ALNA — Lucy Atkins has always loved exploring nature, natural history, winter ecology, amphibians, and connections between people and their natural and human communities.

As the new teaching apprentice at Juniper Hill School in Alna, Atkins will have plenty of opportunities to pursue her passion for the outdoors while developing her teaching skills.

A recent graduate of the College of the Atlantic, Atkins will manage Juniper Hill’s Nature Immersion Program, held every Friday at the Alna school for 3- to 6- year-old preschool and homeschooled children. This program, in which art, science and literacy are integrated and taught in several outdoor classrooms, has captivated young participants since it began three years ago.

This year, the program has different themes as the seasons change: insects, caterpillars and worms in the early fall, nature’s harvest in October, animal homes in November, survival skills and building outside shelters to stay warm in winter. In the spring, Atkins’ young charges will become birds, discover a frenzy of frogs and see how seeds turn into seedlings.

“It’ll be fun and messy,” said Atkins, “as the kids use all of their senses to figure out how the world around them works.”

Atkins loves this experiential approach to early learning because it connects children to nature as their curiosity, self-reliance, independence and problem-solving develop. “These skills are so much easier to learn in an outdoor setting,” she said, “because there are so many more stimuli and loose, moving parts than in an indoor classroom.”

A parent of one of last year’s Nature Immersion Program participants is amazed by the transformation in her daughter.

“She was shy about the outdoors before she came to Juniper Hill,” Atkins explained, “but her mother tells me now she just grabs her by the hand and drags her into the woods.”

Atkins’ long-term dream is for outdoor education to become a normal, natural part of all schools, all year long. She and her colleagues at JHS agree that she has found the perfect place to hone her skills as Juniper Hill begins its third year of operation, dedicated to connecting children to themselves, to each other, and to their communities through integrated study of both natural and human environments.

Atkins began teaching even before she started college, at a small outdoor adventure center in western Massachusetts, where she grew up. Building on that experience, she interned at the Chewonki Foundation’s Outdoor Classroom in 2011 and spent the following summer at a unique place-based day camp focused on exploring the diverse natural places of Mount Desert Island.

When not at Juniper Hill, Atkins is an avid road biker, canoeist and backpacker, with many detours for frog and snake catching. She also loves to garden and makes a pretty good pumpkin pie.

There are still a few openings in the Nature Immersion Program, which began in September. For more information, call 586-5711 or write [email protected].