New to Little Nomads?
LIttle Nomad sessions always start with a meet, greet and drop off with parents. This is a good time to tell us if there’s anything we need to be aware of for the session (late to bed, stuffy nose…all the details help us!).
From there we settle into a welcome group time where we listen to our ideas for the session, decide on what we’d all like to learn about and explore, sing some songs and read a story. We love to include our learners in the plans for the sessions as they often have even better ideas than we do!
Then it’s time to explore! Depending on the programme you have joined us on, we will explore the environment and spend the majority of the session learning and engaging with our friends and educators.
Social snack time is an important part of each session. Keeping your body fueled is not only a necessity when you’re busy in the outdoors, but snack time also offers great opportunities for personal, social and emotional development, as well as important reflection time on the activities we will continue with next.
At the end of our session, we have another group time where we reflect on what we learnt, what we enjoyed, what we want to do more of and what ‘wonders’ we have. This provides us with our plans for the next sessions including what materials to bring and what we are going to provide the children with to develop skills and enhance learning.
You can refer to our scheduling calendar to find out what locations are on offer each term. The seasons play a big role in the locations we choose and what we think will provide the best learning opportunities for our Little Nomads. We will update you via our parent blog and by group message to let you know of any updates or changes to locations. We stay at the same location for at least 4 weeks (and usually longer) so you can easily plan your pick up and drop offs.
We believe there is no such thing as bad weather…so appropriate clothing is key! Everyone knows that Vancouver weather can be rather wet and a little unpredictable at times. Our Little Nomads need to come prepared for anything, so we recommend good quality rain pants, rain jackets and boots as a priority. Layers are then crucial as are good hats and mittens. We can recommend some companies that supply some great outdoor clothing for kids if you would like some advice.
You will also need to provide a healthy snack, water and a backpack with a change of clothes in it for each session
We carry warm water and soap with us for handwashing before snack time. Most of our locations are close to washrooms, but we are also not averse to some outdoor bathroom breaks if our Little Nomads are desperate! We will need you to make sure your child has been to the bathroom just before the session starts.
Our programmes are primarily for 3-5 year olds. If your child is almost 3 and you’re interested in enrolling them in Little Nomads, contact us and we can discuss it with you.
Fees and scheduling
To enable us to provide the most flexibility to families, we run our sessions in 4 week blocks. At the time of booking you can choose to book 4, 8 or 12 weeks at a time depending on how much flexibility your family needs. During each 4 week block you will then need to choose between 2 or 4 sessions per week, which will determine the locations you’ll be joining us at.
We ask you to sign up for a minimum of 2 sessions a week so that the children can start to build positive, strong relationships with us as their educators and with their friends. Consistency and continuity are important and we want children to come to Little Nomads feeling safe and secure with us and with their learning spaces.
You will get billed the entire amount for the program (2 or 4 day) and blocks (4 ,8 or 12) you choose at the time of booking. We are happy to manage instalments for families upon request.
If you withdraw your child from Little Nomads for any reason, we require at least 4 weeks notice.
We do not offer refunds for missed classes, but if for some reason your child cannot make the session, we will offer you an alternative session if there is space.
When you sign up to become part of the Little Nomads community, you will pay a one off membership fee of $100. This gives you individual access to your child’s online learning journal, monthly blog posts, as well as weekly newsletters and updates. It will also give you priority over external families when making bookings and securing your preferred program.
General Information
We always work on a ratio of 1 adult to 5 child maximum. We find that this gives children the ability to be ‘free’, develop their own relationships and connections with peers and with the environment, but is also the ideal educator/child ratio for personalised learning and development.
No! Little Nomads sessions are drop off, but you are always welcome to stay and play if you would like. We value parent partnerships so if you want to volunteer your time during a session once your child is settled, feel free to ask us.
We always carry a first aid kit with us and all members of the team are first aid trained.
We hold public liability insurance that covers the outdoor spaces that we use.