Day Trip to China-Town and the Art Gallery of Ontario
Sign in Chinatown
Mel’s dad was in town and we were looking for something to do. He had heard about an amazing exhibit of Florentine Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario and he took us out for the day. We had a great time! It was also a fun day for 8-year-old boys which was unexpected. I will try to share what made it great for them, too.
We drove into Toronto, exited the Gardiner Expressway at Spadina, turned right on Dundas and parked in a parking garage. This allowed us to explore China Town and walk to the AGO a block away. We went to a Dim Sum restaurant that seemed to be for a Chinese clientele rather than a tourist crowd. They had a big sign out front that said “All Day Dim Sum.” It is 2 doors down from Rol Jui right next to a bank. I can see it on Google street view but it doesn’t seem to have an English sign.
Our waiter serving
wonton soup
We sat down and food started arriving. This was one of the parts that made this day great for my 8-year-olds. They got to pick food off the carts and they loved it. They got to eat a lot of shrimp. We had dumplings and fried sashimi and a dish with duck and vegetables. We got a giant bowl of wonton soup to share and it was lovely. The dumplings were very tasty. The Sticky Rice was good. I loved eating family style and sharing all the bits. We finished off with sesame balls for dessert. The atmosphere was vibrant and alive. I have
Grandpa Bill helps
Emerson with more
wonton soup
ordered Dim Sum before in restaurants but this was my first time in a Dim Sum restaurant. It was fantastic.
Next we walked through Chinatown and looked at the many curios and foods on display as we made our way to the museum. We were on an adventure. The boys enjoyed the walking. The only glitch was the boys had tea at lunch and ended up a bit jacked up on caffeine. Xander kept saying, “Mommy, I just NEED to play.” Oops.
The AGO was about a block away so we didn’t need the car. We were treated to tickets by Grandpa Bill and everyone had the audio tour. This was the best learning I have had about boys in museums. They loved the technology of the audio tour. They looked for the numbers on the wall and they listened and learned from the tour. It allowed them to be individually learning and it was amazing. I wouldn’t have bought them the audio tour but I will from now on. They were very engaged and loved looking at the 700 year old art in the Revealing the Early Renaissance exhibit. The show will be here until June 16th. Our friend, Joan,
got points for taking a moment to set up the context of the show for the boys as we walked in. She told them that before the Renaissance people had forgotten about art. In the Dark Ages no one painted or did art. This art exhibit was showing how all the people were learning how to do art again. I thought this was a lovely context and it helped the boys (and me) understand the show more.
After the Renaissance exhibit the boys went down and saw the model ships. They were busy
Art Gallery of Ontario
talking about all they had learned.
We made it back to our car with a stop at a tiny grocery store in Chinatown for raspberries and water. It was a great day in Toronto.
The Challenge. One of the things that helped the boys have a great day was the Ice Cream Challenge I gave them. At the beginning of the day, I told them there was an Ice Cream Challenge. I told them if they had good manners all day, then they could get a treat
Best Part of the Day:
The Ice Cream Challenge!
at the end of the day. I told them that if they also really tried to understand the exhibit and learn a lot, then they could get a larger size. They wanted to know what they would have to do to get a banana split (in our family this is the treat of all treats). I said I didn’t even know but they would have to really wow me. We came up with a 10 point scale with learning points being extra credit for a total of 12 points–that is if they behaved really well they would get 10 points and then they could get 2 points in the Renaissance exhibit for learning. At the end I quizzed them a little. They had learned an amazing amount about the Florentine Renaissance. It was a complete success.
On the way home we stopped and they enjoyed their prize. This incentive helped them learn and also helped the day be about something they cared about–ice cream. It was a day full of fun for the whole family and I think they impressed our visitors with their exceptionally good manners.
