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Learning Outside Learning Outside provides children with experiences outdoors that enhance their current lives & lear

Learning Outside offers outdoor education programs that are interest-led, experiential and environmentally and seasonally-based. All of our programs are held entirely outdoors at Triangle Land Conservancy's beautiful 269-acre Irvin Nature Preserve. Program activities involve learners from diverse backgrounds with experiences that support curiosity, creativity and wonder and that foster a love of the outdoors. Research confirms that immersion in nature promotes science knowledge and fosters happier, healthier, more enggaged children both at school and at home.

☀️Fun in the Sun with Cyanotypes☀️Cyanotype is a camera-less photographic printing technique that uses sunlight to creat...
10/13/2026

☀️Fun in the Sun with Cyanotypes☀️

Cyanotype is a camera-less photographic printing technique that uses sunlight to create beautiful cyan-blue prints.

Paper or natural fabric is coated with an iron-salt solution, then dried and secured to a piece of cardboard. Natural materials, such as flowers, leaves, snake skins, and feathers, are arranged on the treated paper or fabric to create a print. It is important to work in the shade and keep the materials out of direct sunlight during preparation.

Once the prints are ready, they are placed in direct sunlight, and that’s where the magic happens! The paper or fabric gradually turns a rich blue. This process can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes.

Next, bring the prints back into the shade and remove the objects to reveal beautiful designs. Remove the prints from the cardboard and carefully rinse them with water. Finally, lay the rinsed paper or fabric flat or hang it to dry 💙

Week 7: the routines are solid, the friendships are flourishing, and the connection to nature is real 🍁
10/09/2026

Week 7: the routines are solid, the friendships are flourishing, and the connection to nature is real 🍁

Make Fairy Tea with us!Here is how you can brew your very own Fairy Tea at home:✨First, warm your kettle while you gathe...
10/06/2026

Make Fairy Tea with us!

Here is how you can brew your very own Fairy Tea at home:

✨First, warm your kettle while you gather Butterfly Pea Flowers.
✨Toss the flowers into a glass jar and steep them in hot water for a few minutes. Let the color shift from a light lavender to a deep purple.
✨While the flowers steep, enjoy a little fairy frolic through the garden and get ready for pure delight in a cup!
✨Stir in a bit of honey or maple syrup if you like things sweet.
✨Finally, add some fresh lemon juice and watch the color change from a deep indigo to a vibrant magenta.
✨Pour into cups and enjoy!

✨ Play is a necessity ✨We immersed ourselves in play this week. Forest Kindergarten played in the dirt and along the tra...
10/02/2026

✨ Play is a necessity ✨

We immersed ourselves in play this week. Forest Kindergarten played in the dirt and along the trails. Adventurers got creative with flowers and forest crafts. Trailblazers embraced their inner coyotes. Explorers created camouflage and became predators and prey in the woods. Pathfinders found their stealth, like a fox. What a fun week!

✨🧡 Monarch Magic in the Garden 🧡✨For months, we’ve been observing the stages of transformation in the Learning Garden. Y...
09/29/2026

✨🧡 Monarch Magic in the Garden 🧡✨

For months, we’ve been observing the stages of transformation in the Learning Garden. Youngsters watched the milkweed for signs until, one day, eggs were discovered under a leaf! The tiny caterpillars came next. We watched them munch and grow. We began searching the garden for chrysalises. Our patient observation was rewarded with a magical sight: chrysalises glittering with vibrant gold and green! Youngsters returned to the chrysalises every day, watching them change. Yesterday, we watched monarchs emerge and take flight!

🦋 Nature teaches patience. It invites us to slow down and observe.

🦋 Nature inspires resilience. It shows us how even the smallest creatures can experience powerful metamorphosis, given time and care.

🦋 Nature fosters compassion and connection. It helps us see how “all flourishing is mutual,” as Robin Wall Kimmerer so beautifully stated.

Have you played yet today? 🍁Play is hands-on learning in action! It is the space in which children explore and expand th...
09/25/2026

Have you played yet today?

🍁Play is hands-on learning in action! It is the space in which children explore and expand their curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
🍁Play helps children build resilience.
🍁Play provides the time and space needed to develop a relationship with self, with others, and with the natural world.

Learning Outside’s Forest Kindergarten is unique to this area. Set entirely outdoors in the natural world, Forest Kinder...
09/18/2026

Learning Outside’s Forest Kindergarten is unique to this area. Set entirely outdoors in the natural world, Forest Kindergarten offers a play-based environment for both preschoolers and kindergartners. Children make discoveries, form friendships, and engage in hands-on, experiential learning in nature.

🍁 Our low instructor / student ratio promotes safety and ensures staff can observe and respond to each child’s needs and interests as well as to the group’s needs, as a whole. We maintain a 1 instructor to 5 students ratio in Forest K.

🍁 Forest Kindergarten is a year-long program and runs September - May.

🍁 Learn more about Forest Kindergarten on our website or join us at our Fall Open House & Family Picnic on November 14th 11am - 1pm!

Nature is home 🌿
09/17/2026

Nature is home 🌿

At Learning Outside, unhurried exploration time is always at the heart of what we do. Our programs provide the experienc...
09/16/2026

At Learning Outside, unhurried exploration time is always at the heart of what we do. Our programs provide the experiences research confirms all children need; unhurried time spent outdoors playing, learning, exploring, and connecting with nature and with one another.

Learn more about our programs and approach on our website or by joining our seasonal newsletter! Link in bio 🍁

☀️A handful of spots are still open in our Nature Clubs!☀️After School Nature Clubs meet weekly September - May. ☀️Young...
09/15/2026

☀️A handful of spots are still open in our Nature Clubs!☀️After School Nature Clubs meet weekly September - May.
☀️Youngsters spend time hiking and exploring the woods, meadows, pond, and creek. They play group nature games, make art with natural materials, work in our Learning Garden and help care for our farm animals. They make nature discoveries and learn about ecosystems, wild plants, and wild animals and their habitats.
☀️Groups may learn about fire safety, fire building, tracking, wild edible plant identification, shelter building, and more.
☀️Visit the After School page on our website to learn more and enroll!

Address

2912B Jones Ferry Road
Chapel Hill, NC
27516

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