Mud Muffins

Facilitator: Who I Am

I’m Sarah Schlichter, founder of Waldkinder Adventure Preschool and now the Waldkinder Institute for Nature Kinship aka WINK;. For 7 years I led immersive outdoor education for young children. Now, I’m focused on guiding caregivers in the art of slowing down, showing up, and building family culture through nature connection.

I’m a certified Level 3 Forest School teacher and student of the 8 Shields model, which informs my approach to mentoring and culture design. My work is rooted in belonging, consent, storytelling, adventure, healthy risk, and mutual respect between generations. I believe that when caregivers feel seen and supported, they can raise children with courage, creativity, and confidence.

What to Expect

Each gathering includes:

Outdoor connection games for kids and adults
Open-ended, sensory-rich nature play
Caregiver reflections rooted in weekly themes
Gentle facilitation that encourages slow learning – for both parent & child
A consistent rhythm that supports nervous system regulation
A chance to get messy and wild in a way that you don’t have to spend hours cleaning up
Tea time and other delights

Bonus Offerings

🌼 Online mini-curriculum for optional enrichment at home

🌼 Monthly caregiver circles for deeper conversation and community

🌼 Yearlong WhatsApp support group — I’m in your pocket when you need me

Cost

Tuition is $50 per session, billed monthly based on the number of Tuesdays in that month. Families who choose to pay in full for the year will receive a 5% discount..

This is a high-touch, high-value program, and I’m looking for the right people — not the “perfect” budget. If cost is a barrier, reach out. I’m open to working something out on a case-by-case basis. Let’s talk.

Commitment for a full school year is required to support group cohesion.

Final Note

Mud Muffins is a one-time offering, a culmination of everything I’ve built, learned, and believed through Waldkinder. It’s about raising children with courage — and raising up caregivers with just as much care.

If you're longing for a forest playgroup with meaning, mentorship, and true community, this is your invitation.

Let’s get muddy — together.

Mud Muffins: A WaldkinderWay PlayGroup by WINK ;)

A year-long journey into joyful parenting, connected childhood, and intentional community.

📅 Tuesdays, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Fall, Winter & Spring – 2025/26 School Year

Start date: Sept 2. End date: May 26 (See full list of dates here)

Location outside of Carbondale, disclosed upon registration

**What Is Mud Muffins?**

Mud Muffins is a weekly, in-person, all-weather playgroup for children and their caregivers. It's a chance to unplug, root into rhythm, celebrate play, and co-create a supportive, values-aligned community of families. Through shared experiences in nature, we nurture both the developing child and the evolving parent — because both matter.

This is not just about watching children play. It’s about becoming a village again. Through laughter, learning, reflection, and relationship, we’ll build a small, intentional network of caregivers who show up for themselves, their children, and one another.

Rather than a parenting class that fills your mind with more information, this program is designed to be a non-judgemental shared experience. Refine your practice as a parent in a community that supports you in discovering the most authentic version of yourself – as a sovereign individual, as the steward of your family, and in kinship with the more-than-human world.

Who This Is For

🌿 Parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles — all committed caregivers are welcome 🌿 People seeking a deeper connection to their children and to other families 🌿 Adults exploring nature-based learning or caregiving as a path or profession 🌿 Anyone craving tech-free time, meaningful conversation, and real community 🌿 Families drawn to the Waldkinder philosophy and lifestyle

Why This? Why Now?

Caregiving can feel lonely, even when you’re never alone. Many of us are quietly wondering:

Where are the other families who want to raise kids like we do?
How can I become the parent I hope to be?
What kind of community will help my child — and me — thrive?

Mud Muffins was born from these questions. It is my master’s thesis in caregiving — the heart of what I’ve learned after six years of forest school and 20+ years of supporting work. This offering is a one-time invitation to walk into the woods with other brave, open-hearted grownups and children – and make something real, together.

Program Goals

🌱 Support the whole child through nature, rhythm, and play 🌱 Support the whole caregiver through connection, reflection, and shared wisdom 🌱 Build a mini-community of families who learn and grow together 🌱 Cultivate a lifestyle rooted in joy, presence, and mutual respect 🌱 Practice emotional resilience, imagination, and interdependence

🌱 Remember the value of play and humor! If parenting isn’t funny, you’re not doing it right ;)

Weekly Rhythm

Core Lessons

Each week, we explore a theme that touches both the child's world and the caregiver’s experience. These lessons emerge through play, stories, peer mentorship, and shared reflection. For example:

Let Them Fall Resilience starts with risk — for both child and adult.
Loving Limits Boundaries create safety and foster autonomy.
Relational Anchoring Being an empathetic ally who builds lifelong trust.
Mess Is Magic Dirt, water, and risk are the curriculum of childhood.
Help a Friend Cooperation and care are learned in community.
Play is Sacred Imagination is serious — protect it with reverence.
Be Yourself Authenticity is your greatest parenting tool.
Follow Joy Your delight teaches your child how to love life.

About Sarah

Sarah Schlichter is a naturalist, mother, and forest school teacher whose work is rooted in relationships—between children, adults, and the living world around them.

Through Waldkinder Colorado, she guides children and families into a slower, more attentive way of being outside. Her work is less about instruction and more about noticing: the subtle shifts of the seasons, the language of the body, and the unfolding of each child in their own time.

Her path has been shaped by years spent alongside children in wild spaces, as well as her work within the autism field, where she developed a deep respect for different ways of sensing, communicating, and moving through the world. This perspective continues to inform her approach—one that honors each child’s rhythm, capacity, and way of relating.

Sarah’s programs draw from adventure preschool, forest school, brain science, and deep observation practices. She creates environments where children can take meaningful risks, build competence, and experience themselves as capable and connected. Alongside them, she invites adults to step back, to witness, and to rediscover a quieter kind of trust.

Her work is for families seeking something more grounded—spaces where children can be fully themselves, and where connection to the natural world becomes a foundation for growth, resilience, and belonging.

She lives and works in Carbondale, in close relationship with the land and the community that continues to gather around it.