Resources Library
(Note: this page is under construction)
Primary School and below materials
Downloadable nature cards for age groups 2-6 or 7-11 years old. Topics include urban animals, clouds, reptiles, frogs & much more. Sorted into categories that incorporate play, acting, drawing and more. Downloadable and printable for fun on the go. Created by Children’s Nature Network, published Nov 22 https://www.childrenandnature.org/search/?fwp_fwp_resources_search=%22nature%20activity%20cards%22&mc_cid=cfbb324ec1&mc_eid=025c14a2d4
Downloadable & printable interactive nature based activity books for children. The Evergreen has created and shared five different activity books. Activity books contain fun activities & information to help educate youth on the environment and help connect them to natural spaces. Books were created with specific age ranges in mind (e.g Seed to Sprout Activity Book: class range k-5, My Nature Arts Activity Book: age 7-10). Evergreen works to create cities that are livable, green and prosperous (Toronto based). https://www.evergreen.ca/tools-publications/educator-resources/your-educator-resources/activity-books/?mc_cid=20889c20b6&mc_eid=2358a3c06b
Insect vocabulary flash cards (printable) for young children. Used to teach youngsters more about insects with fun vocabulary words. Can also be printed & cut out to play as a game of memory, place cards face down and take turns trying to find the word and their definition. Created by Victoria Bug Zoo. https://cdn.babysits.com/content/community/community-resources/ca/insectzoo/insect-vocabulary.pdf
Free interactive program created for those k-6 age at school. A virtual learning session created by Bee Canada designed to teach students about pollinators and their impact on the environment. They are in both French and English and broken up according to the age of the student. Published by Bee City Canada, website updated 2023 https://beecitycanada.org/virtual-learning/
Youth focused materials
Composting Kids Resources complied by Victoria Compost Education Center. Webpage contains multiple kid aimed video series on a range of topics such as Biodiversity, Bee’s and Pollen and how to make compost. Created & published by the Victorian Compost Education Center, website updated 2023 https://compost.bc.ca/programsresources/kids-resources/
First Nations Materials
The 13 Moons of the Wsanec is a calendar that has been scanned & the information archived by the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. The 13 moons refer to different stages of the natural world during the year for the Wsanec people. This educational blog page was posed by Garry Fletcher in 2019. https://racerocks.ca/the-13-moons-of-the-wsanec/
Bentwood Box Exhibit: an online archive of items that were placed in a Bentwood Box. This sacred box was Commissioned by the National Center for Truth & Reconciliation as a lasting tribute to those who survived residential schools. Published on University on Manitoba’s National Center for Truth & reconciliation. https://nctr.ca/exhibits/bentwood-box/
The Living Lab has a collection of useful resources on their website. These include the living lab Marine and Plant guide which share the English, Senćoŧen, Lekwungen (Lək̓ ʷiʔnəŋ), and Scientific Names for organisms found in the Coast Salish area. Created by the Living Lab, last updated 2023 https://livinglabproject.ca/resources/
The Victoria Friendship Native Friendship Centre. A non-profit Indigenous-led organization with many amazing resources. Center offers over 75 programs that work to improve socioeconomic conditions for urban Indigenous people. Programs range from Infant Development Programs, Breastfeeding Support, Budgeting Support and Education to Elder & Senior programs (such as Beading Circles). Donation link found on website which helps support the VNFC work (includes providing safe and affordable housing, running of Programs and the Bruce Parisian Library, an Indigenous specific resource). Published by Victoria Native Friendship Centre, website updated 2022. https://vnfc.ca/
All Age Materials
A guide to Nature journaling: a blog entry about Nature Journaling giving an introduction to what is, how to get involved and examples of the authors journal entries. Includes links to additional resources on nature journaling such as prompts and how to guides. Written by Fiona Gillogly and published on the Children’s Nature Network. https://www.childrenandnature.org/resources/falling-in-love-with-nature-through-journaling/?mc_cid=f4b464735c
Huge range of Educational Materials collected by Exploratorium (science museum). Includes resources for teachers/educators/parents and guardians. Examples of materials: Learning Toolbox (everything you need to support science learning from home), Science Snacks (low cost, teacher tested activities for classroom or home), Watch and Do Science (watch videos and carry out experiments with household items), Digital Teaching boxes & much more. Additional resources for advanced ideas about learning at the bottom of webpage. Created by Exploraorium (not for profit) published 2023. https://www.exploratorium.edu/education
Educational resources collected by the Race Rocks Ecological reserve. Has a range of links for educational curriculum, such as assignments with objectives and guides for investigations in the classroom or via distance education. Materials available for age range of middle school to college. Topics include ecosystem services, OceanQuest: A Curriculum Guide, Geology/Geography and much more. Created by Race Rocks Ecological reserve https://racerocks.ca/educational-resources/
Checklist of the Dragonflies and Damselflies we have in the Victoria Region. Includes labelled anatomical drawing of a Dragonfly, and a species list with corresponding G & S rank given (denotes status of the population globally & in British Columbia). Created by the District of Saanich 2010. https://www.saanich.ca/assets/Community/Documents/Environment/naturescape/Dragonfly%20checklist%20for%20victoria%20region.pdf
Large collection of resources that includes tool kits, reports, infographics and advocacy tools designed to help you/your organization connect children, families and communities to nature. Updated regularly with new resources. Target audience are teachers/parents or organizations that work to connect people with nature. Published & created by Children & Nature Network. https://www.childrenandnature.org/resource-hub/resources/
Pollinator Partnership Canada. Website has many great resources for supporting pollinators. Includes a ecological planting guide which gives location specific information on what to plant to support pollinators. Suitable for all types of land management, from small gardens to large farms. Find the planting guides here: https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/en/ecoregional-planting-guides.
Other resources includes seed packets for purchase (cost: $2), online webinar series from 2020 (webinar specific to Vancouver and Gulf islands) that consists of ten 1 hr + videos on topics such as Butterflies, Creating Meadows for Pollinators, Creating Wetlands for Pollinates, Identifying Bees/Pollinators & Urban Habitat for Pollinators.
A Pollinator Stewardship Certification can be gained by moving through this webinar series. Find the webinar and information on the Pollinator Stewardship certification here: https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/en/psc-vancouver-island
Adult focused materials
Free educational materials to assess your burn out level as well as links to YouTube videos about Urban and Wild Foraging and a Herbalism & Activism podcast. These materials are created for adult education and have been collected on the Living Medicine Project website run by Garliq https://www.livingmedicineproject.com/free-stuff
Compost Education Community resources for adult’s page. Webpage contains links and information on where to buy gardening & composting supplies, kitchen scrap/recycling information and how to access soil testing (amongst many other topics). This site is ran by the Compost Education Center in Victoria BC, website update 2023 https://compost.bc.ca/community-resources/
Pacific Salmon Foundation 2022 Annual Report. This website has both the full 17 page report published in June 2023, as well as specific tabs for report highlights, financials & detailed information on programs the Pacific Salmon Foundation support. Programs supported include the Marine Science Program, Salmon Watershed Program & the Community Salmon program. Published by the Pacific Salmon Foundation 2023. https://psf.ca/annual-report-2022/?utm_source=Pacific+Salmon+Foundation&utm_campaign=eb9a65ff8f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_12_09_08_31_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d3daa1bf18-eb9a65ff8f-233271470&mc_cid=eb9a65ff8f&mc_eid=66297bd91d#highlights