Jasper in January: (http://www.jasperadventures.com) 
The following activities for kids are adapted from the list of events taking place during the 1999 "Jasper in January" Festival 

• Snow Sculpture Contest
• Ski Competitions --try an obstacle course; or build some 'buddy walkers' where more than one person in on the skis
• Parades: build floats on toboggans or sleds and parade through the neighbourhood or just the playground
• Pool Carnival: head to a pool and create some challenges and games 
• Mascot Challenge: find out what the area's mascots are (schools and other organizations); create mini mascots; create your own; organization a mascot day
• Skating Party; bring the families together and don't forget the hot chocolate
• Mountain to Valley Relay: create your own challenge, where kids pretend to:  downhill ski, drive, cycle, cross-country ski, and run a relay race
• Full Moon Hike: have a family hike under the month's full moon, or create a full-room diorama display with black silhouettes 
• Chili Cook-off: get out those beans!!! What can you throw in the pot to make the best darned chili you ever 'et??
• Omelette Cook-off: what ingredients can stuff the inside of a rolled omelette? be creative
• Scavenger Hunts: can you afford one camera per group of kids?? send them out with the list and the camera
• Senior's Tea: create an atmosphere of a lodge with a fireplace mural in the corner; invite the grandparents over for a cozy afternoon by the fire
• Restaurant Samplings: been on a fieldtrip lately? Many restaurants are very supportive of showing kids around their restaurant -- and maybe even let them make their own food!
• Avalanche Awareness Seminar: there's lots to know about snow!! Create an avalanche of icing -- see what it takes to get the icing to slide down a 'ramp' or cake
• Canyon Ice Walks: create a world of icicles, chasms, and snowdrifts. Make it into an obstacle course
• Sleigh rides: know anyone with a horse and wagon???
• Snow shoeing: have you ever tried this?? It takes some getting used to. Perhaps the kids could make some cardboard ones to walk around on
• Wildlife Search: have the children find out what kind of animals are in their area during the winter; have them create a picture, puppet, or paper mache creation and hide them around the room, yard, etc. Play "hot/cold"
• Dogsledding: well we wouldn't want to traumatize our pets, but perhaps a cardboard box "sled" and teams of kids pulling their creation??

Trumpeter Swan Festival: http://www.vquest.com/swan/fest.html
The following activities are adapted from events listed on the above webpage.

• Get with the theme and wear black and white
• Wear swan jewelry: or what about making the jewellery!! 
• Place white feathers in your hair
• Guided naturalist walking tours, guided bus tours, mall displays: create a museum about trumpeter swans, or birds in your area, make models, photos, brochures, guided tours etc.
• Bird Watching: using paper rolls, make binoculars or purchase some cheap ones for the kids; draw pictures of birds and attach to the ends of the paper binoculars and as you go on your 'guided tour' look at the birds 
• Arts: research the behaviours of a swan and write about it, dance it, music it

This festival celebrates the amazing French-Canadian fur traders.

• Maple Sugar Taffy: have a taffy pull -- that is very entertaining and good for the muscles!!
• Bannock: Make Bannock
• Crafts: create a old-time wooden puppet dancer.
• Rawhide: decorate a stretched cloth with red paint or berry juice (these hides demonstrated feelings and triumphs
• Bartering: create some necklaces and trade for other precious commodities
• Music: try playing the spoons -- following a rhythm and kicking up your heels
• Talking Sticks: make your own and use it to have a group discussion

marion@sprint.ca

For more information on this festival see:
http://www.festivalvoyageur.mb.ca/Anglais/index.htm 

The following activities are adapted from the lists at:
( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• Skate on frozen ponds

The following activities for kids are adapted from the list of events listed at
( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• snowball softball tournament
• beard growing contest: of course you have to have the kids create their own beards to wear! And what about snowmen with beards??

Lee-Anne 

killerwhale1999@hotmail.com

2. What makes Newfoundland unique in the winter?
-We have a marine type climate which results in cool, mild winters. This is due to the cool Labrador Current in the Atlantic Ocean.
- We have great ice flows from the Arctic in late winter. This results in beautiful icebergs which many visitors seek to observe when they visit our province.
-We have a sealing industry (It's on a much smaller scale than in the past, though).
-We have extreme wind storms in winter. Cape Bonavista is known as one of the most windiest areas in all of North America. (I'm actually from Bonavista). Winds can exceed 95 miles per hour at times.

