Does your kiddo want to have as much fun as the kids in the photos below? Then you’re in luck, ‘cause we do this every summer!
Summer in the City 2026!
🆕 New🎉 age group offered this summer—details below!
Summer 2026 Details
Our mission is to inspire a connection to the outdoors, encourage a love and respect for the natural world, & help children build confidence by supporting and promoting their own ideas & interests. Our curriculum evolves from the the interests, ideas, & inquiries of our students and we are inspired by the weather, plants, & creatures we happen upon each day. The benefits of time spent in nature are proven to have a strong & positive influence over emotional well being, physical & cognitive growth, & social connection. We want to instill the idea that we are all part of something bigger and no matter our age, we can actively participate in taking care of each other and the world around us.
Our summer session runs for 8 weeks, beginning on Monday, June 15th, 2026 and ending on Friday, August 7th, 2026. Families may choose which weeks they would like to register their child, with a two-week minimum per child. Please note Hawks & Egrets groups begin June 29 and run for 6 weeks.
Classes are held entirely in Prospect Park, with the following program options:
All classes are mixed age & grouped into the following categories:
Sparrows: Children age 2 years - 3 years
Robins: Children entering Pre-K or K in September 2026
Sparrow-Robins: Children ages 2-5 (entering Kindergarten in Sept. 2026)
☝️ This mixed age group is available at 2 drop offs only: 3rd street & Lincoln road
Hawks: Children entering 1st grade - 4th grade in September 2026
🆕 🎉 Egrets: Children entering 5th-8th grade in September 2026 (please see more here regarding this very exciting brand new age group offering)! Tell your flock! 🚨 🪿
Teacher-to-Child Ratio:
Brooklyn Nature Days aims to ensure that each group is balanced according to developmental needs.
Sparrows: maintains a ratio of 1 teacher for every 4 children (groups capped at 8 children)
Robins & Combo Sparrow-Robins group: maintains a ratio of 1 teacher for every 4-5 children (groups capped at 8-10 children)
Hawks: maintain a ratio of 1 teacher for every 5 children (groups capped at 10 children)
Egrets: maintain a ratio of 1 teacher for every 8-10 children
Our philosophy focuses on unstructured free play & exploration, as well as open-ended use of tools & materials. Our low teacher-to-child ratio allows for adults to support small group, child-led projects and adventures.
Daily Routine & Activities
Our day begins with a leisurely walk through Prospect Park to a location where our group will play & explore together for the day. Our spot in the park changes regularly which allows us to experience various landscapes: hills, trees, plants, fallen logs, and rocks. Our changing landscape inspires numerous games and activities. Upon a group’s arrival inside the park, we come together for morning greetings, discuss our location for the day, tools & materials available, and then begin our adventures with free play.
Free play allows children to immerse themselves in and fully explore our natural surroundings. Our varied offerings of tools and materials (buckets, mortar and pestles, magnifying glasses, spray bottles, rope, natural clay) inspire each child to uniquely connect and create amidst nature, following their own ideas. Dramatic play, games, experiments, and discoveries ensure the group and teachers work together as a team - mud pie kitchens, tree house forts, pebble towers, leaf crowns, log trains, fairy houses, and worm collections… anything is possible!
Our older students engage in more expansive explorations of the park, focusing on developing skills like mapping, cardinal directions, and compass skills. We offer nature journaling, detailed plant & animal identification, and access to more advanced tools as well as ensuring ample time for unstructured free play.
We take a break together for snack time and lunch. We eat together, read storybooks, and exchange lively conversations.
After re-energizing with snack, we continue to explore the park. Our walks give us opportunities to observe birds and other native creatures out and about, including hawks, robins, turtles, chipmunks, and blue herons. Focusing on our five senses, we search for waterfalls and take the time to examine and identify trees and plants, including plantain leaves and burdock plants, and collect sweet gum seed pods, clovers, and dandelions. We end our day with a picnic lunch and a farewell circle.
