Spring can be sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, warm and cold (sometimes all in one day!) - here are some tips to dress for success at forest school this spring: Expect your child to be wet and muddy at pick up . Dress in clothes that can get dirty or stained. Some families find getting out of outerwear before getting into the car works best. Consider an extra set of outerwear at home - including boots. Having a back-up set for days when gear is still wet in the morning can be hel

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg. Funding and Regulation: Despite countless benefits to children’s wellbeing and development, many FNS struggle to get established. Funding and regulatory issues are an ongoing barrier. Often, outdoor learning does not receive the same funding as indoor classrooms using a standard curriculum. Furth

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg. The Medicine Wheel is a First Nations teaching that considers a person’s wellbeing to include “mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the self” (Jagger, p. 7). The next few blog posts in this series use these four domains of wellbeing to review how outdoor learning can support child

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg. The Medicine Wheel is a First Nations teaching that considers a person’s wellbeing to include “mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the self” (Jagger, p. 7). The next few blog posts in this series use these four domains of wellbeing to review how outdoor learning can support child

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg. The Medicine Wheel is a First Nations teaching that considers a person’s wellbeing to include “mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the self” (Jagger, p. 7). The next few blog posts in this series use these four domains of wellbeing to review how outdoor learning can support child

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg. The Medicine Wheel is a First Nations teaching that considers a person’s wellbeing to include “mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the self” (Jagger, p. 7). The next few blog posts in this series use these four domains of wellbeing to review how outdoor learning can support child

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg. There are an increasing number of alternative early childhood education practices and pedagogies that disrupt dominant norms and narratives about how learning happens. A common theme between many of them is to move beyond the status quo and “resist assumptions of children as helpless and passive

This multi-part series of blog posts on Outdoor Learning has been adapted from a Final Academic Paper for one of my Early Childhood Development courses at the University of Winnipeg. Children deserve learning opportunities that consider their overall wellbeing. J.P. Miller, a scholar of holistic education, observes that educators can best support children’s learning by understanding the child as an “indivisible whole”. This means ensuring that any educational approach suppo

Dressing as the season turns colder can be tricky. It's the time of year ALL of our outerwear ends up out and on hand. Here are some of our top tips for dressing in cold weather: Check the HOURLY forecast the night before and in the morning. Dress for the coldest part of the day in layers so children can adjust as things warm up. We go by Environment Canada and there's a good app.  Avoid drafts . Tucking layers in as you go and wearing a hat or toque goes a long way. Make sur

At the end of September I attended the 2025 Breath of Fresh Air  Outdoor Play Summit at Wesley-Clover park in Ottawa. This conference is...

ᑕᐦᑐ ᐊᐋᐧᓯᐢ ᐃᐢᐱᐦᑌᔨᐦᑖᑯᓯᐤ [1] This is the text on my Orange Shirt. A child asked me what it said yesterday at Forest Nursery, and I replied it says "Every Child Matters" in Cree Syllabics, an Indigenous language from this land. "But how do you say it," he insisted. I repeated, "Every Child Matters". And again, he says, "No, not in English, it's another language." It was then I realized he was asking me how to say it in Cree, and I was humbled once again, to be reminded that the c

One of our hopes at Forest Nursery School is that this program supports children in their development of deep and meaningful place-based...

In the Forest where we play, there are two types of Nettle growing around us: Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) and Wood Nettle (Laportea...

We are wildly curious about all the changes to the forest these days. our curiosity drives courage and creativity. We find ourselves...

✨ King Winter has gone and Lady Spring has arrived ✨ We are excitedly welcoming Spring as we see plants popping out of the ground, watch...

I think it is important to spend some time reflecting on your accomplishments and challenges periodically and New Years Eve seems like a...

This week, we were happy to spend every day at and exploring around our Forest School site. A highlight recently has been finding a giant...

We've had another great outdoor & indoor week here at Forest Nursery School. While outside we saw a deer, continued to greet and play...

With Winter coming in cold this week, we got a good glimpse into what Forest School in Winter might look like. And rest assured, it's...

❄️ Today was our first proper snow day, where we had a few inches of snow to play in. ❄️ After yesterday's tricky transition into the...