Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO)

Introducing one of our keynote speakers for our upcoming The Strength of Play: Living, Learning and Leading with Nature Conference on September 25 - 27 at Camp Muskoka... Dr. Beverlie Dietze!

Swipe for more info or check out our website: https://www.coeo.org/fall-conference-english/

Register here if you haven't already: https://tally.so/r/b5MJj6

Links also in our Instagram bio!

Join Us for the 2026 COEO Pre-Conference Workshop! 🌲✨

In today's evolving landscape, systemic advocacy for Outdoor and Experiential Education (OEE) is more vital than ever. Kick off your conference weekend with Cultivating the Heart Connection: Strategic Advocacy for OEE in Ontario on Friday, September 25th (2:00–5:30 PM) at Camp Muskoka!

Bring your voice to a dynamic panel and hands-on breakout sessions where we’ll build an actionable advocacy framework to influence school boards and the Ministry of Education. Your insights will directly shape COEO's 3–5 year provincial advocacy strategy and a new public toolkit!

🗓 When: Friday, September 25 | 2:00 PM – 5:30 PM

📍 Where: Camp Muskoka 🎟

Cost: $12 (includes refreshments & dinner)

Register here (link also in Instagram bio): https://tally.so/r/7R0Lez

⭐ Deadline Extended! ⭐ Nominations are open for COEO's Annual Awards until August 15! ⭐

COEO's annual awards are presented at our Fall Conference and offer an important opportunity to celebrate some of the amazing work happening within the field of outdoor education and learning. There are awards for COEO members and non-members (individuals and organizations) and we are keen to receive nominations so we can acknowledge and celebrate this important work! Nominations are accepted through an online form available on COEO's website until August 15th.

Please share with those who may be interested and check out https://www.coeo.org/recognition/ for more details!

💚 REMINDER: Early Bird registration for our Annual Fall Conference, The Strength of Play: Living, Learning and Leading with Nature, closes tomorrow! We can't wait to see you there! 💚

To learn more about the conference, please visit our website (link also in Instagram bio!): https://www.coeo.org/fall-conference-english/ We are happy to be offering group rates for 3 or more people.

Pour en savoir plus sur la conférence, veuillez consulter notre site web: https://www.coeo.org/fall-conference-french/ Nous sommes ravis de proposer des tarifs de groupe pour les inscriptions de 3 personnes ou plus. Le tarif de préinscription se termine le 7 août.

COEO's annual elections are coming up! Are you interested in running for our volunteer Board of Directors? Nominations are due August 23rd to be included in the list of candidates that will be sent out to the membership before the election at our Annual General Meeting. Nominations are also accepted on the floor during our Annual General Meeting (Sunday, September 27, 2025 at Camp Muskoka). Access more information and the nomination form here: https://tally.so/r/jaq06E (link also in Instagram bio!)

Early Bird Registration for our Annual Fall Conference, The Strength of Play: Living, Learning and Leading with Nature, closes in just a few days on August 7th! Register today if you haven't already!

To learn more about the conference, please visit our website (link also in Instagram bio!). We are happy to be offering group rates for 3 or more people. Early bird pricing ends August 7th.

Pour en savoir plus sur la conférence, veuillez consulter notre site web. Nous sommes ravis de proposer des tarifs de groupe pour les inscriptions de 3 personnes ou plus. Le tarif de préinscription se termine le 7 août.

📣 REMINDER: 📣 Nominations are open for COEO's Annual Awards until August 10!

COEO's annual awards are presented at our Fall Conference and offer an important opportunity to celebrate some of the amazing work happening within the field of outdoor education and learning. There are awards for COEO members and non-members (individuals and organizations), and we are keen to receive nominations so we can acknowledge and celebrate this important work! Nominations are accepted through an online form available on COEO's website until August 10th. Please share with those who may be interested and check out https://www.coeo.org/recognition/ for more details!

