Some people read or hear “nature-based education” and imagine a forest school. Though we respect the opportunities provided to children at forest schools, we founded Maple Playschool with the intention of making nature-based education more accessible to families in Bloomington. We are different from many forest schools in a few impactful ways: (a) families can travel to Maple Playschool by bus, taking either the 4S or 7; (b) we offer full-day care, Monday through Friday; and (c) we are licensed, which enables us to accept CCDF vouchers.

Our outdoor classroom features a mature silver maple tree – a keystone species! – that gives children natural loose parts such as sticks, leaves, and samaras. Kids fill and observe our bird feeder, visited by blue jays, woodpeckers, and other birds. Logs in our outdoor classroom are home to roly-polies, slugs, and more small creatures. We offer a rain barrel, buckets, and tubes for water play, which often takes place at our mud kitchen. Our outdoor blocks encourage kids to engineer with the shape of the land in mind. And on a quilt, children may appreciate picture books honored with a Blueberry Award. Every morning during indoor play, kids have access to paper, colored pencils, crayons, paint, costumes, foraged loose parts, picture books, puzzles, water, and more. We cherish observing young children’s competencies as they engage with our indoor and outdoor classrooms.

Our teaching team also enjoys guiding children to Sherwood Oaks Park and Jackson Creek during monthly walking field trips in the spring and fall.