Nearby Nature & In Community Connections – Environmental Inquiry + Playful Discovery

Nearby nature is the accessible pockets of green space—parkland, gardens, creeks, and urban wilds—that exist within our everyday environments. These familiar landscapes offer powerful opportunities for children to form lasting connections with place, develop ecological literacy, and experience the joy of unstructured outdoor play. Research shows that regular encounters with nearby nature support children’s wellbeing, creativity, and sense of belonging.

'Nearby Nature' is a five-week immersion in bush school experiences, creative nature play, and intergenerational connection. This hands-on, community-based program is facilitated by experienced educators and designed to foster deep connection with place, build meaningful relationships across generations, and empower children to explore, question, create, and contribute.

Rooted in the philosophies of inquiry-based discovery, such as the IB and Reggio Emilia educational approaches, children will engage in a self-chosen environmental inquiry project over five weeks. Inspired by their encounters in nature, they will follow a thread of curiosity—be it the health of a local waterway, the life of native insects, seasonal food cycles, or the patterns of birdsong. Through exploration, documentation, and dialogue, their questions will evolve into collaborative research projects culminating in a presentation of their discoveries for families, community members, and participating elders.

INQUIRY PROJECTS

Nature Play & Gardening: Outdoor exploration, bushwalks, planting, harvesting, and caring for seasonal gardens together with seniors. Sensory, physical, and social learning is woven into each session.
Cooking + Preserving Workshops: Preparing simple meals together using garden produce. These workshops teach practical life skills, cultural storytelling, and shared joy around food and nourishment.
Excursions & Community Connections: Children will practice independence and confidence through catching trains and buses to expand their connection with the local community, such as visiting libraries and art galleries—connecting their inquiry with local knowledge, art, and ecology.
Intergenerational Engagement: Seniors are invited to participate alongside children—not as instructors but as co-learners and storytellers. These shared experiences promote emotional well-being and create a sense of purpose and belonging for all.
Final Exhibition & Celebration: In Week 5, children will present their environmental inquiry projects through visual displays, stories, and demonstrations, celebrating their learning journey with the whole community.

NEARBY NATURE PLAY

Children will be immersed in a wide range of wild play and bush school experiences that awaken the senses and invite creative exploration. They might create nature-inspired art and sculpture using found materials, learn weaving, whittling, knot-tying and bushcraft skills, or bake bread over the campfire to share in warm, communal meals.

Days may include trail games, storytelling, and group songs, or the collaborative building of shelters and rope swings from natural and recycled materials. Through observation walks and sensory mapping, children develop awareness and attentiveness to place, while paddling in rock pools, engaging in creek play, or digging in mud kitchens sparks spontaneous joy and discovery.

Field guides and personal nature journals will support children in identifying local birds, plants, and animals—building an ecological vocabulary rooted in direct, lived experience.

FACILITATION & SAFETY
The program is led by Green Mountain’s skilled Nature Play mentors, who specialise in inquiry-based and nature pedagogies. All staff hold current Working With Children Checks, first aid certification, and operate under a child-safe, inclusive, and responsive practice framework. Risk assessments are embedded throughout the program design, ensuring that wild play remains adventurous, purposeful, and safe.

INVESTMENT
$117 per session when booking 5wk seasonal cycle (10% discount will be automatically applied for siblings).

Our group sizes are intentionally small to facilitate high quality social interactions and to enable risky, adventurous play. We do, however, need to cover staffing and resourcing costs. Sessions will be confirmed once we meet minimum enrolments.

BUNDLING DISCOUNT

We offer a discount for siblings attending programs on the same day. A BUNDLE discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

CO-FUNDED SPACES DISCOUNT

Our community contributes to co-funded spaces to ensure that finances are less of a barrier for children accessing quality nature play experiences. This is an expression of our commitment to equity, belonging and social justice.

Families who are eligible for co-funded spaces include those identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, holding low-income health care or disability pension cards, have refugee status, or are offering statutory out-of-home care to participating children. Evidence of eligibility may be requested to confirm the co-funded position after registration. It enables, roughly, a 50% reduction in fees. Spaces are claimed quickly... see if one is still available when registering.