Dunwoody Nature Center

10/09/2026

🌲 What is Forest School? 🌲

It started in Scandinavia, inspired by friluftsliv ("free air life"), the idea that time outdoors is a way of life. 🇳🇴🇸🇪 Today it's a learning approach shared by thousands of trained practitioners around the world. 🌍

The basics:
🗓️ Regular sessions over time, not one-off visits
🌳 Always in woodland or natural spaces
🧒 Kids lead the learning
🧗 Supported risk-taking, matched to each child
💛 Growth for the whole child: social, emotional, physical, and intellectual

What kids gain:
✨ Confidence and self-esteem
🧠 Real-world problem-solving
🌧️ Resilience and independence
🎨 Creativity
🌿 A lifelong bond with nature

At Dunwoody Nature Center, our 22 acres along Wildcat Creek are the classroom. We're proud members of the Forest School Association, the professional body championing quality Forest School for all.

Fit Your Fit: Oakwood Forest Preschool, Camp Eagle after-school, My Chickadee and Me, and seasonal camps 🔗 Link in bio to learn more

10/07/2026

🦇 Wildcard Wednesday: The Big Brown Bat

Meet the Big Brown Bat, your neighborhood's night-shift pest control!

With glossy brown fur, rounded ears, and a puppy-like snout, the Big Brown Bat is one of Georgia's most familiar bats. It's the species most often found roosting in bat houses and buildings across the state.

And the Big Brown Bat is always hungry. It especially loves beetles 🪲, and a single female can eat up to her own body weight in insects in one night.

Here's why that matters: one colony of 150 Big Brown Bats can eat enough cucumber beetles in a single summer to prevent 33 million crop-damaging rootworm larvae. That's free pest control, no chemicals needed!

You can help Big Brown Bats by protecting the habitat they depend on: native plants that support insects, and mature trees for shelter. And remember, bats are best admired from a distance. Never touch or handle a bat.

Learn more about the Big Brown Bat and other Georgia bats from Wildlife Resources Division - Georgia DNR (georgiawildlife.com) and Bat Conservation International (batcon.org).

📷 Photo: Alyson Yates via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Text overlay added by Dunwoody Nature Center.

10/06/2026

October is Bat Month at Dunwoody Nature Center! 🦇

We started the celebration with our Friday Night Hike: Echoes in the Dark. Naturalist Amy Gadd guided our group through the park after dusk, sharing insights into how bats navigate, hunt, and help keep our local ecosystem in balance. There's something special about exploring the forest at night and learning about the animals that call it home once the sun goes down.

Thank you to Amy and to everyone who came out to explore with us!

Bats are some of our most important and most misunderstood neighbors, and we'll be celebrating them all month long. Follow along for more bat facts, programs, and ways to help protect them.

09/10/2026

Join us after dark for Friday Night Hike: Insects Illuminated! 🌙 Once the sun goes down, a whole new world wakes up on our trails — fireflies blinking in the dark, crickets chirping from the underbrush, and moths drawn to the light. We'll explore what makes insects such an essential (and fascinating) part of the forest after hours. Get ready to see DNC in a whole new light. Tickets sell fast - buy yours now: https://bit.ly/fnh-insects-illuminated

08/21/2026

Get tickets online for Butterfly Experience 2026 here.

08/17/2026

Calling all curious minds and nature enthusiasts! Join us on the second Monday of every month as we explore books that dive into the natural world, one page at a time.

September's Pick: Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change by Thor Hanson — a fascinating look at how animals and plants are adapting to our rapidly changing climate.

Come ready to share your thoughts and connect with fellow nature-loving readers. Whether you're a lifelong bookworm or just getting started, all are welcome!

📅 Second Monday of each month
📍 Dunwoody Nature Center

Grab your copy and join the conversation! 🌿
Learn More: https://dunwoodynature.org/mec-events/nature-lovers-book-club-2026-2/

08/15/2026

08/14/2026

🦋 The Butterfly Experience is coming to Dunwoody Nature Center!

Mark your calendars for Labor Day Weekend, September 5–6. Walk through hundreds of live butterfly tents, explore hands-on activities for kids, enjoy live music and food, get your face painted, and maybe give a pup their new forever home — all in the middle of a 22-acre nature preserve along Wildcat Creek.

This is one of DNC's biggest events of the year, and it sells out fast.

🎟️ Get your tickets now — https://bit.ly/dnc-butterfly-experience-2026
📍 Dunwoody Nature Center | Sept 5–6

Thank you to our sponsor, Northside Hospital, for helping make this event possible! 💚