Athens Forest Kindergarten is an educational nonprofit dedicated to promoting nature, play, and intentional and reflective caregiving in early childhood (ages 0-8).

We have two branches - our community work under the name AFK Connects, and our half-day outdoor preschool program, the forest kindergarten itself. Learn more below.

Forest Kindergarten Program

Our flagship program is an early childhood education program for ages 3.5-6, called “forest kindergarten”. Families enroll in a year-long inquiry-based educational experience. We emphasize social-emotional learning over academic learning or explicit teaching of wilderness skills. We encourage developmentally-appropriate exploration so that children can experience risk, challenge, success, uncertainty, self-efficacy, and more! We maintain a 1:4 adult to student ratio which allows us to use flexible grouping and meet the needs of older and younger children. We are a cooperative that thrives on caregiver-volunteers, including weekly Forest-Helpers.  Click here to learn more.

AFK Connects

In addition to forest kindergarten we love organizing events, educational opportunities for teachers and caregivers, and programs for children throughout the Athens area who are not part of our regular preschool program. This work is all about facilitating connections - between families and our educators, between neighbors interested in getting their children playing outside together, between parents and education experts, between our faculty and other school teachers, and more. Read about our advocacy, research, community events, and more here!