The final Saturday of the month is a great time to break out your Daddy Daycare skills and offer to take the tyke out on the town and let Mom have a sleep in, some girl time or just read her trashy magazines on the couch with nobody tugging at her leg.

Artstarts is a gallery at 808 Richards (at Robson) and has free workshops for kids and families on the last Saturday of each month.

We took Zacharie to a crazy drumming session last month featuring a couple of dreadlocked, tatooed and bearded artists who make drums and noise out of just about anything and everything. 30 kids crowded the room to bang on rubber chickens, fuel hoses, steel drums and garbage cans. It was wild.

The website says the workshops are ideal for 5-12 year olds, but all children are welcome. Zacharie, at 2, was a little bit distracted and had a hard time sitting still or following instructions.

The ages of the kids in our session was definitely below 5, perhaps the afternoon sessions (when toddlers are napping) would have more structure and older kids.

Each month the theme is different as some of BC’s best children’s performers come to the Artstarts gallery to conduct 45-minute, multi-disciplinary, culturally diverse workshops led by.

This weekend’s demonstrations at Artstarts go at 11a and 1p and feature a sing-a-long with Michael Mitchell.

Michael Mitchell has presented more than 4,000 of his “Canada is for Kids” concerts throughout the country where he sings about our rich national heritage. Kids will sing along as they participate in Canadiana quizzes and other fun activities.
[artstarts]

Looking for something else that’s fun to do with your kids? There’s train rides in Surrey, Corn Mazes in Pitt Meadows and movies in Vancouver this weekend.

Keep VancouverDads.com in your bookmarks for a running calendar of Dad (and kid) friendly fun.

Tags: art, buzz, free fun, kids