Unleash your competitive side at AOK, an arcade bar with craft beers (for the parents) and a great collection of retro games. 


Arcade

Play to win at the arcade

It's got beautiful hiking trails, a small lake, and a really cool natural play area for kids. 


Huron Natural Area

Get some fresh air at Huron Natural Area

Pack an easy lunch, grab a blanket, and head to a nearby park for a picnic. 


Go for a picnic

This arts and culture centre just opened in 2022. It's in St Jacobs and offers space for artists to work and sell their art. It's open to the public for exhibits, workshops, and shopping. Take a look at their event calendar!	


Three Sisters Cultural Centre

Apollo has an amazing lineup of nostalgic Christmas movies on the calendar! 


Apollo Cinema

Movie night at Apollo Cinema

The Button Factory is a community arts centre that offers a bunch of courses and workshops.


The Button Factory

Get creative at the Button Factory

Lotus Meditation offers free guided meditation Tuesday evenings at the Button Factory. They also have live streams if you want to join from home. 


Guided meditation

It's a bit of a drive, but totally worth it if your kids love creative activities! You book either the morning or afternoon session three-hour session. There's the expected painting and crafts stations, but also a ton of other cool stuff like musical instruments, costumes, face paint, coloured sand, water play, window markers... definitely more than enough to keep the kids busy for the full session!


Children's Art Factory in Guelph

Literally go outside and take a long walk! 
Find a park, breathe deep, listen to the sound of your steps, let your thoughts wander...
With littles, try letting them lead the way. You probably won't actually get anywhere, but there's no power struggle and you might be surprised to see what catches their attention!


A father and daughter walk a forest trail together

Go for a walk

From the [Explore Waterloo Region](https://explorewaterloo.ca/listing/cambridge-butterfly-conservatory/) Website:
>The Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory focuses on education and outreach in the community. Located on over 100 acres, their site includes the ecologically sensitive Kossuth Bog. The facility’s main feature is the 10,000 square foot tropical garden that showcases thousands of butterflies along with other animals, such as small birds, and tropical plants. They are open every day, though sometimes closed for private events.

#### Hours 
Sunday: 10:00am to 5:00pm

Monday: CLOSED

Tuesday: 10:00am to 5:00pm

Wednesday: 10:00am to 5:00pm

Thursday: 10:00am to 5:00pm

Friday: 10:00am to 5:00pm

Saturday: 10:00am to 5:00pm

2024 Summer (Monday, July 1 – Monday, September 2)
OPEN 7 days/week

- Timed tickets are required for all general admission visitors.
- *Timed-Entry*: Timed ticket holders must arrive within the 30-minute entry window indicated on their ticket.
- *Walk-Ins*: All available tickets are visible online; in real-time. When online tickets are sold out, walk-ins will be denied entry.
- Annual Members do not need to reserve tickets in advance. Become a Member now!
- Tickets must be reserved for Children 2 & under (*FREE*)



Open Sep T2021 Banner 1920x600 Smaller 01

Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory

Visit the Cambridge Butterfly Observatory!

Join us for this year's State of the City and hear from Mayor McCabe about the challenges, opportunities and ambitions of Waterloo. 

The event will take place on Thursday, May 2 from 7 to 9 a.m. at Lazaridis Hall, Wilfrid Laurier University (64 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C7). Parking is available and the venue is accessible by transit and active transportation.

Ticket prices are $60 and include breakfast. Proceeds from the event support SHOW – Supportive Housing Waterloo. 

Event is presented in partnership with Rotary Waterloo. 

Get your tickets here: www.rotarywaterloo.ca

                        64 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C7                                                

State of the City 2024        

Parents and children age 0-5 can explore, move and play while alos connecting with new amilies and resources in their community. Join us on Thursday mornings from 9:30 - 11:30 AM at Kingsdale Community Centre. 

This is a free, drop-in program with no registration required. 

                        Kingsdale Community Centre, 72 Wilson Avenue.                                                 

Stay and Play         

We will lose our beloveds — دست خواهیم داد ما عزیزانمان را از is a body of interdisciplinary works which uses feminist autotheory to transcribe lived experience under the Iranian theocracy. The works highlight the complexities of migration: what self-exile feels like, along with my connection to the greater Iranian diaspora after moving to Canada in 2018\. Artmaking allows me to unpack the emotional landscape of my in-betweenness (neither here nor there), to process grief and loss (both personal and collective), while also pacifying my quest for belonging. Using paper, graphite, and my body in nonverbal dance and performance, I use mark-making as a methodology for healing, a strategy for resistance, and a source of agency while inhabiting the discomfort of this in-betweenness.  

Opening reception: Thursday, April 25, 5–8 pm  
The artist will be doing a durational performance in the gallery April 24, April 27, May 2, and May 4 from 12–2 pm.  
  
