Our Community
Wild Roots Forest School, founded by Lia Grippo in 1998, has proudly been one of the longest running forest schools in North America. Wild Roots offers a curriculum rich in direct experience with Nature that nurtures a sense of community and belonging among children, families and the land. Drawing on a deep understanding and continuous exploration of child development, our small class size, high adult/child ratios, and the curriculum provide a foundation of respect for the developmental process and the unique unfolding of each child. Santa Barbara, California www.wildrootsschool.org
California Association of Forest Schools is committed to the renewal of a culture of kinship. We are in service to the development of high quality forest schools to support and protect the land, the children and each other. www.caforestschools.org
At Antioch University Santa Barbara, we strive to prepare students for professional success and service to their communities. We focus on developing students of all ages and backgrounds into leaders and critical thinkers who solve the challenges we face today as a society. In 2017, we celebrated 40-years of being a Santa Barbara institution and part of a dynamic and diverse community.
In Bloom in Santa Barbara Promising Practices in Nature-based Early Childhood Education
School of Integrated Living (SOIL) offers experiential education programs in integrated living and regenerative systems aimed at inspiring and empowering people to live responsible and creative lives. Based out of the Taylor Creek Watershed in the Western North Carolina mountains at Earthaven Ecovillage (an intentional community founded in 1994), SOIL has the unique ability to host hands-on, skill-building immersions with the physical, economic, agricultural, and social infrastructure necessary for featuring some of the most exciting aspects of whole-life education. Asheville, North Carolina www.schoolofintegratedliving.org
Wilderness Youth Project - Nature connection makes children smarter, healthier and happier. Our programs foster confidence, health, and a life-long love of learning through active outdoor experiences and mentoring. In order to share these benefits with the diverse demographics of our community, we include youth and families with a range of abilities and backgrounds. Santa Barbara, California www.wyp.org
Quail Springs Permaculture, a project of True Nature Society, is nonprofit organization dedicated to demonstrating and teaching holistic ways of designing human environments, and to facilitating deeper understanding of ourselves and one another through immersive experiences in nature. We believe that lasting ecological health and social harmony can be fostered through emphasizing the connection between people, food, shelter, energy, and water.
www.quailsprings.org
Earthroots is a non-profit education organization dedicated to cultivating a sense of care and connection between people and the natural world. Earthroots inspires life-long dedication to environmental stewardship & community through deep nature connection mentoring. In our creative learning environments, Earthroots participants gain a better understanding of how all of life is connected. They experience how our actions influence the world around us. With this understanding, we hope that individuals then make choices in their daily lives to improve the health of the earth, themselves and each other. Orange County, California www.earthrootsfieldschool.org
The over-arching philosophy of Leaping Lizards Nature Awareness Preschool is to foster in children a love of, respect for and connection to the natural world while the children themselves feel loved by, respected by and connected to the adults into whose care they have been entrusted. Palo Alto, California www.leapinglizardspreschool.com
Early Ecology is dedicated to providing, high quality early education in the city based on our values of harmony with nature, inquiry and community. Early Ecology is an innovative educational approach to play-based learning in nature’s classroom. Using local green spaces children’s whole beings are engaged in the natural inquiry of their surrounding environment, developing a healthy respect for themselves, one another and nature. Oakland, California www.earlyecology.com
Education has come so far from the original, innate way that humans learned for millennia. With extended family always around in natural settings kids observed, explored, imitated, questioned, and watched their mentors and nature. They learned by discovery, experimentation and very keen awareness.
Our mission at Parks Plus Creation is to foster growth and development of the whole child in 100% outdoor, natural environments. We aim to accomplish this by supporting each child's innate and individual curiosity, creativity and connection to the natural world through play-based experiences.