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– OCP photo/Joseph Albus “fishes” with a sturdy stick he found in the woods.
Article and photos by Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
ELBRIDGE TOWNSHIP — The Oceana Conservation District’s Knee-High Naturalists program instills in its preschool participants an appreciation of nature and its many wonders.
Youngsters enthusiastically explore the beauty of Doolittle County Park at a forest school led by Oceana Conservation District Educator Kari Wilson who the young children affectionately call “Kiki.”
OCP photo/Eli Near enjoys the ladder swing at the base camp’s obstacle course.
During a hike, she points out the spring beauties blooming on the forest floor; shows them a salamander nestling under a log; and quietly guides them to an ephemeral pond where wildlife is beginning its spring wakeup after a long, cold winter.
The park includes 40 wooded acres centrally located in Oceana County across the road from Gale’s Pond County Park.
OCP photo/Evan Near works on a painting.
“It’s a forest school program, and our main objective as the conservation district is to instill in youngsters a love of nature and to build their stewardship capacity hopefully into adulthood so that they want to maintain and sustain Oceana County’s beautiful forests, fields and waterways.” said Wilson.
“The Oceana County Parks and Recreation Commission graciously has allowed us to use this park and establish a base camp up here which we use for all of our programming. We have a field trip group coming from Whitehall next month; we have a homeschool program in the afternoons on Fridays; and two classes of Knee-High Naturalists this spring. Then starting in June, we have summer nature day camps at this site.”
OCP photo/Hayden Headland tests out the ladder swing.
Wilson is a retired teacher who taught in public schools for 30 years. She most recently taught at Northview Public Schools in the Grand Rapids area after teaching in California.
The idea for an outdoor classroom sprouted during the COVID-19 school lockdowns. Wilson and longtime friend Cindy Beth Davis-Dykema came up with a plan. “When the schools shut down, her little one was ready for preschool. We kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s do school outside.’ That’s how it started. We hatched this plan to develop a forest school program for children.”
OCP photo/Joseph Albus and Hayden Headland watch instructor Kari Wilson crack open a goose egg.
This spring marks five years since the program began. Wilson said the goal is for children to be engaged with nature beginning at infancy onward to young adulthood. “This group is from babes in arms to around age 6.”
A parent, grandparent or other adult family member accompanies each child, and each class size is limited to around 10 children. “In some ways, it is as much for them as it is for the children,” said Wilson of the parents’ and grandparents’ enjoyment of the program.
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Spring sessions run from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesdays and/or Fridays through the end of May, and the fall session runs from the end of August to mid-November.
Each class session has a different theme, and this week’s focus was eggs. Students examined chicken eggs, turtle eggs, a robin’s nest with eggs and even a goose egg.
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Wilson incorporates art, literature, music and movement in her lessons. The forest school has a popular mud kitchen, where the kids “cook” with pinecones, twigs, grass and other forest “ingredients.” There is an obstacle course, an art station and a gathering circle where Wilson reads to the children and teaches them interesting facts about nature.
Valerie McHugh of Pentwater has been involved with Knee-High Naturalists all five years of its existence with her grandchildren, beginning with her granddaughter who is now 7 and presently her preschool age grandson. “I have another granddaughter who is 2 who I will bring next fall,” she said.
OCP photo/Harry Sarnowski “cooks” in the mud kitchen with instructor Kari Wilson, who the children affectionately call “Kiki.”
“It’s good quality time with the kids to enjoy being outside. Kari combines book sharing, learning and crafts,” said McHugh, who is a retired teacher and administrator at Shelby Public Schools. “All this stuff is such good foundational stuff for kids to have before they go to school. It gives them experiences in a free environment.”
“She is like the pied piper walking through the nature preserves,” said Vice Chair of the Oceana Conservation District Board of Directors Garry McKeen, describing Wilson.
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McKeen, who also chairs the Oceana County Parks and Recreation Commission, said Oceana County has eight county parks. “It’s been a great association,” he said of the partnership between the conservation district and the parks commission. “I see the value of having children in nature, and what Kari is doing with those kids out in the wilds of Gale’s Pond or Doolittle is amazing. It’s much different than going to a park that has swing sets and slides. It’s important for children to get out into the woods.”
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OCP photo/Eli and Evan Near play in the mud kitchen.
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