Monica Wiedel-Lubinski
Executive Director
director@erafans.org

Monica has pursued her love of nature-based education for more than two decades. She began her career at Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills, Maryland where she directed nature-based programs for children, families, and teachers spanning her 19-year tenure. During her time there, she established the second licensed nature preschool in Maryland.

Recognizing the need to grow nature-based teacher training and professional networks, Monica Wiedel-Lubinski founded the Eastern Region Association of Forest and Nature Schools (ERAFANS) in 2016 with colleagues from across the region. In Summer 2024, it officially became the Association for Nature-Based Education (ANBE).

She has founded/co-founded three forest preschool programs in the greater Baltimore, MD area and consults to help countless others breathe life into new nature-based programs and schools.

She is a contributing author/expert for the Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practices Guidebook published by the North American Association for Environmental Education in 2019, which is a ground-breaking contribution to the growing movement of nature-based early childhood education. She recently co-authored an award-winning book, Nature Play Workshop for Families: A Guide to 40+ Outdoor Learning Experiences in All Seasons (Quarto Press, 2020). She is currently working on another book about emergent, nature-based early childhood education which will be published by National Association for the Education of Young Children, anticipated Spring 2025.

Monica earned a bachelor's degree in K-12 Art Education and a master's degree in Early Childhood Education at Towson University, Baltimore, MD. She is currently a fellow in the Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Program (MECLP) at UMBC in partnership with UMASS Boston's Shriver Center. Monica loves sharing wild adventures with her partner and two children in the forest, streams, and meadows of Maryland where they reside.