Brooklyn Nature Days meets outside in all kinds of summer weather - sun, clouds, and rain. We use the trees to shade us from the sun and build shelters to cozy up during the rain. In the event of dangerous weather such as passing thunderstorms, we move to a covered park structure until the storm passes. Families will be made aware of location changes as far in advance as possible. For days where the forecast calls for severe weather, classes will be moved to an indoor location. Please see our updated inclement weather policy under the section titled Tuition, Discount, Payment, and Transfer Policies below.
Dates & Minimum Enrollment Requirements:
Our summer session runs for 8 weeks, beginning on Monday, June 15th, 2026 and ending on Friday, August 7th, 2026. Families may choose which weeks they would like to register their child.
There is a 2 week minimum enrollment required (weeks need not be consecutive). If you accidentally enroll in 1 week only your enrollment may be canceled so please be sure to look over your selections carefully.
Summer classes are offered on a weekly basis and run Monday - Friday for the following 8 weeks:
1. week of 06/15 (4 day week, price prorated)
2. week of 06/22
3. week of 06/29 (4 day week, price prorated)
4. week of 07/06
5. week of 07/13
6. week of 07/20
7. week of 07/27
8. week of 08/03
⚠️ Please note that Hawks & Egrets summer classes begin the week of June 29, as this is when most older kiddos are done with school for the year. A full summer schedule for Hawks & Egrets age groups is 6 weeks, 6/29/26-8/7/26.
Drop off and pick up locations are inside the park as follows:
Sparrows & Robins classes
Northern Tip of the Long Meadow near the Endale Arch.
📍 Prospect Park West and 3rd Street
Sparrow-Robins & Hawks group only
Enter the park at the 3rd street entrance (as if you are headed to the 3rd street playground). When the path forks around the playground keep to the path on the left. Cross the bike loop and walk down the short stone path & you’ll find us at the edge of the Longmeadow.
📍 Prospect Park West and 9th Street
Sparrows & Robins classes
Pass the monument at the 9th street entrance. You will see our groups set up on the grass between Harmony Playground & The Bandshell.
📍 Vanderbilt and Prospect Park South West
Sparrows, Robins, Hawks, & Egrets classes
Just outside of the Vanderbilt playground
Sparrow-Robin combo class only
Enter at the Lincoln road entrance to the park, pass the playground and cross the bike lane & you’ll find us just before the tunnel begins towards the boathouse.
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING LINCOLN ROAD & 3RD STREET DROP OFF SPAR-ROBIN GROUPS: These locations offer 1 single class of mixed-age Sparrows and Robins age children. This means it is a mixed-age class for children ages 2-5 (entering Kindergarten in Sept. 2026)
***This option is available at our 3rd street & Lincoln road drop off only
Our classes, and Prospect Park itself, is on the land of the Munsee Lenape people. The proper name of New York City is the Munsee word, Lenapehoking, which means “Land of the Lenape.”
Learn more here.
Schedule & Cost:
Sparrows: 9am-1pm: Children age 2 years - 3 years
Sparrow-Robins: 9am-1pm: Children age 2-Kindergarten (this mixed age group is available at 2 drop off’s only: 3rd & Lincoln road)
Robins: 9am-3pm: Children entering Pre-K or K in September 2026
Hawks: 9am-3pm: Children entering 1st grade - 4th grade in September 2026
Egrets: 9am-3pm: Children entering 5th-8th grade in September 2026
The price listed below is for one child for each individual week attended.
Families must provide a peanut and tree nut free snack & lunch for their child.
Sparrows and Sparrow-Robins: 9am-1pm schedule
5 days a week (Monday-Friday) - $585 per week, per child
Please note exceptions below for prorated weeks:
week of 06/15 (4 day week, $468 per child)
week of 06/29 (4 day week, $468 per child)
There is a $110 registration fee per child for the summer session.
