At Two Coyotes Wilderness School, we see childhood as a living journey. It is one that unfolds in seasons, each with its own rhythms, wonders, and lessons. Our age groupings are designed not only based on a child’s biological age as well as the developmental stages and shifting ways that each child experiences themselves, each other, and the natural world. Our mentors journey alongside the children throughout these years, helping them build trust, courage and belonging in ways that fit who they are right now, and who they are becoming.
We organize our school year programs into 4 stages:
Coyote Pups (ages 0-5)
Essence: Pups is the start of the journey, a shared adventure for young children and their caregivers. At this age, the focus is on the relationship between adult and child, and between families with the land itself. Caregivers and mentors work together to create a space where curiosity, connection, and care are practiced. The world of a Coyote Pup is sensory rich and full of wonder: every stick, bug, and puddle invites curiosity and joy! Adults experience the world alongside their child, moving slow enough to see through their child’s eyes. This is a place to remember the feeling of raising kids in a village – where everyone looks out for all the little ones together.
Development + Experiences: Pups learn through direct contact with the natural world – mud, rocks, sticks, wind, wet, and warmth. They begin to gain comfort in all seasons and weather, exploring uneven terrain and developing confidence in their own movements and bodies. Adults model how to navigate risk and safety, introducing tools and natural elements in ways that empower rather than restrict. Families experience the practical rhythms of life outdoors, preparing for weather, learning how to go to the bathroom outdoors, and tending to both the child’s and one’s own needs. Through gratitude practices, songs, and storytelling, adults and children experience a shared rhythm of belonging.
Mentor Approach: Mentors model gentle leadership and heart-led presence; noticing, reflecting, and inviting curiosity rather than correction. They create a container that supports both child and adult learning.
Wild Seeds (ages 5-7)
Essence: Wild Seeds are wild bundles of potential and power! Children in this age group are exploring the forest without their caregivers and continue to establish a solid foundation for their own relationship with nature. They live in the balance between protection and exploration, finding freedom in small acts of bravery. Conflicts and dilemmas are part of the adventures: opportunities to learn about friendship, power, and connection. Through play, cooperation, and imagination, they strengthen their own sense of oneness and interconnection with the natural world.
Development + Experiences: Wild Seeds, much like their namesakes, are beginning to sprout! As this process of growth unfolds, Wild Seeds are trying new experiences in the forest like building fires (with plenty of support), playing new games, engaging in challenges, and making new friends along the journey. As their roots grow, they are also finding out who they are and are beginning to discover their gifts and talents.
Mentor Approach: Mentors create opportunities for Wild Seeds to be in direct relationship with their nonhuman kin, like befriending a tree, listening to spiders, and embodying animal forms. At this age, we are helping little ones to see themselves as part of nature, and we believe that their love for nature is a glowing ember that needs to be protected from being extinguished.
Black Foxes (ages 8-12)
Essence: By the time a young person becomes a Black Fox , they are in a period of rapid self-discovery, asking: What are my capabilities? How can I push myself? How can I use my skills to engage with the natural world? Black Foxes move through the world with a sense of busyness, actively creating and exploring all of their gifts and ways to be in connection with nature. Their love for nature has grown into a fire that can have destructive energy, but that can also be creative, generative, and regenerative.
Development + Experiences: Black Foxes are, like the archetype of the fox, cunning and wise with hidden insights and perspective. In this part of their journey, they are encouraged to continue to uncover the ways in which their unique gifts can be brought forth. These gifts may be as diverse as a talent in whittling or a deep knowledge of tree identification or an inclination to teach and support others. All Black Foxes have gifts and talents that belong and are celebrated.
Mentor Approach: Mentors are guiding the Black Foxes by offering practices that lead to a deeper sense of self-awareness and awareness of the world around them. As they step into a higher degree of responsibility for themselves and others, mentors honor the deep changes and time of transition that is unfolding in each Black Fox. Mentors are creating opportunities to help each child build skills, confidence, and a deep love and trust in who they are.
Fire Keepers (ages 13-18)
Essence: Fire Keepers hold the archetypal energy of integrity: a fire that warms, guides, and has the power to transform. This is the stage of self-discovery, leadership, and service, learning to balance freedom with responsibility, and individual identity with community care.
Development + Experiences: Fire Keepers develop competence in wilderness skills from fire-making to woodcraft, but most importantly, they develop emotional and social skills. This is a time of cultivating inner strength, humility, and reflection; learning to lead through service; to listen as much as speak; and to translate ideas into action. Teens at this stage are exploring who they are and what kind of person they want to be. They are learning to act with awareness, take healthy risks, and show up for their community.
Mentor Approach: Mentors facilitate conversations and help teens navigate challenges designed to bring them to the next level of awareness and skill, all while modeling the kind of integrity they invite the teens to practice. Mentors act as reliable companions and role models in the ongoing work of self actualization and growth.