Parent-Child Music & Nature Program
for parents and children under 7 in the Quw'utsun Valley
October 10th to December 5th, 2024- 2025
Lila Farm, Vancouver Island
"Children more than ever need opportunities to be in their bodies in the nature ... It’s this engagement between limbs of the body and bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge."
— David Sobel
About this Series
Ages: babes in arms – 7 years, accompanied with an adult caregiver
When: Thursdays, 9:30 am – 12 noon at Lila Farm
October 10th – December 5th (9 weeks)
Come try the first session October 10th for a drop in fee of $45 (for the family), and see if it is a fit.
Led by Claudelle Charette & Cari Burdett
Cost:
Per family: $395 plus GST
Parent and Child Music in Nature Series will include:
- Songs, stories, puppets, verses, and games
- Playtime and outdoor exploration
- Nature crafts, plant, bird, and tree discovery
- Connection to the seasons
- Quiet time (playful rest)
- Gathering around the fire
- Sharing gratitudes
- Snack time (with parents bringing snacks to share)
Many parents appreciate the sense of community, meeting other families and sharing meaningful experiences with their children.
As this program is longer and takes place mainly outdoors, a deeper nature connection is woven throughout. This aspect is guided by the 8-Shields teaching model, developed by Jon Young, and includes principles such as:
- Fundamental life skills reinforced through nature-related activities
- Creative expression and physical agility developed in natural settings
- Exploring societal structures and music through interaction with the environment
- Nature-Connected Learning: Engaging meaningfully with the outdoor world
- Community and Respect: Fostering a culture of reciprocity and mutual support
- Hands-On and Child-Led Learning: Encouraging self-directed exploration
Activities Include:
Exploring Animals in the Wild
- Identification of animal tracks and signs.
- Locating wildlife based on track and sign.
- Deciphering stories left by wildlife.
- Deepening connection to animals.
- Identifying bird calls and understanding their meanings.
- Animal processing, respectful trapping, archery, and hide tanning.
Our Forest Ecosystem
- Identification of flora and fauna in our ecosystem.
- Land stewardship and caretaking.
- Nature journaling and direct observation.
- Natural intuition and awareness training.
- Fostering ongoing relationships with place.
- Experiencing nature as a friend and teacher.
- Identification and sustainable harvest of wild foods and medicines.
- Observation and communication with plants.
Interpersonal Skills
- Tools for positively working through challenges.
- Interpersonal skills for group work.
- Strengthening community and culture through music, storytelling, and council.
- Practicing gratitude.
- Celebrating unique gifts.
- Honoring experiences as opportunities for growth.
- Expanding comfort zones and embracing challenging experiences.
- Participating in Rites of Competence and Rites of Passage.
- Developing resilience, personal growth, and self-knowledge.
- Communication skills, deep listening, and speaking from the heart.
Wild-Crafting Skills
- Forest shelter building, friction fire, and natural cordage.
- Traditional cooking and food preservation.
- Natural crafting: weaving, pottery, and jewelry.
Connection to Elders, Land and Place based learning
- Fostering and Deepening relationships with our local Coast Salish, Quwut’sun Elders.
- Learning Hul’qu’minum through Elders teachings, songs and stories.
- Respecting First Nations culture, traditions, and history.
- Exploring our role in decolonization and reconciliation.
- Utilitarian and cultural uses of plants.
- Learning plants, animals, trees and other nature elements in Hul’qu’minum
Your Mentors
For over 18 years in the Quwut’sun’ Valley, Cari Burdett has been committed to fostering a diverse community based on connection through music, relationships with our local Coast Salish Indigenous Elders (ReconciliAction through community building, music and service), and most recently, a dedication to mentoring all ages in the importance, healing and profound joy of Deep Nature Connection.
As the Founder of the Lila Music and Nature Center and mother of three older children, Cari brings with her over thirty years of professional training, degrees, intensives that focus on the healthy development of children and adults, with special focus on Anthroposophic & Waldorf pedagogy trainings, music therapy, pre and perinatal trauma work, plus communication models including Non Violent Communication and The Way of Council. Most recently, she has added to her skill set all she has been learning from Deep Nature Connection (including ceremony and rites of passage training) from her course immersion in Wisdom of the Earth, Thriving Roots, with ongoing Mentorship with Sal Gencarelle and the Helper’s Mentoring Society. Cari’s warmth and dedication shines through as she welcomes these diverse, yet richly connected elements to the Wilderness Programs.
Claudelle (she/her) was blessed with a childhood of catching frogs and playing in nature under the canopy of sugar maple and birch trees, in Québec.
When she got a bit older she studied Fine Arts, horticulture and bioecology. It was in 2018, in Québec, with the Coyote programs that she discovered the magnificent world of deep nature connection and coyote mentoring.
The longing for deepening this way of living was so strong that she drove across Canada to do the 2 years program of Immersion and Apprenticeship at the Wisdom of the Earth school.
Since then she is mostly mentoring kids, and sharing her passion through ancestral skills workshops for women and adults. She brings both grounded compassion and playful enthusiasm to her work with youth, and is passionate about nature connection, community building, mentoring children, fire, hide tanning, scouting, play, sharing dreams, creativity and music making. Claudelle’s absolutly loves spending time with the River, tracking bear and elk while foraging for wild food.
Testimonials
Course Information
DATES
Fridays, 10 AM – 3 PM (32 sessions from September 2024 to June 2025, excluding some cold weeks in January)
LOCATION
Wild Farm, Glenora
COST
$60 per day. Total for 32 sessions: $1920 (50% discount for the second sibling). A $300 deposit is required to secure a place.
Suggested Offering: We are honoured to have two Quw’utsun Elders guest teaching throughout the year. We suggest a minimum donation of $100 per family for Quw’utsun Elder Honorariums to help pay for their time and contribution to the Wilderness program. Thank you for your support.
TYPICAL DAY STRUCTURE
- Morning: Nature-themed games, morning circle with songs and gratitude sharing.
- Midday: Skill-focused guild activities like tracking, weaving, or bow making.
- Afternoon: Free time in nature followed by group games and reflective sit-spot time.
- Closing: Reflection and sharing of daily highlights and gratitude.
Join us for a transformative educational experience that nurtures lifelong learning and a deep connection to the natural world!
Deposit of $300 to secure space is required at final registration.
Scholarships are available on a financial need basis only. Please contact Cari directly to request a scholarship at cari@cariburdett.com. Scholarships depend on initially having full enrolment in the program.
Registration
2024- 2025 Parent and Child Music & Nature
(October 3rd – November 28th)
Join Cari's Community
Get In Touch
Cari Burdett and The Lila Music Centre respectfully acknowledge that we operate on unceded territory within the ancestral and unceded traditional lands of the Quw’utsun, Malahat, Ts’uubaa-asatx, Halalt, Penelakut, Stz’uminus, Lyackson, Pauquachin, Ditidaht & Pacheedaht Peoples.
Follow Cari Burdett & The Lila Music Centre
- 32228A Gibbins rd, Duncan BC
- + 1 250 710 4174
- cari [at] cariburdett.com
Cari is an amazing teacher who shares from her heart. She is an absolute blessing to our children. I'm grateful for her.
Sarah Macmillan, parent of youth nature program.