🍂 FINAL REMINDER! 🍂 The call for presenters for our annual fall conference closes tomorrow (Tuesday, July 21). To submit a proposal, visit our website: https://tally.so/r/9q4olV (link also in Instagram bio!)

L'appel à conférenciers se termine le mardi 21 juillet. Pour soumettre une proposition, veuillez consulter notre site web: https://tally.so/r/2EoDop

Le Conseil des éducateurs en plein air de l'Ontario (COEO) est ravi d'inviter des conférenciers à son prochain congrès d'automne, dont le thème est “S'epannouir par de jeu: Vivre, apprendre et guider au cœur de la nature”. Nous invitons tout éducateur ou praticien qui intègre le jeu dans sa pratique à venir partager ses connaissances et ses expériences. Nous accueillons également toute personne qui inclut le plein air dans sa pratique et possède des informations dont les éducateurs en plein air pourraient bénéficier (par exemple : travailleurs sociaux, ergothérapeutes, orthophonistes, spécialistes de l'inclusion, intervenants auprès des enfants et des jeunes, artistes, thérapeutes, chercheurs).
Exemples de sujets de présentation potentiels:
- Le jeu comme moyen de tisser des relations significatives avec les communautés autochtones
- Développer une relation avec la terre par le jeu
- Le jeu en plein air comme moyen de renforcer les liens sociaux
- Le partage de connaissances intergénérationnel à travers le jeu en plein air
- Le jeu risqué et la gestion des risques dans la nature
- Le jeu comme vecteur pour comprendre les impacts environnementaux et les risques pour tous les êtres vivants
- Utiliser le jeu comme un outil délibéré pour se connecter à la nature
- Le jeu comme outil de décolonisation de l'éducation
- Le rôle du jeu en plein air dans le renforcement de l'esprit d'équipe pour tous les âges
- Le jeu en plein air comme outil de développement de l'empathie
- Modéliser des processus scientifiques à travers des jeux
- Associer l'imagination et le jeu en plein air pour développer les compétences en littératie, en mathématiques et en sciences
- Relier le programme scolaire à l'apprentissage en plein air
- Le rôle du jeu en plein air dans le développement des compétences de régulation émotionnelle

Cette liste n'est en aucun cas exhaustive et toutes les personnes qui souhaitent présenter sont vivement encouragées à poser leur candidature. La date limite pour postuler est le mardi 21 juillet 2026. Veuillez utiliser ce formulaire pour soumettre une proposition: https://tally.so/r/2EoDop

📣 Call for Presenters is closing on Tuesday, July 21st! Apply today if you haven't already! 📣

The Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario is excited to invite presenters to our upcoming fall conference themed "The Strength of Play: Living, Learning, and Leading with Nature". We welcome any educator or practitioner who uses play in their practice to consider sharing their knowledge and experiences. We also welcome anyone who incorporates the outdoors as part of their practice who has information that they think outdoor educators would benefit from (for example: social workers, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, inclusion specialists, child and youth workers, artists, therapists, researchers).
Some potential presentation topics could include:
- Play as a way to build meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities
- Building relationship with the land through play
- Outdoor play as a way to build social connection
- Intergenerational knowledge sharing through outdoor play
- Risky play and risk management in nature
- Play as an avenue for understanding environmental impacts and risk to all beings
- Using play as a deliberate tool to connect with nature
- Play as a tool to decolonize education
- The role of outdoor play in team building for all ages
- Outdoor play as an empathy building tool
- Modeling scientific processes through games
- Pairing imagination and outdoor play for building literacy, math and science skills
- Connecting curriculum to outdoor learning
- The role of outdoor play for building emotional regulation skills
- Outdoor math games for preschool and beyond
- Play and nature journaling
- Outdoor play as a way to understand history and the link it has to today
- Advocating for the right to play outdoors

This is by no means an exhaustive list and all who wish to present are encouraged to apply. The deadline to apply is Tuesday July 21, 2026. Please use this form to apply: xhttps://tally.so/r/9q4olV (link also in Instagram bio)