Yard Field Trips and Nature Visits
2 easy ways to engage a group without lifting a finger
Bring blue marble learning scene to you for interactive, hands-on activities, inside or outside, at parties, in classrooms, with homeschoolers, and for community groups.
In-person activities are available for those within 1.5 hours of Kingston, Ontario.
Choose from 2 activity types - Yard Field Trips or Nature Visits starting at $60.
Yard Field Trips
Invite blue marble to your yard or neighbourhood park for outdoor, hands-on, experiential learning in and about nature. blue marble will guide you in explorations of nature right in your own yard! Plus, keep the fun going with follow up activities provided by blue marble. Available within 1.5 hours of Kingston, Ontario for Kindergarten through Grade 8.
Field trips can accommodate up to 28 learners, take 60 min, and start at $60.
If you’re interested in booking a field trip for more than 1 group of learners on a single day please contact us at bluemarblelearningscene@gmail.com
Available Yard Field Trips
Choose from one of the following field trips:
Turtle Trials (all grades) - Go on an adventure through a turtle's life cycle and all the trials they face! In this guided adventure, you will face a series of obstacles just like Ontario turtles ($70 per group with $15 going to ). Learn More. Can be facilitated indoors.
Habitats (Primary) - investigate animals, habitats, and the needs of living things with 2 activities that get your learners curious.
Environmental Field Work (Junior / Intermediate) - an exploration of environmental science field work activities. Choose which two careers you’d like to explore: geology (fossils), ecology (biodiversity), hydrology (water quality), and restoration science (yard improvement).
Winter Field Trip (all grades) - explore how animals survive living outside in winter by searching for the warmest place in the yard using digital thermometers.
NEW! Bee-venture (Primary) - Investigate the life of honeybees by becoming part of the hive. Collect nectar, search out food sources, and communicate with a waggle dance.
NEW! Escape Mission (Junior) - You and your frog friends have been randomly dropped by a flock of odd gulls into a different ecosystem and you must escape all the dangers to find your way home. Challenges touch on the Ontario Science Curriculum.
***All yard field trips include a follow up activity that you can do later.
Nature Visits
Host blue marble for an deep dive into science and nature. All nature visits link to the Ontario curriculum and are available within 1.5 hours of Kingston, Ontario for Kindergarten through Grade 12.
Nature visits can accommodate up to 28 learners, take 60 min and cost $75 NEW Reduced cost
Although designed for ‘indoors’, many of these activities work outside as well.
Available Nature Visits
Choose from the currently available nature visit (many of the below activities will work for younger and older grades also). Looking for something different? Contact us at bluemarblelearningscene@gmail.com, we probably have what you want!
Art Based Nature Visit
Combine art, nature, and science in these two NEW nature activiites that focus on learning with nature through art
Wool Felting - COMING SOON - Discover the world of wool! What is wool? How do we get yarn from sheep wool? What else can you do with wool? Try your hand at wool needle felting your very ornament that you can keep.
Paper Making - COMING SOON - Discover the word of making hand crafted paper! How is paper made? What is paper made of? Are there different types of paper? Join us on a journey to make your own paper from recycled materials.
Primary Nature Visits (K to Gr 3)
Dreaming Octopus - Yes octopuses dream, but even more exciting is how they change colour during their dreams. This adaption of colour changing leads to an exploration of other adaptations in the natural world. Learners will pick their favourite adaptations to create their own creatures.
Gaggle of Geese and More - Why is a group of geese called a gaggle? Why are a group of elephants a parade? This experience will provide the opportunity to learn the names of groups of animals, plus the reason why. Learners will then have the opportunity to challenge their memory and have fun creating their own group of original animals.
Junior Nature Visits (Gr 4-6)
Rockin’ History - Geology and the rock record can help us to understand the history of the Earth and how the world has changed. Together, exploring different rocks and how they form, we will investigate how a rock/geologic record can tell us the different environments that came before. Was there an ocean, volcano, or river here before? Let's find out!
