Events Archive
Entering the Darkness - A Village Gathering
Steckel Park Campground, 8080 Mistletoe Rd
Santa Paula, CA 93060
A village gathering that brings together leaders in nature-connection, educators, individuals, and parents who long for a deeper connection with the wild. Join us and be guided by skilled nature-based mentors, as they facilitate experiences to help you find the end of your comfort zone and lean into your learning edge.
This weekend is deeply inspired by the 8 Shields Coyote Mentoring model gathered by Jon Young and practiced by nature schools around the world, including Wilderness Awareness School. Rather than formal instruction, the focus of this gathering will be on the embodied experience.
We will practice core routines including sit-spot, bird language, ancestral skills, singing, working with fire, entering ceremony, council, and more!
Outdoor Play-Based Learning Course
What is possible in outdoor play-based learning? How can we keep ourselves from reproducing our indoor challenges outdoors? What is the role of the educator in play-based learning? What practices invite self-agency and freedom? What do interactions between educator and child look like in outdoor play-based learning? This 6-part virtual series invites educators and play practitioners to wonder and uncover our assumptions and expectations for play. We will work towards collective transformation through outdoor play-based learning by weaving together research, practical experience, individual reflection and insights for a playful future.Teaching with Wonder Webinar
9 1/2 Market Street
Northampton, MA 01060
This free, 45-minute webinar is designed to provide an inspirational look into wonder and how we, as grown ups, can support kids at boosting their wonder muscles at home, school and all of the places in between! We’ll examine the science and magic of wonder and share a brand-new “Teaching with Wonder” PDF guide full of actionable ways caregivers and teachers like can support each part of kids’ wonder cycle. Plus, every attendee will be entered to win a full year subscription of Tinkergarten. Urban Nature-based Early Childhood Education
1500 E. Park Place
Milwaukee, WI 53211
In partnership with the Urban Ecology Center, Alverno College is proud to offer a digital badge in Urban Early Childhood Outdoor Preschool Environmental Education. This groundbreaking program prepares educators to meet the growing demand for nature-based preschool teachers and early childhood educators with nature-based education training.
Urban Nature-Based Early Childhood Education
Four-week Course
Monday evenings, online, October 9–30: 5:30–8:30 p.m.
Instructor: Matt Flower, Urban Ecology Center
Cost: $400 per registrant
Discounted rate for organizations sending three or more educators: $300 per registrant FREE Fall Outdoor Learning Virtual Workshop Series
We are excited to offer this series in partnership with Take Me Outside and our Outdoor Learning Partners! - Registration is FREE and there will be plenty of draw prizes for attendees! - All registrants will receive a discount code to access outdoor learning resources when they register - Workshops are 60 minutes and will take place at 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern. - For those who can’t attend live these will each be recorded and posted on our Recordings Page - Following the workshop, participants will receive a link through which they can access a certificate of attendance.Exploring a Sense of Place Conference
114 Mast Rd
Lee, NH 03861
Join us for a captivating event where we dive deep into the wonders of nature and explore our connection to the world around us. This in-person gathering will take place on Saturday, September 16, 2023 at 114 Mast Rd, Lee, NH 03861.
Are you ready to embark on an unforgettable journey? This event is designed to help you reconnect with nature and discover the beauty that surrounds us. Through a series of engaging activities and guided explorations, we will delve into the essence of our surroundings and develop a profound sense of place. Supporting Children's Emotional Well-being & Health the Forest School Way and Forest School Teacher Certification
2220 County Road 2615
Rio Medina, TX 78066
Join us for this special training event designed for new and seasoned professionals alike in beautiful Paradise Canyon. Experience a packed, four-day training program that emphasizes the integration of best practices from both education and clinical health into the Forest School setting.
