- 1216 North Park St, Victoria, BC V8T 1C9
- Wed-Sat, 10:00am-4:00pm - 250,386, WORM(9676)
Looking to bring hands-on environmental education into your classroom? Look no further! We offer a variety of programming for learners from preschool to grade 12. Book a workshop at our teaching garden, or have Elora, our Child & Youth Education Coordinator come to you! Click here to download a PDF of the 2021 schools program brochure.
Corey’s Compost Story Preschool-kindergarten only | 45 minutes | $75/workshop | Book anytime!
Follow Corey (a friendly apple core) and Brownie (a helpful leaf) in this interactive puppet show as they learn about “browns” and “greens” and how to make compost in a backyard bin. Students will engage through song, movement and play in this fun story-based workshop.
Garden Tour 1 hour | $75/workshop | Best booked April-September
Explore the Compost Education Centre Teaching Gardens and Demonstration Site! Meet puppets, live worms and fish and learn about composting, growing food and sustainability through touch, taste and smell. This exploratory and interactive tour is action packed!
Wrigglers at Work 1 hour | $75/workshop + $40 worm bin and worms | Book anytime!
Learn the basics of composting by meeting fun puppets, and explore how red wriggler worms transform food waste into soil. Students will learn all about red wrigglers by creating a worm composting bin for your classroom to keep for continued learning! Follow resources for educators are provided. Option to harvest your bin in part 2 of our workshop.
Soil Superstars 1 hour | $75/workshop | Book anytime!
Why is soil so important? This discovery-based workshop explores soil and compost up close while making connections to the role we play in maintaining soil health. This lively workshop includes puppets, song and movement. Students will also get the chance to meet live worms and learn about the amazing work they do for the soil!
Spectacular Seeds 1 hour | $75/workshop | Book anytime – pertinent in springtime!
Why are seeds so amazing? Explore the many shapes and sizes seeds come in and participate in a seed dissection to understand what’s going on inside of a seed, and how baby plants grow. Students get the opportunity to be creative and use their imagination, and learn through discovery. End the workshop by creating mini greenhouses to sprout bean seeds in your classroom!
Sustainability Site Tour 1 hour | $75/workshop | Best booked April-September!
Explore the Compost Education Centre Teaching Gardens and Demonstration Site, with explorations of composting, native plants and pollinators, veggie gardens, aquaponics, and more. The tour offers inquiry-based education and applied learning, relating our gardens to the world surrounding the students.
Worms Eat My Garbage 1 hour | $75/workshop+$40 worm bin | Book anytime!
Discover worms and the benefits of composting! Students will learn about the compost cycle and gain an understanding of worm anatomy while holding Red Wriggler worms. Putting their new knowledge to work, students will create a worm bin together to keep in your class for continued learning. Option to harvest your bin in part 2 of our workshop.
Soil Sleuths 1.5 hours | $90/workshop | Book anytime!
Students will have a chance to use their critical thinking skills to investigate a historical case study to learn the importance of soil to healthy ecosystems and communities. Hands-on, discovery-based activities encourage students to unearth the many things soil has to tell us and explore what it means to be a soil steward. Introduce your students to composting, ecological stewardship, land degradation and more.
Pollination Relations 1 hour | $75/workshop | Best Booked April-September on-site or at a site with a garden for pollinator observation.
What is a pollinator? Why are bees so important? Learn about the importance of pollinators, explore little known facts about native bees and engage in hands on activity. Discover how to care for and protect native pollinators, and learn about their integral role in local ecosystems. This spring and summer workshop is jammed packed with new info and involves opportunity for lots of exploration.
Sustainability Site Tour 1 hour | $75/workshop | Best booked April-September
Dive deep into the world of composting, native plants and pollinators, veggie gardens, aquaponics, and more with a guided tour of our Teaching Gardens and Demonstration Site. The tour offers a look into real life applications of sustainability practices and encourages discussion, critical thinking and reflection.
Composting Basics 1-1.5 hours | $90/workshop | Book anytime for in-person or online
Learn the basics of successful composting, the various techniques used to compost, as well as the importance of soil to our society and the earth itself. This workshop can include a hands-on component to determine the best composting system for your class or school, or can involve troubleshooting an existing compost system.
Vermicomposting 1 hour | $75/workshop+$40 worm bin | Book anytime
Vermicomposting is an ecosystem and composting system all in one! Alongside an intro to composting, this workshop will introduce students to the anatomy and reproduction of red wriggler worms, and the many ways to create and maintain an active composting worm bin. Dive deep into the world of worms and keep the worm bin for your classroom!
BioDiversity Zine | Pay-What-You-Can
Learn about undertold histories of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour ecological stewards who have worked to increase environmental sustainability, steward their local ecosystems, and protect their lands. This educational zine comes with resources for educators and students to learn and reflect on how they can become ecological stewards in their own community.
Sustainable Lifestyles | Pay-What-You-Can
This 50-page booking is designed to encourage students to critically engage with environmental issues. The booklet explores social systems of inequality, oppression, and green to encourage students to think of how they might live sustainably in their communities. Students are offered optional projects on categories of land, food, and more.
Consultation
Looking for guidance on your composting system at your school or child care centre? We are happy to provide consultation to help you figure out what composting system might work best for you! Reach out to find a time for a phone call or in person visit with our educator.
Pro-D or ECE Workshop | $125/ workshop
Do you have a group of educators looking to further their knowledge on how to deliver engaging environmental education? Reach out about booking a Professional Development Session. Pro-D sessions can be formatted as a run through of one of our child and youth workshops with a deeper dive into the content, or can be focused more broadly on the skills needed to deliver lessons on growing school gardens, building soil at school or more!
“It was very apparent that the kids, and their parents, thoroughly enjoyed the program. The day after the program I had one little guy, who attended the program, ask me to find him books on composting as his family were going to build a compost!”
“I liked how experiential the tour was for the children. The facilitator was skilled at maintaining the children’s attention and keeping them interested.”
“The CEC did an excellent job in keeping children’s’ attention during the presentation. She made it fun to learn about composting and worms.”