In September, nature tells us stories (Educational programs in nature)

What if nature told us stories?

Fall is slowly setting in, and with it, our surroundings are changing. This is especially noticeable these days: the leaves are changing colour, some are beginning to cover the ground, seeds are falling, and the light is shifting. Our walks already don’t quite feel the same as they did in early summer.

With the kids, all these changes can quickly become the starting point for a new adventure. A branch can become a magic wand. A stump might hide the entrance to a tiny house. A few tracks in the dirt might belong to a mysterious animal, and a strangely shaped leaf might have a whole story to tell.

That is something I really love when we go out with the kids: the same landscape transforms, and we see different things in it depending on the time of year.

Children transform the environment even further through their imagination. A fallen tree becomes a boat, a castle, or an animal’s home. And sometimes all it takes is asking the children, “What does that remind you of?” for a story to begin.

So this month, we are going to let our imaginations run wild.

We will see how our outdoor encounters can inspire us to create, tell stories, draw, or simply chat together. And you will see that it is not always necessary to plan a big activity: sometimes, just three items found on a walk are enough to come up with an entire story.

We will then head back to our early childhood centres. At Boréal des tout-petits, we have some great news: after a long period of not being able to access it, the children have finally been able to return to their forest! We will also share some of the moments captured by the educators when they go out to explore this environment with their groups.

And since fall is the perfect season to observe all the changes happening around us, we will take a few moments to explore a book about fall colours.

Finally, we will take a look at our October events, which offer wonderful opportunities to come together around stories and Francophone culture.

Until then, I hope you will take advantage of this early fall to go outside with your children, observe the changes around you, and, above all, listen to the stories they want to make up. You might be surprised by what can come from a simple leaf picked up along the way.

Enjoy reading, and have a wonderful time exploring as a family!

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

Observe Before Imagining

To make up stories outdoors, you don’t have to prepare anything in particular before you go. Instead, you can simply start by looking around.

In the fall, nature offers us a multitude of details to notice. The colors change, leaves gradually cover the ground, seeds appear, some branches become bare, and the light itself takes on a different quality.

And if you take the time to pay attention and listen, you will also hear the wind rustling through the leaves, a bird you can’t see, a branch cracking somewhere in the forest… these sounds can spark our curiosity and provide the perfect opportunity to ask ourselves and our children:

“What could have made that noise?”

And from there, we can let the children’s imaginations run wild.

Perhaps they will come up with a very realistic explanation. But you might also be surprised to hear a giant squirrel pop up in the story your child tells. In the end, it doesn’t really matter, because what matters most is the opportunity to talk together, laugh, create, and imagine. And it is often these moments that are the best—the ones that recharge us all and bring us closer together.

You do not need to come up with ideas for them

When we offer children this kind of experience, we can easily fall into the habit of guiding them: pointing out the character, starting the story, or suggesting what that strange branch might become.

Yet, a very simple question is often all it takes:

“What does that remind you of?”
“What do you think might have happened here?”
“Who do you think left this mark?”

Then comes the time to listen.

The story that emerges might not be the one we would have imagined. It will likely change several times along the way, and some details might not make any sense to us.

That is okay. There is nothing to “get right.” The fun lies precisely in seeing how far their imagination can take them.

A story can take all kinds of forms

Not all children necessarily want to tell a long story during a walk. A very young child might simply decide that a pinecone is a hedgehog or give a tree a name.

Another child might make up a few sentences, and older children may very well imagine characters and create an entire adventure. They might also take a completely rational approach and try to connect several discoveries they made during the walk.

If they make up a story, it doesn’t necessarily have to end when they get home. It can be told to someone who wasn’t there, expanded upon, drawn, written down, or kept in a memory book.

But it can also remain exactly what it was: a story made up together during a walk and a wonderful shared moment.

What if we told the story in French?

These moments can also become a simple way to bring the French language to life as a family.

Coming up with a character’s name, describing a leaf, explaining what you are imagining, listening to someone else’s story… the words come naturally because the child has something they want to share. There is no need to turn it into an exercise.

We tell stories, ask questions, and sometimes laugh at the ideas that come up. We look for a word when we need one.

And French is simply part of this moment we are sharing together. Thanks to moments like this, it becomes an integral part of our children’s identity.

The next story might already be on your path

On your next walk, just try to slow down a little.

Look at the leaves on the ground. The shapes of the trees. The rocks. The tracks. Listen to the sounds around you.

When something catches your child’s attention, try to resist the urge to explain what it is for a few moments, and instead ask them:

“ What do you think it is?”

You might discover that a stump is not really a stump after all, that a branch is not really a branch, and that the tracks in front of you might belong to a creature you did not even know existed five minutes ago.

Nature provides the setting. For the rest of the story, we can trust our children.

Photos, observations, a moment captured during an exploration. All these glimpses give us a sense of what happens when the groups leave the centre to head into the forest.

And we wanted to highlight that in this newsletter.

Because behind these images, there are also the educators who take the initiative to go out with the groups, explore with the children, and keep a record of what they observe.

For us, these accounts are invaluable. They help us better understand what the children experience outdoors and continue to support the teams. And they also give you a little glimpse into everything that happens in the forest when the children go there with the educators.

A story in the colours of fall

This month, we invite you to discover *Everything Is Red* by Kazuo Iwamura.

It is the story of Nic, Nac, and Noc, three little squirrels who go for a walk in the forest and discover that the landscape around them has changed. Everywhere, red has taken over, echoing the colour of their own sweaters.

It is a lovely story to share with children at this time of year, just when we can observe these same changes all around us.

After reading, why not continue the story outside? Look together at the trees and leaves around you. What colour seems to be dominating today?

And since we are on the subject of stories…

See you soon for some new stories!

While putting together this newsletter, I found myself wondering how often we miss a story without even realizing it.

A leaf swirling in the air before it falls, a few footprints in the mud… To us, these are sometimes just tiny details. But a child can see so much in them.

And that is something I have always appreciated when we spend time outdoors. We can take the same path over and over again, and yet each time, it feels like a completely different walk.

So this fall, if your child suddenly stops in front of something that seems perfectly ordinary to you, take the time to stop with them, to look, to listen.

And if they don’t say anything, just ask them:

“What are you thinking about? ”

I would be very curious to know where that simple question might take you.

Until our next newsletter, enjoy this beautiful season, your outdoor adventures, and all the little stories that are surely already waiting for you along the way.

I will see you very soon and wish you wonderful family explorations!

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

Carrefour Francophone would like to express its gratitude

Our project partners: PLAYLearnThink, Collège Boréal, The First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Educational Centre, and Pavillon Shkode (Heart of the Fire); our research partners: the Center for Social Innovation for Children and Families; and our funding partner: Employment and Social Development Canada.