Hawks and Robins: 9am-3pm schedule
5 days a week (Monday-Friday) - $855 per week, per child
Please note exceptions below for prorated weeks:
week of 06/16 (4 day week, $684 per child)
week of 06/30 (4 day week, $684 per child)
There is a $110 registration fee per child for the summer session.
** Please note: if Sawyer does not automatically prorate the weeks of 6/16 and 6/30 for you, please reach out to us at summer@brooklynnaturedays.com and we will refund you the difference.
Egrets: 9am-3pm schedule
5 days a week (Monday-Friday) - $905 per week, per child (this age group will offer enrichment opportunities such as birdwatching classes, art, photography, first aid, and urban outdoor adventuring skills. This cost includes all supplies, materials, and access to professional groups to lead foraging hikes, birding classes, first aid class, etc.)
Please note exceptions below for prorated weeks:
week of 06/29 (4 day week, $724 per child)
There is a $110 registration fee per child for the summer session.
💰🚨 Special introductory offer for the Egrets group only: Enroll for all 6 weeks of summer with the Egrets and get $300 off your tuition! The cost for all 6 weeks with the Egrets is a discounted $5130 for the full summer of fun, exploration, and creativity—$855 a week instead of $905! This offer is ONLY available when you enroll for all 6 weeks of the summer with the Egrets group. 🚨💰
Our tuition ensures fair pay for our teachers and covers the cost of our supplies, materials, and administrative fees as well as land reparations based on recommendations from The Lenape Center and contributions to the Prospect Park Alliance. It also allows us to offer financial aid & sliding scale pricing for families that need it in order to access our programming. If our program is cost-prohibitive to your family, please visit our financial aid page and email us at enrollment@brooklynnaturedays.com.
Payment plans: Payment plans are available in Sawyer for those families enrolling for the full 8 weeks of summer. If you would like to set up a payment plan and you are not enrolling for the full 8 weeks of summer, please email us at summer@brooklynnaturedays.com and we will set up a manual payment plan for you.
In order to process your financial aid application , please contact us at least 7 days before public enrollment opens on February 2nd, 2026.
Further financial aid information:
Aid is awarded on a basis of financial need as well as our ability to meet that need; once we reach the capacity of aid we’re able to offer for a particular semester, we will update our financial aid page to reflect that capacity.
Additionally, please note that you will need to reach out to us to make a financial aid plan before enrolling via Sawyer. We’re here to help—please reach out!
In terms of financial aid, we will always do our best to work with families to come up with a tuition plan that is comfortable for you. Please note that as a small, teacher-run business, we are not able to guarantee we can match the amount of financial aid you hope to be awarded. However, we will always be open and communicative about what we can offer and we strive to be accessible at all times while also ensuring we can pay our teachers a living wage and offer the exceptional care and teaching we pride ourselves on.
Please review our financial aid page in entirety, specifically the post from our friends at Herban Cura regarding need-based aid and sacrifice versus hardship when contemplating access to aid. We’re committed to economic justice and are grateful you are too! 🍄
Other important details regarding our summer session:
Families must provide a peanut and tree-nut free lunch & snack as well as 2 full bottles of water each day.
Families must enroll in a minimum of 2 weeks. Weeks need not be consecutive.
Updated Health Form and Immunizations are required for each child attending. All updated health forms must be submitted to Brooklyn Nature Days at least 5 business days before your child’s first scheduled class with us.
All enrollment requests are processed on a first-come-first-served basis via our Sawyer widget at the bottom of this page only. We do not process enrollment requests via email.
If you would like your child in the same group as another child, there’s a good chance we can make this happen! For this to happen, both children must be enrolled to the same location, schedule, and age group upon registration. Once successfully registered at the same location, schedule, and age group, please send us an email with your request at summer@brooklynnaturedays.com. Please note: both families must be copied on the email making this request. Once your request has been processed, we will follow up in writing with a confirmation.
