About

Thank you for visiting and for your interest in learning more about us. Granby Nature Preschool and Kindergarten is a farm and nature preschool and kindergarten in Granby, Connecticut. Our home base is at Holcomb Farm, a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm with active, sustainable community-based vegetable gardens and some 300 acres of meadows, pastures, streams, ponds, forests and trails.

Ours is a place-based program, meaning that we believe children learn essential skills and concepts most appropriately when they are guided to focus first on their immediate environment.

GNPnK also offers multiple learning activities using the rich resources within our community. Granby is an extraordinary town with more than 30 farms, access to a game preserve, impressive land trust properties, and nature trails. Like many towns in New England Granby’s values of farm, community and land are a significant part of Granby’s vision. It makes sense to offer young children a solid grounding within a community we all love through experiential, integrated learning in these farm and nature settings.
We follow the Connecticut State Learning Domains (Domains of Learning and Development (CT ELDS)) and Essential Dispositions (Components of Social Emotional and Intellectual Habits K3) for 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds. Concepts, skills, domains and dispositions are seamlessly integrated into the immersive experiences of farm and nature, and unfold within an age-appropriate balance between free play and exploration, and guided learning. Children enhance their knowledge, concepts and skills through music, movement and art. It is through these opportunities that children also learn about relationships and interdependence among themselves and their classmates, their families and their neighborhood farms, natural settings and plant and animal communities.

General Information
Granby Nature Preschool and Kindergarten is a farm and nature preschool for 3, 4, and 5-year-olds based at Holcomb Farm in West Granby, Connecticut. We are a 5-day program for morning, afternoon or full day, except Fridays which are half day, and which may include visits or visitors to/from local farms and nature trails. We embrace outdoor living and learning, and are outside for some part of every day except in extreme weather. Indoors our space at The Barn at Holcomb enhances our learning through community living, relationship building, caring for one another and our plants, and with art, movement, music and storytelling activities.

Immersion Excursions
Fridays off the Holcomb Farm property is a family-centered experience for which parent transportation and supervision is essential. Visits to local farms, orchards, McLean Game Preserve, and other ponds, streams and nature trails in Granby are led by a farmer, gardener, park ranger or other specialist to give children an in-depth look to nature-based places and members of our community. 

Our Children
Granby Nature Preschool and Kindergarten serves children ages 3, 4 and 5. Children must be 3 years old and toilet trained by September of their enrolling school year (or when space is available the month after they turn 3 during the school year). For 5-year-olds we offer both Kindergarten and a Transition program (additional year before Kindergarten) for those children who might benefit.

For the most part we believe in multi-age grouping. Younger children can learn from older ones who, in turn, gain experience and confidence as peer models. Within this model individual lessons are differentiated to meet specific developmental needs of children.

GNPnK children learn to be open-minded, caring and healthy. They are inquisitive, socially conscious, know how to take turns, ask good questions and respect others and their environment. They have learned the important skills of classifying, comparison, sequencing, and data collection. They have learned the concepts of life cycles and interdependence in nature. They have experienced how to transform their skills, concepts and knowledge through play, music, movement and art. In addition they have been introduced to pre-reading and math activities, and some read and do simple math.

We want our children to be healthy, curious, observant, reflective and empathetic to each other and to their environment. Guided outdoor exploration is essential to our program, with daily nature hikes and/or working in our outdoor vegetable garden. We plan to be outdoors in all weather except extreme conditions.