Creekside’s Forest Kindergarten is a program created to give students a school experience that would best prepare them for a happy, successful life. After spending many years with this age group and reading about the forest kindergarten model,  we feel that the outdoor classroom is the best environment to develop strong, resilient, responsible, highly creative students who have a deep connection to nature and a desire to protect the environment.

Research has shown that children at this age learn best through play so the students spend the majority of their time developing games, building and pretending to be animals, etc. 

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We begin our day with a morning meeting outside on the school campus where we observe the weather and discuss what we need to be safe and comfortable for the day. Students carry their belongings up the trail to our outdoor classroom and then work together to set up our bathroom and supplies. After hydrating, they take off to explore, build, pretend, climb, and have fun with their friends. As they move about they problem-solve together and help each other when needed. We have a morning snack, play some more, and then gather to learn about sounds, numbers, our bodies, or whatever our learning goal is for that day. We use natural materials to count and sort. We build structures to help animals and do a lot of nature observations and bird sits. After lunch, students continue their games and building and then we head down to our inside classroom at 2:00pm for art or cultural studies class. Warm weather finds us seeking out the shady spots and playing in the creek. Rainy and snowy days are so fun to huddle in shelters, build snow slides and explore gravity by rolling huge snowballs downhills and off precipices. 

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We love our outdoor classroom!

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To register for Kindergarten for the 2024-25 school year, your child must turn five by September 1.  Please visit the Admissions page for more details.