Kwey! Bonjour!
Warm Greetings to You!
Hillside House is a tiny Outdoor Learning Centre with a big vision!
Our Purpose
Hillside House was established to allow the land and seasons on this acreage
to inspire children and their families to make connections through
outdoor play, exploration, and learning.
Our Vision
Hillside House will offer programs that nourish a sense of community, competence, curiosity, and connection with the natural world. We chose to grow a welcoming community that supports the sharing of knowledge and skills through nature play and exploration, creative activities with natural materials, shared learning, and land based-education. We practice wonder and gratitude as we celebrate and care for the people, the wild creatures, and the natural resources around us.
Land Acknowledgement
Nestled on a little hillside outside of town, we acknowledge that the area where we live is the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin-Anishinaabe, as is the rest of the Ottawa Valley.
Indigenous People have come before us and are still here in the Ottawa Valley. As the first caretakers of this land, their ways of living and being on the land inspire and inform the way that we choose to engage with the natural world and with each other.
We are grateful for the privilege to explore this land, to care for it, to appreciate its natural resources, to learn from its history and to call this place home.
We are hopeful that the Algonquins of Ontario land claim will be successfully negotiated so that it can become Ontario’s first modern day constitutionally protected treaty. Hillside supports the TRC Calls to Action. We invite you to be part of the important work of reconciliation as we listen, learn, care, and grow community together outdoors.
Environmental Sustainability
Activities at Hillside are held in the same natural space over weeks and seasons allowing participants to become familiar with and knowledgeable about the area.
This deep connection to the natural world nurtures children's desire to care for the land.
The fields and forests that we access do not belong to us and are used by others for farming, trapping, logging, and hunting in appropriate seasons. Consideration and planning allow us to find a balance whereby we promote children's connection to nature while also fostering an ethic of care and sustainability.
We minimize our ecological impact by rotating our sites for play, staying on trails where they exist, and keeping activities with the highest impact in our main areas.
As often as possible, we choose natural materials, renewable resources, reusable items or recyclable materials. Many of the structures around the yard were planned and built with locally sourced, repurposed, or recycled materials. Loose Parts Play supports
sustainable practice & environmental stewardship.
Our journey to sustainability and earth friendly
programming is just beginning. We welcome your ideas as we get acquainted with each other and with the land!
Our Policy on Inclusion
Hillside is a caring community that welcomes people without discrimination.
You are invited to grow with us here. Just like biodiversity supports healthy ecosystems, diversity creates beautiful social systems!
Each person matters and is invited to contribute, to learn together,
and to support each other.
We are a neurodiversity-affirming community that values different ways of learning and connecting with the work around us. We are passionate about making our programs accessible and meaningful to participants with varying skills,
abilities, and interests.
Our family is currently working to create a more accessible area for persons with reduced mobility or wheel chairs on our sloped property.
We invite you to discuss needs and accommodations with us so that we can reduce barriers to participation.
Hillside is committed to creating a community that is safe and welcoming. We are so glad that you are here! Your feedback and ideas help us improve.
kindness matters
Contributions from community members help keep our program costs down, thus making it accessible to more people. If cost is a barrier for your family, please contact us to discuss options.