You’re Invited: A Hungry Caterpillar Garden Party at Canadian International School’s Outdoor Discovery Centre

Celebrate the opening of the new Outdoor Discovery Centre at Canadian International School with a delightful garden party for little ones!

Canadian International School (CIS) has just opened the amazing new Kindergarten Outdoor Discovery Centre at its Lakeside Campus, and they want you and your littles to help celebrate, mama! If you fondly recall childhoods filled with fresh air, mud between your toes, and lush green gardens – or want your child to experience the same – then you’ve got to be there on Thursday, 12 November for a Very Hungry Caterpillar-themed Garden Party!

There will be heaps to do, including a multilingual story corner, “Baby Caterpillar’s obstacle course” where you can learn more about the fantastic CIS PE programme, activities in the Green Leaf Eco Garden, and an arts station for creating butterfly and caterpillar crowns!

Much more than just a playground, the Outdoor Discovery Centre is an outdoor learning space that’s almost an extension of the indoor classrooms, filled with textures, sounds and smells that kiddos just won’t find anywhere else. Offering spaces where children can run around as well as areas where they can withdraw and quietly reflect, the Outdoor Discovery Centre above all lets children interact with nature. This has actual academic benefits, and boosts social skills as well!

Here are some of our favourite features of the Outdoor Discovery Centre:

Gorgeous Waterways

With a natural pond, waterfall, and even small flowing stream, there’s a full balanced ecosystem for kiddos to discover, replete with fish, turtles, aquatic plants and algae along with colourful dragonflies and other fascinating insects living nearby. It’s truly a living biology lesson!

The Mud Kitchen

Anyone who’s ever made mud pies knows that it’s basically the most fun thing ever. CIS has formally recognised this with its amazing “Mud Kitchen”, where kiddos can actually go barefoot to feel the wonderful sensation of mud between their toes. This is especially important in Singapore since so many children live in condos and don’t get to enjoy the marvelous sensory experiences gained when interacting with nature in this way.

Kiddos can also build sculptures with the mud and play with water through various pouring and measuring activities. This is not your basic water table, mama: kids here have their own sink and access to water, and through it all they’re actually honing math concepts like volume, capacity, and measurements!

Vegetable and Herb Garden

Cultivating and growing plants obviously develops science skills (including research and observation), while also teaching kiddos where food actually comes from and the power of healthy eating. But perhaps the neatest aspect of this area is the empathy and sense of responsibility it cultivates in the children who care for the plants.

Sound Garden

No black holes in here, mama! This lively zone features chimes, plastic and aluminum buckets, bells, sticks, and beads, allowing children to experiment with concepts like pitch and tone. It’s yet another sensory experience that’s probably best served outside (vastly preferable to your living room, we’re going to guess!).

Bicycle Track, Grassy hills and Tunnels

It’s almost as if they’ve recreated Hobbiton! These features are perfect for developing children’s gross motor skills and playing lots of fun games like ‘king of the hill’ and ‘hide and seek’. Children can also use the tunnels as a place to withdraw to for peace and reflection.

Art Wall

If the sound garden is a place for banging and bopping, the art wall is a place for quieter reflection. Here, while collaborating on murals through a variety of media and observing the flowers and leaves found in the nearby garden, children will learn how many famous artists have been inspired by nature and the environment. Kiddos will be encouraged to explore, investigate, and even develop literary skills through writing and creating shapes on the wall.

Which sounds best to you, mama? Littlies will be having so much fun, we’re not sure they’ll even realise all the concepts and skills they’re building. To see this amazing resource for yourself, be sure to book a spot at the Kindergarten Outdoor Discovery Centre Launch on Thursday, 12 November!

All the details!
Where: Canadian International School (Lakeside Campus), 7 Jurong West Street 41, Singapore 649414
When: Thursday, 12 November, 9.30-11.30am
How much: FREE!
RSVP: Register here! Book soon as places are limited!

Click here for all the deets, mama! And if you can’t make the party, just book yourself a personal tour!

Canadian International School Lakeside Campus, 7 Jurong West Street 41, Singapore 649414
Tel: (+65) 6467 1732, www.cis.edu.sg