Kids’ Nature Connection Programs
Nelson BC Spring 2020
We are opening again May 19 for a small group, all outside as usual
and following protocols for distancing and hygiene.
‘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.
Hope to see you in the forest!
Please fill in the Registration Form.
Grief Council$15.00 + GSTThese are potent times. I notice lots of unknown, fear and grief about our personal situations; financially, relationally. I notice lots of changes in society. How do we relate to the unknown? What is ending, what is being born? I am offering a sharing circle where we can speak and listen together. You will bring home with you some tools to possibly reframe how you look at yourself and the world. For adults, Sunday May 30th, 6-8 pm.
Wild Fridays 1 – 4 pm$144.00 + GSTWild Fridays are for kids age 7 - 12 who like to be outside and be active, and practice skills of wilderness survival like fire making and finding food, sneaking close to animals, growing resilience to weather and emotions and just enjoy playing in our beautiful place on earth. Fridays at 1 pm - 4 pm, from May 22nd to June 26th (6 weeks). Location in Nelson. We are welcoming homeschoolers, Waldorf kids, Wildflower kids, and kids who are going to any school and like a half-day of outdoor education.
Wild Sisters Girl Program$100.00 + GSTWild Sisters is a new program for self-identified girls age 9-13, six weeks on Tuesdays at 3-5 pm. Starting May 19th till June 26th.
Forest Kids Mondays 9 am – 2 pm$200.00 + GSTMonday five hours Forest School for ages 4 to 6. All outdoor adventures from 9 am to 2 pm. 5 weeks, May 25th to June 22nd. Location in Nelson at our new beautiful place. Details will be emailed to you. We are welcoming preschoolers, homeschoolers, and kids who are going to any school but prefers one day (or more) of outdoor education. Contact us for scholarships if your family really needs it.
Forest Kids Tuesdays 9 am – 2 pm$240.00 + GSTTuesday five hours Forest School for ages 4 to 6. All outdoor adventures from 9 am to 2 pm. 6 weeks, May 19th to June 23rd. Location in Nelson at our new beautiful place. Details will be emailed to you. We are welcoming preschoolers, homeschoolers, and kids who are going to any school but prefers one day (or more) of outdoor education. Contact us for scholarships if your family really needs it.
Forest Kids Thursdays 9 am – 12 pm$144.00 + GSTThursday morning three hours forest school, from 9 am - noon for ages 3 to 6. The spring session is 6 weeks, May 21st to June 25th. Location in Nelson at our new beautiful place, all outside. Details will be emailed to you. We are welcoming preschoolers, homeschoolers, and kids who are going to school but prefers one day (or more) of outdoor education. Contact us for scholarships if your family really needs it.
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.
