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Guided Tour: Butterflies Go Free at Montreal Botanical Gardens 2012

Jessica Howard — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:15:10 +0000

Butterflies Go Free runs from Feb. 16 to April 29, 2012 at the Montreal Botanical Gardens.

For a brief break from the winter blahs, head to Butterflies Go Free, starting Feb. 16 at the Montreal Botanical Garden. It’s a tropical oasis that’s worth a visit, even if the visit typically lasts under an hour with young kids.

The Botanical Garden’s main greenhouse is heated up to 29 degrees, filled with tropical plants and flowers, and incredibly colourful butterflies from countries including Costa Rica, Indonesia and Ecuador. Some have wing spans that are close to the size of your hand, showing flashes of electric blue or green as they flutter by. It’s magic to watch them glide into the nearest hibiscus for a snack, then take off again.

Welcome to the jungle

The greenhouse circuit doesn’t take long to walk, so take off your coat and go slowly. You may not have a choice – it can get very crowded in there. On the lower level, there are child-friendly presentations about the life cycle of a butterfly – our five-year-old was definitely listening and learning on our last visit (the 2.5-year-old, not so much).

Children age four and up will definitely get more out of the experience than younger children; on a visit when our first son was two, he wasn’t interested for more than five minutes. At five, he had fun spotting the various species among the leaves, and borrowed the camera to snap lots of pictures himself.

We spent about 20 minutes with the butterflies, then went to explore the rest of the greenhouses. As lovely as the flowers and plants are to adults, they don’t hold kids’ interest. Ours did have fun chasing each other through a tunnel in the orchid area. I don’t think that’s what the Botanical Garden staff has in mind, though, so we kaiboshed it (before security came along).

Included in the admission price is a visit to the Insectarium, which was being renovated this time last year. If you haven’t checked out its new We are the Insects exhibit, you can make the 5 to 10 minute walk from the Botanical Gardens’ greenhouse to the Insectarium.

Game plan

If you’re visiting Butterflies Go Free with a child age 2 and under, they may not be interested for long, and it may not be worth paying around $40 to visit (admission plus parking). Your call.
Since the visit will be short, consider going in the late-morning and tying it in with lunch at the Botanical Garden restaurant. The kids will also enjoy the Botanical Garden gift shop, which has some great toys and games; yes, they will ask you to buy them something.
Let kids know that the butterflies may land on them (especially if they’re wearing red), but not to touch the butterflies.
Older kids may enjoy bringing a magnifying glass or binoculars with them, or getting to borrow the camera for a while.
Bring a stroller for kids age two and under (you can also rent one there).

Have you taken the kids to Butterflies Go Free? How did it go?

Butterflies Go Free
Schedule: Feb. 16 to April 29, 2012, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday (open Monday, Feb. 27 and March 5 and April 9).
Location: Montreal Botanical Garden, 4101 Sherbrooke St. E. (Pie-X metro)
Cost: Adults $15, age 5 to 17, $7.50, family $42.
Parking: $5 for first hour, $10 per day.
Telephone: 514-872-1400

Video courtesy of BalconygardenerTV.

Main image courtesy of alainpicard.us.

Guided Tour: Butterflies Go Free at the Botanical Garden

Jessica Howard — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:10:29 +0000

Butterflies Go Free runs from Feb. 17 to April 25 at the Montreal Botanical Gardens.

For a brief break from the winter blahs, head to Butterflies Go Free at the Montreal Botanical Garden. It’s a tropical oasis that’s worth a visit, even if the visit typically lasts under an hour with young kids.

Welcome to the jungle

We spent about 20 minutes with the butterflies, then went to explore the rest of the greenhouses. As lovely as the flowers and plants are to adults, they don’t hold kids’ interest at all. Ours did have fun chasing each other through a tunnel in the orchid area. I don’t think that’s what the Botanical Garden staff has in mind, though, so we kaiboshed it (before security came along).

Game plan

If you’re visiting Butterflies Go Free with a child age 2 and under, they may not be interested for long, and it may not be worth paying $30 to visit (approximate cost for 2 adults, one child age 2 to 4, plus parking). Your call.
Since the visit will be short, consider going in the late-morning and tying it in with lunch at the Botanical Garden restaurant. The kids will also enjoy the Botanical Garden gift shop, which has some great toys and games; yes, they will probably ask you to buy them something.
Let kids know that the butterflies may land on them (especially if they’re wearing red), but not to touch the butterflies.
Older kids may enjoy bringing a magnifying glass or binoculars with them, or getting to borrow the camera for a while.
Bring a stroller for kids age two and under (you can also rent one there).
Note that the Montreal Insectarium, on the same grounds as the Botanical Gardens, is closed for renovations until summer 2011. Also, the mini-train is not running.

Have you taken the kids to Butterflies Go Free? How did it go?

Butterflies Go Free
Schedule: Feb. 17 to April 25, 2011, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday (open Monday, Feb. 27 and March 7 and April 25).
Location: Montreal Botanical Garden, 4101 Sherbrooke St. E. (Pie-X metro)
Cost: Adults $12, age 5 to 17, $6, age 2 to 4, $2. *Entry rates have been reduced slightly to accomodate for the closure of the Insectarium.
Parking: $5 for first hour, $10 per day.
Telephone: 514-872-1400

Video courtesy of BalconygardenerTV.

Main image courtesy of alainpicard.us.

