Kim’s Winter Activity Guide
Common Birds of PTBO
Seasonal Scavenger Hunt
Soaring Towards 10,000!
Soaring Towards 10,000!
Pathway Explorers have been busy logging Landmarks and we’ve reached a record number, soaring towards our goal of 10,000 Landmarks! The winter provided so many new and exciting activities for our community and photos have warmed our hearts. We’re already at 3,216 – incredible work!
We’ve had some super ideas from families and other groups this winter proving – rain, snow or shine – it’s great to be outdoors. Some of our favourites include:
- The Chickadees celebrated the winter season and made garlands out of edible items for their wintering friends in the woods. They decorated with Cheerios, raisins, raisins, peanuts, air-popped popcorn, oranges, and pomegranate peel shaped with cookie cutters. Such a creative way to explore Landmark 11 – Celebrate Each Season
- The Myles Family took advantage of a cold snap and when Rogers Cove was transformed into a giant outdoor rink. They went skating on the open ice, feeling the effects of the wind and listening to the deep sounds of the ice. It was so much fun they went back the next day!
- Children at the Compass Early Learning and Care-Home Childcare Program built a snowman this season! They used snowballs, stacked them, and added a face and a “unicorn horn”. They wondering if any animals might come nibble on the carrot nose and horn.
- After a beautiful dump of perfect snow early in the week, the grade 5s and 6s from Mrs. Monti and Mrs. Belk’s classes from Millbrook South Cavan Public School explored Medd’sMountain on snowshoes as part of the Think Outside program with Nature Nancy. The snow was deep enough to see how effective snowshoes really are. The Millbrook trail system is a close walk from the school and has amazing trees to walk through, marvel at, and use for hiding during a game of “Reggie the Squirrel”.
- Camp Kawartha worked with the Grade 8s at Highland Heights! They engaged in a variety of team-building activities that the students absolutely loved! They completed activities aimed at working together to balance a ball while traveling. They amped up the challenge by placing the stand that the ball had to sit on, on top of a snowbank!
- Immaculate Conception made suncatchers from collected materials and positioned them in the pan. Despite a warm spell, they were so happy when the temperature dropped and they saw their sun catchers come to life!
Winter Bingo
Winter Bingo
Looking for a fun winter activity for all ages? Here is a free winter Bingo game cards from the Pathway!
Visit a special place, explore your senses, discover winter-themed words, and most of all, have fun!
This winter bingo helps with Landmarks 1,3,4 and 7.
Landmark 1. Explore outdoors together for at least an hour a week.
Landmark 3. Exercise the senses daily.
Landmark 4: Visit a favourite outdoor place each week throughout all seasons.
Landmark 7: Share a nature-based picture book, song, poem or game each week.
Download your Bingo Card Here!
Winter Wonderland: The Night Sky
Winter Wonderland: The Night Sky
Winter is a perfect season for an often overlooked family activity – exploring the sky at night. With winter’s early darkness and often crisp, clear weather, the stars take on a special brightness that is nothing short of breathtaking.

January and February are perfect months to view one of the most striking and unforgettable of all the constellations – Orion, the Hunter. Rising in the southeastern sky in early evening, Orion travels (like the sun) from east to west across the winter sky as the earth turns and night progresses, to finally set in the west before morning. Orion is easy to find, by facing south and looking for the three stars in a row that make up his belt. His shoulder and knee are two of our brightest stars, Betelgeuse and Rigel. Just below and beside him is Sirius, the dog star – Orion’s faithful friend.
Indigenous storytellers also saw a human-like figure in this unique combination of stars. The Ojibwe know him as Biboonkeonini – the Wintermaker. Wintermaker stretches out his long arms to beckon the cold and winds of winter. He also ushers in the traditional storytelling season of winter.
Early on a crisp, cloudless winter night, pack up the family, bring a thermos of hot chocolate and go out stargazing. Turn out the house and yard lights for better viewing, or travel to a park or open area with few lights. Look for patterns in the stars and make your own stories. If you’re lucky, you may even see a shooting star! What an awesome reminder of the wonders around us every day.
Star watching connects with Landmarks 1, 3, 6, 11, 14, 17, 25.
Winter Games
Winter Games
Getting to Know Your Local Birds!
Did you know that the average child recognizes hundreds of corporate logos but fewer than 10 local plants or animals? Getting to know your ‘neighbourwood’ is an important first step in connecting with the natural world.
