We discover that the Chickadees prefer bare hands. The children's excitement and smiles from cheek to cheek are so beautiful to see. We feel more connected. We encourage the children to notice how they feel closer to the Chickadees. "Until next time, we hope your belly is full," we say before leaving our place with the Chickadees. Connecting and Documenting-Jennifer Casale In the colder months, we see the Chickadees flying overhead seeking out some yummy food. The children are so curious about why they come, how they are so gentle and why they tickle their hands. When we walk through the forest, we notice the sap buckets on the Aninaatigoog/Maple Trees. The children and staff inquire about them. What are they? Why are they on the trees? How does the liquid form? We slowly notice that the buckets are filling up. What do you think they will use it for? Maple syrup. Some of the children talk about their own experience with maple syrup: "I put it in my pancakes." We wonder how the maple syrup gets to the store - "A big truck comes." We share stories, drawings and photographs with families over Storypark: We had a great time this morning at the pond. We always see turtles, frogs and dragonflies. The children love to observe what is happening around them. Today they wanted to pull out their crayons and paper to draw. "I'm making a turtle" D.L. "I'm making a flower" A.S. "It's a frog like the one in the water. A baby frog and a mommy frog" B.R.M. E.M wanted to take a picture of everyone, so he asked me for the IPad to document what they were doing. The picture with everyone in it was taken by E.M. It is so nice to be able to get out and explore the outdoor environment. We wondered about what we are going to see next week... Is anything going to be different? Will the frogs and turtles still be there? Planting the Seeds of Sustainability In (re)learning our connection to the Land as teacher, we have been part of a faculty team involving Olga Rossovska, Bora Kim and Lyndsay Macdonald who worked in collaboration with Humber Indigenous Education & Engagement in the Fall of 2021, to co-develop and launch a new course called Two-Eyed Land-Based Play and Co-Learning as part of the Humber Early Childhood Education program (Yard, 2021). Taking place on the land and co-taught by Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty, co-learning engages Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Holders, mentors and students in the learning process. In connecting with spirit, heart, mind and body through land-based experiences, stories and sharing circles, learners gain an applied understanding on how to engage children, families and other professionals regularly and intentionally in respectful, reciprocal and responsible relationships with All Our Relations (place, plant-life, animals and other-than-human beings in various ecosystems). As part of ongoing reflection, students and faculty created #reflections on their time spent on and with the Land. #fun, #team, #Elder Albert Marshall, #calm, #ThePatient Heron, #Connection, #Relationship #Waabooz, #BlueJayIsMyNatureName, #Chest Nut, #Spirit, #FallColours, #OctoberMoon #DrawingIsFun, #Akimeansland, #Snails AreCool, #Biimishodisii, #Anishinaabemowin #Braiding Wiingashk/Sweetgrass, #Plant Names, #SumacIsEdible, #MintTea, #NatureLearning #Fire, #ConnectingWithPeers While the Two-Eyed Land-Based Play and Co-Learning course was offered as a hybrid this past fall, in winter 2022, it will be offered fully on the Land in the Humber Arboretum as it was originally envisioned. (Rejconnecting to Land, the stories of Autumn and tasting Sumac tea harvested in the late summer (Zimanyi) References Marshall, A. (2018). Learning together by learning to listen to each other. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/learning-together- learning-listen/ Marshall, A. (2020). Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing Event at Humber. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plcjf1nUck Rossovska, O. & Zimanyi, L., with Short, L., Singh, A., Beard K., Casale, J., Silvestro, A, & Garcia, W. (2020). I speak Frog: Storying seasonal narratives of children's common worlds. eceLINK The Peer Reviewed Collection 4(1), pp. 11-20. Retrieved from https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx. cloudfront.net/aeceo/pages/2524/attachments/original/1595879343/ eceLINK Summer_2020_i_speak frog.pdf?1595879343 Trent Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Science (TRACKS). Hosted byTrent University within Indigenous Environmental Studies and Sciences Program (IESS). Retrieved from https://www. tracksprogram.ca/ Yard, B. (2021, January 18). Two-Eyed Seeing: Humber's new Early Childhood Education initiative aims to change the way we think about land-based play. Humber Today. Retrieved from https://humber.ca/ today/news/two-eyed-seeing Zimanyi, L. & Beard, K. (2016). Forest Nature Program Outreach and Engagement Strategy. Humber College. Zimanyi, L., Keeshig, H.), & Short. L. (2020). Children make connections to Aki (Earth) through Anishinaabe teachings. