Nature Connection -
Grow Anywhere Virtual Learning
Connecting Children with Nature
Watch Nature Time With Beaver: Get tips on exploring the outdoors with your kids from Jimmy "Beaver" Vincent, the Humber Arboretum's Coordinator of Camps, Education, and Community Outreach
- Jimmy and his sons have fun with cattail fluff
- The family plants a tree together
Learn about The Willows, the forest nature program run out of the Arboretum by Humber College's Early Childhood Educators:
- Read "Children make connections to Aki (Earth) through Anishinaabe teachings" (April 2020)
- Read "Nature stories: Children experience the seasons with Indigenous knowledge keepers"
(Oct 2019) - Read "Wonder and wisdom in a children's forest nature program" (Dec 2018)
Download printable activities and get ideas for ways to engage with natural spaces near your home with the Humber Arboretum's printables and activity guides.
More Resources
- Read the article "Birds help my ears learn how to listen: How listening to birds can rehabilitate a child's ability to pay attention" on the Audubon California website
- Get kids involved in animal conservation by joining the Earth Rangers
- Explore The Wild Gang activities from Hinterland Who's Who
Connecting Through the Arts
Music:
- Visit The Pine Project on Soundcloud to a listen to a large collection of nature-themed singalongs, including "My Roots Go Down"
- Listen to Toronto musician and outdoor educator Pete Moss's album, Plants Rock
- Play Beastbox on Cornell Lab Bird Academy Games to try your hand at DJing with wild animal sounds
Visual Art:
- Get ready to get creative with "The Ultimate List of 85 Natural Colours
- Explore Digital Morphology, an online exhibit from the Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives, which is actively chronicling the creation of the new Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area in Mississauga
- Learn about Nature Journaling and Field Sketching through an online course from the Cornell Lab Bird Academy ($)
- Learn Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration 101 from the University of New Castle Australia on EdX (free and paid options)