A place to belong, explore and become.
Experiential. Relational. Whole-child.
Forest School is where it began. But the forest is one of the places this way of learning comes alive.
We create environments where children learn through real experiences, meaningful relationships and hands-on projects shaped by the children themselves. We pay attention to the whole child: how they think, feel, relate, communicate, create, solve problems and make their way in the world. Children are given opportunities to develop autonomy, competence and a sense of belonging, while being supported by adults who understand child development and the importance of relationships.
Our aim isn't to produce a particular kind of child.
It is to create the conditions in which each child can become more fully themselves.
Through these experiences and relationships, children develop not just what they know and can do, but how they understand themselves, relate to others and participate in the world around them. Over time, these experiences become an education for life.
Tuesdays to Sundays · Since 2018 · Lower Peirce, Alexandra Forest, Bidadari and Tampines
HOW WE WORK
Four things, in this order
We notice.
We look beyond what happened to understand what might be going on.
We connect.
We get alongside, listen and stay with the child.
We open.
We help make another possibility visible, so children can discover what they are capable of and who they can be.
Over time, something bigger happens.
Children begin to know themselves. They discover what they are capable of, how they relate to others, what matters to them, and how they want to meet the world.
We call this relational learning: learning through relationship with yourself, with other people, and with the world around you.
“The coaches also made the experience exceptional. They were incredibly nurturing, patient, and understanding, creating a safe environment where the children felt free to explore, learn, and grow at their own pace.”
“At first, I kept saying I couldn’t strike a spark. At last, after many tries and guidance, I managed to strike sparks.”
THE DEN
A place to belong and explore from
Life is about balance.
When we started Nature Den, we saw many children spending much of their time indoors and with their noses in books, with fewer opportunities to simply be outdoors, move, make things, explore and engage with the world around them. We felt children needed more balance in their lives, and more space to grow in different ways.
Nature Den began in 2018 with Forest School at Lower Peirce (FSLP), building on our founder’s experience as a Forest School Singapore coach, where she led Forest School sessions in 2017. Her experience as a parent and educator, including homeschooling her own children, also shaped the approach that became Nature Den.
At FSLP, we wanted to create a place where children could be themselves: outdoors, moving, making, exploring, taking appropriate risks and engaging with the world around them.
We remember the first batch of Middle Schoolers in 2022, then in their early teens, creating a secret den. They kept building it, returning to it and making it their own.
It reinforced something about what the Den can mean to a child: a sense of belonging and ownership of place. These are also part of how children develop a relationship with the natural world.
A den is a place of shelter. For us, it became a place where children could feel rooted and known, while growing their confidence to explore beyond it.
For us, the Den is a place where children can feel rooted, known and at home, while growing their confidence to explore the world around them.
As more families joined, we saw some travelling from the other end of the island to be in forest school. So we opened another location, making the Den more accessible to families across Singapore.
As families travelled from across Singapore to join us, the Den grew into more locations. Over the years, children have grown up here. Friends have stayed together. Adults have stayed long enough to really know them. Some of our first children are now in our FS College, beginning to contribute to the Den themselves.
A childhood is only about twelve years long. In Singapore, children can have to start over several times within it: new schools, new faces, new rules, new friendships.
At the Den, they don't have to start over.
They can join us young and grow through Kinder, Juniors, Seniors, Middle School and College. The forest stays familiar. Friends grow alongside them. Adults remember who they were when they first arrived.
The Den continues to evolve, but at its heart, it remains a place to know you belong.
A place to belong, explore and become.
“A great opportunity for kids to be themselves, learn, relax and be with friends.”
IS THIS YOUR KIND OF PLACE?
Our groups are mixed age. We strive to make every child feel heard, to know that their thoughts and feelings matter, and to know that they are lovable and capable.
We draw from the Nonviolent Communication framework and various community building approaches in our work with children. Building community is an important part of how we think about learning.
We believe that, at the end of the day, our health and our relationships are what matter most. Money and achievement have their place, but they are not what make a life. So we put our life energy into creating a place where the children we meet can grow well, and grow through relationships, with themselves, with each other and with the world around them.
You'll fit here if:
You want your child to know the adults around them, and be known in return.
You want childhood to include everything a forest school can offer, and more: mud, making, climbing, working with tools, exploration, imagination, friendship, arguments, repair, challenge, discovery and the freedom to figure things out for yourself and know yourself.
You want friendships that can grow over years, not just last a term.
You want to be part of something meaningful, not simply pay for a slot.
We may not be the right fit if:
• You are looking for adults to prepare activities, make things for children or direct the experience, rather than giving children space to create, explore and figure things out for themselves.