Egyptians vs Ants - The Egyptians challenge the Ants to a game of Senet. In this experience, learners will learn, explore, and compare the world of Ancient Egypt to the world of Ants. At first mention, you might not think there are any similarities but just wait. Answer questions to win a turn and advance in the Egyptian game of Senet.
Intermediate Nature Visits (Gr 7-8)
Water Filtration - The City of Naturetown needs to find a solution for a drainage issue. In a new residential subdivision water has been accumulating in the ditches in front of the houses, along the road. Learners have been hired by the City to determine what materials should be used to solve the drainage problem. Through testing, learners will determine which materials drains best and propose a solution. *Special video instructions included. *Good for special education / alternative classes
Maple Business - Being a maple syrup farmer required math and business in order to know how many taps a tree can take, how much sap they need , and how much to sell their products for. Now it’s your turn! Using their own knowledge, learners will try to succeed at being a maple syrup farmer.
High School Nature Visits (Gr 9-12)
Protecting Drinking Water - In this experience learners will examine the Walkerton Tragedy and attempt to learn from this historical drinking water contamination to try and protect drinking water in a new town. Learners will investigate policies for protecting our water, how humans impact drinking water, and how land use planning can help ensure our water stays safe.
Fishy Physics - Rivers, fish, math, physics, what more could you ask for. This experience uses real world questions asked by fluvial geomorphologists when designing river restoration projects to ensure they are appropriate for fish passage. Learners will learn about rivers and fish while solving math and physics problems to determine if in-stream barriers will prevent fish from moving up stream.
What People Are Saying
“Thank you so much for the wonderful and amazing learning experience you both provided for our Kindergarteners today! I think the rain just ended up adding to the experience for them. Today we ended our day with sitting in a circle and each child shared what the best part of their day was, and they each had lovely things to say about their turtle adventure. From breaking their own egg or helping a friend break theirs, to digging for their shell and the most popular turtle vs predator game!”
— Kindergarten Class, Molly Brant Elementary School
“Engaging with the kids in such a positive and relaxed way. Outstanding organization. Keep doing what you are doing.”
— Junior Teacher, Sydenham PS
“You did a wonderful job and I am happy to have discovered you. All of the kids seemed to enjoy and have fun.”
- Homeschool Group
“We appreciate your very enthusiastic and interactive presentation which meets kids at their level. So fantastic!”
- Program Manager at Rideau Lakes Public Library
“The students had a wonderful time and enjoyed participating in activities that were hands-on and relevant to the curriculum. They were engaged the entire time.”
— Primary Teacher, Bayridge PS
“The interactive portion at the beginning really got the kids excited to participate in activities. The children also loved how hands on and interactive the activities were. They learned so much about habitats and were able to share about their learning even after the program was over.”
— Primary Teacher, Prince Charles PS
“It was a really fun session. The group I work with had a great time. Dividing up and sharing responsibilities helps to cultivate team work and for my group, works on hand/eye co-ordination. They also get a tremendous sense of pride from helping out and doing various tasks. The video was fun and a good way to get into the lesson.”
- Program Facilitator for New Leaf Link
“The students were so engaged and learned a ton!”
— Junior Teacher, Perth Road PS
“You are patient and obviously love what you do! Thank you!”
— Homeschool Group
Cancellation Policy
If you have booked a Yard Field Trip or Nature visit you can cancel for any reason and receive a full refund if the experience is cancelled 48 hours before the scheduled visit. A partial refund of 50% of the original cost can be obtained up until 24 hours before the scheduled visit.
If your visit must be cancelled by blue marble learning scene for any reason (e.g. weather) you will receive a full refund or have the option to reschedule. We will endeavour to give you as much notice as possible when cancelling. Please be aware that weather disruptions may only be discovered the day of the visit.
Yard Field Trips proceed light rain or shine. Cancellations will only be made for heavy rain or thunderstorm and extenuating circumstances. Check out our full cancellation policy for more details.
Pandemic Considerations
If a visit is cancelled as a result of stay at home orders / lock downs, put in place by the Ontario Government, or if there are positive COVID cases within your class, you will have the option to
1. reschedule the experience for another time: or
2. cancel the experience and receive a full refund.