Tiny Pines Forest School uses nature-immersion pedagogy, rooted in the principles of The Cedarsong Way® and Reggio-Emilia teaching practices, to facilitate teaching and learning.
We believe children’s inherent curiosity serves as the best springboard for learning, and so we responsively follow children’s interests, questions, and creativity to foster constructivist hands-on learning experiences.
We are committed to unstructured free play in the forest and dedicate a significant portion of program time to this invaluable practice with responsive adult modeling and support. During this time, children have ample opportunity to practice creating, planning, and trying out different ideas. They practice collaboration and sharing with their peers and have extensive opportunities to strengthen fine and gross motor skills through the use of traditional tools (ex. scissors, crayons, drawing tools) and nature-based tools (ex. digging with sticks, balancing on logs, peeling back bark from a dead tree limb).
A core belief of Tiny Pines Forest School is that if we foster a sense of community connection and appreciation for nature in children now when they are young, they will care about environmental protection and sustainability in the future. Planting a seed for lifelong love and stewardship of the natural world is at the core of what we do.
Tiny Pines Forest School gathers on the ancestral land of the Munsee Lenape Tribe, whose people have long stewarded the forests and rivers on which we explore and play. We acknowledge the Munsee Lenape as the original people of this land, denounce their forced displacement, and respect the ongoing relationship between the Munsee Lenape people and this land.