Toddler - 4 w/ caregiver | Siblings welcome to join

Monday's  from 10am-12pm at Oakland Hills Farm & Garden 

Redbuds is a gentle and joyful introduction to nature school for young children and their caregivers.

Together, we’ll spend our mornings exploring the farm, garden, forest trails, and changing rhythms of the season. Children will have plenty of time to move, play, wonder, get messy, and build a relationship with the natural world—with the comfort of a trusted grown-up nearby.

Through songs, stories, sensory play, simple seasonal activities, and shared adventures, our youngest friends will begin learning what it means to care for themselves, care for one another, and care for nature.

Each gathering will follow a familiar but flexible rhythm designed especially for young children. Our time together may include:

• Caring for and visiting the chickens

• Exploring the garden and harvesting seasonal plants

• Walking the farm’s wooded trails

• Nature-based songs, stories, and movement

• Mud, water, and sensory play

• Seasonal crafts using natural materials

• Looking for insects, birds, animal tracks, and other discoveries

• Practicing kindness, cooperation, and care for living things

• Plenty of child-led play and time to follow our curiosity

Activities will change with the weather, the season, and the interests of the children

Growing Alongside Your Child

Redbuds is a caregiver-participation program. Caregivers remain with their child throughout the session and are invited to join in the songs, activities, walks, and play.

You do not need to have outdoor experience to participate. Come ready to slow down, explore together, and see the natural world through your child’s eyes.

This program also offers caregivers an opportunity to connect with other local families while becoming part of the Friend of the Woods community.

About Our Location

Redbuds meets at Oakland Hills Farm & Garden, a welcoming farm and garden space surrounded by forested trails.

Oakland Hills Farm & Garden is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to growing food, feeding people, and building community. The farm is supported by volunteers whose hearts and hands help grow and donate fresh food to local food banks, practice regenerative farming, and establish a native food forest.

This special setting gives children the opportunity to experience both the cultivated and wild sides of the natural world. Together, we may help care for chickens, explore what is growing in the garden, notice seasonal changes, wander through the woods, and discover the many living things that share this special land with us.

Oakland Hills Farm and Garden is on the ancestral land of the Anishinaabe. See our land acknowledgement here.

Is Redbuds Right for My Child?

Redbuds may be a wonderful fit for families who are looking for:

• A first introduction to nature school

• Meaningful outdoor time with their child

• A relaxed, play-based environment

• Opportunities to meet other families

• Hands-on experiences with plants and animals

• A gentle bridge toward future drop-off programs

Children do not need to be potty trained to participate.

Plant Seed & Come Grow With Us

We would love to welcome you and your little one to our Redbuds community.

Space is limited so that we can maintain a warm, connected, and supportive group.