SUSPENDED - Evergreen at Your School

Urban Animal Adventures: Children are naturally curious about the animals that inhabit the world around them. Through songs, stories, games and a guided exploration of their schoolyard, students will become nature detectives and learn about local animals that fly, hop, burrow, and swim. This sensory focused program will introduce students to hands on outdoor experiential learning. Using a pallet of natural materials students will work together to design and construct a home for a local creature of their choice building empathy for the natural world and with each other in the process!

The Living City: What do living things need to survive and flourish? What can humans do to help? Through storytelling, games and exciting hands-on activities, join us as we will explore the similarities between healthy ecosystems and vibrant human communities. Using natural materials, students will have an opportunity to create homes for animals that include food, water, shelter and protection from predators. Together we’ll learn about reciprocity and the actions we can take to balance our needs with those of the many other living creatures who share our city.

Water, Water Everywhere: Water is critical for all living things, and it can be hard to come by in the city! We’ll explore where urban plants and animals get their water and the ways living things play a role in keeping our water clean. Through constructing habitats and sharing stories that spotlight Toronto’s water loving creatures, we’ll get acquainted with our city’s rich ravines and the role they play in supporting both local wildlife, and us!

Earth Shelters: Urban wildlife needs to be adaptive and creative to survive! Join us as we explore animal architecture in Toronto and learn about the strategies creatures use to make their homes strong, stable and functional. We’ll challenge students to use natural materials to create Toronto animal habitats that pass fun and rigorous tests designed to replicate the challenges posed by our dynamic urban environments.

Geology Rocks: Toronto’s rocks tell a dramatic story of moving ice, massive lakes and tropical oceans. We’ll bring this geological history to life at your school through stories and hands-on learning. An introduction of different rock types will lead to a survey and exploration of rocks in your school ground and fun, active games reinforce learnings. Students will get a chance to analyze and classify rocks they discover based on criteria provided by facilitators and dive into deep time with experiential learning.

The Energy Around Us: The flow and exchange of energy is critical to the planet’s survival. Every animal, including us, needs energy to survive. But how do we get it? How do local plants and animals get it? Where does it come from? We’ll explore these questions through hands-on activities and storytelling activities designed to help children see the urban wilderness through the eyes of creatures who inhabit it. We’ll also challenge students to embody real strategies animals use to conserve energy through fun, teambuilding focused games.

Web of Life: All of Toronto’s living things- including us- are part of an interwoven system. We’ll explore these connections through uncovering the surprising networks of fungi, flora and fauna in our schoolyards. Hopeful stories of restoration will be shared using the Evergreen Brick Works site as a case study. Using a natural pallet of nature play materials, students will be asked to design habitats meeting the needs of some of Toronto’s most vital and vulnerable creatures.