While some local birds fly south for the winter, many stay around, and can be a focus for lots of winter sleuthing, especially if there’s a birdfeeder nearby. Here’s an activity that exercises the memory and observation skills, in preparation for going outdoors in winter, especially with Grade 1-2 children working on Landmark 12 (Getting to Know Local Plants and Animals). Older children and adults can play too.
Winter Birds Memory Game
This idea is inspired by a Christmas gift of a game of birds from around the world, where the goal is to find matches of males and females of the same species. This version has a simpler, more local focus, based on common winter birds in the Peterborough area.
Find pictures online of any of the following birds:
- Black-capped chickadee
- White-breasted nuthatch
- Northern Cardinal
- Blue Jay
- Hairy Woodpecker
- House Sparrow
- Red-breasted nuthatch
- Rock Pigeon
- Goldfinch
- European Starling
(if you know of others in your area, include them too)
Paste the pictures into a template of squares (2.5” to 3” are ideal), and make sure you have two copies of each picture. Use card stock or bristleboard if possible, so you can’t see through the paper when they’re placed face-down. Write the name of each bird on each square.
TO PLAY:
Turn all the squares face-down on a table or other flat surface. Every player turns over two cards, saying the names of the birds on each card, then turning the cards face-down again. The goal of the game is to remember the location of each card that was turned over, so you can turn up a matched pair when it’s your turn. If you find a matched pair, you take them off the table and keep them. Whenever you find a pair, you get an extra turn. This game can be played by various numbers of people, but 2 to 5 people are best, so you don’t have to wait too long for your turn.
To make the game more permanent, you can laminate the cards so they’ll last through many games. For older children, you could make sets of local flowers, animals, insects or trees. The memory challenge of the game is a great mental workout for all ages!
Everybody Outdoors! at St. Joseph’s, Douro
Everybody Outdoors! at St. Joseph’s, Douro
On a crisp, cold March morning, fun was brewing at St. Joseph’s Elementary School in Douro! Grades 1-4 classes brimmed with excitement for a special morning of community guests and outdoor play.
Principal Julie Selby organized the day around four rotating activity centres. Mrs. Selby led one centre herself, with a class set of snowshoes; students had a grand time traversing the large schoolyard, and wending their way through the evergreen forest on-site. There were many pink cheeks and smiling faces of busy explorers!
A second station featured Jacob Rodenburg of Camp Kawartha for animal games and dramatic play. Students tried ‘stalking’ like foxes to capture the ever-vigilant Jacob-Rabbit, and following animal tracks in the snow. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) game ‘Snow Snakes’ was a big hit, with students testing how far their waxed wooden ‘snakes’ could slide over the snow.
Pathway Coordinator Cathy Dueck focused on forest-related fun with an evergreen tree identification relay that had everyone warming up with running, sorting and laughing! Then, a forest scavenger hunt sent student detectives to find treasures in the forest and store them in egg cartons to show the class.
Puppeteer and musician extraordinaire Glen Caradus led the fourth activity centre, where students were treated to his ‘Plugging into Nature’ puppet show, showcasing the adventures that await us when we turn off the screens and go outside! Glen also worked his musical magic and had everyone enthusiastically joining in with his rollicking songs.
All in all, a great morning for everyone!
And for their own pre-March Break adventure, the Grade 7 and 8 students spent a day at Kawartha Nordic, learning how to cross-country ski, exploring the trails and building memories. So exciting to see the Pathway project in action. Many thanks to principal Julie Selby and all the wonderful staff at St. Joseph’s.
Frozen Sun Catchers
Frozen Sun Catchers
A recipe for easy mid-winter magic
January 23, 2019
Ingredients
- Found nature objects – Twigs, leaves, berries, pine cones
- Container to freeze the water in – aluminum pie plates are perfect!
- Water
- Something to hang them: twine, yarn, ribbon
- Freezing temperatures

Steps
- Lay out your nature objects in the base of your container for freezing
- Lay the twine amidst the nature objects with a large loop or two loose ends hanging out – this will be your hang or tie
- Place your creations on a flat outdoor surface where they can freeze undisturbed (window sill, picnic table, etc.)
- Slowly pour in water until the container is full and ensure your twine/ribbon are still submerged
- Set the outdoor temperature to below freezing 😉 **freeze overnight for best results
Hang this ice art from a tree branch in a sunny spot where the sun will shine through and slowly melt it away, transforming your creation throughout the day.
