Updated: Mar 15
Ohio Nature-Based Early Childhood Education Collaborative
 Spring News
Written by Michelle Bock, edited and posted by Meredith Florkey
ONbECECollaborative Highlights!
FIVE Amazing Years Together
created by members, established 2019
Join our FORCE OF NATURE
The Ohio Nature Based Early Childhood Education is a group of like minded educators who have either founded, are working at, or aspire to begin or work in a nature based setting with children ages birth-age 8.Â
SPRING is coming!
It's Hiring Season! Dozens of applicants check out our website each year. If you have job openings for your center that you would like posted on our website, please send a description and link to ohionaturebasedece@gmail.com.
Wildflower Child & Family Center is hiring 6 positions to fill a new classroom and support staff for their nature-based preschool and childcare center located in Huber Heights (Dayton), Ohio. Full and part time, health benefits, dedicated planning and office time, discounted child care, PTO and more. Consider applying or share with people in the area!
Land Caretaker & Lead Nature Preschool Teacher
Health Caretaker & Lead Nature Preschool Teacher
Storyteller & Lead Nature Preschool Teacher
Lead Nature Preschool Teacher
Operations Support Nature Preschool Teacher
Support Nature Preschool Teacher (sub)
GET CONNECTED with our Partnered Agencies
Upcoming Professional Development
Nature-Based Learning & Environmental Education RESOURCES
We hope that our members invest and support in Indigenous peoples around the world. The Great Council State Park is now open-check it out!
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MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS & Stories!
Lee Hamzy
Lee Hamzy is the Director and Co-Lead Teacher at Little Schoolhouse in the Woods, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing a love of nature and helping kids build healthy relationships with themselves and others.
At Little Schoolhouse in the Woods, we embrace every season as a chance to learn and explore. This winter, we've loved all the snow in the Cincinnati area! The kids have been busy tracking footprints, setting up a trail cam to observe local wildlife, and adding to our ever-growing list of the flora and fauna that make Mount Airy Forest home. These discoveries have been a big part of our curriculum, deepening our connection to the natural world around us.
As much as we’ve enjoyed winter, we’re looking forward to spring! We can’t wait to see the spring ephemerals return and to celebrate the season with our community. Mark your calendars for the Spring Into Mount Airy Festival on April 13th from 1-4 PM—it’s going to be a wonderful way to welcome the season together.
Feel free to follow us on social media, it won’t be long before we are bringing out the Maypole and gearing up for all the fun ahead!
Meredith Florkey
Wildflower Child & Family Center is a new nature-based preschool and child care center in Huber Heights, Ohio-just north of Dayton. Serving toddlers to age 5, for a variety of hours, WCFC serves families who qualify for publicly funded child care, is partnered with Preschool Promise to provide families with tuition assistance, and can boast the Get OUTside Gear program that provides outdoor gear for all of it’s students. WCFC is a Gold rated center in the Ohio Step Up To Quality rating system and has been awarded the Connect to Nature award from the Miami Valley Leave No Child Inside Collaborative. With a 3:15 ratio and on a 900 acre historical farm, children learn, discover and play for the majority of their days. WCFC, led by ONbECE board member, Meredith Florkey, has a dedicated staff of 5 and will be hiring 5 more staff this spring as they double their enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year. If you are interested in learning more about how WCFC encourages Belonging, Growth, and Connection to Nature click here:
Carol Juergemejer
On Saturday February 1st, a small group of early childhood educators representing 4 different early childhood education programs had the chance to hike and chat while touring the grounds of Old Trail School in Bath, Ohio. We were able to see the variety of outdoor classroom spaces including the magical pines and forts and tunnels. We also had a chance to peek at how nature is brought inside to the classrooms. Each of our programs runs a bit differently, but it is always great to be able to exchange ideas with one another. This was the second meet up for Northeast Ohio/Southeast Cleveland/Akron area teachers. We are already planning another MeetUp in Spring/Summer. We are creating local connections for supporting nature based early childhood educators!Â
We hope you can join us at our next event from 9:30-11:30 on Saturday April 26th as we tour Good Nature Therapy Serviceshttps://www.goodnatureohio.com/Â in Aurora, Ohio.
Membership
We are welcoming new members, stories & questions. Â
Please submit to ohionaturebasedece@gmail.comÂ
Have a question? From time to time, community members have questions regarding starting a nature-based rpgram in Ohio, business related questions, or curriculum related questions. Our board is full of folks with years of experience. New to our website is a spot to ask those questions. Our volunteer board will monitor these questions and reach out individually or provide answers from time to time on our blog spot/Facebook group.
