Little Métis Family Fun Events foster and encourage families to learn and play together.
- The Louis Riel Institute will run a daytime or evening event for your school consisting of 8-10 cultural and educational centres.
- We will provide the activities, supplies and handouts for each centre (see the list of centres and options below).
- We also provide a take home bag with freebies including a Métis children’s history book published by LRI.
- We run a book draw at each event with 15 prizes of new books.
- One of the centres is the Dress Up and Photo Booth where families can have their photo taken dressed in traditional Métis clothing. We ask that the school provide the digital camera for this centre.
- We bring staff and volunteers with us for setting up and helping with centres. We ask that the school also provide 6-10 volunteers (teens do well and we will have an orientation for the volunteers a half hour before start time).
- The school needs to have 20 tables and 40 chairs available for setting up in the gym.
- Programs usually run for two hours depending if there is entertainment and food as well.
- Cost = $750
Regular Centres:
- Giant Métis Word Find (French and English)
- Métis Picture Sudoku
- Métis Jeopardy and Junior Métis Jeopardy – trivia for all ages
- Manitoba Map Maze- this game will test your memory on patterns
- Rest Centre – flag making, colouring and crafts
- Toddler Centre – touch and feel items for little hands
- Family Tree Centre – parents and children can each create their own family trees
- Dress Up – Photo Booth – have your photo taken in traditional Métis clothing
- Red River Construction Centre – plasticene and craft sticks – encourages imagination
- Métis Music Centre – learn to play the spoon to traditional fiddling music
- Used Book Exchange – bring your old books and trade them for some reading fun
- Family Bingo – based on pictures of traditional Michif foods
- Voyageur Relay Race
- Sash Weaving – make a bracelet to take home
- Michif Language Centre – make a mini book
- Optional Activities:
- These activities can be booked by LRI or your own organizing committee, but the costs are your responsibility if you wish to add them to the program.
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- Entertainment:
Book a square dancing group, a jigger, or Métis musician to do a performance to end off the night.
- A dancer can be added to the centres, giving families jigging lessons, or they can give a lesson to the entire group in a large circle at the end of the performance. Costs range from $100 for a solo dancer up to $500 for a dance group.
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- Food:
Often, groups offer bison stew and bannock or a light lunch over the evening, as it is difficult for families to get the kids fed and back out to an event by 5:30 p.m.
- Costs are usually in the range of $5/person
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- Music Centre:
We have a musician who teaches harmonica at a centre for us. The school’s responsibility is to buy one $5 harmonica per family (20 families attending would = $100)
- Cost is $200 for the musician and harmonicas
Little Métis Educational Game Making Workshop
Many of the games and activities we use in our programs could be used in your classrooms, family resource centres, youth programs, etc.
The Louis Riel Institute will come to you and share with you our interactive educational Métis games and activities. You will finish the workshop with two games made and ready to use at your centre. We provide the instruction and all the supplies required. Fee is $1,000 per workshop (If your site wishes to provide the supplies, the cost will be reduced).