A place to belong, explore and become.
A village in nature for children and young people, where people are known, relationships matter, and there is room to try, fail, discover and grow.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays · Since 2018 · Lower Peirce, Alexandra Forest and Tampines
WHAT WE NOTICE
"They don't want me."
He'd been left out of a game once, months ago, and never tried again.
Today, we told him who was organising the race: a boy we knew would include everyone.
He thought about it, then his face lit up and he ran to where the others were.
He came back to tell us his placings, including a first. Then he raced all morning.
"I forgot my water bottle."
We wondered out loud what else might hold water.
The six-year-old laughed and thought of her chips bag, decided to wash it first, and drank from it.
Then she worked out how to turn it into a sling, hand knitting yarn strings she had chosen herself.
"I can't."
His legs were shaking on the slope.
We stayed beside him and broke it into steps small enough for him to say yes to.
We celebrated every choice he made, including the choice to stop.
Bravery isn't the absence of fear.
By the end, going up and down that slope was his favourite thing to do.
None of this was on a lesson plan.
This is the work.
HOW WE WORK
Four things, in this order
We notice.
Before we do anything, we watch. We notice what children are drawn to, what they are trying to do, what is happening between people, and what the situation might be asking of them. The tickling is rarely the whole problem. The tripping is rarely the whole story. We're looking for what's stuck between a child and the situation they're in.
We connect.
We get alongside before we direct. In a meltdown, we stay. Not soothing it away. Not absorbing it. Just staying, and staying connected. Children often find their way back to themselves through connection, not instructions alone.
We open.
Then we change what feels possible. Sometimes that's breaking a slope into eight steps. Sometimes it's naming who's organising the race. Sometimes it's asking a question so open that a chips bag becomes a water bottle.
Over time, something bigger happens.
Children begin to know themselves. They become more willing to try, more able to recover when things don't go their way, more able to work things out with other people, and more confident in finding their own way forward.
We call it relational learning. Learning through relationship: with yourself, with other people, and with the world around you.
The children call it Saturday.
THE VILLAGE
The village, on purpose
A childhood is about twelve years long. In Singapore, a child can start over three times inside it: a new school at P1, a new school at Sec 1, new everything at 16. New faces, new rules, prove yourself again.
Here, nobody makes them start over.
Children can join us at three and grow through Kinder, Juniors, Seniors, Middle School and College. The forest stays familiar. Friends grow alongside them. Adults remember what they were afraid of two years ago. Trust needs time and repetition. We built the structure so it can have both.
And the village isn't just for the children.
Families contribute too. Some volunteer their time and skills in ways that matter to the community. Parents get to know each other's children. Older ones look out for younger ones, and we make a point of telling them when they do.
This is what a village can give a child:
familiar faces, shared responsibility, and somewhere they don't have to start over.
Nobody has to arrive with a reason for being here.
IS THIS YOUR KIND OF PLACE?
Our groups are mixed, real groups of children.
Confident ones, shy ones, fast ones, dreamy ones. Children who are flying at school, and children who are finding it hard.
That mix is the point.
It's how a village works, and it's what makes the learning real.
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.
You want friendships that can grow over years, not just last a term.
You want to be part of something, not simply pay for a slot.
We may not be the right fit if:
• You want worksheets, weekly measurable output and a syllabus you can audit.
• You want everything clean, indoor and predictable.
• You want a drop-off where nothing is ever asked of your family.
And if your child needs a little more support to take part, tell us.
Our groups are mixed, and we make room for children who need closer support too. Sometimes that means an additional coach, sometimes a smaller group, and sometimes one-to-one support. We'll talk with you honestly about what might work.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS
What a session actually looks like
We arrive and settle. There is no rush into an activity. Children greet each other, notice what has changed in the forest, and find their way into the morning.
The day gets discovered, not announced.
Someone might start whittling. Someone else might head for the stream. A group might decide to build something, organise a race, explore, make, climb or simply follow something that has caught their attention.
We watch, we follow, and we step in where it matters.
Sometimes that means helping a child find a way into the group. Sometimes it means staying beside someone through a difficult moment. Sometimes it means asking one question that opens up a completely different possibility.
And sometimes the children take over.
They make the game. They make the rules. They make the things they want to make. They argue. They repair. They teach one another. They come back the following week and pick up where they left off.
We finish with a sharing circle, because something you've told someone about is something you get to carry with you.
Two and a half to three hours, every week, in the same patch of forest, with the same people.
In a term, children here might have:
carved wood · chiselled stone · made things to take home · created their own little craft fair · built shelters · played in the stream · climbed slopes · whittled sticks · explored what the forest had to offer · organised races and made their own rules · figured out how to include someone who thought they didn't belong · helped a sibling · taught a younger child something they had just learned · tried something they were afraid of · failed at something and tried again
And sometimes, the most important thing that happens isn't something we planned to teach at all.
That's the point.
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.
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.
Continuing 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.
And there is a boundary we state honestly:
We are not a clinic, and we are not a social service.
When something comes up that goes beyond our role, we follow our safeguarding protocol, involve parents where appropriate, and bring in the right professionals.
We know our job.
And we know when someone else needs to come alongside us.
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.