Ever Active and Alberta Blue Cross® suggest family-friendly activities to try out this Family Day

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE
February 9
For immediate release

With Family Day approaching on February 16, Alberta Blue Cross and Ever Active are encouraging families to come together to create meaningful connections while promoting their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

Family Day in Alberta is a public holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February. It was established to promote the importance of family values and to give people an opportunity to spend time with their loved ones.

“Family Day is a chance to celebrate the bonds we feel with those closest to us,” says Kerri Murray, executive director at Ever Active. “Being active together is a perfect opportunity to build and reinforce those connections while boosting physical and mental wellbeing. This Family Day, we encourage you to spend quality time together in ways that are fun, active, meaningful, inclusive, local and uniquely yours.”

Ever Active and Alberta Blue Cross suggest the following family-friendly activities to try out this Family Day:

Outdoors

• Create a sound map of a favourite family spot outside. Draw the basic features of the area on a piece of paper, then take a listening walk to add detail about the sounds you hear and what makes them.
• Pick a colour and go for a colour-spotting walk to find matches in your surroundings. Encourage each family member to choose their own colour to spot.
• Explore your neighbourhood or a park with a gratitude nature scavenger hunt. Look for something in nature that makes you smile, produces a pretty sound, is fun to climb on or watch move around, feels soft to touch, would make a friend happy or is the perfect resting spot.
• Create an active family bucket list for a season or the year. List your favourite family activities and check them off as completed. Winter ideas include building a snowman, catching snowflakes on your tongue, making snow angels or going for a walk at night—with flashlights.
• Strap on your skates and check out an outdoor skating rink, bundle up and go to a local tobogganing hill or have a snowball toss.

Indoors

• Try out a tasty, new recipe and cook or bake together as a family.
• Plan a family game night with your favourite board games.
• Do family yoga at home—follow a guided beginner yoga session on YouTube.
• Sign up for fun activities at your local recreation or community centre.
• Enjoy free admission at Alberta museums and historic sites on Family Day.

“Family Day is a meaningful reminder to slow down and focus on what really matters: connection, wellbeing and time together,” says Narissa Kanji, director of Community Impact at Alberta Blue Cross. “Whether families are enjoying the outdoors or creating special traditions at home, these shared experiences play a key role in supporting our communities’ physical, mental and social wellbeing.”

About Alberta Blue Cross
As the largest provider of health benefits in Alberta, we believe we have the potential and responsibility to impact people’s lives for the better. We believe all communities should thrive, and we are committed to serving as a champion for wellness by promoting the health of Albertans.

About Ever Active

Ever Active is a registered charity focused on the well-being of children and youth. Grounded in evidence that wellbeing is shaped by the environments where young people live, learn and play, Ever Active works to strengthen the systems and settings that support healthy, inclusive and connected schools and communities.

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For more information, please contact Sharmin Hislop, director of Corporate Communications at Alberta Blue Cross at shislop@ab.bluecross.ca or Mason Ulvestad, lead media specialist at Ever Active at mason@everactive.org.