterpark, adjacent to the community center. The idea is to get seriously soaked in the slides, geyser jets, sprays, and water cannons (or canyons). Nearby looms the Kids Market, an entic¬ing emporium best avoided if either your wallet or your willpower is not in the best of shape.
Another water playground stands adjacent to the seawall on the north side of Stanley Park at Lumberman’s Arch. And while the city has a number ofpools suitable for children, the best by far is the Maple Grove Pool at Yew Street and Southwest Marine Drive ( South Vancouver). Located in the leafy park of the same name, it features separate pools for children and toddlers.
The dubious distinction of being, for the moment, the only beanbag movie theater in Canada belongs to Famous Players’ SilverCity Coquitlam (‘70 Schoolhouse Street, Coquitlam, off the Lougheed Highway, 604-523-2911). Instead of the standard movie house setting of rigid chairs, the front of one screening room features a cluster of beanbag chairs and sofas shaped like French fries, popcorn, hot dogs, hearts, and so on. There’s also a gallery of distortion mirrors, and kids can move around during the showing. Only child-oriented films are shown.
Artistically inclined youngsters will find extraordinary resources at Arts Umbrella (1286 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, 604-681-5268, www.artsumbrella.com). Programs cover dance (classical ballet to hip-hop), theater (junior troupe to senior touring), visual arts (clay sculpture to digital filmmaking), and early childhood programs. Programs run year round, including summer.
Bard on the Beach, a phenomenally successfully producer of Shakespearean fare in Kitsilano’s Vanier Park from June through September, runs workshops in July and August for young thespians (604-737-0625, www.bardonthebeach.org). The two-week Young Shakespearean program includes movement, voice training, and Shakespearean language, all culminating in a public performance. Pro¬grams are tailored to ages eight to twelve, and thirteen to eighteen.
UBC’s M.Y. Williams Geological Museum (Geological Services Centre, 6339 Stores Road, Westside, 604-822-2449) is by no means designed for children, but they’ll love the upright skeleton of an 8o-million-year-old Lambeosaurus dinosaur in full running mode. Maplewood Farm (405 Seymour River Place, North Vancouver, 604-929-5610, www.maplewoodfarm.bc.ca) is a five-acre haven for several hundred domestic animals and birds, and a favorite with the younger set. And while a day spent at that giant golfball at the eastern end of False Creek known as Science World (1455 Quebec Street, Central Vancouver, 604-443-7443) is my idea of being plunged into hell, most children love it. Its Omnimax Theatre features excep¬tional films on nature themes. Another undying favorite (with kids and oldsters) is the Stanley Park Miniature Railway (604-257-8531) — see “Trains” for more information.
Kidsbooks (3083 West Broadway, Kitsilano, 604-738-5335) sells so many titles that well-stocked categories include “Pioneer,” “Slavery,” “Exploration,” and “The Wars.” Dolls that you can be sure have been well vetted for political correctness — along with games, puppets (beaver and moose), puzzles, toys, CDS, videos, and more — fill these large premises.
Current city guidebooks for caregivers include Kids’ Vancouver, from Raincoast Books, and Jack Christie’s Day Trips with Kids, from Greystone Books.
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