Saskatchewan Outdoor Play Conference
Join us for Saskatchewan’s first-ever Winter Outdoor Play Conference, located at the Beaver Creek Salvation Army Camp in Dundurk, SK, directly across from the scenic Beaver Creek Conservation Area. This inaugural gathering brings together educators, advocates, and outdoor enthusiasts to celebrate and expand outdoor play.
Keynote Speaker
We are thrilled to welcome Christina Pickles, outdoor play advocate and founder of Get Outside and Play. Bringing 25 years of experience supporting outdoor learning and a decade dedicated to putting play at the heart of community, land, and early learning connections. Christina will deliver her keynote presentation: “Notice, Connect, Relate: Outdoor Play in the Early Years.”
Event Highlights & Logistics
- Meals Included: Friday evening snacks, plus Saturday breakfast, lunch, and supper.
- Accommodations:
-
Friday Night: Shared, camp-style cabin accommodations. Please BYO bedding (sleeping bag/blankets, pillow).
-
Optional Saturday Night Add-On ($50): Stick around for informal campfire conversations and networking on Saturday evening! Includes Saturday night accommodation and Sunday breakfast. Participants leave after breakfast Sunday morning.
-
Registration and Pricing:
- Conference and meals (no overnight accommodation) $150 ($210 after September 30th)
- Conference, meals and overnight accommodation $175 ($250 after September 30th)
- Equity based pricing available upon request (limited tickets). Please email Sigourney at communications@saskoutdoors.org for more information.
Confirmed Presenters:
Christina Pickles, Keynote
Notice, Connect, Relate: Outdoor Play in the Early Years
Freedom, imagination, active play and exploration. These are the words early childhood educators use when describing outdoor play with young children. Whether your outdoor space is a program yard, backyard, or local park, time outside supports healthy development across all domains. The Land invites us to slow down and notice, connect and build relationships with each other, ourselves and the Land.
In this session we will explore these big ideas and learn how to foster connection with the children in your programs. You will come away with inspiration and practical strategies you can use right away.
Christina Pickles Breakout Session:
The Wonders of Winter
Can you love the snow? What about ice? What about the cold! These are the three gifts of winter that we can work on embracing! In this session, we will learn more about the ecology of winter including the beauty of snowflakes, animal survival strategies, and the joy of ice. Come away from this session with a great appreciation and understanding of the wonders of winter and ways to explore this with young children.
Sherron Burns
Paykiiwikay & Tea
Paykiiwikay means “come and visit” – visiting and eating together is an important part of Métis culture. We will build a fire and make tea together from plants harvested in a good way. We will prepare chokecherries too and have a taste of summer. In the comfort of a shared space we offer our stories about favorite places on the land. Being on the land means to be “in time”, to be “in flow”, following a pace set by sun, wind and weather. Relax and come visit.
Jamie McMillan
Busy as a Beaver
Participants will explore the fascinating world of beavers through movement, play, creativity and inquiry. In this hands on workshop, we will use a dress up kit to explore the unique adaptations which help beavers thrive. Through play and discovery, we’ll consider how these adaptations connect beavers to their environment. Then, its time to get building! Working with natural materials, participants will take on the challenge of designing and constructing their own beaver dams. This activity encourages problem-solving, teamwork, creativity and opportunity to see first hand how landscapes are transformed to create habitat for other species.
Zoe Arnold
Make a Spark
This session will focus on the activity of firelighting. We will discuss elements of risky play, how to risk benefit assess for this activity, use firesteel to create small sparks, and then create a larger fire inside of a kelly kettle and enjoy some freshly boiled tea. Participants are reminded to tie back long hair and bring a mug to the session.
Stephen Groves
Multi-curricular approach to Land Based Learning
I will use creating fire and fire teachings (from the Northwest Territories) to show how we can use hands on experience to teach multiple curriculums. The curricular pieces will be…Psychology 30 (stages of child development), wild life management (obviously fire starting), indigenous studies 10 (traditional practices). It will use a hands on approach.
Brianna Aubin, Maxine Panchuk
Where play meets place
This session explores how play-based learning on and with the land can deepen children’s connection to place, curiosity, and meaning-making. Participants will engage with practical strategies and examples for supporting outdoor exploration, inquiry, and play as rich learning experiences. Participants will leave with ideas they can immediately use to foster learning that is grounded in place, play, and belonging.
Biljana Milasin
Weaving from nature
As a pure outdoor experience I find it delightful to find grass and make a basket. The children have used leaves, sticks, and grasses to make a basket, a boat, a purse. This is an open approach. Participants can bring in their skills and explore freely, apart from following a specific scheme or pattern or teaching. I will make suggestions and demonstrate a technic as well as invite others to share their skills.
