Education

Youth Experiences

Inspiring youth conservationists

CPAWS Southern Alberta provides curriculum-linked environmental education for Kindergarten to Grade 12. Our award-winning experiences are diverse, highly interactive, and most importantly, FUN!

There are so many ways to get learning! And whether you're booking a classroom visit, an outdoor experience, or a combination of both, book today by clicking the button below or keep reading to learn more about our experiences and the different themes offered.

BOOK TODAY!

Not sure which experience is right for you? Scroll down to explore each theme.

Select an experience to get started

Edu-Kit

These rentable kits provide educators with specialized equipment and lesson plans to facilitate experiential learning through citizen science!

VIEW THIS EXPERIENCE

Grade 3, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 9

Community Science

Connecting with and protecting nature through technology. Community Science inspires students to collaborate with real scientists.

VIEW THIS EXPERIENCE

Grade 3, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 9

Wild Wellness

Every day, scientists are discovering more ways that time in nature helps us think and feel better. Help your students or youth groups get their daily dose of Vitamin “N”!

VIEW THIS EXPERIENCE

Grade 1, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, Grade 9, Kindergarten

Why Grasslands?

Alberta’s grasslands give us so many gifts yet less than 2% of it is protected. Why Grasslands? will help you discover and meet your prairie home again, for the first time.

VIEW THIS EXPERIENCE

Grade 4, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 9

Water Rangers

Empowering students to take the health of our water and watersheds in their hands. Take a virtual journey downstream with CPAWS.

VIEW THIS EXPERIENCE

Grade 3, Grade 4

Aquatic Field Study

Using modern field equipment, chemical testing and field guides, students will engage in this hands-on exploration of a local aquatic ecosystem.

VIEW THIS EXPERIENCE

Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12, Grade 8

What Our Educators Think

The CPAWS guide (Vanessa) was incredible!! She was amazing with connecting with the newcomer kids and made the content perfect for their age and language levels.

- Foothills Immigrant Community Services
Sheri’s expertise, enthusiasm and encouragement allowed them to truly interact with their grasslands. Allowing games to act as a vehicle for curriculum kept everyone engaged and allowed for deep learning connections. They all wanted to answer and ask questions, because your program allowed them to each find their own learning spark on the landscape. Moments of hands-on, independent discovery are powerful.

- Kelsey Galbraith, Grade 5 Teacher, Livingstone School, Lundbreck, AB
“The presenter did a great job engaging the students in the material she was presenting. Excellent activities done in the classroom with the students. Additionally, the hike was great! The hike leaders were very knowledgeable and again engaged all the students in various activities to reinforce their understanding. Myself and all my students thoroughly enjoyed the program!”

– Grade 7-9 teacher, Omar Bin Al Khattab School
“Amazing facilitators/educators. I loved how connected they became with the groups, checking in on each of us, providing more scientific knowledge and background and really engaging the children in the learning! Also, after the program, the time during the child surveys watching the connection and how the leaders spoke with a couple of the children was beyond incredible. It is evident how passionate, caring, and wonderful they both are! I loved that, even though some of the scientific language was large the explanation came to help the children understand and really love nature and the natural world!”

– Ms. Langman, K-3 Educator, Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane

What Our Students Think

Thank you CPAWS for the best day EVER! I loved it! I wish I could do the same thing all over again a million times!!

- Grade 4 Student, Livingstone School, Lundbreck, AB
My favourite part? Well, it was everything, because everything was outside. School is just better outside!

- Grade 4 Student, RancheView School, Cochrane, AB
”Thank you for this presentation and thanks again for making me learn about the world's water and for making me to have more interest in Science! Thank you!”

– Grade. 5 student, Black Gold School Division
“The best part of the program was the interactive understanding they provide for the current issues in climate change”

– Grade 12 student, James Fowler School

Frequently Asked Questions

We will meet you at your school or community for indoor programs. Outdoor program options are available in the Calgary region, Kananaskis, and the Pincher Creek region, including Beauvais Lake and Castle Provincial Parks. Visit our Hike Locations page to find directions to each available trail. Please note that we have now set-up back-up locations for all our hiking trails in case of trail closures or local, inclement weather. Please see details on our Hike Locations page.

