Our Classroom
Some classrooms have walls. Ours has wetlands, willows, and a winding creek.
Lakeside Park is the heart of every program we offer. A 100-year-old natural area in the centre of Kitchener, where children come to slow down, look closely, and learn from the land itself.
Welcome to Our Outdoor Classroom
Tucked into central Kitchener, just a few minutes from St. Mary's Hospital, Lakeside Park is a quiet pocket of wild that most families don't know is there until they find it.
We did. And once we did, we knew we couldn't teach anywhere else.
What looks at first like a neighbourhood park opens up the moment you step off the path. A meadow gives way to forest. The forest gives way to Shoemaker Pond. A creek runs through it all. Songbirds, turtles, salamanders, and migrating warblers move through these habitats year-round, while children move through them too, watching, listening, and finding their place inside the rhythm of a real ecosystem.
This is our classroom. We're glad you're here.
Four Ecosystems. One Walkable Park.
Most outdoor programs settle for one kind of landscape. Here, children move through several in a single afternoon.
01
The Meadow
Open grass, a sky-wide horizon, and a sweeping willow that's older than any of us. The meadow is where running, ball games, picnics, and the simple joy of falling backwards into the grass live. It's also where we gather as a group, share snack, and read stories under the canopy.
02
The Forest
Quieter, cooler, and full of small mysteries. Climbing logs, hollow trunks to crawl into, fungi worth a closer look, and the kind of hush that makes children naturally lower their voices. The forest invites focus, imagination, and the slow attention that screens have all but erased.
03
The Pond
Shoemaker Pond sits at the heart of the park and has done for over a century. It's one of the top birding spots in the Waterloo Region, with nearly 200 species recorded across the decades. Children watch herons fish, listen for red-winged blackbirds in spring, and learn the difference between a wood duck and a mallard without ever opening a textbook.
04
The Creek and Wetland
Running water is the most patient teacher we know. Kids return to the creek week after week, building dams, floating leaves, scooping minnows, and noticing how the same stretch of water tells a different story in every season.
Field Guide
What Your Child Might Find on a Tuesday
A short field guide to the everyday wonders of Lakeside Park.
FLORA
Spring Trillium
Ontario's official flower carpets the forest floor in white each May. Children learn quickly that we look but never pick.
FLORA
Trout Lilies & Violets
The first real splashes of colour after a long winter. We mark the day they appear and watch how long they stay.
FAUNA
Migrating Songbirds
Lakeside Park has been on Kitchener's birdwatching map for a hundred years. Even a child who's never noticed a bird before will be naming three of them by week two.
FAUNA
Painted Turtles
Some areas of the park are protected as turtle nesting habitat. Whether it's a turtle, a frog, or a tiny salamander, the rule is the same: a careful look, gentle hands, and back where it belongs.
FAUNA
Garter Snakes & Salamanders
Lifting a log carefully and putting it back exactly as we found it is one of the first lessons of forest school. Most kids meet their first snake here.
HABITAT
The Creek
Mud, minnows, smooth stones, and the simple physics of moving water. Some of the best learning of the year happens with wet feet.
Through the Seasons
A Year in Our Classroom
Children who learn outdoors year-round don't fear the weather. They read it.
Spring
MARCH - MAY
Wildflowers, frog song, the first warm-enough day to take off your boots.
Summer
JUNE - AUGUST
Long mornings in the creek, wildflower meadows in full bloom, dragonflies everywhere.
Autumn
SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER
Leaf piles, mushroom hunts, the smell of cold coming in on the wind.
Winter
DECEMBER - FEBRUARY
Snowforts, animal tracks, the toboggan hill, and a quieter park that belongs almost entirely to us.
You couldn't build a better classroom than this. Meadow, forest, pond, and creek become our teachers through the seasons, inviting us to learn, explore, and grow together.Megan Davis, Founder
Finding Us
Where to Meet Us
Lakeside Park is centrally located in Kitchener, near St. Mary's Hospital. There's a small parking lot near the playground, plus street access from a few neighbourhood entrances. Paved paths on the west side of the pond are stroller-friendly; the east side is dirt trail and a little wilder.
When you book a visit, we'll send you specific directions, a meeting point, and a gear list so your child arrives ready for the day. We meet rain or shine, in every season, and we never go indoors.
Come Stand Under the Willow.
The fastest way to understand why we teach here is to come walk it with us. Book a visit, or join us for a free Saturday morning gathering.