Natural connection
New Kitchener program helps kids get outside and connect with nature
New Kitchener program helps kids explore nature
KITCHENER — Victoria Lima races through the grass, a neon-bright butterfly net in her hand.
“That’s the innocence of childhood,” said Josh Shea, Kitchener’s natural areas coordinator.
“Every kid should get the chance to do that.”
Victoria catches a light-yellow butterfly and brings it over to a blanket on the grass where laminated cards are spread out. Before she can put the butterfly in an observation jar, the swift little creature flies off. But Victoria studies the cards, points to a picture of a smallish butterfly called a clouded sulphur, and says, “I think it was that one.”
Nearby, other kids are stacking treebranch slices, sheltering in the shade in an improvised teepee, or playing “the tree game” where a blindfolded child tries to guess which tree they’re touching.
It’s all part of a new Nature Play program Kitchener is offering in conjunction with Evergreen, a charity that works to make cities greener.
For two days every week, kids can drop in to either Kingsdale or Gzowski Park, where facilitators offer free activities to help them explore the natural world.
The program runs all summer, and will continue throughout the fall and winter, possibly with school groups or evening and weekend programming.
Since it began in early July, kids ranging from toddlers to 12-year-olds have taken part, and staff are working with local dropin centres to create programming for older kids.
When the staff brought out a big bin full of mud for the kids to play with, some kids hung back at first, hesitant to get into the slippery wet stuff, said Zack Stevens, a master’s student specializing in nature play who is leading the program. But within minutes, “the kids were caked in it and there was mud all over. They were having a great time.”
Xander Newell, who is six, thought the program sounded boring at first. Now he has helped make a “mud kitchen,” complete with menu and illustrated banner. “It’s pretty cool,” he said. “Pretty cool.”
His babysitter, Aleah Dressel, said he comes to her house at about 8 a.m. “If it’s Tuesday or Wednesday (the days the program is at Kingsdale), by 8:30 he’s like, ‘Can we go to the park?’ And I tell him it doesn’t start until 10. And when we leave, it’s like, ‘When can we go back?’
“We go outside all the time,” she said.
“We climb the tree in the backyard. We find little bugs.”
Victoria, the butterfly chaser, said she’s learned a lot about trees. Program staff showed them how to study a tree’s needles to figure out what species it is, she said. “This is a pine tree, and that’s … an oak? No, a sugar maple.”
The city wants to be a leader in encouraging kids to get outdoors, Shea said. “The more we live in an urban area, the less exposure kids have to the outdoors.”
Stevens added, “I think society needs to work toward keeping kids off their tablets.
“When they come and realize how enjoyable the play is, and how creative they can be, it’s quite something.”
The pilot program, funded by a two-year $395,000 grant from the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation, aims to get kids outside. It’s hoped they’ll feel more connected to their neighbourhood and more inclined to take care of the environment.
The program also encourages nearby residents to get involved in plans to redesign both parks so they offer more opportunities for natural play, Shea said.
Residents will decide on features that will go into the redesigned parks.
Early ideas include things like picnic tables, paths through the forest, a naturalized meadow where the grass wouldn’t be cut, climbing logs and a water play area.
More information is on the program’s Facebook page at facebook.com/NaturePlayKitchener/
The program runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kingsdale Park on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Gzowski Park on Thursdays and Fridays.