From splash pads to picnics in the shade, people share how they keep cool on hot summer days
CBC
With Waterloo region under a heat warning on Wednesday, Lilyan Almasri, 8, Mira Qaisi, 5, and Amir Almasri, 10, and their families found a shady spot between the playground and the splash pad in Victoria Park in Kitchener, Ont., to enjoy the afternoon.
To stay cool when it's hot, Lilyan says she likes to hit up the splash pad. She loves the buckets "because a lot of water just falls" for a big splash. She'd take a chocolate ice cream cone to cool off, too.
Amir, 10, likes to get a special cool drink from Tim Hortons called a Creamy Chill.
"It's like vanilla flavoured, it's cold and there's like cream on the top and they put sprinkles," he said, adding at the park, he enjoys getting out of the sun.
"What I like to do to keep cool, like, I'll sit down in the shade with my friends."
Like Lilyan, Mira Qaisi, 5, likes a cool treat when it's hot.
"I eat ice cream every day," she said. "I love strawberry the most."
She also likes going in the splash pad.
"I put water in the bucket and then I splash it on my head," she said with a giggle.
The heat warning is over and Environment Canada says cooler temperatures — a high of 26 C — are forecast for Thursday. With two months of summer to go, more hot days are likely ahead.
In fact, hot weather will make a quick return with 30 C forecast for Friday, and 28 C on Saturday.
Dr. Peter Lin, a medical columnist with CBC Radio, says it's important people take care of themselves and stay cool on those hot, hot days.
"Our body is like a car. So if it overheats, that's a bad thing," Lin said.
"Our little cells are burning fuel inside so they do create a lot of heat. We need to get rid of that heat so our skin acts like a big radiator. So we radiate the heat outward and the airflow comes across our skin, picks up the heat to keep us cool."
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