Field Trip Information

Thanks for thinking of Happy Acres U Pick for your school fieldtrip! We are a small farm but a fun little adventure spot for a school tour.

We currently host school field trips Monday to Friday beginning at 9am in May, June and September. Fieldtrips are booked up to 3 hours long depending on your time preference.

We are open to the general public starting weekends in June, full time July and August. There is an option to reserve the Treehouse area for groups during this time as our central yard is busy with regular customers.

Rates:

For 3 hours of fun at the farm our fieldtrip fee is $7 per child.

Teachers and volunteers are free admission

1 adult per 3 children ratio for children ages 1-3

1 adult per 5 children ratio for children age 4 and over.

Any extra siblings, parents and/or grandparents are welcome to attend the fieldtrip for a $2 admission- Under age 2 is free admission. Direct them to pay in the treat centre upon arrival (most schools have them pay on their own)

Reservation:

We reserve a central area in the yard with a fire pit (roasting sticks and firewood provided), BBQ, 3 picnic tables, and chairs around the fire pit area. We provide the space (up to 3 hours per group session) and a general circuit around the farm.

Our amenities include a play house and outdoor play centre, mini horses to see, rabbits, lambs, ducks, geese, free range chickens, a talking cockatoo, goats and a micro mini pig. We have a play centre, treat centre and garden centre as well.

We start with a quick introduction of our workers, an introduction to the farm, review of farm rules and safety, and ask you divide the children and volunteers into groups, and we will provide a basic centres map for everyone to follow. This will guide the volunteers and groups around the farm.

We provide some staff to observe around the farm but generally the volunteers and teachers will direct and help the students around the centres the day of the fieldtrip. Instructions and maps will be provided.

Small & Large Groups:

If your class is quite small ( <50 children ) we may book another small school/class with your group as we have an alternate Treehouse area for groups and will arrange to share the play equipment and main yard space.

We can have up to 100 children in one visit.

Plan ahead and divide students into groups with a leader and/or volunteer if over 5 people.

Accessibility:

We have 1 full wheelchair accessible washroom and 2 clean farm outhouses.

Any allergies to animal / bee / environmental / outdoor allergens; please bring antihistamines and epi-pens as needed for students in case of reaction.

There is room for parking and turn around for buses.

Please have students wear appropriate footwear, sunscreen, hats and bug spray.

Payment:

We accept a cheque the last day of the fieldtrip/s OR we can give you an invoice at the end of the fieldtrip/s and you can mail a cheque. Please keep track of the number of children the day of the fieldtrip.

Centres:

Groups plan for 10-15 minutes per centre (3 hour fieldtrip)

All centres are optional.
We can customize your groups centres to your liking. Feel free to bring a WHISTLE or time your groups for centre switches (10-15 minutes). Some teachers bring face painting and other activities to suit their group but generally these centres are enough.

Weather:

Generally, we have no permanent shelter if bad weather is in the forecast.

Rain unfortunately tends to dampen the field trip fun as all of the activities are outside, so there is no charge to reschedule or cancel. Light rain isn’t too bad (just for adults!!) We will have our 20 x 30 tent set up early June but it is a challenge to complete these activities under a tent! Most groups just watch the weather carefully and let us know the day before if they need to reschedule or cancel and/or dress for the weather in rubber boots and rain gear.

Children must be supervised at all times by school staff and volunteers.

Thank you for considering Happy Acres for your fieldtrip.

Email us to book at: happyacresdebbie@hotmail.com

Snack/lunch (student bring bagged lunch with minimal garbage or school provided items we do have roasting sticks, BBQ, and a firepit available- keep in mind this takes time! We have some schools that have a BBQ person on site and groups rotate to this station to eat.

Garden Walk & Taste Tour

Walk and Taste the foods of the garden.

Walk down part of the garden, see how the garden is growing and have a taste (generally rhubarb in May and June- September usually carrots)

Ice Cream Treat

OPTIONAL- extra $3 per student/teacher

We have FOOTHILLS CREAMERY ICE CREAM by the scoop and gluten/dairy/soy/nut free frozen treats (no one is left out).

If you choose this centre decide if you want groups to visit individually OR as a larger group near the last part of the fieldtrip. If they visit as a group it takes 20 minutes to serve a group of 20-30 students 30 minutes for a group of 40-60 students.

Learn and Plant A Seed

This station in the garden ( usually sunflowers. )

If the weather is bad or dirt is too damp in the garden we set up a plant a seed station and seeds are planted in a cup to take home.

Tug of War

Understanding Physics.

This can be done with 2 groups together!

Compost Learning

This Learning station – collect a class container of compost to add to the pile of veggie and fruit scraps from the week before the fieldtrip!

Play Centre

Free Play – Multiple different stations and sensory centres.

Swings, Play Structure, Sand Box.

Gunny Sack Races

These are a hoot! Burn off some extra energy with a fast paced race in a old fashion gunny sack.

Hula Horse Game

This is a great game for groups of all ages.

Earthworm Dig

These creepy crawlies are the best thing for your garden. Get your hands dirty dig for worms and get an close up look.

Visit The Animals

Come see our chickens, cockatoo, pigs, mini-horses, mini-donkeys, mini-jersey cow, goats, lambs, pheasants, ducks and more. We are not a petting zoo, but have animals that free-range and roam on the farm.