- Welcome to Forest Lake Nature School
- info@ForestLakeNatureSchool.com
- 18348 Loyola St NE Columbus, MN 55025
9/14 – 11/25 (11 weeks)
$1,595 – 2 days/week or $1,120 – 1 day/week
* in observance of Labor Day, programming will begin on 9/14 (Mon)
3/24 – *5/30 (10 weeks)
$1,595 – 2 days/week or $1,120 – 1 day/week
* in observance of Memorial Day, programming scheduled for 5/25 (Mon) will happen on Friday 5/29.
Fox Walkers & Coyote Ninjas Classes
In Survival Skills, children learn to meet the land with curiosity and confidence through fire, shelter, and tracking. On this rich and abundant landscape, they gather and harvest from the materials the forest provides, building a direct relationship with place. Each lesson blends practical skill with deep nature connection, helping children feel both capable and at home in the wild.
Practices We Explore:
Gathering and harvesting materials respectfully from the land
Fire tending and friction fire
Shelter-building with natural materials
Tracking animals and reading bird language
Cordage and simple tool use
Awareness games and sit-spot practices
Water gathering and purification basics
Guide: Greg Schayes
Days Offered: Mon – Thurs
In Music, children find their voice and rhythm through song, dance, and the joy of learning an instrument. Drawing inspiration from Waldorf traditions and the living world around us, music becomes a natural way to celebrate the seasons and mark the rhythms of the day. These practices strengthen confidence, expression, and a sense of belonging to community and place.
Practices We Explore:
Seasonal and daily songs that anchor rhythm and gratitude
Circle and folk dances that foster joy and coordination
Learning and practicing an instrument (recorder, harmonica, drum, or xylophone)
Rhythm games that build confidence and focus
Using music in storytelling and celebration
Listening for natural rhythm and tone outdoors
Guide: Currently Hiring!
Days Offered: Mon-Thurs
In Deep Nature Connection, children slow down and enter into relationship with the living world through core routines like sit spot, foraging, bird language, and animal tracking. This is about listening as much as doing. Noticing the rhythms, patterns, and teachings of the land. Through these practices, children root themselves in belonging, gratitude, and wonder.
Practices We Explore:
Sit spot as a daily rhythm of awareness and peace
Bird language as a living map of the forest’s stories
Foraging and harvesting plants with respect and gratitude
Tracking mammals and noticing seasonal wildlife patterns
Sensory awareness games that sharpen observation skills
Storytelling and reflection circles to deepen relationship with place
Guide: Greg Schayes
Days Offered: Mon – Thurs
In Drama & Improv, children explore storytelling, play, and performance as pathways to imagination and connection. Through games, skits, and improvisation, they learn to listen, adapt, and bring characters to life while working together as a group. Along the way, they practice the building blocks of confident communication skills that translate into public speaking, negotiation, authentic relating, and healthy heart-centered conflict resolution.
Practices We Explore:
Improv and theater games that build spontaneity and joy
Storytelling and character creation inspired by nature and myth
Skits and short scenes that encourage teamwork and creativity
Playful practice in public speaking and expression
Communication and listening through story and performance
Games that explore negotiation and conflict resolution through role play
Guides: Hiring!
Days Offered: TBD
In Art & Nature Crafting, children create beauty with their hands using natural materials gathered from the land. From clay and plant dyes to carving and weaving, they discover how art can be both playful expression and functional skill. Each project deepens their relationship with the forest and nurtures patience, creativity, and confidence.
Practices We Explore:
Gathering and harvesting natural materials with care
Clay work, natural dyes, and painting with plant pigments
Weaving, felting, and textiles using natural fibers
Carving and small functional craft projects
Basketry and nature-based art
Seasonal projects that celebrate rhythm and place
Guide: Britta Anderson
Day Offered: Mon-Thurs
In Natural Movement, children explore the ways their bodies are designed to run, climb, balance, and move in harmony with the land. Through deep nature connection games and animal-inspired forms, they grow strong, agile, and aware while playing outdoors. Each movement becomes both practice and play, building confidence, resilience, and joy.
Guide: Greg Schayes
Days Offered: Mon – Thurs
In Cooking, children learn that preparing food is one of the oldest ways humans have built connection — with each other, with the land, and with something greater than themselves. Around the fire or at the table, they practice the art of turning raw ingredients into nourishment, learning that each meal is both a craft and an act of gratitude.
Children discover that food is sacred. It carries the energy of all that came before: the soil, the water, the hands that tended, and the hearts that gather to share it. Through these experiences, they come to see cooking not as a chore, but as a rhythm of life that brings people together. Over time, they grow comfortable and confident preparing food for themselves, their friends, and their community.
Practices We Explore:
Chopping, measuring, seasoning, and balancing flavors
Cooking over fire and learning temperature awareness
Preparing simple and nourishing meals from whole ingredients
Exploring ancestral, cultural, and seasonal food traditions
Practicing gratitude and mindfulness before and after meals
Sharing food in community as an expression of care
Creating rhythm and beauty in the act of cooking itself
Through the warmth of shared meals and the steady practice of hands-on work, children learn that food is more than sustenance. It is story, relationship, and love made visible.
Guide: Julia Beasley
Day Offered: Mon- Thurs
In Permaculture & Biodynamic Gardening, children learn what it means to be in relationship with the living world that feeds and heals us. They prepare the soil, plant seeds, tend the beds, and harvest what the land offers, learning that food is not just something we grow but something sacred that connects us to all of life.
