Kids Tent 2026
It may be that the kids at the Faire have more fun even than the rest of us. The Great Lakes Herb Faire provides an inspiring learning environment for our next generation of herbalists. Many of the kids have been coming since the beginning and we are blessed to watch them grow and others have come for some years and have moved on to teach the younger ones!! Others come for the first time and find the atmosphere welcoming with a weekend full of activities of herbal lore and knowledge.
We have 2 separate tracts -"Kids" (ages 5-12) and "Teens and Tweens".
Space is limited! Register early as the kids tent fills up fast.
We have 2 separate tracts -"Kids" (ages 5-12) and "Teens and Tweens".
Space is limited! Register early as the kids tent fills up fast.
Friday Night Kids Class
Magical Fairy Light Night Walk (AGES 5-12)
with Kristine Brown
Step into the magical wonder of the nighttime with a fairy light plant walk with Kristine Brown of Herbal Roots zine. We will explore the plants and insects of the night using special U.V. lights to see plants and insects in a different light, watching as they come to life. Plants that appear green during the day will take on amazing colors including red, purple, blue, and neon orange, to name a few. The walk will be woven with a few tales and poems as we ponder the magical effects.
BANG, SNIFF, GRAB - The Story of your Senses at Night – (TEENS/TWEENS)
with Chad and Lexi O’Kulich
Get ready to enjoy the mysteries of the darkness when sensory awareness is heightened and storytelling can be most impactful. Many folks fear the darkness due to an insecurity in their own abilities to sense what is happening without vision. This evening's activity will prove them wrong. We will encourage students to step out of their comfort zone, connect to their awareness of the other four senses and explore the beauty of the nighttime. Depending upon the weather, there are 5 different potential senses activities that will be performed this evening engaging the uses of sound, touch, or smell. We will provide a safe environment where limiting the students’ vision, they will be asked to ‘find their way’ to the ‘end’ either via listening, smelling, or touching.
with Kristine Brown
Step into the magical wonder of the nighttime with a fairy light plant walk with Kristine Brown of Herbal Roots zine. We will explore the plants and insects of the night using special U.V. lights to see plants and insects in a different light, watching as they come to life. Plants that appear green during the day will take on amazing colors including red, purple, blue, and neon orange, to name a few. The walk will be woven with a few tales and poems as we ponder the magical effects.
BANG, SNIFF, GRAB - The Story of your Senses at Night – (TEENS/TWEENS)
with Chad and Lexi O’Kulich
Get ready to enjoy the mysteries of the darkness when sensory awareness is heightened and storytelling can be most impactful. Many folks fear the darkness due to an insecurity in their own abilities to sense what is happening without vision. This evening's activity will prove them wrong. We will encourage students to step out of their comfort zone, connect to their awareness of the other four senses and explore the beauty of the nighttime. Depending upon the weather, there are 5 different potential senses activities that will be performed this evening engaging the uses of sound, touch, or smell. We will provide a safe environment where limiting the students’ vision, they will be asked to ‘find their way’ to the ‘end’ either via listening, smelling, or touching.
Kids Tent Class Descriptions
For teacher bios, scroll down
with For Kids ages 5-12 (scroll down for the tweens/teens classes)
Build a Twigloo
with Deanne Bednar
Come create a "stick tipi structure" with wood and rope! To make a "twigloo" ...lean sticks together, tie them up, decorate with natural materials, climb in them and Enjoy! We hope to gather sticks and nature
things from the woods. We can enjoy seeing and hanging out in the Twigloos during the Faire!
Natural Percussion
John Pfeifer
Join drummer John Pfeifer in exploring ways to make music from the natural materials around us. You’ll learn basic drumbeats and practice them on different materials to make different sounds. Turn your hikes into musical adventures!
Honor Mother Nature with Drum and Chant
with Janice Marsh-Prelesnik
Participants will learn simple earth-based chants and simple drum rhythms to accompany the chants. Drums will be provided but bring your own if you have one. Come to drum! Come to chant! Come to drum and chant! Or come and listen! No musical experience is necessary.
Build a Fairy Home
with Melissa Borer
Bring your joy and imagination to come and explore natural materials and build a fairy home!
Wilderness Survival
with Stefan Szumko
This course will focus on the basics of staying safe and warm until help arrives through primitive shelter construction and building fires. If time permits, we will also discuss water purification techniques and build simple traps and snares to catch small game (hopefully without success during the class period) should a survival situation last longer than a few days.
Herbal Mad Libs
with Leslie Alexander
Mads Libs are traditionally played as a fill-in-the-blank work game offering various parts of speech to complete sentences. Here we’ll play with three variations of the game and share results as we go along. We’ll divide into mixed age groups and rotate “readers” as we then:
-fill-in the blanks by running off and scavenging for items that “fit the blank”
-draw (individually) to complete the blanks and
-work in small groups to fill-in the blanks verbally, as Mad Libs is often played.
Lots of fun – all about our allies!
Build a Twigloo
with Deanne Bednar
Come create a "stick tipi structure" with wood and rope! To make a "twigloo" ...lean sticks together, tie them up, decorate with natural materials, climb in them and Enjoy! We hope to gather sticks and nature
things from the woods. We can enjoy seeing and hanging out in the Twigloos during the Faire!
