This is a continuation of our Inspired By Nature series, where we highlight Canadians who are dedicated to sharing the health benefits of nature by getting others outside and unplugged. Know someone who we should feature? Email news@bcparksfoundation.ca.
Meet Marie-Andree Racine from The Little Explorers
My name is Marie-Andree and I’m a mom of two boys (a 3 and 1 year old). I moved from Quebec to Squamish, B.C. 13 years ago and I’ve been absolutely loving what B.C. has to offer. I love extreme sports like rock climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, skateboarding and I’ve also been enjoying hiking and camping in our beautiful mountains and landscape. I’m always ready to go on an adventure and I’ve just been loving teaching my kids everything about nature and the great outdoors.
We are so lucky to have an incredible trail network here in B.C. and I’ve been loving to explore the trails and go for family bike rides or for hikes everywhere we visit. Having kids never stopped us from exploring, it just makes the adventure even more interesting! We love to camp (all year round) and have been bringing the kids since day one, there never too young for a great camping adventure!
I also love to spend some ME time rock climbing. I’ve been climbing for almost a year now and I’m absolutely HOOKED! It’s amazing the places we can get to with a rope, a harness and some climbing shoes. I cannot wait to explore the outdoor even deeper with this new passion of mine.
Getting outside
Our home, Squamish is the outdoor recreation capital of Canada so there is a lot to explore here. I’ll have to say it’s one of my favourite places to adventure, not just because it’s also where I live. Some of our favourite spots here are Squamish Valley, the Estuary and Stawamus Chief Provincial Park.
Vacation wise, our number one family vacation place to go has to be Tofino, there is so much to do out there and there is something really special about being by the ocean. Endless beaches, beautiful rain forest and so many different plant and animal species to observe. We absolutely love it out there.
The Little Explorers
When I was on maternity leave with my first son Jackson, I was always looking to connect with other like-minded moms and go on adventures but I had a hard time finding an adventure partner each day. I decided to start a family adventure Facebook group that I called The Little Explorers and it quickly grew from there. I realized a lot of new parents were afraid of getting out with their children on their own and simply didn’t know where to go and what to do.
The Little Explorers is an organization, whose purpose is to connect families together while enjoying the outdoors. Our goal is to introduce young children to nature and new sports and have them explore on their own as much as possible while ensuring a fun, and safe environment. The Little Explorers opens new doors for these young families to try out new things through guided adventures and clinics. It also teaches nature’s respect and safety. With a supportive community surrounding us, it feels much better and comfortable trying new things.
We host weekly meet ups that are hosted at different locations each week. It can be anything from a walk at the beach or on a trail, a scavenger hunt, nature crafts, speaker presentation and much more. I also like to introduce new sports to our community. This year so far, we tried out a lot of fun sports like rock climbing, skateboarding, paddle boarding, slack lining and biking. We brought biking to the next level, since it has been so popular and we’ve been hosting bi-weekly bike club rides all year around since June 2018.
Favourite moments with The Little Explorers
This is a hard question because every single day is different and something exciting happens each day! I absolutely love when parents tell me how much this program has changed their life and how much their families values it. Seeing the kids learn and explore deeper and gain confidence each week makes my heart full of joy!
I can recall one of the kid’s favourite moment, it was when we found a salamander by the creek, they observed it and made sure it was safe, they all wanted to give it food and water and they even made it a little home. It was just the cutest thing.
One time we also had a woman from Bear Smart society join us for a scavenger hunt, where she hid a bear skull under some leaves, you should have seen the kids face when they found it. I just love how interested they are in learning and that every little thing in the eyes of children is so impressive. It makes me slow down and enjoy the little things even more now.
Advice if you want to get outside and unplugged, too.
You’ve got to make going outside sound fun to your kids, they love having a mission. Try to not restrict them to much and let them lead the way and explore their own way. Let them get dirty, climb trees or rocks, jump over creeks, balance on logs, crawl on the ground, walk barefoot. These are great ways to connect even deeper with nature and to develop reflexes and agility, coordination, and balance.
I get asked all the time by parents to share my favourite activities and nature crafts with them. I feel like most families want to get out in nature and be creative but they just don’t know what to do. I then decided to create a monthly program called “The Little Explorers Nature Exploration Program.” This program is meant to inspire families and give them ideas to incorporate nature walks and crafts, exploration, and challenges that will make their nature walk even more interesting.