3. Are their special sports, games, festivals in your area?
-ice hockey ( both in a local stadium and in ponds); -broomball (high school team); -ice skating (both in a local stadium and on ponds); -curling; -ice fishing; -ski-dooing; -winter carnivlas; -skiing; - Santa Claude parade

4. What do families do to pass away the winter?
-Numerous outdoor activities; hunting, cutting wood, ice fishing, "boil up" in the woods, skating, skiing, spending time at cabins, ski-dooing, etc. 
-Families get together to play card/board games
-Making crafts/knitting/cross-stitch
-Men usually repair fishing gear (I'm from a fishing town)

5.What do little children like to do?
-make snow forts/snowmen;  -have snowball fights; -play "king of the mountain"; -skate/ski-doo

6. Other Information
-moose/caribou; -polar bears; -seals; -whales; -puffins; -fishing boats (main industries are crab and shrimp-- in the past it was cod);-evergreen trees; -picture plant; -icebergs; -bakeapples

" Here I'm just referring to cooking over an open fire when going in the woods. The usual items to eat would include toast with partridge berry jam, salt fish, beans; not all at the same time though! :)
And of course I cannot forget the tea!" 
...Lee-Anne

and what is partridge berry jam???

We have a special type of berry in Newfoundland called the partridge berry that becomes ripe in early fall. This type of berry is usually found on barren type land and is very similar to a cranberry. The berry is red in colour and it's quite sharp/bitter in taste. But when you add lots of sugar and boil the berries until the sugar dissolves, you end up with a wonderful delicious jam.

This is actually a "spring event" held in late March. But, since the average temperature is -25c I think it meets the criteria to be a winter' festival.

The following activities for kids are adapted from the list of events listed for Caribou Carnival  ( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• Dog Sledding: See Alberta
• Aboriginal Sports Demonstrations: I'll have to do some more research on this.  These activities test flexibility and strength
• Tea Boiling Competition: I have no idea what this is, but it sounds interesting. My guess is you have to race to build a fire, boil a pot of water and make tea
• Ice-Sculpting: create some blocks of ice, and (if age appropriate) create some works of art --you can scrape it with files, chip it with blunt instruments/tools, melt it with... with... hands??
• Note: most the events take place on a frozen lake: Now doesn't that conger up some activities?? !!

The following activities for kids are adapted from the list of events listed at
( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• snow bath ---brrrrrr r r r rrr
• toboggan relay
• ice sculptures
• snow volleyball

This Festival celebrates the return of the sun.
The following activities for kids are adapted from the list of events listed at
( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• Cultural events
• outdoor games
• igloo building competition
• dog sledding
• seal hunt
• community feast
• concerts
• Inuit games
• harpoon throwing contest
• whip cracking
• golf tournament on ice

I have some more research to do on this Festival!!

• street party
• cultural performances
• ice shows/sculptures

Winterlude:

• skate on the Canal
• ice/snow sculptures

Festival of Lights: Niagara Falls: http://www.iaw.com/~falls/lights.html

• Parades: using glow-in-the-dark chalk, on black paper, draw people, animals, shapes, designs and then in the dark have your own little parade of lights! 

The following activities for kids are adapted from the list of events listed at
( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• skating show: can't you see some great actors, miming a skating show?
• ice sculpting
• seniors' jamboree: contact a seniors' centre and ask if they'd put on a performance for the kids. Perhaps the kdis could return the favour at a later date--or even at the same date!
• lip sync competition: oh wouldn't the children love this one!!!

The following activities for kids are adapted from the list of events listed at
( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• "Bonhomme": build a GIANT snowman!!
• Pranksters: Knuks
• bathing suite snow-dive: tooooo harsh!!
• canoe race
• night parades and fireworks: turn off the lights and hand out little flashlights (or better yet, hand out the flashlights first!!) play a game of follow the leader and watch the lights dip and dive
• snow sculptures

The following was adapted from the information listed at:
( http://www.nationalpost.com/features/bestofwinter/carns.html )

• snow sculptures
• sleigh rides
• skating
• Bonfire

Sourdough Rendezvous Festival: http://www.rendezvous.yukon.net/

• Trans North Helicopter Rides: what a view that must be up there!! 
• Annual Sourdough Pancake Breakfast: find a recipe for sourdough and make up a whole pile of 'jacks'
• Robin Hood Flour Packing Contest: I don't know what this is but a couple ideas spring to mind: provide flour, bags, scoops, and an obstacle course and run a competition against the clock to pack those flour bags; OR do a relay race to load a sled up with some sacks of "flour"
• Better Bodies Snowshoe Obstacle / Pack Relay: make some cardboard snowshoes and have a relay race
• Heart Health Fair: have a guest speaker in, or have the children talk about living healthy lifestyles
• Tropical Treasurers Pet Parade: show off your pets,  stuffed animals, or handmade creatures
• Frozen Tooche Push: what's this?? tobogganing without a toboggan?