Elements the Nature Preschool is thrilled to announce DOE Pre-k funded classrooms for both 3 and 4 year old children!​

With this addition, our program is able to accomplish its ongoing mission of accessible care within the community, providing nature education as an ongoing right to young children.
Elements, the Nature Preschool offers Outdoors Classrooms and a Dynamic Environment for Children to Play, Explore, Experience, Create, Learn and Grow

Every morning, children make their way through the bustling streets of New York’s Lower East Side to a preschool tucked away on Suffolk Street: Elements, The Nature Preschool. A hidden oasis, Elements’ Open Air Outdoor Classrooms welcome children 1 to 5 years of age. An advocate of authentic, true, and child-driven play, Elements prioritizes community within the pillars of equity, determination, risk-taking, autonomy, and inclusion. Elements believes in the power of wonder and how it sparks with joy through an intentional environment cultivated amongst loose parts and growing plants. In an environment that feels like an extension of home, a space of child ownership and comfort, Elements guides the problem-solving and conflict resolution of early social development. With this guidance, children create honest and caring relationships with themselves, each other, and the outside world. Founded in 2015 by Shilpa Sethi, Elements was built on the core principle of “calling children back to their innate relationship with nature.”

Welcoming Children from 1 year to 5 years

Discoverers

1 year olds

Explorers

2 & 3 year olds

Seekers

3 year olds (3k)

Adventurers

4 year olds (4k)

Why Choose Elements Preschool?
  • Open air, outdoor classrooms in the heart of Manhattan
  • Accessible, publicly funded and supported 3k and 4k programming for preschoolers ages 3 + 4 years of age
  • Educators with a commitment to nature and a passion for early work
  • Nature driven, emergent curriculum grounded in community care
  • Developed appreciation and mindfulness for the natural world
  • Social and emotional focus that centers social equity, diversity, and inclusion
  • Flexible school scheduling with extended care, early drop offs, summer programming, family workshops, and community events


    Our unique child-led, emergent curriculum philosophy marries play, discovery, and creative individualism together, encouraging collaboration, curiosity, and a spirited learning community.

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