Shelley Bettker
From Story to Play: Using Books, Puppets, and Simple Props to Inspire Winter Outdoor Adventures
Discover how simple stories can spark hours of meaningful outdoor play, even during a Saskatchewan winter. This session explores practical ways to use picture books, puppets, story stones, mystery objects, and other low-cost props to inspire child-led exploration, creativity, and imaginative play in nature. Participants will learn how to transform a story into an outdoor play invitation, create engaging seasonal characters, and use storytelling techniques that encourage children to build, investigate, problem-solve, and create their own adventures. Perfect for educators, early childhood professionals, forest school practitioners, and caregivers looking to make the most of winter with limited resources and endless possibilities.
Denise Skuce
Tips and Tricks for cold weather play
Participants will learn hands on activities to play in cold weather, as well as tips to keep your students warm. Using the seasons and weather as your teaching tool.
Leah Japp
Getting Little Feet Wet
Getting Little Feet Wet contains 11 interactive, hands-on activities for young learners to explore different aspects of water—from water properties to water sounds. This workshop will cover some of these activities, adaptations and exploring water education outdoors! Participants will have the opportunity to purchase the guide for an additional cost.
Leah Japp
Growing Up WILD
Growing Up WILD is an early childhood education curriculum that builds on children’s sense of wonder about nature and invites them to explore wildlife and the world around them. Through a wide range of activities and experiences, Growing Up WILD provides an early foundation for developing positive impressions about the natural world and lifelong social and academic skills.
Merrissa Karmark (for all attendees)
Visual Notetaking for Conference Attendees
In this hands-on introductory workshop, participants will learn simple visual note-taking techniques using words, symbols, doodles, arrows, frames, and page organization to capture ideas and experiences in memorable and meaningful ways. Visual note taking can support focus, strengthen memory, make connections between ideas more visible, and allow for more active listening. Participants will leave ready to use these strategies throughout the conference, as well as in their own educational settings to document observations, capture children’s thinking and play, notice patterns, and create richer qualitative records of learning.
Merrissa Karmark
Planning Outdoor Play & Learning Spaces for the Prairies
This workshop explores how to design outdoor play and learning environments that embrace Saskatchewan’s seasons by drawing on the unique patterns of the prairie ecosystem and the ways children and youth naturally play and learn. Through hands-on design activities, participants will develop practical strategies for creating place-based outdoor spaces, engaging children in the design process, working creatively within budget and policy constraints, and applying these ideas to their own educational and community sites.
Join us for Saskatchewan’s first-ever Winter Outdoor Play Conference, located at the Beaver Creek Salvation Army Camp in Dundurk, SK, directly across from the scenic Beaver Creek Conservation Area. This inaugural gathering brings together educators, advocates, and outdoor enthusiasts to celebrate and expand outdoor play.
Keynote Speaker
We are thrilled to welcome Christina Pickles, outdoor play advocate and founder of Get Outside and Play. Bringing 25 years of experience supporting outdoor learning and a decade dedicated to putting play at the heart of community, land, and early learning connections. Christina will deliver her keynote presentation: “Notice, Connect, Relate: Outdoor Play in the Early Years.”
Event Highlights & Logistics
- Meals Included: Friday evening snacks, plus Saturday breakfast, lunch, and supper.
- Accommodations:
-
Friday Night: Shared, camp-style cabin accommodations. Please BYO bedding (sleeping bag/blankets, pillow).
-
Optional Saturday Night Add-On ($50): Stick around for informal campfire conversations and networking on Saturday evening! Includes Saturday night accommodation and Sunday breakfast. Participants leave after breakfast Sunday morning.
-
Registration and Pricing:
- Conference and meals (no overnight accommodation) $150 ($210 after September 30th)
- Conference, meals and overnight accommodation $175 ($250 after September 30th)
- Equity based pricing available upon request (limited tickets). Please email Sigourney at communications@saskoutdoors.org for more information.
Confirmed Presenters:
Christina Pickles, Keynote
Notice, Connect, Relate: Outdoor Play in the Early Years
Freedom, imagination, active play and exploration. These are the words early childhood educators use when describing outdoor play with young children. Whether your outdoor space is a program yard, backyard, or local park, time outside supports healthy development across all domains. The Land invites us to slow down and notice, connect and build relationships with each other, ourselves and the Land.
In this session we will explore these big ideas and learn how to foster connection with the children in your programs. You will come away with inspiration and practical strategies you can use right away.
Christina Pickles Breakout Session:
The Wonders of Winter
Can you love the snow? What about ice? What about the cold! These are the three gifts of winter that we can work on embracing! In this session, we will learn more about the ecology of winter including the beauty of snowflakes, animal survival strategies, and the joy of ice. Come away from this session with a great appreciation and understanding of the wonders of winter and ways to explore this with young children.
