New Sandy Kindergarten Focuses on Kids Exploring Nature

By Abby Haney, The Sandy Standard 

Tucked into the woods down a gravel road is a barn and a yurt surrounded by playground structures and filled with toys.“Country Cottage Preschool” is visible at the entrance. This preschool is unlike any other: it’s focused on nature and farm environment. 

Currently, the preschool meets two or three days a week for a couple of hours. The kids learn basic concepts taught in a traditional school setting, but more importantly, they are enjoying time in nature, playing with their environment and with each other. 

“They help us feed animals when they get here and then they can also play because we’re a play- based preschool,” founder and owner of Country Cottage Preschool Amanda Mason said. 

In a traditional preschool, kids don’t get as much free time as Mason offers. Even when they are learning concepts, they are visually engaging with them. For example, when reading a book focused on worms, the kids find their own worms and learn tactile lessons.  

“We are actively engaged in bringing those scientific principles to life because we are actually involved in them,” Mason said. 

However, Mason was ready for the next step forward: starting a kindergarten. Parents advocated for it and Mason has been thinking about it 

“Our parents that are in our preschool program have been [asking] ‘When are you going to start a kindergarten?’” she said. Mason's own child will begin kindergarten soon, adding to her planning.   

“It’s what I would want for my own child,” Mason said. “This has been a dream for a really long time. It’s exciting to see these things come to fruition,” Mason said. 

The kindergarten will be similar to the preschool, but one major difference is location; they would spend more of their time in the forest learning, rather than in a barn or yurt as preschool does. 

“We’re getting ready to start our forest kindergarten and the goal for that is to really not spend as much time here in the barn, but mostly spend time in the forest,” Mason said. As the kids get older, being in nature is more feasible as they have pre-built experience. 

“I think that they’re [students] just a little more ready to learn in the elements, and we’ve trained them for that,” Mason said. 

During preschool, kids at first struggled with finding entertainment outside of technology. After time, though, they were able to assimilate forest lessons, and found enjoyment doing it. Kindergarteners wouldn’t struggle from the start, easily focusing on their time in the forest. 

“I would notice that in the first month, kiddos would go down to the forest and they didn’t really know what to do. Then, after a month, they understood playing in that kind of environment,” Mason said. 

Kindergarten will occur from September through June four days a week, half days instead of a full school day. Mason believes that kids struggle in a full day environment and thrive better in short learning periods. Through it all though, standard curriculums will be taught through playing and in nature, similarly to the preschool. 

“That’s the goal: to cover all of the common core standards while letting them figure it out and explore it,” Mason said. Her ability to start a kindergarten now, and later have a preschool and the kindergarten simultaneously is in large part due to the teachers.

“We are able to expand because we have such an amazing team,” Mason said. The classes stay small with a 7:1 student-teacher ratio. This gives teachers the ability to connect and teach students individually, rather than in one large class, as standard schools do. 

“We can really focus on meeting them where they're at, instead of having to make it through everything at once,” Mason said. 

Teaching in the outdoors and through play is the teaching method Mason employs, and she finds kids enjoy it as well. Since not all kids learn in the same way, Mason explores other ways in preschool. 

“I feel like a lot of times we think that we need to have this structured, instructional learning style, but so many of our kids learn much more when they’re really invested,” Mason said. 

The kids and teachers have cited their favorite activity as the end-of-day hike. 

“My favorite time of the day is going on the hike. You leave the walls of the classroom behind and you really get to enjoy the kids and enjoy that uninterrupted time and exploration,” Mason said. The kids especially enjoy when their families have included nature in their child's everyday life. 

“If your family is looking for something like this, you probably are pretty outdoorsy already,” Mason said. 

Even when the kids are inside the yurt or barn, they are still surrounded by nature. The furniture, such as cubbies and seats, are made from logs found on their property. 

“It’s all made from wood from the forest here on the property,” Country Cottage Preschool teacher Jed Mason said. 

The addition of the kindergarten allows kids to continue learning in an environment that benefits them and implements ideas Mason has been wanting to employ: a focus on nature and learning within the forest.