Sierra Club PEI Wild Child Program

Sierra Club PEI Wild Child Program Sierra Club Wild Child program is an environmental education program designed to give children an opportunity to experience, explore, and play in nature.

PEI Wild Child is an environmental education program of PEI Sierra Club
(http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2015-03-09/article-4070224/Sierra-Club%26rsquo%3Bs-Wild-Child-program-is-nature-inspired-fun/1)
designed to strengthen the 'outdoors' component of child care services, by having the children explore nature with the Wild Child staff-person and volunteers leading enthusiastic games and quiet activities. We at PEI Sierra Club want to continue and expand this important program. We've been holding fundraisers and reaching out to donors, funders and community organizations, asking them to help connect more young children with nature in the year ahead. Sierra Club Atlantic Canada Chapter developed Wild Child in response to the growing body of research showing that children need experiences in the natural world for healthy development. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJihjQK0Qso&feature=player_embedded
This 'nature immersion' program was delivered very successfully to children in fourteen day-cares and after-school programs in the Charlottetown area this winter. It is so important to give children an opportunity to experience, explore, and play in nature. Learning to have no fear of bugs, birds and other wild life is the first step to helping protect 'Mother Nature' and getting a strong foundation for good mental health. Relaxing and connecting by listening to the wind in the trees and other sounds of nature gives young children a necessary break from modern technology. To quote the elder Luther Standing Bear in the 1930s, "the old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too. So he kept his children close to nature’s softening influence."

Last week, we had the absolutely pleasure of hosting a group of Early Childhood Educator Students from Holland College f...
11/26/2025

Last week, we had the absolutely pleasure of hosting a group of Early Childhood Educator Students from Holland College for a workshop on Outdoor Learning and Play for their 'Environment as Third Teacher' class.

We started fires with flint and steel, made horse chestnut soap, hung in hammocks, made nature art, split wood, did some small world building, played games, ran around, and talked about Forest School pedagogy and the benefits and challenges of taking kids outside!

We had such a great time and it was so lovely to hear reflections from the class about how they felt their stress melt away and their mood improve from spending the morning outside. Nature play benefits us humans of all ages!

A Huge Thank you to the Wildlife Conservation Fund for making it possible for us to run Nature Immersion Programs again ...
11/13/2025

A Huge Thank you to the Wildlife Conservation Fund for making it possible for us to run Nature Immersion Programs again this Fall and Winter! We are so excited to engage children and youth in PEI in learning all about the wild life that is right outside of our doors in PEI!

See Below for our Press release.
Media Release:
For Immediate Release

Sierra Club is putting the ‘wild’ back into your Wild Child with the help of the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund

November 18, 2025 —This Fall and Winter, the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund is making it possible for Sierra Club Canada Foundation to offer FREE Nature Immersion Programming to child care centres, schools, community groups, and afterschool programs across PEI.

The PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund is generated from fees charged for hunting, trapping and angling licences, as well as sale of specialized Conservation Licence Plates. Awards are merit-based and support groups across PEI working on projects that benefit wildlife and wildlife conservation on the Island.

“We believe that connecting kids to nature through immersive play-based experiences is a vital component to creating future generations who understand the value that wildlife and wildlife conservation plays here on PEI” said Hannah Gehrels, the PEI Wild Child Programs Manager, “if we’re going to ask our kids to care for and protect nature, we need to be giving them opportunities to enjoy and develop a love for it first”.

Groups that are interested in participating in this free program can get in touch with the program through natureimmersion@sierraclub.ca, by phoning 902-940-2263, or by filling out the visit request form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScA-1MBLKBHCFtHHPiSbI0Gv_PyEeHTn--m_W2e1efK273vZQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=114074564300975218904.

“Often we will go to childcare centres, or Girl Guide groups, or afterschool programs and take kids outside to a natural area near their centre and play outside for an hour or two, and we repeat these visits so that the kids start to develop a relationship with the land” said Gehrels, “but we’re also happy to host groups that want to come to our forest school sites and stay for a longer period of time too!”

