Monday, April 8, 2013

John Janzen Nature Centre Visit

John Janzen Nature Centre
On the weekend we went to the John Janzen nature centre, down by Fort Edmonton in the river valley.  It is, in essence, a really great kids indoor playground in a cool looking rustic building.  The playground is one of the most impressive indoor playgrounds in Edmonton, there are a lot of really cool well thought out features, including:

  • a bee hive encased in a glass window that allows kids to see live bees safely
  • lots of great slides and climbing apparatuses
  • kids are encouraged to "sort" acorns by dropping them through a hole in the upper level which leads down to a basket in the lower level, kids were running these acorns up constantly while we were there
  • a beaver lodge that kids could see inside, with a fountain feature that lets them build play dams on top
  • super sized flowers kids could build out of foam
  • a really cool glass dome that kids could climb up into from below and look down on from above
In addition to the playground there is a nature room where the kids can do crafts and learn about various Edmonton area animals.  There are also some nice tables for snacks, several rooms that can be rented out, and lots of benches outside for picnics.  Admission was $12 per family, which we thought was pretty reasonable value.  There are also programmed activities such as nature walks/talks and snow shoeing.

Playground Feature

Building a Dam

Nice Bench

Nature Room

Resources