Workshop on Education Practices in Nature-Based Early Childhood Set for May 15

David Sobel, senior faculty in the Department of Education at Antioch University New England (AUNE), will lead the list of presenters for In Bloom, Promising Practice in Nature-Based Early Childhood, a workshop to be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday, May 15, at AUNE.

Participants will learn about new practices in nature-based early childhood, and meet with colleagues and pioneer practitioners of nature preschools and forest kindergartens. Rain or shine, everyone will head outdoors to explore the landscape.

Sobel is author of Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators, Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education, and many other books and articles on place- and nature-based education, as well as a sought-after international speaker in the field.

Other presenters include:

• Patti Bailie, founding director of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Preschool, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• Susie Spikol Faber, outdoor education coordinator at the Harris Center for Conservation Education, Hancock, New Hampshire

• Anne Stires, director of Juniper Hill School for Place-based Education, Alna, Maine

• Zoe Foster, teacher at Juniper Hill School for Place-based Education in Alna, Maine

• Amy Fredland , facilitator of the Wonder of the Woods program at Sophia’s Hearth Family Center, Keene, New Hampshire

• Jane Miller, director of Teacher Certification Programs, AUNE Department of Education and past director of the Price Farm School, Antrim, New Hampshire

• Virginia Sullivan, chair of the board of Conway School of Landscape Architecture, Conway, Massachusetts, and co-author of Lens on Outdoor Learning

• Susan Weber, director of Sophia’s Hearth Family Center, Keene, New Hampshire

• Regina Wolff Fritz, coordinator of public programs director of the Waldkindergarten program at the Natick Organic Community Farm, Natick, Massachusetts

• Amy Butler, Lindsey Vandal, and Jenna Aube, education staff members at the North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, Vermont.

The day-long workshop is co-sponsored by Sophia’s Hearth Family Center and the Harris Center for Conservation Education.

The cost of the day-long workshop is $125 for general registration, $100 for a team of four, $75 for  AUNE alumni, and $50 for current matriculated students.  Register online here.

Find more information here, or contact Peg Smeltz, 603-283-2301, or email: MSmeltz@antioch.edu