  

Behnaz Fatemi We will lose our beloveds — دست خواهیم داد ما عزیزانمان را از

_kupferschmidt / kupferschmid / kupferschmidte_ is a sculpture and installation-based exhibition which uses materiality and autobiography to question the role and success of self-preservation amid a disruption to identity. The works in this exhibition use materials including those associated with Jewish culture to demonstrate the paradoxical nature of preservation. Delicate jewellery chains come together in messy knots as a connection to what came before. Pickles are crystallized in a moment of in-between as both their life and death are elongated. Falling, folding, and slumping glass jars appear to be in states of becoming and undoing. past / present / future. tethered / suspension / potential. In this exhibition notions of time and authenticity are disrupted by the tension between desire for preservation and inevitable failure. The works, surreal and absurd, aim to answer the question: is true preservation even possible?

Jill Smith: kupferschmidt / kupferschmid / kupferschmidte

Join DPCC and YDI staff for an awesome pizza party, board games and sports! 12-17yrs 

                        Doon Pioneer Community Centre                                                

Youth Month - Youth Drop-In Pizza Party!        

## **Maker Space at Studio 44 \- Sept 12 '23 - June 25 '24**

**Calling all Makers**! Welcome to Studio 44\. Get a glimpse of Artshine's exciting programs & products! Each participant will have access to a wide array of art supplies, mediums and lessons. Have you wanted to create with 3D Pens? Decorate your artist's apron with fabric markers? How about making a fancy scribble-bot!

The studio will also be supplied with select[ **Artshine in a Box**](https://www.artshine.ca/pages/artshine-in-a-box) products for you to try! Want to take these home? **As a Studio 44 Maker, you'll get exclusive discounts on all art kits!** 

**Pre-registration is required** **. There is a limit of 20 spaces available each week.**

**These sessions are in-person** at Artshine's Studio 44, located in Downtown Kitchener. A welcome email will be sent prior to each class.

### **Details** 

**Dates:** On-going weekly from September-June, **no classes on Oct 31st, Dec 26th & 28th, Jan 2nd & 4th, Mar 12th & 14th**

**Day of the Week:** every Tuesday and Thursday

**Time:** Studio open from 6:00pm-7:30pm - please arrive 10 minutes early to join the class, as late arrivals might have trouble accessing entry into the building.

**Location:** Studio 44 (44 Gaukel Street, Kitchener). When you arrive, please come to the front doors closest to Charles Street. The Artshine instructor will let you into the building, as the doors remain locked at all times. 

**Age:** Grades 1-6\. There's art projects that anyone will love!

**Price:** FREEfor full 1 1/2 hour class.

 \*Artshine reserves the right to cancel this program at any time\* 

Promotional photography or videography may occur at these events. By participating in our Maker Space workshops, you give permission for yourself, your children and any created artwork to appear in this material. 

                        Studio 44 at Artshine - 44 Gaukel Street, Kitchener, ON, N2G 4P3                                                

Maker Space at Studio 44 - Weekly Tuesday & Thursday Art Classes (FREE, DONATION OPTIONAL)        

## 

**Time**: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

**Age**: 12 to 17 years old

**Location**: Downtown Community Centre

**Cost**: free

Drop-in for pick-up Badminton and Pickleball games. This is a space to try out both racket sports for all skill levels. This is a free program with no registration required. Youth are invited to bring their own rackets or borrow equipment on site! 

                        Downtown Community Centre                                                

Youth Pickleball and Badminton Drop-in        

Mavis Productions is pleased to present Rent: the Musical by Jonathon Larson. This iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning musical that shaped a generation of audiences and taught us all to measure our life in love.

Set in the East Village of New York City, Rent is about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rent has become a pop cultural phenomenon with songs that rock and a story that resonates with audiences of all ages.

Based loosely on Puccini's La Boheme, Jonathon Larson's Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

This is theatre at its best - exuberant, passionate and joyous.

Get your tickets before it is sold out

May 2nd-5th at the Conrad Centre of Performing Arts

Tickets:

Adults: $30

Students/Seniors: $25

Children 12 and under: $20

31bb5bee 35a2 4c5c B092 B1270185def5

                        36 King St W, Kitchener, ON, N2G 1A3                                                

Rent: the Musical        

Come out for a fun and friendly evening of darts at TWB Brewing.

Happens every other Thursday. Check-in at 6:45 pm; games start promptly at 7:00 pm Partners rotate after each game of ‘501’. All levels are welcome. 

Ticket includes your first 12oz beer (upgrade to a pint or not-beer at the bar!), and winner receives a $20 TWB Gift Card!

Dart Night at TWB Brewing

### This workshop is designed to provide financial concepts in a way that is easy for teens to understand. The group will work through budgeting and purchasing for a party! Budgeting is about making choices between what we need and what we want. Staying on or under a budget reaps positive rewards. You are in charge of your choices, but first you have to be aware that you are making them.

  
#### Topics to be covered include:

* Understanding the difference between a want and a need
* Understanding the importance of rationalizing needs over wants
* Using decision making and problem solving skills to come up with the best solution
* Discussing the importance of a budget and deciphering between needs and wants
* Understanding the importance of saving and knowing how much things cost

  

LDAWC-FINANCIAL LITERACY WORKSHOP - Budgeting & Expenses for 11-14 year old

John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute, 21 Meyer Drive, Guelph, ON N1E 4H1, Canada

Explore the public art in our region with this interactive map covering Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge!

Map Thumbnail

Public Art in Waterloo Region

Make the most of your summer at the outdoor splashpads in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge!

unboring kw

Upcoming Events 🗓