ABOUT

Neighboring Tree Project (NTP), an initiative of Acorn Waldorf School (AWS), seeks to broaden equity and access to nature-based early childhood education (NBECE). The project collaborates with local Hudson Valley educators, public schools, and daycare centers to mentor and empower our partners in pedagogy and practices that provide engaging nature-based experiences for children.

Just as trees are linked together by a network, communicating with each other in cooperative ways, NTP creates collaborative mentoring relationships with early educators in our broader community who share the belief that bringing young children into forests and meadows is a fundamental human right for all. By branching beyond the borders of AWS, NTP creates social and professional symbiotic relationships with educators in the public sector.

From expansive research, as well as our own anecdotal observations from our combined 40+ years of experience as nature educators, we know that time outdoors in nature contributes to children’s care for nature while supporting their healthy development. This is seen through improved health outcomes, better social-emotional regulation, increased self esteem, improved grades, risk assessment abilities, and strong connections to people and nature.*

Currently, NTP proudly partners with two schools in the Kingston City School District and a Head Start program in New Paltz, where our program provides many children with their only opportunity to explore and play in nature.

WHAT WE DO

Neighboring Tree Project works with partners in the following ways:

  • Designing outdoor classrooms:
  • Spaces that are wild (eg. forest lands) offer good opportunities for educators to work pedagogically with the environment and are prioritized for selection. These landscapes facilitate open-ended imaginative play in addition to promoting sensory development and integration. Working with the environment to draw out its full potential is a key component of our mentoring services.
  • Providing outdoor gear: 
  • NTP ensures that each partner has appropriate gear to support year-round forest play. Playing outside in all weather has many benefits, like increased immunity, building resilience, and developing healthy relationships with weather and appreciation for all aspects of nature.


  • Faculty Development 
  • Each nature-based program that NTP helps initiate is intended to reflect our partners’ core educational values and goals, and is therefore designed collaboratively. 
  • Examples of focus areas are:
  • Safety in the forest
  • Understanding and managing healthy risky play
  • Supporting teacher’s comfort and familiarity with natural spaces
  • Supporting transitions into and out of the forest (songs, circle games, etc)
  • Understanding and supporting self-initiated play 
  • Developing activities that foster social and intellectual development
  • Onsite Lesson Demonstrations
  • We encourage the teachers to see the forest as their classroom and to set up the environment for distinct regions of learning. Certain areas lend themselves to gross motor play, while others offer enclosed or quieter areas for crafts, storytelling, or circle time. NTP provides its partners with practical suggestions for creating structure within the freedom of the forest. This includes things like nature-based crafts, circle time, story time, and puppetry. 


Neighboring Tree Project works with partners in the following ways:

Designing outdoor classrooms

Spaces that are wild (eg. forest lands) offer good opportunities for educators to work pedagogically with the environment and are prioritized for selection. These landscapes facilitate open-ended imaginative play in addition to promoting sensory development and integration. Working with the environment to draw out its full potential is a key component of our mentoring services.


Providing outdoor gear

NTP ensures that each partner has appropriate gear to support year-round forest play. Playing outside in all weather has many benefits, like increased immunity, building resilience, and developing healthy relationships with weather and appreciation for all aspects of nature.


Faculty Development 

Each nature-based program that NTP helps initiate is intended to reflect our partners’ core educational values and goals, and is therefore designed collaboratively. Examples of focus

areas are:

  • Safety in the forest
  • Understanding and managing healthy risky play
  • Supporting teacher’s comfort and familiarity with natural spaces
  • Supporting transitions into and out of the forest (songs, circle games, etc)
  • Understanding and supporting self-initiated play
  • Developing activities that foster social and intellectual development



Onsite Lesson Demonstrations

We encourage the teachers to see the forest as their classroom and to set up the environment for distinct regions of learning. Certain areas lend themselves to gross motor play, while others offer enclosed or quieter areas for crafts, storytelling, or circle time. NTP provides its partners with practical suggestions for creating structure within the freedom of the forest. This includes things like nature-based crafts, circle time, story time, and puppetry. 


Your donation today will allow us to:

  • Support Our Current Partners
  • Equip our partner schools with year-round outdoor gear and essential materials for creating vibrant outdoor classrooms.
  • Provide weekly on-the-ground mentoring and workshop programming with external NBECE experts.
  • Expand Our Reach
  • Increase the number of children experiencing NBECE by growing our partnerships, bringing our mission to even more schools and communities.
  • Add more dedicated NTP mentors, educators, and support staff to our team, enhancing the depth and reach of our support.
  • Advocate for Lasting Change
  • Launch initiatives at the state level to advocate for the inclusion of nature-based education in public school curricula.
  • Invite educators to Acorn Waldorf School for hands-on observation and mentorship.


With your generosity, we can build an even brighter future where all children grow up inspired by the world around them, with their own interest in protecting and conserving nature. Join us in making nature a fundamental part of every child’s story.


Your support will be their foundation.

The Neighboring Tree Project is in fiscal sponsorship with Good Work Institute in Kingston, NY, a 501(c)3 organization. Through their fiscal sponsorship program, the Good Work Institute provides support to Just Transition-aligned initiatives working here in the Mahicantuck / Hudson Valley, enabling new ideas to take root quickly and effectively.

Checks should be made out to our 501(c)3 Fiscal Sponsor: Good Work Institute, with “Neighboring Tree Project” on the memo line and mailed to:


Good Work Institute
Attn: Neighboring Tree Project
65 St James St
Kingston, NY 12401