View maps & get directions to the Schuylkill Center.

Get Directions to the Schuylkill Center

Schuylkill Center Nature Preschool

The Schuylkill Center's Nature Preschool is a developmental, play-based school where children are immersed in nature. Our days are spent outside discovering, investigating, and learning about the world all around us. We are located on 365-acres of fields, forests, ponds, and streams in northwest Philadelphia, giving children a unique opportunity to explore and learn about their relationship to the natural world in a risk-managed environment. Children's ideas, inquiries, and discoveries are nurtured and implemented with hands-on daily experiences. Through these experiences children acquire a deep intuitive understanding of nature and the natural world. Our children are given daily opportunities to use their imaginations, develop critical thinking skills, stretch their muscles, and hone their motor skills.

We offer:

  • Indoor/outdoor classrooms - though most of the days are spent outdoors
  • All-outdoor classroom - this class takes place entirely outdoors, with a home base in nature
  • Multi-age preschool classes - 3-5 years old-children must be 3 by September 1st and fully bathroom competent
  • Before Care - 8:00-9:00am
  • After Care - 3:30-5:00pm
  • School year runs from early September - early June

Please see our enrollment page for information on how to start your journey at Nature Preschool

Questions? Contact us at earlychildhood@schuylkillcenter.org or call 215-853-6294
Sarah Watrud - Director of Early Childhood Education
Becca Ryder - Early Childhood Program Manager

The Schuylkill Center Nature Preschool is an equal opportunity care provider. All children are welcome to attend our program regardless of ability, need, background, culture, religion, gender, or economic circumstances.

Photographs by Bastiaan Slabbers