Things to Do in Edmonton in January 2027: 100+ Family Events
January is the honest month. The holidays are over, the bills have landed, and it's minus twenty-eight with a windchill. It's also when Edmonton stops complaining about winter and starts throwing festivals in it — ice carving, deep freezer races, lantern-lit skating trails and a whole lot of free.
Below you'll find 100+ family events, winter festivals, free activities and indoor escapes — everything happening this month in one place.
Planning weekend by weekend instead? Our things to do in Edmonton this weekend guide updates every week, and the full Edmonton family events calendar has every date we're tracking.
Still coming down off the holidays? Our December guide covers what's still running into the first week of January.
January Festivals
Edmonton doesn't hibernate. The winter festival season starts now, and the two biggest ones cost almost nothing.
Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival — Alberta Avenue, mid-January, and free. Ukrainian, Métis, French Canadian, Franco-African, Indigenous, Latin American and Asian traditions all in one street. Ice and snow sculptures, bannock over an open fire, street hockey, artisan markets, fireworks on the Saturday night, and the legendary deep freezer races. It's the best free family day of the winter and there's no close second. Bring a donation for the tubes on site — it's what keeps the festival running.
Chiseled Ice Carving Competition — Elite carvers from across Canada transform blocks of ice at ICE District Plaza over a single weekend. Free to watch, and going on the last day means you see the finished work rather than the process. Note this event was formerly Ice on Whyte at Old Strathcona; it has changed both name and location, so double-check where you're headed.
Community Winterfests — Neighbourhood leagues run free winter afternoons all month: marshmallow roasts, skating, hot chocolate, sledding. Small, local, and far easier with toddlers than the big festivals.
Watch for Flying Canoë Volant and Silver Skate at the very end of the month or early February, depending on the year.
View all Family-friendly Festivals
This Month's Featured Events
If you do only five things in January, make it these.
Deep Freeze Festival — Free, cultural, unrepeatable. Go on the Saturday for the fireworks.
Skate the Victoria Park IceWay — A solar-lantern-lit skating trail through the river valley. It's a path, not a rink, which is the entire difference for kids who find skating in circles boring. Free.
A first ski or snowboard lesson — January is when the hills run beginner packages. Snow Valley, Rabbit Hill and the Edmonton Ski Club are all inside or minutes from the city.
Chiseled at ICE District Plaza — Ice carving live, free, and over in under an hour if that's all anyone can handle.
Family Literacy Day, January 27 — Free events at libraries and community centres across the city.
More as organizers announce them — check the events calendar.
Indoor Things to Do with Kids
Seven and a half hours of daylight and a windchill warning. This section is going to work hard for you.
Cineplex Family Favourites — Every Saturday morning, a beloved kid-friendly movie for $3.99 a ticket. The whole crew for the price of one regular admission.
Landmark Cinemas Kids Day Out — Sunday mornings, a ticket plus kids pack for around thirteen dollars.
Telus World of Science — Hands-on exhibits, the observatory and IMAX. January is peak season here for a reason: it's warm, it's a full day, and nobody complains.
Royal Alberta Museum — Children's Gallery for under-8s, bug room and Ice Age galleries for everyone else. Underground parking means about ninety seconds of outdoor exposure.
Art Gallery of Alberta — Family drop-in programs most weekends, free admission Tuesday afternoons.
Edmonton Public Library — Free storytimes, LEGO clubs and teen gaming drop-ins at every branch. The Makerspace at Stanley A. Milner has 3D printers, a laser cutter and a recording booth, all free with a card. In January, this is the highest-value building in the city.
West Edmonton Mall — World Waterpark and Galaxyland. Expensive, yes, but it's twenty-nine degrees inside the waterpark in January and that's worth something.
Indoor Playgrounds and Rec Centres — Several City leisure centres run drop-in indoor playgrounds for a fraction of what a commercial play centre charges, plus public swim and drop-in skate. Check for free sessions before you pay for anything.
IKEA Kids Scavenger Hunt — Grab a sheet near Småland, work through the store, hand it in for a free frozen yogurt cone. Free, warm, and it burns an hour.
More cold-weather ideas in our things to do in Edmonton guide.
Outdoor Things to Do with Kids
The rule in this city: there's no bad weather, only kids who weren't dressed for it. Twenty good minutes outside beats three hours of screens.
Skating — Community league rinks are free and everywhere. Churchill Square and City Hall Plaza run free public skating downtown, and the Victoria Park Oval is a proper speed-skating surface if you've got a kid who wants to go fast.
Victoria Park IceWay — Worth listing twice. A lantern-lit skating trail rather than a rink, and it turns a routine skate into an outing.
Sledding — Gallagher Park, Rundle Park, Government House Park and Whitemud Park. Free, exhausting in the best way, and it works from about age two upward. Helmets on.
Skiing, Snowboarding and Tubing — Snow Valley, Rabbit Hill, Sunridge and the Edmonton Ski Club are all close. Tawatinaw Valley, about an hour north, has offered free snow tubing on Sundays in past winters — worth checking before you drive.
The Ice Slide in Fort Saskatchewan — Behind the Fort Heritage Precinct, near Nature's Playground. Free, feet-first, one at a time.
Snowshoeing and River Valley Trails — Mill Creek Ravine and Whitemud Creek stay open all winter and are genuinely prettier now. Look for tracks in fresh snow and a walk becomes a hunt.
Elk Island National Park — Bison from a warm car, forty-five minutes east. It's a Dark Sky Preserve, and in January it's fully dark by six, so stargazing happens well before bedtime.
Last Call on the Holiday Lights — Most displays run through the first week of January. If you missed them in December, our Christmas lights guide still applies for a few more days.
Free Things to Do with Kids in Edmonton
January is the cheapest month of the year here, largely because everybody's broke and the city knows it. We've rounded up 51 free things to do in Edmonton this month with kids, and here's what's worth your time.
Deep Freeze Festival — Free admission, two full days, and the single best value on this list.
Free Public Skating — Churchill Square, City Hall Plaza and community league rinks across the city. Some locations offer free skate rentals, which removes the last excuse.
Free Drop-in Swim Sessions — Sponsored free swims run at leisure centres throughout the winter, several with inflatables. Check the schedule weekly; they rotate.
Free Craft Time at Michaels — Weekend in-store craft sessions with all supplies included. Free, warm, and you leave with something.
Free Home Depot Kids Workshops — Monthly Saturday builds for kids 6+, with a take-home project, apron and pin. Register early.
Free Coding Classes at Apple — Weekly sessions for ages 6–10 using Swift Playgrounds on iPad. Free, devices provided, register in advance. Both West Edmonton Mall and Southgate Centre.
DIY Nights at the ReUse Centre — Free rotating weekly workshops. January leans practical: repairs, upcycling, winterizing.
Play Cafe and Toy Library — A free weekly drop-in for caregivers with kids aged 0–6. Coffee, toys, and other adults to talk to during the hardest month to leave the house.
Library Programs — Storytimes, crafts, teen gaming and Family Literacy Day events on January 27. All free.
Sledding and Snowshoe Trails — Always free, always available, and the fastest way to reset a bad afternoon.
The full year-round list lives on our free things to do in Edmonton page.