“Generations of Adventure...

It’s In Our Nature”

 

Nature Freaks is an Environmental/ Outdoor education organization founded in 2010 and based in the foothills of the Gorgeous Blueridge Mountains in Patrick County, VA. We are dedicated to caring for the Earth and those who inhabit it. 

 

We at Nature Freaks specialize in all aspects of Environmental Education. We can organize educational hikes and classes to your choosing. Hikes can run from 1-3 hours. Classes may run from 2-4 hours. We also have some weekend Retreats planned in the near future. All of our classes are Hands-On learning and will be conducted in the outdoor classroom. Classes or hikes may include topics such as:

~ Wilderness Survival: Shelter building, Fire making, Direction of travel, Wild Edible 

   Plants, Animal Trapping
~ Wildflower ID
~ Wild Edible Plants
~ Tree & leaf ID
~ Pond/ Stream studies
~ Compass reading
~ Hiking & Fishing skills
~ etc.

 

Nature Freaks is committed to the growth and development of all people through quality programming structured around nature.... We use hands-on, outdoor education activities to create in-depth learning experiences which foster responsible stewardship of our surroundings.

 

 

           Children can “reinforce, apply, and enrich traditional skills” in an outdoor classroom. In other words, an outdoor classroom is not isolated from indoor learning. It provides for “opportunities to interpret, predict, and analyze information in meaningful contexts."   A main advantage to the use of an outdoor classroom is that it allows children to move freely in a somewhat open space, and that this movement is one of the most natural and powerful forms of learning for children. With the use of an outdoor classroom, both teachers and students have reported increases with knowledge gain and understanding of the lessons taught.
            An outdoor classroom not only helps students in terms of achievement, but they can also gain motivation through outdoor classroom instruction. Children are more motivated to study and learn given the many opportunities provided to them in the outdoor environment. Moreover, teachers “experienced a sense of excitement about teaching.”