Tall Trees Nature Programs

Tall Trees Nature Programs has a few rare spots left for our program starting in September!

• Classes are Tuesdays and Thursday from 9am - 12pm

• We are a unique all outdoor program operating in a community forest (and sometimes the beach) in Qualicum Beach

• Class sizes are small with a 1:6 (adult to child) ratio

• Our curriculum emphasizes: free play, child-led learning, and exploring the natural world

For inquiries please email us at [email protected] or submit a contact form on our website talltreesnatureprograms.ca
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I still have a few open spots for September 2025 - June 2026!

Classes:
Tuesdays & Thursdays from 9:00am - 12:00pm
Tuesdays & Thursdays from 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Please go to www.talltreesnatureprograms.ca to submit an inquiry, or contact me directly at [email protected] 💚🌱

At Tall Trees we believe in child-led, and flow style learning. What does this mean? Child-led learning means that the children choose the topics that we explore. Instead of focusing on teaching a particular curriculum, we allow natural curiosities to be explored. Flow learning compliments this nicely, as it emphasizes focusing on the moment/current activity vs what will happen upon completion. Children enter a state of "flow", meaning they are so engrossed with an activity that nothing else matters. When children get to follow their interests, flow learning happens naturally as they form a deeper connection with the material.

Over the past few months we've measured slugs, counted slugs, observed slugs with magnifying glasses, built slug homes, and tracked slugs by their slime trails.

The children were given the room to explore slugs in a variety of manners, and in doing so the amount of times in a day that I say "Please don't squish the slugs" has dropped to basically nil. Genuine connection built on freedom to learn.

Another day with the beach as our classroom! The tide left us some great pools for exploring, so we set out with our nets and buckets.

The rules are simple: Gentle hands. No injuring the animals. Nothing alive comes home with us.

Children get to experience nature up close and personal, while also developing a healthy, respectful relationship with the environments we coexist in.

Pictured: Northern Kelp Crab, Tidepool Sculpin

Spring is in full swing, not just for us but our local wildlife as well! We found this large footprint while on a walk recently, which brought up important conversations about safety and respect when in bear country (we're always in bear country here). It was also an important reminder about why we walk as a group when on the trails, and why we always clean up our snacks. No bear was spotted that day, but we have encountered them before! When schooling outdoors it's important to not only have a safety plan for wildlife encounters, but also make sure the kids know what those safety plans are!

I've fallen behind on posting, but life has been trucking along here at Tall Trees! Our little group of explorers have been very busy, so I'll start by highlighting some of the art activities we've recently done 💚🎨

Chalk is something the children always have access to. The world becomes our canvas and the children often experiment with how well the chalk works on different surfaces and textures, and the differences when the chalk is wet vs dry. A good rainfall often washes away our drawings, but fallen moss is the children's choice for wiping things right away to start again!

Spore printing was a perfect autumn activity! The children searched for mushrooms in a variety of sizes, and species and we left them on black paper for a period of time. When we removed the mushrooms later, the children observed patterns of yellow, white and brownish black on the paper. Our only recommendations would be to wait for dryer weather and keep the mushrooms on the paper as long as possible!

And of course some good old nature pictures! The children put on a small art exhibit for their parents by gathering whatever they could find on the ground and arranging them into pictures. Some of our art supplies included sticks, lichen, ferns, pinecones, rocks and mushrooms!

This simple circle of wood rounds doesn't look like much, but it provides us with so many learning opportunities and experiences. We've witnessed slugs snacking on funghi growing from the sides of the rounds. We've used them as seats to rest our busy bodies. We've practiced our gross motor skills, jumping from round to round (while trying not to slip off). We've used them as tables, developing our fine motor skills as we mix mud cakes and forest tea. The simplest things, are often the most rewarding 💚

When it rains, it pours! We had loads of fun playing in the rain, especially since: water + dirt = mud! Mud cakes, mud cookies, and mud tea were all some of the specialties yesterday. The only thing missing was a few good jumping puddles, but we know it's only a matter of time as we shift into our typical rainy autumn. Here at Tall Trees we encourage our families to dress their children in seasonal appropriate layers, making any weather a walk in the park 😉

Tall Trees has an opening in our Tuesday & Thursday, 9am to 12pm class! Open to children ages 3-5.

Please email us at [email protected] if interested 💚

Although slugs are still the favourite daily find, our friends at Tall Trees are starting to see other creatures as more rain hits the area and autumn begins! Basecamp is beginning to receive a covering of fallen leaves, and we're excited to see what new things the changing season brings.

Image 1: a worm!
Image 2: Yellow Spotted Millipede

Today we found some Red Huckleberries leftover on a few bushes. Each child got to try one! We also went over the importance of not eating berries until you've shown an adult first and to always leave some for the animals to enjoy as well 💚

When one of our friends first found this clay, it was rock solid. He wanted to share it, so he tried breaking it up with our plastic shovels. When that failed to work, he threw it against a tree which inevitably caused it to shatter. He left the pieces on the ground... Two days later after some rain he was so excited to find that it had turned soft and malleable. He shared it with his friends, and used his chunk to build a little snowman! I imagine there will be many more days playing with this medium 🪨☺️