Sprouts - Kalamazoo Nature Center

Wednesdays, 10 – 11:30 am
4-week session | August 10-31

Program is held outdoors at the Kalamazoo Nature Center

Fee per session: $85 per family (1 caregiver and up to 2 children from the same household). $50 per additional child. Limited to 15 families. Financial assistance is available. Registration opens June 29!

Beech Maple Trail in early fall This popular program for young children, 3 years and under, and a caregiver, will meet at KNC. We will gather and explore, nurture artistry, climb, get messy, observe, build, sing, and tell stories while fostering an early love of nature. Led by an experienced Nature’s Way teacher with multiple early childhood degrees, each session will have a small group size of 15 families. These loosely-structured outdoor sessions will allow for a mix of guided and open-ended experiences. All relevant health and safety guidelines for outdoor activities will be observed. Participants will be supported to engage in ways that feel safest for their family.

Financial assistance is available

We recognize there is significant variability in what families in our community are able to afford. This reality is only growing due to the impacts of COVID-19. Financial assistance can be applied for by answering a few simple questions during the registration process.

Please contact the KNC Registrar at for questions regarding registration or financial aid applications.

Contact

Lindsey Homan
Nature’s Way Sprouts Coordinator

Lindsey is a Nature’s Way Preschool teacher with over 20 years experience with young children and their families. She holds a degree in Early Childhood Education with teacher licensure from National Louis University as well as a Master of Science in Child Development from the Erikson Institute. She and her husband Kevin have three little ones, Teddy, a Nature’s Way Preschool student, Katie, and Alexander. Her experience and enthusiasm for working with toddlers launched the idea for the Sprouts program, bringing the beauty and wonder of nature to our youngest learners.

Upcoming Sprouts programs at Stryker Nature Preserve:

SNP Fall Sprouts (8 weeks)
Wednesdays,
September 14 – November 2,
9:15 – 10:45am
Registration open August 3

SNP Winter Sprouts (6 weeks)
Wednesdays,
January 4 – February 8,
9:15 – 10:45am
Registration open November 23

SNP Spring Sprouts (8 weeks)
Wednesdays,
March 8 – May 3,
9:15 – 10:45am
Registration open January 25

SNP Summer Sprouts (6 weeks)
Wednesdays,
May 24 – June 28,
9:15 – 10:45am
Registration open April 12

Each session will focus on:

Physical Maturation & Wellbeing | Multiple opportunities to coordinate the use of big and small muscles within the embrace of nature.

Language Development | Using authentic, personal, and natural experiences to encourage language production for the simple joy of expressive and connective purposes.

Creative Experiences | Experiencing the influence of nature’s beauty and the joy of community to experiment with artistic expression.

Social & Emotional Development | Blending encounters of wide open spaces with captivating moments of tiny wonder to give outlet to both the tenacity and tenderness of toddlerhood.

Executive Function | Using the power of attachment to reinforce skills that foster poised, capable, and empathetic human beings.

Cognitive Growth | Exploratory play in the outdoors naturally creates opportunities for children to question, investigate, problem solve, and reflect on their experiences.