Forest Schools: Education in the great outdoors

Forest Schools: Education in the great outdoors

10 Ways Children Benefit From Nature-Based Learning

Nature-based learning and development is an incredible way for your child to explore and connect with the world. Child-directed, hands-on, play-based programs, like our very own Forest School, have the power to effectively teach children a variety of skills.



A growing body of research affirms that nature-based outdoor classrooms have been linked to positive learning and developmental outcomes including enhanced imaginative play, increased physical and mental well-being, and environmental stewardship.

Nature-based programs have endless advantages.  Students who have participated this type of program have shown:

• Improved sleep habits
• Greater sense of calm and focus
• Improved mood
• Improved health (through increased physical activity and improved nutrition)
• Growing creativity and problem solving skills
• Reduced stress
• Improved eyesight (direct link to reduced rates of near-sightedness)
• Increased concern for the environment
• Improved concentration
• Increased language and collaborative skills

The advantages are amazing! In fact, this particular case study highlights nine skills that are thoroughly supported in a nature-based, outdoor classroom style of education.

1. Creative Representation
2. Social
3. Intrapersonal
4. Kinesthetic
5. Visual Spatial
6. Math
7. Language/Literacy
8. Science
9. Construction/Engineering


When our young students participate in Forest School, they are doing much more than playing outside - they're confidently learning a diverse skill set ... in the funnest way possible!

“Forest School can often be described as a ‘magical’ thing to witness, as it’s often a microcosm of collaboration, communication, trust building, and a working model of consensus building.”

We are so excited to start another year of Forest School and can’t wait to start watching our explorers thrive in the natural classroom.

To view full studies and research findings, click here!

About Discovery Child Care
Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca

Introducing Wild Wednesdays With The Earth is Hiring

We have a very exciting announcement! We will have a special educator from The Earth Is Hiring joining us at the Forest School throughout the full school year, every other Wednesday, to teach special Wild Wednesday sessions.

The goal of the bi-weekly sessions will be to:

• Encourage playful learning enhancing engagement, exploration investigation and communication about outdoor learning. 
• Build outdoor vocabulary – name local Ontario plants and animals 
(including wildlife tracks and signs) as well as enjoy pure observation.
• Notice sensory and seasonal changes in the forest kindergarten area. 

• Contribute to conservation and citizen science. 


This program will also provide you with opportunities to get involved with your child’s learning! Take home conversation packages will accompany each session and will include conservation tips, citizen science projects, and activities such as local hike and conservation organization information, that you’ll be able to enjoy with your kindergartener.

Themes for the sessions include: outdoor safety; what animals need to live in a forest habitat; community connections; winter birds; what we see, hear, feel and smell in the forest; following animals tracks and sign; reptiles, amphibians, and turtles; monarch migrations and local butterflies and moths; owls; pond dip field trip; forest songbirds, and plants in bloom.

Presenter Bio - Lisa Levez Bordeleau, M.Sc., Owner of the Earth is Hiring
My passion for twenty years has been environmental education and sustainable living. I have worked outdoors for twelve years surveying wetlands, vegetation and wildlife (e.g. amphibians, migratory birds, songbirds, owls, species at risk and mammal tracking).

Learn more about The Earth is Hiring here.

Wild Wednesday Schedule

Here's an overview of what activities will take place on Wild Wednesday, as well as some elements that will be included in each take home conservation kit.

September 23 - Outdoor Safety and Observing Nature
Nature Walk & Sit
Learning to Look and Looking to See and Nature Bingo games, as well as promoting observations, explorations and appreciation for the outdoors. Children will also create individual tree core name tags, decorate nature treasure boxes and journals.

Take Home Observation Package (THCP): Nature alert key chain, including things to avoid in nature and animal safety alerts.

October 7 - Resident Winter Birds
Nature Walk & Sit
Discover 20 common resident winter birds. How do birds survive in the winter?

THCP: Project feeder watch, kids Christmas bird count reminder with Brereton Field Naturalists.

October 21 - Forest Life
Nature Walk & Sit 

Play Camouflage game. Exploring what plants and animals need to live in a forest habitat? Everybody needs a home game.

THCP: Local Simcoe Region family trail recommendations.

