12 / matters magazine / summer 2017 Learning from Mud Pies A preschool goes outdoors BY ELLEN DONKER W e never really know how our childhood days will shape us. For Mary Clair Sonneman, growing up in Vernon, New Jersey meant she spent a lot of time amongst rolling hills and forests. Never did she imagine that she would combine her affection for the woods with her training as a teacher, to make a career in a movement that is just starting to gain traction on the East Coast. It all started with a conversation Sonneman had with a friend in Seattle about choosing the right pre- school for her daughter. Her friend pointed out the benefits of a new teaching approach popular in the Northwest, called Forest School, where the empha- sis is on play rather than academics. That talk in- spired Sonneman, who had recently left her post as a high school English teacher, to research Cedarsong Nature School, the originator of the Forest School movement in the United States. Headquartered in Vashon Island, Washington, it follows the early childhood education method of nature immersion that originated in Germany, where its popularity has led to the establishment of hundreds of Forest Kin- dergartens and Forest Schools throughout Europe. Cedarsong Nature School defines nature immer- sion as “unstructured free time in nature resulting in an intimate, deep and personal connection to the natural world.” Simply put, it promotes the idea that young children need to spend a large part of their day outdoors to get the stimulation and natural learning experiences they are born to crave. Intrigued, Sonneman decided to meet up with other moms at the South Mountain Reservation to try their own version of Forest School. Function- ing more like an outdoor playgroup, she discovered that the children were completely captivated by the world around them, eager to embrace the life lessons taught by nature. These observations, coupled with her research, led Sonneman to travel to Vashon Island last July to become a certified Cedarsong Forest Kindergar- ten teacher. Upon her return, she immediately set