Maja

Nature Kids Community Founder, Early Childhood Educator Graduate, Forest and Nature School Practitioner, Pedagogical Leader, Rainbow Yoga for Kids and Families Certified

I was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I moved to Kitchener, Canada as a teenager. 

Today my husband and I still live in Kitchener with our two teenage children, whom we unschooled for several years, and during these unschooling years I have had so many wonderful opportunities to visit different natural areas with our local homeschooling friends.

I started to notice that my children were learning so many wonderful and important aspects about themselves and the world around them.  I familiarised myself with Forest or Outdoor and Nature Schools, and then quickly decided to get my training completed with Child and Nature Alliance of Canada.  These outdoor times and experiences were not only good for my children but for myself as well.  

At this time I was experiencing a lot of anxiety working indoors at my then childcare job as an ECE.  When we had our outdoor/playground time with the group of children at childcare I felt lighter in my heart, less stressed and anxious and just happier, so were the children!

This is where my dream was born some time long ago in 2012.  A dream to be able to offer an outdoor program for more children in need of fresh air, lots of movement and invitation to use big and as loud voices as needed!  That was the beginning of working my way to where I am today with the Nature Kids Community Outdoor and Nature Inspired Program. 

This program is offered for the 4th year and many wonderful families are continuously joining me on this important journey! 

We all are witnessing and appreciating the aftereffect of allowing our children to enjoy a full day outdoors during all seasons of calm, grounded and joyous children once back indoors and every day busy expectations.

I am very honored to have an opportunity to learn with different groups of children on a daily basis, and it is truly exciting to witness our growing Nature Kids Community.

Before my work as an Outdoor Mentor I loved working at a Reggio-Inspired Child Care Center for many years but naturally shifted towards nature and outdoor children's programs.  I also have experience working as an educator at Wildflowers Forest School where I still work once a week for a few years now.

My work with children over the years has led me to conclude that children being outdoors versus indoors are much happier, which also applies to educators.

Tracy

Hi everyone, I’m Tracy. I started volunteering with Maya and the NKC forest pods and found a passion for leading children through a day at forest school. Hide and seek, art, board games, hikes and even holding bugs they’ve found all make up the moments I cherish and look forward to every week.

After high school I spent five years living in our beautiful Rocky Mountains, where my love for outdoors really relished in my wild surroundings. I moved back to Ontario, had two beautiful sons, dental assisted, volunteered with scouts and eventually became a homeschooler/unschooler. Integrating forest school into me and my children’s life has been one of my greatest joys, working with children is a blessing.

I enjoy nature time, rock climbing, games, puzzle making, gratuitous rhyming and singing, hikes & strolls (I go both speeds), art (sculpting, drawing, wire wrapping, wood burning, photography), D&D, learning in general and the random things children say.