1:30 pm

Did you know that soil is actually extremely rare? In this truly groundbreaking field trip, students will come away understanding the important differences between soil and dirt. They’ll dig deep into the properties and composition of soil, the amendments we add, and the benefits of supporting a healthy underground ecosystem where just one tablespoon could contain 50 billion microbes! We’ll find some of the larger invertebrates commonly found at Loutet Farm and investigate the cycle of compost on-site, where we build our own soil. Your day exploring one of the most species-rich habitats on earth will leave you with a newfound appreciation for the ground beneath your feet and inspiration for building and protecting it.

Whether it’s spring, summer, or fall, there’s constantly more to discover at Loutet Farm! Seasonally, we cultivate vegetables, fruit, and flowers, both for market production and seed saving. Students will learn about the unique growing conditions that come with living in a temperate rainforest, and how we work with the seasons and adapt to changes. You’ll get a chance to identify and taste what we’re currently harvesting and learn about the organic, low-till methods we employ on the North Shore’s first urban farm. Food literacy, life cycles, and farm systems are best learned through hands-on exploration... no matter the season, your hands will be getting dirty!

In a Vancouver Mysteries game your students are the heroes of their own outdoor adventure — they’ll sharpen their deductive reasoning skills while they complete a series of challenges and collect clues to solve a mystery on the streets of downtown Vancouver.

Students are divided into teams of up to 6 players competing for first place in an Amazing Race style game. Points are earned by answering each challenge correctly, completing the game within a time limit, and by being one of the first teams back.

Game kits include a map, game book, worksheet, and any tools required to solve the mystery (examples: magnifying glass, measuring tape). Players use the map to navigate the streets of downtown Vancouver, cracking codes and solving puzzles along the way. Landmarks, sculptures, parks, and historic sites all play their part as the story unfolds.

Games are facilitated by Vancouver Mysteries’ Game Operators who arrive in character as detectives or secret agents to introduce the game and send the teams out on their adventure. At the end of the game, Game Operators meet the teams to calculate their scores and award team certificates.

Choose from any of our three games: Gastown murder mystery Crime in Downtown, downtown spy game Secret Mission and superhero adventure Heroes and Villains.

Need some lesson plan ideas? Check out our Field Trips page to download free lesson plans, access Kahoots! games, and pick our brains for more field trip ideas.

Based on the BC curriculum, Stillwood's Outdoor Eduation Program is designed to take classroom learning outside in a practical and hands-on approach. The program is modular and covers content from K-12, meaning you get to pick and choose what topics you would like for your field trip, no matter what grades you teach.

Our modules include: Water Cycle, Stream Quality & Flow Rate, Bug Catching, Biodiversity Surveying, Wildlife Discovery, Geology & Landforms 

We also facilitate nature hikes and team building sessions! 

Boating:  Enjoy and explore the waters of on Lightning Lake with our boat rentals. Choose your adventure in a two-seater canoe, five-person Mackenzie canoe, rowboat, kayak or a stand-up paddleboard.

We have hourly and day rates available at the Boathouse (located at the Lightning Lake Day Use Area), as well as group rates for boat rentals of 6 boats or more.

Alpine: Manning Park Resort has some of the best snow conditions in B.C. We are located at a charmed intersection between the temperate coastal and dry desert interior regions, which means our powder is top notch! The Ski Hill, open from December to April, is located 10 km east of Manning Park Resort and offers excellent ski and snowboard terrain for beginners to advanced. Equipment rentals and lessons are available.

Snow Tubing: *Not available during the 2020-2021 season due to COVID-19 concerns

On the Forbidden Vancouver Tour you’ll explore Gastown, our city’s oldest neighbourhood. In the late 1910s our Province experimented with prohibition, meaning the sale of alcohol was banned. Enterprising criminals began to make money “bootlegging,” making and selling liquor illegally to a thirsty population. Even some government officials couldn’t resist the temptation to make a quick buck trafficking liquor.

As illegal drinking dens started to pop up throughout the city, the VPD formed a “Dry Squad” to hunt down bootleggers. Eventually mob boss Joe Celona had risen to the top of the city’s underworld, with even the Chief of Police on his payroll. Fighting for prohibition were the temperance union, a patchwork social movement formed by religious leaders, suffragists who wanted the vote for women, business owners, and many in the general population worried about the huge extent of alcohol abuse in Canada in the years leading up to prohibition, and particularly in Vancouver.

Many people of colour and particularly indigenous communities were brutally targeted under prohibition law, which was used by authorities to exert control over marginalized people. While prohibition was eventually repealed, it sadly remained in place for decades in the case of indigenous people. 

Once prohibition came into force south of the border, enterprising sailors made a fortune smuggling liquor down the West Coast in a practice known as “rum-running.” Vancouver’s Reifel family ran the largest rum running operation and would end up one of the country’s richest families. The Canadian government was even in on the act, charging an “export duty” on every case of liquor that left the country.

Discover all this and more on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour! A unique field trip for students from Grade 7 – University.

• Duration – 2 hours
• Start point – Outside Monaco Cafe at 356 Water Street
• End point – Maple Tree Square, Gastown