Our two day Forest program and self directed nature school program is for children 4-7 who thrive in an outdoor setting and with experiential learning. The Anishinabe believe that the first 7 years of a child’s life is “the good life” so we are open to any child at least 4 years of age up to 7. The children take part in a huge variety of activities – making shelters, tracking, our forest theatre, mud playdough and mud/plant “cooking and baking”, river walks and more. We place special emphasis on child led inquiry learning.
Forest Kindergartens and Forest Schools believe that the children in their care learn best within a child centred approach to learning that is place based which focuses on their connection with others and with their environment. Place based education is rooted in heritage, environment and the culture of a place. (from COEO). We are also dedicated to building a relationship with the cultural heritage and culture of Simcoe country, which is on traditional Anishinaabe territory. We are partnered with Anishinaabe community members to build a relationship to provide place based culture to the families in our program.
We believe that children learn best from each other in a mixed age group, the younger children learn from their older role models and older children meet the expectations of the younger children and have opportunities to be responsible and use their knowledge. The older children are able to more deeply integrate their knowledge into their being and the younger children and older children learn to value each other as a community.
After completing our Forest Kindergarten intro kids are eligible to be enrolled in the half day or full day Forest Program and Self Directed Nature School program!
Once kids are 8 they are able to attend in the forest under our full self directed nature school program. Students choose a topic or project and using the Project Based Learning model they have full autonomy over what they learn with adults providing any help, guidance and facilitation they need. For more information on our Project Based Learning please see our Project Based Learning Page.
The spring session has been postponed due to social distancing. Please check out our online self directed program.
Dates
September 16-December 2 2019 – Session Full
March 23 – June 24 2020 – Session Full
