Welcome to Applegrove Nature School, where childhood meets the great outdoors!

At Applegrove, we're more than just a program; we're stewards of wonder, nurturing a profound connection between children and the natural world.

Our motto, 'Play, Create, and Take Risks,' perfectly encapsulates our ethos. We believe in the transformative power of play to ignite imagination, foster creativity, and fuel curiosity. Here, we encourage our young learners to embrace exploration, experimentation, and boundary-pushing, empowering them to take calculated risks as they navigate and discover the wonders of the world around them.

But it doesn't stop there. Our students not only immerse themselves in play but also engage in the creative process, crafting art from nature's abundant palette, constructing structures using loose parts, and weaving stories inspired by the wilderness that surrounds them.

In addition to fostering creativity, we embrace bush craft as a vital component of our curriculum. Through bush craft, children learn essential outdoor skills, from fire-building and shelter construction to tool use and plant identification. These hands-on experiences not only connect children with nature but also instill a sense of self-reliance, resilience, and problem-solving

Guided by seven core relationships—Play, Risk, Trust, Power, Land, Story, and Learning—we shape our ethos and practice. At Applegrove, led by a certified teacher and forest and nature school practitioner, we place a premium on holistic child development, rooted in place-based learning. We firmly believe that every child deserves the space and time to thrive amidst the beauty of the great outdoors.

Join us in nurturing a generation of self-confident, resilient, and compassionate problem-solvers who not only cherish but actively safeguard our natural world.

Welcome to Applegrove Nature School, where the boundaries of learning dissolve, and nature emerges as our greatest teacher.

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About Us

What is Nature School?

Nature School is an educational ethos and practice that puts the land and the child-at-play at the centre of every activity. Children build a relationship with the land by using the same outdoor space over extended periods of time and throughout all 4 seasons. Children are given space and time to explore and be inspired by their surroundings, and educators support the children through an emergent curriculum, which is driven by a process of inquiry. Nature School views risky play as an integral part of children’s learning and healthy development. (Adapted from the Child & Nature Alliance of Canada and Forest School Canada).

Our Core Values

According to the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada nature schools need to maintain 7 relationships in order for them to be ethical, authentic and meaningful.

These 7 relationships are:

Play, Risk, Trust, Power, Land, Story & Learning

At Applegrove Nature School, our core values align

with these 7 principles:

· Trust & Respect

· Emergent Learning

· Whole-Child Development

· Place-based Learning

children dressed up and swinging in a hammock

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide space and time for children to learn with and from nature using emergent curriculum, and to support them as they seek new learning opportunities and challenges.

children balancing on a homemade teeter totter in the forest

Our Vision

Our vision is that all children develop a sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world, and that they become self-confident, resilient, and caring problem-solvers.

children building a den structure from natural materials

Who Are We

Our passionate team of educators are certified teachers in British Columbia and Alberta with over 20 years of teaching experience between them. One has Wilderness and Standard First Aid. The other is a Forest and Nature School Practitioner certified through the Child and Nature Alliance Canada.