AGO welcomes kids
Art Gallery of Ontario — The major renovation of the city’s biggest gallery has garnered plenty of reviews, many of them mixed. But the real question remains: should you take your kids? Luckily, the gallery —
Music for the holidays
Leah Salomaa: Under a Winter Star — Toronto’s Salomaa specializes in recordings aimed at families, not just kids. I was able to test out her new holiday CD in the perfect setting: a weekend in a house overflowi
Disneyland comes to Rogers Centre
A Disneyland Adventure (Disney on Ice/Rogers Centre) — Big gestures, big jumps and big fantasy always characterize a Disney on Ice show. In this story, the focus is on superhero family The Incredibles and th
Puppetmongers work their magic
Bed & Breakfast (Puppetmongers/Tarragon) — For 19 years, Ann Powell and brother David have brought their amazing puppeteering talents to the Tarragon over the holidays. This year, they’re reviving thei
Petty’s Cinderella cranks up the comedy
Cinderella The Sillylicious Family Musical — For 13 years, Ross Petty has been producing holiday pantomime-style shows for Toronto families. And the experience really shows: the entertaining moments keep coming a
Extreme clowning
AGA-BOOM (Bluma Appel) — This award-winning show has been around the world, and makes a Toronto stop this holiday season. Created by veterans of Cirque du Soleil, it combines European clowning, stunts and plenty of slapstick and physical
Making the Holiday’s Relaxing
Taking your baby to visit her grandparents over the holidays can be a wonderful experience, and seeing your toddler running around laughing and playing with his cousins after a holiday meal is always heartwarming. But changes in surrounding
Shoe museum puts the boots to cold with sock drive
Beginning on World Kindness Day, the Bata Shoe Museum will give everyone a chance to show their kindness by giving the gift of warmth. From November 13 to 30 the Bata Shoe Museum will be launching its first annual fundraiser,
Sillylicious family musical
Cinderella, the Sillylicious Family Musical (Ross Petty Productions/Elgin Theatre) — Ross Petty takes no prisoners: at least when it comes to taking the fairytale classics, tossing in a little drama and drag, mus
A new, kinder, kind of divorce
In an interview in Alberta Venture magazine, Karen Stewart was asked what would be her “advice to anyone about to divorce”.
Old-fashioned radio play
It’s a Wonderful Life (Canadian Stage/Bluma Appel) — The Frank Capra film is an annual holiday tradition in many homes. People don’t just watch it for Jimmy Stewart: it’s a great story that celebrates relat
Celebrate children’s books Nov. 2 in Milton
The 11th edition of “I Love to Read” Milton's Book Festival for Children is set for release Sunday, November 2 from12 noon to 4:30 p.m. at Bruce Trail Public School in Milton.With seven authors, illustrators and storytellers plus a pupp
Grandparents raising grandchildren
"When you are a Grandparent, starting to parent again, you don’t fit anywhere. The friends you had before, as much as they try to support you, realize very quickly you are no longer able to do the things with them
Films from around the world
Sprockets Globetrotter Series (Cineplex Odeon Sheppard Grande) — Going around the world and finding films that deliver more than the status quo is just a subway ride away this fall and winter. Every Sunday from n
Play features acrobatics on ladders
Ghosts and Ladders (Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People) — The new season is getting underway and Lorraine Kimsa and this show promises to be action-packed and dynamic — perfect for those who don’t like s
McKhool’s CD launch party
Chris McKhool: FiddleFire — They always say to “write what you know.” McKhool does just that: he keeps the lyrical content of this recording firmly grounded in the topic of music. The effect ranges. In songs
Tunes from Sesame Street
Putumayo Kids Presents Sesame Street Playground (Putumayo Kids) — A few generations ago, this compilation would have driven the kids wild. I know my own age group, which grew up on Sesame Street, would have been
Olympic supporters
Even though the excitement of the Summer Olympics is still fresh in our minds it’s time to look ahead to 2010 when the Winter Olympics come to Canada. The back-to-school crowd can get a head start on the Games by
Music appreciation 101
Music & Truffles (Mooredale Concerts) — Time once again to think about cultural education, not just regular school stuff, and Music & Truffles is the program that will get young ones up to speed on classi
Festival celebrates books and more
The Word on The Street (Queen’s Park) — This has always been an event that literate types love to attend, and once kids come along, they keep going every year, whether the little ones like it or not. Well, they