How we started

What is your favorite childhood memory? For many of us, those cherished moments involve being outdoors: rolling down a grassy hill… splashing in a puddle… climbing a tree… watching a butterfly land on a flower.

Such memories highlight the powerful and positive impact that the natural world has on our lives – and the importance of giving young children the opportunity to fully experience and learn from the world around them.

Increasingly, however, our children aren’t getting these opportunities. Screen time is going up, while outdoor time and physical activity are going down. Too often, kids are passively watching instead of actively exploring, pushing buttons instead of opening new doors. These trends have worrying implications for the future. Less active, engaged children are at greater risk of experiencing health, educational, and social difficulties later in life. And if we don’t help children appreciate the value and importance of nature today, we risk weakening support for environmental stewardship tomorrow.

Several years ago, these issues prompted us to ask: What could we do to help children develop a lifelong love of active learning and respect for the environment?

Our answer, inspired in part by innovative, outdoor-oriented preschool programs around the world, is to create the Forest Preschool at the Linda Boyle Nature Center.

The nonprofit Forest Preschool will provide up to 49 children ages three to five, as well as adults training to become early childhood educators, with the opportunity to use an 88-acre expanse of nature in Glenburn, Maine, as their classroom. A bright and functional building, designed to meet the needs of preschool children and educators, will sit at the heart of a network of trails leading to fields, forests, gardens, wetlands, streams, and a pond. These outdoor spaces, which we call “lily pads” in appreciation of the water lily’s symbolic association with growth and enlightenment, will transform learning about language, art, music, math, nutrition and science into an ongoing adventure. The building will house three classrooms and a commercial-grade kitchen, where both children and families can learn about nutrition and healthy meals.

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In addition to preparing children to make a successful transition to kindergarten and elementary school, the Forest Preschool will:

● Help address the Bangor region’s intensifying childcare shortage by providing families

with a new option for high-quality preschool. Bangor has the worst childcare shortage in

Maine, according to a recent study, with nearly 600 children under 6 unable to find care.

The lack of readily available preschool spots adds to the challenge for parents of

maintaining employment, and for employers the challenge of hiring and retaining

employees.

● Collaborate with teacher training programs at regional universities to provide the next

generation of early childhood educators with hands-on experience in incorporating

active outdoor learning into their work. We will welcome area educators to visit our

Center and learn first-hand how we teach children in this age group in nature.

We already have completed many of the steps needed to make the Forest Preschool a reality.

We own the land, have acquired key permits, and developed detailed construction, finance,

and curricula plans.

Now, we need your help to overcome a final challenge: raising $3 million to begin

construction of our building, so that it is ready to welcome our preschoolers in 2026.

Read on to learn more about our plan to provide Maine families with a new and innovative

option for high-quality preschool.