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/ children-make-connections-to-aki-earth-through-anishinaabe- teachings-133669 Zimanyi, L. & Rossovska, O. (2020, online first). Who is John the snail and when can we meet him?: Parent perspectives on their children's engagement in a forest nature program. Journal of Innovation in Polytechnic Education. Toronto, ON: Humber Press. Retrieved from http://humberpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Jipe- Zimanyi-Rossovska-Final.pdf Zimanyi, L. & Short, L. The Willow Trees Talk to Us: Thinking with Place and (Restoring Young Children's Encounters in a Forest Nature Program. Symposium presentation, October 2018. Retrieved from https:// lawson.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/5-Louise-Zimanyi-PPT- 2018-with-video.pdf Louise Zimanyi & Lynn Short Louise Zimanyi is a Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellness at Humber College. Louise's work, research, and advocacy focuses on young children's play and learning, particularly in outdoor and natural spaces. Lynn Short is currently the Environmental Stewardship Coordinator for the Humber Arboretum. Lynn is also the Indigenous Curriculum Specialist for Land and Culture Based Programs at Humber College. She believes that children require opportunities to get to know and respect "all of our relations" in the outdoors. Faris Khan, Asima Shahid & Jennifer Casale Faris Khan, RECE, graduated from Humber College with a ECE diploma. He has been working at the Humber Child Development Centre since 2015 and enjoys truly connecting to the land. Asima Shahid is a registered ECE, with a BSc. in Psychology and an ECE diploma from Humber College. Asima has been at the Humber College lab school for 13 years. Her biggest inspiration is young children's eagerness to learn. Jennifer Casale is a registered ECE, with a B.AS, ECE and an ECE diploma. She has been at Humber Child Development Centre for 9 years. Jennifer has a passion for teaching and creating nurturing relationships with children, families, staff, and the community. 18 PLAY OUTDOORS WINTER 2022 19 PLAY OUTDOORS WINTER 2022 How Waabooz/ Rabbit Got its Brown Fur: Winter Explorations and Stories Louise Zimanyi & Lynn Short with Faris Kahn, Asima Shahid & Jennifer Casale Four-year old Fariah feels happy when she is out in the Humber Arboretum. "I like to explore and make snow angels." When asked to describe the happy feeling, she pauses and says, "the air smells good." The snowfall the night before makes it easy to see the tracks ahead. We try to guess who has been here before us. Is it Waawaashkeshi/ Deer? The tracks are too big for Misko-Bineshiinh (red bird)/ Northern Cardinal. It is Waabooz/rabbit, an Eastern Cottontail! We learn from Lynn that Waabooz means rabbit in Anishinaabemowin. When there is snow on the ground, only then can Lynn share the story of how Waabooz got his brown fur, a teaching that was gifted from Onaubinisay (Elder Jim Dumont). As we sip our cups of mint tea made in the kelly kettle, we listen to what happens when you do not have good intentions. Every animal and plant has a story, a teaching, a gift. On our way back for lunch, we pass the frozen pond etched with lines and circles. Nibi (water in Anishinaabemowin) looks different when it is ice and snow. We wonder how Omagakii/Frog and Miskwaadesi/Turtle are doing deep below. Another day we will hand-feed hungry Gijigijigaaneshiinyag/Chickadees under blue- gray skies. Gaabikanang Ziibi, the river of the flat rocks, also known as the Humber River (Short) Acknowledging and Honouring the Land Winter offers many invitations for children, families and Early Childhood Educators from the Humber Child Development Centre, as well as the Early Childhood Education students and faculty, to explore and connect to and with the stories of the Lands and Waters of the Humber Arboretum. Humber College and the Humber Arboretum are located within the traditional and treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, known as Adoobligok, the "Place of the Alders" in the Michi Saagiig language. The region is uniquely situated along Gaabikanang Ziibi, the river of the flat rocks, also known as the Humber River and within the Humber River watershed, which historically provided an integral connection for Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples between the Ontario Lakeshore and the Lake Simcoe/Georgian Bay regions. Now home to people of numerous nations, Adoobligok continues to provide a vital source of interconnection for all. For the past decade, Humber's Early Childhood Education program has translated the importance and benefits of outdoor and nature-based play through its award-winning forest nature program (Zimanyi & Beard, 2016; Burdi, 2019). It has also published both research on parent perspectives of their children's experiences in the forest nature program (Zimanyi & Rossovska, 2020), as well as collective writings to (re)story seasonal narratives of children's common worlds (Rossovska & Zimanyi with Short et al., 2020). Listening to stories inspires our own storytelling (Thiang) Walking Together Aligned with the mandate of Humber's strategic pillars (2018) and the new Indigenous Education Plan (2021), we have been embracing Etuaptmumk, Two-Eyed Seeing in the Mi'kmaq language. This concept of Two-Eyed Seeing, which has been brought forth by Elder Albert Marshall, is about learning to see the strengths of Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing with one eye, and from the other eye see the strengths of non-Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing. With these two ways of seeing, the strengths of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing are brought together for the benefit of all including Mother Earth (2018; 2020). In walking together (Zimanyi, Keeshig & Short, 2020), Two- Eyed, Land-Based Play celebrates: Land as teacher. Respectful, reciprocal and responsible relationships with the land and each other. Wholism: engaging spirit, heart, mind and body in balance and together. Personal, social and intergenerational knowledge. Connections to local ecosystems following natural seasons and rhythms. Infusion of the teachings of Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders. . The energy and medicines of the land, place-based stories, sharing circle learning. Risk as part of real-life experiences. Early Childhood Educators, Faris Khan, Asima Shahid and Jennifer Casale, at the Humber Child Development Centre, create stories through their land-based connections with toddlers and preschoolers. Connecting with Omagakii/Frog-Asima Shahid Taking a few more steps every day, our toddlers are able to explore whole new habitats in the marshy wetlands of the Humber Arboretum. Daily, the toddlers gain exposure to the different elements that make up this ecosystem, expanding their knowledge about the natural world. In the summer months, a toddler spotted a green Omagakii/Frog hopping around the pond. When it was pointed out, the entire class followed to observe Frog and the swimming tadpoles. Learning about the lifecycle of Frog and the different croaks it makes kept us busy. Always looking for Frog at the ponds, the toddlers ask where Frog goes when the weather is cooler. To further support our learning, we have been using TRACKS (Trent Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Science) educational materials to weave Indigenous teachings with Western scientific concepts. Providing the toddlers with early exposure to a "Two-Eyed" way of learning, the TRACKS booklets assist us in deepening our Indigenous ecological knowledge and fields of study with new strategies on how to approach the interconnectedness of the natural world. Connecting with Gijigijigaaneshiinyag/ Chickadees-Faris Khan Through trails and meadows, we hear the songs of Gijigijigaaneshlinyag/Chickadees high in the trees and wonder, "How do Chickadees find food in the winter?" As educators, we intentionally listen to the dialogues the children have with one another. Walking with the changing season and through our conversations, we connect with and create relationships with Chickadee. Patiently waiting and quietly whistling, a first and brave soft-footed Chickadee lands gently on an outstretched hand. Steady palms and quiet voices are a welcoming gesture to the adventurous Chickadees. Connecting with Gijigijigaaneshiinyag/Chickadees (Khan) 16 PLAY OUTDOORS WINTER 2022 17 PLAY OUTDOORS WINTER 2022