Programs and Offerings at Brave Nature School
whether you're looking for more information about our programs for families & children, professional development trainings or want to collaborate with bns,
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caregiver & me program
Weekend and weekday options year-round
AGES 0-4
Nests
now enrolling!
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Nests is an outdoor program for families and our littlest ones. Classes run from 9-11AM across four seasonal sessions consisting of 8 weeks each (Autumn, Winter, Spring & Summer).
In this program, we work together to cultivate a welcoming and joyful space for families and children to safely explore nature – and practice what it means to teach, learn, play and grow in anti-racist and anti-bias community. Each class is gently structured to include a circle time, story, snack and free play.
Join us as we sing, walk, leap, dig, run, sort, observe, smell, track, touch, listen, laugh, taste, tumble, climb, build, deconstruct, and work together. Minds, bodies, and spirits are engaged as we stretch our understandings of the place we live in and what it means to care for ourselves and each other.
Program goals
sample rhythm
introduce and practice age appropriate consent-based body awareness and safety skills
share environmental knowledge amongst a multicultural group
connect deeply with ourselves and our child(ren) through activities that focus on care, collaboration, and wonder
build meaningful relationships with one another in a safe, anti-bias environment
Sample Rhythm
Program overview
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9:00-9:15 Arrival and welcome
9:15-9:45 Morning circle & snack
9:45-10:45 Play Exploration
10:45-11 Closing circle
Program goals
Program overview
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pre-k/k pilot program
Year-round
AGES 2.8-6
Gardens
now enrolling!
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Gardens is a full-time (with part-time option) pre-K/K program for children ages 2.8 to 6 launching Autumn 2025. The program runs Monday through Friday from 9AM-3PM September through June 2025-2026. Building from our Nests (Caregiver & Me) rhythm, Gardens offers a gentle transition for children ready to further their learning in an educational setting where nature is their primary teacher in a supportive community.
We believe that children are born with inherent wisdom, value and rights. They begin learning from day one without adult interference and deserve safe and affirming spaces to pursue their own curiosities. Each day at Brave Nature School, children have the freedom to be themselves, explore their environment and grow alongside their friends.
In Gardens, children gain important self-introspection, collaboration and conflict transformation skills. Together, they practice communicating and responding to boundaries as they navigate interactions with friends, their environment, and all its life forms. Children and playworkers work in partnership to create agreement around ways of being together (including rules-setting and planning our time together). They are invited to participate in skill-building activities that develop radical empathy, cross-cultural understanding through arts, music and stories, non-sectarian and inclusive spirituality, early literacy, numeracy, and more.
Through play, children come to learn about themselves and their world. The Gardens program offers an environment where they can develop an understanding of their self-identities and a model for how they learn without reliance on outside instruction or a one-size-fits all curriculum.
More information
about the playworkers
goals & rhythm
what to expect
Provide a safe, healthy and consistent space for children to play, learn, and grow
Model and support the practice of age-appropriate consent-based body awareness, communication, conflict transformation, and safety skills
Promote multicultural approaches of knowing and being, including through art, histories and cultures, literature, music and poetry, mathematics, sciences, engineering and more.
Build a culture of belonging with one another and all life forms of the park.
Program Goals:
9:00 - 9:15 Drop-off & Play
9:15 - 9:30 Morning Circle
9:30 - 10:00 Snack & Bathroom Break
10:00 - 11:15 Environmental Exploration Thematic Play
11:15 - 12:00 Lunch & Bathroom Break
12:00 - 1:00 Quiet time
1:00 - 2:15 Story/Culture/Art Play
2:15 - 2:30 Tidy Up
2:30 - 2:45 Closing Circle
2:45 - 3:00 Pick-up
Sample Rhythm:
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about the playworkers
overview
what to expect
Some ways you might see children playing and learning in Gardens include:
- pretend play scenarios such as animal families or role play with puppets
- building tools and homes
- participating in both independent and collaborative process art projects using myriad rich materials for expression
- family and culture shares
- digging in dirt and puddles; experimenting with water
- making up games and teaching/playing them with others
- singing and dancing together
- reading and telling stories to ignite a lifelong love of literature and storytelling
- hiking; bird-watching and plant identification
- making and serving one another pretend food in the mud kitchen
- preparing, serving, and enjoying daily lunches (then tidying up)
- mark-making and reflection through journaling
- inspiring unique, emergent threads of inquiry that hold deep meaning for children
- laughter and silliness and holding space for all emotions that arise
- mindfulness, movement and breathing exercises that promote self awareness and presence
- resourceful independent and community problem solving
The play and learning will always be indicative of and authentic to the particular children and group in a given session.
about the playworkers
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about the playworkers
overview
goals & rhythym
Playworkers are there to protect our play space, support children when needed and facilitate consent culture within our community and amongst all life forms. They serve as an extension of the caregiver role as they model our consent-based, anti-bias, and anti-racist values. Playworkers follow the child, learning with and responding to each child's uniqueness in relationship to their cohort. Some things you will see our playworkers doing are:
• Facilitating a safe and healthy space for children to fully immerse themselves in play
• Co-assessing risks with children
• Modeling listening to our bodies, healthy self-expression and listening to understand one another
• Setting up invitations to thematic exploration using natural elements, ethically sourced multicultural materials, games and resources
• Closely observing children, documenting their interests, questions, play stories, and seeking opportunities to enrich their understanding
• Verbally coaching children through the steps of conflict transformation and repair, only after patiently giving children the space to do it or if the situation has become unsafe
• Intentionally stepping back from their interactions with a child when they have begun to play independently or with other children
• Modeling a lifelong learning ethic by engaging in their own interests and welcoming the children to participate if they express interest
gardens overview
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what to expect
overview
goals & rhythym
primary program
Monday - Friday year-round
Ages 6-10
Coming Soon!
Journeys
coming
soon
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In the Journeys primary program, children build upon what they already know and follow their curiosities while practicing being in anti-racist and anti-bias community. Transdisciplinary workshops will offer children the space to seek out and make connections between maths and sciences, arts, histories and cultures.
Throughout the year, children will encounter diverse knowledge systems through storytelling and the arts. They will balance their time in self-directed learning while working collaboratively with their peers and playworkers in a year-long family heritage project.
The Journeys playworkers will support children as they take their teaching and learning journeys across Edgerton Park's expansive 25 acres.
Program goals
sample rhythm
Digital and civic literacy
Identity, diversity, justice and action standards
Noticing, studying, answering to and rebuilding relationships that exist in nature and societies
And so much more!
Sample Rhythm
Program overview
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Students will develop skills at their own pace in the following areas:
9:00 - 9:15 Drop-off
9:15 - 9:45 Play Exploration
9:45 - 10:00 Morning Circle
10:00 - 10:30 Snack
10:30 - 11:45 Environmental Exploration/Safety Skills/Garden Time
11:45 - 12:15 Lunch
12:15 - 1:30 Story/Handwork/Art
1:30 - 2:30 Play Exploration
2:30 - 2:45 Closing Circle
2:45 - 3:00 Pick-up
*LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE
Program goals
Program overview
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Professional Development Trainings
Brave Nature School offers trainings in consent-based practice upon request. As a part of our commitment to education equity and economic justice, our Equity Model ensures our trainings are accessible to all at different price points.
for nature schools, daycares, early learning programs
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