Welcome to Fiddleheads Forest School, Seattle’s pioneering outdoor preschool.
At Fiddleheads Forest School we believe that children are intrinsically motivated to learn, and that they do so by exploring the world around them. Our goal is to create an ideal setting for students ages 3-6 to grow into citizens of the world, with a respect for all cultures and environments and the desire to engage with their communities.
Mission: At Fiddleheads Forest School, in the Washington Park Arboretum, we foster a sense of wonder through guidance and exploration as a community of people, plants, and place.
As we teach, learn, and grow together as a community, we carry with us the understanding that the ground we walk upon is the ancestral home of the Muckleshoot and Duwamish people, and we honor their connection and hereditary rights to this land. We acknowledge the history of this place and the villages that stood where we hold our forest school today; as well as the traditional ways of teaching children to respect and care for the earth.
With the help of our teachers, our families, and our students we are working to create a program that arises out of the unique social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs of each student within this particular environment. Teachers at Forest School act as guides; helping children to cultivate senses that are attuned to the affordances of their surroundings during a developmentally crucial time. Daily observation and experimentation on an individual and group level foster a love of science as well as social and emotional development and self-regulation. By providing structure in the environment, teachers foster the development of responsibility, independence, and executive functioning skills in order to create a strong foundation for future growth.
