Wild Roots Forest School

About this program

Wild Roots Forest School holds the distinction of being North America's longest operating forest school, serving families in the Santa Barbara, California area since 1998. The school operates as a fully outdoor educational environment where the sky serves as the ceiling, trees as walls, and the living Earth as the floor. The program's philosophy centers on restoring and maintaining children's vital connection to nature as essential to healthy development and the future of humanity. Wild Roots offers mixed-age preschool, forest kindergarten, and summer camp programs that meet in local natural spaces. The school draws on deep understanding of child development with small class sizes and high adult-to-child ratios, providing a curriculum rich in direct experience with nature that nurtures community and belonging among children, families, and the land.