Chesterfield Nature Academy

That’s a wrap on our fall mini session 🍂 A big thanks to all the families that joined us!

It was spooky spider day at our mini forest school 🕷️ The kids learned about spiders here in central Virginia, the difference between venomous and poisonous, different web structures, and how spiders are helpful in the ecosystem. The kids drew what they imagined their own web would look like and what they’d catch in it, and then went to work weaving a “kid web” in our climbing dome. We found spiders in the woods, discovered some soft moss, and returned to see that our kid web had caught some surprises 🎃 Happy Halloween!

The northern lights in central VA 💫 we aren’t in a super rural area, but far enough out that we have a lot less light pollution. The long drives can be annoying, but the stargazing (and chickens) make it worth it ✨🐓

🍁Fall Mini Forest School Session is now enrolling🍁

This mini session is a hybrid between our regular forest school and our co-op! Parents stay for the session, but lessons are provided by a teacher. We’ll be focusing on nature-based topics and, of course, we’ll have lots of free play in the woods.
🍁Thursday mornings mid Oct-mid Nov
🍁Best for ages 2.5-6
🍁All outdoors!
Interested? Check out our website for more info or email us at [email protected]

That’s a wrap on another fantastic co-op session! We learned about trees, the sun, flowers, and summer foods 🍉 we climbed, jumped, planted seeds, tied knots, found spiders, and (as usual) spent plenty of time frolicking in the woods 🌳

2023 at Chesterfield Nature Academy! Outside all year, in all types of weather. ☔️☃️☀️

Our co-op had a great time today learning about the winter solstice! We read about solstice traditions from all over the world, made lanterns, and ate yummy star bread to celebrate 💫

This week our co-op went on a mushroom hunt and learned a mushroom dance to remember the life cycle of mushrooms! Can you guess which slide is the spores blowing in the wind?? 🍄🤭

That’s a wrap on our first co-op session 💫 we spent the morning harvesting seeds from sunflowers, marigolds, rattle snake beans, and lima beans. We got to break out the hammers to decorate our seed envelopes with marigold flower hammering, and everyone went home with a collection of seeds for the spring🌱 it’s been so fun getting to know our group over the last month and witnessing both kids and parents making new friends!

We’ve opened up 1️⃣ spot for a 5-6 year old in our next session to balance out our age group (siblings welcome). Want to join us? Head to our website and fill out our interest form!

Our co-op spent this beautiful morning color matching, adding up our finds, collecting pine cones, and exploring! 🌲🍄🌻

A fun and sweaty day to kick off the fall co-op! We had a great time exploring the woods, meeting the chickens, and getting to know everyone 🐓