November 4 - Habitats and Community Connections
Nature Walk & Sit

Food web game to demonstrate connections. Playing lightly on the Earth game, Ethical-Thinking game.

THCP: Tips to thrive as part of our natural environment. Not just reduce human impacts but enhance our natural spaces. Package will include Species at Risk and how to report any identified and information on local family-oriented conservation groups.

November 18 - Sensory Morning

Nature Walk & Sit 

What do we see, hear, feel and smell? How does the forest make us feel?

THCP: Information on the benefits of getting outside for family mental and physical health and wellness.

Break for December and January.

February 10 - Snow Tracking Part 1 - Move Like Animals
Nature Walk & Sit
What kind of animal are you? How big is your stride? Do you bound, walk or gallop? 

THCP: Tracking guide.

February 24 - Snow Tracking Part 2 – Create Your Animal Story
Nature Walk & Sit
Follow an animal and learn about their tracks and other signs (e.g. scat, broken branches, nibbles) they leave behind. Creating a story about the tracks we see (Who, Where, What, When, How and Why?)

THCP: Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Terrestrial Volunteer Monitoring Program.

March 9 - Reptiles, Amphibians and Turtles
Nature Walk & Sit
Preparing for the spring peepers.

THCP:  FrogWatch, TurtleWatch Program; Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas Project.

March 23 - Monarch Migrations
Nature Walk & Sit

Why are monarchs in trouble? Why do animals, birds/monarchs migrate? Children will also complete a craft - colour monarch.

THCP: Journey North package, milkweed/wildflower seeds.

April 6 - Owls - Who's Who?
Nature Walk & Sit
What owls might we see? Can you make a sound like an owl?

THCP: National Nocturnal Owl Surveys start the first week of April.

April 20 - Track Casting
Nature Walk & Sit
Seeking tracks to make plaster casts.

THCP: Track cheat sheets

May 4 - Wetland and Water Wonders
Nature Walk & Sit
Discuss how all life is connected by and depends on water and how water is used, how wetlands help purify, pond dip optional (match aquatic animals to key).

TCHP: Canadian Lakes Loon Surveys, key to aquatic animals. 

May 18 - Birding By Ear
Nature Walk & Sit
Local forest songbirds.

THCP: Ebird Registration Instructions, Options for reporting listed species, Hawk watch International, Ministry reporting forms for all Species At Risk.

June 1 - Local Butterflies and Moths
Nature Walk & Sit
Why are pollinators important?  Children will also create a moth feeder.

THCP:  Recommended plants for butterfly gardens, milkweed/wildflower seeds.

June 15 - Plants in Bloom, Observing Plants
Nature Walk & Sit
How many different kinds of plants can you see by noticing different leaf shapes? The craft will be bark rubbing and plant pressing.

THCP – PlantWatch, tree key.

Building a Sand Castle Is More Than Fun!

Water and sand play are exciting sensory activities that will engage children of any age…and what better place to play with water and sand than at the beach!

The hot summer weather opens up so many opportunities for play-based learning. If you’re planning to take your family to the beach this year, you can incorporate some simple activates that will encourage learning and exploration.

One of the easiest, and more memorable experiences you can create at the beach is building a sand castle. You’ll have a blast with this classic activity, but the benefits far surpass excitement and fun!

Sensory Fun. I love sensory activities - they are easy to incorporate in most activities, but when you are playing with sand and water, it becomes even easier! No matter the age of your children, there are many opportunities to learn during sand castle building. Learning everything from cause and effect, to texture, scooping and sorting, is possible when building a sand castle. Your children can start off by exploring and building with their hands, and then you can add in tools and buckets to help their creativity flourish.

Fine and Gross Motor Skills. Shovelling, building, and even just walking through the sand have major benefits. They all improve gross motor skills. Combined with fine motor skill activities like filtering sand through fingers, sifting, patting and measuring, your child will build their physical development skills in a fun and exciting way.

Like Skills. Building a sand castle will allow your family to work together to create something unique. Cooperation, team work, creativity and communication are skills required to complete your very own castle.

Measurement Skills. Filling up a bucket of water and then dumping it out is super fun for a toddler, but it can actually help teach some basic measurement skills. Basic understandings of depth, volume, weight and measurement can be easily explained when your building your own castle, or even just playing in the sand and water.

