The forest has always known,
we're just remembering.
Muddy Boots Academy was born from years of teaching in classrooms that couldn't quite hold everything children needed and a deep belief that something better was possible.
Teacher, mom, and lifelong believer in the power of getting outside.As a kindergarten and elementary teacher for over ten years in French immersion classrooms, I understand the system from the inside. How it worked, where it helped, and where it quietly fell short, especially for children who needed movement, exploration, and time to figure things out at their own pace. I saw the gaps. And I felt, in my body, that something needed to change. So I started Muddy Boots in my backyard. First as a daycare, as a stepping stone to my final big plan.
Two years of daily sessions in the trails behind my home, watching children completely transform when you hand them a stick, a stream and an afternoon with no agenda.
Every day is different: different weather, different smells, a different child having a breakthrough I didn't expect. That's the forest, it never runs out of things to teach us.
Here, learning happens through creek exploration, through storytelling, through whittling and den construction, through the quiet moment a child figures something out entirely on their own.
This is my way of life and I'm here to sprinkle a little of it into yours.
Hi, I’m Christine (Kiki)
Educator Level Intention.
Nature-rooted childhood freedom.I grew up in Northern Ontario, where childhood looked like throwing your backpack on the porch and disappearing into green spaces until dinner. That upbringing shaped something that can't be taught - a deep comfort with the outdoors in every season, an instinctive awareness of safety in nature, and a bone-deep understanding that childhood doesn't need to be constantly structured to be meaningful.
As a mom of two, I understand the energy, the messiness, the need for movement. I understand what it feels like to watch your child struggle in an environment that doesn't quite fit and what it feels like when you finally find one that does.
I'm not just a teacher to the children at Muddy Boots. We're a little family.
You're not just leaving your child with one incredible educator, you're leaving them with two.
Christine, aka. Ms. Christine
Early Childhood EducatorChristine, who brings over 10 years of experience working in daycare settings and with the French Catholic school board in Durham Region. She is warm, patient, and deeply child-led — someone who believes that the little moments matter just as much as the big milestones.
What draws her to Muddy Boots is the same thing that draws the families who find us: a belief that children learn best when they're given the freedom to explore, create, ask questions, and discover the world at their own pace. She leads with kindness, genuine connection, and a whole lot of fun — because learning and laughter belong together.
Every child at Muddy Boots is truly seen. That's not an accident. It's the standard we hold ourselves to, every single day.
