Salamander Nature Awareness Preschool

Forest preschools are a wonderful educational approach that immerses children in the outdoors and teaches them to appreciate and care for nature and the environment while building confidence and endurance as they explore, learn, and play with a group of their peers.

The school offers classes year round, with standard Sept-May classes, and additional summer classes. After enrolling my daughter in the program for almost a year now, I feel that she’s learned many physical, social, and cognitive life skills: she’s confident, imaginative, patient, and resilient. I feel so fortunate that she’s able to have this invaluable experience. The school is still quite new, but I hope it will continue to grow and I will continue to spread the word about this wonderful program!

We are so grateful for Teacher Meg and Salamander School! Highly recommended!!! I had been looking for a drop-off nature program for my daughter to supplement her coop preschool (she is 4) and I am so happy this school exists. I wish it had been around when my older child was in preschool.

There is nothing else like Salamander School in the South Bay... SF and Berkeley and other places in the Bay have forest preschools, but not in SJ or the South Bay until Salamander (well, since Leaping Lizards closed). Since the school is relatively new, it is such an intimate experience, and would continue to be so even at capacity. I always find my child happily in a tree when I come to pick her up. My daughters feels so connected to the animals she encounters at forest preschool and talks about them after school. She is more confident and has a longer stamina for being on "hikes" since we started with Teacher Meg. I am learning facts about nature from her (that I didn't know before!) when we hike on our own! When I'm feeling rushed, my daughter helps remind me to pick up trash, to be compassionate and good stewards of Mother Earth.

Teacher Meg is intentional, passionate, and thorough. She is calm and patient with the children and songs, stories, and large chunks of time for free play are all in support of their learning and development. We looked into Waldorf (and there was much we loved about it) but ended up at another school. Much of the Salamander curriculum is influenced by Waldorf early childhood education theories and I'm so grateful my daughter gets to experience it.

If you are family that values time in nature, and want to foster the love of land in children, I highly recommend contacting Teacher Meg. You first spend time at the park to see if it's a good match for your child and family. Please research all the health and learning benefits of children in nature! (Look up the works of Richard Louv, for example.)