Caillou Discovers Winter at the Biodôme

Jessica Howard — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:48:16 +0000

There aren’t too many places that offer kids a “polar play area,” where they can try a little “ice fishing”, dress up like a penguin or polar bear, build up and bash down foam “ice cubes”, and make themselves at home in an igloo. This is one of the super features of the annual Caillou Discovers Winter event the Biodome, which runs from Dec. 18, 2010 until Feb. 6, 2011. I would highly recommend it for toddlers up to around age six – it will keep the little ones and their older siblings happy. It’s also an opportunity to check out the new interactive features recently installed at the Biodôme.

Caillou leads the way
Kids get to meet one of their heroes, Caillou, who helps teach them about winter and how animals adapt. There is a Caillou-themed winter journey that takes visitors through the Biodôme’s ecosystems; a booklet asks them to find particular points of interest along the way. We didn’t do the tour on our 2009 visit, because our kids (age 2.5 and 5 at the time) were too engrossed in building ice cube forts in the play area. Then, we headed to a small auditorium to catch one of the storytelling sessions (about 20 minutes long).

Storyteller gets kids’ attention
The story is that Caillou lost his teddy bear in the Biodôme and the audience has to help find it, learning about the different environments along the way. The storyteller developed a great rapport with the kids immediately; they were yelling answers to his questions and laughing along with his jokes. Even though our younger one didn’t get the storyline, he stayed interested and was happy to watch the storyteller clowning around.

The auditorium is steps from the Biodôme’s live penguin exhibit/enclosure – which is amazing for grownups and children. Apparently not as amazing as the play area, though, because we spent another 20 minutes there before dragging the kids away for lunch.

End your visit with lunch
There are two places to eat within the Biodôme – a café area with sandwiches and muffins, and a larger cafeteria with sandwiches and hot meals. On the way to the cafeteria last year, we discovered the Creative Waste exhibit, which features toys made of recycled items. This was one of the highlights of our visit; the kids were both fascinated to see toys like airplanes, helicopters and castles made out of household junk.

For more information about Caillou Discovers Winter, go to the Biodôme website.

This is an updated version of last year’s post on Caillou Discovers Winter at the Biodôme.

Biodôme Reopens With New Faces and Features

Jessica Howard — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:33:45 +0000

The Montreal Biodôme, which has been closed for several months, reopens Saturday with some new features for little ones. To celebrate the opening weekend, there’s no admission fee for age 17 and under on Dec. 4 and 5, 2010.

For children age 4 to 7, the most interesting changes to the Biodôme will be the hands-on activity stations that have been added to each ecosystem. Since the theme of these stations is “Babies and their Parents”, kids can, for example, pretend to be a baby frog and climb onto a giant poison dart frog’s back in the tropical rainforest, for example. They can also follow various types of bird footprints on the floor to find nests, or climb into an egg and pretend to hatch.

These activity stations are accompanied by explanatory panels, with related information about the animals that parents can read to kids. The new activities will hopefully slow kids down during visits, says nature interpreter Dominique Young, and give families more time to enjoy the museum.

The Biodôme has also updated its information panels and now has about 40 terminals that use touchscreen technology, which allows for features like video. Children age 9/10 and up will be able to take advantage of the new interpretation tools. Also, look out for new baby penguins and monkeys (see video below)

A Biodôme event to keep in mind for the Christmas holiday period is Caillou Discovers Winter, from Dec. 18 to Feb. 6, 2011. Read a Guided Tour from 2009.

Update: The Montreal Gazette’s story about the Biodôme reopening reports that the Insectarium will soon be closed Jan. 3, 2011 to June, for renovations and upgrades.

Image courtesy of ClaudeLafond.com.

Montréal Biodôme
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Dec. 24 and 25)
Rates: Adults, $16.50, age 5 to 17, $8.25, age 2 to 4, $2.50.
Location: 4777 Pierre de Coubertin Ave., Montreal (View map)
Parking: Meter parking on surrounding streets, several nearby lots.

Salon National des Animaux de Compagnie

Jessica Howard — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:14:42 +0000

Want to feel all warm and fuzzy? The Montreal Pet Show (Salon National des animaux de compagnie), an annual exposition of animals including dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles and rodents is on this weekend at Olympic Stadium.

This is not a giant pet store – the event is not for buying or selling animals. It’s intended as a venue for educating people about the characteristics of different pets (including many different dog and cat breeds) and how to care for them. There will also be cat and dog shows, including dog agility and obedience competitions, and a bird show.

Kids will have the opportunity to see and touch the animals and talk to experts and breeders about them. Then there are other activities just for kids: inflatables, pony rides, a mini farm, colouring and gifts. To avoid the crowds, it’s recommended to plan an early morning visit (event starts at 10 a.m.), or in the early evening.

Parents: Do you have pets? Cats? Dogs? Snakes? What pet will you never buy, no matter how much your kids beg?

Salon National des animaux de compagnie
Schedule: Nov. 6, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Nov. 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cost: Adults $12, age 5 to 11, $8; under 5, free.
Food: There are on-site restaurants, but the food can be pricey. Consider eating before or after.
Location: Olympic Stadium, 4545 Pierre de Coubertin Ave. (get directions)
Parking: On the streets around the stadium, or in underground lot.

Photo of Maltese-Shihtzu puppy courtesy of Wayne Silver.