Hosted by Sloyd & Croft: An American Slöjd School at Paradise Canyon
Participants will earn Certificates of Completion for:
Forest School Teacher Course of Study (24 hours)
Supporting Children’s Emotional Well-being & Health the Forest School Way (8 hours)
Sessions:
Observation & Assessment strategies
Mindful Site Tours of Intentional Outdoor Learning Environments
Practicing Emergent Learning techniques
Practicing Place-based Education including: Naturalist Skills, History and Heritage of Place, Nature Journaling, Contemplative Practices
Special Break-out Sessions to learn practical solutions for children that reduce anxiety and help them develop self-regulation and executive function Becoming A Nature Ambassador for Your Program
47 W Corry St
Cincinnati, OH 45219
Participants will explore the benefits of including nature-based practices in their work with children, gain confidence engaging children in nature-based inquiry, and take with them tools that can be implemented right away. Included in the training are tours of the indoor and outdoor environments of the Arlitt Child Development Center, a set of Nature’s Notes Conversation Starters, inquiry supporting materials to use with children, and lunch. Nature Journaling: A Gateway to Emergent Learning A Calling of Trees
111 Orchard Ave
Carlotta, CA 95528
Join us for a three-day, place-based retreat, learning from the world's tallest and oldest living beings, the Coastal Redwoods. We will engage in emergent learning amongst the great trees in Humboldt and Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Parks, the Avenue of the Giants and in smaller, less visited forests. We will hear from local experts about the natural and cultural history of the Redwood Ecosystem. And we will explore the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the rivers that nourish these ancient forests. Dr. Jean Lomino and guest presenters will facilitate the sessions, designed to inspire and build skills for both personal and teaching practices. Storytelling, poetry, song, drawing and watercolor will document our wanderings and wonderings. Together we will create interdisciplinary Emergent Learning Frameworks, using trees as the unifying theme, for students of all ages, both indoors and out.
Participants will receive a FSTI Certificate of Completion for 24 hours of Nature Journaling and Emergent Learning. Wilderness First Aid + CPR
Heartwood Nature School
102 Moulton Street
West Newbury, MA 01985
Wild Med and Heartwood Nature School are pairing up to bring nature-based educators Wilderness First Aid + CPR at Heartwood's headquarters. In this 16-hour, highly-immersive, hands-on course, you will learn the skills to prevent and respond to the most common illnesses and injuries that occur in nature. Click to learn more. National Nature-Based Early Learning Conference
Registration is open for the 2023 National Nature-Based Early Learning Conference! This year’s event will take place entirely online, launching with a week of live events July 24-28. Featured speakers will explore, through their personal narratives, research, and collective experiences, how nature brings balance to young children, and all of us, by boosting our mental health and overall well-being. Attendees have access to: A week full of live conference sessions (July 24-28) A library of on-demand sessions Virtual site tours, featured sessions, and conference workshop All sessions on demand for a year Personalized professional development certificates for every session attended Visit conference.naturalstart.org to learn more and register. The Nature-Based Early Learning Conference brings professionals together to explore and promote nature-based learning for young children. Attendees include teachers, program administrators, higher education faculty, researchers, education consultants, landscape designers, and others who are committed to or interested in bringing nature, outdoor learning, and environmental education to young children’s education. The program focuses on nature-based education for preschoolers (ages 3-5), early elementary students (ages 5-8), and infants and toddlers (ages 0-3). Professionals, parents, and caregivers who are just learning about a nature-based approach to education, or may be interested in starting a nature-based early education program, are welcome.ECO Institute: Natural History Fundamentals for Educators
713 Elm Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
The purpose of this course is to deepen our understanding of the natural landscape and learn how to utilize this knowledge to build a partnership with the land that meets the needs of all students. Participants will develop a foundation of natural history knowledge through immersive study of bird language, tree and plant identification, wild edible safety, geology, and stream ecology. We will practice techniques for achieving a deeper level of inquiry and observation in nature while learning hands-on methods for embedding this knowledge into outdoor lessons and making classroom connections. The routines that we build throughout the week are designed to deepen your class’s sense of place within the outdoor learning environment.
