Forest Playschool

Weekly drop-off preschool program in the Audubon woods

Audubon's Forest Playschool is a half-day drop-off program for children ages 3 to 5 based at the Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington, Vermont for 1 day each week. Our mornings begin with exploratory play or art upon drop-off. From here we say goodbye to parents and travel to our forest camp, playing games along the way. Our opening circle introduces the day's theme, followed by snack and story time. Then it's off for the adventure of the day: hiking to a favorite lookout, searching for animal dens or tracks, building a fort, or exploring the latest signs of the season. We are open to wherever our senses and our imagination may take us!

The Forest Playschool program seeks to develop the innate bond between children and the natural world by providing a landscape to play, explore, and use all of our senses. Our teachers act as role models and guides: they share in the children’s curiosity, ask questions, inspire with stories, and embody empathy towards all living things. This program requires that all students be potty trained, they must be able to use the toilet on their own, we do not consider the use of pull-ups to be potty trained.

See our Forest Playschool Handbook, attached below, for detailed information.

Do you have a student who is entering Elementary School? Be sure to check out our Forest Classroom program which happens on Mondays during the school year!

Curious what an average day looks like in the program? Get an insider-look with our Forest Playschool Blog.
Our blog archives can be viewed here: http://greenmountainaudubon.wordpress.com

If you have questions, you can email Emily Kaplita.

2024-2025 Session Details

Registration OPEN

Starting in September, we will be offering our Wednesday and Friday Forest Playschool programs again through May! We will have our normal 4-hour program schedule and spend the entire day outdoors.

Wednesday Session

Wednesday program dates:

Fall/Winter (13 weeks) September 11th- December 11th
Winter/Spring (18 weeks) January 8th- May 21st

We DO NOT meet on the following Holidays or School break

Nov 27th- Thanksgiving Break
December 18th, 25, Jan 1st- Audubon Winter Break
February 26th- February Vacation Break
April 23rd- April Vacation Break

Friday Session

Friday program dates:

Fall/Spring (13 weeks) September 13th- December 13th
Winter/Spring (18 weeks) January 10th- May 23rd

We DO NOT meet on the following Holidays or School break

Nov 29th- Thanksgiving Break
Dec 20th, 27, Jan 3rd- Audubon Winter Break
February 28th- February Vacation Break
April 25th- April Vacation Break

Program Details

Time: The program will run from 8:45** am to 1 pm. Please pack a lunch and snack!

** Please note the time change, we will be started 15 minutes earlier in fall 2024.

Tuition:

Non-refundable deposit: 15% Tuition $1395
Members save 5%! You can become a member of Audubon Vermont and the National Audubon Society with a donation of $20 or more. Consider a $35 Membership for your Family: vt.audubon.org/join. Use Coupon Code MEMBER

At initial registration you will need to pay AT LEAST the %15 non-refundable deposit ticket to hold your spot for this Forest Playschool Session and has been accounted for in the total program fee. Please contact Emily Kaplita if you need assitance for the deposit.

Deposit

The initial deposit payment is non-refundable. If you withdrawal your student before the start of our program and/or within the first weeks of our program the deposit will count towards our refund policy/withdrawal policy.

Payment Policy:

Please pay using your CampDoc account, please make sure there is an up-to-date card option available. CampDoc will not auto charge, you must manually make payments. If you cannot pay online, please let me know, we can accept cash or check. If you need a payment plan or scholarship, please let me know.

Financial Assistance

If you need assistance or a payment plan please note that in your campers profile in CampDoc and email Emily Kaplita. All program applicants must pay the non-refundable deposit, unless you've reach out otherwise.

Forms

Health and Liability Release Forms are required to be filled out under your students profile in CampDoc.

Registration Process:

We are using the same registration system we use for our summer camps, Camp Doc. They have excellent user guides to help you navigate their system.
Go here http://app.campdoc.com/register/audubon/greenmountain
First Time users: Follow the above link to create an account. Detailed Instructions on how to Create an Account. You do not need to complete your participants entire profile to register for camps, just what is required to add a participant.
Register each camper for Green Mountain Audubon Center, Huntington VT camps. Detailed Instructions here. You will be asked to pay the deposit now, but you can also pay the full amount due.
Your registration is not complete until you have submitted all your paperwork
Contact E mily Kaplita with any questions.
This FAQ guide is made for our Camp registration, but the information can still be helpful for our yearly program registration too!

**Personal Program Withdrawal**

Please give us as much advance notice as possible of your withdrawal from the program. If you pay in full we will refund you a prorated fee starting 4 sessions after your withdrawal. If you pay monthly, we will still expect you to pay for the following 4 sessions and will either charge your CampDoc account or we will contact you about check/cash payment. If you withdraw before the program starts we will refund you what was paid beyond the 15% non-refundable deposit. We are happy to discuss on a case-by-case basis any withdrawal. When there are forces outside of the family’s control (illness, school, etc.) we are happy to address that when it arises.

**Weather Statement/Cancellation**

This program is entirely outdoors, but for unsafe weather (thunder and lightning, high winds, extreme temperatures) we have access to both rustic and heated spaces. We help children build resiliency and learn to advocate for their needs ("I’m too hot!", "I'm too cold!", "I'm just right!") but that requires proper attire that include items that are waterproof and/or insulated. If proper gear is a barrier to participation, please contact us. Should our local school (Brewster Pierce Memorial) cancel for weather or conditions at the Audubon Center be unsafe, we will cancel. We will let you know by email or phone as soon as possible with the cancellation update. If schools have delayed, we will take this into consideration and may delay, since our program starts later than schools we typically don't. If we choose to delay will will ALWAYS contact you. Since this is a fully outdoor program, cancellation due to weather is an inherent risk of the program and there will be no refunds.

**Additional Audubon Cancellation**

For other cancellations within Audubon Vermont's control you will recieve a program credit, or you can transfer your refund to be a tax deductible donation

For more information, please contact:
Lead Teacher
Emily Kaplita
(802) 434-3068