Registration for the 2025-2026 School Year

  • Group 1
    - Alumni of the program

    - Currently enrolled families looking to enroll again or enroll a sibling,
    -Residents of the Town of Warwick (This includes Warwick, Pine Island, Florida, and Greenwood Lake),
    -Members of Hudson Highlands Nature Center

    • Opens: Monday, December 2nd

  • Group 2 - General Public

    • Opens: Monday, January 6th

Join us for an Open House
to meet the teachers and tour the classrooms on Thursday, January 9th from 5pm-6pm

Applying for the 2025-2026
YN School Year at Warwick:

To register for the 2024-2025 School Year:
contact Registration Manager Michelle Mindicino at mmindicino@hhnm.org or (845) 534-5506 ext 204

The Mountain Lake Park Campus is located at
 46 Bowen Road Warwick NY

In collaboration with the Town of Warwick we are opening registration for our second year of the Young Naturalist preschool program at Mountain Lake Park. The Warwick based program would have the same goals and philosophical grounding as our existing Young Naturalist Preschool which has been operating since 1995 at our 177 acre Outdoor Discovery Campus in Cornwall.

The program includes a nature-based curriculum with a focus on nature play and stewardship that includes opportunities to explore nature, art, and science, in deeper, more meaningful ways. The Young Naturalist Preschool is an active, hands-on learning experience where children hone the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills that are crucial to their development, as well as their success in future school experiences and in life beyond.

A typical day might involve exploring the concept of volume by pouring water in the sensory table, practicing letter-writing with a stick in the mud, learning to respect others, both other humans and other living beings, by taking turns gently holding a millipede found on the trail, and practicing motor skills by moving, stacking, and building with rocks and sticks. We write and draw on paper, but we go so far beyond 8.5” x 11”.

  • Cottontails: a morning mixed-age class for 3 and 4 year-olds. You may choose any 2, 3, 4, or all 5 days.

Young NATURALIST Information:

New Family Referral Program:
Information & Guidelines

As a means of promoting continued growth in enrollment at the Young Naturalist Preschool program at Mountain Lake Park, and to reward existing enrolled families for their efforts in helping to promote our school, a Parent Referral Incentive Program will be offered for the 2025-2026 school year. 

The highest compliment parents can pay us is the referral of family or friends to the Young Naturalist Preschool. The trust and confidence that you place in us every day means a lot to us. In appreciation of that trust and confidence, we offer you our Parent Referral Program. Each time a child is enrolled in the Young Naturalist Preschool as a result of your recommendation to other parents, you will receive a $250 tuition credit which will be applied to one months’ tuition.

  1. The Young Naturalist Referral Program awards a family with a $250 tuition credit for referring new students to the preschool.

  2. Current Families will receive their $250 Tuition Credit once the new family has signed a contract and paid their first installment of tuition.

  3. There is no cap on the amount of referral credit that you can earn. 

  4. To refer a potential family, the New Family Referral Form must be completed.

  5. The $250.00 credit is not payable in cash, but will be applied to your child’s usual monthly tuition.

Watch this short video to learn what makes the Young Naturalist Preschool special!

“If we want our children to move mountains,
we first have to let them get out of their chairs.
”
— Nicolette Sowder