From the beginning, children experience that growing food and medicine is an act of care, reciprocity, and gratitude. They learn to give back to the land as they receive from it, to listen, to tend, and to harvest with respect. These experiences teach responsibility and reverence, lessons that stay with them as they grow and begin to share food and medicine with family, friends, and community.
Practices We Explore:
Building soil through composting, mulching, and natural amendments
Seed starting, planting, watering, and harvesting vegetables and herbs
Companion planting and creating balance in the garden ecosystem
Learning from the rhythms of weather, sun, moon, and season
Saving seeds and preparing the land for the next cycle
Gathering, preparing, and sharing food in gratitude
Through these rhythms, children grow an embodied understanding that food is sacred. It is life given, tended, and received with care, a daily practice of relationship.
Guide: Heidi Madsen
Day Offered: Mon
In Herbalism, children come to know plants not as ingredients but as living beings, teachers, and allies that offer nourishment and healing. Through harvesting, drying, and preparing teas, salves, and tinctures, they learn to approach the plants with respect and gratitude. Each creation becomes a conversation with the land, a small ceremony of reciprocity.
This is not about products or recipes. It is about remembering relationship. Children learn that wellness begins with how we see and tend the world around us. As they grow, they carry this understanding into their families and communities, knowing how to make simple medicines, how to care for others, and how to honor the gifts of the Earth.
Practices We Explore:
Identifying and ethically harvesting medicinal plants
Preparing herbal teas, salves, tinctures, and infusions
Drying, storing, and blending herbs with intention and care
Understanding the properties and energetics of plants
Practicing gratitude, respect, and right relationship with medicine plants
Offering thanks through song, prayer, or sharing
At the heart of this practice is the sacred exchange between people and plants, an understanding long held by Indigenous peoples and traditional cultures. Children learn that healing begins with respect, and that every harvest is both a gift and a responsibility.
Guide: Heidi Madsen
Day Offered: Mon
Schedules by Day
Survival Skills
Permaculture & Biodynamic Gardening: Growing Food & Medicine
Lunch / Free Play
Herbalism: The Art of Plant Medicine
Cooking
Music
Art & Nature Crafting
Lunch / Free Play
Deep Nature Connection
Natural Building & Carpentry
Music
Art & Nature Crafting
Lunch / Free Play
Deep Nature Connection
Natural Building & Carpentry
Survival Skills
Permaculture & Biodynamic Gardening: Growing Food & Medicine
Lunch / Free Play
Herbalism: The Art of Plant Medicine
Cooking
Survival Skills
Permaculture & Biodynamic Gardening: Growing Food & Medicine
Lunch / Free Play
Herbalism: The Art of Plant Medicine
Cooking
Music
Art & Nature Crafting
Lunch / Free Play
Deep Nature Connection
Natural Building & Carpentry
Music
Art & Nature Crafting
Lunch / Free Play
Deep Nature Connection
Natural Building & Carpentry
Survival Skills
Permaculture & Biodynamic Gardening: Growing Food & Medicine
Lunch / Free Play
Herbalism: The Art of Plant Medicine
Cooking
At Honeycomb Cottage, the Fox Walkers & Coyote Ninjas programs invite children ages 6–12 into a life of exploration, skill, and belonging. This is a time when curiosity begins to grow into capability, and when the forest becomes both a playground and a classroom. Guided by mentors, children build confidence and resilience while strengthening their connection to land, community, and themselves.
Our program weaves together eight core classes — Survival Skills, Permaculture & Biodynamic Gardening: Growing Food & Medicine, Herbalism: The Art of Plant Medicine, Deep Nature Connection, Natural Movement, Carpentry & Natural Building, Music, Art & Nature Crafting, Drama & Improv, and Cooking, . Each class offers its own doorway into learning, yet together they create a rhythm that balances practical skill, creative expression, and community life.
At Honeycomb Cottage, children are surrounded by diverse habitats — woods, fields, gardens, and gathering spaces — that provide abundant opportunities for play and projects. They might follow a deer trail through the forest, gather herbs from the garden for cooking, build a bench for the circle, or bring a story to life through skits and song. In every activity, the emphasis is on relationship: with the land, with peers, with mentors, and with their own gifts.
Mentorship That Lasts – Every guide is chosen with care, aiming to be one of those people children remember for the rest of their lives.
Learning with the Land – Children don’t just learn about nature; they build, forage, craft, and cook directly from the abundance the land provides.
Balanced Program – Practical survival skills, creative arts, physical play, and community life are woven together for whole-child growth.
Scaling Challenge – Foxes (ages 6–9) engage through play and exploration, while Coyotes (ages 10–12) deepen skills, independence, and leadership.
Fox & Coyote programs at Honeycomb Cottage is more than a program — it’s a living village. Children leave with skills they can carry forward, friendships that feel like family, and a lasting sense of wonder and belonging to the world around them.
How it Works
Programs designed for two-day enrollment (Mon/Wed or Tue/Thu).
Flexible one-day enrollment available.
Gift your child a daily retreat into nature—immersed in the wilderness with life-changing mentors, practicing a rotation of wilderness survival and farm skills, weaving together creative expression, practical craftsmanship, community life, and natural movement for lifelong health
Children learn through project-based exploration—integrating science, art, history, and literacy into nature-based experiences.
Children learn through project-based exploration—integrating science, art, history, and literacy into nature-based experiences.
Yes, when appropriate. We consider both age and developmental stage to create the best group dynamic.
Testimonials
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