For TMO Day en français
Take Me Outside would like to acknowledge and celebrate the diverse environments and people across Turtle Island whose Lands are the places, spaces, and teachers for our work. The speakers and presenters this week come from a wide range of nations and places across Turtle Island.
We want to begin by acknowledging that outdoor learning recognizes humans as an interconnected part of the natural world, as part of relationships that have been stewarded since time immemorial by the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Indigenous peoples who have lived here before colonialism, and continue to live and thrive here despite it.
We begin with gratitude and the utmost respect for the Land and all our relations on, above, and within her. We offer our gratitude and respect to the many Inuit, First Nations, Métis, and other Indigenous peoples who continue to protect and share their deep relational knowledge to facilitate ongoing relationships with her. Sharing your languages of relationship, reciprocity, respect, and responsibility encourages the heart of outdoor learning.
We also acknowledge that the work of truth and reconciliation is a journey of lifelong learning and work. We commit to supporting educators in rising to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s calls to action numbers 6, 12, & 62 – 66.
As you explore Outdoor Learning during Take Me Outside Week with your learners, we ask that you take time to learn about and recognize whose traditional Land or territory you reside, work, play, or explore on. You can use this resource as a starting place. Tim Patterson, an Indigenous mentor and hiking guide from the Little Nicola Band, said, “It’s not just about acknowledging the Land, or the people of a particular Land, but asking what this knowledge and feeling compels you do?”.
Throughout this week, we hope the sessions and speakers inspire educators and learners from all walks of life to head outside and connect to the land. We hope you experience the way the land can love, nurture, and heal.
We are committed to creating a future for outdoor learning where diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental and foundational pieces that illuminate the beauty and strength of our learning communities. We recognize, as individuals and as a collective, that not every school-aged child in Canada has an equal opportunity to engage in outdoor learning at present. We also recognize that not all educators have equal opportunity or experience with taking learning outdoors, due to a wide variety of barriers. We envision a future where every school-aged child and every educator feels welcome learning outdoors.
Part of our commitment to this work in the realm of outdoor learning is to further support and educate our community on strategies to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into outdoor learning, and further into all educational practices.
We are developing a section of our website here where you will find tools and resources to assist you in making sure your outdoor learning can address issues of race, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientation, accessibility needs, and other marginalized identities.
Take Me Outside Day is now an entire week full of activities, speakers, and prizes to encourage folks to head beyond the four walls of a classroom! Continue reading to see the full lineup of speakers. Stay tuned for more ways to get involved and get outside as we get closer to October!
We're using StreamYard for all of our virtual sessions this year. If you're not familiar with StreamYard, it's very easy to use and does not require you to download an app or create an account. You can simply click the link for the session you'd like to attend and join from your web browser. You'll be prompted to add your name and email address before joining the session for our attendance tracking and so we can contact prizewinners after the session. If you'd like to learn more about StreamYard, you can click here.
Age: Suitable for all ages!
You can watch the recording on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/RXJdvLd2J4A
Length: 45 mins
Shop Resources by Carole Lindstrom from our partners at Strong Nations Publishing:
Age: 8-14+ years old, but all welcome!
Watch the Recording here (password TMODAY2025)
Join Dr. David Suzuki for an inspiring and engaging conversation geared towards the next generation of environmentalists. There will be an opportunity to submit learner questions before the session.
Shop Resources by David Suzuki:
Watch the recording on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/3iaeq0Y3BBs
Ages: 3-7 years old, but all welcome!
Length: 45 mins
In this live session, you’ll meet some of Earth Rangers' amazing animal ambassadors up close. Discover their wild homes, the super cool powers that make them unique, and all the wacky, wonderful things they can do. Throughout the session, the Earth Rangers Team will be there to answer your questions about these cute critters! You'll also learn about ways you and your class can help our animal friends.
Vous pouvez regarder l'enregistrement sur YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/L5ZTFJN3S_U
Public ciblé: La petite enfance
Soyez prêts à vivre une rencontre incroyable avec les ambassadeurs animaux des Éco Héros en direct! Découvrez leur habitat naturel, leurs superpouvoirs qui les rendent uniques, ainsi que leur capacité à réaliser des choses étonnantes!
Tout au long de cette rencontre, l’équipe des Éco Héros sera là pour répondre à vos questions sur ces fantastiques créatures! Vous aurez aussi l’opportunité d’apprendre comment vous pouvez aider nos amis les animaux.
8:30am PT/ 11:30am ET
Watch the recording on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/pbXk-oFqGj8
Age: 8-14+ years old, but all welcome!
Length: 45 mins
Join spoken word artist, Hannah Flores for an engaging and creative Nature Poetry Session. Bring paper and something to write with!
