FTHub ACADEMY COURSE
Organizing a Nature Connection Workshop for 8–12-Year-Olds
- THEME 4
- TRACK 4
SELF-PACED · ONLINE
- 3–5 hours
- 5 modules
- 1 video
- Certificate of Completion
- 1-year access
- Level: Intermediate
- English
99 €
49 €
Curated by
Jennifer Salinas
By the end of this course, you will be able to design, adapt, and deliver a developmentally calibrated nature connection workshop for children aged 8 to 12 in school, community, and therapeutic settings.
Outcomes
What you'll gain
- Conduct an Affordance Walk and produce a child-eye-level site survey that informs every later design choice across populations and environments.
- Adapt adult Forest Bathing invitations for children aged 8 to 12 across the five FTHub adaptation dimensions (length, concreteness, physical task, social configuration, anchor objects).
- Build a complete workshop using Cornell's Flow Learning architecture and the Five Pathways framework (Lumber, Richardson, and Sheffield, 2017), with verbatim opening framing, three to four developmentally calibrated invitations, and a structured closing circle.
- Apply the FTHub safeguarding floor (no lone working, named safeguarding lead, photography policy, vetting clearance, named pickup) as a design responsibility, not an operational add-on.
- Communicate the evidence base for nature contact in middle childhood to head teachers, parents, and referring clinicians using the Evidence Summary Card and the Client Communication Template.
Audience
Who is this course for?
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Educators (teachers, outdoor learning leads, learning support coordinators): Translate outdoor learning goals into structured nature connection workshops with documented design choices and an evidence base ready to share with parents, head teachers, and inspectors.
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Youth workers (after-school clubs, community programs, holiday provision): Add a structured outdoor session to your existing work with children aged 8 to 12, with adaptation matrices for the populations, environments, and group sizes your service serves.
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Child therapists (child and adolescent mental health professionals, play therapists, school counselors): Extend your clinical work with an evidence-informed nature-based adjunct calibrated to mild-to-moderate anxiety, attentional, and emotional regulation challenges, with trauma-informed protocols throughout.
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Prerequisite: Course 4-1, Trauma-Sensitive Nature-Based Practice, or a similar course is recommended for all participants and required for delivery in clinical, therapeutic, or trauma-affected contexts.
Course Framework
Course structure
Experience first, then evidence, then application, then commitment. The module structure is the product.
0Orientation
- Welcome video and course overview
- Self-assessment of your current professional practice with children aged 8 to 12
- Intention setting for your specific group, environments, and timeline
- Practice log set-up for use across the course
1Foundation
- The Affordance Walk: a 40-minute structured site survey at the child’s eye level
- Reflection on what shifts when you read a site from a 9-year-old’s perceptual position
- Cognitive-developmental characteristics of middle childhood (Piaget, Selman, Sebba)
- Evidence base for nature contact in this age group (Taylor and Kuo, Tillmann, Lumber, Mygind)
2Deep Dive
- Cornell’s Flow Learning architecture: the four-stage workshop template
- Five dimensions for adapting adult forest bathing to children aged 8 to 12
- Safety as design: the five-principle safeguarding floor
- Extended practice: field-test three invitations before designing a full workshop
- Professional context worksheet to bring into the design module
3Application
- Worked Example: an annotated 90-minute Year 5 workshop with the reasoning behind every design choice
- Design Your Own: a 15-field design template for your specific context
- Integrative practice: rehearse your opening framing and closing circle out loud
- Self-assessment rubric to validate your design before first delivery
4Integration
- Integration reading: how the modules connect into one professional capability
- Final reflection compared with your Module 0 baseline
- 30-Day Action Plan: three named commitments with specific dates
- What I Learned competency checklist as a portable CPD record
5Module
6Module
7Module
8Module
9Module
10Module
COURSE TOOLS
Professional Tools Package
Included in every course. These are not learning exercises — they are working documents you use with your clients, referrers, and colleagues. Available from Module 3.
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Activity Template
Complete facilitation script with timing, safety notes, and debrief questions. Three duration variants. -
Evidence Summary
Plain-language summary of findings and citations. For clients, HR, and referrers. -
Adaptation Framework
Checklist for adapting across client populations, environments (nature/urban/indoor), and group sizes. -
Client Communication Template
Ready-to-use briefing text for three professional contexts: clinical/health, educational, and tourism/outdoor.
Learning Pathway
Theme & Tracks
Where this course sits — and where it takes you next. This course is part of the following Theme and Professional Track(s).
Theme 4: Nature-Based Approaches for Specific Populations
Curator
About the instructor
Jennifer Salinas
Forest Bathing Guide (USA)
Jennifer Salinas is an educator, facilitator and certified Forest Bathing Guide passionate about helping people and communities reconnect — with nature, themselves and each other. Jennifer brings over 15 years of experience in early childhood education, leadership development and community-based facilitation. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Counseling Psychology and Art Therapy, as well as a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. Jennifer is especially inspired by the ways nature supports healing, resilience, reflection and belonging.
Evidence Base
Grounded in peer-reviewed science
Why this matters for your practice
FTHub Academy courses are evidence-informed at every step. The evidence is not decorative — each module connects theory to field practice using the same scientific frameworks underpinning the FTHub Method.
SELF-PACED · ONLINE
- 3–5 hours
- 5 modules
- 1 video
- Certificate of Completion
- 1-year access
- Level: Intermediate
- English
99 €
49 €
Curated by
Jennifer Salinas
Access
How to access this course
Three entry points — choose the one that fits where you are right now.
Individual purchase
49 €
99 €
- 1-year access
- Completion certificate
- Downloadable practice materials + Professional Tools Package
FTHub Academy Pro Monthly
60 €
/mo
Cancel anytime
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FTHub Academy Pro Annual
490 €
/yr
- Full library + Theme 11
- Completion certificate
- Monthly Public Event
- Downloadable practice materials + Professional Tools Package
- Monthly Live Online Call
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Student Reviews
Ratings & Testimonials
4.9
Based on 312 reviews
5
88%
4
8%
3
5%
2
2%
1
0%
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"Placeholder — short, outcome-specific quote from a practitioner who launched their practice after FBG certification."
"Placeholder — short, outcome-specific quote from a practitioner who launched their practice after FBG certification."
Betty Fang
International Projects Director
“
"Placeholder — short, outcome-specific quote from a practitioner who launched their practice after FBG certification."
"Placeholder — short, outcome-specific quote from a practitioner who launched their practice after FBG certification."
Betty Fang
International Projects Director
“
"Placeholder — short, outcome-specific quote from a practitioner who launched their practice after FBG certification."
"Placeholder — short, outcome-specific quote from a practitioner who launched their practice after FBG certification."
Betty Fang
International Projects Director
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