This class is designed for our youngest explorers. Children should be 3 years old by December 31st and able to attend the class independently from their parents. All children must be toilet trained. As with all of our preschool classes, parents take turns volunteering as a duty parent with the class. Your ‘duty day’ comes up once every 4-6 weeks.

Tadpoles are starting to become more independent and less reliant on others to do it for them. They still need help with dressing and looking after their belongings. For many this may be their first time away from home without a parent.

The children will learn to follow group instructions, wait their turn, have their needs met by someone other than their parents and enjoy being outside in all kinds of weather. They are still quite egocentric in their development and their play is largely parallel. Their large muscles, agility and balance will all improve while navigating the uneven ground of the forest and climbing on logs and large rocks.

This class for 3.5-5 year olds works well in combination with traditional daycare or a stay at home parent. Frogs are more independent than Tadpoles but will likely still need help doing up coats and putting on mittens and boots. They can look after their own belongings with verbal prompts. Frogs are largely at the cooperative play stage of development and immerse themselves daily in great imaginary games. As the class meets three times a week, the children and teachers get to know each other well. Skills such as independence, empathy, self confidence and emotional regulation develop quickly. As with all of our preschool classes, parents take turns volunteering as a duty parent with the class. Your ‘duty day’ comes up about once a month.

This class for 4 and 5 year olds meets once a week for the full day of adventures. This is a 7 hour program and accommodations cannot be made for children who need to nap in the afternoon. Your child should have the stamina to last an entire action packed day! Your child should be able to get dressed and undressed independently with only a little help for the tricky bits.

This is a mixed age group for 5 to 7 year olds. These children will meet once a week for a full day of fun, adventure and learning. This class is ideal for more mature/experienced Dragonfly aged children or young Coyote aged children who still enjoy the imaginative games of the younger kids. The younger children should have the stamina to keep up with their older classmates. All children will develop their empathy, leadership and problem solving skills. Along the way, they will grow in self confidence and improve their ability to communicate, resolve conflicts and assess risk. This is similar to a Dragonfly class with the expectation for children to be independent in this mixed age grouping.

As with all of our preschool classes, parents take turns volunteering as a duty parent with the class. Your ‘duty day’ comes up about once every 3 months.

This school age program is a full day program once a week. The children develop and/or enhance all the skills as in the younger classes but also get to observe and use first hand the knowledge they are learning in their school environments. Literacy skills (journals, communication, conflict management, story telling), math (measurement, volume, balance, problem solving), life cycles (plants, insects, water cycle) and physics (simple machines, force, pressure, friction) are just a few of the things that are experienced through play. Coyotes must be able to dress and undress from their outdoor clothing independently, look after their own belongings, and follow group rules and expectations. Coyotes are physically capable of bigger explorations and adventures during a 7 hour day outside.

Please note: new this year- Although a regular volunteer commitment with the class is not required for Coyotes, we ask that all parents spend at least one half day with the class during the Fall semester.

This pre-teen/early teen program is for mature children aged 10 and up. Wolves need a minimum of supervision and are trustworthy enough to be given greater responsibilities. Child led programming is still quite evident as the Wolves are given ample opportunity to explore their own projects and discuss with their teacher and classmates what they want to learn over the year. The MEQ (Quebec Ministry of Education) program is supported in a more formal manner. Wolves still love to play but their play is more collaborative, involved and complex.

Prerequisite: Children must have at least one full year of previous Forest School experience. ​