10:00am PT/ 1:00pm ET
Watch the recording on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/sib2v6uod0w
Age: 3-7 years old, but all welcome!
Length: 45 mins
Join eco-singer songwriter Remy Rodden for a fun and interactive sing-along! Remy is committed to helping children learn about nature through song and has become a Take Me Outside Day Favourite.
Watch the recording on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/Arye4KAU908
Age: 8-13 years old, but all are welcome!
Length: 60 mins
Get ready to MOVE! Join us from a warmup movement activity from our friends over at MOVE by GoodLife Kids. Following this activity, we will be joined by Special Guest, Em McDermott!
MOVE by GoodLife Kids is a free physical activity and fitness program for youth aged 12–21 with autism and intellectual disabilities, offered by GoodLife Kids Foundation. Youth with autism and intellectual disabilities often face barriers to participating in fitness—such as high program costs, lack of individualized support, or inaccessible environments. MOVE is working to break down these barriers and create a space of belonging through the power of movement. With both virtual and in-person class options available across Canada, this session will provide an overview of the MOVE Program and get everyone moving with a mini “MOVE” workout!
Learn more about GoodLife Kids Foundation and the MOVE Program: https://www.goodlifekids.com/
Project Learning Tree’s Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide includes 50 hands-on, multidisciplinary activities to connect children to nature and increase young people’s awareness and knowledge about their environment. Activities include detailed step-by-step instructions, time and material requirements, background information, academic correlations, assessments, and student worksheets with green career connections.
Free lesson plans on different ocean themes in both French and English for all grades!
Discovery Kits: Free hands-on resource that teachers and educators can bring into their classrooms. Each borrowable kit will bring ocean education to the forefront of young minds. To accompany our kits, Ocean Wise offers free "Ask an Expert" Q&A sessions to take student knowledge deeper.
The 2025 Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play serves as a celebration and extension of the 2015 Position Statement by being global in scope and inclusive of all ages, while exploring the benefits of active outdoor play for people (of all ages, cultures and abilities), communities, environments, and the planet. This initiative has been an extensive and intensive three-year process, involving an international Leadership Group consisting of researchers and thought leaders from every inhabited continent, alongside a larger Steering Committee consisting of over 130 researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and other active outdoor play-relevant actors and groups.
Resources for Monday - Deepening Learners’ Connection to Water and Land
K-3: We Are Water Protectors activity kit is a free online activity kit to engage your students in deeper conversations around Indigenous perspectives on water, and the importance of water to wellbeing. The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson is also a great resource to engage your learners, and you can find the Educator Discussion Guide here.
Grades 4-8: Indigenous STEAM offers a variety of activities that will ask students to consider the roles water holds in our world and how that might impact human and more-than-human relatives. These activities could be integrated across numerous curricula and offer entry points for learning.
Grades 9-12: Water First helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training, and meaningful collaboration. Their website includes two ready-to-go lesson plans and resources to teach your students about the Watershed and the Digital Water Journey. Indigenous schools can register with Water First and receive a What’s In Your Water Kit, which contains water quality equipment and teaches students how to test the water quality in their area.
Take your learning further: Throughout the week, we hope you and your learners will reflect on your connection to the water and the land. As you and your class spend time outdoors, we encourage you to create a living land acknowledgment with your learners.
A living land acknowledgement is a land acknowledgement that goes beyond a simple statement and is dynamic, alive, and embodies action and a commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. In these acknowledgements, you not only recognize the truth and local history of the land you're on, but also provide an opportunity to express meaningful gratitude for the original caretakers of the land and the gifts and lessons the land offers us.
Below you will find some resources to help you on this journey. We would love to see what resonates with your learners, and hope you will send us what you craft. Your living land acknowledgement can take many forms, such as written in the form of a statement, pledge, or poem, you could write a song, or create art. We hope the week will inspire connection. Send us your living land acknowledgements to our email info@takemeoutside.ca.
Resources for Younger Learners:
JICS Land Acknowledgement - great example of what a living land acknowledgment with students can look like.
How to Write A Class Land Acknowledgment - includes printable templates to use with your learners.
Treaty 7 Children's Land Acknowledgment from Calgary Public Library
Resources for Older Learners:
Land acknowledgements: uncovering an oral history of Tkaronto - Sara Roque and Selena Mills share their reflections on this land. Illustrations by Chief Lady Bird.
Resources for Tuesday - Explore Biodiversity with your learners!
K-3: Explore your school yard for bugs and insects with this mapping and scavenger hunt resource. (More details of the lesson here, as seen in Activity 3.)
