Discover the transformative power of outdoor pedagogy at our upcoming conference, Fields of Wonder: Outdoor Pedagogy for Engaged Learners. Join educators, researchers, and advocates for early learning as we explore innovative ways to inspire curiosity, connection, and creativity through the wonders of being outdoors.

Leading with Wonder: Pedagogical Leadership and Outdoor Play in Culturally Diverse Early Learning Communities

Outdoor spaces invite children to wonder — but they also ask educators to lead with care, courage, and cultural humility. This keynote explores how pedagogical leadership can gently support immigrant and Canadian-born educators, children, and families as they learn to embrace outdoor play within Canadian early learning settings. For many, outdoor pedagogy brings joy and curiosity, while also raising questions about safety, weather, risk, and belonging. Drawing on research, professional practice, and lived experiences, participants are invited to see outdoor environments as places where learning, identity, and community take root together. Through stories, reflection, and an outdoor lens, educators will consider how leadership can honour diverse cultural understandings of childhood while nurturing inclusive, responsive, and joyful outdoor play experiences for all learners.

Sessions A, B, & C

Stories That Live in Places: Documentation as Equity and Justice Work in Outdoor Learning

What does it mean to document children’s relationships with land rather than simply their activities outdoors? This session explores documentation as a tool for gentle justice and radical love — encouraging practices of slowing down, listening deeply, and honouring all children’s competence and agency as they develop deep connections to place. Through one educator’s journey supporting children in an urbanized environment with diverse and complex learning needs, participants explore how children engage in placemaking — naming spaces, noticing patterns, building meaning across seasons. Accessible documentation approaches are examined within real constraints: digital platforms where children review and build on their own experiences, collaborative mapping, and seasonal frameworks that capture ephemeral, embodied, and sensory experiences in ways that are relational, place-based, and reciprocal.

→ Gain actionable insights from leading experts in outdoor learning.

→ Learn to create meaningful, culturally diverse outdoor experiences for children.

→ Engage in conversations with speakers and conference participants.

→ Connect with like-minded professionals.

→ Cultivate wonder, one step at a time!

Session D, E & F

Outdoor YES Spaces: Designing Environments That Invite Wonder, Risk, and Engagement

Outdoor spaces have the power to transform learning when intentionally designed to invite curiosity, autonomy, and meaningful engagement. This session explores the concept of Outdoor YES Spaces — environments that say “yes” to exploration, problem solving, movement, and managed risk. Drawing from play-based pedagogy and real-world examples, the session challenges traditional ideas of outdoor supervision and shifts thinking toward outdoor facilitation. Participants examine how loose parts, natural materials, layout, language, and educator mindset work together to create outdoor environments where children feel trusted, capable, and deeply engaged. Educators leave with practical strategies to redesign their outdoor spaces, support self-directed learning, and foster resilience, confidence, and connection through intentional outdoor pedagogy.

Session G & H

Coming Full Circle: Making Your Author Dream Real

In the world of early childhood education, we are all authors of our own experiences. Public documentation and publication are powerful ways to reflect on practice, share the learning process, and inspire growth and change. With an emphasis on using publication to move forward outdoor pedagogical practices, this interactive workshop invites participants to explore their beliefs, hopes, and hesitations about becoming published, reframing authorship as an achievable and meaningful professional learning journey. Through guided discussion and storytelling, participants examine diverse publication pathways, including journal articles, blogs, storyboards for video creation, textbooks, and podcasts. Participants begin to envision how engaging in the publication process can extend impact beyond their own settings and support ongoing professional growth.

What the Land Teaches Us When We Make the Time to Listen and Observe

What might we learn when we slow down, step outside, and truly listen to the land? In this keynote, Dr. Melanie Manitowabi invites us into a space of reflection and reconnection — to consider the land not as backdrop, but as teacher, relative, and knowledge holder. Drawing from Indigenous ways of knowing, lived experience, and current research in outdoor pedagogy, this session explores how land-based learning nurtures the whole learner — child and adult alike. Through stories, seasonal teachings, and grounded examples, Dr. Manitowabi shares how time on the land cultivates curiosity, creativity, and a deep sense of belonging. Participants will hear how outdoor learning supports children’s well-being, strengthens intergenerational relationships, and offers educators a path toward renewal and resilience. Together, participants reflect on how to create learning environments that honour the land, centre community, and awaken wonder. This 45-minute keynote, followed by a 15-minute Q&A, is an invitation to reimagine education through the lens of land — to walk gently, listen deeply, and learn in relationship with the world around us.