Let’s begin with a story. A year 2(senior kindergarten) student enters the outdoor classroom on the first day of school with his mom smiling quietly behind him. His first words are, “Look Mrs Max. I found a worm in my peach pit at breakfast. I wonder why he’s in there?” Some might think, he didn’t… Read More Creating a Culture of Curiosity in Kindergarten
Before transforming our yard into our outdoor learning playspace, our early years team shared our hopes and dreams for the children in the space. We wanted it to provide opportunities for children to develop curiosity, exploration, creativity, innovation, resilience, problem-solving skills, risk-taking, collaboration, oral language skills, mathematical understanding, and connect with nature. We also kept… Read More Planning Outdoor Learning Playspaces For All Seasons
It’s exciting to reflect on the year gone by not only to support forward thinking for the new year, but also to appreciate precious moments and memories. My Top Nine Photos on Instagram of 2017. Handle: meljmaxwell Spatial Reasoning Provocation A clear plastic table cloth with Sharpie paint pen shapes drawn on it invites children… Read More Best Nine Photos of 2017 on Instagram
“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” – John Muir As huge supporters and advocates for outdoor learning our team always looks forward to learning opportunities that extend beyond our classroom to the entire school. Take Me Outside Day and Outdoor Classroom Day are exciting opportunities to spend time… Read More Take Me Outside Day
The weather is warming up and the littles are so very excited to get out our portable water wall. The water wall provides amazing opportunity for open-ended exploration and problem-solving using real-life materials. Since Problem-Solving and Innovation play a significant role in Ontario’s new Kindergarten Curriculum as one of the four frames, experiences like a exploring a waterfall provide a… Read More Water Wall: Designing and Documenting
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me fluttering from the autumn tree.” -Emily Bronte For many children and adults a natural interest in leaves re-surfaces each and every year when the leaves change colour. Fall is an amazing opportunity to nurture children’s natural curiosity in the environment and outdoor learning. Below are some playful invitations to play and learn… Read More Exploring Leaves Through Play
We just can’t wait to see what our early learners will come up with next in our outdoor learning time. We love to see their confidence sore when we share the excitement of their imaginative ideas. This play started with 5 rundown snowballs. The children had played on these snowballs numbers of times, but this… Read More You see snowballs, but I see a train. All aboard!
It’s always a joy to be apart of creative play indoors and outdoors. We love to encourage children in their play. We love to listen to their ideas, validate them, and spur their thinking forward. This play was all about the doctor’s office… outdoors. The children wanted to create a doctor’s office and they didn’t want… Read More Outdoor Doctor’s Office
Often we hear people say how they want to go to new places to make new discoveries. While that is true, let us always remember the power familiar places hold. We can look at an area 100 times and always see the same thing. However, if we look closer or from another perspective, use all 5… Read More Familiar Paths
All you need is paint, water, and mud. Then mix. Mud paint provides a fun texture to be creative with. Many of our learners simply enjoyed mixing paint and mud together. Try adding nature items to paint with or to simply paint the nature items (ie. tree blocks, pine cones,… Read More Mud Paint
inspired by play 