Kk's Forest Art School

Looking for a unique and engaging experience for your child this August?!

Our forest art school located in Kent, Ohio offers a unique blend of artistic exploration and outdoor discovery! We will be enjoying hands-on projects that spark imagination and foster a love for nature. 🌳🦋🍄🐌

Spaces are filling up fast, with only a couple spots remaining for new families to join us on our creative journey! Secure your childs place today! ✨️

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🌊🛶 Creek Week Adventures! 🛶🌊

Creek Week at Kk's Forest Art School was SO much fun, full of outdoor adventures and creativity! We started by diving into the story "Up The Creek," a story about friendship, teamwork and working through our disagreements peacefully - which inspired us to craft our own adorable woodland creatures right from the book! 🛶🐻🫎🦫

The kids then got super creative, building a "creek" out of tinfoil to float their handmade boats, and constructed awesome creek-crossing bridges with LEGOs. We had to use lots of teamwork to get the job done! Our new hammock also proved to be a super popular spot for some relaxed fun! ⛵️🌉

The highlight of the week was definitely our field trip to Hemlock Creek on Friday. We gathered to read "Creek Critters," learning how the tiny creatures in a creek can tell us a big story about water quality. Then, it was time for the main event: a fantastic creek walk! We splashed, played and searched for all sorts of amazing critters, discovering nymphs, snails, snakes, fish, crawdads and so much more. The kids even found an awesome waterfall to jump off of and slippery rocks to use as natural slides! What a phenomenal week enjoying all the wonders nature has to offer. ✨️☯️

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🐢 What a TURTLE-Y awesome week! 🐢

Turtle week was nothing short of an absolute blast! We started things off by diving into the book "Mossy," which got everyone excited to create their own adorable turtles. Using recycled materials, soft moss and beautiful flowers, out little artists crafted some truly unique little shelled friends. The fun didn't stop there—the turtle pond I set up was a huge hit, as well as the mud kitchen, our brand new play dough station and so much more! There's endless fun to be had playing, learning and creating in our woodland classroom! 🙌😁

To cap off an incredible week, we took a field trip to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center. It was amazing to see so many different turtles and learn about them, plus COUNTLESS other awesome animals. We even got to do some hiking and exploring in the creek, which was so much fun! And, of course, no adventure is complete without a stop at a super awesome playground. What an unforgettable week filled with learning, creativity and exploration! 🐢🔍

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🐸 Frog Week at Forest Art School 🐸

Frog week was an absolute blast, filled with tons of exploration and fun activities! We dove into the frog life cycle, got lost in a fantastic frog story and made our very own bubbling pond water lava lamp! Our creative highlight?! Crafting the cutest little toilet paper tube frogs with a fly on a string, just like a "ball-in-cup" game! On Friday we went on a frog hunt at Wingfoot Lake State Park, complete with a visit to the nature center, playtime, a picnic and we made the cutest little 'Toad Abodes' from terracotta pots for our froggy friends to live in! What a ribbiting good time! 💚

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🦋 Butterfly Bonanza at Forest School 🦋

What an absolutely ✨️magical✨ ️week we had celebrating all things butterflies! 🤩 From tiny eggs to magnificent wings, we dove deep into butterfly metamorphosis, and let me tell you, it was full of surprises! 🐛🦋

Our favorite read-aloud, "Butterflies are Pretty...Gross!", had everyone giggling and totally engaged as we discovered all the wonderfully weird (and sometimes gross! 😉) things these amazing creatures do. We then got our hands messy making beautiful butterfly prints, learning about symmetry, color mixing and even negative space – who knew art could teach us so much?! Plus, our butterfly sensory bin was a huge hit, offering endless fun and exploration! 🔍✨️

And the grand finale? A fantastic field trip to Beech Creek Botanical Gardens! 🌷🦋 We got to hold and even FEED real butterflies, explore nature and play amongst the gorgeous flowers. It was truly an unforgettable experience for all our little artists and nature lovers!

Stay tuned for more adventures! 😎

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When people talk about preparing children for the future, the conversation usually turns to academics, extracurriculars, and opportunities.

In How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims reflects on her years as Dean of Freshmen at Stanford. She watched highly accomplished young people arrive on campus with the grades, test scores, and achievements to get there, yet struggle with some of the day-to-day realities of managing their own lives.

Her conclusion? Children need opportunities to manage themselves.

That’s one of the reasons we care so much about play. When children are playing, things don’t always go according to plan. Their structure falls apart, someone disagrees, the idea doesn’t work, they get bored and have to decide what comes next. Those moments may not look important, but they give children practice making decisions, adjusting, negotiating, and trying again.

The value of play isn’t always obvious in the moment. Sometimes it shows up years later.

Source: Lythcott-Haims, J. (2015). How to Raise an Adult. Rooted in Play

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Rascals I tell ya... 🤣

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Have you ever decorated a cake out in the woods?! 🎂🌳

What an incredible week we had celebrating Forest Art School's 2nd birthday! 🥳 It's hard to believe TWO amazing years of learning and growing together have just flown right on by! My heart is just bursting with gratitude for all our wonderful families, incredible support systems, fantastic friends and this beautiful program we've built! 🥰❤

We had such a blast marking this special milestone! We dove into the delightful story of The Amazing Mud Cake, crafted the cutest little popsicle stick birthday cakes, and of course, got wonderfully messy making mud cakes in our beloved mud kitchen. 📖🌿🍰

But the real showstopper was our cake decorating workshop out in the woods on Friday! It was delightful seeing everyone, even the caregivers, get so creative and imaginative with their cakes! Everyone was completely into it and the results were amazing! What a fantastic way to celebrate. 🥳🎂🎈

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🐝 Bee Week at Forest Art School 🐝

What a week! Our forest art school was truly BUZZING with excitement during World Bee Week! We kicked things off by painting some absolutely BEE-utiful bee masterpieces right on 'Flight of the Bumblebee' sheet music, all while listening to that iconic tune. 🎼🎨 We also dove into some super exciting bee stories and had a blast with a honey taste test, trying out three different kinds – so delicious! 🍯😋

And the grand finale?! On Friday, we took an incredible field trip to the World Bee Day Convention! We learned SO much about these amazing creatures, explored tons of hands-on exhibits and even got to see real beekeepers in action, caring for their hives. The absolute highlight was getting to hold bees and make our very own beeswax candles – what an unforgettable experience! 🤗 It was such an amazing week filled with discovery and fun! ✨

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