About
Well Wilderness Kids provides a nurturing therapeutic environment deeply rooted in promoting child development and opportunities to grow and thrive through NaturePlay. We aim to offer every child the opportunity to experience nature through all their senses while promoting social-emotional wellness and mindfulness tools and strengthening every child’s brain-body connection. The diversity of staff and programs offered at Wild Wilderness Kids make it a standout program to meet the needs of children and their families.
Program Details
To serve the pediatric population of Kansas City in a nature-based therapy setting, Well Bellies & Babies, LLC was established in 2015 and Well Wilderness Kids Therapeutic NaturePlay Center followed one year later on founder Stephanie Novacek’s property. Well Wilderness Kids, a for-profit organization, has been serving the pediatric population of Kansas City, KS ever since through group, semi-private, and private nature-based therapeutic services. Well Wilderness Kids is strongly rooted in brain-body connection, social-emotional wellness, and mindfulness as a catalyst for learning and child development, which the staff incorporate into a nature-forward program.
Well Wilderness Kids Therapeutic NaturePlay Center sits on 10 acres of beautiful nature and outdoor adventure in Olathe, KS. From kayaking and fishing at the pond to exploring the forest to harvesting fruits and vegetables in the garden, there are endless opportunities for children to experience nature through play. Well Wilderness Kids is also home to various animals including cows, goats, pigs, ducks, and chickens who all help to facilitate valuable opportunities to develop and enhance mindfulness and social-emotional skills.
From September through May, Well Wilderness Kids All Season NaturePlay group programming provides children of all abilities aged 18 months to 8 years with opportunities to explore and engage in hands-on learning both with and in nature. Each group includes neuro-typical children as well as children with specific therapeutic needs including social-emotional or physical development. Some diagnoses of participating children include autism, selective mutism and other anxiety disorders, and ADHD. Well Wilderness Kids offers various group options to find the best fit for each child and their family. In the mornings, groups are based on age, whereas the afternoon groups include varying age ranges. Seasonal NaturePlay groups are offered monthly during the summer for children in the community looking for a fun outlet for nature exploration and play while on school break.
Well Wilderness Kids offers many programs with each following a theme. Some themes include daily activities, NaturePlay and Create, NaturePlay and Nourish, NaturePlay and Animals, and NaturePlay and Grow. Whether the participants are climbing trees, digging for worms, or feeding the cows they are actively working on developmental skills such as social-emotional wellness, self-awareness, fine and gross motor, mindfulness, risk-assessment, curiosity, independent play, and creativity. Every NaturePlay group is led by an interdisciplinary team of pediatric therapists and early childhood educators with specialized experience in fostering these important developmental skills in nature-based settings. A group consists of 6-8 children and 2 skilled Learning Allies, as we refer to our group leaders. Additionally occupational and physical therapists provide individualized therapeutic support within the group setting for children who require additional one-to-one support along with the two group leaders.
In the Future: Future plans and program goals include Well Wilderness Kids becoming a training site for therapeutic nature-based professionals, as well as offering outdoor/adventure retreats both nationally and internationally.
Contact Stephanie Novacek, DPT, CMPT – Founder and Owner wellwildernesskids@gmail.com (913) 231-8581 Well Wilderness Kids
Populations Served
Pediatric population, their families, and caregivers
Services Offered
- Occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language pathology, music therapy, art therapy, group and private 1 on 1 therapeutic nature services, semi-private groups (3:1 ratio), drop-in visits, parent education and family events, field trips, birthday parties and special events
- NaturePlay groups – monthly summer sessions (June- August) and all season NaturePlay program (September-May)
Cost to Participate
Pricing varies per program and season; we also offer drop-in rates for single or weekly participation in our groups. Pricing for participation in one weekly group is $220/month.
We offer financial assistance from money raised through our annual barn bash fundraiser to help families in need throughout the year.
Staff Composition
Occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech language pathologists, music therapists, early childhood educators, psychologists, and social workers
Research Connections
We’ve had two Capstone students and look forward to having many more do ongoing research and program development at Well Wilderness Kids. Past Capstone projects have included providing one-on-one therapeutic services and gathering observational data for case study development, parent programming/education, and more. Our most recent Capstone student developed a new natureplay space called the Outdoor Art Studio and implemented a program evaluation of the space to understand if it was meeting the needs of the clients participating in our nature-based programming. The results indicated that the space was safe, engaging and satisfactory to our clients!
Q&A with Well Wilderness Kids Owner, Stephanie Novacek
Where did the name Well Wilderness Kids originate?
The name was inspired by a few important factors including: the preventative areas of healthcare and wellness, the known benefits of playing outdoors backed by research, and our target population. For the company name, I wanted to emphasize the children being and playing outdoors but also pay tribute to the holistic side of healthcare, so we put that all together into a catchy name and Well Wilderness Kids was born.
How do you and your staff utilize animals during therapeutic services with the children?
We use animals in a therapeutic manner to work on social-emotional connections and mindfulness skills with our kids. There are so many therapeutic benefits to taking care of the animals including grooming and cleaning, which our kids really enjoy. Animals can be a powerful tool for learning about and providing sensory input to humans as well as providing opportunities for practicing regulating our nervous systems around animals.
What is your favorite memory at Well Wilderness Kids?
The very first year the program was implemented, my son was three years old and getting to see him grow and thrive in this program has been my favorite memory, specifically watching him grow in his social-emotional skills. As a mother and business owner it was so amazing and meaningful to see my child flourish as part of our pilot program.
What advice do you have for healthcare professionals, childcare specialists, or parents and caregivers interested in using the outdoors to facilitate learning for their kids?
Keep it simple, every child’s main occupation is to play and playing outdoors is an environment that doesn’t take a lot of planning or strategizing. Kids will naturally make meaningful connections when offered this type of environment. It fosters so much spontaneous play. Also tap into your own creativity and playfulness while playing outdoors, find your inner child! When you do so, it makes the experience for the children deeper and so much more rewarding for everyone.
How do you cultivate a sense of community at Well Wilderness Kids for staff, families, and clients?
We strive to keep our programs/groups small and intimate, including small therapeutic staff to child ratios. Before joining our program, every family comes on site and tours, where they get the opportunity to meet myself and other staff members as well as watch our services in action before they decide if they want to participate. It is so important to get to know each potential family and make meaningful connections. For example, we love making introductions of families in similar situations including homeschooling. Our community is made up of like-minded individuals who care about their kiddos!
Recent Case Studies
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Glenstone
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Ricardo Lara Linear Park
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