- COYOTES -
Who Can Enroll in this Class
- Families must have at least one child aged 8+.
- The child's parent must attend either the Coyotes or the Teen Class.
- If the parent will be staying with older siblings in the Teen Class, arrangements must be made ahead of time with another parent who will be attending the Coyotes to be the supervising guardian of the child who will be dropped off.
Structure
- Weekly meetups on Fridays from 10:30am to 2:30pm. There will be a mixture of Family Planned Activity Days, Hiking Days, and Combined Days with the Teens.
- For Family Planned Activity Days, Coyotes will have a monthly park rotation between wild parks in Salt Lake County where they'll play group games and participate in activities planned by the families in the group.
- Each family will have the opportunity to lead a core routine and an activity several times throughout the year. This cooperative style of learning will be organized under the direction of the Coyote Leaders.
- For Hiking/Wander Weeks, Coyotes will participate in a hike/wander in the same vicinity as the Teen Class.
- For Combined Days with the Teens, the Coyotes will experience various field trips that the entire family can enjoy such as going to Antelope Island, Sledding, Orienteering, Day Camping, Snowshoeing, and even an Epic Outdoor Scavenger Hunt put on by the Teen Leadership Class.
Tuition
- Family fee of $100/family/year
($125 when joining after 9/6/24)
- $40/child age 4 to 10 by 5/16/25
($25 if joining NKC in the second semester)
- COYOTE SCHEDULE -
Core Routines are a part of our meet ups.
Click to learn more about Core Routines.
A routine day will usually look like this:
1. GROUP GAME
CORE ROUTINE 3: EXPANDING OUR SENSES
"Use and expand all your senses as fully as you can. Pay attention! Look Alert! Stretch Out! Use all the senses, one at a time, and together."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.44
CORE ROUTINE 5: ANIMAL FORMS
"Physically, mentally, and emotionally imitate any and all animals in their movements, behaviors, and personalities."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.50
2. SIT SPOT
CORE ROUTINE 1: SIT SPOT
"The idea is simple: guide people to find a special place in nature where they become comfortable with just being there, still and quiet."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.37
CORE ROUTINE 9: JOURNALING
"Keep a regular record, in drawings and in words, of your experience outdoors. Keep dated sketches, captions, and comments that describe your landscape. Keep it up through all the seasons until it becomes a habit you can't live without."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.63
CORE ROUTINE 11: MINDS EYE IMAGINING
"Use and strengthen your imagination as much as possible, imprinting images in your mind gathered from the experience of all five senses."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.69
CORE ROUTINE 12: LISTENING FOR BIRD LANGUAGE
"Be still and listen. Quiet down and crane your ears and eyes to notice the vocal signals and body language of birds and other animals, including humans. What message do you hear in their voice?"
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.71
3. LUNCH
4. STORY TIME
CORE ROUTINE 2: STORY OF THE DAY
"After spending time in nature, tell the story of your day. Tell your story verbally with others, or by writing or drawing in a journal."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.41
5. WEEKLY ACTIVITY
CORE ROUTINE 4: QUESTIONING & TRACKING
"Become a detective and track everything as a clue to a mystery to solve. Ask questions about everything and push your questions until they yield answers. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?"
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.47
CORE ROUTINE 7: MAPPING
"Orient to the compass directions and perceive the landscape from a bird's eye view. Draw maps to locate features of the landscape or tell stories that map your explorations."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.58
CORE ROUTINE 8: EXPLORING FIELD GUIDES
"Browse through field guides as treasure-chests of knowledge that fill up the vacuum of your curiosity about nature."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.61
CORE ROUTINE 10: SURVIVAL LIVING
"Interact with the natural world around you on a survival basis, including all the basic human needs: shelter, water, fire, food, tools, clothing, and art."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.67
6. UNSTRUCTURED TIME
CORE ROUTINE 6: WANDERING
"Wander through the landscape without time, destination, agenda, or future purpose; be present in the moment; and go off-trail wherever curiosity leads."
~ Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature p.53
- PAST ACTIVITIES FOR THE COYOTES -
FIRE BUILDING
NATURE ART
MAPPING
NATURE JOURNALING
FIELD GUIDES
BUG STUDY
KNIFE SKILLS
ORIENTEERING
TRACKING
BIRD WATCHING
BUILDING SHELTERS
TREE IDENTIFICATION
- MEET THE LEADERS -
SARAH HASLAM
Coyote Leader
JESSICA ARNETT
Coyote Leader