Frequently asked questions.

Yes! Pine Forest Explorers accepts ESA funds for tuition. Families can use their ESA funds to pay for the program through ClassWallet.

Please note that ESA payments are accepted at our regular program rate, as well as our sustainer rate, but cannot be combined with the Community Rate. If you have questions about using your ESA funds with us, please reach out.

Creative Connections offer students a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between art, their lives, and the world. Each session consists of four Wednesday classes, typically following this format:

1st Class: We introduce the session's theme, connect with a local professional (e.g., artists, archaeologists, librarians), and create sketchbooks for the duration of the course. If time permits, we begin experimenting with the art medium.

2nd Class: Teachers reinforce the theme while diving into hands-on art-making. Students learn various techniques and brainstorm ideas for their projects.

3rd Class: Weather permitting, we take a local hike to create art outdoors, followed by more studio work back in the classroom.

4th Class: In our final class, students reflect on their experiences by crafting an artist statement and enjoying a celebratory tea party. We create painted papers for future sketchbook construction and host a mini art exhibition for family and friends to celebrate the session's conclusion.

At FCE, we design each Creative Connection session to go beyond traditional art classes. While students will engage with the advertised medium, this is just one aspect of the experience. If you’re specifically seeking art instruction only, please check back soon for our other art classes starting in February.

FCE’s Summer Camp for children aged 5-11 years old had a fantastic 2026 season. We look forward to seeing old and new campers in Summer 2027! We typically open registration in February.

We believe the best classroom doesn't always have four walls.

Almost all of our Pine Forest Explorers and Summer programs include a traveling component, taking children beyond the studio and into the community to learn through real experiences. We might explore a local trail, visit a museum or community organization, meet a local expert, investigate a natural resource, or discover something new right here in Flagstaff.

But we don't simply take field trips. We use our community as part of the curriculum. Children have opportunities to observe, ask questions, make connections, solve problems, create, and follow their curiosity in places where learning is actually happening.

That combination of hands-on learning + place-based learning is what sets Pine Forest Explorers apart from traditional enrichment programs.

Because the field trip isn't the end of the learning. It's the beginning of what comes next.

After returning to our studio, children have time to process what they experienced through hands-on projects, art, experimentation, problem-solving, and child-led exploration. A hike might lead to nature art. A lesson about survival might turn into building shelters and learning to filter water. A visit with a local expert might spark a new project or a dozen questions we want to investigate.

Our goal is to give children enough time to experience something, make sense of it, and then do something with it.

That's the FCE difference: we don't just take children somewhere. We use the world around them as a starting point for deeper learning.