Natural Percussion
John Pfeifer
Join drummer John Pfeifer in exploring ways to make music from the natural materials around us. You’ll learn basic drumbeats and practice them on different materials to make different sounds. Turn your hikes into musical adventures!
Honor Mother Nature with Drum and Chant
with Janice Marsh-Prelesnik
Participants will learn simple earth-based chants and simple drum rhythms to accompany the chants. Drums will be provided but bring your own if you have one. Come to drum! Come to chant! Come to drum and chant! Or come and listen! No musical experience is necessary.
Build a Fairy Home
with Melissa Borer
Bring your joy and imagination to come and explore natural materials and build a fairy home!
Wilderness Survival
with Stefan Szumko
This course will focus on the basics of staying safe and warm until help arrives through primitive shelter construction and building fires. If time permits, we will also discuss water purification techniques and build simple traps and snares to catch small game (hopefully without success during the class period) should a survival situation last longer than a few days.
Herbal Mad Libs
with Leslie Alexander
Mads Libs are traditionally played as a fill-in-the-blank work game offering various parts of speech to complete sentences. Here we’ll play with three variations of the game and share results as we go along. We’ll divide into mixed age groups and rotate “readers” as we then:
-fill-in the blanks by running off and scavenging for items that “fit the blank”
-draw (individually) to complete the blanks and
-work in small groups to fill-in the blanks verbally, as Mad Libs is often played.
Lots of fun – all about our allies!
Tween/Teen Class Descriptions
Sacred Order of Survival – Primitive Skills Workshop
with Chad and Lexi O’Kulich
You’ve gone for a walk in the woods. Woods you know so well you decided not to bring your compass. But you catch sight of some Chaga off in the distance, on an otherwise pristine Birch and decide to harvest some. It’s brisk outside, but you figured you’d only be gone for an hour and decided to start cold knowing you’d work up a sweat on your hike. A light snow has begun to fall as you start towards the Chaga. You notice another few edibles around the Birch, and by the time your harvest is complete the ground is blanketed in a thin layer of snow. You head back towards the unmarked trail and notice how beautiful the scenery is. Ten minutes later you realize you must have passed the trail and head back, chilly now, only to find that your tracks are already covered up. The snow is falling harder and you start to panic. Can you survive in the woods? This intensive will focus on the first two fundamentals in the Sacred Order of Survival: Shelter and Fire. Using Native American philosophies, non- traditional methods and the materials that nature provides, students are challenged to learn necessary outdoor and primitive skills, accomplish collective tasks, and meet the physical demands made on them by Mother Earth. Students will learn how to feel comfortable and confident in nature when all else seems to be lost.
Dream Catchers
with Deanne Bednar
In the spirit of honoring the indigenous folks of this land who loved to create from the earth and with the mysteries of life, itself (in this case, Dreaming), let’s craft a dream catcher together! We will make a hoop of foraged vine or stick, then lash the string pattern, and, finally, tie on found nature items to hang from the bottom!
Herbalists w/o Borders: Tea Blend Edition
with Janice Marsh-Prelesnik
Roll up your sleeves and we will create healing tea blends to send to a local Herbalists w/o Borders chapter.
with Chad and Lexi O’Kulich
You’ve gone for a walk in the woods. Woods you know so well you decided not to bring your compass. But you catch sight of some Chaga off in the distance, on an otherwise pristine Birch and decide to harvest some. It’s brisk outside, but you figured you’d only be gone for an hour and decided to start cold knowing you’d work up a sweat on your hike. A light snow has begun to fall as you start towards the Chaga. You notice another few edibles around the Birch, and by the time your harvest is complete the ground is blanketed in a thin layer of snow. You head back towards the unmarked trail and notice how beautiful the scenery is. Ten minutes later you realize you must have passed the trail and head back, chilly now, only to find that your tracks are already covered up. The snow is falling harder and you start to panic. Can you survive in the woods? This intensive will focus on the first two fundamentals in the Sacred Order of Survival: Shelter and Fire. Using Native American philosophies, non- traditional methods and the materials that nature provides, students are challenged to learn necessary outdoor and primitive skills, accomplish collective tasks, and meet the physical demands made on them by Mother Earth. Students will learn how to feel comfortable and confident in nature when all else seems to be lost.
Dream Catchers
with Deanne Bednar
In the spirit of honoring the indigenous folks of this land who loved to create from the earth and with the mysteries of life, itself (in this case, Dreaming), let’s craft a dream catcher together! We will make a hoop of foraged vine or stick, then lash the string pattern, and, finally, tie on found nature items to hang from the bottom!
Herbalists w/o Borders: Tea Blend Edition
with Janice Marsh-Prelesnik
Roll up your sleeves and we will create healing tea blends to send to a local Herbalists w/o Borders chapter.
For Teacher Bios, scroll below the slide show...
