About

Thank you for visiting and for your interest in learning more about us. Granby Nature Preschool 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.

General Information
Granby Nature Preschool 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.

Our Children
Granby Nature Preschool serves children ages 3, 4 and 5. Children must be 3 years old and toilet trained by September of their enrolling 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.

GNP children who move on to first grade are well-prepared. GNP children are 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 children read and do simple math.

GNP 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.