During this course, we experience a week-long rhythm of place-based curriculum within which is the daily rhythm of the core routines and deep observation practices. This daily rhythm mirrors the experience of elementary students during a typical day of ECO (Educating Children Outdoors). Participants will close the week envisioning integration of these methods and practices into their student’s experience. All lessons given to participants to use in their own classroom will be aligned to Vermont State Standards, Common Core and NGSS when applicable. Curriculum meets elementary standards-based objectives when lessons and units are practiced outdoors. Forest & Garden: Plant Literacy for the Nature Based Classroom
Artemis Gardens at Luna Root Wellness
34 Grist Mill Place
Marshfield, VT 05658
Forest & Garden is a week-long residency in central Vermont, mostly outdoors, in nature. It is created to nourish and nurture the educator and to provide an embodied and experiential learning experience connected with one another, nature and the cycles of the day through our routines and activities.
Essential Question: How do the stories of the plants on the landscape guide us in discovering the nature of ourselves and our environment?
Purpose: We create a constructivist approach to the nearby forest and garden plants so we can involve them in our daily tea, snack and experiential science curricula. We immerse ourselves in botany, wild crafting, a mindfulness social emotional learning curriculum, sensory activities, and plant literacy for the nature based classroom. This provides educators with a constructivist, mindfulness-based, nature-immersion experience in the botanical landscape while practicing embodiment in the senses. In this way, the educator not only learns the material, but experiences being a student of the material, and gains empathy for the teaching skills and modality with which this subject may be most impactful for their students.
Scope and Sequence of our Week Together
Morning Session: We meet and discuss the daily topic in a circle over tea. We practice mindfulness together and establish a professional learning community that will carry us through the school year as we connect monthly to report our methods and challenges of integrating what we’ve experienced together in this residency.
Plant Walks: Forest, Field, Marsh, Driveway, Garden. Each morning we will adventure in and around Marshfield to the wild places with a surprising plethora of plant life.
Lunch: Pack your own. Enjoy an extended (we try for an hour most days) lunch session to connect with other participants and enjoy the wild, slow pace of summer’s afternoon. Digest. Rest. Prepare for the afternoon with ease.
Afternoon Workshops: In these workshops we dive deeply into methods for wild crafting, harvesting and making medicine from herbal perennials, we will create food, tea, foot baths, oils, and also accept requests from students. The experiences are experiential and instructional with spaciousness for our questions and curiosities to be explored together.
Thursday Feast: Your main project this week will be to discover a locally grown herb (in our gardens or a nearby plant walk) and prepare a contribution to our celebratory feast which is held at 6 p.m. on Thursday July 20.
SEL, NGSS and Common Core Standards applied to the curriculum practiced over the week.
Forest Kindergarten Teacher Training
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Academy of Forest Kindergarten Teachers offers high quality, experiential, in-depth training and certification for current and up and coming early childhood educators dedicated to connecting children with Nature. In order to build a strong foundation in developmentally appropriate practices, deep nature connection and naturalist skills, we provide an active, engaging, and transformational curriculum. The Academy's comprehensive teacher training program provides our students with the theoretical, practical skills, knowledge, and magic to become exceptional educators and mentors in the field.
Forest Kindergarten Teacher Training 2023 takes place completely outdoors in Santa Barbara, California.
July 10-21, 2023 / Level 1
July 31 - August 11, 2023 / Level 2
Questions? Contact us or email [email protected] ECO Institute: Nature Based Routines for Outdoor Classrooms
713 Elm Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
The purpose of this ECO introductory course for elementary and middle school educators is to apply integrated academic curricula beyond the classroom, while immersing in and participating with nature as a learning partner. The course provides inquiry-based learning through intensive experiential lessons, activities, and discussions held entirely outdoors. Participants will explore, create and experiment with specific ECO (Educating Children Outdoors) lessons catered to the daily topic. Daily reflection and mindfulness practices are an integral part of the nature immersion learning model and will be practiced throughout the course. A successful nature immersion model allows for students to have choices, to be respected and trusted, and to take risks. Students will develop an understanding of risks vs. hazards as to prepare for and encourage safe risk taking in the outdoor classroom.
