Outdoor Education

Every animal needs a home that’s just right! Not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, not too dry. As we travel through Terra Cotta, students use their observation skills to discover the many places animals call home and learn what they can do to help protect them.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Belonging and Contributing (Overall Expectation 29)

Ever wonder why pet rocks don’t need food or water, or say “hi”? Come explore our fabulous forest. Students will use magnifying glasses to learn the difference between living and non-living things. During this adventure, students will meet local trees and sing with songbirds.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Link: Belonging and Contributing (Overall Expectation 29)

There’s nothing better than the start of spring, since this means it’s maple syrup time! Students will learn about the importance of sugar maple trees within local ecology and travel through time to discover the history of liquid gold.

Duration: 1.5 hours

Cost: $230 plus HST per class for half-day program

Ontario Curriculum Links:

• Kindergarten: Belonging and Contributing (OE 29), Self-Regulation and Well-Being (OE 7, 8),  Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours (OE 16), Problem Solving and Innovating (OE 14)
• Grade 1: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth & Life Systems – Daily and Seasonal Changes
• Grade 2: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems: Growth and Changes in Animals, Understanding Matter and Energy: Properties of Liquids and Solids
• Grade 3: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems, Growth and Changes in Plants
• Grade 4: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth & Life Systems – Habitats and Communities
• Grade 5: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth & Life Systems – Properties of and Changes in Matter
• Grade 6: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth & Life Systems – Biodiversity
• Grade 7: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth & Life Systems – Interactions in the Environment
• Grade 8: Science and Technology, Understanding Matter and Energy – Fluids

Using an enchanted treasure map, explore the natural wonders with your amazing senses. While discovering how animals use their senses, journey into the world of ‘magical’ creatures and plants that call this place home.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Needs and characteristics of living things

Description: What do a chef, builder, and water scientist have in common? Students will take on these exciting roles as they become the Guardians of Terra Cotta. Through hands-on investigations they will become involved in a fast-paced adventure to ensure the animals are able to find the food, water and shelter they need to survive.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Needs and characteristics of living things

Lace up your sneakers and go for gold as you participate in the amazing Animal Olympics. During this interactive and high energy program, students transform into animal athletes and compete in a variety of challenges showcasing the skills and adaptations of local wildlife. Which animal will take home the Olympic medals?

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Growth and Changes in Animals; Physical Education – Living Skills

Calling all Inspectors! Make your way to the station house and get ready to investigate the creep-crawly conspiracy taking place. Your mission is to find and examine the insects of the land, water and air, and solve the mystery of what makes them incredible. Case closed.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Growth and Changes in Animals

Brrrr…its getting cold! Are you ready for the weather? Come and learn how to check the weather by testing the wind and temperature using hands-on techniques. What happens when it gets too cold or too warm? Discover the forms that water can take in different weather and find out how animals adapt to the changing seasons.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth and Space Systems – Air and Water in the Environment; Physical Education, Understanding Life Systems – Growth and Changes in Animals

Scientists grab your shovels and magnifying glasses and get the dirt… on dirt! Investigate what insects and animals live in the land down under while finding out about the different types of soils under your very own toes.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth and Space Systems – Soils in the Environment

Take a walk through the Lorax’s forest and discover the wild and colourful plants that grow here. Using drama and hands-on investigation, students get their own “Truffula” seed and find out what it means to be a steward of the earth.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth and Space Systems – Growth and Changes in Plants; The Arts, Dance and Drama

Keep calm and build on! Explore the nuts of bolts of nature’s strong and stable structures, and construct a masterpiece of your own. But don’t forget…nature’s forces are at work so make sure your structure can endure. Discover how birds build long-lasting nests and why beavers are the ultimate engineers. Strap on your tool belt and let’s get building!

