the blog: on education outside

fairy nature wings completed
Imaginative Play Outdoors

Fairy Nature Wings

Our fairy nature wings were dreamed up with a group of students who love playing in the fairy garden, but needed some reminders to remain

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Homma elementary school walking field trips

This post is written specifically to support colleagues and visiting TTOCs at Homma elementary school. Teachers from other schools are encouraged to make a similar document specific to their own walkable spaces and places for outdoor learning. The following is a list of recommended walking field trips we have visited with students. Please check with Sarah or I if you’d like to double up on your walking first trip to gain confidence or experience travelling to these spaces.

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fairy nature wings completed

Fairy Nature Wings

Our fairy nature wings were dreamed up with a group of students who love playing in the fairy garden, but needed some reminders to remain physically distant. Fairy nature wings became a perfect solution for extending imaginary fairy garden play, while naturally encouraging some physical distancing with the span of

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Playful Learning Outdoors in June

To support our colleagues returning to on-site instruction in June, we’ve put together this list of ideas for playful learning outdoors in June. You can download a PDF version here: Playful learning outdoors in June Our outdoor play ideas this month are place-specific to our school-yard, and nearby outdoor learning

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Homma elementary school walking field trips

This post is written specifically to support colleagues and visiting TTOCs at Homma elementary school. Teachers from other schools are encouraged to make a similar document specific to their own walkable spaces and places for outdoor learning. The following is a list of recommended walking field trips we have visited

Read More >

10 Tips for Teaching Outside the Classroom

Teaching outdoors is nothing new. As a species, humans have evolved to learn outdoors. For thousands of years, we have actively learned from experience alongside our elders. It is only recently in our evolutionary path that we have asked children to learn under florescent lighting, within four walls. Teaching Outside

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Planting potatoes

How to grow potatoes with kids

One of the most challenging aspects of growing food in school gardens is choosing crops that can reliably be harvested within the school year. Potatoes are a great school garden crop because they are familiar to kids, nutritious and tasty to cook up, plus they’re ridiculously joyful to harvest! This

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Playful learning outdoors in May during Covid-19

To support the families and teachers we work with in the outdoor classroom, we’ve put together this list of ideas for playful learning outdoors in May during Covid-19.  You can download a PDF version for Playful learning outdoors in May during Covid-19 here: Playful learning outdoors FI-converted Our outdoor play

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Growing space tomatoes with the Tomatosphere project

EVERYTHING can be taught in a school garden If you haven’t heard me say it before, it is worth repeating that literally EVERYTHING can be taught in a school garden! And that includes abstract and complex topics like the extreme environment of outer space, along with how our survival as

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Imaginative Play: Anywhere Artist

One hundred years ago Soviet psychologist and play theorist, Lev Vygotsky, argued that play was a purposeful activity for children. Vygotsky believed that a child’s greatest achievements were possible in play and that imaginative play, in particular, was an opportunity for children to become adaptive, while problem solving ways to

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Imaginative play with a box

This post has been written to support imaginative play with a box at home. If you have boxes available from deliveries, or are expecting deliveries, save your boxes for potentially hours of imaginative play at home! Imaginative play is essential for children to make sense of the world around them,

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Playful learning outdoors in April during Covid-19

To support the families and teachers we work with in the outdoor classroom, we’ve put together this list of ideas for playful learning outdoors in April during Covid-19. Thanks to our amazing french immersion colleagues at Homma who translated it into french for distribution to their families. You can download

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