Forest Saturdays!

Forest Saturdays is a drop-in style program, where you can choose which themed weeks you’d like to attend! Each 3-hour session offers a unique nature-based experience for children ages 8-12, packed with outdoor survival skills, environmental literacy, and fun exploration.

Ages 8-12, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm (LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE!)

This program takes place at our 130 Main Street, Grimsby, ON location. We access local parks and forests in addition to our on site naturalized playground.

We are very excited to offer this program that provides continued access to a wooded area, promoting good physical, mental, social and emotional health, while developing a connection with the environment. The students build life skills such as resilience while being outdoors in all kinds of weather, spatial awareness while negotiating forest trails, social competency while working as a team, and self-confidence while assessing and taking risks in the physical environment.

By revisiting the same location in the woods, children develop a stronger relationship with nature, while also being able to observe the changing of the seasons and how this affects nature and all of its inhabitants.

“What’s important is that children have an opportunity to bond with the natural world, to learn to love it and feel comfortable in it, before being asked to heal its wounds.”- David Sobel

PLUS: Register for 3 or more sessions and receive a FREE t-shirt or hat!

Greenbelt Academy - Outdoor Recreation
Greenbelt Academy - Outdoor Recreation
Greenbelt Academy - Outdoor Recreation

Please see a sample schedule of the day below:

10:00am Arrival and free play
10:15am Morning Circle
10:30am Walk to the forest
10:45am Skill-based workshop,skills practice, hike and/or free play
12:30pm Snack and walk to the school
1:00pm Home time

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Themes & Dates!

Join us to learn more about the fundamental power of the sun, how to harness its energy, and how the waning of night affects life on earth. As always, our morning will be filled with games, songs, and contemplation of the natural world.

Come explore the wonderful world of water during the wettest season of the year! See how clouds are formed through the “cloud in a jar” experiment and how the water cycle sustains life the world over. Laugh and play along the river today!

Ever wonder what the birds are actually saying? Join us for a morning of avian adventure as we delve into the concept of “Bird Language” and the five major types of bird calls. While we will learn to identify some common local species, we can actually learn more by studying what is being said rather than simply who is speaking.

In continuation of our first Bird Language session, we will be putting what we have learned into practice and doing some birding to see (or rather hear!) what the birds can tell us about what is happening in the forest beyond our senses. Is that an alarm call I hear?

In honour of Earth Week, we will be engaging in some earth stewardship activities as well as learning more about the many stories of this land and how it has been tended over time. Join us to celebrate our one and only home planet and learn some ways we can be good stewards of the land that holds us in our play, our learning, and our living.

Come find the first flowers of spring! Join us for a hike along the Niagara Escarpment as we learn to identify some spring ephemerals and what they have to offer the natural world.

In continuation of our seasonal fire series, we will be learning about the challenges (and rewards!) of making fire in a wet environment. Learn where to forage for dry materials, the principles of a smokeless fire, and a 400 year old invention known as the Swedish Torch or One Log Fire.

Join us for a morning of amphibian observation. Frogs, snakes, salamanders, oh my!

Learn to make a basic survival shelter and explore the properties of different types of wood, bark, and leaves. What natural materials are the best defense against the damp? Let’s find out together!

Welcome all junior geologists! Come learn the four main rock types in our region and join us as we explore the Niagara escarpment in search of evidence of its ancient past.

Focusing specifically on the metamorphosis of caterpillars into moths and butterflies, we will be looking at how this process actually unfolds as we explore the wide, weird, and wonderful world of insects. Sure to be a morning that will get you buzzing with excitement!

Join us to celebrate the start of summer and the culmination of our Forest Saturday spring term!

We will have a fun-filled morning of games, songs, and stories out on the land on the longest day of the year. Participants are invited to bring a food item of choice to share potluck style. *Please notify directors upon sign up if your child has any dietary restrictions or allergies we need to be aware of.