About
Kew Kids Forest School offers seasonal camps and afterschool programs where children take part in activities such as Spring Gardening Camp, Summer Camp, Fairy Tale Camp, Slime Camp, Mud Camp, Enchanted Forest Camp with gnomes and fairies, Winter Camp, Winter Survival Camp, and Summer Mini Camp. During program time, children engage in story-based learning and multi-sensory exploration, including trail maintenance tasks like digging, brush clearing, raking, litter pickup, and gardening, as well as storytelling, reading, acting out stories, singing, movement, creative process-art, forest art activities, and construction and dramatic play with loose parts and sensory materials. Physical activities include climbing, balancing, and longer hikes into Forest Park’s nature woodlands and meadows.
• Ages: 1–12 years old
• Schedule: Afterschool options Monday–Friday from 2:30–5:30 PM during the 2025–26 school year, with families able to choose 2, 3, or 5 days per week, and seasonal prepaid enrollment in Fall, Winter, and Spring sessions
Kew Kids Forest School is a Waldorf-inspired nature immersion program for children up to 10 years old and is the only forest school in Queens, as well as the only forest school in New York City to offer a half-day and full-day all-weather, year-round forest program for young children. The program is part of the nature preschool movement, uses Forest Park as the classroom, and has a small 4:1 teacher-to-children ratio, with children spending all of their time outside except for naps. The program is play-based with an inquiry-led curriculum and includes hands-on science exploration, identifying local flora and fauna, gardening, and caring for little creatures, along with daily storytelling, reading, acting out stories, singing, and movement, and physical challenges and risk-taking on trails used as an adventure playground. The afterschool program is an all-outdoor immersive learning experience in an open-air classroom of meadows and forest trails, and all children are asked to arrive with appropriate gear for all kinds of weather conditions, with recommendations provided to parents.
Kew Kids Forest School describes itself as a mixed-age nurturing community of outdoor learners that value kindness, cooperation, curiosity, imagination, and respect for all living things, and states that it aims to cultivate in young children a love of the outdoors, hone a sense of wonder, and provide healthy challenges that instill confidence, capability, and self-reliance. Teachers at Kew Kids Forest School are described as creative, thoughtful, and trained for outdoor adventures. Kew Kids is a member of the Association for Nature-Based Education and the Natural Start Alliance, was featured in the Warner Bros docu-series “Becoming You” in 2020, and participated in an international climate change docu-series in 2023.
Kew Kids Forest School partners with the NYC Parks Department for Forest Park Family Volunteer events on the second Sunday of each month to help clean forest classrooms and maintain the trails, and toddlers are welcome at these events. Volunteers meet at Wallenberg Square at the corner of Metropolitan and Park Lane South, and visitors are welcome to learn about the programs and curriculum.
Last updated April 17, 2026.
• Ages: 1–12 years old
• Schedule: Afterschool options Monday–Friday from 2:30–5:30 PM during the 2025–26 school year, with families able to choose 2, 3, or 5 days per week, and seasonal prepaid enrollment in Fall, Winter, and Spring sessions
Kew Kids Forest School is a Waldorf-inspired nature immersion program for children up to 10 years old and is the only forest school in Queens, as well as the only forest school in New York City to offer a half-day and full-day all-weather, year-round forest program for young children. The program is part of the nature preschool movement, uses Forest Park as the classroom, and has a small 4:1 teacher-to-children ratio, with children spending all of their time outside except for naps. The program is play-based with an inquiry-led curriculum and includes hands-on science exploration, identifying local flora and fauna, gardening, and caring for little creatures, along with daily storytelling, reading, acting out stories, singing, and movement, and physical challenges and risk-taking on trails used as an adventure playground. The afterschool program is an all-outdoor immersive learning experience in an open-air classroom of meadows and forest trails, and all children are asked to arrive with appropriate gear for all kinds of weather conditions, with recommendations provided to parents.
Kew Kids Forest School describes itself as a mixed-age nurturing community of outdoor learners that value kindness, cooperation, curiosity, imagination, and respect for all living things, and states that it aims to cultivate in young children a love of the outdoors, hone a sense of wonder, and provide healthy challenges that instill confidence, capability, and self-reliance. Teachers at Kew Kids Forest School are described as creative, thoughtful, and trained for outdoor adventures. Kew Kids is a member of the Association for Nature-Based Education and the Natural Start Alliance, was featured in the Warner Bros docu-series “Becoming You” in 2020, and participated in an international climate change docu-series in 2023.
Kew Kids Forest School partners with the NYC Parks Department for Forest Park Family Volunteer events on the second Sunday of each month to help clean forest classrooms and maintain the trails, and toddlers are welcome at these events. Volunteers meet at Wallenberg Square at the corner of Metropolitan and Park Lane South, and visitors are welcome to learn about the programs and curriculum.
Last updated April 17, 2026.
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