Outdoor play for all
Connect with nature and community
Join a group of fellow nature-lovers to relax, learn, and play outside in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
✓ Ages 0 to 99
✓ all abilitIES welcome
✓ FREE PLAY Focused
What if you spent a few hours in the forest every week with friends?
You’ll feel calmer, happier, and more connected. Your kids will be less hyper and sleep better. You’ll feel healthier and stronger, inside and out. That’s just what nature does.
And you’ll find people who share your love of nature, learn something new, and enjoy time with your family and new friends.
Community Playtime: Simple, relaxing fun and learning at your local park
Join a group of a few local families and friends to explore, learn, and play in the forest at a local Salaberry-de-Valleyfield park.
What is Community Playtime? A few hours on the weekend when we gather together to…
- Climb trees and rocks
- Look for animals
- Explore plants and forage
- Go for walks
- Splash in the creek
- Journal and draw
- Share stories and read aloud
- Learn new outdoor skills
- Whittle and build
Sometimes, we invite local experts or Indigenous speakers to share knowledge and lead activities.
What is NOT Community Playtime?
- This is NOT an exercise program (we mostly relax!)
- This is NOT a class or course (we don’t follow a curriculum)
- This is NOT focused on one age group (all ages are welcome)
Picture this…
You arrive at the forest on a chilly but bright morning.
We sit in a circle while the kids play mud kitchen nearby. You tell everyone about your week. Your neighbour talks about an interesting article they read. We read aloud a book for the kids, and maybe one for the adults.
There is an activity set up with magnifying glasses and buckets, but you can explore it or not as you wish. You spend some time climbing in a tree with the kids. Your friend identifies some animal scat, and tells us how they know which animal it belongs to.
We go for a walk together, and one of the grandmas points out birdcalls for us. The kids splash into the creek, and you take off your shoes to splash with them.
When everyone is hungry, we pull out blankets and have lunch on the forest floor. A few people pull out journals and sketch a nearby fallen tree. The kids are interested, so we do an impromtu sketching lesson.
After a couple hours, you get back in your car. You head home feeling refreshed, connected, and grounded.
We accomodate and welcome everyone
- All ages (from babies to great grandparents)
- All levels of outdoor skills (from novice to expert)
- All abilities and differences (physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, neurodivergence, and more)
- All languages (we are fully bilingual French/English and welcome other language speakers)
- All backgrounds (we do not discriminate against anyone)
- All family types (from solo individual to the biggest families)
Not sure if you’ve found your “people”? Here’s a quick list to see if this is the program for you…
Community Playtime is for you if…
- You love nature and being outside
- You care about the environment and other beings
- You respect Indigenous peoples and seek reconciliation
- You wish you spent more time outside, but it’s hard to make the time
- You’d like to make more local friends
- You value intergenerational friendships and knowledge sharing
- You like to learn and to share what you know
- You crave more relaxation and peace
Community Playtime is NOT for you if…
- You have no interest in building community or new friendships
- You don’t want to risk getting cold, wet, or dirty
- You litter, kill bugs unnecessarily, and disrespect the environment
- You crave a lot of structure
- You don’t like to learn or try new things
- You’re looking for high-intensity outdoor adventures
- You just don’t like being outside… that’s fine, not everyone does!
The Details
Sundays from 11 AM to 1 PM
March 16 to May 4 (8 weeks)
At Parc régional des Îles-de-Saint-Timothée
Pricing
For the 8-week session: $40 for families of 3 or more, $30 for families of 2, $20 for individuals
Registration
Complete the registration form below and send your payment via Interac e-transfer to [email protected]
FAQs
What is your cancellation policy?
The session is cancelled in case of extreme weather that endangers participants, or if the leader is sick and unable to find a replacement. We do NOT cancel for the rain — bring your rainboots and get ready to get wet! If sessions are cancelled, there will be make up sessions on May 11 and 18.
What kind of activities or lessons does the organiser prepare?
This is not a class or course that is focused on learning a set curriculum, so do not expected guided lessons at each session. The organiser will bring materials like books, journals, craft supplies, whittling knives, tools, and more that participants can explore as they wish. We will occassionally have experts visit to do a more formal presentation, and we encourage you to share your expertise as well. Our focus is free exploration and play, and we follow the flow of the group on each day. Whatever the Land provides, that’s what we’ll learn that day.
Why do you bring together all ages?
Our society separates people by ages almost everywhere. That’s a sad loss for us, because we can learn so much from people who are older and younger than us. We want to rebuild those intergenerational connections: older children teaching younger children, grandparents sharing stories, adults learning and caring for each other. If you’ve ever wished you could spend a day in a hunter-gatherer band, just spending time outside with people of all ages and watching the children together, that’s what we’re doing here!
Are drop-ins allowed?
We encourage you to come try out the Community Playtime, however we do not allow more than 1 drop-in session. This is because one of the main purposes of the program is to build community. We encourage participants to come regularly so they can build relationships and learn from each other.
What is the registration fee used for?
The Valleyfield Joue Dehors organiser doesn’t keep the registration fees. The fees are used to cover insurance, which is quite expensive for outdoor programs. The fees are also used to pay experts, especially Indigenous speakers, who visit the program.
What accomodations are available for disabilities?
We will do everything possible to accommodate your needs. This includes mobility needs, sensory needs, language needs, and more. Let us know what works best for you and we’ll do it. Nobody gets left behind at Community Playtime.
What are the rules and details?
I’ll send details to everyone after they register. If you would like to see the full participant handbook before registering, email us at [email protected] and we’ll share it with you.
What if I can’t afford the registration fee?
Email us at [email protected] and we’ll give you a discount. We do not want money to be a block that prevents anyone from participating.
Led by a tree-hugger just like you
Hi! I’m Cleoniki and I’ll be leading your outdoor adventures at Community Playtime.
I’ve been a nature-lover since I was little, lecturing other kids on the playground about how they shouldn’t step on ants.
Now, I’m a Forest School Practitioner leading forest school and community events in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
I started this adventure to give my daughter more opportunities to play outside, and to offer the same to my community. I deeply believe that everyone — of all ages and abilities — deserves more opportunities to play outside with friends.
Want to come play?
I would be thrilled to meet you.
Come join us!
