Tiny Trails provides your child with guided exploration of their local environment. They will play and discover while developing a connection with nature, themselves, and each other. Tiny Trails will provide hands-on activities, rain or shine while your child has space to explore and be creative. This includes child-led walks, plant identification, shelter building, and nature games.

Tiny Trails operates 3-4 Saturdays out of each month, at different parks throughout the greater Tacoma area. See locations below to find out when Tiny Trails is coming to a park near you!

September

Dash Point State Park, 5700 SW Dash Point Rd, Federal Way, WA 98023

October

Nelson Nature Park, 118th Avenue East, Edgewood, WA

November

Bradley Lake Park, 531 31st Ave SE, Puyallup, WA 98374

T-Shirts and Explorer Kits

Purchase our “Flora and Fauna” t-shirt in your child’s size by selecting the “T-shirt” add-on at sign-up, or upgrade to the Tiny Trails Explorer kit!

The Tiny Trails Explorer kit includes the t-shirt, as well as a Sahale Outdoors day pack, water bottle (with sticker!), kid’s magnifying glass, tweezers, and nature collection jar.

Lesson Plans

Getting to know each other and the land

Students will play games to get to know each other and explore the park. You can expect a nature scavenger hunt!

Being Creative

Students will continue to explore the land as they gather supplies for their nature craft they are making.

Taking care of the land

Students will work to identify plants and flowers in the park and learn how to take care of them.

Giving back to the community

Students will have the opportunity to make a craft for someone they care about, and teach them what they have learned.

Highlights

Child led exploration – Guided nature activities – Building connection with nature and each other

Difficulty Level

Easy: Geared towards little feet.

Length

Four hours, from 9am – 1pm.

Age

Age: 4-6

Child must be potty trained and able to be away from their caregiver for 4 hours.

2023 Schedule:

Price: $50 per child, per Saturday

Our mission is to make outdoor recreation accessible to all. If you cannot afford the total trip cost right now, send us a brief message to request sliding scale pricing.

Dash Point State Park

*Our minimum number of students for this trip is 4. If at least four students are not signed up, participants will be refunded for the canceled trip.

Nelson Nature Park

*Our minimum number of students for this trip is 4. If at least four students are not signed up, participants will be refunded for the canceled trip.

Bradley Lake Park

*Our minimum number of students for this trip is 4. If at least four students are not signed up, participants will be refunded for the canceled trip.

Objectives

• Students will have space for play and discovery with at least 2 hours of child led exploration.
• Students will revisit the same land each session learning the indigenous land
• Be provided opportunities to learn about their surroundings with hands on activities
• Complete a project working towards protecting the land. 
• Have space to learn about other participants.

Paperwork

• Waiver
• Photo Release

Packing List

• Packing List

What is Provided

• Field Guides and books
• Ocean life specimens
• Binoculars

“It [Lushootseed] is from the beginning strength of the people, and it is from what the Creator put down upon this land for people…. The earth speaks. The animals speak. Everything has a voice.”

Vi Hilbert, Grandmother Video Project

The Puyallup tribe in their own language call themselves a name that means “people from the bend at the bottom of the river.” They are one of twelve Lushootseed speaking tribes in the Puget Sound region. The language of Lushootseed has vast diversity and multiple dialects, with each group having their own way of speaking. All dialects were to be honored and respected, reflecting the values of Lushootseed culture such as ‘Be kind, be helpful, be sharing.’

The Lushootseed speaking peoples called the mountain that dominated their horizon Tacoma or Tahoma, a word that may have meant “the mother of all waters.” The Puyallup tribe is calling on the state of Washington to rename the mountain from its current official name of “Rainier.”

Today, the Puyallup Tribe is a recognizable force in the fight for tribal rights, and were a significant player in the Boldt Decision of 1974, establishing the rights of Native Americans in Washington State to fish using traditional methods.

~ This information was found on PuyallupTribe.com