Forest Village
ages 5-12
Thursdays 10 am - 2 pm
Fall 2025 - September 11 through Dec 11 (No class November 27)
On Thursdays we welcome children ages 5-12 to play in the beautiful forests and fields of Nature and Nurture Seed Farm to play and nurture friendships, self awareness, self determination and community in connection with nature. Campers practice outdoor and community skills and are supported in developing their interests. Children are supported by experienced, actively learning, adult nature mentors/child educators.
Forest Village (originally Coyotes) has been running since 2010. Our learning from children and parents and caregivers in co-creating this program greatly informs NLC's learning and mission as an organization.
Children collaborate to plan our days. Activities include shelter/village/camp building, fire skills, first aid stations, way finding, animal spying, tracks and signs, storytelling, local flora/fauna, weather forecasting, plant paints and dyes, nature crafts, foraging, cooking, wood carving, games, gratitude practices, peace and community skills. Children's interests drive the offerings.
We consider and experiment with big questions:
Where does water go when it boils? Wood go when it burns?
How do squirrels remember how to find the nuts they bury?
How do trees grow? Mushrooms? People?
What is the history of this land? What will it be like 1000 years from now?
How does a prism make a rainbow?
How do birds survive the winter? Beetles? Humans?
How can we build a bird nest?
How do mosquitos and people depend on each other?
How do we protect ourselves from mosquitoes and ticks?
How high can we pile these rocks?
If we could be any kind of amphibian for just one day and night- what would we be? What would we do?
How do we build the strongest shelter? The wobbliest shelter?
How do squirrels decide where to build a nest?
What do we receive from nature? What does nature receive from us?
What do we need to plan a party? A feast? Should we invite parents? What would they like?
How do we feel?
We always need more question askers!
Class meets at Nature and Nurture Seed Farm in Dexter, MI on Thursdays from 10 am until 2 pm. In especially challenging weather we may meet at UM Natural History Museum or Matthaei Botanical Gardens
$780 (check) is the cost for the series. 13 classes. Payment and health/liability forms are required for enrollment (see payment and refund policies).
Forest Village (originally Coyotes) has been running since 2010. Our learning from children and parents and caregivers in co-creating this program greatly informs NLC's learning and mission as an organization.
Children collaborate to plan our days. Activities include shelter/village/camp building, fire skills, first aid stations, way finding, animal spying, tracks and signs, storytelling, local flora/fauna, weather forecasting, plant paints and dyes, nature crafts, foraging, cooking, wood carving, games, gratitude practices, peace and community skills. Children's interests drive the offerings.
We consider and experiment with big questions:
Where does water go when it boils? Wood go when it burns?
How do squirrels remember how to find the nuts they bury?
How do trees grow? Mushrooms? People?
What is the history of this land? What will it be like 1000 years from now?
How does a prism make a rainbow?
How do birds survive the winter? Beetles? Humans?
How can we build a bird nest?
How do mosquitos and people depend on each other?
How do we protect ourselves from mosquitoes and ticks?
How high can we pile these rocks?
If we could be any kind of amphibian for just one day and night- what would we be? What would we do?
How do we build the strongest shelter? The wobbliest shelter?
How do squirrels decide where to build a nest?
What do we receive from nature? What does nature receive from us?
What do we need to plan a party? A feast? Should we invite parents? What would they like?
How do we feel?
We always need more question askers!
Class meets at Nature and Nurture Seed Farm in Dexter, MI on Thursdays from 10 am until 2 pm. In especially challenging weather we may meet at UM Natural History Museum or Matthaei Botanical Gardens
$780 (check) is the cost for the series. 13 classes. Payment and health/liability forms are required for enrollment (see payment and refund policies).