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Matter and Energy – Forces Causing Movement, Understanding Structures and Mechanisms – Strong and Stable Structures

Close your eyes and explore different habitats in a whole new way – through sound. Join us on a safari tour, and learn what makes forests, lakes and fields unique places for wildlife to call home. Find out what animals are really “saying” and create your own “soundscape symphony” to learn about how sound travels and how animals use it to communicate.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Matter and Energy – Light and Sound, Understanding Life Systems – Habitats and Communities

It’s all about location when looking for the perfect place to set up an animal home. Take the challenge and enter the fast-paced world of real estate, where students role play as agents, developers, conservation officers, and animals who are searching for their most desirable habitat. Discover the specific characteristics that make a habitat suitable and what happens when human and animal habitats become a little too close for comfort.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Understanding Life Systems – Habitats and Communities

What do food, water, shelter and space have in common? Come and learn how animals need these four very important things to survive. Students will search for animal shelters, become a coyote competing for space, investigate animal water-use and play a high-energy food chain game, all while exploring Terra Cotta’s forests and wetland!

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Understanding Life Systems – Habitats and Communities

Peer through the lens of a camera and explore and create your own two- and three-dimensional wild art. Dabble into the principles and elements of art and design and be inspired by nature’s masterpiece! Sketching will be offered in the winter months instead of cameras.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: The Arts, Visual Arts

A great way to explore the forest is by snowshoe or on foot. Follow animal tracks along the trail to see where they lead, and watch for the many birds that call Terra Cotta home. As you get your heart rate going, you’ll discover why hiking or snowshoeing is not only perfect for viewing wildlife – it’s also a great workout!

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links:

Grade 5: Physical Education, B. Active Living; Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Human Organ Systems

Grade 6: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Biodiversity; Physical Education, B. Active Living

Grade 7: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth & Life Systems – Interactions in the Environment; Physical Education, B. Active Living

Grade 8: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth & Life Systems – Water Systems; Physical Education, B. Active Living

Let’s flock together and use our bird brains and discover local birds using binoculars. Touch and feel feathers and replica bird skulls and learn about bird adaptations, biodiversity amongst species and how we can protect and increase birds in our community. By the end of the session you will be thinking like a bird!

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Biodiversity

Who says math can’t be fun, exciting and done outdoors! This hands-on program focuses on forest ecosystems and how math along with data collection can be useful in determining and improving the health of our forests.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Biodiversity; Mathematics, Data Literacy

Waypoints, satellites and bearings, oh my! If you feel like you have a bad sense of direction, learn how to read a map, use a GPS device and take to the trails for a biodiversity challenge.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Interaction in the Environment; Physical Education, Active Living

Do you have what it takes to survive in the wild? Come on a hike and train with some of the best survivors – our local wildlife. Learn about the strategies they use to find food, water and to avoid being eaten. Then, use your skills to compete in the Survival Games, where hunters become the hunted and only the strong survive.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Life Systems – Interaction in the Environment; Physical Education, Active Living

If you followed a raindrop as it fell from the sky, do you know where it would end up? Using an interactive model, learn about the concept of a watershed and how water moves across our landscape. Then, take part in a fast-paced orienteering challenge to see what different water features look like on the ground. Discover how humans impact water systems and how the aquatic environment can be protected.

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth and Space Systems – Water System; Geography, Global Settlements – Patters and Sustainability

Gain hands-on experience into the work Credit Valley Conservation does to protect and monitor our local environment. Through map interpretation, students will discover settlement patterns and the impacts of human populations on our watershed. Use math skills to discover and measure how forests grow and monitor bird species to understand population growth and decline. At the end of the day you will have a new perspective about working in the outdoors!

Duration: half day (combined with another half day program)

Cost: $425 plus HST per class for full day

Ontario Curriculum Links: Science and Technology, Understanding Earth and Space Systems – Water System; Geography, Global Settlements – Patters and Sustainability; Mathematics, Measurement

No, the fee of $425 plus HST is for one class of students for a full-day visit.

We encourage you to arrive as early as your schedule permits. Some flexibility is possible and should be discussed with our team.

Your day-long field trip starts in the Outdoor Education Centre. Other parts of the conservation area are accessed as needed.

Students should wear appropriate clothing for the weather as your class will be outside for most of the day. Layered clothing is suggested to provide greater comfort.

Yes, each student should bring a small snack for mid-morning and a refillable water bottle. If your class is spending the whole day with us, please have each student pack a litterless lunch.

No, staff do not provide sunscreen or insect repellant. Each participant should bring these items.

No, you will need to arrange and pay for your bus transportation.

Credit Valley Conservation staff need to be aware of the health and safety needs of each class on the specific day of a program.