Tree Canada / Arbres Canada

Greening Canada’s School Grounds Program is a grassroots movement that replaces schoolyard asphalt with vegetation in order to enhance its educational, ecological and aesthetic value. Trees and vegetations also protect the health of school children by sheltering them from harmful UV rays. In addition, greening schoolyards creates educational landscapes for the children. Educational landscapes can provide a forum for science education and an understanding of the role of trees in climate change. They also provide education on wildlife habitat conservation and encourage school children to have direct interaction with the natural world. The Greening Canada’s School Grounds Program provides schools with the key tools to improve their school grounds and understand the value of their efforts with respect to climate change. The program provides funding support for school ground greening projects, encourages community partnership development to offset project costs, provides information and long-term stewardship strategies, and provides curriculum connections to educational landscapes with an emphasis on the role of trees in climate change.

The goal of the Greening Canada’s Schools Grounds Program is to replace schoolyard asphalt with vegetation in order to enhance its play, educational, ecological and aesthetic value for school children.

Since its inception, the program has assisted over 539 schools across Canada in greening their schoolyards in order to create a healthier and more ecological place for children to learn and play.