Nature Preschool

The Nature Preschool offers children ages 3 to 5 a supportive learning environment that encourages discovery, experimentation, and connection through play in and with nature.

HAVE A 3YR OLD AND LOOKING FOR CARE NOW? A limited number of 3 full-day spots remain. Email Katie Rooney, Director of Early Childhood Education, to learn more and schedule a tour.

OUR PHILOSOPHY & ENVIRONMENT

Childhood should be joyful and wholesome. We believe that the earliest, most memorable kind of learning includes climbing trees, catching frogs, and making mud pies. We believe that empathy, love, curiosity, and respect are the truest foundation of learning. When thoughtful nature-based curriculum is combined with direct experiences in nature, a transformative change takes place. This connection is both powerful and empowering. We believe it is every child’s right, as an integral part of the natural community, to develop a foundation of academic skills through encounters in the natural world.

Our licensed and accredited program takes place outdoors on Irvine’s 211-acre property and in our Montessori and Reggio-inspired classrooms. Our early childhood educators create an open-ended curriculum, following their students’ interests. We entrust and empower our students to discover and investigate what they need most. Teachers are facilitators: providing materials, expanding on ideas and connection, and ensuring safety.

The Nature Preschool is designed to help your child develop cognitive and problem-solving skills while cultivating social skills and building their confidence through nature play and exploration.

We embrace risky play, teaching children to assess risk while listening to their body and inner voice. We celebrate Nature in all its beauty and weather, and our place in it. We are outside for 75-90% of the day.

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THE NATURE PRESCHOOL MIGHT BE RIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY IF…
  • You celebrate play and relationship as the main form of early learning.
  • You believe kids should be loud and messy at least a good chunk of the time.
  • You love being outside.
  • You want your child to grow to respect and value all living things.
  • You see childhood as a unique period of life- not just time to prepare for the next thing or school.
  • You celebrate diversity in all its forms and value community.
  • Your child is 3-5 years old and potty trained.*

We strive to create a community of families and staff with diverse backgrounds and abilities. Always a work in progress, we regularly reflect and work towards growth and improvement when necessary.
*If your child has particular needs that benefit from special consideration to help them thrive, please reach out to us and we can explore how we can support you further.

ENROLLMENT and class scheduleS for 2026-27

We know every family is unique, and each has its own schedules and needs. As a result, The Nature Preschool has both full-day and half-day classes with Before and AfterCare available.

The Nature Preschool has limited 3 full-day spaces for the current school year. Enrollment for 2026-27 is underway and contracts will be offered by mid-February.  Applications for 2027-28 are also being accepted. Priority is given to returning students and their siblings. Learn more about our enrollment policies here.

FULL-DAYS: 9:00AM-2:00PM
  • 5 Days, Monday through Friday (a combination of Maples and Walnuts) – $1,395/ month + down payment
  • Maples and Oaks: Monday, Wednesday, Friday – $836.90/ month + down payment
  • Walnuts: Tuesday, Thursday – $558.10/ month + down payment
HALF-DAYS: 9:00AM-NOON
  • Sycamores: Tuesday, Thursday – $352.10/ month + down payment
BEFORE AND AFTERCARE
  • Optional Before & After Care for an additional fee.
  • Early Bird Care is available Monday-Friday, 8:30-9:00am, for families that need an earlier drop-off.
  • Full-day students may extend their day with Fern Club AfterCare from 2-5pm. This program runs Monday-Friday, except for the first week of school and occasional Mondays or Tuesdays for staff meetings.
Apply Online

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR FAMILIES

Irvine is proud to offer the Woodpecker Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), a financial aid program from a generous group of private funders open to all families. To apply for TAP, click here. 

Additionally, we participate in both the Maryland State Child Care Scholarship (CCS) Program and Child Care Aware for military families. Please note, neither program covers the down payment and families are responsible for any remaining tuition balance after aid is applied. For more information and application for the Child Care Scholarship, click here. For information about Child Care Aware, click here. Families may combine this financial aid with a TAP award.

