Grateful Gathering Forest School

Nature Playschool is back in session! Here’s some classic language we used to empower our kiddos as they start off the school year. 🌱✨

Grateful to be back at Forest School! 🌱🧡✨

We are so excited to finally be exploring, learning and playing together for the 2026-2027 school year!

Don’t forget to tag us in your first day of school pics!

Meet Teacher Megan 🌱

Megan Oliver was raised in Wisconsin where her first love for nature came through bird watching and roaming the prairies with a camera. She graduated in 2019 from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa with a B.A. in Elementary Education and French. Shortly after graduating, she moved to Salt Lake City to start her career as a teacher and to be close to the mountains.

She taught 5th grade for 3 years, and while this experience formed her into the educator she is today, she craved a different style of teaching. In 2023, she decided to leave the public school system to work at Grateful Gathering Forest School and to also grow her own jewelry business, Crooked Trails Silver.

In her free time, you will find Megan hiking local trails, taking desert road trips, observing birds in her backyard, reading, and creating art whether that’s in the form of metal or painting.

While taking a little break from GGFS last year to pursue other dreams, Megan is excited to be back as the new Co-Owner and Teacher Lead. She will also continue to teach Metalsmithing at Salt Lake Community College and run her business when not working at GGFS.

She is excited to help GGFS grow into the next chapter and to connect closely with families and kids in nature. She loves seeing how kids become confident and independent in the outdoors while also regulating their emotions.

Megan taught with us in our early years and is now back as our Teacher Lead and soon to be Co-owner! While being a fellow bird nerd and having great knowledge of the outdoors, she is also an incredible example of what it is to be a friend to our students and teachers alike and a force to be reckoned with when it comes to confidence in childcare. We couldn’t be more grateful to have her on our team and can’t wait to see all that she brings this new school year! 🧡🪶✨

Week 8, let’s celebrate! 🌞🧡✨

Our final week of Camp has been a celebration of all things Summer! We did some of our favorite crafts, smashed geodes and said our goodbyes to friends and teachers.

This has been a summer to remember, and we are so sad to see it end! To those students we will see in the school year, enjoy your break! And to those we won’t see again until next summer, we hope your school year is filled will lots of laughter and learning. We can wait to see you next summer!

Love, the GGFS Teaching Team

Summer Camp Week Seven highlights! 🪕🎣🐌

This week the kiddos made banjos, fishing poles (for sharks) and snail homes. Most of these projects were impromptu and came straight from their imaginations. Aren’t those the best memories anyway?

We 🧡 Summer Camp!
So crazy next week is our last week!

Meet Teacher Kayla! 🌱

Kayla grew up in the small mountain town of FairPlay, Colorado where she spend her time doing everything outdoors. From camping, dirt biking, hunting and hiking, she has always loved being in nature. Her favorite memories from her childhood includes making mud pancakes and sawdust oatmeal with her sister as well as watching moose, deer, and elk in her backyard.

She went to Colorado State University to study Wildlife and Conservation Biology and eventually ended up in Utah to ski and enjoy the nature. Before Grateful Gatherings, Kayla had done a lot of wildlife field work, but eventually leaned her passion aligned with environmental education and sharing the wonders of nature with others.

Kayla also had a passion for health and wellness. When she’s not outside, she spends her time reading, in the gym, or cooking. Her mom is a nutritional therapist and chef and she has inspired her to live a healthy and active lifestyle using natural things from the earth to feel best.

Kayla is looking forward to showing our students how to love and experience all of the amazing things in nature the way she always has.

We are so happy to have Kayla’s confidence, presence and natural gift of bringing awareness and care to our outdoor spaces with us as we enter into the new school year. 🧡✨

Summer Camp week 6 was for our local fauna! 🐾

This week the kiddos got to make one of our biggest camp highlights, animal masks! We had Utah ID pamphlets and binos, as well as books for them to look at. We spent time talking about how we can respect our local wildlife, including snake safety, each morning at hello circle.

The kids also beat the heat by making and racing stick boats! Another camp fav! ⛵️✨