Join these Canadian children’s authors, illustrators, and performers to learn about what we might find when we look up, down and all around us! Explore a forest in the city and sing a song about slowing down and looking around. We’ll have a look at some amazing sculptures at the Royal Botanical Gardens and make a cool craft with our friends at the Art Gallery of Burlington, using objects from nature. Listen for the clues for a chance to win a book!
Andrea Curtis
Join Andrea Curtis as she presents A Forest in the City, a nonfiction picture book about how trees make our cities healthier and happier. Andrea’s work has been recognized by both the School Library Journal and the Kirkus Review!
Andrea has a special request for you…watch the craft tutorial below on how to create a “note to a tree.” Then return here to submit your notes to our Creativity Club.
Mr. Ben
Join Mr. Ben for a fun and engaging performance. With his guitar in hand and a childlike enthusiasm & energy, Mr. Ben’s signature blend of folk & pop grabs audiences’ attention, draws them in, and has them singing and moving along regardless of age.
Patricia Storms
Join Patricia Storms for her presentation of Moon Wishes.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be the moon?
“I wish I were the moon,” says the speaker in this timeless bedtime story, “so that I could shine on you.” The moon shines to guide a journey home, glistens beautifully on icy snow, and wishes peace and safety for travelers, friends and troubled hearts.
Milan Pavlovic’s dreamy watercolor illustrations complement this sweet story from Patricia and Guy Storms. Children and the adults who read to them will be delighted as moon wishes reach over icebergs, into towns, through forests and under the sea.
RBG Sculpture Garden Tour
Join our friend Jeremy as he visits the The Dan Lawrie International Sculpture Collection at the Royal Botanical Gardens and talks about process of making a sculpture from beginning to end. He will introduce viewers to one of the newest, and most playful, works by an artist named Peter Killeen from Ireland……his sculptures are a bunch of sneaky rabbits!
Be sure to visit the RBG to see if you can spot all the rabbits in the gardens.
Suzanne Del Rizzo
Join Suzanne Del Rizzo, the illustrator of Before You Were Born by Deborah Kerbel.
Suzanne is the illustrator of the award-winning Skink on the Brink. She left scientific research to make children’s books, creating illustrations with polymer clay and mixed media. Suzanne’s author–illustrator debut, My Beautiful Birds, was a New York Times Notable Book and Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature winner. In Before You Were Born, Suzanne’s illustrations celebrate the wonder of nature and family.
Nature Rubbings with the Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB)
Join art educator Heather Kuzyk from the AGB as she shows you how textures found in nature (and a technique called frottage) can help you create art that highlights the beauty that surrounds you in the great outdoors.
Materials Required: Black and white pieces of paper, any size; black, white and coloured wax crayons; scotch tape; and found items from nature with interesting textures (leaves, flowers, and tree bark will all work well)
Ladybird Fancypants
Ladybird Fancypants isn’t your average drag queen. She wears pants and (gasp!) flats and she’s also mastered the art of reading! The Ladybird Fancypants Show teaches folks of all ages about diversity, caring, and just loving the person you are.