Grades 4-8: Measure the biodiversity of living things in your backyard ecosystem with this Science Biodiversity Activity.
Grades 9-12: Encourage learners to participate in Community Science using iNaturalist or SEEK app! To learn more and get started, check out these resources:
Indigenous Knowledge Resources for Exploring Biodiversity:
Ktunaxa Nature Walk: Alfred Joseph’s Walkabout https://outdoorlearning.com/product/ktunaxa-nature-walk/
Pacific Northwest Plant Knowledge Cards https://outdoorlearning.com/product/pacific-northwest-plant-cards/
Mi’kmaq Cultural Foundation: Traditional Plants with Medicinal Properties https://www.mikmawcf.ca/nativeplants
Resources for Wednesday: Get Creative and Spend Time Outside!
K-3: Nature Art Scavenger Hunt - Have learners participate in a nature scavenger hunt to collect supplies that can then be used to make Nature Art!
Grades 4-8: Introduce Nature Journalling to your learners through Sit Spots! Here are some resources to get you started on this practice with your learners:
Grades 9-12: Nature-Inspired Creative Writing: As the weather turns and the sun is out, take your learners outdoors for some nature-inspired creative writing. There has never been a better time of year to inspire some creative poetry, stories, or reflections.
Here are 10 nature-inspired writing prompts from The Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Resources for Thursday: Deepening Connections to the Outdoors
K-3: Support Social Emotional Learning in your Outdoor Classroom with these beautiful resources and templates from Teach Outdoors!
Grades 4-8: PHE Canada has resources for integrating Health and Wellness with an Indigenous lens into your classroom, with 3 Strategies to get started and example activities to try with your learners!
Grades 9-12: Encourage learners to leave their devices inside and engage in mindful time outdoors. Looking for suggestions of what that could look like? Here is a list of Mindfulness Activities for Teens! This could also be a great opportunity to introduce Nature Journalling with your older learners if you have not yet done so.
Indigenous Resources for promoting Health and Wellbeing from one of our partners, Rise Up Indigenous Wellness
Heartbeat of the Earth: activities include traditional teachings of respect, honour, resourcefulness, and humility in children. This handbook is intended to inspire parents, caregivers, and educators to provide children with meaningful outdoor experiences interwoven with traditional Indigenous knowledge.
Recording of Workshop with Rise Up Indigenous Wellness from Fall 2024 - Connecting Children to Nature through Indigenous Teachings
Heartbeat of the Earth Virtual Session with Rise Up Indigenous Wellness from TMO Week 2024. This Interactive classroom session, where Indigenous knowledge is woven into everyday learning. This session includes mindfulness and movement. And covers the holistic model of wellness, balancing the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical being.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out our Resource Directory for lesson plans and resources to help engage learners in outdoor learning!
Looking to take your outdoor learning journey a step further? Join the Learning Challenge to receive monthly mailouts with ready-to-go resources for specific age ranges and to be part of a network of educators committed to participating in outdoor learning year-round!
October 21, 2025 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Science comes alive when you learn it outside. Join 3 lifelong science educators to share about their experience in community science. You will learn how you and students can become scientists (and meet curriculum) by counting species of plants, animals or birds in your local area, testing water quality in community spaces or using free apps to contribute to the scientific knowledge base.
Whatever your needs or reasons, join these fantastic authors, educators and park interpreters who will share how your local schoolyard, park, backyards, green or protected spaces can become your go to outdoor learning environment.
Register: https://outdoorlearning.com/event/taking-science-outdoors/
October 22nd - 6pm ET/ 3pm PT
Join the CCOP's Community of Practice's presentation and discussion on The 2025 Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play by Dr. Louise de Lannoy.Join the CCOP's Community of Practice's presentation and discussion on The 2025 Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play by Dr. Louise de Lannoy.
Learn about the recently-launched global 2025 Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play, led by Outdoor Play Canada! Discover what was involved in launching this global-consensus project, listen-in on an overview of the evidence that informed it, and learn about the calls to action and recommendations, and how these may apply to your work.
In alignment with Take Me Outside Day, this webinar invites you to connect with fellow outdoor learning and play practitioners, learn alongside each other through thoughtful discussions and exchanging ideas.
Access the Position Statement here: www.outdoorplaycanada.ca/aop10
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/canadian-centre-for-outdoor-play-community-of-practice-gathering-tickets-1730351531009?aff=oddtdtcreator
Share with us your Outdoor Learning Photos + Moments! They could be anything from sharing a small learner moment you've recently observed, an activity that went well, documenting growth in an individual learner or group, a larger success story, gratitude for the land you learn on, just to give a few ideas! Each month we will feature stories and moments from the challenge and award some prizes!