Tree Frogs

Program Overview

White Pine’s Tree Frogs (ages 5-6) spend their days on explorations as we exercise key components of our curriculum: free play, social and emotional learning, resilience, self-empowerment, and nature immersion. Our highly-trained, experienced instructors support their learning throughout the whole school year.

Our Tree Frogs program is an alternative to traditional preschool and kindergarten programs. We balance lots of free play with guided nature lessons using our unique, hands-on curriculum that focuses on deep connection with nature. We practice core routines throughout the year: crafting, wood splitting, sit spot, scouting, cooking, free play, tracking, foraging, plant identification, storytelling, fire-starting, bird language, and so much more.

Program Location

Our Tree Frogs program is located at our Rocky Ripple campus, our home base since 2014. Rocky Ripple is a quiet neighborhood, tucked in between the Indianapolis Canal and the Wapahani (White) River, and is loved by many for it’s peace and quiet. Here, we explore the beautiful woods and shorelines of the river to connect ourselves to nature.

Our campus is a private, partially-fenced space with everything you’d need for having fun learning about nature: an archery range, flint-napping area, climbing wall, primitive cob house, multiple fire pits, a yurt, a tree house, super-high monkey bars, chicken coop, skinning area, wood splitting area, individual lockers for gear, a climbing rope/swing, and so much more.

We adventure into the woods almost daily, just blocks from our campus. Rocky Ripple is a riparian habitat, exhibiting traits from both terrestrial and aquatic systems. So what do we find? Sycamore trees, wild ginger, crawdads, chickweed, sunfish, turtles, red-tailed hawks, barred owls, burdock, an occasional coyote in the distance, and so much more.

Program Structure

Tree Frogs (ages 5-6) meet from 9:00am-3:00pm on Tuesdays.

We meet at a consistent location, with the same group of peers and teachers through the whole school year. We have a teacher-to-student ratio of 1:5. We have 8 units per school year, centered around the changing of the seasons. Many families choose to stay the entire 8 units each year, but it is not required.

We are outside 99% of the time, with students only going inside in the case of restroom breaks, extreme heat or cold, or severe weather threats.