Until we can celebrate TD Tree Days together in-person again, we encourage you to explore the outdoors with imagination and care. Try the introduction to forest therapy to connect with nature in new ways and explore the Fall in love with nature activity guide which features fun activities, courtesy of organizations supported by the TD Ready Commitment.

Activity Guide

The Fall in Love with Nature activity guide† (4 mb) can help you and your family explore the outdoors by connecting with Nature through suggested fun activities and introducing you to forest therapy. These fun activities are set out below and are courtesy of community organizations supported by the TD Ready Commitment:

• Nature Conservancy of Canada: Learn how to become a Citizen Scientist by taking photos of plants and animals and uploading them to the iNaturalist app.
• Birds Canada: Learn the basics of how to identify birds by their songs.
• Les Amis de la montagne: Learn about the shapes, colours and textures of items found in nature.
• Park People: Create your own artwork from items found in nature including leaves, sticks, bark, pebbles, seedpod, nuts, berries, petals, sand that you may find on a forest floor
• Earth Rangers: A nature scavenger hunt which can be completed by yourself or with your family.
• TRACKS Youth Program: A chance to learn how to identify trees in any season by creating bark rubbings, which integrates Indigenous Traditional Knowledge teachings.

De-stress with a forest therapy activity by Carolynne Crawley

Carolynne Crawley, certified Forest Therapy Guide, has prepared a podcast and video for you to learn about, and experience, forest therapy. As she explains in her podcast and video, this activity helps us slow down, quiet our busy minds, tune in to our senses and connect with nature. The practice is inspired by shinrin-yoku, which translates as “bathing in the forest atmosphere” or "forest bathing," part of a national program to reduce stress in Japan in the early 1980s. Connecting with nature is also an ancient and modern practice used by Indigenous peoples to cultivate a deep relationship with the land. Today, forest therapy helps people all over the world experience the outdoors in a new way.

Explore forest therapy with Carolynne in the following ways. Whichever way you choose to participate, ensure that you are standing or sitting safely, and that you are aware of your surroundings.

• Watch a forest therapy simulation prepared by Carolynne (video at the top of this page) to get a sense of what a forest therapy activity is like. You can also download a transcript of the video (44 kb)†.
• Download this podcast† (27.2 mb), or a transcript of the podcast (79 kb)†,and take it with you next time you head outdoors to any natural setting. You may choose to download the podcast over WiFi and use headphones while listening. Throughout the podcast, Carolynne has left intentional pauses that are meant to give you time for reflection within your surroundings, so during those pauses consider removing one headphone to better hear your environment.

†By clicking on any one or more or all of these links you are accessing a third-party video, podcast and/or their transcriptions prepared by the third-party who is solely responsible for their contents. The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are not responsible for and do not guarantee any results from the video, podcast and/or their transcriptions.