Market Collective Blog
Wee Wild Ones joined in all the fun this holiday season and participated in the Market Collective! This beloved market filled with talented artists, artisans and local businesses joined the halls of the BMO Centre this December. With over 150 local vendors, live music, a skate park, and two children’s zones, this holiday fair marked the largest Market Collective to date!
As one of the winter hosts for the children’s activation station, we decided to bring the world of Wee Wild Ones to the BMO Centre by recreating our classroom, holiday-themed style. Read to learn more about each area within our booth and the benefits they have on children’s growth and development.
Loose Parts Play
One of the best parts of Wee Wild Ones is watching little ones create, build, and imagine, and there was no shortage of this over the weekend. Guests were excited to check out our holiday themed snowflakes and Christmas tree loose parts activation area! Loose parts are ordinary, everyday items that can be seen and anything and everything from a child’s perspective. Baskets filled with shells, rocks, sticks, gems, marbles and more, invited children to use their imagination when decorating their favourite holiday items.
Bringing the Outside In
Within our 30 x 30 ft booth, we set up a green space where children could play and explore large-scale loose parts and outdoor equipment! From tires, to stumps and a collection of building blocks, this space sparked children’s gross motor skills and encouraged creativity, problem solving and collaboration!
Colourful Creations
We know how much children love to expand on their creativity, and as an organization that fosters imagination, we set up two tables filled with water colours, pastels and crayons for children to dream up! Staying with the holiday theme, many drew up snowflakes while others children drew up photos of their family, and even abstract art!
Rest and Relax
Designed to encourage children to rest and renew, we placed a collection of books, pillows and rugs in our reading nook corner where children and families could share stories while they take a short break from exploring all the incredible vendors! Together, we brought parents and their little ones to embrace a sense of calm during a busy weekend, while spending quality time together.
Monster Merch
As our biggest fundraising campaign wraps up, we thought, what better way to reach our $100,000 donation goal than to bring this year’s Monster Merch to Market Collective! Our team created a mini merch shop filled with prints, clothing, stickers, and accessories. This year we raised an additional $2,200 at Market Collective for the Children’s Cottage Society!
Thank you to the families that joined us in all the fun at this year’s Market Collective! Your engagement with our space and support with shopping locally means the world to us. We loved building connections within our community and can’t wait to be back at the next Market Collective!
Click here to learn more about Market Collective and how they bring Calgary’s leading local artisans together!