Two Productive Mornings to Develop Our Outdoor Spaces!

In May and June, families from our centers with a Nature Daycare Program got together for a number of maintenance and landscaping chores. This convivial event brought together children, parents, grandparents and educators. Some partners and friends of Carrefour francophone also came to lend a hand.

Experienced tinkerers built tipis and cabins, installed slacklines and repaired worn-out equipment. Our staff was available to lend a hand and meet the parents in a different atmosphere.

At the Boréal des tout-petits center, the children enjoyed an artistic activity while the parents did the handiwork!

Pierre Harrison, of PLAYLearnThink, tinkerer and adventure playday expert, provided construction support and was available to answer parents’ questions on self-directed play for children, as well as healthy risk taking.

A big thank you to everyone who came and participated!
Your help is greatly appreciated.

These family events also mark the start of our research action iniciative in two of our early childhood centers ; at Scène des tout-petits and Boréal des tout-petits. The target of this research is to document the benefits of the outdoors for children and their caregivers. This research project is unique in the country!

We’ll be conducting numerous surveys, focus groups, and documenting observations and conversations with the help of experts from the Collège Boréal‘s Child and Family Social Innovation Centre (CISEF).

Research results are expected in June 2024. Stay tuned!

A Honda CRV... In a Playground!

Adventure playgrounds are activity areas designed for children, enabling them to reclaim the public space. The goal is to enable children to imagine and build their own world, where the adult footprint is minimal.

At the end of the Second World War, adults discovered that children were playing in the ruins of the city of Copenhagen. But it wasn’t safe enough. So they salvaged what was left of the ruins, along with some tools, to create their own playgrounds in what used to be called “junkyard playgrounds”.

In these adventure playgrounds, the profusion of multi-purpose materials available to the children gives, from the adult’s point of view, an air of “dumping ground”, where disorder reigns. For children, these materials represent different construction projects in which they are the masters and in which adults should not intervene.

In adventure playgrounds, creativity is more important than aesthetics!

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Inspired by this concept, the staff at Boréal des tout-petits have a big idea: offer children a vehicle. This vehicle would be set up in the play area to encourage adventure!

At Carrefour, we love big ideas!
So we get to work to make it happen. First, we had to find a car! After talking it over with the Collège Boréal, the mechanics program kindly offered to donate a Honda CRV to the Boréal des tout-petits center.

Then, it was Pierre Harrison’s turn to work his magic. First step: secure the vehicle. Next, activate some electrical circuits so kids can use the windshield wipers, radio and turn signals. Last step: place the vehicle in the yard and install wooden bases to facilitate access to the children.

A project like this would not be possible without accomplices and partners! We’d like to thank the City of the Grand Sudbury‘s Children’s Services, Collège Boréal, John Montpellier and his team, and Pierre Harrison of PLAYLearnThink.

A New Outdoor Training Opportunity for Our Educators

It’s official! Carrefour francophone is partnering with the Canadian Nature and Children’s Alliance to offer the Nature School Practitioner program in Sudbury in French starting in September 2023!

In recent years, this training has become a must in the field of nature-based education. Fifteen staff members will benefit from this training. There are also a few places left for partners outside our organization. Find out more about this unique and enriching program by visiting the Canadian Nature and Children’s Alliance website!

Meet Our New Outdoor Education Agent !

We’d like to welcome Mathieu Lambert, our new outdoor education agent!

Environmental educator in France, Mathieu comes with a wealth of knowledge about ecology, our relationship with nature and outdoor education. He’ll put all this into practice to help us document the benefits of outdoor playing. He will work closely with Céline Kerampran, our outdoor pedagogical leader, to ensure the development of the Nature and Daycare Project in our other early childhood centres.