Next time your at the beach, keep these skills in mind. You’ll be able to support the play-based learning that goes along with exploring sand and water. And don’t forget to help your kids find a new stick, stone or seashell to decorate their sand castle. This can turn into your own exploration of nature, or even a pre-planned scavenger hunt.

About Discovery Child Care
Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca

Mud Day 2015 Kicks Off Our Summer Camps!

 Mud Day was the perfect way to kick off our summer camp this year! We have many new friends in the program and we had plenty of fun getting to know one anther as we squished, rolled and even slid in the mud!

We ran out to the playground and much to our amazement there were buckets, pools, sensory tables, and more filled with MUD! We kicked off our shoes as quickly as possible and jumped into the buckets. We noticed that the mud was "squishy and wet and cold."

We enjoyed squishing the mud between our toes and making big mud splashes. Next, the children got the idea to paint the cars with mud. C said, " It's so cold on my feet! Wow it's nice!" We used the fly swatters and brooms to paint a large mural with mud. It was amazing to see the shock in the children's faces as the mud flew back and hit them in the face. The end result was an amazing mural of dripping mud and water. As it dried the children came to touch the mud. We enjoyed having a small water and mud fight and splashing each other.

In the afternoon, we came back out for some time in the mud kitchen. We filled the sinks up with water and mud and the children went wild cleaning and making lots of soup and pizza. We also put our mud kitchen to good use as we cooked up mud treats & decorated the walls with mud handprints.

This day was so exciting for all of us to explore this messy, muddy world! Our toddlers love any opportunity to get messy and explore. We wish that every day could be mud day!  The children were super excited to play in the mud. Some were a little cautious at first while others dove in. Literally!! The pool full of mud was a hit. They jumped right in squishing it between their fingers and toes, sliding in it, making mud balls and even rubbing it all over their legs and arms. They also enjoyed the water and mud table. Some friends made "mud pies, smoothies and milkshakes".

Their favourite thing to do with all the mud was to chase Michelle with it. They got her good. She was covered in it! I think she had just as much fun as they did!

Indoors (after we hosed down and dried off) we enjoyed mud dough (playdough with coffee grounds in it), muddy water and brown mud paint. Getting dirty was a whole lot of fun today! Brooke made us a special afternoon snack in honour of mud day. Dirt n worms of course! Yum! (we'll also have fruit too).

Summer Camps at Discovery started June 29th and run until week 10, Sept. 4th.

Here is a list of our 2015 camp themes.

Week #1 Oh Canada, "Eh"? June 29 -July 3 Kicking off the summer could only be made better by celebrating our wonderful country together! We will have a week filled with red and white fun and facts and will learn about a wide range of all things Canadian. Children will be introduced to our nation’s diverse and interesting cultures and languages, lands, sports and leisure activities as we enjoy fun in the sun together. 

Week #2 Globe Trotting July 6-10 A trip around the world in a week! Experience and learn about foods, crafts, culture and languages of other countries on the map. Children will also go on a “geo-caching” adventure this week.

Week #3 Eat This! July 13-17 Using our garden and smart grocery choices to learn and create healthy, nutritious and delicious concoctions together. We will also learn about herbs and spices, their health benefits and just how they change the flavour of the things we like to eat.

Week #4 Befriending the Forest July 21-25 Connecting with nature through daily forest adventures, hikes and picnics. We will get to enjoy a small taste of Forest School as we discover ropes, shelters and tool use together.

Week #5 CLOSED July 27-31 

Week #6 Gelling with Geology Aug 4-7 What is a geologist and what do they do? Learning about rocks and minerals and how they are mined, where they are found and what they are used for. We will also explore and learn about fossils and where they come from.

Week #7 Community Helpers Aug 10-14 Learning about some of the many helpers and emergency professionals in our community, what they do and why we need them.

Week #8 Weather Wonders Aug 17-21 Examining weather together in its many forms from precipitation and temperature to wind, rainbows and extreme weather. We will also learn about why and where different types of weather occur around the world.

Week #9 Space is the place! Aug 24-28 Exploring the stars, satellites and planets. Learning about our solar system and what exactly those astronauts are up to and having fun with rocket ships and “aliens”.