FAQS ABOUT ENROLLMENT
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The Nature Preschool Family Handbook

What Families Are Saying

The Nature Preschool supported both of my children to become confident, inquisitive, eager learners. They learned to love school, learning, and our natural world before entering Kindergarten. They also developed lasting friendships and skills to build connections. We are forever grateful for their time at Nature Preschool.

Suzanne S., Nature Preschool parent since 2021

The Nature Preschool has meant the freedom for our son to be a young child through open play and exploration. His teachers are fostering a love for the great outdoors, building healthy routine, encouraging curiosity, strengthening a sense of self in connection with others, and stimulating well-rounded development that is age appropriate.

Ghadeer M., current Nature Preschool parent

I struggled to find a program that I felt excited about or that fit my son's energy level and curiosity. On day one of nature preschool he ran off to climb trees and never shed a single tear. He now has amazing social relationships, the teachers are truly invested, kind, communicative, and they very clearly care. He comes home every day with a new story, and lots of joy. The program at Irvine is unmatched and we are ever grateful to be part of it.

Elizabeth H., current Nature Preschool parent

Sending our children to The Nature Preschool is one of the best parenting decisions we have made. At Irvine, our kids developed a deep sense of wonder and love for nature and all living things that has not diminished. The teachers and staff have created a caring, mindful, nurturing environment that has supported and informed our values and our kids have loved every minute of their time at Irvine.

Claire P., Nature Preschool parent since 2018

The Nature Preschool at Irvine is absolutely amazing! The science education offered is simply unparalleled! My daughter was lucky enough to have three years of Irvine’s loving, compassionate, inquiry-filled Nature Preschool. She’s learned letters, tree classifications, and all about ecological habitats and diversity, but more importantly she’s learned about compassion, friendship, empathy, and the importance of nature in all parts of her life and soul.

Rebecca S., Nature Preschool 2019 alumni parent

You've taught us how to spot genuine communities in our future. They are filled with acceptance, truth, diversity, open dialogue, freedom and laughter... Not only was [my child] accepted, you embraced all of him without judgement.

Jonell H., former Nature Preschool parent

Irvine has had a profoundly positive impact on our kids. It's built their confidence, fueled their passion for nature, sparked their creativity, and so much more. It's shaped how they see the world, how they learn, and how they connect with others. This kind of early childhood education is rare and precious and we feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to experience it.

Alli and Ben C., 3X Nature Preschool parents

I love that the students are supported to guide their own learning about the world and relationships. I love the time outside as it supports making connections with the real world during this screen-dominated era.

Suzanne S., Nature Preschool parent since 2021

It is wonderful how much growth we've seen in the last two years. She teaches us about plants, bugs, and animals and its amazing to see how excited she is when she experiences that learning goes both ways.

Nature Preschool parent alum

From a parent perspective, I couldn't have asked for better teachers... Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all of the support and compassion and joy you showed her. I've seen some huge strides in her self confidence, her self advocacy, and her self reliance, and I know she is where she is because of you.

Nature Preschool parent alum

My children gained so much independence and really grew into themselves and their confidence.

Ashley and James G., 2X Nature Preschool parent

[We love] the qualified teachers that love nature and child development, the administrations that are PRESENT, that my child plays outside the majority of the day and that learning is organic, not forced.

Margaret D., current Nature Preschool parent

My children are getting authentic learning experiences that are driven by their own curiosity. They get a unique opportunity to spend their childhood outside, active, and engaging with the world around them. It's fostered a beautiful relationship with the world.

Kristin K., 2X Nature Preschool parent

I truly believe these experiences the kids have had will impact them for the rest of their lives: The love and connection they have with nature, the unstructured free play outside, the focus on allowing kids to truly embrace their childhood, the amazing teachers and staff we have encountered every single year.

Kelly B., 3X Nature Preschool parent

Irvine also opened up in me my own love of nature, which truly changed the trajectory of our family life.

Kelly B., 3X Nature Preschool parent

Every night at dinner, we ask the kids what they are grateful for, and without fail, if it was [a school day], [our child's] answer was always, 'IRVINE!'

Kelly B., 3X Nature Preschool parent

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