WILD Spaces aims to connect educators and children to nature and helps protect pollinators through a meaningful learning experience. This program guides teachers to empower elementary students to learn about pollinators, adapt school or community gardens to create pollinator habitat, observe and document pollinators in the garden and share their experiences with others in the program across Canada.
Teachers who sign up by April 30, 2024 are eligible for free pollinator-friendly perennial plants that are easy to care for and thrive in sunny sites. Those who participate will be selected at random later this month to receive a four-pack plant kit delivered to their school. Sign up for the online classroom to register for the program.
Why teach kids about pollinators?
Educators can help native pollinators and connect to nature with their students, to help shape a young generation of conservationists.
Pollinators like wild bees, hummingbirds and butterflies are important because they give us delicious foods, keep our ecosystems healthy and provide services that support our economy and wellbeing. However, they face challenges like pesticide use on feeding and breeding areas, habitat loss and climate change. As more land is altered for human activities, it’s important to create pockets of pollinator habitat where people live, work and play.
Simultaneously, children are spending longer hours indoors and are becoming disconnected from the natural world to the detriment of their physical and mental health and the future of our wildlife. Evidence shows that teaching outdoors can make educators happier, healthier, less likely to experience teacher burnout and can also help strengthen the bond between teachers and students. Time spent outdoors can increase students’ ability to concentrate, help with symptoms of learning challenges and may even improve overall test scores. Furthermore, children who have positive experiences outdoors with a trusted adult are more likely to develop a strong conservation ethic.
Did You Know?
7.5 hours
The average Canadian child is sedentary for about 7.5 hours a day.
75-95%
Flowering plants across the globe that depend on pollinators.
5 times
Children who grow veggies in a garden are 5 times more likely to eat them.What You Can Do
This program is best suited for students in grades three to six but can easily be adapted for younger and older participants alike. Sign up to follow the program this spring or explore the program pillars:
Participate in the online classroom
Our online classroom has learning activities designed to help students learn about pollinators, discover how to create pollinator habitat in a garden and interact with participants from across the country, as they share stories and pictures of their journey on a safe platform.
You will have access to the online classroom when you sign-up for the program.
Create a pollinator garden
Putting knowledge into action will help students process the information they’ve learned about pollinators and creating habitat. The garden they create will no doubt help pollinators, but what may be more beneficial are the personal learning experiences and opportunities for nature connection that can happen in a garden. These experiences can generate important conversations within your community and instill a lifelong conservation ethic for participants. WILD Spaces will support you with resources to facilitate this learning experience and create a successful pollinator garden.
How To
Videos
In the News
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Bees vs. Moths: Which is the Better Pollinator?
March 12, 2024, CWF Blog – Pollinators are critical. After all a whopping 80 per cent of the world’s plants rely on them! When you think of a pollinator, what’s the first critter that pops into your head? I bet it’s a bee! And rightly so – they’re incredible...
Bees vs. Moths: Which is the Better Pollinator?
March 12, 2024, CWF Blog – Pollinators are critical. After all a whopping 80 per cent of the world’s plants rely on them! When you think of a pollinator, what’s the first critter that pops into your head? I bet it’s a bee! And rightly so – they’re incredible...
407 ETR is celebrating its new sponsorship with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority at the...
March 7, 2024, Natick – The Company pledged a total of $300,000 over three years to fund conservation and research with the organization
Sleep, Creep, Leap into Helping Species at Risk
March 1, 2024, CWF Blog – Canadian Wildlife Federation’s teams across the country are getting ready for a fruitful spring and summer in the field.
Meet the National Tree Seed Centre, Canada description
March 1, 2024, iVoox Podcast & Radio – Hosts Fran Chismar and Tom Knezick connect with Melissa Spearing (Seed Biologist) from the National Tree Seed Centre and Dr. Stefan Weber (National Native Seed Strategy Coordinator) from the Canadian Wildlife Federation to discuss the...
Ramping Up Efforts To Protect The Monarch Butterfly
January 19, 2024, CKSX-FM – A national not-for-profit wildlife conservation group is expanding its efforts to protect the Monarch butterfly, which frequents areas of Chatham-Kent. The Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) has established networks across eastern and...
Habitats At Home — How Anyone Can Help Canada’s WildlifeView Garden Habitat Certification in a larger map
Certify your pollinator garden with CWF
The Canadian Wildlife Federation acknowledges the efforts of Canadians who make their home, school, business or community garden suitable for wildlife by certifying the space as a “Wildlife-friendly Habitat”.
You can showcase your school’s efforts to help pollinators by having the wild spaces you’ve created officially certified by CWF. Applicants who meet the criteria will receive a certificate and window decal in the mail.
Schools Now Certified!
371
The number of Canadian schools certified as CWF wildlife-friendly.
570
Schools that have received pollinator plants from CWF since 2015.
Dozens
CWF WILD Webinars on Wildlife-friendly gardening.Meet the Team
Eneze Baye-Imerion
Education Manager (Generalist)
“I’m passionate about outdoor experiential learning, liaising with partner organizations to promote social inclusion through nature engagement."
Related Resources
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