Tracy Aviary won’t just nurture birds and other wildlife — it plans to nurture some of Utah’s youngest minds when it opens a first-of-its-kind preschool next year.
The aim? To keep children outside.
“Anything you can do inside, you can do outside. We do art, literacy and building blocks in the open air,” Sarah Stone, founder of Wonderbloom Nature Play School, said while announcing the preschool’s partnership Friday at the aviary’s Nature Center in South Salt Lake.
“Ultimately, the goal of Wonderbloom is to teach children through nature and about nature so that, eventually, they can become the ultimate conservationists and help preserve our Earth for years to come,” Stone said.
The Wonderbloom school will be able to use 12 acres of space at the Nature Center at Pia Okwai for its outdoor classroom. The preschool will open in August 2026.
The Nature Center, located along the Jordan River, was acquired by Tracy Aviary in 2019 as a dream project for CEO Tim Brown, who wanted an “early childhood center” on the property. The partnership came to fruition through a coalition called Nature and Human Health Utah.
The preschool hopes to accommodate 40 children on site, including its summer programs, 150 children each year. The children will spend 75% of their time outside, versus 12%, which is how much a traditional preschool would allot for outside time.
Stone emphasized the importance of opening the school in South Salt Lake due to the need for child care in the area.
“We’re seeing quite the child care crisis, not just in Utah, but across the United States,” Stone said. “We’re seeing rising child care costs, child care centers that have been stable in communities shutting down because they just can’t make ends meet.”
According to Stone, a lot of issues surrounding the crisis stem from “burnout and lots of turnover” in early childhood education.
“We have built-in systems into our staffing and our program to ensure that we’re really supporting our teachers and educators to prevent burnout,” said Lianna Lopez, executive director at Wonderbloom.
Staff support includes scholarships for children of employees, medical benefits and paid leave, among others.
To address affordability for families needing child care, the center plans to offer a scholarship endowment and child care options, including part-time, full-day, two days and three days a week. The center also accepts subsidies for families that can qualify, according to Lopez.
“We’re really excited about this partnership at Tracy Aviary,” said Angie Trumbo, director of conservation at Tracy Aviary. “Our mission is to, in partnership with community, inspire action to protect birds and their habitats. And this type of program and this type of education is really key to developing that next generation of wildlife conservationists who are passionate about birds, are passionate about our planet and can be the ones who take care of it.”
The site will offer children access to lawn spaces, native plants and areas to observe the birds and enjoy spending time outdoors.
According to Stone, statistics show that children spend one hour a week outside and 40 hours on screens. But spending time outside in nature for children increases their social skills, decreases anxiety, and increases their health and academic outcomes.
“There’s no bad weather, only bad clothing,” said Stone. “We spend about a month before the snow comes, teaching children what to wear and why and when and how to get themselves dressed and undressed in all of the gear. It really is an important part of making a successful outdoor preschool program.”
Wonderbloom’s Murray center has seen wait lists exceed available spots. Plans are underway to expand further, with possible future sites in Summit County.
“We’re always looking to partner with other churches or other nonprofits as a way to just support each other and support the community and provide as many child care spots as we can to children and families,” Lopez said.