Sherron Burns
Paykiiwikay & Tea
Paykiiwikay means “come and visit” – visiting and eating together is an important part of Métis culture. We will build a fire and make tea together from plants harvested in a good way. We will prepare chokecherries too and have a taste of summer. In the comfort of a shared space we offer our stories about favorite places on the land. Being on the land means to be “in time”, to be “in flow”, following a pace set by sun, wind and weather. Relax and come visit.
Jamie McMillan
Busy as a Beaver
Participants will explore the fascinating world of beavers through movement, play, creativity and inquiry. In this hands on workshop, we will use a dress up kit to explore the unique adaptations which help beavers thrive. Through play and discovery, we’ll consider how these adaptations connect beavers to their environment. Then, its time to get building! Working with natural materials, participants will take on the challenge of designing and constructing their own beaver dams. This activity encourages problem-solving, teamwork, creativity and opportunity to see first hand how landscapes are transformed to create habitat for other species.
Zoe Arnold
Make a Spark
This session will focus on the activity of firelighting. We will discuss elements of risky play, how to risk benefit assess for this activity, use firesteel to create small sparks, and then create a larger fire inside of a kelly kettle and enjoy some freshly boiled tea. Participants are reminded to tie back long hair and bring a mug to the session.
Stephen Groves
Multi-curricular approach to Land Based Learning
I will use creating fire and fire teachings (from the Northwest Territories) to show how we can use hands on experience to teach multiple curriculums. The curricular pieces will be…Psychology 30 (stages of child development), wild life management (obviously fire starting), indigenous studies 10 (traditional practices). It will use a hands on approach.
Brianna Aubin, Maxine Panchuk
Where play meets place
This session explores how play-based learning on and with the land can deepen children’s connection to place, curiosity, and meaning-making. Participants will engage with practical strategies and examples for supporting outdoor exploration, inquiry, and play as rich learning experiences. Participants will leave with ideas they can immediately use to foster learning that is grounded in place, play, and belonging.
Biljana Milasin
Weaving from nature
As a pure outdoor experience I find it delightful to find grass and make a basket. The children have used leaves, sticks, and grasses to make a basket, a boat, a purse. This is an open approach. Participants can bring in their skills and explore freely, apart from following a specific scheme or pattern or teaching. I will make suggestions and demonstrate a technic as well as invite others to share their skills.
Shelley Bettker
From Story to Play: Using Books, Puppets, and Simple Props to Inspire Winter Outdoor Adventures
Discover how simple stories can spark hours of meaningful outdoor play, even during a Saskatchewan winter. This session explores practical ways to use picture books, puppets, story stones, mystery objects, and other low-cost props to inspire child-led exploration, creativity, and imaginative play in nature. Participants will learn how to transform a story into an outdoor play invitation, create engaging seasonal characters, and use storytelling techniques that encourage children to build, investigate, problem-solve, and create their own adventures. Perfect for educators, early childhood professionals, forest school practitioners, and caregivers looking to make the most of winter with limited resources and endless possibilities.
Denise Skuce
Tips and Tricks for cold weather play
Participants will learn hands on activities to play in cold weather, as well as tips to keep your students warm. Using the seasons and weather as your teaching tool.
Leah Japp
Getting Little Feet Wet
Getting Little Feet Wet contains 11 interactive, hands-on activities for young learners to explore different aspects of water—from water properties to water sounds. This workshop will cover some of these activities, adaptations and exploring water education outdoors! Participants will have the opportunity to purchase the guide for an additional cost.
Leah Japp
Growing Up WILD
Growing Up WILD is an early childhood education curriculum that builds on children’s sense of wonder about nature and invites them to explore wildlife and the world around them. Through a wide range of activities and experiences, Growing Up WILD provides an early foundation for developing positive impressions about the natural world and lifelong social and academic skills.
Merrissa Karmark (for all attendees)
Visual Notetaking for Conference Attendees
In this hands-on introductory workshop, participants will learn simple visual note-taking techniques using words, symbols, doodles, arrows, frames, and page organization to capture ideas and experiences in memorable and meaningful ways. Visual note taking can support focus, strengthen memory, make connections between ideas more visible, and allow for more active listening. Participants will leave ready to use these strategies throughout the conference, as well as in their own educational settings to document observations, capture children’s thinking and play, notice patterns, and create richer qualitative records of learning.
Merrissa Karmark
Planning Outdoor Play & Learning Spaces for the Prairies
This workshop explores how to design outdoor play and learning environments that embrace Saskatchewan’s seasons by drawing on the unique patterns of the prairie ecosystem and the ways children and youth naturally play and learn. Through hands-on design activities, participants will develop practical strategies for creating place-based outdoor spaces, engaging children in the design process, working creatively within budget and policy constraints, and applying these ideas to their own educational and community sites.