2022 BOOKING INFORMATION

Field Trip Information- Booking Fall 2022

Thanks for thinking of Happy Acres U Pick for your school field trip! We are a small farm but a fun little adventure spot for a school tour.
We currently host school field trips Monday to Friday weekdays only beginning mid May,  June and September. Field trips are booked up to 3 hours long depending on your time preference.
On weekends there is an option to reserve the Tree house 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 $10 per child. Ice Cream is an optional $3 centre. 
Teachers and volunteers working directly with students are free admission.
However for supervision on our farm we ask:
1 adult per 4 children ratio for children ages 1-3
1 adult per 6 children ratio for children age 4 and over.
Students can be divided before arrival.
EXTRA siblings, parents and/or grandparents are welcome to attend the fieldtrip for a $5 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)

Fieldtrip Details:

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 fieldtrip circuit with centres set out 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 field trip. Instructions and maps will be provided.

Group size information

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.

Accessibility:

We have 1 full wheelchair accessible washroom and 2 clean farm outhouses. Generally paths are accessible via walker and stroller but terrain can vary. 

There is room for parking and turn around for buses. 

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

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

 

Payment:

We accept a cheque, debit or VISA, the 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, and get your invoice from our staff member before you leave.

Detailed Field trip information and CENTRES:

Groups plan for 10-15 minutes per centre (3 hour fieldtrip) All centres are optional. Please specify which you would like. Centres can include: Tug of war, Plant a seed, Garden Walk and Taste, Hula Saw Horse, Earthworm Dig, Farm Animal Visit, Play Centre, Compost Area, Gunny Sack races. See details on this page. 
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). Feel free to bring face painting and other activities to suit your group but generally these centres are enough. 
GREAT TIP…..There are lots of picture areas around the grounds, so have your group dress like FARMERS for the day!!  

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 open side tent set up 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 (students can bring bagged lunch with minimal garbage or school provided items. We do have roasting sticks, a BBQ, and a firepit available- keep in mind this takes time!  We have some picnic tables, and lots of grassy areas for picnicking. Some schools include this as a centre or eat together. 

CENTRES can include:

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 the treat centre 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 too rainy 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

Learning about composting.  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 – Swings, Play Structure and 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. Throw the hula hoop around the saw horse! 

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 cows, goats, lambs, pheasants, ducks and more. We are not a petting zoo, but have animals that free-range and roam on the farm and very friendly animals.