School Programs at Humber Arboretum
Are you looking for a great class field trip in the Toronto area? Give your students the chance to take their learning outside with the Humber Arboretum’s curriculum-connected outdoor education programs. From Pre-K through high school, we offer active and engaging half-day and full-day programs that allow children to connect with nature and the environment without ever leaving the city.
The Humber Arboretum is an approved TDSB Excursion Vendor.
Experience the Humber Arboretum
Education programs at the Humber Arboretum are offered from September through June and are based out of the LEED Gold-Certified Centre for Urban Ecology. The 100 hectare Humber Arboretum offers your class access to gardens, forests, meadows, ponds, wetlands, and the Humber River itself. The main gardens showcase plants from around the world, while the woodland and meadow trails are flanked with native plant species. Depending on the time of year when you visit, your class may spot turtles, frogs, hawks, woodpeckers, butterflies, chipmunks, groundhogs, or even White-tailed Deer.
The Humber Arboretum is connected to the back of Humber Polytechnic North Campus (205 Humber College Blvd, Toronto)
Program Themes
All full-day visits include a half-day nature walk so students have the opportunity to explore the different habitats in this large urban greenspace. For the second part of your day (or for half-day only visits), we offer programs that cover a wide variety of seasonal and curriculum-connected topics. Many programs also have the flexibility to be adapted to your class's particular interests and needs.
Booking Information
We are accepting bookings for the 2024/2025 school year.
All full-day visits to the Humber Arboretum now combine a curriculum-connected Nature Walk with the themed program of your choice. Dedicating half of the day to a Nature Walk allows us to go deeply into the content of your grade-specific program selection while also exploring the diverse systems and living things within this space.
Because many of our grade-specific programs occupy specific areas, they can be limiting in terms of the variety of places that the students get to experience within the Arboretum. So we implemented the set Nature Walk in order to enhance the students’ connection to place, allow deeper exploration of the different ecosystems, and open up opportunities to connect with the flora and fauna of the Arboretum. It would be a shame for students to come to the Humber Arboretum and never actually see the Humber River, wouldn’t it!?
For those of you who are thinking that a Nature Walk is just a walk – think again! During these walks we get to connect with the students and cater our teaching to where their inspiration comes from, as well as draw on seasonally relevant inspiration. For example, spotting birds migrating in the fall, tracking animals in the snow, and admiring the spring ephemeral flowers. Curriculum points will still be integrated into the walk, but in a way that captures what the students are passionate about in nature and channels it into rich learning experiences.
With openness and flexibility in programming comes more opportunities to connect with nature—which is the main objective of our programming. We thank you for being understanding about the changes that we are making and know that you will not be disappointed with your experience!
Educational group bookings are not available on the weekend. Weekday availability varies slightly throughout the year.
School group bookings are accepted:
- September through June: Tuesday to Thursday
- July and August: No group bookings available due to Nature Camp
Half Day programs (morning or afternoon) cost $12.50/student.
Full Day programs cost $18.50/student
There is no tax for students aged 12 and under but HST will be added for all students aged 13+
Supervisors may attend for free at a maximum of 1 per every 5 participants.
FINANCIAL NEED DISCOUNT
Beginning in January 2023, our new standing discount offers for schools that require financial assistance are:
- A full-day program at the half-day price of $12.50 per student
- Or $8.50 for a half-day program, which includes the use of a lunch space
Please indicate in the "Extra Information - Additional Notes" box on the booking form if your group requires the Financial Need Discount. If you still face a barrier to attending even with the discount, please feel free to connect with us to discuss your situation and other options.
ECO-FRIENDLY TRANSPORT DISCOUNT
To support schools who are eager to reduce their eco-footprint, a 15% discount off the per-student rate is available to visiting school groups who walk or take public transit to reach the Humber Arboretum. Please indicate your intention to take advantage of this discount before the day of your trip and confirm your transportation choice with Arboretum staff upon arrival.
Please note: Schools may only take advantage of ONE of the above discounts per trip.
The Humber Arboretum can accommodate a maximum of 35 students at a time.
Each group will be charged for a minimum of 20 participants. (Note: if this is a problem for your group please contact us; we may be able to help).
Changes to your group size of plus or minus 8 students must be confirmed at least 14 days in advance of your excursion. Smaller changes in group size must be confirmed 3 days in advance. Otherwise, you will be charged for the number of participants originally stated in the Program Booking Form, unless your group numbers exceed the original booking.
Indoor lunch space is available and is included with a full day booking. If you are only booking for half-day you may choose to add lunch space use for an additional fee of $50 per space, which must be booked in advance. Two spaces are available.
We will contact you within 3 business days of submitting your online booking registration form. Your group will be tentatively put in our calendar, and confirmed by email within a month of your requested date (If you are booking a date less than a month away, we will do our best to confirm with you as soon as possible).
Your visit is not considered confirmed until you have received written confirmation by email. Please double check the information in the confirmation email to ensure it is correct.
Accepted payment methods are VISA, Mastercard, or EFT.
Cash and cheques are no longer accepted.
If cost is a barrier to participation, please reach out to arboretum@humber.ca, as subsidies may be available.
If the group cannot attend at its scheduled date/time, every effort will be made to re-schedule the trip during the school year. If that is not possible, notice of a cancellation must be received no less than fourteen business days prior to the scheduled visit, otherwise 50% of the costs outlined in the Program Booking Form will be charged to the group. You may cancel or make changes to your booking by email.
With the development of the Humber Arboretum Strategic Plan 2019-2024, the Humber Arboretum reviewed our program offerings. As of January 2020, we are no longer offering school programs at Humber College Lakeshore Campus / Colonel Samuel Smith Park. We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of CCFEW which allowed us to provide outdoor education to the Lakeshore community for ten years.
Submit an Inquiry
After you've read the details above and explored our current program offerings, fill out this form to submit your inquiry:
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