Watch budding minds flourish with nature-based, child-led play. We’ll use the park and environment around us to inform our learning and explorations.
Here, the children are the leaders, the creators, the teachers, and the investigators.
Based on the Danish Forest School ethos, children should and can be the founders of their own learning experiences, and I believe that with natural materials, some outdoor space, and imagination, magic can happen.
I hope to cultivate a love and respect for the environment and all natural life in the children I work with, and encourage their individual growth at their own pace.
We play and explore in all safe weather. Yes, that means rain, snow, and sun! We are here to get our hands dirty, get our shoes muddy, and get silly.
My name is Mindy Faustin and I have been facilitating outdoor education in the public parks of Brooklyn for three years. Little Buds Playpod was founded in 2021 by Mylli Felder (formerly head teacher at Brooklyn Nature Days and the current co-director of Sidney Ridge Nature Playschool in New Jersey) and I'm delighted to follow in her footsteps and continue this growing tradition of offering forest-school classes in Fort Greene Park.
I benefited from learning outdoors when I was a child and I love helping young children do the same. I have completed two forest-school and nature-based training programs, from the Forest School Teacher Institute (https://www.forestteacher.org/) and the Eastern Regional Association of Forest and Nature Schools (http://www.erafans.org/).
I follow the philosophy of child-led play—I do not preemptively plan a curriculum for each play session. Instead, I observe and identify the children's interests that day, providing a variety of simple tools and materials to help support their learning. I believe time spent outdoors in the natural world helps children to thrive, learn, and gain confidence.
It’s important we’re prepared for all sorts of weather.