Hello! Hallå! Hej!

About Us

Kayla started her first forest school program in Texas in 2013. She began Foxtail with Forest Fridays sessions in the summer of 2018 and we’ve been enjoying the forest with our foxes ever since! We are a Scandinavian-inspired Forest Preschool situated in the fir-and-pine foothills of Whitefish, Montana. Although the förskola model has been practiced in Scandinavia since the 1950s, only as recently as 2008 has a similar concept reached growing minds and bodies in the United States. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland have distinguished themselves as nations setting the pace for a reconstitution of the purposes and values of childhood. And our verdant corner of Montana in many ways resembles the plant communities, climate, and outdoor ethic of the Baltic north.

Surrounded by forests, meadows, swolen streams, and profuse animal, plant, and fungal diversity, we believe children possess unique “ways of knowing”; that they need as much space physically as they do conceptually; that a language-rich environment is best supported by an equally rich sensory one; and developing the skills of the self, led by executive function, is to one’s future prosperity as clean headwaters are to all things downstream.

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, ’The children are now working as if I did not exist.’”

— Maria Montessori

Foxtail Team

Swedish ice sled.jpg — Kayla Nickells

**Founder**

Stefan Nickells

Co-Owner

Sterling Bax

Director
Welcome Sterling! Many of you already know Sterling as she has been very involved in the Foxtail community for the last two years. Sterling has historically been part of our support teaching staff and has two nephews who attend our program. We are thrilled for her to be bringing a love of outdoor education, community-mindedness, and an already sturdy knowledge of Foxtail into a larger role.

next: in the woods