Preschool in West Los Angeles

Children are born with an interest in nature. When walking with a child for even a block, you’ll likely find yourself stopping frequently to admire plants, flowers, ants or rocks. The influence of nature on children and its many benefits are now known. As Richard Louv, author of the Last Child in the Woods, states: “A growing body of primarily correlative evidence suggests that, even in the densest urban neighborhoods, negative stress, obesity, and other health problems are reduced and psychological and physical health improved when children and adults experience more nature in their everyday lives. These studies suggest that nearby nature can also stimulate learning abilities and reduce the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and we know that therapies using gardening or animal companions do improve psychological health. We also know that parks with the richest biodiversity appear to have a positive impact on psychological well-being and social bonding among humans” Richard Louv on July 26th 2012: NATURE’S NEURONS: Do Early experiences in the Natural World Help Shape Children’s Brain Architecture?

Our childhood education programs are interest based in an outdoor classroom. A student will learn by interacting with each other, nature, and creative projects. We keep class sizes small to give each student the attention they deserve. Our class size is a maximum of 12 children and we have two teachers and we keep the ratio six to one.

Preschool Students learn social skills by playing together, sharing toys, setting limits, asking for help, listening to each other, resolving conflicts, solving problems, taking turns, following instructions, and taking care of their bodies. All of these take time and repetition through failures, successes, and the help of our teachers (our mentors). They come from playing, doing projects, reading books, and observing nature. They will have a happy, loving, nurturing, and successful preschool experience that prepares children for Kindergarten and Elementary schools with confidence and social responsibility.

Every day provides a new and constantly changing environment for children. In our lives today, being able to adapt with ease and confidence to an evolving environment, are extremely valuable emotional skills.

The traditional preschool, child care centers and daycare centers provide a highly controlled environment. Typically, a house or center carefully thought out, built and arranged for the safety and education of the children. Some of these schools have created amazing outdoor and indoor spaces but it is a completely controlled environment. In our experience as a Forest School, giving children the freedom to interact with natural and responsive environment provides a high-quality preschool education that indoor classrooms can’t match.

These developmental milestones are not always listed in “early childhood education” standards. At LA Nature Kids preschool we believe these adaptability skills should be included as a focus for preschool aged children. A forest school by nature is by far the most efficient setting to learn and master adaptability.

Counting, sizing, weighing, shape recognition, sorting, harvesting, cooking tinctures and balms, research: What flies, floats, swims and crawls? How and why?

Everything is provided by nature in multitudes, varieties and abundance by the elements: rocks, dirt, plants, waters, air, and animals, particularly insects.

• The teachers read age-related books and children are provided with books to explore independently to enhance language skills.
• When the children are ready and interested, the teachers provide writing and letter recognition opportunities.