Educational programs in nature – In May, outdoor activities continue to grow at our centers!

Outdoor activities continue to grow in our centers!

Dear Families,

With the arrival of warmer weather, outdoor experiences are taking on an important role in the daily lives of the children at our early childhood centres. This happens through free exploration, spontaneous discoveries, and projects developed by our educational teams. Every day, we see just how wonderful nature is as a place for young children to live and learn.

This month, we have several updates to share with you. Notably, the “CPE in Nature” project has received financial support from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. Thanks to this valuable assistance, we will be able to continue developing new educational tools and enriching the children’s experiences in nature.

In this newsletter, I also invite you to discover some inspiring initiatives developed at a symposium on nature-based education, the insights that emerged from it, and recent adventures in our early childhood centres.

Enjoy reading, and may you have wonderful discoveries in nature!

Mathieu Lambert
CPE Forest Project Coordinator and Outdoor Education Advisor, Carrefour francophone.

Precious support for the CPE project in kind

We are pleased to announce that the Carrefour francophone’s “CPE en nature” project has received $7,800 in funding from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. This is a program of TD Bank that supports community initiatives aimed at protecting the environment, raising young people’s awareness of nature, and encouraging concrete actions in support of sustainable development. Each year, this program helps organizations across Canada implement projects that have a positive impact on their communities.

For Carrefour francophone, this support will enable us to continue developing our nature-based programming in early childhood centres by facilitating field trips and enriching the educational experiences offered to children.

Thanks to this funding, we will be able to:

• purchase equipment to support nature outings with infants,
• create themed exploration kits that can be shared among different centres,
• continue to promote hands-on learning related to the environment and local biodiversity.

This support is a wonderful recognition of the work accomplished by our educational teams and of the importance of raising children is awareness of nature from a very young age.

Carts to explore further

Among the funded projects, a portion of the funds was used, in particular, to purchase equipment that makes it easier for the youngest children to get around during nature outings.

At Boréal des tout-petits, thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, the educational staff is already using a VEER XL all-terrain stroller for infants. Babies can be placed in it starting at around 6 months of age, once they are able to sit up on their own. Feedback from the educational team has been extremely positive. One educator recently shared with us:

“We were able to make it all the way to Terry Fox with the children without any problems—no fatigue, no back pain. Only one child didn’t want to get in, but he was a toddler who was already walking on his own.”

The stroller made it easier for the group to get around, while allowing the infants to comfortably enjoy their outdoor outings. This type of equipment helps make nature explorations more accessible for both toddlers and educational staff.

Exploration kits to spark children's curiosity

The funding will also make it possible to create several educational exploration kits, which can be used by various early childhood centres.

Each kit will have a specific theme designed to support children’s discoveries in nature. Among the themes being considered are:

• Insects
• Animal Tracking

These kits will contain simple, hands-on materials: visual guides, magnifying glasses, sensory objects, and exploration ideas tailored to very young children.

The goal is to provide early childhood staff with easy access to tools that foster a sense of wonder, curiosity, and the development of nature-related vocabulary.

Tracking: The Thread That Weaves Wonder

Érick attended the workshop “Tracking: A Path to Wonder,” led by Véronique Dubuc. She is a professional tracker and educator specializing in nature and animal behavior. She presented an educational approach centered on observing the tracks left by animals.

The goal was to show that tracking can be a wonderful tool for fostering children’s curiosity, language skills, and connection to the natural world. Observing a footprint in the mud, noticing displaced branches, trying to guess which animal passed by before us… All these little investigations allow children to see their environment in a new light.

What is particularly interesting is that this approach can be adapted almost anywhere: in a forest, in an urban park, or even in the yard of an early childhood centre. Tracking encourages children to slow down, observe, compare, form hypotheses, and discuss their discoveries with one another.

This workshop confirmed our idea to create one of our future exploration kits, which will be developed with financial support from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. The tracking-themed kit will include footprint cards, observation activities, game ideas, and various tools to help early childhood educators guide children in their explorations.

Fingerprint Identification Keys

Components of a Naturalized Yard

Mathieu, for his part, attended the workshop “Components of a Naturalized Playground,” which explored the importance of designing outdoor spaces that encourage movement, creativity, and free play.

The workshop highlighted that natural environments often offer children more opportunities than highly standardized structures. Rocks, tree trunks, mounds, loose materials, and open spaces allow children to create their own games, make decisions, and develop their motor skills in much more varied ways.

The presenters also shared various studies demonstrating the benefits of natural spaces on children is overall development: increased creativity, reduced conflict, improved motor development, and greater engagement in play. We realize that these are also the points that emerge from the action research we conducted with the CPE en nature program.

One important idea stood out in particular from this conference: it is not necessary to completely transform an outdoor space to make it more enriching. Sometimes, a few simple adjustments can be enough :

• provide branches and natural materials,
• create a small, quiet corner with rocks or tree trunks,
• or set up areas that allow for different types of play and exploration.

These ideas align directly with what we are already implementing in several of our early childhood centres. They will inform future design decisions and discussions regarding the development of outdoor spaces as part of the “CPE en nature” program.

A Surprise Encounter in East Sudbury

At Trésor des tout-petits in East Sudbury, one of the nature outings had a wonderful surprise in store for the children!

During an exploration with Érick, the group was lucky enough to come across a small snake. Érick gently picked it up so the children could observe it up close, in complete safety.

The children were fascinated to see this animal up close. These unexpected encounters are often very enriching moments that spark the children is curiosity and help them develop a sense of respect and wonder for the creatures that share our environment.

Thank you very much!

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation for their trust and support of our project. Thanks to this funding, we will be able to continue developing practical tools for educational teams and offer children experiences that are ever richer, more stimulating, and rooted in nature.

This newsletter also highlights a reality that motivates us immensely: outdoor education continues to evolve through the sharing of ideas, training, hands-on experiences, and the commitment of educational teams. Every outing, every discovery, and every project contributes to the growth of this wonderful collective adventure.

We’re already looking forward to sharing our upcoming explorations, the new themed exploration kits, and the discoveries the children will make thanks to them!

See you soon in nature,

Mathieu Lambert
CPE Forest Project Coordinator and Outdoor Education Advisor, Carrefour francophone.

Le Carrefour francophone souhaite offrir ses remerciements

Nos partenaires de projet : PLAYLearnThink, Collège Boréal, Centre éducatif des Premières Nations, Métis et Inuit et la Pavillon Shkode (Cœur du feu);
nos partenaires de recherche : Centre d’innovation sociale pour l’enfant et la famille et notre bailleur de fonds : Emploi et Développement social Canada.