Kids’ Nature Connection Programs
Nelson BC Summer 2020
Hummingbird Camp July 6-9 Age 3-5 FULL
Starling Camp July 13-16 Age 5-7 FULL
Northern Flicker Camp July 20-23 Age 6-9 FULL
Great Blue Heron Camp July 27-30 Age 10-13 Almost full
Song Sparrow Camp Aug 4,5,6 Age 3-5 FULL
Ruffed Grouse Camp Aug 17-20 Age 6-9 Almost full
Great Horned Owl Camp Aug 24-27 Age 10-13 FULL
Great Horned Owl Camp Aug 24-27 Age 10-13 FULL
HOW TO SIGN UP
1. Select your product on your website. Select payment options.
2. Please fill in the Registration Form.
3. Apply for Scholarship if your family is in need.
Each kid can join max two camps to ensure the availability for many
as there is a shortage of camps in Nelson.
as there is a shortage of camps in Nelson.
Email me if you like to be on a waiting list for a full camp. forestpathnelson@gmail.com
PRICE
$250 including GST, and $188 for the 3-day camp.
We offer two scholarships for each camp with 25% discount; $180/$135.
WHERE AND WHEN
Within 2-10 minutes from Nelson.
9 am – 3 pm
COVID19 PROTOCOL
Always outside, a daily screening for symptoms, more handwashing, less shared things /games involving touch, more distance, smaller groups.
‘Please, go outside’: COVID-19 much less likely to spread outdoors,
Dr. Bonnie Henry says.
‘Outdoor play, in particular, offers critical opportunities for learning, development and well-being
that aren’t generally available through indoor play.
In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic,
the benefits of outdoor play are particularly important’,
says leading play researchers.
Great Blue Heron Camp: July 27-30$238.00 + GSTAge 10 - 13. Monday - Thursday. From 9 am to 3 pm.In this camp, we will learn from our friend Great Blue Heron. Heron can be completely still and patient with full awareness and when needed, be lightening fast and powerful. Every Heron is unique and celebrates its own gifts, and celebrates the gifts of others. Finding food, shelter, safety, find its way - survival skills - are some skills we will learn from Heron.
Great Horned Owl Camp: Aug 24 – 27$238.00 + GSTAge 10 - 13. Monday - Thursday. From 9 am to 3 pm.In this camp, we will learn from our friend Great Horned Owl. Throughout the world, Owls represent watchfulness, wisdom, and the ability to travel between worlds. These birds love to sit quiet and still so that they can observe their surroundings and see what others may miss. With Great Horned Owl, we will practice skills of awareness, stalking, hiding and taking action fearlessly as well as feeding our imagination with storytelling, shapeshifting and roleplaying.
Hummingbird Camp: July 6-9$238.00 + GSTAge 3-5. Monday - Thursday. From 9 am to 3 pm.In this camp, we will learn from our friend Hummingbird. She is really fast and loves loves flowers! Hummingbird cares for his family and knows how to keep safe. They like to play games and make colourful art.
Northern Flicker Camp: July 20-23$238.00 + GSTAge 6 - 9. Monday - Thursday. From 9 am to 3 pm.In this camp, we will learn from our friend Northern Flicker. This woodpecker is good at sending messages and has fun with drumming and music. They listen really well for the smallest of sounds and watch out for dangers. The Flicker is a kind bird, that fixes and uses old nests and gives away their old nests to other birds. They don't give up easily and with their beautiful orange tail feathers, they see beauty everywhere.
Ruffed Grouse Camp: Aug 17-20$238.00 + GSTAge 6 - 9. Monday - Thursday. From 9 am to 3 pm.In this camp, we will learn from our friend Ruffed Grouse. Grouse is a master in hide-go-seek and camouflage. They also have a special talent to be flexible with different situations. Ruffed Grouse likes to drum and dance in a big spiral and play with their many friends.
Song Sparrow Camp: Aug 4,5,6$179.00 + GSTAge 3-5. Note this camp is 3 days from Tuesday to Thursday. From 9 am to 3 pm.In this camp, we will learn from our friend Song Sparrow. We like to sing and listen to our neighbours sing. Sparrows are good at keeping together with their friends and make sure to keep them safe and share the work. Song Sparrows are small but brave. They are great at hide-and-go-seek and keeping watch for larger animals. And they remind us to be happy!
Starling Camp: July 13-16$238.00 + GSTAge 5 - 7. Monday - Thursday. From 9 am to 3 pm.In this camp, we will learn from our friend European Starling. Starling likes to play in a group, sing, and have a good time! Starling teaches how to be together in a group - how to say our needs and also listen to everyone in the group. And starlings can fly fast in a large flock without touching each other. They are great at finding food and survive in nature.
ABOUT
The Forest Path aims to create full-body experiences of feeling alive and connected, to the wild, to within, with each other. We offer outdoor education programs and camps in Nelson BC Canada for children to get outside, learn nature skills and be mentored to grow wholesomely.
In a time of the 6th large extinction of species in the history of the Earth, with widening gaps between rich and poor, climate change and only half of the forests than before humans, there is a need for mindful loving connection to nature and learning from the native people’s ways. We acknowledge that this is unceded homeland, xaʔxáʔ tumxʷulaʔxʷ, of the Sinixt, and that the Ktunaxa and Syilx peoples also lived on this land.
The Forest Path began at spring break 2017 by Malin Christensson, who as a child went to the Swedish outdoor education program called ‘Skogs Mulle’, that was started in the 1950:s. She worked many years with sustainability education at the Centre for Environment and Development Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. Malin is also a kids yoga and mindfulness teacher. She has an updated first aid training and 5 million liability insurance. She loves trees, to sing and make a fire.
Read more about all our teachers.
OUR INSPIRATION
We are inspired by nature and the wonder and happiness and aliveness we experience when being outdoors. We are influenced by other deep nature connection organizations, like 8 shields and Art of Mentoring of Jon Young, Wisdom of the Earth with the Wolf School at Saltspring Island, Twin Eagles Wilderness School in Sandpoint Idaho, and the forest kindergartens in Canada (for example in Victoria, Vancouver, Rossland and Creston) as well where they originated in the 1950s in Sweden and 1960s in Germany. There are now over 1000 forest kindergartens in Germany. We are also drawing on wisdom from First Nations, Awaken the Dreamer, deep ecology and Joanna Macy and mindfulness.
Our ambition is to nurture deeper relations between parents, children and our surroundings.
WHAT DO THE KIDS DO
The Forest Path connects kids to our beautiful natural playground – to our birthright to smell, taste, feel and listen to the living land around us. In a playful way, we deepen our nature skills, which will also deepen our community skills and our relationship with our own self. We believe nature is the best teacher that models values such as belonging, quiet mind, generosity, resilience and vitality. Qualities that are most likely to be very much needed for the unknown future. It is time for really taking care of the Earth. Forest school is one step.
Every program balances free nature play and facilitated games, art and crafts, adjusted to the age and interests of the kids. We playfully add mindfulness, yoga, and music into the day. Nature creates our stage, our nest. The Forest Path mentors create a safe nest by using of sharing circles, empathetic listening, positive role modelling and a balance of action and silence. Kindness and community are our other key values, including a deep awe and respect for the natural world. We let nature connect to us, let curiosity and creativity flow in a timeless way – the way kids play. Play is essential for children.
The children learn to watch for hazards and depending on age, try basic outdoor skills on how to survive in the wild. We learn about plants and animals and the cycles in nature and about our own gifts and how we can relate to others.