Popular Nature School makes its return (UTRCA Weekly, August 6, 2021)
Wildwood Nature School returns this fall with online registration opening on August 10 at 6 am on Eventbrite. The school was fully booked when it was launched in fall 2020, but the winter and spring 2021 sessions were cancelled due to the pandemic.
Programming is offered for children from 18 months of age up to 11 years. Every trip to Wildwood Nature School is its own adventure! Each visit starts with a grounding in the surroundings and a reminder of nature awareness routines and best practices for spending time outside. There are planned options for activities, but what actually happens is child-directed and depends on the day. This may include songs, stories, play, exploration, journaling, sit spots, shelter building, hiking, using tools, and more!
Earlier this year we interviewed Kiersten Hatanaka about her four-year old son, Tomo’s, experience at Wildwood Nature School.
1) What appealed to you about the programming?
“I had been hoping for a long time that a program like this would make its way to our area. Fostering a good relationship with nature and a love and respect for the environment is something that is very important to Kellen and I. The teachers, Erin and Maranda (aka Maple and Sunshine), really encourage the kids to explore their surroundings and learn through play. What’s really great about the program is that it’s child-led and so the day is often inspired by the kids’ natural curiosity.”
2) What did Tomo like about it?
“Tomo loved everything. They have different areas set up but it’s all very open ended and again they really encouraged the kids to just explore and be creative. One of the areas has a bunch of logs and wood cuts of varying shapes and sizes and Tomo would build all kinds of sculptures and towers with them. There’s also an area they called “the kit” and it’s a basically like an outdoor kitchen they’ve created with tree stumps which the kids often used as tables or stoves and there are a bunch of pots, pans, cooking utensils, and foraging baskets. Tomo really loved running around gathering random sticks and leaves and pine needles and he’d pretend to cook. He would sometimes spend the entire time doing this. He also really loved feeding the chickadees and would hold his hand out and try to get them to land on him. It almost happened once so we can’t wait to go back and try again!”