The Blog
Learning Challenge 2021-22 Impact Report
Launched during the 2019/20 school year, the Take Me Outside Learning Challenge has grown to encompass participation in almost every province and territory across the country. The goal is simple: encourage educators to implement outdoor learning with their students once per week from September to June. Ultimately the Learning Challenge works to extend the impact of Take Me Outside Day by offering tools & resources for building a community of educators committed to taking their classroom beyond four walls and relishing in the positive impacts of outdoor learning. Below ...
Finding family-friendly trails with Trail Collectiv
People often think that taking your kids hiking is a choice. You either go hiking, or you don’t.
But that isn’t true.
There are barriers to exploring new places and these barriers can make families feel like hiking is not something that their family “can do”. Significant barriers include not knowing enough about hiking, thinking that hiking is something that must be difficult, and not knowing enough about an area to spend the time discovering the new place.
A new app and community created by two moms, Annika Mang and Jess Sproat, called TrailCollectiv is ...
Welcome to the team, Tanya! TMO’s new Communications and Outreach Coordinator.
Cover photo by Chelsea Gray
I am absolutely thrilled to join the TMO team! I started my career in outdoor education during my first summer job (scooping ice-cream), growing up in the rolling hills and rural roads of Ontario. While on break, I would go for walks with friends and family at the resort. Being an avid nature lover and growing up in a family that supported my love of the outdoors, I was often asked questions about the flora and fauna – the resort saw this and created a new position for me guiding nature walks for families. Fast forward five years and ...
That’s a wrap on the Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge 2021/22!
"It became part of our daily routine. Every single day we got outside for meaningful leaning opportunities. It became more than what we did. It was who we were. My kids craved it and loved it. It changed all of us" - Primary teacher, Alberta
Another school year is finishing up, and we are once again bringing the Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge to a close.
If this is your first time hearing about it: the TMO for Learning Challenge is a commitment to ongoing outdoor learning throughout the school year, which involves taking your learners outside at least once a ...
Event recap: Spring Gathering 2022
On Saturday June 4th, a group of educators got together for "A Day in the Woods", and it was fantastic to spend time in-person again, connecting outdoors, sharing, and learning. The event was hosted in beautiful Revelstoke, BC, in partnership with the Outdoor Learning Store and CBEEN, and supported by the Columbia Basin Trust. Even the rain even held out for us all day!
We started the day with introductions, welcomes, and delicious snacks from Alison at Blue House Lunchbox. And then of course we went outside! Jade Harvey-Berrill, Outreach and Events Manager for the ...
#DrawnToTheOutdoors postcard winners announced 📬
Congratulations to all
of our winning artists!
Thank you to everyone who submitted postcard designs highlighting the many beautiful and inspiring outdoor landscapes found across the country.
Over the years, we’ve seen some great art shared through email and social media from students showcasing the outdoors: whether it’s drawings showing the beauty of nature, scenes depicting how fun it is to spend time outside, or art made from the natural world itself!
Earlier in 2022, we put the call out to students to submit their art to be made into a new set ...
Read aloud: “Perfectly Noisy”
Join author, teacher, and mother Lisa Carmody Doiron, as she reads from her new book called Perfectly Noisy.
Bear is a fellow who is overwhelmed by his noisy life. He finds the lights, clocks, voices, and sounds at school TOO MUCH! Bear tries different ways to calm himself down, but he always ends up losing his cool! Will Bear ever find a place that is perfectly noisy?
Want to win a copy of Perfectly Noisy? We're choosing one lucky winner in our May monthly newsletter -
Subscribe here to take part!
If you enjoyed reading along with Lisa, follow her on ...
Lettuce learn: A garden in every schoolyard
“I never thought about where my food came from beyond the grocery store before,” my classmate said to me during our introductory Environmental Studies course in university. Yes, that's right, university.
When I went on to facilitate garden and food-based experiential education programs, I wasn’t surprised to find a common disconnection between kids and youth from what they ate, its origins, and who grew it. But I’ve also seen the potential for great growth (pun intended) when folks put their hands in the soil and take an active part in their local ...
Telling stories that are as inclusive and diverse as we are
By Elizabeth Boileau
How important are the stories we tell about outdoor learning? Story books have a unique power to shape children’s outlook, motivate and inspire them. Children need to see themselves represented in stories of all types to know they have a world of possibilities before them.
Last year, at an environmental education conference, I learned that families of colour and diverse ethnic origins are seldom portrayed in the literature on the outdoors. Although I have often seen a huge diversity of families enjoying parks and natural areas, there are very ...
Take Me Outside: Changing A School Focus & Culture One Outdoor Activity At A Time
My name is Dayna Landry and I am a Grade 4 teacher from Drayton Valley who is passionate about purposeful learning and getting outside. I have been at Wild Rose School Division for 17 years, and Aurora Elementary School for 8. As the Wellness Champion at my school, I wanted to do more to get kids outside in meaningful ways. I wanted to be purposeful in our learning and in our focus on the benefits of nature and the outdoors for students. With support from my Admin team, this is how the Take Me Outside Pilot Project was created.
Step 1: Getting Outside In ...
