Bow Habitat Station – Fish Hatchery

Location:     Pearce Estate Park

East of Inglewood – 1440-17A Street SE

Gordie’s review (4 years old): “What was the best part?” “Seeing the fish!”
Nicky’s review (13 months old): ish! ish! (Fish)

Day Pass Cost:  See website for rates
Parking: free parking lot
Food Services: There is a small cafe inside the Bow Habitat Station that may be open seasonally.

Age Range: All ages.
Stay Length: 1 – 2 hours

Overall: This was our first visit to the Bow Habitat Station. The main floor has a seasonal cafe, gift shop and access to the fish hatchery tour. The 30 minute tours of the fish hatchery run twice a day at noon and 2pm (Tuesday-Saturday). We had to take Nicky back home for her afternoon nap so we skipped the tour this trip.

Bow Habitat Station
Bow Habitat Station

To enter the interpretive centre itself, you either have to go up a floor or down. Downstairs there is an aquarium area and upstairs are other kinds of exhibits.

The aquariums feature fish that live in the various habitats in Alberta.

When you push the buttons the corresponding part of anatomy on the fish model lights up.

Bow Habitat Station

Nicky loved seeing the fish swim around.  It’s not a huge space, just a large room but the kids both really enjoyed it.

Bow Habitat Station

The tanks are set up to represent different fish habitats and the fish that live in them. I thought the layout of that was really interesting.

Bow Habitat Station
Bow Habitat Station

The interpretive centre is on the upper floor.

I’m not sure what I expected to see, but I was really surprised at how pretty the displays were.

Bow Habitat Station

There is lots of opportunities to read and learn, as well as a ton of interactive features too.

Bow Habitat Station

There is also an overlook where you can see into the fish hatchery.

They have some cute photo ops too. Gordie was a little short for this one.

Bow Habitat Station
Bow Habitat Station
Bow Habitat Station
Bow Habitat Station

Gordie thought the canoe that you could sit on was pretty cool and loved the activity with the blocks too.

Bow Habitat Station
Bow Habitat Station

Most of the different sections had one of these – you turn the blocks to make the correct animals. Gordie did every single one. He thought it was really funny to make them intentionally wrong too.

Bow Habitat Station

This was another one of the cute photo ops. You can flip the pages of the giant ‘book’ to provide different back drops.

Bow Habitat Station
Bow Habitat Station

Although probably best suited to kids in elementary school my family had a great time. The displays offer engaging experiences for kids of a wide variety of ages and even small babies will enjoy watching the fish swim in the downstairs aquariums. 

Just outside, you can also try out fishing in the kids can fish trout pond – fishing pole rentals are available for $5 (adults helping kids require a fishing license) and check out the interpretive wetlands at Pearce Estate Park.

Please Note: 

We do our best to ensure the information on Calgary Playground Review is accurate, however information and events are subject to change. Please contact the organizations directly to avoid disappointment.

Can you help make this article better?
If you have noticed an error, have additional information or would like to share a comment you can:
E-mail us at calgaryplaygroundreview@gmail.com
Find us on Facebook: CalgaryPlaygroundReview
Find us on Instagram: YYCdana
Tweet us: YYCdana

We are not affiliated with any venues, attractions or organizations. Please message them directly if you have questions or concerns.

4 thoughts on “Bow Habitat Station – Fish Hatchery”

  1. I went here with my daughter when she was just over 2. She had a great time! The downstairs was pretty dull for her (mostly aquariums), but she loved the upstairs. It was deserted, so she got to run around a lot!

    Reply
  2. I love your site, so many great ideas. I just wanted to make sure you knew the Bow Habitat Station is open. We’ve been there a couple of times with my 10 month old daughter and she lives it. Especially feeding the fish.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.