Learn about Canada for Kids

As an American, I feel like I should know more about Canada than I do. No matter where you live, let’s learn about this large country that borders the United States.

Canada Basics

• Canada is made up of 10 provinces and three territories, and at 3,855,100 square miles or 9,984,670 square kilometers, it’s the world’s second largest country by area.
• Its border with the United States is the longest international land border, and it boast the world’s longest coastline. It also has the world’s largest area of freshwater lakes.
• In addition to the United States, Canada also has a land border with Greenland and a maritime border with Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a set of eight islands that are an overseas collectivity of France.
• It has a population of more than 41 million and its official languages are English and French.
• The capital is Ottawa, and the other major cities are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
• Canada is a parliamentary democracy with a prime minister and parliament. It is a realm of the Commonwealth meaning that King Charles II is technically the head of state, but the country has been fully under Canadian control since 1982.
• Much like in the United States, indigenous people lived there before white settlers came beginning in the 16th century, and they were often displaced from their homelands.
• The name Canada is accepted to have come from the St. Lawrence Iriquoian word kanata, meaning village.
• Canada has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world and leads the world in refugee resettlement. Canadians self-reported more than 450 ethnic or cultural origins in a 2021 survey, with just 15.6 percent of the population identifying as ethnically Canadian.
• It has just 4.2 people per square kilometer (or 11 per square mile), making it one of the nations with the lowest population density in the world. But most people live in the cities, and about 80 percent of Canada’s population lives within 150 km/93 miles of the American border.

Canada National Symbols

The Canadian flag is red and white, with red vertical bars on each side of a white center. Inside the center bar is a red maple leaf. Wikipedia gave me the fun fact that there’s no special significance to the number of points on the leaf, but in wind tunnel tests the current version was shown to be the least blurry in a high wind. It was adopted in 1965.

The national anthem is “Oh Canada,” which was originally commissioned in 1880 and was adopted as the national anthem in 1980 (though it has unofficially been the anthem since 1939).

The beaver is an official symbol of Canadian sovereignty and was featured on Canada’s first postage stamp in 1851. It is recognized for its role in the fur trade and its use by Indigenous people for food, clothing and other uses.

Lacrosse is the country’s national summer sport, while hockey is the national winter sport.

The maple tree is also a national emblem of Canada, which is the largest producer and exporter of maple products in the world. It is home to 10 species of maples, and most of the production happens in Quebec.

The Canadian horse is the national horse of Canada. The first horses were brought to Canada (then New France) in 1665, and they eventually became a breed of their own that’s acclimatized to the weather conditions in Canada. It’s called “the little iron horse” and is known for its “strength, endurance, intelligence and good temper” according to that page on national symbols linked above.

Canada also has an official tartan, which was designed by David Weiser in 1964.

Canada Activities for Kids

We have a set of nations of the world coloring sheets that includes Canada that you can download as a PDF here. I’ve also shared Canada Day coloring pages, a maze, I spy printable, bingo cards and more about Canada.

Activity Village, DLTK’s Crafts for Kids and Teachers Pay Teachers all have good activities and information about Canada. Creative Classroom Core has lesson plan ideas on the Canadian fur trade. Kid Zone also has some printable worksheets and information about the national anthem, the difference between a province and a territory and learning about the Canadian constitution.

It would be fun to have a maple syrup tasting comparing a Canadian syrup to an American one.

Adventure in a Box has some really cute Canadian paper doll printables for sale.

Learn more about beavers from National Geographic Kids, and make a cute 3D beaver craft with this tutorial from My Creative Life.

If you ask my kid, the national dish of Canada should be poutine, which is a yummy combo of fries with cheese and gravy. Get a recipe from Seasons and Suppers.