The Garden Outdoor Explorers Preschool Kilkenny

12/12/2025

Don't you love a birthday where your house ISN'T destroyed at the end, and participants get to burn off all the sugar they ingest OUTSIDE 😜

Thank you Mae for choosing to have your party in the woods with us. Happy 4th year 🙂

12/12/2025

Wonderful Gift Idea 💚🌍🎄

✨Outdoor play, wellbeing and nature connection all in one basket 🎁

Our gift vouchers are ready for Christmas. They can be put towards playgroups, after-school sessions or any other event at Woodkids Forest School.

Click here to order your loved one's next waste-free and meaningful present 🎄
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/woodkidsforestschool

18/04/2025

We don’t need to entertain children. We need to give them time, space, trust, and materials—and then get out of the way.

Children aren’t waiting to be entertained—they’re waiting to be trusted.
When we offer time, space, and open-ended materials, something shifts. We start to see what children are capable of when we’re not directing every move.

It’s not always easy to step back. We’re used to jumping in, guiding, narrating, filling the quiet. But play doesn’t need our scripts. It needs our respect.

Maybe our role isn’t to keep children busy—but to protect the space where their play can unfold.

15/04/2025

NEW CLASS

A Forest School group just for preschoolers where parents can either leave or stay.

📅 Dates : Fridays 9-30th of May (4 weeks)
⏰ Time : 1:30 - 3pm
🌳 Location : Jenkinstown Woods, Kilkenny

Sometimes it's hard to leave your child at a class. Sometimes it's hard to find a class that will let you leave your child who is well ready to have a break from you and you from them 😂

With this group we aim to offer flexibility and meet both adults and children where they're at. The group will be led by a Forest School Leader and an Early Years Educator and take maximum 8 children to make sure everyone is well looked after, whether parents stay or not.

Activities will include
-games
-nature crafts
-observation of plants & bugs
-stories
-free play

Get in touch or click here if you think this might be for you https://woodkidsforestschool.com

09/04/2025

The great outdoors! Playgroup, on your doorstep in Kilkenny ☀️🌎💚 Sarah is an amazing facilitator. Check it out!

Looking for something to do with your little one during Easter break ? Join our Friday or Saturday playgroup for a morning of natures crafts, games and stories in the woods !

11th, 12th, 24th and 25th of April, 10-11:30 am in Jenkinstown, Kilkenny. For children aged 2-5 and their accompanying adult.

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/woodkidsforestschool

04/04/2025

Play doesn’t need to teach anything to be worthy. A child spinning in circles, digging a hole for no reason, or talking to a stick isn’t wasting time—they’re claiming space in a world obsessed with outcomes. Play is not preparation for life. It is life.

Too often, play is tolerated only when it leads to something “productive.” But research tells a different story. Real play—freely chosen, self-directed, often nonsensical—is where children build their sense of self, explore emotional landscapes, and experience joy on their own terms (Hughes, 2011; Lester & Russell, 2008).

Peter Gray, research professor of psychology and leading voice in the field of play and self-directed education, warns that when adults hijack play to teach, we strip it of the very qualities that make it powerful. True play has no predetermined outcome. It doesn’t need to be educational, therapeutic, or efficient. Even when it looks frivolous, it’s doing deep work: protecting mental health, supporting autonomy, and resisting a culture that demands constant productivity from even the youngest among us.

Let kids dig holes. Let them be “unproductive.” That’s where the real work lives.

03/04/2025

Great to see Sarah treating the young children of Kilkenny to Forest School Playgroup 💚🌎

Follow us to the woods !

Booking is now open for once off dates as well as the six weeks term of our playgroups :

Friday 11th of April - 23rd of May
Saturday 5th of April - 17th of May

10am-11:30am in Jenkinstown, Kilkenny

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/woodkidsforestschool?

Each week is an opportunity to play, express creativity, and notice the gradual changes happening with the seasons. Being in nature is fundamental for health and wellbeing from as soon as we begin our time on earth. Children are hard wired to seek out that experience.

03/03/2025

13/02/2025

Thank you to whoever it was that nominated Woodkids for The Family Edit Awards 2025 ⭐️

It's a joy to be out playing in the woods with you. I can't tell you how lucky I feel to be doing that as my real grown-up job ! Thank you for your support.

If you'd like to cast a vote, you'll find Woodkids Forest School under kids classes and outdoor activities on The Family Edit website. Nominations close at 8pm on Thursday, 27th February 2025.
I also recommend browsing the Family Edit if you're ever looking for something nice to do as a family. Its an Irish family run website and a great resource

16/01/2025

15/01/2025

Join me for three workshops at The Education Centre, Kilkenny. Dates on poster. Looking at early childhood through a children's rights lens. Booking essential. See you there!

Parenting workshop Tickets now available for this great event €10 each or 3 for €25. Link available in the comments or scan the QR code