Yes! We are pleased to work with you to accommodate your groups' needs. We modify locations, routes, pace, activities, and more to ensure everyone has the opportunity to join our experiences in a safe, inclusive, and fun manner.

Please inform us at the time of booking how we can collaborate with you to meet the needs of your group.

Thanks to Adaptable Outdoors, anyone living with mobility challenges who would like to participate in a CPAWS hike is able to do so at Castle or Beauvais Lake Provincial Parks. Adaptable Outdoors provides opportunities for people living with disabilities to experience the benefits of outdoor recreation. By using adaptive equipment, experiences in nature become accessible to people of all abilities.

Contact CPAWS at education@cpaws.org for more information.

Indoor programs typically require movement throughout the room for activities. We can modify activities to meet the needs of your group. Hikes usually entail a 3-5 km trek over a mix of gentle and steep terrain. We will modify the location, route, and terrain based on your group. We can work with you on a community walk location that suites your needs. Everyone is invited to join CPAWS education experiences and we work to be inclusive of all bodies and all abilities.

In-class experiences include two 1-hour visits. Community walks are up to 2 hours and hikes and winter walks are 3 to 4 hours. Bussing is not included. A non-refundable 15% deposit is required to book. If you want to book multiple programs for your school or group, then we offer multi-class discounts:

Number of Classes	In-class Experience Cost	Community Walk Cost	Hike Cost
1	$250/class	$250/class	$400/class
2	$240/class	$225/class	$375/class
3	$230/class	$225/class	$375/class
4	$220/class	$225/class	$375/class
5	$210/class	$225/class	$375/class

We don’t want your class or group to feel excluded by fees! Please contact us at education@cpaws.org for flexible payment options.

As our programs are in high demand, it is our expectation that you will make every effort to maintain your bookings.

If extenuating circumstances warrant cancellation of a program (like extreme weather, road closures, family emergency, etc.) we will attempt to reschedule programs rather than cancel.

We encourage all facilitators to inform us of any circumstances that may prevent the delivery of a program with as much notice as possible. Our cancellation policy is as follows:

1 month prior to booking: 85% refund - there is a 15% non-refundable deposit at the time of booking
29 to 14 days prior to booking: 50% refund
Less than 2 weeks prior to booking: no refund

It is our intention to continue the program rain or shine! Participants must be prepared for all weather conditions. Appropriate footwear, raingear, sunscreen, and hats and mitts are recommended. It is your responsibility to ensure all participants are prepared for the weather prior to leaving (check them as they board the bus). Guides will refuse service to participants that are ill-prepared for the day.

We do have some items (toques, gloves, snow pants, boots, etc.) to loan participants in the case they are missing items. However, we only carry enough for a few participants, not an entire group.

In the event of weather conditions that affect participant safety, the trip will be rescheduled and/or stopped (if the group is already onsite).

No, you need to arrange for your own transportation. If you book a bus for wilderness trips outside of Calgary, the bus AND bus driver must remain on site. The bus driver cannot hike with the group. Please confirm this at the time of booking the bus, to ensure the bus will remain on site and the bus driver is prepared to remain with the bus for the day.

We have now set-up back-up locations for all our hiking trails in case of trail closures or local, inclement weather. This will allow us to pivot to a nearby trail without having to cancel your booking. Please confirm the back-up plan with your bus company. The location pairings are listed here: Hike Locations.

For…	Book by…
Fall programs	June
Winter programs	November
Spring programs	December

Education

Youth Experiences

Inspiring youth conservationists

Select an experience to get started

Edu-Kit

Community Science

Wild Wellness

Why Grasslands?

Water Rangers

Aquatic Field Study

What Our Educators Think

- Foothills Immigrant Community Services

- Kelsey Galbraith, Grade 5 Teacher, Livingstone School, Lundbreck, AB

– Grade 7-9 teacher, Omar Bin Al Khattab School

– Ms. Langman, K-3 Educator, Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane

What Our Students Think

- Grade 4 Student, Livingstone School, Lundbreck, AB

- Grade 4 Student, RancheView School, Cochrane, AB

– Grade. 5 student, Black Gold School Division

– Grade 12 student, James Fowler School

Frequently Asked Questions

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