If you’re a busy parent looking for something new for the kids to do this week, a special visitor will have plenty of opportunities to keep your young ones moving.
Timmins Fitness Alternatives pop up playground is at the Memorial Sports Centre from Tuesday through to Thursday, bringing a variety of alternative play structures to Fort Frances, and thanks to some local sponsors it’s all free to take part.
Alex Gagnon is the owner of Timmins Fitness Alternatives and is touring across northern Ontario with his popup indoor playground as part of a deal with Autism Ontario and Firefly.
“This initiative started with Autism Ontario and Firefly, and we’re pretty much hitting their catchment areas where they don’t have as many resources or staffing, and then we just kind of grew it to bring a bit of everything we do as we go along the way, with their sessions,” Gagnon said.
“So we’ve been going and contacting communities, getting sponsorship through the venues, and also sessions for free for the community. Here in Fort Frances, we actually had the city reach out to Holmlund Financial, Harbour Front Wealth Management, and they decided to sponsor the entire session list, other than Firefly’s that we have here.”
Gagnon has built out a miniature traveling version of the business he owns in Timmins, which encourages people to try out other fitness activities than they might normally do.
“This is a mini version of my facility in Timmins, because we brought ninja warrior, parkour, circus, aerial arts, and then we have a giant jungle gym and play zone there,” he said.
“I’m trying to fill the gap, or at least introduce to municipalities and the community something different that the kids can do. Not all kids fit in the box of traditional sports and play. So the ones who want to climb and hang, and are always told ‘no, don’t, get off that,’ here they’re going to be able to jump and play on everything.”
Gagnon explained some of his apparatuses which can be changed around to suit the different things they’ll be offering.
“We’ve got two ninja trusses, 10 footers here. This one here is more our aerial and swinging zone. We change it up throughout the week, but right now we have an aerial hammock, tire swing, tree swing, our canvas net, and a baby swing,” he said.
“This one here will be able to have a lot of variety for kids to try out, but they’ll be flying, jumping off a Ticktock platform, which is kind of like a big teeter totter, they’ll be flying trying to catch a wheel up in the air. Then we’ve got the rings and they can monkey bar around, and then different holds and such. Part of ninja also is balance, so we’ve got a bunch of balance courses and race courses for the kids.”
They also have options for kids to try parkour-style moves as well.
“We have our giant 20 by 20 air track, so it’s a giant inflatable air mat in there,” he said.
“Kids can either practice their flipping, their tumbling, or we have parkour objects on there. We can practice the parkour stuff.”
There is also a ball bit and a mini foam block pit.
While they got started yesterday there are still several options Wednesday afternoon. From 3 p.m – 4:30 p.m. they have a Ninja Warrior / Parkour Class for ages 4-7 & 8 and older. There will be an open drop-in session from 5 – 6:30 p.m. and a Five Nights at Freddy’s / Zombie Circus Invasion Silly/Scary Immersive Games Event (Ages 8+) from 7-9 p.m. There will be a final open session on Thursday morning from 9:30 to 11 a.m.
Parents should note that there are no drop offs allowed. Guardians are required to stay with their kids and they will have to fill out a waiver which they can access via a QR code upon arrival. If you don’t have a smart phone, there will also be a computer available for use on site.