Kid's Tent Teachers
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Hi. I’m Leslie ... Leslie Alexander PhD, RH(AHG) and I’m interested in practicalities. I enjoy bending ideas and shaping protocols to make them accessible and interesting. This is most apparent in my clinical work, mentorship with me, including online Round Tables, and the ways I spend my free time. In my online and in-person clinical practice, I work holistically to sustain wellbeing, address chronic conditions and acute health-related challenges. I’m also very interested in oral health and maritime medicinals. When not working, I enjoy making cyanotypes, weaving, kitchen medicine and foods of all sorts. Please, let’s say hello at the Faire or contact me at RestorationHerbs.com anytime.
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Deanne Bednar says, "I have been sharing natural building skills since taking my first course with the Cob Cottage Company in 1996 (after retiring from Middle School Art & Sustainable Future teaching) and since then I have overseen many interns & volunteers on various projects. From 2003 to the present, have coordinated and taught at the Strawbale Studio, was part of the teaching team for the Natural Cottage Project which provides 2 week start-to-finish building workshops and have been a co-teacher for 10 day workshops with the Cob Cottage Company. I have also made many presentations at Bioneers Detroit, Earth Day Events, Re-skilling Conferences, Colleges and other educational venues. Illustrator of several books on natural building: The Hand-Sculpted House, The Natural Plaster Book and the Cobber’s Companion. I LOVE to forage for materials!!"
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Melissa Borer Hard is an herbalist, forager, farmer, artist, and mama. Stemming from a passion to feel good and reclaim a relationship with nature, she has been diving deep into herbal education for 15 years. She began her studies at The Traditional School of Western Herbalism under Chris Smaka, then finished at The Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism in 2017. Since then she has had the pleasure of working with bioregional herbalist and conservationists in the midwest and taken the Lindera Course with Jim McDonald. Melissa works clinically and alongside herbal companies as an herbal guide. Her work focuses on the conservation of biological wellness through lifestyle, nutrition, and herbs. Melissa is a native plant enthusiast and a lover of all things wild. At home she runs a compost and landscape company with her husband and homeschools their three girls.
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Kristine Brown, RH(AHG), is helping parents teach their kids about herbalism, one herb at a time. A practicing traditional community herbalist and mother of four children and two stepchildren, two of whom she homeschooled for 11 years, Kristine created the only children’s herbal curriculum that uses all four learning styles (visual, auditory, reading, and kinesthetic). She has taught classes for homeschooled children locally and coordinated numerous herbal conference kids’ camps both locally and nationally. She is the writer and illustrator of the online children’s publication Herbal Roots zine, which she began publishing in 2009, and the creator of several online courses that teach children about botany, drawing, and herbs. Her latest venture in teaching herbalism is her membership offering, Herb Club, which gives kids and parents video lessons, expanded curriculum for preschool through high school, and a member forum for parents and for kids. She is also the author of Herbalism at Home, The Homesteader’s Guide to Growing Herbs, and Nature Anatomy Activities for Kids and Nature Anatomy Guided Journal for Kids books. Teaching others about plants and drawing and sharing her knowledge with children—our future—is her passion.
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Coyote and Lexer from Texer have been guiding Wilderness Expedition trips for a combined total of over 30 years. They both enjoy enhancing their awareness in Mother Nature and sharing their experiences with all those willing to learn. Growth occurs when you step out of your comfort zone and both Coyote and Lexer are always teaching and learning from students of all ages. Coyote is also a Spanish teacher, Varsity Soccer coach, Director of the Horizons-Upward Bound Wilderness program and leadership coordinator at Cranbrook Schools, and Lexer is a Repair Manager for Patagonia and a lead guide for the Horizons-Upward Bound Wilderness program. Miigwetch!
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Janice Marsh-Prelesnik is excited to once again lead classes for our amazing kids and teens! As a mother of four, grandmother of four, and home birth midwife (now retired) to hundreds of babies and their families, Janice has spent a lifetime cherishing the next generation. She teaches a year-long herbalism course to K-12 students at the Gull Lake Virtual Partnership, which is a combination of online and in person herbal learning. Janice also leads earth based song circles and practices music as medicine in which she offers music and herb events for people in hospice and memory care.
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Ashley Meek is a Forest School Guide, Naturopathic Doctor, Massage and Craniosacral Therapist, Birth Doula and Reiki Practitioner at Mother Nurture Holistic Wellness LLC and Strong Roots Forest School near Grand Rapids, MI. She is passionate about living a life where we nurture our connections to the land and each other, listening to the wisdom of the Earth, living in partnership with nature and in loving community. She practices bodywork and energy therapies as well as naturopathy on a converted school bus on her land located on the Flat River. She also leads forest school classes, foraging and nature art camps, herbal medicine classes for adults and children, sacred circles and ceremonies, and handcrafts nature inspired art and jewelry and apothecary remedies.
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John Pfeifer has been playing drums since he was 7 years old and has been attending the Great Lakes Herb Faire since about the same time. He is also engaged in independent study on acoustic and electric guitars, electric bass and keyboard. He offers online drum lessons for beginners. He finds the rhythm of drumming to be relaxing. John likes socializing with everyone at GLHF—find him and say hello!
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Stefan Szumko- bio coming soon
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