Welcome to Belfast! Believe it or not, the days are already getting longer with the evenings lighter later, and this past week the morning light also ‘feels’ different and I can imagine spring will soon be in the air. I am reminded that I have some spring flower bulbs that I need to get planted if there’s a hope of them blooming this year. From outdoor woolly walks to theatre performances, there’s a lot going on in Belfast in February!
Feeling adventurous? Try out some of the activities at Todd’s Leap. Off-roading, zorbing, zip-lining, and more. What could be more fun in the muck than driving a JCB (for children 8+)? What an experience that would be!
February 10 Head on over to Mt. Steward and build a bird box to entice our little feathered friends into your garden. My children love making bird boxes, and once you have your box, you will want to download these garden bird cards to help you identify the birds that visit your garden.
February 10-11 head on over to Castle Espie and meet Norman. Who’s Norman? He’s the resident Norman Knight who will tell you about the history of the castle. Children will also have the opportunity to try on armour.
February 13-17 Roald Dahl’s Gerorge’s Marvellous Medicine will be performed at the Grand Opera House. My children have just finished reading this book as a part of the NI Libraries Chatterbooks club. They also love the GOH, having just been there for the first time earlier this year to see Peter Pan when we were kindly gifted some tickets. Roald Dahl’s play will certainly be the medicine to cure the February blues.
February 15 – 25 will see the annual Northern Ireland Science Festival take place in many venues across the country. From lectures to workshops, hands-on activities, and more, there will be science of all varieties to entertain and educate all ages. Without a doubt, the highlight of this year’s festival will be our favourite Canadian astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield at the Belfast SSE Arena.
February 17 join the Winter Wooly Walk tor raise funds for the Cancer Fund For Children. It’s 2-4 miles and takes place in 7 locations across the country. Getting children involved in charitable events is a great way to get them thinking about how to help others both now and into the future.
Also on February 17 is the TQ Giant’s Trail in the Titanic Quarter, of course. Get a treasure map and find the industrial giants of the area with the help of volunteers. This is a part of the Science Festival mentioned above.
If your little ones are acting like animals, why not set up a date with the Amazon Jungle Show for them and their friends! Catherine came out to our camera club a couple of years ago and brought some of her animals with her. It was the most unique night we had, and some of the most well-behaved models we’ve worked with.
If the weather isn’t great (there’s sure to be another named storm at some point this month as winter isn’t yet over), you’ll want to spend some time indoors. Phil and the kids like to head over to Antrim and watch a movie on the OmniplexMAXX screens.
If your kids need to burn off some energy and could use a little more focus, now is the perfect time to get them involved in sports. Martial arts are fabulous as you can join at any time of the year, you work at your own pace, and you are always aiming for improvement and moving up levels. Our children are taking Ju-Jitsu and if you’d like to learn about some of the great benefits it’s had on the kids, you can read about it here and here.
