Big Adventures
for Small People
A Santa Barbara, Nature-based
Early Childhood Program
"Give [the children] the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. Attention is the beginning of devotion."
- Mary Oliver
What is a forest school?
A forest school is an entirely outdoor, all-weather program for children. Children play, eat, dance, climb, paint, rest, write, build, and learn all through extended time in nature. Inspired by the Scandinavian model established in the 1950s, the outdoor school focuses on whole-child development; socio-emotional, cognitive, and physical development are all equally important.
What is A Thousand Mornings?
A Thousand Mornings is both the name of our school and the title of a collection of poems by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Mary Oliver. Oliver was a true lover of nature, reveling not just in its beauty, necessarily, but rather constantly standing witness to the nuances, cadence, intentionality, and resilience of the natural world. Her words made even the small and mundane— perhaps even especially the small and mundane— seem wondrous.
Inspired by this air of reverence, A Thousand Mornings Forest School seeks to offer children a place to discover both themselves and the world around them. We meet 5 days a week from 8:30-12:30 and offer an intentionally small, mixed-age program. We gather in local wild bits of beautiful Santa Barbara and spend our time exploring the flora and fauna, forging trails, building relationships with the land and our peers, and learning how to be safe, aware, and responsive in a somewhat unpredictable environment.
We hope to offer children a thousand mornings full of discovery, learning, growth, and community.
What are the benefits?
The benefits of an outdoor education are innumerable! Rather than considering it a supplement to a traditional schooling, an outdoor education itself provides all the necessary tools to cultivate independent, capable, curious, and confident children— truly critical thinkers.
In an all outdoors environment, children:
Move with energy and ease
Manage emotions better
Easily collaborate with peers
Naturally assess risk
Experience less stress
Create meaningful relationships with their peers and environment
Display better overall behavior and self-regulation
Have fun!
“Childhood serves a purpose. It isn’t something to “get through” or speed up. It’s there to protect developing minds. To nurture young souls. So, let’s give our kids the space to be unbusy. Let’s unschedule. Let’s “miss out”. Let’s hold the space for childhood. Because childhood isn’t a dress rehearsal for adulthood.”
-Tracy Gillett