Media contact: Hannah Gehrels
peiwildchild@sierraclub.ca
902-940-226

We are excited to announce that we are offering Nature Immersion visits this fall and winter!! All thanks to the generou...
11/13/2025

We are excited to announce that we are offering Nature Immersion visits this fall and winter!! All thanks to the generous support of the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund 🌍

🌳 What is the Nature Immersion program? Our Wild Child Educators will come to your school, early childhood center, or community group (anywhere in PEI) for a FREE outdoor-based facilitated visit with the goal of connecting kids with nature through nature-based play! ❄️

Activities can include:
🐦 Bird calls
💦 Puddle jumping
🦫 Wildlife tracking
🌱 learning about invasive species
🏰 Fort building
🔍 Scavenger hunts
🦟 Learning about species at risk
🎨 Nature art & more!

Each visit lasts about 1 hour, but we can adjust to your student's needs. Let’s explore the great outdoors together! 🌳✨

If you are interested in having us come to your school, early childhood center, or community group sometime this fall or winter, please fill out this request form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScA-1MBLKBHCFtHHPiSbI0Gv_PyEeHTn--m_W2e1efK273vZQ/viewform?fbclid=IwdGRjcAODO39jbGNrA4M7c2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHgofPwal0uU4LKZ42-wCB0Imomi9aue_vJx_2gM9GyeDMJ7S59U609rAq4fX_aem_pb7Y1HA9WHz_cz8tlD_Cnw&brid=gCLd8f8zF5eY0odec557ag

We are excited to announce that we are offering Nature Immersion visits this fall and winter!! All thanks to the generou...
11/13/2025

We are excited to announce that we are offering Nature Immersion visits this fall and winter!! All thanks to the generous support of the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund 🌍

🌳 What is the Nature Immersion program? Our Wild Child Educators will come to your school, early childhood center, or community group (anywhere in PEI) for a FREE outdoor-based facilitated visit with the goal of connecting kids with nature through nature-based play! ❄️

Activities can include:
🐦 Bird calls
💦 Puddle jumping
🦫 Wildlife tracking
🌱 learning about invasive species
🏰 Fort building
🔍 Scavenger hunts
🦟 Learning about species at risk
🎨 Nature art & more!

Each visit lasts about 1 hour, but we can adjust to your student's needs. Let’s explore the great outdoors together! 🌳✨

If you are interested in having us come to your school, early childhood center, or community group sometime this fall or winter, please fill out this request form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScA-1MBLKBHCFtHHPiSbI0Gv_PyEeHTn--m_W2e1efK273vZQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=114074564300975218904

11/06/2025

Our friends at Mi'kmaq Family Resource Center / Aboriginal Headstart in Charlottetown have 2 fulltime spots available for Indigenous children aged 22 months to Pre K. They are a small centre that offers cultural teachings, school readiness, and lots of time outdoors. They also go on monthly outings. Please reach out to Barb at bmckennatoole.mahs@hotmail.com if you would like to discuss a spot!

We still have some spaces in our Nov 21 PD Day Camp! If you are interested, you can go ahead an register (it might put y...
10/29/2025

We still have some spaces in our Nov 21 PD Day Camp!

If you are interested, you can go ahead an register (it might put you on the waitlist, but there is space available and we will contact you and pull them off of the waitlist shortly after you register)!

Click here to register: https://campscui.active.com/orgs/SierraClubCanadaFoundation

Let us know if you have any questions!!

Today is our last day of summer programs! It has a been a FULL and wonderful summer packed full of creativity, fun, maki...
08/29/2025

Today is our last day of summer programs! It has a been a FULL and wonderful summer packed full of creativity, fun, making new friends, learning more about nature, and developing new skills, building resilience, and nurturing curiosity!

We are SO incredibly grateful to the passionate, big-hearted, and INCREDIBLE staff team that consistently put in SO MUCH energy, thought, patience, and care into each and every group and every kids this summer!

Please join us in thanking Shannon, Victoria, Caedda, Taylor, Alice, Cadence, Kristopher, Hannah, and Julia for the wonderful summer!!

We are already looking forward to fall programs, and even though some programs are full, we still have spots in our PD Days this fall, as well as our Little Foxes program for 3-5 year olds, and our Robert Cotton afterschool program, and our West Royalty afterschool program! Register for Fall programs here: https://campscui.active.com/orgs/SierraClubCanadaFoundation #/selectSessions/3668436

And if you need a subsidized spot for your child this fall, please fill out the subsidy request form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehpEaQgxtPZDhnR5yuQWASVoPNiX377StUFt8bWjmmZSHOFA/viewform

Address

81 Prince Street
Charlottetown, PE
C1A4R3

Telephone

902-940-2263

Website

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