Little Naturalists Preschool - Geodesic Dome Fundraiser

Hi! We are Dani and Meg O'Sheaheimer, founders and educators here at Little Naturalists Preschool. Little Naturalists is a nature and play based preschool in Saint Paul, MN. Our curriculum largely focuses on community building, social-emotional development, building a relationship with the land, and intersectional environmentalism.

We are raising funds to see our dream of expansion come to life. Expanding Little Naturalists means being able to provide quality outdoor education and care to even more families, while continuing to center those who have been historically excluded from nature spaces and education, including LGTQIA+ communities, Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color.

We will use the money raised to purchase property that is easily accessible by bus and train lines, to those living in the Twin Cities. We are so excited to share this project with you and hope it insipers you as much as it does us!

Our expansion project is the first of its kind in terms of nature-based schools in Minnesota. We will be building two geodesic domes on a multiple acre property. Each dome will house two classrooms. There will be a toddler dome and a preschool dome. This will not only expand access to more age groups than we are currently able to provide but will also allow us to provide care to more students by more than four times our currently numbers.

Geodesic domes will provide our students with 180-degree views of the nature world, year round, while in the indoor classroom space. Students will be able to grow indoor gardens, plants and trees along side their outside garden spaces. Expanding on a larger property also means more outdoor learning space than we currently have on our small city plot. Allowing for larger community gardens, more access to the nature world, and natural learning spaces.

At Little Naturalists we believe that individual health is community health. Our goal is to not only be able to better the lives of our students and their families but also the communities around us. To do this, as a part of our expansion project, we will also be involved in a program called Living Future, a certification program focused on sustainability in overall design and construction of our project, while also helping us to improving the relationships between our surrounding communities and its natural environments.

Now more than ever it is imperative that we invest in education, our environment, and the future of our children. Please help us reach our goal and together we can build a better tomorrow.

Learn more about our program at www.littlenaturalists.online 

Follow along on our journey via Instagram at @littlenaturalistsmn