• You want adults to simply tell children to stop fighting or lay down rules, rather than helping children voice their thoughts and feelings, understand what is happening, and work things out together.
• You want everything to be sanitised, sheltered, predictable and controlled.
And if your child needs a little more support to take part, tell us.
Sometimes that means supported access, an additional coach, sometimes a smaller group, and sometimes one-to-one support. We'll talk with you about what might work.
“If the forest is calling, this is the place and people to be with.”
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS
What a session actually looks like
We start by introducing learners to the space as one where they can do anything they like and go anywhere they want to, within its boundaries. After the introduction, it becomes child-led and co-designed within safe boundaries, with facilitated sharing at the end.
During this middle period, children can play in whatever way they feel like, together with the group. There will be discussions about where to go that day, and through these, they learn to ask, poll, listen, negotiate, discuss and agree. They learn to accommodate each other, be flexible and adapt.
They can also disagree and have conflicts. They are supported to work through these conflicts and learn how to express what they need and feel, including being assertive. We believe this takes communication skills, but also self-awareness.
As they play, they may need certain motor or coordination skills, which they develop through doing the activity itself, such as balancing on a log or tying ropes.
Social and relationship skills develop too, because through free play they are constantly learning about themselves and others.
Facilitators may ask learners questions instead of providing answers, provoking them to think and create. We observe learners to understand their development and bring in additional resources to support their growth as we review each session.
In a term, children here might have:
carved wood · chiselled stone · made a basket · built a tiny home · argued and repaired it · run a stall and handled real money · built swings and shelters · climbed slopes and trees · rolled on grass · whittled sticks · marked out hidden trails · wrote with a charcoal pencil · organised a race and written its rules · helped a sibling · taught a younger child something they had just learned · role-played teachers · been cold, wet, muddy and completely absorbed.
“It makes me feel happy to be in the forest. Everything in the forest makes me happy.”
WAYS IN
Some children need a group. Some need a smaller one. Some need one of us to themselves.
All three exist here, and children can move between them.
Moss & Mint | our weekly forest school
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, at Lower Peirce, Alexandra and Tampines. Weekly or fortnightly, whichever rhythm your family can actually keep. The same patch of forest, the same group, the same coaches, from Juniors at three all the way through to College.
Families with a Blue CHAS card pay up to 50% less, Orange CHAS up to 25% less. We keep these places limited so we can sustain them, and the difference is absorbed by Nature Den. They are made possible in part by families who pay full fees across our other programmes, helping us keep the village open to more families.
The Pod | small group, two coaches to four children
For children who want to be with other children, but who need more attention than a full group can give them right now. Big feelings, sensory needs, anxiety, a hard season at school, or simply needing longer to arrive.
The Pod isn't a separate track. It's a way in. Children can start here and move across into a Moss & Mint group when they're ready, with coaches they already trust.
“My boy spent time carving and whittling wood and he was so excited to use real tools adults use!”
“The coaches are sensitive to the kids’ needs and safety without negating the sense of fun, adventure and cooperation among the kids.”
WHY YOU CAN TRUST US
Why you can trust us with this
Nature Den has been running since 2018. We have stayed with this work long enough to know that relationships take time, and that good practice is about much more than having the right activities.
Our work is grounded in psychology, Forest School, education and therapeutically informed relational practice:
Forest School Level 3, trained with Archimedes Earth and awarded through Open Awards, a UK regulated awarding organisation.
Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology, alongside training in education, human development and relational practice.
Asia's first approved practitioner of The Therapeutic Forest (CIC), UK.
Completed training with NIE in advanced pedagogical studies, The Relationship School (USA) in personal communication, conflict and repair, and Authentic Education (Australia) in coaching.
A track record of supporting young people through significant transitions. To date, 3 out of 3 students we supported with DSA applications using their Forest School portfolios secured secondary school offers, including SST. All 4 EAE applications we’ve supported so far have also been successful, including pathways into the polytechnics in areas such as design, game development and mechatronics.
Regular session reviews and periodic profiling, helping us notice changes in areas such as motor skills, emotional regulation, communication and engagement.
“This is the most professional and meaningful version of this type of outdoor education I have encountered in Singapore so far.”
A growing community of...
children
young people
parents
siblings
coaches
educators
schools
families
people who bring skills into the forest
people who simply like being here
From one small group in Lower Peirce in 2018 to a community growing across Singapore.
8 years · 3 forest locations · hundreds of children · families, schools and educators
Nature Den Certifications
Come and see.
The fastest way to know if this is your place is to stand in it on a Saturday morning.
Love big, live bigger.