Grades K-7
Nature crafts, outdoor exploration, games and more!
Join Tofino Nature Kids for an afternoon that balances guided outdoor learning with child-led exploration and play. Our afternoons will be approximately 50/50 structured and unstructured time. Each week, our structured time will include an activity such as nature identification, tracking, wilderness skills, or nature-based games and challenges.
During our unstructured time, students will have the freedom to explore, play, build, create, investigate something they find, invent a game, or simply enjoy time outdoors together. As the seasons change, so will the activities, giving students opportunities to develop new skills while following their own curiosity and interests.
As for the 5-7 Bushcraft program, students will build practical outdoor skills while developing confidence, independence, and a deeper connection to the natural world. Using the school forest and surrounding areas as our classroom, we will learn and practice skills such as surviving overnight, shelter building, navigation, knots, and tool use. We will make our own gear like backpacks and waxed canvas clothing/shelters. Along the way, students will learn to work safely and responsibly outdoors, solve problems together, and become more comfortable and capable in the wilderness.
3 Semesters
Fall Semester:
Sept-Dec: Registration is open at https://wickaninnishcommunityschool.jumbula.com/programs
Winter Semester:
Jan – March: Please reach out for waitlists.
Spring Semester:
March – June: Registration Opens March 2027
Days: Mondays (K-7), Wednesdays (K-5) and Thursday Buschcraft (5-7)
Times: 2:45 – 5:00pm (late bus available at 4:20pm)
Location: Wickanninish Community School
What to Bring:
Please always send your children with rain gear and warm layers. Our weather changes very quickly here, so it’s best to be over prepared than under prepared as we will spend most of our time outside.
2026 Program Fees
Fall
Full term: $273
Drop-in: $21/day
Registration link and form: https://wickaninnishcommunityschool.jumbula.com/programs
There will be no class on the following days:
- Sept 30 – National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
- Oct 12 – Thanksgiving Day
- Nov 11 – Remembrance Day
Winter
Full term: tba
Drop-in: $21/day
January 26 – March 2, 2026
Spring
Full term: $tba
Drop-in: $21/day
March 23 – June 29
*If it is not feasible for you to pay the semester in full we can create a payment plan.
Schedule:
At the Bell (2:55): Tofino Nature Kids staff will pick up all children at their classrooms and escort them to the program. These instructions will be included in the afternoon announcements from the School.
2:55 – 3:25 pm: Check in and snack in the gym.
3:25 – 4:55 pm: Instructor time outside – in the case of extreme inclement weather the group will stay in the gym. The locations will vary depending on the day including the Wickanninish School forest area, the “swamp” or hillside at the back of the school grounds, the forest area in Tonquin Park or Tonquin Beach. We will have all parents sign a walking field trip waiver before leaving the school grounds.
4:55 pm: Students are to be picked up at the front steps outside the school.
To register – Please head to https://wickaninnishcommunityschool.jumbula.com/programs
Registration is on a first come first serve basis. You will receive an email notifying you that you have been placed on the waitlist once the capacity has been reached.
Program Considerations
Tofino Nature Kids is a nature immersion program. We spend almost all of our time together outside. Please consider if your child will be comfortable in an outdoor learning environment. Your family must be committed to ensuring your child is suitably dressed and fully prepared for the weather every day. We do have a small covered area for especially soggy or windy times.
Our program only has invisible walls, therefore, our programs are not suitable for children who are prone to uninhibited “wandering”.
Program Registration
FAQs
Have questions about our programs? Visit our FAQ’s & What to Bring page.
Tofino Nature Kids Programs are currently offered in Tofino on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
“If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with them the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”
– Rachel Carson