Week #10 The Birds & the Bees Aug 31-Sept 4 Learning how to identify Ontario’s birds as well as how to attract them to our yards through feeding and gardening. We will also learn about the importance of bees in nature and the problems they are facing

For more information about our summer camps visit our webpage.

Simple and Fun Sensory Activities to Explore at Home

We spend a lot of time at the Discovery Child Care Centre planning creative and engaging sensory activities for the children. Earlier this month, we spent time outside squishing “coloured” mash potatoes in the outdoor sensory bin. We used our hands and shovels to scoop up the mash, identify colours, and then squish them together with our hands.

The children enjoy exploring textures and colours with these types of activities, and they love to get messy and have fun. Sensory activities allow our children to learn through play, and they also help develop and cultivate different skills.

Activities like our mash potato play allow children to learn by using their senses – this is one of the most effective teaching methods as children learn best and retain the most information when they engage their senses.

By allowing children to explore and investigate through sensory activities, you’ll help them develop and refine cognitive, social, emotional, physical and creative skills.

Here are some sensory activities that’ll be fun (and messy!) and easy to do right from your home. Simply choose one of the following “ingredients,” fill up a bin or container and watch the exploration unfold. You can also incorporate different scoops, bottles, lids and measuring cups and spoons.


1. Mashed potato play.

2. Dry pasta noodles.

3. Sand.

4. Bubbles.

5. Cooked spaghetti.

6. Corn kernels.

7. Soapy jars.

8. Uncooked beans.

9. Rice.

10. Shredded Paper.


Feel free to add colouring to some of the ingredients to allow colour exploration – doesn’t “rainbow” bubbles sound more fun? And you can even make it a bit messier by incorporating paints with different tools like sponges, brushes, or anything unexpected like bubble wrap, ribbons or straws. A less messy option is to throw in some toys - farm, construction, dinosaurs or even holiday themes will help you engage your children even more.

Follow us on Facebook for more sensory activity ideas - we regularly post stories about our exploration adventures!

You can also check out some great examples of sensory activities here via PBS and see how each activity can be linked to learning a specific skill set.

About Discovery Child Care

Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca

Tips For Gardening With Kids

Gardening with your children is a creative and fun way to encourage love of nature and healthy eating. There are some major benefits to involving your children in gardening, from improving life skills, teaching respect for living things and encouraging exploration, to enhancing fine motor skills and forming early responsibility.

Whatever your reasons, gardening is a super fun activity that you can enjoy in your own backyard or community garden!

Here are some great tips to help you get started:

Start Early. The toddler years are the perfect time to start building a garden. You can encourage your children to take part in gardening with simple tasks like watering the houseplants or outdoor garden. When you’re ready to start building an outdoor garden, begin planning early so you’re ready when the nice weather hits. Encourage your children to take part in the gardening process starting from the first time you plant the seeds.


Encourage Involvement. Keep your kids interested by involving them in the entire gardening process. Ask them questions while teaching what plants need to grow. Depending on your child’s age, you can also encourage your child to take the lead. Encourage them to choose where you plant the seeds and allow them to plant the seed on their own.

Encourage Exploration. Play-based learning is one of the most effective methods of teaching. You can support the exploration not only with the garden, but also by growing plants that attract wildlife. Plants that attract insects will also pollinate your flowers, helping you get a good crop of vegetables!

Take Pictures. Encourage your children to take pictures of the plants throughout each stage of growth. This will help keep your children involved in the process while you’re waiting for the plants to grow.

Choose Your Plants Carefully. Try to choose plants that don’t require a lot of work. Sunflowers, lettuce, radishes, potatoes and snow peas are among the best options for children. Aim for plants that grow quickly or easily.

Harvest Together. If you decide to build a vegetable garden, encourage your children to help you harvest the garden. This is the stage of growing that you’ve been waiting for, and involving your children may encourage them to eat more vegetables at your next meal.

Make it Fun! Let your kids explore and get messy in the garden. Exploration is nature is an exciting experience that can lead to many teachable moments that are fun for you and your children.


Make sure to wear hats and tons of sunscreen when you are spending time outdoors gardening. Enjoy your garden!

Interested in learning how we incorporate gardening in our child care program? Contact us today for more information!

About Discovery Child Care

Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca