Kids’ Nature Connection Programs
Nelson BC Fall 2020
HOW TO SIGN UP
1. Select your product on your website. Select payment options.
2. Please fill in the Registration Form for the Fall.
3. Apply for Scholarship if your family is in need.
Email me if you like to be on a waiting list: forestpathnelson@gmail.com
WHERE
Within 10 minutes from Nelson. We will email details, locations vary.
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.
Boys Nature Connection Wednesdays$125.00 + GSTWe are thrilled to be offering an outdoor nature-based program for boys ages 8-12 this fall. This program will aim to help boys reconnect to nature, discover their passions and gifts, feel supported during the challenge of our times, and learn more about themselves, nature, and others. Time: 3:15pm-5:45pm Dates: Every Wednesday Location: Nelson Duration: 5 weeks (Sept 30th - Oct 28th) Mentors: Cedar de Trey and Tannin Shunter (see page Our educators)
Wild Fridays 1 – 4 pm$240.00 + GSTWild Fridays are for kids age 7 - 12 on Fridays from 1 pm - 4 pm, from September 11 to October 30th (8 weeks).
Wild Mondays 3:30 – 5:30 pm$120.00 + GSTWild Mondays are for kids age 6-9 on Mondays from 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm, from September 14 to October 26th (6 weeks, no class Oct 12). Meet by Lion's Park.
Wild Sisters Girl Program$180.00 + GSTWild Sisters is a program for self-identified girls age 8-13, on Wednesdays at 3:15 - 5:30 pm. 8 weeks, from September 9th to October 28th .
Forest Kids Mondays 9 am – 12 pm$180.00 + GSTMonday three hours Forest School for ages 3 to 6. All outdoor adventures from 9 am to 12 pm. 6 weeks, September 14th to October 26th, closed on October 12th.
Forest Kids Tuesdays 9 am – 2 pm$400.00 + GSTAll outdoor adventures on Tuesday for five hours (9 am to 2 pm) for ages 4 to 6. 8 weeks, September 8th till October 27th.
Forest Kids Wednesdays 9 am – noon$240.00 + GSTAll outdoor adventures on Wednesdays for three hours (9 am to 12 pm) for ages 3 to 6. 8 weeks, September 9th till October 28th.
Forest Kids Thursdays 9 am – 2 pm$400.00 + GSTAll outdoor adventures on Thursdays for five hours (9 am to 2 pm) for ages 4 to 7. 8 weeks, September 10th till October 29th.
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.
Here is a video with Jon Young that explains more about deep nature connection.
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 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, and actively create diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. The Forest Path aims to be part of decolonization culture and we humbly admit we have much to learn.
Planet care. People care, Fair share.