Turn Back Time

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Turn Back Time

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Turn Back Time’s mission is to help people recognize nature’s ability to teach and heal. Turn Back Time operates on a 58 acre homestead in Paxton, MA.

This property boasts a Turn Back Time (TBT) is a non-profit nature-based education center located on 58 acres in Paxton, Massachusetts. Our mission at Turn Back Time is to help people recognize nature’s ability to heal and teach with a commitment to offering programs to under-served populations.. We align with this mission through educational programs, nature play, and farm education. We connect participants with nature through thoughtful and engaging programs, blending structured and unstructured exploration of the outdoor world within a welcoming and harmonizing environment. The property has expanded from humble beginnings to now include an active beaver pond, an extensive forested trail system, and a fully functional working farm. The farm includes a barn with classroom space, stables, green house, commercial garden beds, and a milieu of farm animals to interact with. Our in-resident animal friends include a whole clan of chickens (most uniquely named by children!), a horse, pony, goats, and a miniature donkey named MoMo, who all adore attention and care from our students and guests. Together, within our varying programs, we have the opportunity to witness nature’s splendor as it changes throughout the seasons; engaging our imaginations, activating our senses, and deepening our inquiry and knowledge of the natural world through active investigation. Our programs create resiliency as we build a relationship between the learner and the natural world; providing opportunities to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to ourselves. These opportunities in nature give individuals of all ages the time, space, and permission to learn, gain new experience, and grow in confidence and love for themselves, for others, and for this earth we call home.

10/29/2026

10/28/2026

The heart of WILD PLAY 🐿️

Children don’t just need to learn about the world. They need the freedom to experience it.

Unstructured play allows children to:
Take age-appropriate risks
Make their own decisions
Work through challenges & problem solve
Discover what they’re capable of, Confidence!
Ecological awareness
Scientific curiosity & engineering concepts
Creativity
Negotiation, Communication & Collaboration with peers
& SOOO much more!

It gives them the space to learn through experience rather than simply being told what to do.

Children don’t need adults to structure every moment of their learning. They need time, freedom, meaningful experiences, and caring adults who understand when to guide and when to step back.

10/20/2026

🍂 Pumpkins, gourds, colorful leaves and autumn hikes. We are deep in the magic of fall!

Following curiosity, exploring nature and learning through the little things. Just another beautiful New England autumn at farm school. 🎃🍁

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10/19/2026

Day in the life at Farm School!

10/18/2026

Over the past few weeks..our preschoolers, The Salamanders, have developed a growing love for mud and all things messy!

Following the children’s interests, we embraced this emergent curriculum by setting up dirt and water for them to experiment with, mix, and transform into their very own mud. Once the muddy creations were ready, we added powder paint to explore color mixing and create beautiful works of muddy art!

We paired our exploration with the book Mud and talked about how changing seasons, melting snow, and springtime rain bring mud to life. Together, we wondered where mud can be found and what happens when we mix soil and water.

But this was about so much more than getting messy! Mud play encourages sensory exploration, strengthens fine motor skills, and introduces early scientific concepts like cause and effect, texture, consistency and transformation.
As children scoop, pour, squeeze, mix, and create, they build problem-solving skills, exercise their imaginations, and develop a deeper understanding of the natural world.

By following the Salamanders curiosity, we turned a simple love of mud into an opportunity for meaningful, hands-on learning.
The best classroom materials are the ones we find right beneath our feet! 🌎🌿🤎

10/16/2026

Calling all nature-based educators & nature lovers! TOMORROW on the farm we are hosting our Central Mass Chapter Meeting!🌿🍂

We’ll gather around the table, share a picnic lunch, connect with other educators, explore the trails, create something inspired by nature, and spend some time learning together. 🌲🍁

✨ Saturday, October 17th | 10 AM–2 PM
📍 Turn Back Time, Paxton, MA
🥪 Bring a picnic lunch
🌿 Nature craft + trail exploration
📚 Professional Development credits available

Whether you’re a longtime nature-based educator or simply curious about bringing more nature into your work, come connect, learn and be inspired by others who believe children belong outdoors.

Link to Register 👇🏼
https://www.insideoutside.org/events/iocentralma20261017

Central Mass Chapter Meeting: Saturday, October 17th 10:00 - 2:00 PM at Turn Back Time in Paxton, MA

Bring a picnic lunch, Meet other nature-based educators, Hike the beautiful trails at the farm, Make a nature craft to take home and earn professional development credits at the same time!
** Bring a friend and get entered to win a copy of our Nature - Inspired book club read for November**

RSVP to Carlee Mills at [email protected]

For more information visit: https://www.insideoutside.org/events

10/14/2026

This past weekend we had our 4th annual Scholarship Golf Tournament! This tournament helps us to support the children in our program who need it most. We are so grateful to all of our sponsors, we couldn’t reach our goal without them! Thank you as well to all the businesses who donated prizes! We had so much fun and raised over $8,500!!! 💪💵

PLATINUM SPONSOR Fidelity Bank

A&H Services Sponsored all prizes

GOLD SPONSOR Cornerstone

SILVER SPONSORS
Pepin Granite and Pepin Waste
Country Bank
B&D Supply Inc
Rawdon Family

BRONZE SPONSORS
Paxton Lions Club
Cournoyer Vegetable Farm
THE RV GUYS L.L.C.
Chacharone charitable trust
Palmas Bakery
Ánino Family
Jim Hansson Lawn Maintenance

10/13/2026

🍂Our students explored natural dyeing by first soaking acorn meat to remove tannins, then experimenting with an iron modifier made by soaking rusty metal flakes in vinegar. The iron reacted with the natural tannins to create beautiful shades of gray on cotton fabric scraps. 🌰🩶

Through this hands-on process children explore:
natural chemistry,
plant-based materials,
the science of color change,
practicing observation,
patience &
experimentation.

They’re also discovering how people have historically used materials from the natural world to create useful and beautiful things.

Learning through nature means getting curious, working with our hands and discovering the science hidden in the simplest things! 🌿

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10/07/2026

Calling all nature-based educators! 🌿🍂

Come spend a fall Saturday with us at Turn Back Time in Paxton for our Central Mass Chapter Meeting!

We’ll gather around the table, share a picnic lunch, connect with other educators, explore the trails, create something inspired by nature, and spend some time learning together. 🌲🍁

✨ Saturday, October 17th | 10 AM–2 PM
📍 Turn Back Time, Paxton, MA
🥪 Bring a picnic lunch
🌿 Nature craft + trail exploration
📚 Professional Development credits available

Whether you’re a longtime nature-based educator or simply curious about bringing more nature into your work, come connect, learn and be inspired by others who believe children belong outdoors.

Link to Register 👇🏼
https://www.insideoutside.org/events/iocentralma20261017

Address

250 Marshall Street
Paxton, MA
01612

Telephone

+19787603707

Website

http://www.tbtinc.org/

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