Lead Instructor
Syndallas Baughman grew up on the water and in the forests of Michigan and Florida and earned a B.S. in Biology at University of Michigan and M.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. Along the way she’s camped and studied plants and pollinators in the Siskiyous in S.W. Oregon, swamps, forests and fields of Michigan, Kauai, coastal and desert California, and the California Sierra Nevada. She taught at El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative, learning from wise and loving mentors to step back and follow and support kids’ ideas. At Wildcat Community Free School she followed kids through creeks and forests, set up experiments, supervised the use of power tools, knives and fire, facilitated democratic decision making and mediated a lot of arguments about Pokemon Card trades. She’s planted native gardens with preschoolers to high school students, and camps all over the U.S.A. with her two now adult sons. She holds her secondary teaching certificate in biology and recently spent a service year with Americorps working in adult literacy and English learning with Washtenaw Literacy. Syndallas is a certified Michigan Naturalist. The beautiful wild world is the place Syndallas wants to be! She loves sharing nature connection with people and other living things and you!
Syndallas Baughman grew up on the water and in the forests of Michigan and Florida and earned a B.S. in Biology at University of Michigan and M.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. Along the way she’s camped and studied plants and pollinators in the Siskiyous in S.W. Oregon, swamps, forests and fields of Michigan, Kauai, coastal and desert California, and the California Sierra Nevada. She taught at El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative, learning from wise and loving mentors to step back and follow and support kids’ ideas. At Wildcat Community Free School she followed kids through creeks and forests, set up experiments, supervised the use of power tools, knives and fire, facilitated democratic decision making and mediated a lot of arguments about Pokemon Card trades. She’s planted native gardens with preschoolers to high school students, and camps all over the U.S.A. with her two now adult sons. She holds her secondary teaching certificate in biology and recently spent a service year with Americorps working in adult literacy and English learning with Washtenaw Literacy. Syndallas is a certified Michigan Naturalist. The beautiful wild world is the place Syndallas wants to be! She loves sharing nature connection with people and other living things and you!
Jordan Wyant comes to the Nature Learning Community with years of experience living and learning with young people outdoors. He has led conservation work projects for the Student Conservation Association in Detroit, the San Francisco Bay Area, Yosemite and North Cascades National Parks. Jordan has an M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon as well as an M.A. in Educational Studies from the University of Michigan. He is excited to learn alongside all the members of the Forest Village, and he hopes to foster a mindful and caring approach to relating with the natural world.
Anne Erlewine studied art and creative writing at the University of Michigan and Naropa University in Boulder, CO after her close mentorship in her youth with her artist Grandmother, Phyllis Anne Erlewine.
Anne taught art classes through Artworks in Big Rapids, Michigan, Earthwork Family Weekend, and has embarked on several community murals with young people. Anne has created and curated community art spaces for sharing art work, music, poetry and performance.
Presently, Anne lives in her home town of Ann Arbor with her husband Michael and her two young kids Emma and Josephine. She works at NLC and runs a small business as a fine artist and music performer. She is in the process of creating a studio space to teach art classes from her home.
Her artist statement is as follows:
Moving through life, holding space for creativity by practicing it and teaching it, creates sustainable reserves that allow one to close the loop between inner design and the outer reflection that affirms it. In a world receding in resources, the preservation of this aspect of human experience is vital.
My art is about keeping this aspect in me alive, encouraging others to do the same, and seeking to portray and preserve what inspires me, so that others may see it, feel it, and to consider the path in their reflection of it.
Anne taught art classes through Artworks in Big Rapids, Michigan, Earthwork Family Weekend, and has embarked on several community murals with young people. Anne has created and curated community art spaces for sharing art work, music, poetry and performance.
Presently, Anne lives in her home town of Ann Arbor with her husband Michael and her two young kids Emma and Josephine. She works at NLC and runs a small business as a fine artist and music performer. She is in the process of creating a studio space to teach art classes from her home.
Her artist statement is as follows:
Moving through life, holding space for creativity by practicing it and teaching it, creates sustainable reserves that allow one to close the loop between inner design and the outer reflection that affirms it. In a world receding in resources, the preservation of this aspect of human experience is vital.
My art is about keeping this aspect in me alive, encouraging others to do the same, and seeking to portray and preserve what inspires me, so that others may see it, feel it, and to consider the path in their reflection of it.