Tips
- play with colours, textures, patterns… Eating oranges? Add visual a-peel with pieces of rind or slices interspersed
- Make minis in ice cube trays
- Fancy a rainbow catcher? Add food coloring
- Use bundt pans for a frozen wreath
Warning: This recipe will quickly become a staple on your nature crafting menu!
Stories in the Soft Snow
Stories in the Soft Snow
A lesson in animal tracking with Jacob Rodenburg
“We humans often think we’re the only ones who write stories, but in truth animals write stories in the soft snow every winter, and we can follow them and learn what they were doing…It’s just nice for us to know that animals have a life – they’re looking for food, they’re finding shelter. It’s great to get out in the cold winter with your family and follow tracks.”
Jacob Rodenburg, Executive Director, Camp Kawartha and co-author of The Big Book of Nature Activities: A Year-Round Guide to Outdoor Learning
January 23, 2019 – Some animals hibernate but you don’t need to! In this lovely video lesson in Animal Tracking, Jacob Rodenburg, Executive Director at Camp Kawartha shares the joy and rich learning that arise when a fresh blanket of snow reveals the oft-hidden lives of animals all around us, through their tracks in the snow. All we need to do is venture out and follow along.
VIDEO: A Lesson in Animal Tracking with Jacob Rodenburg
Watch as Jacob introduces us to animal tracking in the snow, demonstrating a great winter tracking activity we can all try with the children in our lives, as well as what to look for as we venture out and onto a fresh blanket of snow. This clip is both a playful demonstration and chalk full of fun facts and important naturalist insights.
Ready to try? Jacob shares two great steps for getting started:
Step 1 – When you look at an animal track, try to figure out what direction it was going in? Often when animals walk they have a scuff mark at the heal which is a good hint which way it was going.
Step 2 – How was it moving? Walking? Stride is close together. Why is this stride so long? Was the animal running?
As you follow its trail, what was the animal doing? Look for: was it running, was it walking, was it eating?
Look alongside the sidewalks or the trails you travel. Have you seen the tracks Jacob stamped in the snow?
Thanks to Jacob for sharing the stories of animals in the snow!
Follow an animal Pathway – where will it lead?
Want more info? Enjoy these articles: Take it Outside: Enjoying the Gifts of Winter, by Jacob Rodenburg and How to be a Winter Wildlife Detective, by David Bree of Ontario Parks.

Cold, Wet, Muddy and Fun
Cold, Wet, Muddy and Fun
January 23, 2019 – Our Cold, Wet, Muddy and Fun! workshop with Sue Ferren was so true to name! Not only did we experience first-hand all of the chilly temps, rain, mud and snow within the span of our Saturday morning together, but we enjoyed a rich morning of learning, sharing and FUN. Sue revealed the magic that can be found when we courageously bundle our wee ones and venture out, whatever the weather!
All 15 folks who attended, including 2 wee ones, were led on a clear pathway to providing the invitation, clothing and materials necessary for children to explore, create and engage in any weather. Sue shared her wealth of knowledge, beautifully curated resources, an enviable nature-themed library, and a treasure trove of hands-on activities – both indoor and out – for us to explore. She also shared the challenges and barriers we know can keep the most intrepid explorers from venturing out, and ways to make that challenge more manageable and more fun.
In the warmth of the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre we brainstormed Barrier Breakers, models of how to bring nature in, loose parts of every description, and shared stories of mishaps and magic-making with wee ones in all weather. Then we were invited outdoors on a beautiful story walk with the laminated pages of In the Snow – Who’s Been Here. The story trail wove us through the cedar grove and opened to a clearing lovingly spread with activity centres showcasing simple and powerful activities to spark early years engagement. Mud kitchens, rain-filled tube mazes, tarp painting, and making nature-found masterpieces within empty ornate frames – all ready for hours of exploration. The wee ones who had been enjoying the morning under the watchful care of Jumping Mouse’s Martine Cleary, joined us to explore these centres. It was immediately obvious that with a few thoughtful materials, comfortable all-weather clothing, and adults willing to venture out, cold, wet and muddy are Fun!
Want Inspirations and Ideas for venturing out this Winter? Join us Saturday February 9th for Wonder-Full Winter: Your Toolkit for Nature Crafting and Outdoor Play with Children.
