​Wild Roots Forest Kindergarten Program
Santa Barbara

Education means "to lead out."  We seem to think of this as leading away from childhood, but we could think of it as eliciting the wisdom and talents of childhood itself.
~ Thomas Moore
Wild Roots Forest Kindergarten is a kinder class for 5 year old and 6 year old children.  

​Our Forest Kindergarten "Elderberries" class is enrolled full time, five days a week, Monday through Friday, from 8:45am-1:45pm.

Parent-only tours and Parent-Child visits are available to explore Wild Roots!  To learn more, apply, schedule a tour or visit, please go to our Application & Enrollment page.

Application is open for the Sept 2026 - June 2027 program year. 

Depending on space, rolling enrollment may be available in the current program year, or a waiting list may be joined.

Program Overview

Wild Roots program philosophy details the richness of how our wild landscapes nurture and encourage the healthy development of our children (learn more here). The kindergarten class deepens, in all aspects, direct experiences with the land and with each other, putting the developmental needs of the child in the forefront. The 5 and 6 year old child is ready for taking on meaningful and concrete tasks, remembering what came the day before and often arriving with a plan for deepening the previous day's experience. Our days provide a rhythm and offerings similar to those the mixed aged classes enjoy:
  • large blocks of free play
  • tracking (animals, weather patterns, seasonal patterns, etc.)
  • crafting (sewing, whittling, basketry, plant dyeing, finger knitting, etc.)
  • arts (drawing, painting, and creating our own art materials from the land)
  • foraging 
  • Spanish language
  • seasonal songs and poems
  • games
  • storytelling and plays
The kindergarten class, in meeting the developing needs of this age, is designed for the child's engagement in more challenging projects that require skill, attention and tending over time. With their curiosity engaged and alive, their burgeoning physical agility and ease of movement across the land, their growing patience and developing will, kinder aged children are busy with the active work of creating meaning. This heightened reading of the landscape and engagement of exploration allows more freedom and necessitates more responsibility. Kinder aged children confidently thrive with this call to responsibility. The desire to know their place in the world lends itself to developing the capacity to consciously tend this community that we call home.

Parents' Voices on
Forest Kindergarten

Our son's year in the Elderberries was truly something that cannot be topped. Our family was new to the area and we were welcomed in like family.  Our son was invited by his teachers to settle into himself and build upon his curiosities, interests, skills and weaknesses. The teachers truly attended to his mind, body and soul - and we will be forever grateful. His sense of self and confidence and love for learning and nature are pure joys to see and were very much nurtured by his experience at Wild Roots Kindergarten. Thank you!  ~ Kathryn B. / Parent

Having my children attend forest kindergarten with Wild Roots before first grade was absolutely the right choice. The opportunity to spend one more year outdoors deepening connection has served our family by strengthening our core values and has benefited the children by supporting their learning journey. Both children (now in 1st and 4th grades) transitioned into grade school with the ability to grasp new concepts from the holistic approach they learned at Wild Roots.   ~ Sharon T. / Parent 

It’s hard to even begin to put into words the gifts and magic that abounded with our son's kindergarten year in Wild Roots. There were stories and songs, tea time, tree climbing, tracking, willow weaving, organic gardening, the talking tree, gnomes, rock dragons, fairy grandmothers, friends, laughter, fire, acorn gathering, sewing, building nests, dipping beeswax candles under the great oaks, preparing and serving the elder’s feast, seasonal festivals, bare feet, joy, aliveness, freedom, and deep nature connection and a sense of place. Our son was held so lovingly by the teachers at Wild Roots, and given such freedom to learn and grow and connect in a very deep way to the land which we call home and the spirit of all things big and small. I am so grateful. ~ Liz C. / Parent

Strengthening the joy of learning, self-confidence, teamwork, balance & agility, engagement, the ability to be still, follow through on a project, develop stamina and creativity...these are all aspects of what our son and daughter got out of their forest kindergarten year. 
 ~ K.M.S. / Parent
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