We have an opening on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday starting in January of 2026. You can enroll for one, two, or three of those days. Thursdays are currently full for the winter and spring semester. We will soon be announcing openings for our summer camp program and fall enrollment as well.
Email Laura at vtforestschool@gmail.com to inquire about this year or to get on our waiting list for future years.
We now accept Child Care Financial Assistance Program payments (CCFAP/subsidy).
Little Birch Nature Preschool is a nature based and Waldorf inspired registered home program for preschool aged children. We are located in Johnson, VT in a cozy home that looks like a little red schoolhouse and is surrounded by 2.3 acres of gardens, forest and meadow to play and explore in. Our teacher-child ratio is small and we will have up to 6 children a day, with one teacher, and a four year old dog, Reese who eagerly wags her tail as each child joins us for the day.
We provide a holistic approach to early childhood education and do not overly stress early academics. Instead, we provide balanced opportunities for social, emotional, physical, and cognitive growth in a developmentally appropriate way. We offer the children a nourishing childhood by addressing the needs of the head, heart, and hands. Play is really the basis of our curriculum, as is life itself. We take our time with tasks such as getting dressed and undressed for the outdoors, encouraging the children to gain independence with daily tasks, and laughing and singing as we try hard things and find humor and joy in the work of life.
So much social learning happens at this age as children learn to make friends, work through conflicts, stand up for themselves, develop courage and patience and kindness, take deep breaths when frustrated, and a balance is found between giving children support when needed and giving them space to work through life’s imperfections.
We have opportunities for gross motor and fine motor development through crafts and nature play, from watercolor painting and drawing, wet felting, beading, gardening, digging in the sand, climbing over rocks and logs, rolling down hills, running down mossy paths in the woods.
We sing and enjoy books and puppet shows daily, developing a love for language and music, and playing with rhyme while building our vocabulary and memory. We sing a lot of counting songs and rhymes during circle time, and nature provides the perfect back drop for supporting continued counting, sorting, learning about patterns and shapes and natural science. While we don’t solely focus on academics, there is a lot of pre-kindergarten learning happening each day and we do have number and letter games and puzzles so children can become familiar with these concepts. We practice writing our names while coloring and painting and also write letters and draw shapes in the sand, snow, mud, and with chalk outdoors. I also follow the lead of the interests of the children and bring in activities, crafts, songs and stories based on what the children and families are eager for. Whether it’s supporting a love of birds or bugs, moss or mud, more time to practice zipping coats, engaging in sensory rich big body movement, or writing their name, I love getting to know the children and their interests and hearing from parents what they’d like more support with.
For the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years, we are offering:
Full days on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and
Half days on Fridays.
There is no school on Mondays.
Drop off is between 8:15 and 8:45, and
pick up is between 3 and 3:30 on full days and 12:30 to 1:15 on Fridays.
Enrollment is flexible and families can sign up for between one and four days a week depending on availability.
Our school year is typically from the first week of September – the first week of June. We pretty closely follow the Lamoille County school schedule in terms of school vacations, but not exactly. Our enrollment schedule/days we offer programming may change slightly from year to year. A few weeks of summer camp are offered most summers, but not all. For 2026, I plan to offer 5 weeks of summer camp.
We offer tuition assistance through the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP/Subsidy) which helps families who qualify greatly.
To find out if you are eligible and to apply:
https://dcf.vermont.gov/benefits/ccfap
Questions about CCFAP should be directed toward the Lamoille Family Center in Morrisville, or the contact info found on the CCFAP website.
