“In short, all good things are wild & free.”

— Henry David Thoreau

A place for little ones to create, explore, imagine, take risks and grow.

WildOnes is currently searching for its next home.

Follow our next adventure →

finalist — Best Children's Business

Two girls wearing rainbow butterfly wings in the WildOnes garden — wings out, off we go

The founder of WildOnes cheering beside the WildOnes sign — hello!

About

A little bit wild.

WildOnes began with a simple idea:

Give children space to be children.

Space to paint.
To pour.
To mix potions.
To dig in the earth.
To build and make.
To climb.
To balance.
To collect tiny treasures.
To experiment.
To make their own choices.
To work things out.
To follow their curiosity.
To get lost in their imaginations.
And sometimes, to take a little risk.

We believe there is huge value in children testing their own abilities — climbing a little higher, carrying something heavy, balancing, building, experimenting and discovering what their bodies and minds can do.

Not by removing every risk, but by creating an environment where children can encounter age-appropriate challenge and supported risky play.

Because confidence comes from doing.

Mirrors, flowers and handwritten prompts laid out outdoors — look at the trees!

Learning through play

Little hands. Big discoveries.

WildOnes is influenced by ideas found within Montessori and Waldorf/Steiner education: respect for the child, learning through real experiences, creativity, independence, imagination and a strong connection with the natural world.

We don't believe childhood needs to be rushed. There doesn't always need to be a finished product, a correct answer or an adult showing children exactly what to do.

Sometimes learning looks like pouring water between two containers.
Mixing petals into a potion.
Working out how to move something heavy.
Watching a seed grow.
Painting something simply because you want to.
Trying. Failing. Changing it. Trying again.

Learning by doing.

a few muddy memories

Bubbles floating across the WildOnes garden — bubbles everywhere

Children pouring water at an orange water table in a meadow — water play in the meadow

A toddler in a yellow raincoat painting outdoors — painting outdoors

A toddler sitting in a shallow stream with a spade — straight into the stream

Muffin trays full of bright mixed paints — mixing all the colours

A toddler in a sun hat holding a freshly pulled carrot — pulled it up herself

A boy holding a big bowl of purple beans he picked — the bean harvest

Two children behind a row of pumpkins — pumpkin season

Bubbling potion foam spilling over pumpkins — witches' potions

Children making playdough bugs at an outdoor table — playdough bugs & conkers

Peg dolls lined up outside a wooden fairy house — the peg doll parade

A child pouring lemonade into a cup outdoors — potions & lemonade

Courgettes, cucumbers and purple peas on a wooden board — everything we grew

A child loading greens into a wheelbarrow by a farm shop sign — the farm shop

A baby napping in a blanket-lined tub on the grass — napping in the fresh air

Iced buns on a wooden board — something for the grown-ups

A child in butterfly wings running down a sweet pea tunnel — fairy wings & sweet peas

A boy painting the WILD sign blue on a purple fence — painting the WILD sign

A boy picking tomatoes from a pot in the raised beds — picking tomatoes

Baskets of tomatoes, cucumbers and basil freshly picked — today's pickings

A child wearing a cap with WILD embroidered on it — wild by name

A willow teepee covered in sweet peas on a blue sky day — the bean teepee

A child picking sweet peas with a grown-up in the garden — picking sweet peas

A hand-painted poppy mural above a flower bed — our poppy mural

Purple salvias and bunting over the lilac fence — salvias & bunting

A child in butterfly wings running between the raised beds — room to run

A group of children in muddy waterproofs cheering with hands in the air — the muddy crew

Three children in hard hats and hi-vis building with cardboard bricks — hard hats on

Children pouring water at an orange water table under a blue sky — pour, splash, repeat

A child spraying colour onto a big painted flower — spray-bottle flowers

Families gathered under a tree with bunting on a sunny morning — sunny mornings together

A raised bed full of ripe orange pumpkins — our pumpkin patch

The field in autumn sunshine with pallet dens and picnic benches — autumn in the field

A child holding a dough hedgehog covered in lavender stalks — lavender hedgehogs

A grinning child holding up a paintbrush in the sunshine — paint-covered grins

A toddler laughing while scooping water from a muddy pond — scooping muddy water

Rainbow coloured spaghetti spread across a tuff tray with tin pots — rainbow spaghetti

A boy pouring a dark potion from a glass bowl at the mud kitchen — potion making

Children sitting at a picnic bench listening to a story on a bright winter day — story time in the sun

Sunflowers, an enamel teapot and jars of blue and purple potion water at the mud kitchen — sunflower potions

A child in a muddy navy puddlesuit looking through big binoculars — on the lookout

A child pushing a yellow ride-on dumper truck through a sunny meadow — off to the meadow

The WildOnes gate with a red bow and foliage arch on a frosty morning — frosty mornings

A little girl holding treasure she found in the grass — treasure in the long grass

Growing wild

Part of nature, not just visiting it.

We want children to grow up feeling that nature is something they are part of, rather than something they occasionally visit. WildOnes encourages children to notice the seasons, grow things, dig in the earth, use natural materials and understand the value of looking after what we have.

Where possible, we reuse, repurpose and reinvent.

Old things become play things.
Natural materials become art supplies.
Flowers become potions.
Scraps become creations.

Sustainability isn't a lesson we teach from a board. It's something children experience naturally through the way they play.

Sweet peas growing at the WildOnes space in Henley — the Henley beds in summer

What's next

Something new is growing…

We're currently exploring a new location for WildOnes and working out what our next adventure might look like. We're not quite ready to tell you everything yet. But WildOnes isn't finished.

Follow us on Instagram to come along for the journey.

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