Activities for Kids and Families

Word Vancouver will once again have plenty of fun and activities for kids and families, with three venues on Sunday, September 25 devoted just to them!

Alpha Bravo Charlie by Sara Gillingham

The kids’ reading venue is called The Quay this year, and as always, there will be tons of author readings for kids of all ages. Kathy Beliveau and her book The Yoga Game in the Garden invites children to hum like a bee and grow like a tree with a variety of yoga poses, while Sara Gillingham‘s book Alpha Bravo Charlie: The Complete Book of Nautical Codes will inspire kids to code and decode messages using nautical flags, Morse code, the phonetic alphabet, and semaphore signalling. Other lovely picture books include In the Red Canoe by Laura Bifano, about a young girl’s adventures with her Grandpa in their canoe, and What Grandma Built by Michelle Gilman, which tells the story of Grandma and the wonderful home she built her family that bursts with toys, bunk beds, and pies. Tales for middle grade readers (ages 8-12) will include Heart of a Champion by Ellen Schwartz, which tells the story of Kenny, who has been interned with his family following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and his mission to convert a vacant field into a baseball field, thereby giving purpose to the long days; The Case of the Girl in Grey by Jordan Stratford, which continues the story of Ada Bryon Lovelace and Mary Shelley (the Wollstonecraft girls) as they investigate a horrible hospital, a missing will, a hasty engagement, and a suspiciously slippery servant; and Notes from the Life of a Total Genius by Stacey Matson, about Arthur’s final year at Terry Fox Junior High, and how he uses his wit (and his column in the school paper) to skewer the censorship of the play he wrote. Also in The Quay will be “Dumb and Stoopid,” two drawing workshops for kids aged 8-12 lead by For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston.

Heart of a Champion by Ellen Schwartz

The family entertainment stage, The Dock, will feature the talents of sibling phenoms Kai and Lia of Fiddlin’ Frenzy; Dixie Star Storytelling, who fire the imagination of children and grown-ups alike with their innovative and interactive shows; stories and songs from Renae Morriseau and M’Girl; and improv for all ages with Vancouver Youth Theatre.

Imagination Island is where you will find fun, interactive family activities all day long. Join the staff and volunteers of Christianne’s Lyceum and dress the trees around the library in beautiful words, hunt for word treasure to turn into a sparkling poem, or write a fortune to add to their fortune-telling machine. Compose a frameable, inspiring piece of literary art celebrating your adventures at Word Vancouver with CWILL BC members and Reading Lights contributors. Frontier College will have a bookmark-making station, a book coin toss, and a jelly-bean guess where kids can win a bundle of books. Visit the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable and contribute to the creation of a colourful paper mural background and add your own collaged animals to it. Decoda Literacy Solutions, the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, the FortisBC Street Team, Kids’ Lit Quiz, and WestCoast Families will have more fun activities on Imagination Island too!

Renae Morriseau of M’Girl

Other family activities at this year’s Sunday event include a colouring book activity featuring pages from locally-published colouring books; and a fairy tale scavenger hunt, where kids can search the festival site for 10 characters and answer questions about them to win a prize.

In addition to Sunday’s programming, also be sure to visit Christianne’s Lyceum on Friday, September 23 for An Evening of Faerie Magic. The Lyceum’s garden has long attracted faeries far and wide. They will be celebrated with stories, treats, and crafts for the entire family. Enjoy tea and faerie bread while making faerie sculptures and listening to faerie stories told by experts Tiffany Stone, Kallie George, Danika Dinsmore, and Christianne Hayward.

A full listing of our family events and all other programming can be found in our program guide or on our website.