During this course, we will experience a place-based curriculum which supports the daily rhythm of the core routines. This daily rhythm mirrors the experience of elementary students during a typical day of ECO. Participants will close the week envisioning integration of the philosophies and practices that are built into a nature immersion experience. All lessons given to participants to use in their own classroom will be aligned to Vermont State Standards, Common Core and NGSS when applicable.
About the Instructor(s):
Ken Benton is the Director of Education with North Branch Nature Center, where he has been working for 10 years. Other members of NBNC’s highly skilled staff will join us throughout the week.
North Branch Nature Center is a nationally recognized leader in nature-based education for children and adults. Our place-based and inquiry-based philosophy recognizes nature as our most dynamic, enriching, rigorous, and inclusive classroom. Healthy, inspired learning and development depends on immersive, curiosity-driven nature exploration, cultivated by expert teaching and mentorship. From our acclaimed Forest Preschool and Educating Children Outdoors (ECO) flagship programs, to our summer camps, community workshops, and professional institutes, NBNC offers a lifetime of learning and growth through deepened connections with the environment. In-Person Forest School Director Certification
Chattanooga, TN
Participants in this course will engage in the planning and implementation of a forest kindergarten program at a local parochial elementary school. Classes will cover the nuts and bolts of being a FS Director. Participants will plan and facilitate a FS Camp as pilot program for the school. They will also engage in site development, creating a marketing plan, annual budget, staffing plan, parent orientation, and they will create and present a proposal to the school board. Enrollment Deadline: June 24 In-Person Forest School Teacher Certification
Chattanooga, TN
Participants will observe children in FS camps, receive naturalist training and take classes covering all topics included in the FSTI Online Teacher Course of Study. Additional certification hours will be earned during a tour of local public and private schools that have established Forest School programs including Woodsong Forest School, Wauhatchie Forest School, Gilbert Elementary School, Lookout Valley Elementary School, Lester B. Coon Adventist School and others. Panel discussions and conversations with Forest School teachers and leaders will offer participants a wide view of FS perspectives and strategies in the development of forest school programs in varied settings. In-Person Forest School Teacher Certification
Chattanooga, TN
Participants will observe children in FS camps, receive naturalist training and take classes covering all topics included in the FSTI Online Teacher Course of Study. Additional certification hours will be earned during a tour of local public and private schools that have established Forest School programs including Woodsong Forest School, Wauhatchie Forest School, Gilbert Elementary School, Lookout Valley Elementary School, Lester B. Coon Adventist School and others. Panel discussions and conversations with Forest School teachers and leaders will offer participants a wide view of FS perspectives and strategies in the development of forest school programs in varied settings. Enrollment Deadline: June 17 Cedarsong Way Teaching Training (in-person)
Wind Ridge Schoolhouse
Duluth, MN 55806
As a part of the The Cedarsong Way On-site Teacher Training, you will learn about the distinguishing features of The Cedarsong Way Nature Pedagogy; specifically, unstructured nature immersion, interest-led flow learning, inquiry-based teaching style, child-inspired emergent curriculum, and promoting social and emotional development through a positive reinforcement approach. You will also learn how to make your program a success by understanding the most critical elements, such as appropriate clothing, building parent community, developing the aptitudes of a nature-based teacher, and risk management. The Cedarsong Way Teacher Training involves a total of 35 hours of training, including topic discussions, direct observation of a Cedarsong Accredited school program, practicum opportunity, and valuable question and answer time with highly skilled Cedarsong Certified Trainers. This training will be led by Nicole Corbo. Preschool in the Natural State: Beginner Teacher Training
1720 Ferncliff RD
Little Rock, AR 72223
Our program is offering a summer workshop for beginner Nature Based Teachers. Whether you are thinking of making the leap into outdoor learning or you have already jumped in but want to learn more, this could be a good fit. The southeast does not have a lot of training opportunities as this model is pretty new in our area, so we wanted to offer something a little closer to home. We hope you can join us in Arkansas this summer! - ‹ previous
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