Outdoor Preschool in Your Backyard

Children hike the trails in autumn during the first full year of forest preschool. Notchcliff Nature Programs is based on the grounds of Glen Meadows Retirement Community in Glen Arm (Baltimore County, MD).

The humble start of Notchcliff Nature Programs began with visions of nature play on the grounds of Glen Meadows Retirement Community in Glen Arm, MD (close to Towson, Parkville, and Baldwin, MD if you're not familiar). We knew we wanted to offer an outdoor forest preschool, 100% immersed in nature, with hands-on opportunities to connect with the local environment and our elders. The initial outdoor classroom was simply a leafy opening in the forest, full of nooks ideal for nature play. This peaceful piece of forest continues to be our beloved Forest Preschool Classroom.

These children explore the winter meadow using scissors to cut grasses. Meadow, forest, stream, pond, and garden habitats are all rich sites for nature-based learning at Notchcliff Nature Programs during forest preschool.

Fast forward from 2018 to today, our programs now branch out to other parts of the campus with more ways for children and families to explore nature. The second outdoor classroom space, the Cliffside Classroom along the ridge of the hill, is an expansive space that we identified when we began our forest kindergarten program in 2020. Today we use it with the Homeschool in the Forest program for kindergarten to third grade students. The third outdoor space is known as our Wild Kits Club outdoor classroom, lovingly designed with toddlers and caregivers in mind.

In addition to these outdoor classrooms, children explore our pollinator garden, apiary, large field for games and community events, and extensive hiking trails that ramble through forest, meadow, stream, and pond. A generous donor gifted us with an RV, which we converted to mobile nature classroom (RV) and is currently used as a workspace for teachers, storage for gear, and temporary shelter space when needed.

A forest preschool student savors a quiet creekside moment. We explore many aquatic habitats at Notchcliff Nature Programs including this peaceful, shallow stream.

We have loved this beautiful, natural setting since day 1, and in all its imperfect perfection, nothing more is needed for children to draw closer to their home in nature. Yet as we continue to grow our programs, we also make intentional choices about what materials, tools, and features can enhance opportunities for nature play and caretaking.

The founder's children roam the grounds heading up to the path that leads to the forest preschool. Grandmother Oak tree stands watch over the space. Our fenced pollinator garden is now located to the left of where the children are in this photo.

Notchcliff Nature Programs is a project of the nonprofit Association for Nature-Based Education, so we have the privilege of sharing many of these features through teacher professional development and community-based initiatives like the pop-up Nature Play Space at the Maryland State Fair (that just ended this weekend!). Whether your child attends forest preschool at Notchcliff or another Baltimore-area nature preschool, perhaps these features will enhance nature-based learning and play for your family.