This day of outdoor workshops will help ground you as we embrace the changes of Spring with young children. Join experts in the field of nature-based early learning to share ideas and practices with a variety of hands-on sessions to choose from including: Spring plant walk with identification; needle felted crafting with wool; children's garden activities and more. Hosted at ANBE's outdoor 'lab' forest school, Notchcliff Nature Programs is based at Glen Meadows Retirement Community near Towson, MD. This day will take place 100% immersed in nature outdoors!

ANBE will provide a professional development certificate at the conclusion of the event. Please dress for the weather, as 100% of this training takes place outdoors, rain or shine. Coffee/tea with lite breakfast and lunch is included, but remember your canteen for drinks throughout the day. This training is MSDE-approved for six (6) clock hours of professional development!

Note: We strive for zero waste during our events; please bring your canteen for drinks.

Who Should Attend?

This training is ideal for educators, caregivers, parents, and others working with young children ages 2 to 8. Our participants work in all kinds of settings, from nature-based schools and forest kindergartens to public schools, traditional preschools, HeadStart programs, child care settings, homeschooling, and more.

Workshop Descriptions:

The Wild Spring Has Sprung!

with Daje Reeder of The Eco Experience

Animals are waking up all around us! Take a trail walk through the forest as we look and listen for life after winter stillness. Together we will sample activities that are perfect for young children who are discovering life cycles of birds, insects, and amphibians in spring!

Spring Plant Wander

with Bodhi Vasilopoulos, Founder of Nature's Love and Wisdom

Nature is abundant with food, medicine & more yet we have forgotten our ancient ways of working with the botanical and fungal relatives growing all around us. Learning about wild foods takes some time and focus but in the process we are rewarded with greater health, happiness, resilience and connection to the natural world. In this walk we will cover topics such as:

• Plant and mushroom identification
• How to harvest sustainably and prepare different wild edible foods throughout the seasons
• Basics of botany, mycology, field herbalism and medicinal preparations
• Planting & propagation techniques
• Agroforestry principles & practices
• Temperate ecology and more!

Little Hands, Big Growth: Healing and Learning Through Planting Seeds and Flowers

with Cathy Allen, Founder of Friend Leaves LLC

Empower preschool educators with practical knowledge and creative activities to integrate planting seeds and flowers into their classrooms, fostering emotional growth, curiosity, and resilience in young children.

Notchcliff Nature Programs Overview and Site Tour

with Monica Wiedel-Lubinski, ANBE Executive Director

Take a walk around ANBE's lab school! See the Seedlings, Forest Preschool, and Homeschool Co-op classrooms and learn about our day-to-day programming. Ask questions and get inspiration for your own nature classroom. 

Crafting Stories with Wool: Exploring the Art of Needle Felting

with Lesley Romanoff, Director and Lead Teacher of Takoma Park Cooperative

Discover the connection between storytelling and wool craft in this hands-on session on creating story scenes and characters through needle felting. Historically, wool dolls and felted figures have been cherished as tools for storytelling, education, and play, embodying the narratives of their makers and the small hands holding them. Needle felting, a technique that emerged in the early 20th century, transforms loose wool into intricate, sculptural forms, offering endless possibilities for crafting characters and props that bring stories to life. Participants will learn how to combine this tactile art form with storytelling to create unique, hand-felted figures that spark imagination and connection. Whether you're an educator, artist, or parent, this session will inspire you to weave your own stories through the magic of wool.

Spring Song Share

with Kirsten Mize, ANBE Program Coordinator

Settle into the day with a campfire singing session. Music and dancing are useful for promoting all kinds of early developmental skills: fine motor and gross motor, attention and memory, aural and oral, imaginative thinking, improvisation, and more. Join us to learn songs for spring time that you sing anytime, anywhere: on the trail, in the mud kitchen (or your home kitchen!), on a picnic, at circle time and more. Facilitator, Kirsten Mize, comes with many songs to teach, but other participants are welcome to share their favorites as well to contribute to our song circle as time allows. Get loose, shake an egg shaker, clap along, and have fun with it: singing is for everyone! 

Meet Your Presenters!

Daje' Reeder - Founder of The Eco Experience

Daje' Reeder is fascinated by nature's beauty and wonders from random sightings of hawks on highway light post to illuminating full moons! She studied Environmental Science at Towson University earning her Bachelor's in Environmental Science with a concentrated on biology in 2018. She started her post-grad journey in Environmental Education at Irvine Nature Center working with homeschool, school age and preschool students for 4 years. She spent her summers working and teaching at urban farm, Backyard Basecamp for 2 years. During her teaching experiences she started her own venture and business, The Eco Experience providing outdoor focused community events. Currently, she is working with Baltimore County Recreation and Parks as Community Supervisor providing her love for nature, programming and community connection to her community!

Bodhi Vasilopoulos (he/him) - Founder of Nature's Love and Wisdom

Bodhi is a passionate forest gardener, herbalist, naturalist, and teacher. His teaching explores the intersection of foraging, agroforestry and food systems with ecology, activism, and cultural transformation. He offers immersive, educational and transformational workshops, retreats and courses. Bodhi also helps manage Forested, a regenerative food forest farm and education center working to expand forest agriculture in DC and Maryland. With a BS in environmental science and engineering, multiple technical certifications, and a decade of experience working with the land, he applies the skills and knowledge he has acquired towards his service to life on Earth. 

Lesley Romanoff - Takoma Park Cooperative Director and Lead Teacher

Lesley Romanoff is a dedicated educator and advocate for community-centered learning, serving as a leader at Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School. Passionate about outdoor education and fostering connections among children, parents, and educators, Lesley emphasizes the transformative power of play, storytelling, and hands-on exploration in early childhood development.

Monica Wiedel-Lubinski (she/her) - Executive Director of ANBE

Founder/cofounder of three nature preschool programs in Maryland, coauthor of award-winning Nature Play Workshop for Families, and consultant to countless others starting forest and nature schools in the U.S. and abroad, Monica brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to help you jump-start your own nature-based program! Monica has a Bachelor’s degree in Art Educ. (K-12) and Master’s degree in Early Childhood Ed. from Towson University, Baltimore, MD and has completed year-long graduate fellowship with UMBC/UMASS. She is a wife and mother of two and enjoys spending time in nature with her family. 

Cathy Allen (she/her) - Founder of Friend Leaves LLC

Cathy Allen is a renowned therapeutic horticulturist, founder of Friend Leaves LLC and adjunct professor, Cultivating Wellness: A Journey Through Therapeutic Horticultural Practices is recognized for her expertise in harnessing the power of plants to promote well-being and sensory experiences. With a passion for the environment and a strong commitment to sustainability, she has dedicated her career to creating harmony between nature and human health.

Kirsten Mize (she/her) - ANBE Program Coordinator

Goucher College graduate, Kirsten Mize, is delighted to serve the ANBE community as Program Coordinator, curating high-quality training for nature-based educators of all different walks. With a Masters in Education (Focus: At-Risk and Diverse Students) and a Bachelors in Music (Focus: Vocal Performance), Kirsten brings over a decade of diverse teaching experience and pedagogical knowledge to ANBE. She has always had a deep connection with nature and believes strongly in holistic teaching methods, the power of play, and cultivating wonder. When she is not at ANBE, Kirsten works as a voice actor independently from her home studio in Baltimore, Maryland and has lent her voice to musicals, operas, stage plays, podcasts, video games, and radio plays. She also works as a music teacher at The Music Space in Towson, Maryland running a program for infants to 5 year-olds and their caregivers called "Little Rockers". But probably her most important job is that of mother to one sweet little boy who has inherited his mother's love for music and the outdoors.