Welcome To Saplings 

Welcome to Saplings Outdoor Program,

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Saplings began in 2011 in the simplest possible way — I was trying to create a childhood that felt right for my own children.

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I didn’t set out to build an organization. I wasn’t thinking about multiple sites or programs. I just wanted a place where children could spend their days outside, form real friendships, and be known by the adults caring for them. A place where learning happened because life was happening — not because someone had planned every minute.

So we started small. One group. One park. A handful of families willing to try something a little slower and a little muddier.

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Very quickly, I realized I wasn’t the only parent looking for this. Families began asking if we could stay longer, come back next year, or open in another neighbourhood. Schools invited us to partner. Communities welcomed us in. Each step of growth happened because people wanted to belong to what they were experiencing.

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From the beginning, Saplings has never been about taking children out of the real world — it has been about placing them deeply inside it. Children climb hills together, solve conflicts beside a log, take responsibility for younger peers, and learn that they are capable because they are trusted.

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My own upbringing shaped this more than I understood at first. My grandmother helped introduce the Reggio Approach to Canada, and I grew up around the idea that children are thoughtful people whose ideas deserve to be taken seriously. At Saplings, that doesn’t show up as a philosophy on paper — it shows up in educators listening, documenting, and allowing days to unfold with intention rather than urgency.

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Over the years Saplings has grown to include preschool, childcare, after-school programs, and community partnerships across different locations, but the heart has stayed the same. Children return year after year not because the activities repeat, but because the relationships do.

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We are not trying to recreate school outdoors. We are protecting a version of childhood that is increasingly rare — one where children have time to wonder, move, negotiate, and grow within a steady community. Saplings exists because families trusted us early on, and it continues because each new group of children teaches us again how capable they truly are.

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Thank you for being part of this community and for sharing these days outside with us.

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With appreciation,
Heather Fraser
Founder