 <p>The <code>activate</code> hook is executed when the router enters the route. The template must already be in scope in order to render an item into it. That being said, you can just render the application template first, then render the navbar/sidebar using the <code>renderTemplate</code> hook.</p> <pre><code>App.ApplicationRoute = Ember.Route.extend({ renderTemplate: function(){ this.render(); // render the application template this.render('nav',{ into: 'application', outlet: 'navigation'}); this.render('side',{ into: 'application', outlet: 'sidebar'}); } }); </code></pre> <p><a href="http://emberjs.jsbin.com/lemutisa/1/edit">http://emberjs.jsbin.com/lemutisa/1/edit</a></p> <p>Additionally you could do this all even easier using render in the template</p> <pre><code>&lt;script type="text/x-handlebars"&gt; Appplication {{render 'nav'}} {{render 'side'}} &lt;section id="content"&gt;{{outlet}}&lt;/nav&gt; &lt;/script&gt; </code></pre> <p><a href="http://emberjs.jsbin.com/lemutisa/2/edit">http://emberjs.jsbin.com/lemutisa/2/edit</a></p>