Education

Experiential learning, or hands-on learning, is a great way to engage young people!

PLT Canada provides a lifetime of learning, connecting all ages to the outdoors through our hands-on educational activities and resources. Engage children and young adults in inquiry and place-based learning about the environment through the lens of trees and forests. Learn about the key role sustainable forest management plays in the fight against climate change, explore diverse career opportunities in Canada’s green sector, encourage critical and creative thinking, and more!

Whether you are a kindergarten teacher, high school science teacher, natural resources professional, or parent, PLT activities use nature to teach about math, science, social studies, language arts, and more. Our activities supplement and enhance your existing curriculum and bring learning to life.

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Nature-Based Curriculum Resources

View PLT Canada’s comprehensive educational materials for formal and nonformal educators working with youth of all ages. Click the arrows to expand each section.

Early Childhood

Introduce children ages 1-6 to the natural world through PLT Canada’s newest guide, Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children.

Filled with hundreds of fun and engaging activities for parents, caregivers, early childhood educators and more to do with little learners.

Get the Trees & Me Guide

Online Professional Development

K-8

PLT Canada’s new Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide includes 50 hands-on, multidisciplinary activities to connect children to nature and increase young people’s awareness and knowledge about their environment. Activities integrate teaching about the environment into a multitude of subjects using hands-on classroom studies and outdoor field investigations.

Get the Explore Your Environment Guide

Online Professional Development

Each filled with three engaging activities, our theme-based digital collections are the perfect way to try PLT activities with your learners. Designed to be flexible, the activities can be used as stand-alone lessons, or all together as a cohesive unit of instruction.


Buy Trillions of Trees	Buy Nature of Fire

High School

What is climate change? How are forests impacted by it and how do they also serve as a nature-based solution to mitigate it? Learn how to effectively teach about climate change and encourage your students to take action. This flexible self-contained unit of instruction is fully online and supports learning as a developmental progression. The Climate Change & Forests e-unit is filled with step-by-step lesson plans, downloadable worksheets, assessment tools, background information, and additional resources.

Purchase Climate Change & Forests

Career Resources (Middle & High School, Young Adults)

Encourage youth to explore rewarding green careers with hands-on instructional activities, online quizzes, and inspiring stories from trailblazing professionals in the forest and conservation sector.


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Free Resources to Expand Forest Knowledge & Literacy

PLT Canada’s resources not only help students improve their environmental literacy, but also their forest literacy. Our Forest Literacy Framework translates the language of forests and sustainable forest management into concepts for grades K-12.

For older learners, help them increase their understanding of forests with our online learning experience, Forest Quest. In the game, they’ll navigate through a forest, learning about biodiversity, sustainable forest management, impacts forests have on our communities, green career opportunities, and more.

Free Worksheets

screenshot of bursting buds work sheet screenshot of value of a tree worksheet

Our environmental education resources are ideal for teachers and parents who want to encourage outdoor learning and take their nature curriculum outside.

View our free eco-education worksheets and activities to connect the children in your life to the outdoors. Each worksheet asks questions to support critical thinking and provides one or more activities for you and the children to complete together.

Subscribe to our Environmental Education newsletter for access to the worksheets. Check back often for new resources to support learning about the environment for K-12! You can opt-out of the newsletter at any time after downloading the worksheets.

For Teachers

The Environmental Education worksheets are a great way to engage youth about the outdoors. Spark their curiosity through scientific inquiries into nature and creative thinking outside.

Elementary school teacher Deb L., from Sarnia, Ontario, has been using the worksheets in her virtual classroom lessons to inspire youth. You can see her Powerpoint slides below!

An elementary school teacher's education example

For Parents

If you’re looking for a fun way to get your child outdoors, learning about nature, you’ve come to the right spot. PLT Canada’s environmental education worksheets are an ideal way to help young ones learn about nature.

Children can practice problem-solving skills and build their sense of surroundings through these easy-to-use worksheets. Has COVID-19 kept you indoors for too long? If so, find an escape by exploring your backyard or nearby green space with the PLT Canada worksheets.

See an example of a worksheet below:

Sample K-8 Lesson Plans

Get a taste of PLT Canada educational resources with 3 free, downloadable activities from the new Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide. The full guide includes 50 hands-on, multidisciplinary activities to connect children to nature and increase young people’s awareness and knowledge about their environment.

Download Sample Activities!

Curriculum Connections

Learn how these free activities align to curriculum in British Columbia and Ontario.

Guest Speakers for Educators

Educators can reach out to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) contacts below to enquire about having a forestry professional speak with their students about sustainable forest management.

SFI Implementation Committees work with forestry and professional associations, universities, government agencies, landowner groups, conservation groups, and many others to support community outreach and education programs.