Tuition, Discount, Payment, and Transfer Policies:
Please look over your selections carefully before submitting this enrollment form: Once registration and payment are submitted, all selections are final and no refunds are available.
Registration fee: There is a $110 registration fee per child.
Schedule Change Fee: Please look over your selections carefully before submitting your summer registration. Once registration and payment are submitted, all selections are final. Any changes to scheduling are subject to availability and will incur a $100 schedule change fee.
Tuition is non-refundable and due in full when registering your child for summer classes. Families are responsible for checking to ensure dates of attendance are correct prior to submitting payment.
Families are responsible for the full balance due, regardless of the days their child actually attends.
No refunds, credits, or makeups will be given for classes missed, including those due to travel, illness, or schedule conflicts.
Late fees: A late payment fee in the amount of $25 will be applied to payments made 3 business days past due and a late payment fee in the amount of $50 will be applied to payments made 5 business days past due. Payment must be submitted by due date to secure your child’s spot in our classes
Inclement weather policy for summer:
***UPDATE*** With severe heat advisories and unsafe Air Quality Indexes becoming more common in the summer months, we have updated our inclement weather policy as of Summer 2024. ***UPDATE***
In the event that we determine, through consistent monitoring of several weather apps and radars each day, that it is unsafe to hold class outdoors on a given day, we have arranged to hold full or partial classes at John Hus Moravian Church located at 153 Ocean Avenue near the Lincoln Road entrance to the park. On indoor days, our focus will still be on outdoor education. Nature-based art activities and games will be provided for our classes.
Please note: we are still an all-outdoor program and this arrangement is not for regular use or for rainy days/passing thunderstorms/heat that is not dangerous or severe. This part of our inclement weather policy will only be enacted if we determine that it is safe to hold class, but that it may be unsafe to be outside for long periods of time. Please ensure you have read and understand this policy, as it means you may be required to drop off or pick up your child from 153 Ocean Avenue on the rare occasion we need to use our emergency indoor location. Families who choose not to have their child join us at our indoor location should note there are no make-up days or refunds outside of this policy.
In the event of an inclement weather location change, families will be notified as early as possible (no later than 6am) on the day of class.
For unsafe heat indexes, we may also move the start of class an hour earlier so we can avoid the more intense heat of late afternoon. In these cases, we may start classes an hour earlier at 8am instead of 9am and end class an hour earlier. This means Sparrows and Robins will attend from 8am-12pm and our Hawks classes will run from 8am-2pm. As always, you will be notified as soon as possible (no later than 6am) via Brightwheel if we determine this shift necessary on a given day. Classes missed due to illness, Covid, travel, or change of plans will not be refunded.
Transfers: For our summer session only — Families who purchased week(s) they can no longer use may transfer those week(s) to another interested family. Families are solely responsible for finding another family to take their child's place, and are solely responsible for negotiating payment details and conditions with each other.
Brooklyn Nature Days is not responsible for any communication, agreements, or payments between families. Families, however, must ensure the new child is eligible for the program selected in regards to age. Partial week transfers and changes to days and times of attendance will not be honored.
Once an agreement between families has been finalized, Brooklyn Nature Days must be provided with the names and contact information of the new family within 5 business days prior to the start of their classes as our admin team needs time to process and confirm all roster changes and collect necessary paperwork (health forms) for all students attending our classes.
Many questions can be answered by visiting our our FAQ page. Please be sure to read the information on this page in its entirety before submitting your enrollment or emailing us with a question. Our tiny admin staff appreciates your cooperation 🐢
Ready to register? It’s soon time!
The link below will be live on February 2nd, 2026 at 10:30am.
Before 2/2/26 at 10:30am, the link will not function. Waiting is hard! 😅
We recommend all families looking to enroll their child in our summer session create an account with Sawyer beforehand to streamline your checkout experience on Monday 2/2/26! You can create your Sawyer profile here!
