Welcome to Forest School
Forest School is a summer program we run at the daycare where children can have the freedom to play, learn more about nature and Indigenous culture, as well as
Outdoor Play
The “Get Outside Trend” is sweeping the nation recently but the importance of children being outside goes back to early years. In the past many nations have considered the outdoors the most important teacher of children. The outdoors is not only a place where they can satisfy their gross motor needs by running, jumping, balancing, and climbing. But it can teach children through their natural curiosity a variety of other subjects such as math, biology, language, and numerous things about themselves that they may not discover in a conventional classroom.
SPLASH has been incorporating the Forest School Principals into our curriculum since 2015 and we have two Forest School Practitioners amongst our staff team who have trained with Forest School Canada. We started our foray into land-based learning when we started our gardening program and have been building and expanding ever since!
Indigenous Teachings
During our Forest School summer program, we incorporate Indigenous curriculums. This includes telling stories, learning Cree and Ojibway words, colours and objects. We smudge, drum, sing, and learn about medicines from the creato. We spend time reconnecting with mother earth, listening to the creek, singing birds and making art with natural loose parts.
We spend our summer using our community parks for Urban Forest school and Bunn’s creek for Forest school. The children get to explore nature, animals, learn to use tools, tree climb and cook over a fire at Bunn’s creek.
Our forest school program started in 2017. The program itself involves the children to reconnect with and have fun in the forest. Our Forest School Practitioner, with the help of our staff, takes the children out into the forest and teaches them about what it means to care for and understand nature and also why nature is an important teacher. During this time we are visited by indigenious elders, learn the ways of the indigenious peoples, given the opportunity to explore areas of the forest in detail, learn about insects and plants, learn how to use tools to build, build fires, and so much more. This program is very important to S.P.L.A.S.H. because we feel it is important for the children to reconnect with nature and to become future leaders and stewards of the environment.
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